And that's the end of the show.
If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe.
And if you are not already, be sure to subscribe to the channel.
And if you want to join us on our next video, please subscribe to our channel.
And as always, thank you and we'll see you next time.
We're happy to have our pastor with us.
Pastor Thompson's here with us tonight, he's going to preach with us.
Praise the Lord.
While we're getting ready for the preaching to start though, let's turn in our hymn books
to page 257.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word, just to rest upon his promise,
just to know, thus saith the Lord, sing it out folks, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him,
how I prove him o'er and o'er, Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace, to trust him
more.
On the second, oh how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to his cleansing blood, just in simple
faith to plunge me, need the healing cleansing flood, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how
I prove him o'er and o'er, Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace, to trust him
more.
Dial it up just a notch, a little louder you guys, come on.
On the third, yes it's sweet to trust in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease
better, just from Jesus, simply taking life and rest and joy and peace, Jesus, Jesus,
how I trust him, how I prove him o'er and o'er, Jesus, Jesus, just Jesus, oh for
grace, to trust him more.
On the last, I'm so glad I learned to trust thee, precious Jesus, savior friend, and
I know that thou art with me, wilt be with me to the end, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
him, how I prove him o'er and o'er, Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace, to
trust him more.
Now Joseph's going to pray for us and open us up here.
Let's pray.
Dear God, thank you for this evening, thank you for a pastor and thank you for everybody
that came.
Blessed service, I pray you're with us, with the singing and with the preaching, dear Lord,
in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
274 is our next song, 274.
Jesus never fails, amen.
Amen.
Earthly friends may prove untrue, doubts and fears assail, one still loves and cares
for you, one who will not fail.
Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails, heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never
fails.
Though the sky be dark and drear, fierce and strong the gale, just remember he is
near and he will not fail.
Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails, heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never
fails.
281 will be our last one.
281.
I've seen the lightning flash, the thunder roar, I've felt sin's breaker's dashing,
which tried to conquer my soul.
I've heard the voice of my Savior, he bids me still fight on, amen.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
Leave.
I'm sorry, I haven't sang this song in so long.
I forgot it was supposed to go to the top.
Of course, you guys all know that, right there.
No, never alone, no, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, no, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
On the second.
The world's fierce winds are blowing, temptation sharp and keen.
I have a peace in knowing, my Savior stands between.
He stands to shield me from danger, when all my friends are gone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
Up at the top.
No, never alone, no, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, no, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
And on the third.
When in afflictions valley, I tread the road of care.
My Savior helps me carry the cross so heavy to bear.
Though all around me is darkness and earthly joys are flown.
My Savior whispers his promise never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, no, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
No, never alone, no, never alone.
He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
Oh, that's good.
That's kind of a, that'll be good.
Pastors are going to come to our announcements now.
I'm ready for them.
All right.
Good evening, everybody.
Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church.
Let's take our bulletins and go through the announcements.
If you need a bulletin, just flip up your hand.
One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin.
Does anybody need one?
Just lift up your hand.
No?
Everybody got one?
All right.
On the front cover, we have the verses of the week there.
It says if they, it's Psalm 89, 31 through 33.
It says if they break my statutes and keep not my
commandments, then will I visit their transgression
with a rod and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly
take from them nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
So great scriptures there.
God will punish his children, but he also is
ready and quick to forgive, and he is long suffering.
So he doesn't just pull out the hammer every time
he does something wrong, and I'm glad he's like that
because we'd be getting smacked around quite a bit,
right?
So on the inside there, there's that short
message for me.
I'm here, so if you have any questions for me while
I'm here, or you just want to take some time to
talk to me after the service, feel free to come
up to me, ask me any questions you want.
And if you look at the attendance from last week,
we had 25 in our morning service, so it was a
good service there.
15 in the evening, and 8 for last Wednesday's
service, our July offerings and ties are right
there in the middle bubble there.
And our salvations, where's the total?
119 for the total for the year, and let's see,
looking at, let's see, the salvations, okay.
So also, of course, we're family integrated.
We do have air conditioning now in the mom-baby
room, so praise the Lord for that.
I'm really happy that brother Jason came and
refilled that tank, and so it would have been a
pretty rough summer without any air conditioning,
so we were almost at that point.
So he came and fixed, well, he at least gave us
the instruction how to fix the main area here,
and I believe the heat's going to be pumping when
we come to winter, too, right?
That fixed both things.
Okay.
Well, we got the insulation anyway,
I think, with the heaters.
Hopefully, we won't have to do the heater
thing, the portable heater thing again,
but it did suffice, but we definitely,
we probably need to start looking at what it's
going to cost to replace all that stuff,
and that's probably not going to be cheap,
so probably need to start saving for that.
But anyway, that's something for a different
time anyway.
I won't talk about all that tonight,
but the upcoming schedule, well, of course,
our church services are 1030 a.m.
on Sunday, and there's soul winning
in between the services, and then we have
a 3.30 p.m. service on Sunday,
and Sunday evening there, and then
we do have a rotating preaching schedule,
and Wednesdays are 4 p.m.
for soul winning.
Do we have anybody out soul winning today?
No? Okay.
And last month, I had a pretty sore knee,
and just as it started to feel better,
I dropped something on my toe on Saturday,
so I went and got an x-ray on Monday,
and I'm pretty sure, well, I don't know,
it's probably, I don't know if it's broken or not,
but it sure looks broken.
My right big toe is pretty rough,
so that's why I'm wearing these
weird looking shoes.
So I would have went with the sandals,
but I didn't want to go that crazy.
No.
I know, exactly.
I know. I'm being a Pharisee.
I'm sorry about that, but
anyway, so,
it's just been a little bit rough with my,
well, I went, after I
smashed my toe, I went
and preached, you know, Sunday, and then
I went out soul winning and everything, but when I got home,
I was like, man, why is my foot hurting so bad?
And I took it off, and look, there's like
just this huge
hematoma that popped my
nail up on that right big toe,
and it's just like up over
the nail bed, and it looks
like if you just took like a little pin
and just popped it, it would just shoot blood out of it,
so it's pretty gross.
So,
I'm sure that made you all hungry for supper, right?
But anyway,
yeah, that's, so
if you pray that
that would heal fast, I'd appreciate it.
I'm sure you all have your own ailments.
The older you get, the more ailments you get,
you know, it's like nothing feels right anymore
the older you get, right?
Anyway,
let's see.
The preaching schedule, you can see that
on there, and
let's see,
upcoming events,
well, we do have the, our
church that we planted in Canada has
their sixth anniversary coming up.
It seems like there's always an anniversary, right?
When you have a lot of church plants, that's kind of what happens,
but also
to note, October 6th and 7th,
if you'd like to see Pastor Amanda just preach
in the flesh,
I don't think the first snow
quite gets here in October,
usually, but if you wanted to come down
and enjoy a weekend
down in Vancouver,
you could always come down for the pumpkin patch trip,
it's absolutely free, you don't have to pay anything,
and
we all kind of do this pumpkin patch thing every year,
the church pays for everybody to get in,
and then Pastor Amanda will be preaching the evening service
on the 7th, so
if you'd like to come here and preach,
it's only a three hour drive for you
as the crow flies,
if you drive like I drive,
or three and a half hours if you drive normally.
So, and then
there's a missions trip at Faith Ward Baptist Church
down in Tempe, that's the
6th through the 10th of November,
and then we have
a really profound speaker
and a very knowledgeable man on
the King James
Bible, he knows a lot of stuff about the King James
Bible, and he
teaches all over the world, he's in the Philippines actually
right now, and he's going to be preaching
for us in December, so just some things
to mark on your calendar if that's something you're
interested in, and I think that's
all we have for
announcements,
just want to say happy birthday to
Joseph also coming up,
and is that Iela?
Iela, I'm sorry,
goodnight, so that'll be
coming up the 28th.
Alright, so happy birthday,
that's all I have for announcements, let's go ahead and
sing one more song, and then we'll
receive the offering. Is anybody
going to come up and sing one more song? Did you sing the third
song and you were supposed to wait on that one?
Do you just want to play a pretty piano
piece while the men come forward and then we'll have
so let's have the men come forward
and we'll have a word of prayer
and then
yeah you just
we'll just do it after
we'll wait until they
we'll pray and then you can play the piano piece
and then we'll just do the Bible reading and get on
with the preaching. So come on
come forward guys.
It's okay brother Rick.
The time
fills either way.
Alright, brother Paul what do you
bless the offering please?
Let us pray.
Thank you Lord for today Lord.
Bless this offering father and
bless those who showed who came.
Bless the preaching father.
Thank you for your love, grace and
mercy and for everything you do for us
father God. In Jesus' precious mighty
name I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Alright
if you guys can turn to your Bibles to Luke
chapter number 12
Luke chapter number 12
I think brother Rick is just
anxious to hear the preaching.
Well
you still got 59 verses to go through.
Alright
Luke chapter number 12
In the mean time
when there were gathered together
an innumerable multitude of people
in so much that they trode
one upon another he began to say
unto his disciples first of all
beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees
which is hypocrisy
for there is nothing covered that shall not
be revealed neither hid that shall not
be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have
spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light
and that which ye have spoken in the ear
and the closet shall be proclaimed upon the house
and I say unto you my friends
be not afraid of them that kill the body
and after that have no more
no more that they can do but I will
forewarn you whom ye shall fear
fear him which after he that killed
hath power to cast into hell.
Yea I say unto you fear him
are not five sparrows sold
for two farthings and not one
of them is forgotten before God
but even the very
hairs of your head are all numbered
fear not therefore you are of more value
than many sparrows also I say unto you
whosoever shall confess me before
men him
shall the son of man also confess before the angels
of God. Be he that denieth me
before men shall be denied before the angels of God
and whosoever shall speak
a word against the son of man that shall be forgiven
him bond to him that blasphemeth
against the Holy Ghost it shall not
be forgiven and when they
bring you unto the synagogues and unto the
magistrates and powers take ye
no thought how or what thing
ye shall answer or what ye shall
say for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the
same hour what ye ought to say
and one of the company said unto him
master speak to my brother that he
divide the inheritance with me
and he said unto him man who
made a judge or a divider over you
and he said unto them take ye
and beware of covetousness for
a man's life consisteth not
in abundance of the things which he
possesseth and he spake a parable
unto them saying the ground of a certain
rich man brought forth plentifully
and he thought within himself saying what shall
I do because I have no room where I
where to bestow my fruits
and he said this will I do I will put down
my barns and build greater
and there will
there will I bestow all my fruits
and my goods and I will
say to my soul soul thou hast much goods
laid up for many years take thine
ease eat drink and be merry
but God said unto him thou full
this night thy soul shall be required of
thee then who shall these things
then who
shall those things be which
thou hast provided so it is he that layeth
up treasure for himself
and is not rich toward God and he
said unto his disciples therefore I
say unto you take no thought for your life
what ye shall eat neither for the
body what ye shall put on the life is
more than meat and the body is more than
raiment consider the ravens for they neither
sow nor reap which neither
have storehouse nor barn and God
God feedeth them how much more
are ye better than the fowls and which
of you which of you with
taking thought can add to his stature
one qubit if ye then be
not able to do that thing which is least
why take ye thought for the rest consider
the lilies how they are how they grow they
toil not they spin not and yet I say
unto you that Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these
if then God so clothed the grass which is
which is today in the field
and tomorrow is cast into the oven
how much more will he clothe you O ye of
little faith and seek not ye
what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink
neither be of doubtful mind
for all these things do
do the nations of the world seek after
and your father knoweth that ye have need
of these things but rather seek ye
the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto
you fear not little flock for it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom
sow that ye have and give alms
provide yourself bags which
wax not old
a treasure in the heavens that faileth not
where not thee for projeth
neither nor moth corrupteth
for where your treasure
is there will your
heart be also
let your loins be girded about and your lights
burning and ye yourselves
like unto men
that wait for their lord
when he will return from the wedding
that when he cometh in noggeth
that may open unto him immediately
bless there are those servants whom the lord
when he cometh shall find watching
verily I say unto you
that he shall gird himself
and make them to sit down to meet
and will come forth and serve them
and if ye shall come in the second watch
and come in the third watch
and find them so bless there are those servants
and this know that if the good man of the house
had known what hour the thief would come
he would have
washed and not suffered his house to be broken through
be ye therefore
ready for the son of man
that an hour when ye think not
then peter said unto him lord speakest thou
this parable unto us
and even to all and the lord said
who then is the faithful and wise steward
from whom his lord shall make ruler
over his household to give them
their portion of meat in due season
blessed is that servant
whom the lord when he cometh shall find
so doing of a truth I say unto you
that he will make him ruler
over all that he hath
but
if that servant say in his heart my lord
delayeth his coming and shall begin
to beat the men servants and
maidens and to eat and drink
and be drunken the lord of the servant
will come in the day when he looketh
not for him and at an hour
when he is not aware and will cut him
in asunder and will
point him his portion with the
unbelievers and that servant which
knew his lord's will and prepared
not himself neither did according to his will
shall be beaten with many stripes
he that knew not and did commit things
worthy of stripes shall be beaten
with few stripes for unto whom so ever
much is given of him shall be much
required and to whom
men have committed much of him
they will ask the more
I am come to send the fire on the earth
and what will I if he
if it be already kindled but I have
a baptism to be baptized with
and how am I straightened till it
be accomplished
suppose ye that I am come to give
on earth I tell you nay but rather division
for from henceforth
there shall be five and one
house divided three against two and
two against three the father shall be divided
against the son and the son against the father
and the mother against the daughter and the daughter
against the mother and the mother in law
against the daughter in law and the daughter
in law against her mother in law and he
said also to the people when ye see a cloud
rise out of the west straight way ye
say ye say there cometh the
showers and so it is
and when ye see the south wind blow
ye say there will be heat and it cometh
to pass ye hypocrites ye can
discern the face of the sky and of the earth and how
it is how is it that ye do
not discern this time ye and
why even of yourself judge
ye not what is right when thou
goest with thine adversary
and the magistrates as thou art in the way
give diligence that thou mayest be delivered
from him lest he
hail thee to the judge and the judge deliver
thee to the officer and the officer cast thee onto prison
into prison I tell you
that thou shall not depart
thence thou thou hast paid the
very last mite
whew alright
I just pray dear god
be with pastor tonight I pray you give him
a clear mind and boldness to preach your word dear lord
in Jesus name I pray amen
that was a long chapter maybe I should have picked a different one sorry about that and the even thing that's going to make me even more mad is that I'm only going to use one verse out of the whole chapter
the title of my sermon tonight is
just simply gambling
and I've been preaching some vice
sermons and
I've been kind of preaching at our
home church there in Vancouver
and let's see
what I preached about last time I was here do you remember
smoking yeah quitting smoking
is smoking sinful and so
really the topic is is gambling
sinful is
is there is is gambling
and most people would say yes
but is there a verse that you can find
in the bible for me where it says
thou shalt not gamble
there really isn't let's look down
at the verse though and we'll get into the sermon here
it says in verse
15 luke 12
it says and he said unto them
take heed and beware
of covetousness for a man's
life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth
so what is gambling well gambling
is where you
try to make money
off of chance
or playing games or staking
your money and
thinking that some bet is going to come through
that you place on something
and there's a lot of different ways to
gamble you know there's especially
nowadays I mean they have scratch
offs and keno and
you can do sports booking
sports gambling online
you can go to casinos and of course there's casinos
fairly close to here
I mean they have
how many casinos do they have in this area
right here do you guys know?
anybody know?
legends
yeah so there's multiple right
there's at least
so it's
kind of a big thing around here
and so
you know I'm sure and I really hope
I mean you never know that
you know I hope there's nobody in our church
that is into gambling but
to say gambling is
gambling a sin well I mean gambling
is covetousness you're basically
wanting something for nothing
really you're wasting
money that you
have earned to try to get
rich for
nothing and it is
covetous because what you're trying to do
is you're trying to get rich you're trying to get gain
off of something
to do nothing and the Bible
is really clear that God wants us to work for
what we have and as Christians
we should not be partaking in
things that have been
known throughout history as a seedy way
to get money I mean it was against
the law to gamble and you
know when they started doing the Indian casinos
that became like a big thing
and you know it's
still a big thing today and
in most places you can't just put up a casino
anywhere you feel like doing it
a lot of it's on reservations
or you have to go in
Nevada it's like
there's Las Vegas
and I think that you can have casinos
pretty much anywhere in Nevada
what is the other place
that they it's Reno right there's
the other place right so
but again there's no
verse that says thou shalt not
gamble but there's
no verse that says thou shalt not smoke cigarettes
either there's no verse that says not to smoke crack
but you know should you smoke crack
there's no verse that says not to do
heroin or eat magic mushrooms
but you know you shouldn't be doing that either
and the Bible does talk about being sober
or being sober minded so
we should be sober and
sober minded and there's
this verse here is Jesus talking about
not being he said
take heed and beware
of covetousness we should take heed
what does that mean well it means to pay attention
and to be careful about it
don't be covetous
and to beware means to be cautious
and alert of the dangers
of it don't get into being
covetous because being covetous
is actually something that
you would get thrown out of church for
so if somebody has like a gambling
problem obviously we'd want
to get them help we'd want to help them
to overcome that because is
gambling an addiction yes it
is it's an addiction that people ruin
their whole lives over they ruin their marriages
over they ruin their families over
they'll gamble to the last
penny and not
and gamble away their rent
money for the month they'll gamble away their
grocery money and let their kids starve
over these things and
you think well do people really
do that yes they do because
that is the hook that people
you know they design these
games to hook you they design
these games to win and you
know somebody gets some kind of
little luck what they call luck there's
no such thing as luck time and chance
happens to all people and you know
if you if you win
that's the worst thing you can do is be a
first time winner when you gamble
because then you're like oh well I won this time
and then every time you think you're gonna win something
look those scratch off games
are just trying to hook you in
so that you'll just keep
buying the scratch off tickets and then you're gonna
you're gonna lose the house
always wins have you ever heard that
saying before it's because it's true
now look
at Exodus chapter 20 verse 17
of course you know Wednesday night should be a Bible
study and we're definitely going to study the Bible
tonight but the Bible actually
condemns covetousness
God one of the Ten Commandments
in the Bible in the
in the Ten Commandments is
about against coveting it says in
Exodus 20 verse 17 it says
thou shalt not
covet and so
when you're coveting what is
coveting it's when you want something
that doesn't belong to you
and it gives
us this list here this short list
but it can mean anything right
but it says thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's house
thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife nor his
manservant nor his maidservant
nor his ox
nor his ass nor anything
that is thy neighbor's when you look
at something that somebody else has
and you say I want that
then you're in dangerous
territory because then you're desiring
because another word for
covet is desire
and human beings can't help but desire
things but when you start desiring
things that belong to somebody else
then you start to get to this
mindset where you're like well I really want
that and I'm going to make sure that it's mine
then you get into where you
can commit murder you can
steal you can do all kinds of
dastardly things commit
adultery and you know
you get yourself in all kinds of trouble
and coveting is what leads
into those things and coveting
can make you can lead you into idolatry
I'll show you that here in just a few minutes
now let's look at 1 Timothy
chapter 6 verse 5
and so coveting is just one of those things
that can go on in
people's hearts and you don't know that they're doing
it you can't really see
covetousness it's something that happens on
the inside but it does
come out of people you can
I mean you can catch people's eyes
you can you know there's ways of
seeing that they're coveting things
but sometimes it's hard to catch
so I've never thrown
anybody out of church for coveting before
but you know if somebody gambled away
their life savings
you know and they refuse to stop gambling well
that's covetousness I would throw that person
out of church if they did not repent
of that so look at
1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 5
it says
in verse 5 it says perverse disputings
of men of corrupt minds
and destitute of the truth
supposing that gain
is godliness
from such withdraw thyself
see the bible says we're supposed to withdraw
ourselves from people that have this mindset
that gain is godliness
you know those people
are the name it claim it people
the Benny Hinn type preachers
and the Christians that say well you're
poor well you must not be right with god then
and that's not true
that is not true at all the bible doesn't
teach you you're going to be some rich person
just because you're saved now
there are some people that are saved that have money
and there's nothing wrong with that either
but we shouldn't have the mindset
that well since we're saved
we should be rich or we should be trying to
be rich someone was just trying
someone was just telling me the other day
that they were I think it was my son in law
Brandon that he was in a church
it was a non-denominational church
and they were singing the song
I want to be a millionaire
so bad
or whatever and they changed
the lyrics to the song but a
church is singing that
song in church
as a song in
the regular worship service
I mean they're singing a song saying
I want to be a million you know it's a worldly
song it's a
wicked song
and they're singing this song in
church I mean talk about
a covetous attitude all those people
should have been thrown out
for singing that song I mean
he's there thinking this is weird
I mean anybody that's saved
hearing that come out of people's
mouths and you know there's
this is the worship service
I mean that's crazy
but it says verse six
godliness with contentment
is great gain when you're content
with the things that you have
you're not just always wanting more
always wanting a bigger slice of the pie
there's nothing wrong with wanting to take care of your family
or have enough to
pay your bills or whatever
but to be content with the
things you have is a good
attitude to have
and God will give you the things you need
and the desires of your heart anyway
verses later but it says
for we brought nothing into
this world when you were born you're
born with just the skin on your
body you know you weren't born
with anything you weren't born with a gold sack
you know tied to you or anything
you're born with just your flesh that's it
and it says and it is certain
we can carry nothing out you can't
take it with you either so just
stacking up all this wealth
and things like this you can't take it with you
you're not going to be able to take it with you so
it's you know to be content with the things you have
is good and I've mentioned
this before people your kids are just going to fight
over it anyway unfortunately
people family members fight over the wealth
that is left behind
so it's good for us to have
our wills
set up so that we
know that who's getting what so that there's
no fighting over it when we go
so it's as much as we
possibly can so anyway it says
and having food
and raiment let us
be there with content
now
but most people probably wouldn't
be content with that I mean would you be
content if you had just food and clothes
because most of us have
a place to go to sleep at night we have a nice
comfortable bed and
pillows but
there's people around the world right now that don't even
have that they might have a shack
if they're lucky but
we you know the Bible
is saying here that if you just have food and clothing
you should be just content with that
now of course God blesses us with
more and he gives us
a more abundant life than that but
he's just saying this is the attitude that we should have
if we have more than that we
are blessed more than a lot of people
are in this world
and it says but they that will be rich
fall into temptation
and a snare this is what the gambler wants
they want to be rich
and they want to have money for
nothing it says that they that will be
rich fall into temptation
and a snare and into many foolish
and hurtful lusts
which drown men into destruction
and perdition
so the
path to trying to be rich
is going to destroy
your life it's going to
what is perdition where you would just fall
away from the faith
and it says for the love of
money is the root of
all evil and the modern
versions will say well all kinds of
evil no the Bible says
in the King James Bible it says
the root of all evil
so we got to be careful about
not loving money and not wanting to be
rich and desiring to be rich
because God's going to take care of us anyway
so we should just let God
take care of that part we don't need to worry
about constantly scheming on how
we're going to get money
that's the attitude that we should have that God's
going to take care of us David
said I was young and now I'm old and I've
not seen his seed begging
for bread you know
God's going to take care of us
He is it says
for the love of money is the root
of all evil
or which some
excuse me which while some coveted
after and have aired
from the faith
and pierced themselves through with
many sorrows and you know what
most people if they're gambling
you know the places where
they have to go to gamble are these seedy
little places that
serve alcohol and
you know there's all kinds of scummy people
going in there these slot machine
places where you go in there
video poker
places where
they serve drinks
and you know there's people that are on drugs
that go to these places it's not
a good place to hang out like
in order to gamble you have to go to some pretty
shady places
and you're like well no because I do
sports booking I'm a good handicapper
and I know what I'm doing I know what I'm talking
about but here's the thing
people cheat there's
spreads for a reason and people
take falls for a reason and people
fix fights and that's been going
on since the beginning of time
you don't think that people go down
in certain rounds of course they do
you don't think that somebody misses a tackle
on purpose to
mess with the spread
in the NBA
there was referees that admitted
they got caught shaving points
call a foul here
don't call a foul there
and just making sure that the spread
wasn't so they
could win their gambling bets and stuff
and they just
are the ones that got caught what about the ones that
didn't get caught so all these sports
that everybody loves so much
I mean there's cheating going on
at all these different levels and now you have
sports gambling being promoted
in the NFL
in all these different sports
they have all these famous actors that are
doing you know plugging these sports betting
things and it's like
when I was younger that was a no
no I mean Pete Rose
is never going to be in the
Hall of Fame because he cheated on baseball
and it's like
he's you know he's begged and pleaded to
come back and they just will never let him
be in the Hall of Fame even though he had over
3,000 hits he's one of the greatest baseball players
that ever lived but he cheated
well a lot of people have cheated
I mean Barry Bonds
his head is like twice the size
three times the size as it was when he first got into baseball
he cheated doing steroids
Mark McGuire cheated doing steroids
Jose Canseco cheated doing steroids
Sammy Sosa cheated doing
steroids
I remember watching them have a home run
where they both like hit
what 70 home runs each or
I think Sosa hit 66 that year
and then McGuire hit 70
something and then Barry Bonds
broke that record they're all cheating
it's
all cheating and you know
they cheat and people
gamble on them and that's just
one aspect of gambling
what about card playing I remember
that
poker became you know
the Texas
Hold'em or whatever poker
became this big thing
and I think it's still pretty big
where people are just playing these
poker tournaments and stuff like that
and you know
I realize that there's a certain amount of skill
with playing some of these things
but you're still
getting cards dealt to you
that you don't know what you're going to get
and you still have to play I know people
will be like oh you don't understand you have to play
the person I get that
but you're still going to get
certain cards you know
and if you just think you're going to
go in and take down these professionals
you're wrong about that
just because you read some book or something
but you know you're going to
pierce yourself through with many sorrows if you just
think that you're going to get away with gambling
and that God's just going to
reward you because you're such a good
gambler you're wrong about that
and so turn to
Colossians chapter 3
verse number 5
and really I mean
gambling just a small
aspect of covetousness but
I mean what about the people with the
get rich quick schemes I mean who's
been at churches where someone's
trying to sell them Amway you know
you think that they oh someone so invited me
over for dinner and you think
oh that's really cool someone finally likes me or whatever
and then they get you over there and after dinner
they're like they pull out the pyramid scheme
you know to try to get you to sign up
for something and it's just like
I mean we shouldn't be
using churches as businesses
to try to get rich you know
to try to you know I mean those things
are scams too and that
is covetousness whether
you want to admit it or not and Jesus said we're not
supposed to buy or sell in the church anyway
he flipped tables over he whipped
people with cords over it he wasn't
very happy about it that's the one time you actually
saw Jesus actually physically
get angry where he actually
did something physically
and it's like he made
a cord he like just patiently sat there and
wove this cord together
and then it's like a cattle drive where he's
flipping tables over knocking the money changers
tables over the birds are flying
all over the place and sheep
and whatever because they're doing it
in the house of God they're
making God's house a house of merchandise
and we ought not to be doing that it's covetousness
you know they could have sold those
things outside but they didn't do it
Colossians 3 5 where it had you turn
it says mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth
fornication uncleanness
inordinate affection evil
concubicence and covetousness
which is idolatry
so
the love of money
is the root of all evil
because people can get to the point
where they worship money
and when you worship money what is that
it's idolatry
and so when you talk about covetous it says
which is idolatry you get to the point
where you're idolizing something
you're desiring something to the point
where that's all you think about that's what you're devoted
to and so covetousness
becomes idolatry to you
think about
Achan
you know he's called the
troubler of Israel
and I won't have you turn there but I'll just read this verse
for you this is you know
and he troubled the whole nation of Israel
they got they had a whole bunch of people
got killed because of him they had to turn tail
and run it says
in Joshua had to find him out
and it says when I saw among
the spoils this is his testimony of what happened
with him when I saw among
the spoils a goodly Babylonish
garment so he saw what he
liked right and 200
shekels of silver saw the money
and a wedge of gold
of 50 shekels weight then
I coveted them so he saw what
he liked he
looked at them he saw it he
wanted it he coveted it
and took them so then he went to the next
level and actually took those
items and behold
they are hid in the earth in the midst
of my tent and the silver under it
so what's the big
deal well god told them not to take
any of those spoils the first place that
they took they took care of
the first place they they they took
they he said don't take anything
from them that's all mine
and so
the other places they were allowed to take spoil from
but not this one and he just couldn't
help himself he he saw that
stuff and he you know
after the coding he basically
took it and it cost him his life
it cost him his life he was
killed for that and it really
messed up his lineage because he
was of the tribe of juda and
he was of the of the
two twins that were born unto juda
through tamar he
was of the other twin brother
and he's mentioned in the genealogies
and in first chronicles
as if like maybe if he
hadn't have done that that that line
could have possibly gone through him
but that line ended through him
and it went through the other brother
I mean I'm just I'm just thinking it was
a possibility because they were twin brothers
you know and one of them
had the one that he was the one that had
the scarlet thread
he's the one that had the scarlet thread tied to him
but it didn't go through him it went through the
other brother so interesting
but different sermon so
so he stole from
god is what is what it
really boils down to and his
covetousness affected the
whole congregation and you think about
other people that did this
Ananias and Sapphira a very popular story
in the book of Acts chapter number five
where god killed
them he killed a husband and wife
you know they came in
separately and Peter says
to them you know what why did
satan why did you allow satan to
to fill your heart to lie unto
the holy ghost you know you haven't
lied unto us and the money they
just sold their property and they pretended
like they were giving them all the money
but they held and kept some of the money back
why because
they were covetous because they
wanted to lie and keep that money back
so they sinned when it was
theirs to do with what they wanted
they didn't have to do that they
could have just kept it and said hey you know what we
really need to kind of live off the nest egg or whatever
you know we're going to give the
rest of this to you that's fine but
instead they lied about it and god
killed them for it so it's
it's not just like it's not a big deal
it is a big deal turn to first corinthians chapter
five first corinthians chapter
five now i've
preached some
i preach this whole sermon about
this here about these different
things but i just want to
focus in on this one thing because
and people say well pastor thompson's
mean he he's kicked people out
and he's done this and he's done that and
it's just like well the
the thing is that people just don't preach the whole
bible that's the real problem
and they just want to preach the loving
parts of the bible and they
never want to preach the stuff that
is actually
you know where god is upset
about things and
first corinthians five
you know paul tells us that we have to kick
certain people out look at verse eleven
it says but now i've
written unto you not to keep
company if any man that
is called a brother be a fornicator
or covetous
covetous
or an idolater
so that could be
the covetous idolater right
or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner
with such and one know not to eat
so if they're kicked out of church
and they've been
marked you're not supposed to
go outside the walls of the
church and still continue to break
bread with that person we're supposed to
shun that person so they'll get
right with god and then they come back
and say and apologize and say
i'm sorry or get right with god
and come back that's the whole point of it
right so not so that
we'll be somebody else will baby them and say
well i don't really agree with what the pastor said
no that's why you
shun that person
so that they'll come back and get right
because the purpose is to get them right
not to just be mean
so
it says uh
so we're not supposed to eat with them right it says for what
have i to do to judge them
also that are without do not eat
judge them that are within
but them that are without god judgeth
see the purpose of kicking them out is so god
will deal with them outside the walls of the
church it says therefore
put away from among yourselves that
wicked person so the bible's
calling someone that would be
covetous now of course everybody
has covetous things about
them but this i really
think that this is someone that's just
they're over the top it's just like
it's like basically become who they
are they're so covetous
that they probably do have some kind of really bad
gambling problem or they're just so
obsessed with money that it just pours
out of every uh oozes out of
every poor every church service that's
all they talk about is money
and the things that they have i mean
i don't know you know what your experience is
in church but i'm sure you probably
talk to somebody that they don't talk about
the things of god all they talk about
is the things that they have
i don't know about you but i've i have run into
people like that and they
just they come to church and it seems
like they're just networking rather
than uh working
for the lord so
the bible's clear about
just someone that's covetous
that we're supposed to get rid of that person
so um proverbs chapter
28 turn to proverbs chapter 28
proverbs chapter 28
the bible says
in verse 16 the bible says
the prince that wanteth
understanding is also
a great oppressor
but he that
hateth covetousness
shall prolong his days
so what's the bible teaching here
that we should hate covetousness
and maybe you don't hate it enough
and see here's the problem with us sometimes
we don't hate sin enough and maybe
we should pray that we hate
sin more because sometimes
we kind of get a little too comfortable
with sin and we're just like maybe
we should just pray that we hate sin more
maybe we should just pray that we understand
why god hates it because
god does hate sin
and maybe we just don't understand why
he hates covetousness so much
but you know when someone
marriage gets ruined because someone
coveted someone else's wife and stole somebody else's
wife maybe that's why god
hates covetousness so much
or maybe because all those people that got
killed because of Achan's covetousness
maybe that's why god hates
covetousness so much maybe because
a family that got kicked out on the
streets and is living in their car because
dad cared more about
gambling and drinking and
going out with his friends than he did about
paying his rent or mortgage that month
maybe that's why god hates covetousness
maybe that's why god hates
gambling so much
maybe that's why
god doesn't want those types of people
in our churches that are
gonna rub off and be leavened
in our churches
Matthew chapter 27 verse 35
you know we need to learn
to hate sin and if we don't hate it
maybe we just need to
when we're alone with god sometimes just be like hey god
for some reason
I don't hate this sin enough
and I don't know why would you help me
to hate this sin like you hate it
and so that I can understand
and maybe I can apply this to myself
and maybe I won't do this sin that you hate
so much
look at Matthew chapter 27 verse 35
the bible says and they crucified
him
and parted his garments
talking about the lord Jesus Christ of course
casting lots
that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet
they parted my garments among
them and upon my vesture
did they cast lots
what is this talking about?
well when Jesus is nailed to the cross
they took all of his clothes off
and they parted them out
and they gambled
for his clothing
that's what it's talking about
casting lots you know
whoever gets this certain lot
they're the ones that get that clothing
now let's turn to John chapter 19
it explains it a little bit more carefully
for us and helps us to really
understand what's going on here
because you know Jesus
didn't have a lot in this life
he was born
taking on the form of a
servant
he said you know
birds have nests
and foxes have holes but the son of man
have not where to lay his head
he really
was born to not much
he was poor he was born in a manger
he
he didn't have some plushy life
he wasn't born into some ivory
palace even though he was the king of kings
and lord of lords
but he did have a couple nice things and one of them
was the outfit that he wore
he did have a nice outfit because
why would they be gambling for something
that wasn't nice?
right? Look at verse
23 in John 19 it says
then the soldiers
when they had crucified Jesus
took his garments
from four parts
to every soldier apart
and also his coat
now the coat was without
seam woven
from the top throughout
so this coat is specially designed
it's kind of almost like
it's described as the high priest
outfit where it wasn't able to be rent
very easily
but in verse 24 it says
they said therefore among themselves
let us not rend it
and cast lots for it whose it shall be
so I mean these four soldiers
they probably make more money than Jesus
they're professional soldiers
why would they want Jesus'
outfit?
probably because it's pretty nice
so the one nice thing that he has
you got people as he's hung on a
cross
dying and they're just like
let's part his clothes up, let's gamble away
let's cast lots for it
and they're gambling
to the lord and savior of the whole earth
his clothes
really the last thing that he
owns on this earth
and it says that the scripture
might be fulfilled which saith
they parted my raiment among
them and for my vesture
they did cast lots
these things therefore
the soldiers did
pretty messed up right?
I mean among all
the bad things that were done to them on that day
one of the last things they do
is strip all of his clothes off
I mean he's on the cross
the bible says he's naked
I mean
they got his clothes, they're gambling for him
I mean who's heard of dice
games? I'm sure you've heard of dice games
where they throw them against the wall
whatever, they have games
called craps where
in casinos and stuff they throw the dice
against the wall, I've never played it before
so I don't really understand quite how it works
I've seen it played
and I know that people do
stuff like that, but lots
in a godly way
lots were cast so that the children
of Israel could divide up their
land, but do you think
that this is a godly thing that's being done here?
They're casting lots to see
who gets a guy
who's dying on
a cross, his clothing
now these guys are the soldiers
that have been putting all the punishments
upon him, these are the ones that
mocked him and put
a robe on him and said
hail king of the Jews
and smacked him in the head and put the
crown of thorns upon him, these are those guys
the four soldiers
that were punishing him
for something that he didn't do
so the one
time you really see gambling in the bible
I mean
it's being done
to our lord, pretty messed up
and
so it had to have been
a nice outfit, nobody's going to
gamble for some rags
if it was just some raggedy outfit
nobody's going to be like hey let's get that
for some homeless person's outfit
or something, nobody's going to gamble for that
like just get that away from me please
you know
but this apparently was nice enough that
they're willing to wash the blood stains out of it
or take it to a fuller or something and get it
washed up so they can maybe sell it or
wear it themselves
so turn to 1 Timothy
chapter 3 verse 2
the bible talks about bishops
not being
one of the
qualifications of a bishop
is that they're not covetous
they're not supposed to be covetous
they have a lot of different
qualifications they're supposed to meet but look at verse
2 it says a bishop then
must be
see that term must be
these are things that have to be
for a person to be a pastor
it says the husband of one wife
vigilant, sober, of good
behavior, given to hospitality
apt to teach, not given
to wine, no striker
not greedy of filthy
lucre, but patient
not a brawler, not covetous
so one of those qualifications
is the pastor can't be covetous
so Benny Hinn and all these guys
that are charging this exorbitant amount of money
and they're making millions of dollars
to be preachers and pastors
they're covetous
if a preacher is rich
and he didn't make his millions
doing something else
before he became a pastor
then he's covetous
if you have a private jet and you're a preacher
you're covetous
that's crazy
no preacher should be making
millions of dollars
that's insanity
unless like
all the
they just keep printing money to the point
where our money isn't worth what it once was
and I mean that could happen I guess
so
there is that
I think when I started working my first
job for like
I feel like it was like less than $4 an hour
what was the first job you ever had
well how much did you get paid
brother Rick
do you remember
yeah
$1.60
what's the minimum wage now
is it $15
that's
inflation folks
it's not
that you get paid more it's just that that's how much
money is not worth anymore
because my grandpa
my grandpa bought the first house he bought
when he married my grandpa or my grandma
excuse me
I think he paid like
I want to say it was like $2,000 or $3,000
or something for a house
it was stick built
in Portland, Oregon
and I think it sold for like
I don't know maybe $350,000
$400,000
might have been more than that I don't know
but
my grandma didn't work and he just worked
as a forklift operator
at United Grocers and he
retired from there after 30 years
and she didn't
work outside the home so
you could back then you could buy
stuff you know this is
yeah this is totally off topic but I mean I'm just
saying you know money used to be
worth a lot more than it is today
so anyway
let's move forward here
yeah there's false profits out there
and they want to make
merchandise of us they're covetous
and we do have to be aware
of people like that
let's see
as far as we go
though we have requirements
that God has for us
he doesn't want us just wasting our money on whatever
we want you know and
I'm not saying it is our money we
earn it but
you know God does expect us
to be good stewards of the things that he's
given us the money he's given us
and you're like well I did that
well you know God gives you the health
and the ability to work
and you know
maybe God allowed you to have the job that you have
that you just think you can do whatever you want
and really you can
but I mean
God does take care of us
and we should be good stewards
the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4 it says
moreover it is required in stewards that a man
be found faithful
and of course this is talking about Paul saying
stewards of the mysteries of God so I mean
it is taking a little bit out of context but
it is still true nonetheless that if you
are stewarding
your finances correctly
that we should be faithful in doing so
and we should not just
be blowing money on gambling
of course
or trying to get rich by pushing
you know doing all these get rich
quick schemes we should work
hard for what we get now turn to
Ephesians chapter 4
so instead of
just trying to get rich
doing gambling or some other kind of
you know easy money
there is no such thing as easy money
folks there just isn't
unless you know somebody passes away
and you didn't know you had a rich uncle and they just give you
all this money or something that only happens
in the movies though
I mean I suppose it could happen in real life
but
probably the worst thing that could happen to someone that didn't grow up with any
money is somebody just give them millions of dollars
these people
that win the lottery
there's like books written about how it ruins
their life all these people
there's so many people out there and they're just like
they play the lottery
all the time and
they're just like oh when I win the lottery
how much money do you think they've wasted
trying to just win the lottery
all their life and most people
never will you have a greater chance
of being struck by lightning twice I think
than you do of winning the lottery
so winning
those big you know most of the time
it's probably rigged too
I'm sure it's rigged
it's somebody's great niece or who knows
and you gotta pay taxes
on it
and then it ruins your life
you know there's books about it
so let's see
Ephesians 4.27 says
neither give place to the devil let him that stole
no more but rather let him
labor working with his hands
the thing which is
good that he may have
to give to him that needeth
that he be
God wants us to work for what we have
not to just
steal like people used to
or you know
he says to do that thing which is good
Hebrews 6.12 says
that he be not slothful but followers
of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises
so we shouldn't be slothful in our work
for the Lord we shouldn't be slothful
in our work
in the world and we
should be the example of workers
out in the world you know when
people say well hey how's so
and so doing they should be like he's great
they're the greatest
worker that we have here that should
be what people think about Christian
workers now there's a lot of
verses I could go to about
the people being slothful and
sluggards and you know
it's a shame when
Christians have these things said about them
I'll go through a couple here
you don't have to turn to these but I'm just going to read them
as fast as I can here Proverbs
6.6 go to the ant thou
sluggard consider her ways and
be wise you know we should look
at an ant just never stops working
he said if you want to
learn how to work hard just watch ants
they're constantly just carrying
things that are way heavier than them
they're just back and forth always doing
something he said consider
her ways consider the way an ant works
how long will thou sleep oh
sluggard when will thou rise out of
thy sleep hey if you love sleep
you're going to be poor
as vinegar to the teeth and as
smoke to the eyes so is the sluggard
to them that send them nobody
likes to send somebody that just isn't going to get
there fast or not going to get back
fast that's the worst
person you can send to do something
and then they don't even get the
job done right the soul of the
sluggard desireth and hath nothing
but the soul of the diligent
shall be made fat the
sluggard will not plow by reason
of the cold therefore shall he
beg in the harvest and have nothing
there's always an excuse
for lazy people to not do stuff
Proverbs 12.24 says
the hand of the diligent shall bear rule
but the slothful shall be under
tribute the
slothful man rosteth not
that which he took in hunting but
the substance of a diligent man
is precious so a slothful
man he won't even skin the
animal that he got he just probably wants to take the horns and
take them home
the way of the slothful man is a
hedge of thorns but the way
of the righteous is made plain
he also that is slothful
is his work is
is brother to him that is
is a great waster in his
work excuse me his brother to him
is a great waster the slothful
man hideth his hand in his bosom and will not
so much as bring it to his mouth again
if you're that lazy
I mean you got real problems
it's like you put your hand in your bosom and it's like
oh I can't quite
get my hand nevermind
you know
and then it says the slothful in Proverbs
22.13 it says the slothful man
sayeth there's a lion without I shall be slain
in the streets you know
it's just another way of saying
there's just always an
excuse why you can't get something
done
I went by the field of the slothful
by the vineyard of the man of void of
understanding the slothful man
you know and what happens
when he sees that well
everything's destroyed
you know he just isn't taking care of his home
the slothful man sayeth there's a lion in the way
a lion in the streets
as the door turn
upon its hinges so doth the slothful
upon his bed you know lazy people
just love to sleep and they don't want
to do any work
so here's a good one
the desire of the slothful killeth him
for his hands refuse
to labor so you're like basically
killing yourself because
you know the one thing that you should be
doing is laboring and
you don't desire to do that
so it kills you
the bible says in Romans 12
11 not slothful in business
fervent in spirit
serving the Lord this is how
the Christian should operate and it shouldn't be
by getting your gain
from covetousness or any
sort of get rich quick
schemes or gambling
I'm going to lay out some money
management principles real quick
and these are things that should help
you as a Christian
three plans that God has
for our money
receiving well the first thing
how do we receive money well working
hard for it right
or you know you could pray
that God gives you money
you could pray or God giving
you more and providing for
your faithfulness you know God
you know it's funny that God
when you tithe God says
prove me now here with saith the Lord
and that I will open up the
windows of heaven and pour you out of blessing
when you know and I don't like to preach
about money that often because people
I'm sure you've gone to churches where the only
thing that they preach about or the main thing
that they preach about is money and that gets
really annoying like every time the
offerings called up the pastors like
preaching who's been in a church where
the pastors is preaching constantly about
money it's it's annoying
and it's like come on pastor
we heard this sermon last time you took
up the offering it's like
it's annoying but you know
it's important to talk about things
every once in a while and tithing
is a principle found in the Bible
so but
the the the thing about
tithing though is if you obey
what God's saying
he promises that if you
just prove him
he will pour you out of blessing
now that doesn't necessarily mean that
next week he's you know a dump
truck is going to accidentally dump a million dollars
in front of your house oh sorry you know
you know that's not what it's saying
but like
when you're
poor it seems like
it is harder to tithe
it really is when you
don't have a lot and you're just like barely making
it and you're like I don't even know how I'm going to pay my bills
without or without tithing
how about with tithing but
what you can't factor in
and this is just something
that you have to take by faith
is that somehow God
still allows you to make it
and it's
just a weird thing it's not
weird it's just it's just
when God says to prove me he really
means it
like you know have you ever heard those stories
where people are like and then like next week
a check came in the mail for
such and such the exact amount of money
like I used to think
man that's just come on
but it actually
has happened to me
when I like
started being really faithful in my tithing
like that stuff would happen to me
and there would be times I'm like
I don't know how I'm going to
pay my bills or whatever but
I'm just going to trust you God and
things would happen you know I would somehow
I'd make it somehow we always had
enough and
and it's true and so one of the ways
we receive money or one of the ways
that we receive
from God is that when you're faithful
to him he's going to be faithful to you
and when he says prove me he really
does mean it so
and when it comes to us giving
that's another thing that he wants
that's one of the God's plans for our money
he wants us to give back 10%
that's what tithe means
and you're like well that's old testament well
before the law came about
Abraham gave 10%
Jacob gave 10%
Isaac gave 10%
like that was before the law ever existed
how do you explain that well because
it's always been a principle with God
and you're like well does he still want
that well yeah he still wants it it's still the way
God operates how do you think
how do you think that this building got paid for
how do you think that the lights are still on
how do you think that we
get all the materials that we get
tithing, giving
and so that's
how God still operates today
it's just kind of
incorporated into the new testament so
and then free will
offerings, special offerings
that's another plan that God
and again that's free will
I don't ever expect you to give
more than 10%
if you're tithing you're right with God
and I
another thing that really bugs me
is at churches where they're like
whole paycheck sunday
or you know it's just like
you're going to give your whole paycheck
just do it by faith and they're just like trying to get you
to give more than
you can't do that to people
all the time it's just
it's ridiculous or they always
have a building project going on
so I give to the building fund
or you know it's just
always or let's do faith promise
you know first of all
you can't promise what you're going to give because
you don't know what's going to be going on for the next year
how are you going to
give to faith promise when you
you're going to make a promise
that you're going to pay
these missionaries when you don't even know
whether you're going to have you know
whether you're going to break your toe and not be able to work next week or whatever
you don't know what's going to come
you don't know what a day is going to bring forth
how are you going to promise something that you can't keep
and then you promised
God that you were going to pay these missionaries
and then you don't do it
it's better to
it's better to not vow
than it is to vow and not pay
that's what the Bible says
so we should just
shut our mouths and not vow
you know so a free will offering
means just that
if you want to give more you may do that
if you're just like well you know I just wanted
to give something over above
the tithe well that's between you and God
but I'm not going to ask you to do that
I mean I'm not saying I would never
ask for an extra offering
I don't think that I ever have I can't remember
if I ever have but if there was some
great need I might ask
for a love offering for someone
maybe someone just hurt or sick or just
needs something extra
I might do something like that
but it'd be a very rare
circumstance but
you can do that
and I think that it's so I mean you see
it happen in the Bible I mean when the
when the temple need to be renovated
you know they put it like a chest in the back
and it just kept getting filled up
because God's people were just like hey we need to
we need to disperse this place up
nothing wrong with that you know
when things were being built and things need to be done
it just needs sometimes stuff
needs to get done so they would
ask for you know for the people to
do stuff like that but anyway
alms alms is like
that's not giving to the
church alms is
when you give to someone in need
and that should be something that you do
in secret as much as possible
but again God's
plan for our money
would be how we
receive it how we give
and then how we manage
so we
live on the rest so
really what we receive from our hard
work and what we
after we give the
tithe the rest we live off of
and you know we should
pay our bills promptly
we should pay our
taxes and we
should borrow as little as possible
now I don't think borrowing
is a sin
I think lending
in usury for
us to lend to somebody else with usury
is a sin for sure
it's a wicked sin
us borrowing
and someone charging us
usury that's not a Christian
I think that that's okay to do
but I don't think it's
the best situation I think we should
to the best
of our ability we should pay for everything
as we have
the money for it so but it is
you know I'm not saying
don't ever borrow but as
little as possible do that
build up a
sales resistance every week in the
mail you get junk mail who gets junk
mail every week it's
annoying isn't it but you just can't
help sometimes but to look through
but what does that teach you to do
it teaches you to covet doesn't it
you really do kind of need a lawn mower
you know the old ones you know if it still works
it's like just skip that page or whatever
you know
the car you know you can get a new car
here's the financing stuff it's just like
we need to learn to build up a sales resistance
you know we don't there's a lot of stuff that we
buy that we really don't need
and then stay out of debt
as much as we possibly can
so I understand sometimes you need
to buy a new car your old one breaks
down whatever but
those those three things
you know as much as possible
you know we should stick within those parameters
of working hard
but make sure that you give back a portion
of what God's already given you
and you know what he will bless you but if you don't
you'll have holes in your bags
you know you think well I just can't
afford to tithe well you know what you can't afford not to
that's the reality of it
because that new car that you decided to get instead
well the engine might just blow up
or you know the washer and dryer
you just bought the brand new washer and dryer
suck anyway because
they're not as good as the old Kenmore
and all the Whirlpools and stuff
I still have some old school ones
and I really don't want to buy
any new ones the old ones
are the best ones if you can get those repaired
they're better but
whatever stuff
doesn't last like it used to but
it's going to last even less
if you're if God just wants to destroy
what you have it's like he allowed the children
of Israel's shoes on their feet
to not wear out for 40 years
he can allow your stuff to last
longer too but you know what
if you're robbing God and that's what the Bible says
when you don't tithe
he says well a man robbed God
yet you have robbed me
he said wherein have you robbed me
in tithes and offerings that's what he says
and it's like that's pretty
crazy that we
rob God like that but
people have I have
I'm sure you have too at some point
so that's something we
we need to do the Bible says
in Proverbs 22 verse 7 it says
the rich ruleth over the poor
and the borrower
is servant to the lender so
just know this if you borrow money
you're servant
to that lender you have to pay them
and what happens if you don't pay them they come after you
don't go to Aaron's to get
your dishwasher okay
that's like going to the mafia
to get something
really if you
miss one payment they're going to be at your door like
we're here for the dishwasher
we got a baseball bat
you know what I mean and they charge
like the craziest
the craziest
amount of usury
ever so
the Bible says that
we're supposed to
owe no man anything
in Romans 13.8
gambling does not fit
in God's plan it just doesn't
so turn to Matthew chapter 6
and I'll try to wrap this up here
in just the next couple minutes but
the Bible says in
Matthew 6 24 this is a very famous
passage here
it says in Matthew 6 24
says no man can serve two masters
for either he will hate
the one and love the other
or else he will hold
to the one and despise
the other you cannot
serve God and mammon
what is mammon
it's money things
stuff it's not just
necessarily only money but it's just the
things you know stuff
so Jesus said
you can serve God
you can serve mammon
but you can't serve God
and mammon you can't do it both at the same
time you're going to hate one
and love the other
so if your life's ambition
is to be rich and to
make a lot of money then
that's what you're going to do but you're not going to serve
God you see the difference
but if your life's ambition is to
serve God and to love God
then he's going to let the other
things happen automatically
not that you're going to be rich necessarily but he's going to
take care of you
so and the things that you're so worried about all the time
are just going to happen automatically
so it's like why worry about
everything turn to
psalm 37 verse 3
I only have one two
places left to go
and we'll be wrapping it up here
psalm 37 verse 3
I'm sorry I lied
one two three yeah one two three
places
psalm 37 verse 3
I found this these verses this is great
right here
and this kind of just puts it all in perspective
as to how God
wants you to do things
trust in the Lord and do good
so shalt thou
dwell in the land
verily thou shalt be
fed
so you trust in the Lord you do good
he's going to let you dwell in the land
and truly or verily
thou shalt be fed he's going to take care of you
he's going to make sure you're fed you got food
delight thyself also in the Lord
and he shall give thee
the desires of thine heart
you want all these things
well hey delight yourself in God
he's going to make sure these things happen
commit thy way onto the Lord
trust also in him
and he shall bring it to pass
I mean that's good stuff
right there
you see how if you just
put all your eggs in God's basket
then all the other stuff is going to take care of
itself
turn to Matthew chapter 6 I'm going to read
Proverbs 15 verse 16
Proverbs 15 verse 16 says
better is little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure
and trouble therewith
better is little
with the fear of the Lord
it's better to have just to just kind of be scraping
by and you might not feel that
way when you're scraping by
but I guarantee you
that when you look back
on your life and you look back
on the time with your kids
and the time when you were kind of
scraping by and you were just trusting
in God and fearing the Lord
you're going to look back on that time
and you're going to look back on fondness
of the times that you were just really close
with God really close with your
family and instead
of just the time when you had abundance
and plenty and it says
better is a dinner of herbs
where love is
than a stalled ox
and hatred therewith
and really what that verse is trying to say
it's better to have
some asparagus for dinner
and love
and it's basically
just like saying it's better to just
not have a lot of stuff
than to have that stalled ox
you got the
the bronco
in the garage or whatever
that you're paying $800 a month
for and then
your wife's mad at you because
you don't have any money because you're paying for this stupid car
or whatever you know what I mean like
it's just it's better
to have little and love
it's better to love the Lord
and fear Him
and not have as much than to have
all these other troubles in your life
Matthew chapter 6 verse 28 the Bible says
and why take ye thought
for raiment why are you worried about
all the clothes you need to get
consider the lilies of the field how they grow
they toil not
neither do they spin
and yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these
wherefore if God so clothed the grass of the field
which is
which today is
and tomorrow is cast in the oven
shall He not
shall He not much more clothe you
O ye of little faith
so he's just saying hey
you're not so worried about this stuff
and you got such little faith but you know he's gonna
he cares about us he's gonna
take care of us he knows what we need
therefore take no
thought saying what shall we
eat or what shall we drink
or wherewithal shall we be clothed
for all after all these
things do the Gentiles seek and you might as well
just think this is what the unbelievers
seek this is what the people that have
no faith this is what they want this is what
they are thinking about all the time
and it says for your heavenly father
knoweth that you have
need of these things it's like
do you think that God just doesn't realize you need
these things and you're just like oh
what am I gonna do we need all this stuff it's like
God knows this stuff He already knows
what you need He knows
and He's gonna take care of us
but we just have to focus on what
what that our heart is right
and that we're serving Him
and He's just gonna make sure it's all taken care of
look at verse 33 but seek
ye first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness
and all these things shall
be added unto you see
we have to be right
and then He's gonna take care of
us it's just real simple
take therefore no thought for
the morrow for the morrow shall take
thought of the things of itself
He's just like you seek
first the kingdom of God you seek
His righteousness everything
that you need is gonna
be added to you are we gonna
have hard times still of course we're gonna
still have hard times this is a
separate thing you know just because
we serve the Lord doesn't mean
we're not gonna have trials and temptations
and heartaches and pain we're still gonna have all
those things and when we get to heaven we have
our glorified bodies then
you know things are gonna be perfect and
and all that but
you know we're still not gonna
we're we
don't need to go seeking after money
we don't need to be seeking to be rich
we don't need to go gamble
to make sure that we have the
ends meet that's the dumbest way to try to
make money it really is
and it is a vice
that is
600
or 66
$665 billion
every
oh no excuse me
66.5 billion
in America every year
2.53 billion
Washington state alone
every year
$565 billion worldwide
2022
that's a lot of money
and you know where they're getting it
from dumb suckers
that bet on
stupid things
and this is the money they're making
this is probably after they've paid everything
out so people win
but they're making this
profit this is half a trillion dollars
and that's just the ones
that are official what about
all the bets that people make that aren't official
all the ones that you know you can't
go online or whatever the bookies
and I mean those things still exist
people bet on
all kinds of things
and you know
it's funny our own government
is made all this legal
why
well they put all the mafia
and stuff out of business because they were making all this money
and they're like well this is a pretty good idea
why didn't we do this
the whole time
and so then they make it you know
because they get a slice of the pie
and so now
let's give all the Native Americans
the casinos look at all the jobs
that it brings forth look at all the
misery that it brings forth also
look at all the drunkenness
it brings forth look at all the heartache
and drug addiction it brings forth too
do you think that casinos
are a good thing for people
it's if you look up the statistics
about places that get
casinos it's not a happy ending
for people
and you know
the government is just
it seems like everything
that all the mafia
and all these different places you know
that everything that used to be illegal
the government now just supplies those needs
now
and just make sure that you know it's
in certain areas and all these things
but
there's all
kinds of wickedness going on and our government
is helping
they're not stopping it
so if you're a Christian
the last thing you
should be doing is being
you know going and gambling in a casino
or sports betting
you know if you're a Christian
and you're good at playing poker
if you're just playing for fun
I don't think it's sinful
but you know what I do think
I think if you're in a casino
and you're playing cards
and you're a Christian and you think
well I'm just wanting to be good so like you know it's a skill
pastor you just don't understand
God's going to make you lose
so I don't care how good you get at it
and how much money you start winning you're eventually
going to lose because you know what the house
always wins and God
is not going to just let you
be some professional
gambler and be
you know in the end
everything's going to work out for you
it's not going to happen he's not going to allow it
to happen it's just like if you're a murderer
you're not going to get away with it it's just like
all these other sins
God you know what's the verse of the week
you know if they
break my statutes and keep not my commandments
then I'll visit their transgressions with the rod
you think
you're going to get away with it?
you're not going to get away with it
God will not allow you to get away with making
a living through gambling and covetousness
it's not going to happen
you might get away with it for a while but it's not going to last forever
alright let's pray
Lord we thank you so much
for the Bible
and Lord I pray that you would just help us
to be people that would work hard
and the things that we
bring forth from our hands are things
that you bless us with Lord I pray that you would help us
to put you first
in the kingdom of God and your righteousness
Lord and that we would trust
in the system that you put in place
for us and that you would bless this
church Lord bless everybody in it
help us to
love you and to keep your commandments
and that you'd be pleased
with the things that we do
for you in your name
Lord Jesus we pray, Amen
Amen
I'll turn this off
okay thank you
Pastor Thompson for that great
sermon
teaching us
right from the Bible that we ought not to covet
that's a good lesson
well let's sing 321
for our final song
our closing song
321
Paul's favorite, his new favorite
Nothing Between
Nothing between
my soul and the
Savior
not of this world's
delusive dream
I have
renounced all sin
for pleasure
Jesus'
mind has nothing
between
nothing between
my soul and
the Savior
so that his blessed
face may be seen
nothing
preventing the least
of his favor
keep the way
there's nothing
between
nothing between
like worldly
pleasure
habits of life
though harmless they seem
must not my
heart from him
ever sever
he is my
all there's nothing
between
nothing between
my soul and the Savior
so that his
blessed face
may be seen
nothing preventing
the least of his
favor keep
the way clear
let nothing between
on the last
nothing between
even many
heart-trotting
though the whole world
against me convene
watching with
much
self-denial
triumph at last
with nothing between
nothing
between my soul
and the Savior
so that his
blessed face may
be seen
nothing preventing
the least of his
favor keep
the way clear
let nothing
between