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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Good morning. It's good to see everybody this morning. Thanks for coming to Pure Words Baptist Church. We're going to go ahead and get started. So go ahead and pull out your white handouts. They're probably scattered around there. Got a few of them under the chairs. We're going to sing holy, holy, holy for our first song. Holy, holy, holy. Let you guys get situated there. Song number holy, holy, holy. We'll sing nice and loud starting there on the first. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God almighty. Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy. Merciful and mighty. God in three persons. Blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy. All the saints adore thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Holy, holy, holy. And there of them falling down before thee. Which were ten or ten evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy. Though the darkness hide thee. Though the eye of sin foments thy glory may not see. Only thou art holy. There is none beside thee. Perfect in power in love and purity. And last. Holy, holy, holy. Lord God almighty. All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy. Merciful and mighty. God in three persons. Blessed Trinity. Amen. Brother Jeff, you want to pray for us this morning? Amen. All right, so go ahead and pull out your hymnals, and turn in your hymnals to song number 343. Remember 343, 343. Revive us again. 343. Go ahead and start there on earth. We praise thee, O God, for the son of thy love. For Jesus who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy spirit of light. Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain. Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. Amen. Great singing. I love that song. So at this time, we'll go ahead and go over the announcements for the morning. So go ahead and pull out your bulletin. If you didn't grab a bulletin, just go ahead and raise your hand. We'll have Brother Joel bring them around to you guys. And on the very front page, we do have our Bible memory passage. We are in verse number 36 of Romans chapter number 8. We only have a few more verses to go, so we're rounding this one out. If you could quote the entire chapter, we're perfect to a non-family member. You will receive a special prize there at the end. And then, as always, children 18 years old or under, if you could quote this one verse, by the next midweek service, you will receive an ice cream treat. So definitely work on memorizing the chapter and the verses. If you open up your bulletin, we have our service times listed on the top left. Sunday morning, 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening, 5 30 p.m. And Thursday evening is our midweek Bible study at 7 p.m. We have our soul winning times with our respective leaders listed there underneath that and our stats. Do we have any salvation report from Friday, Saturday, Brother Mo? One and one, two. You got three? Four. Good job. And Brother Mo hit, texted in with seven, so praise the Lord on that. So definitely keep up the good work, soul winning. We do still have some prayer requests listed. Definitely keep Brother Edward in your prayers for his ongoing health. We also have the artist family, more specifically Sister Terry's father. Just be in prayer for his health, that everything goes well with his health and their family. And if you do have any special prayer requests, email those into the church at purewordsbaptist at gmail dot com. There on the next page, we have some expecting ladies. We have Miss Sarah Gomez. She's expecting to deliver any day now. So we've had some appointments, everything's going well. The baby's healthy, mom's healthy, so be in prayer for her and that little boy. We also have Sister Corinne Darnell expecting in June. So just be in prayer for her as well that the baby develops nice and healthy and she stays healthy. But there underneath that, we do have a long list of events and guest preachers. Today, November 14th, we have Brother Chris Segura back with us. It's always a pleasure having him come preach both services for us. He brought a couple of his kids. Whenever you guys get a minute, shake their hands. Thank him for coming down. Tuesday, November 23rd is our Thanksgiving service. So that is going to be the midweek service for that week and it's going to take place on a Tuesday. Okay, so no Thursday service. It's going to be on that Tuesday. November 28th, we have Brother Chris Segura back with us. He just needs to get a rental house down here, you know? We're trying to hook him up. Right, yeah. So it's definitely always a blessing having him. He'll be back on the 28th. Friday, December 3rd will be our Christmas caroling and pizza fellowship. So I believe we're going to be meeting here at the church house at 5 p.m. to go out Christmas caroling. And then after we're done Christmas coloring, we're going to have that pizza fellowship. Sunday, December 5th, Pastor Shelley is going to be preaching both services for us. December 19th, Brother Duncan Urbanic. December 23rd, we're going to have our Christmas candlelight service and the cookie bake-off. So that will be that midweek service. And then January 2nd, Brother Chris is back with us. And then we have Brother Duncan Urbanic and then Brother Ben Naim, otherwise known as Ben the Baptist. So a long list of upcoming preachers. Definitely a blessing to have all these guys preach for us. And then the last thing that I have is that after this service, we are going to be taking pictures. So if you're here and you want to have your pictures in the yearbook, we have the props. I'm going to need two men to help me set up the props after this service. We'll get it set up and we'll take pictures. If you're not here for pictures today, we're having pictures on Thursday as well. So definitely be prepared for those pictures. But with that, that is the announcements for the morning. Go ahead and pull your hymnals back out and turn to song number 325. 325, Trust and Obey. 325. Let's start there on the first. When we walk with the Lord, in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way. While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies, but his smile quickly drives it away. Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh nor a tear, can abide while we trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil he doth richly repay. Not a grief nor a loss, not a frown nor a frost, but is blessed if we trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. But we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay. For the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Then in fellowship suite we will sit at his feet or we'll walk by his side in the way. What he says we will do, where he sends we will go. Never fear, only trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. We'll go ahead and pass the offering plate. All right, Matthew chapter number 13. We're here again and we're going to read this chapter together as always, so if you would find your place, Matthew chapter number 13. Follow along with me where the Bible reads, starting in verse 1, The same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside. Great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and set, and the whole multitude stood on his shore. And he spake many things unto him in parable saying, Behold, a sword went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside. The fowls came and divided them up. Some fell upon stoning places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no depthness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were sports, and because they had no roots, they withered away. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But the other fell in good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. But the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parable? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak unto them in parable, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, at least at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sword, when any one hears the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receives seed by the wayside. But he that receives the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it, yet had no root in himself, but durst for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. And he also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also bears fruit, and bringeth forth some in hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty. Another parable he put forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while the men slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blades were sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the household came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in the field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, With thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, at least while ye gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with him. Let both grow together unto the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles, and burn them, but gather the wheat unto my barn. Another parable he put forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Another parable spake he unto them, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, for the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, or other things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house, and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man, The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that soweth them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of peace. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. And again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire that shall be wailing and gnashing of peace. Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed them. And when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James and Joses, Simon, Judas, and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? They were offended in him, but Jesus said unto them, The prophet is not without honor, saving his own country and in his own house. And he did not many works there because of their unbelief. I'll try to head for another quick word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for coming together again, like I asked earlier. It's in your all praise and glory for all things. Please, brother, it's pure with your spirit that it's been so long to be with you. And we thank you always. Amen. Well, it's good to be back, and thank you for coming this morning. Now, if you take your Bibles, look right down there in Matthew 13. Matthew 13, we're going to look at verse number 22. Verse number 22 says this, He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and that the seafulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh on fruit. And what I want to preach about this morning is that the seafulness of riches, that the seafulness of riches. And this isn't something that I've seen a lot in the new IFB, but I did notice it when I started going to the old IFB as the churches got bigger. We did kind of see it, noticed it a little bit more often than not. Why? Because it tends to get bigger and bigger as churches obviously grow and grow. More and more people are joining, and it seems like there's always like a set. In other words, there always seems to be people that kind of just go there because they want to kind of take advantage of church members. And what I mean by that is simply this. We had a church member once who he claimed to be a Christian, claimed he was good to go as far as salvation. He gave me the right gospel, but he ended up joining our church, and it was kind of like, hey, welcome here and there and whatever. And then we kind of noticed that after something happened, he just took off, wasn't there anymore. And what was the issue? The issue was this. At the time when this guy showed up, our church was actually selling our building, and we didn't have a real estate agent. And so our building was offered up for $3.6 million. $3.6 million. And I didn't catch it at first, but this guy comes up to me and says, hey, you know, you guys are selling your building because there's a real estate agent, so they're always looking at what's going on in the real estate world. And this guy ended up just, I guess, coming across our church property that, yeah, we put it on sale, but we didn't have an agent. It was just one of those things that we just worked out that way. And so he ends up just coming, and the pastor talks to him and whatever. And the pastor comes up to me, he's like, I don't know about this guy. I'm pretty sure he's here just because we're selling the building. Call me crazy. I don't want to judge the guy. Let it be. And sure enough, once we picked our real estate agent, he was gone. He wasn't there anymore. I would see him here and there because I kind of worked with the guy, but he didn't want anything else to do with the church once the building sold or once we had an agent. You know, but the thing is this. I haven't necessarily, like, seen a lot of it in our movement, but I see it kind of pop up here and there. And obviously with children and teenagers, you see it even more, especially since they're being bombarded just about everywhere that, listen, if you want to be happy, these are the things that you need. Whether they're watching the movies, whether they see it on TV or on the internet or whatever, what do they usually see? They see people that seem to be happy, and what do they always seem to, like, push? They tend to push cars. They tend to push, you know, certain jobs. You know, they tend to push even houses or whatever the case. And recently our pastor spoke about a story about one guy was trying to convince another guy to go in a certain career. You know, it's not a bad career. You know, it's a career of being a doctor. What was the main motivation that this individual was pushing this young kid? The main motivation was not helping people. The main motivation was money. And that was the big thing. It's like, hey, you should try to go into this career, you know, because you get paid very well as a doctor. You make this much, and you'll be able to afford this and that and whatever. And he's like, well, look, I think it's a great profession, but I'm not going to get into it for the money. You know, I want to get into it because it's something that I believe I want to do, and it's a good career, and it's something I want to do for the rest of my life. But that was the biggest thing that they were pushing. If you have your Bibles, go to 1 Timothy, chapter number 6, verse 8. 1 Timothy, chapter number 6, verse 8. And even growing up, I mean, that's all we saw on TV. I didn't grow up going to church. I grew up just as a Catholic kid. You know, so our parents weren't strict. They let us watch TV, watch movies. They let us do a lot of things. And so, yeah, we got deceived as children where we wanted to grow up and be millionaires. You know, I wanted to grow up to be a rapper. Why? You know, because that's what they pushed. You know, they pushed the gold, the silver, and the precious stones. You know, they're pushing it. You know, they're pushing the cards. You know, I grew up listening to Tupac, and what does he push? He pushes Mercedes, you name it. I grew up listening to Too Short, same thing. He's pushing drugs. He's pushing money. He's pushing all these different things. And I'm thinking, yeah, you know, it would be cool to have those things. And then as teenagers in high school, people are trying to get those things. You know, they got the chains. They got the expensive shoes. They got the $150 Nikes. You know, I have basically the pro wings, like Professor Steven Edison talks about. You know, we didn't go and shop for Nikes. I never even saw a pair of Nikes until the Goodwill, and that was when I was in my mid-20s. You know, but nothing against Nikes. They said that they're not what you think you are. Don't believe me. You know, just Google a video where some guy who's a basketball player has these expensive Nikes on. I think his name was Zion Williams. I don't know if you guys know who that guy is, but that kind of made me think even more that Nike is not what people crack up to be. Because this guy's wearing a brand new pair of shoes. He was a college basketball player, you know, very popular guy. They were actually playing a big game. It was one of the big games, one of the big games of the year. And this guy, Zion Williams, he's like 250 or 270 pounds, and he had a brand new pair of Nikes. And within the first minute, you know, he has the ball. And I don't know what happened, but his Nike shoe exploded. Who's ever seen that video? You guys never seen that video? So, because that's what they do to these college players. I mean, he's in the NBA now. I mean, he's injured, you know, just kind of, you know, whatever. I kind of check and see what he's up to. But that's kind of what he's known for in college more than anything is his shoe exploded. You know, and it was within 30 seconds, brand new pair of shoes, and it injured him. And I think he couldn't play for the rest of the season except for maybe the championship game. But he wasn't the same for the loss of the championship game. You know, but that's what we think. Oh man, more expensive, must mean better quality and whatever. No, Nike lost like a billion dollars in stock once that shoe blew up. You know, so I don't want to give you a heads up, but what people thought right after that shoe exploded. You know, but while you guys go to 1 Timothy 6, 8, I'm going to read from Proverbs 38 that says this. Remove from me, you know, remove far from me, not just remove from me. This is an individual who's praying. Obviously, you know, it's in the book of Proverbs, so it's kind of something that we should learn from. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. Now, this is a smart individual. He says, I don't want to be poor, and I don't want to be rich. I just want things that are convenient for me. And then later on, if you keep reading, it says because if I'm poor, I may be tempted to steal. And that's going to ruin my reputation. That's going to cause people to blaspheme the name of the Lord. And this and that is what pretty much happens when people fall in love with money, and they'll do whatever it takes to get some. They end up causing a lot of sin to come into their lives, and they destroy their testimony. And when people know that they're Christians, it's even worse. Because then they'll look at it like, hey, is that what you're learning from your religion? I want nothing to do with it. You lied, you stole, you did whatever you had to do to make money. But that'll cause you to make people doubt whether or not your religion is even something you should look into. But Ecclesiastes 5 says this, he that love his silver should not be satisfied with silver. And that was one of the verses when I first read as a young Christian that made me wonder like, whoa, those that love silver should not be satisfied with silver? It wasn't hard to figure out. It's saying, hey, don't become an individual that loves money. Because it is true, like the Bible says, if you love money, you're going to hurt yourself. You're going to cause yourself to have many, many pains in your life. You know, Proverbs 23, 4 says this, labor not to be rich, cease from thy own wisdom. And why should you not labor to be rich? You're right there in 1 Timothy 6, 8. Let's start looking at what the Bible starts teaching us in regards to not just having money, but loving money. It says, and having food in raiment, let us be there with content. On a day that will be rich, we just saw in Proverbs 23, 4, that tells us not to labor to be rich. Don't make it your goal to have millions and millions and millions of dollars. Yes, I'll talk about how being rich is not the problem. Having money is not the problem. That's not what I'm talking about this morning. I'm talking about this morning, the love of money, more clearly, letting yourself be deceived by riches. Making yourself think that, you know what, it would be nice if I had more things. You know what, maybe I should look into something else. Maybe I should look into a different career. Maybe I should start aiming to make a little bit more money. And I'm thinking of X, Y, and Z careers. Where when you talk to anyone, they'll tell you, no, don't go that route. What's the big deal? The big deal is look what it's doing. It's going to cause you to miss church. It's going to cause you to basically go to less church, not more church. And so our answer to that is don't think about it. Don't go that route. And you guys will see it sooner or later. There'll be people in here that are doing great. They have a decent job. But they get offered something better. We're all going to be tempted. Every single one of us is. We're all going to be tempted. And the first question should be, it's like, whoa, is it going to help me or hinder me from serving the Lord? Is it going to make it easier for me to serve the Lord or make it harder? Yes, it would be great to make that extra ten, fifteen, twenty dollars in a year. But that's just the deceitfulness of riches. It may at first seem like, oh yeah, I could use that money. But the problem is simply this. If it's going to cause you to do less for the Lord, it's never worth it. Because what really matters is the true riches. And by keeping God's commandments, it says that we're going to receive great rewards. You know, so you guys are right there and here's the problem. The problem is simply this. Proverbs 23, 4 tells us, don't labor to be rich. Don't worry about that. Don't worry about having money. Don't worry about making millions and millions of dollars. Hey, that's not the most important thing. And then 1 Timothy explains why. But they that will be rich, you're going to fall into temptation and a snare. And into many, not some, not a few, into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil. While some covet it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. How about that for an explanation? Yeah, you may read in Proverbs, your Proverbs of the day, it may be the 23rd day of the month, so you're reading Proverbs 23 and you come across labor not to be rich. That doesn't seem so scary. You're like, okay, all right, you know, labor not to be rich. Yeah, I see what you mean. But then 1 Timothy is like, wow. It's like, they that will be rich, you know. It says they're going to fall. They will fall into temptation, a snare, many foolish, hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction. In other words, don't labor to be rich. Don't try to be a rich man. If you're doing it for the wrong reasons, you will destroy your life. And guess what? Not just yours, but those around you. Go to Joshua chapter number 7 verse 20. When I think about this verse, the love of money is the root of all evil. When it talks about destroying your life, I see in 1 Timothy 6 the word coveted. So when I think of this verse, I can't help but think of Achan every single time. I recently preached about Achan, but that's the guy that this scripture reminds me of more than any other Bible character. And there are some Bible characters. If I were to say, hey, think of a Bible character that had the love of money and destroyed his life. You can probably think of some. First guy that comes to mind besides Achan is Lot. This is a guy who decided to go to Sodom, live there. Why? Because he saw that it could benefit him financially. He had a lot of animals. He had a lot of servants. He said, you know what? It would be good to move down there because that will benefit me with my business of having animals and whatever. And we'll look at what happened to him. Another person you can think of is in the book of Ruth. Where they went into that land where Naomi, her husband, took them to the land with her sons. They go there because of the famine and what ends up happening? They went there because of the famine because guess what? They didn't have enough so they wanted more. Instead of staying in the land how God commanded them, they ended up just going into the land and she came back with nothing. Her husband died, her sons died, and it wasn't pretty. All because of money. That's really what it came down to. Hey, for 10 years they were down there because of the famine. They didn't have enough to eat so they're like, hey, let's go down there so we can make more. So we can make more. So we can get more out of life. And they destroyed their lives. I mean, maybe you guys can think of other people. You know, other people that destroyed their lives because they became lovers of money. That's the sequence of riches. Saul's another guy. You know, when they were talking about David. Look, David killed 10,000, Saul only killed 1,000. What was his big problem? He's like, you know what? What else is going to happen besides, you know, them loving David? Are they going to take the kingdom from me? Might as well have the kingdom. That's what he was afraid of. That was the real issue was money. And guess what? He became a wicked individual. You know, at first he wasn't because God says that he was a godly person. So when he became king, that's who he was. But guess what? The more power he got, he got corrupted. And what was the big issue? He was afraid that David was going to take away his kingdom because the people were starting to love him. And not just him, Herod. What was his issue? You know, hey, tell me where this child is at so I can go and worship him as well. Was it really that? He didn't want to worship baby Jesus. He wanted basically to get rid of him because he felt like his kingdom was threatened. The Pharisee, people are following Jesus, right? What was their issue? Hey, if we don't do something about it, we're going to lose our congregation. Everybody's going to follow this man. And guess what? We're going to have to go get another job. That's really what the issue was. And see, that can be us as well. We need to be careful. You know, but you guys are there in Joshua. I'll just read from Luke 12, 15 really quickly. And he said out to them, take heed and beware of covetousness. I'm saying that this morning. Let's just be careful that you know what? We don't start thinking, man, it would be nice to have that car. It would be nice to have that house. Now obviously coveting, what is that? It's desiring things. And Paul does tell us to covet. But covet those things that are good. Like covet the ability to be able to preach. Covet the best gifts, which is charity. Those are the things we should desire. Obviously desiring things that are not meant for us, that's when it gets sinful. Like coveting your neighbor's wife. Coveting your neighbor's business. Coveting things that don't belong to you. And here's the thing. Wanting things is not the issue. Wanting things that are not for you, that's the issue. Things that you don't even need, that you want to satisfy your lust. You don't necessarily want things because it's going to help you serve God. You want that Lamborghini because it's going to help you to think you're cool or whatever. You know, that's the problem that we have when you start thinking, you know what, it would be better if I had more money. If I just had a little bit more money, things would be a whole lot better. I would be able to do a whole lot more to serve the Lord. But that's not the truth. The truth is, when you're thinking that riches is the answer to your problems, you lost your mind. You've lost your mind. You know, because that's not how God wants you to think. God wants you to think, I'm the root of your success. I'm the root of your finances. You are just somebody that I use to do X, Y, and Z. But I'm ultimately the one that gives you the strength to work. Gives you the brains to do what you have to do. And put me first and you'll have everything that you need. But when you have greed, you won't have everything you need. You'll start losing things. And God doesn't immediately chastise us. He doesn't work that way. He could take ten years before he steps down and hurts us. Why? Because we're supposed to live by faith, not by sight. Amen? And think about it. If every single time we did something wrong, God would cause us to be chastised, we really wouldn't need faith to realize this has to be of God. Every time I step out of line, I get punished. It's like, how is that possible? Surely there must be a God. Because then that's kind of reducing the ability to live by faith. Now you're kind of realizing, hey, every time I screw up, something happens. Wait a minute. Let me try this. Boom. Something happens. You know that it's of God. But when you obviously are going a year, two years in your sin, that's where you need to just stay right with the Lord. He'll reveal what's wrong in your life, what you need to get rid of. He'll do that. But he doesn't always chastise because the Bible says he's very patient. He's long-suffering. He'll suffer a long time with our sin before he comes down. Why? Because he wants you to get it right. He doesn't want to punish you. He wants you to get it right on your own. But if you don't, then he'll come down on you. So that is the issue with most people is they think that God is okay with what I'm doing because he's not coming down. He's not coming down on you. And the thing is this, that's not permission. You just don't understand how he punishes. It takes some years to punish you because he wants to be able to show that he is a just and loving and patient God. But if he punishes like every second you screw up, he wouldn't be able to show that he's long-suffering and patient. You know, but it says clearly here to beware of covetousness for a man's life consists of not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And it says it again, Ephesians 5, 3, But fornication and all uncleanness are covetousness. Let it not be once named among you as becoming saints. But now have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a regular or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one known not to eat. Key word that I want to show you guys is covetous. It says, hey, if anybody calls up a brother, they're a covetous person. This is an individual that's always talking about how much he wish he has and how much money he has or whatever. It's like we shouldn't have that person in the church. Why? Because that person would destroy us as well if we let him stick around. Eventually, he's going to go one by one convincing people, brother, you need to start looking at bigger and better things. They'll start convincing people that what they have is not enough. They'll start people to stop being content and want more. It just happens. You know, when people are just showing off like crazy, it is what it is. It can affect us. And here's an example, Joshua 7, 20. We're going to look at Joshua chapter number seven. We're going to start with verse 20. We're going to quickly look at the ending of the life of Achan. And if you don't know who Achan is, when you get a chance, go to Joshua number six and Joshua number seven. He's a great example of who not to be. He's a great example of what happens when you let the riches of this world deceive you. He's a perfect example of what happens when you start to love money. It says in verse number seven, I'm sorry, verse 20 of chapter seven, says, And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. Just to kind of catch up a little bit, here's what happened. Joshua is leading the nation right into the Promised Land. They're going after Jericho. They're going to defeat Jericho. But God tells Joshua, hey, tell everyone that the stuff in this country is cursed. Don't take any of it. Don't take the gold. Don't take the silver. That stuff belongs to me. I'm going to put it in the Lord's treasury. Hey, tell everyone not to touch it because this stuff is cursed. Hey, you guys can take the next town, take everything that they have. But this first battle, this first town, this stuff belongs to me and everyone knew it. Everyone knew what Joshua had been told by the Lord. And so what happens? What happens is that Achan, he ends up taking this stuff and God gets upset and curses the entire nation saying, hey, Israel has sinned, even though it was one guy. He looked at the whole group and says, Israel has sinned. Then he gives them some tips. Hey, this is what's going on. And then this is where Joshua confronts Achan because everything led to this guy Achan. And so we pick up the story right here where it says, And Achan answered Joshua because Joshua asked him, hey, confess to the Lord, what have you done? You know, hey my son, what have you done? Just confess what you've done. It says, And Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they were hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. So what is he confessing? Yeah, I took the money. I took it. And even if you read Joshua 7 in the beginning, it says that Israel has stole from me. They stole from me. And then of course we figure out what exactly he meant when we read verses 20 to 26. So here's a guy who says, hey, I got these things, but what was his problem? He coveted it. He took the silver. He took the gold. Why? Because he's deceived by it. He thinks if I have these things, man, my life is going to be better. So let me just take these things, and he does. But the Bible says that the Lord looked at him and was wroth, and he was wroth with everyone else. And even told him, when you find this guy, this is what I want you to do. And we'll look at the end, how his life turned out. So here's a man who got deceived by riches. He has the love of money, and the Bible says that the love of money is going to cause you many, or pairs yourself with many sorrows. And here's a great example of one individual who decided, hey, you know what? I know what the word of God says, but it is what it is. I think I'm okay. I think I'm going to be just fine. Just fine. And as I promise you, you stay in church long enough, you're going to see these individuals where they're coming to church. They're doing great. They're living for the Lord. They're going soul winning. You see them trying. And next thing you know, they get this bug of riches in their hearts, and they think, you know what? You know what? The money I'm making is not enough. I have an opportunity to make more. I'm like, well, that's great. How? Well, I kind of want to go after this position, but it's going to require me to do X, Y, and Z. It's going to require me to just kind of like miss Wednesdays. That's what will happen. And I'm thinking, okay, for how long? For about maybe six months to a year. I'm like, okay. Nothing to say here. They already made the decision, so I'm like, okay. I already know how it's going to pretty much end. Then you see this person doing it, and next thing you know, they're missing Sunday nights. And you're like, okay, not a surprise. You know, this is what happened. Just to make that money, make a little bit extra, whatever. Fair enough. Now they're missing like just about every other Sunday. Why? Because they're like aching. Well, they know what the Bible says. They know clearly what it says, clear instructions. It could be more clearly, don't take the gold. It's all cursed. Don't take anything from this town. Don't take anything, not a single thing. This town is cursed. The rest of the towns, you guys can have it all. But this belongs to me. This is mine. This is my percentage. This is the Lord. It's going into the Lord's treasure house. And you got this bonehead aching who says, I know what Joshua said, but I think I'll be fine. And I know what the pastor says, but I think I'll be fine. Okay, that's perfectly fine with you. And next thing you know, the sun went and died in an individual's life. One day, two days, now you're wondering like, is this dude even going out? And at the end, it's kind of like, well, not a surprise, which is not a surprise. But what happened with aching? Let's just keep reading. Let's just kind of take a look really quick. Let's start right there in verse 22. Joshua sent messengers, and they ran out to the tent, because he just confessed, I have all this silver, all this gold, and I hid it. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran out to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them out to Joshua and out to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, and they brought him unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones, and they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned the fierceness of his anger, wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor unto this day. Extreme example, but why is it there? To remind us that, listen, it started just with coveting. He said, I coveted them. It started just with coveting. So we need to remember that if we get to that point where it's like, man, it would be nice to have that Ferrari. We need to chill. We need to stop it. We need to hold off and be like, what am I thinking? You know, it's like, hey, more important things is to obey God's commandment. And I'm not saying having a Lamborghini is bad. I'm not saying being rich is bad. I'm not saying that at all. I'm going to get into that in a second. But what I am saying is that if you start to think that these things are important, that you have to have these things, that's what Aiken was thinking. I have to have these things. I have to have them. And so he got them, and what happened? It destroyed his life and his daughters and his sons and his whole life. It was over. It was over. Go to Genesis 13, if you can. Go to Genesis 13. We'll take a look at the other character we just spoke about, and that's Lot. And Matthew 6 says this, How great is that darkness? These are all verses that if you stay in church long enough, you're going to hear them over and over and over and over again. Why? Because the preachers don't want the people to become individuals that just love money. They just start to think, you know what? I should maybe try this career, even though they know that career is going to take them downhill. I saw this in my old church again. We had an assistant pastor. I think I talked about this before. We had an assistant pastor that ended up just starting like a little Bible institute for people that were too old. They considered me too old to go to Bible college, you know, even though I think I was 23, 24 or whatever. And so the pastor felt like, you know what? I feel like starting something for people that are showing a little bit more seriousness about their Christian life. So the pastor decided to start like a little institute. So he couldn't teach it because he was busy. So he had his assistant that said, hey, can you teach these guys? Teach them a little bit more Bible, go over Bible doctrine. So he ended up just starting it, and he said, hey, I think you should go. I'm like, I don't know if I really want to do it because it was on Tuesdays. And I'm like, yeah, I kind of started getting into soul winning. He's like, don't worry, you can do soul winning on Saturdays. I'm like, okay, I'm going to just follow your faith, and I'm going to just do it. So I signed up for it. And this guy was teaching us the Bible. And this assistant pastor was literally telling us how he loves the ministry, how he just can't believe he's in the ministry. You know, he enjoys everything about it. It's an awesome job, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm thinking, okay, you know, it's like, hey, you know, it made me feel bad for not being in the ministry in a way. I'm thinking, man, you know, it's like, wow, I feel bad that I basically work as a security guard or whatever. He's like, man, it would be great to be in the ministry. You know, but what happened with this guy is he started to get deceived by Richard. I mean, he has a nice house, and it was within walking distance, you know, to our church. He had a decent house. I think it was about three bedrooms, maybe 1,500 square feet. I think that's a decent house, 1,500 square feet. And he only had one kid. I think it was a decent house. That's just me. And so I liked his house. His house was nice. I didn't think his house was bad at all. And then he had a decent car. He had, like, an Acura or whatever. Oh, no, he didn't. No, he had something like that. He had, like, an Acura or something like that to that degree. It wasn't a super fancy car, but it was a nice car. I liked this car. I'm like, wow, that's a nice car. You know, at the time, I had kind of, like, a broken-down truck. I was like, man, I think his house is nice. At the time, I was basically, you know, living with my mom or whatever. So I was thinking, this guy is being blessed. You know, I can see why he's happy. I'm like, he's being blessed. Praise the Lord. Maybe one day God will bless me the same as him. You know, he had a wife. He had a kids. I'm thinking, yeah, he's got some good stuff. You know, well, obviously at that time, I wasn't working security. Now that I think about it, I was signing up for the police academy. I just got out of the Marine Corps the second time, went to go sign up for the police academy, and as I'm walking in to the office to go sign up for the police academy, this dude opens the door. As he opens the door, I'm walking in, I made eye contact, and guess who it was? It was the assistant pastor. And as I saw him, I'm like, whoa, what are you doing here? He's like, whoa, what are you doing here? I'm like, hey, I'm here to sign up for this police academy. You know, I signed up for it once. I had to get out and then go back into the Marines. Now that I'm out again, I'm going to go sign up for it. But I'm like, but what are you doing? And he's like, oh, he's like, listen, I'm having spiritual problems, is what he said. I'm having spiritual problems. You know, I'm signing up for the academy as well. And he's like, and please don't tell the pastor because nobody knows I'm here. I actually called him saying that I was sick so I can come and take the test. He literally confesses sins like Aiken to me, you know, and I was like confused, like what in the world? And he begged me not to say anything, but of course I did because it was bothering me too much. I'm just, it wasn't like something horrific, it was just bothering me. And so I got to the point where I was so in with the pastor and he's like, what's bothering you? What's bothering you? I'm like, listen, I don't know if I should tell you this, but I'm going to just tell you this. Your assistant basically told us that it was the greatest thing, working in the ministry, and he wouldn't want to do anything else. And this week, guess what? I caught him basically at the academy signing up. He tested with me because we have to do the writing, the physical fitness, so everything he was right there next to me testing. You know, so like we're literally taking the written and writing test, we're running together because we're tested. You have to do push-ups and sit-ups and running, and it takes about three or four hours, so I'm with him the entire time. I'm thinking the whole time, you just told me how you have a great career. Why are you looking at law enforcement? It doesn't take a genius to realize that law enforcement is the last church. And at this point, I've been going to church for maybe two months. One of the biggest things that the old IAB preachers is three to thrive. Sunday morning, Sunday night, who knows what I'm talking about? Three to thrive. And I was thinking, hey man, that's the thing that had me kind of nervous going into law enforcement. But I even spoke to the pastor, he's like, you know what, go for it, I think it's something you should try. Hey, it would be great to have a police officer in our church. I'm like, okay, you know? But obviously I was not his assistant. So then this guy's there, so then I end up talking to the pastor, I'm like, listen, your assistant, he's trying to be a police officer. And he's like, whoa, he's like, he called me saying he was sick. He's like, so you're telling me he was the academy? Yes, he was the academy. He's like, whoa, he hasn't told me anything. He's like, I'm going to wait and see what he's going to tell me. You know, fast forward, he did get hired by a local police department. Fast forward is one of the highest paying police departments, so he didn't just apply to be a police officer. He applied to a department that was either one or two highest paid departments, meaning they started at $120,000 a year. His pay, from what I can tell, was roughly about maybe $60,000 to $70,000, which is not bad in the Bay Area. Obviously he ran his highest, so they were paying him a little bit more. But he wanted to double his salary. And I was just kind of like, you just told us how great the ministry is. I'm thinking, what is going on? Well, fair enough, he got the job, started making money, got a bigger house. Got a bigger house. Like, bigger house, like two stories instead of one story. And then one day, you know, we're at church, and because he still stayed, he stopped being the assistant. He starts driving to church. Next thing you know, we hear from a distance, Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. You know, we're like, what is that? And we see, like, this Batman looking car driving to the church, but it wasn't black, it was yellow. I'm like, what is this yellow, loud banana rolling down the street? Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. And we're like, what in the world? It rolls into the drum like, vroom, vroom. I'm like, who the heck is this? Comes out, jacket and glasses. Well, guess who it was? He went from the Acura to, like, a nasty looking Corvette. Like that. So, I wonder what this guy's problem was, why he gave up the ministry. Because he was surrounded by people that had a ton of money. He came from a big IFB church where you got real estate agents working there, inviting them to the house. He ended up becoming the assistant, hanged out with these guys that were covetous, that loved money. How do you know they're covetous? Because of the way they lived. Because of the way they lived and the things that they do and the trouble they got into. So, sure enough, you hang around with these guys, they're going to eat lunch with them in their fancy cars. Sure enough, this guy didn't have a major degree, but the easiest route to 100k a year was law enforcement. Do you think he did law enforcement because he cared about the community? No. Because one of the things that we did notice about this guy, he was kind of a selfish dude. Like, he would not lift a finger to clean things that were hard. He would be the guy who would just say, hey, are you busy? Can you do X, Y, Z? Which I don't mind. But one time we had this baseball game, this softball game, and he rolls up. This is before I became a cop. It was just kind of those tell-tale signs, like, what in the world? And I basically was there, and he gets out, and he grabs a bag. He literally grabs a bag with baseball bats and everything. He grabs it, he lifts it up, and he just gives it to me. Like, he just flat out gives it to me, and I'm like, alright, I just grabbed it because it was just my natural reaction. He just gets out his car, grabs it, and he just gives it to me. And then he closes his trunk, and I'm thinking, okay, I just start walking. He didn't grab anything else. He didn't grab anything else. I got this big heavy bag. I'm just like, what in the world? You know, it's like, I can understand he had more bags, but he didn't have more bags. And my wife saw that. They're like, what in the world? It's like, I don't know. It's like, you would think he would at least carry it himself, you know, because I was kind of helping back and forth. And then he saw me maybe just going back and forth, like grabbing stuff for the church. And then he deceives me, honks at me. I'm like, hey, what's up? And he gets out, so I'm thinking he just wants to say, hey, how you doing? Great, good, man, everything going well, everything going well, no problem. You know, pops his trunk, takes out the bag, you know, grabs it. And he basically just hands it over without saying, hey, can you help me? And I'm just like grabbing it, and then he closes his door, and we're just walking. I'm like, dude, why are you giving me this bag? I'm actually grabbing other things. Well, lo and behold, he ended up leaving the church. He left the church. But what happened? It all started with coveting, the deceitfulness of riches. And I guarantee, I don't know what he's doing now. I don't know. I don't know what he's up to. You know, I'm not sure what the deal is, but I can guarantee you that he lost many opportunities to do bigger things for the Lord. But at the moment, he got stuck with this whole thing about like, man, everybody around me has so much. What am I doing wrong? You're not doing anything wrong. You're doing everything right. But now you're starting to do things wrong because you're thinking differently. You're thinking I need that ugly Corvette, you know, and it wasn't even black. Who gives a yellow Corvette? Literally, a yellow Corvette, you know? And I was like, whoa, we're just laughing at it because he thinks it's cool. None of us thought it was cool. He's like, at least black. What's up with a yellow banana? And I guess people didn't mock him so much, he ended up getting another car. Once he realized this ain't impressing anyone. Literally. And a lot of times, don't we buy things to impress people that don't even like us? How twisted is that? You know, but we already saw that Eichen destroyed his life. Let's take a look at Lot really quickly. You're there in Genesis 13. Genesis 13, 1 says this. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had in Lot with him into the south. And Abram was very rich. Let me just park it right there. Abram was very rich. Like I was saying before, being rich is not the issue. This is not an anti-rich sermon. I'm not against people that are rich. Abram doesn't say that he was rich. Look at it, it says very rich. Very rich. So the thing is this, I'm not preaching against being rich. This is not about being rich. You know, not even close. This is about being deceived by riches and becoming somebody that thinks, hey, you know what? It would be great if I had more money. More money. Must be nice to be like brother such and such. Must be great to have, you know, this many cars or whatever. That is not how we should think. Now, obviously, our goal is to work as men to provide for our families. And whatever God gives you, let it be. I mean, we had a church member who he got maybe to the church like three months after I did. And it was just him and his wife. He just took whatever job he could get his hands on, 13 bucks an hour. He was just trying to pay the rent. And lo and behold, fast forward seven years later, now he owns his own company with like 18 employees. So yes, he makes over a million. A million. But he started at 13 bucks an hour. And guess what this dude never did? He never gave up on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. He never gave up on winning souls. And you know how he ended up becoming a millionaire? Here's how he ended up becoming a millionaire. Because he was being told by his boss, you have to work Sunday. So he said, boss, I applied. I told you. I can work any day besides Sundays. He's like, no, I need you on Sundays. I need you on call. So he ended up missing one Sunday, two Sundays. He's like, no, this has turned out a little bit crazy. So he just went to his boss. He's like, listen, I'll work any hours. I'll be on standby any day. I don't care what day it is. Listen, I'll do all the crappy hours. I just need Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. You know, I just need those days because I came down here to go to church. I didn't come down here to miss her. And guess what his boss told him? He's like, hey dude. He's like, okay. Well, let me see what my options are. He spoke to his wife. And his wife, maybe, I don't know who came up with it. He says, why don't you just go solo? You saved enough money. You just have a little beat up car. You're already a plumber. And see if you can just kind of like work for yourself. Because every other company is going to require you to work a weekend as well. And he's like, you know what? Let me try it. That makes sense. He wasn't trying to be rich. He was just trying to pay his bills. He was trying to keep God first. He was trying to keep the things of God number one. And guess what? God saw his faithfulness and he blessed them. And he's hired a few church members and he pays them well. Pays them well. And he didn't compromise on this. He skipped a few Sundays, but that's because he was told, oh no, it's just this Sunday. All right, boss, I'll do you that favor. And sure enough, guess what? His boss is like, ha, got him. I knew he wasn't serious. It wasn't that he wasn't serious. It's that he gave you the benefit of the doubt that it was only this Sunday, boss. And his boss is like, nope, you got to work it. You don't like it. I can't do it for you. You got to work. You got to be on standby. Got to miss some Sundays. He's like, no, I can't do it. You know what? Let's see what happens. Went on his own. Just started advertising on Craigslist. Hey, plumber, great deal, whatever. You have to do it every single day because you know how when you put it on Craigslist, you get basically other people to put you at the bottom when they start putting advertisements. You got to call here or call there. Next thing you know, he ends up basically being able to just blow up. And he was able to hire people. And now he has like, I'm pretty sure last time he had about 15 or 18 employees. You know, so sure enough, it started with just him being faithful. And that's how it's going to be for everyone in my opinion. You just got to step out by faith. You know, it happened to me as well. I didn't become a millionaire or anything. But I got pushed to the limit where my boss is like, hey, you got to work Sundays now. I'm like, hey, when I applied, I'm available any day except for Sundays. And he's like, well, I can't do anything about it. It's coming from the top. I'm like, well, you know what? If that's what you have to do, then you do what you have to do. If you have to terminate me, terminate me. But you know what? I'll work in the hours. I'll talk to the supervisors. I'll see what we can do. Spoke to those supervisors. And they all agreed, well, listen, if you close for me, hey, I'll close for you. Because I only had on Sundays I had to close. So I had to be there basically all day from morning to night. And they're like, well, close for you if you close for me. Because they didn't want to close. They're like, hey, that's a great deal for us. We only close once a week. You close five times a week. We'll do it. But my manager wasn't good enough. I'm like, okay, then do whatever you need to do. Talks to the store manager. Without even hesitating. Store manager is like, well, you know what? You know, what's going on with Chris? Oh, well, he says he came to this or else he's basically not going to be able to work here. And he said, then give him what he wants. It was that quick. Just give him what he wants. Oh, really? Like that? Like that? So he calls out. Store manager is like, no, get it done. Whatever. And he's like, well, I guess you can basically work that schedule on Sundays. You know, so it was what it was. But I was serious. As soon as I had the conversation, I called my wife and said, hey, I might get fired this week. You know, just to let you know. She's like, what? She's like, yeah. She's like, I'm going to do everything I can in my power to work with this guy. But you and I both know, if they don't let me work all Sundays, I might as well just start looking for a job right now and hope I get lucky. And that was the game plan. But I came in, intervened, blessed it, put in the heart of the store manager, the guy that made the decisions, just let me get whatever I want. Why? Because I did put out. I did give him 110%. And that's how it's always going to be. You know, because I didn't really care about the money. And it would have probably even paid me more because I would have been there and allowed my stuff to be out there and I get a little bit more commission. But that wasn't even worth the extra $100 a week I was going to get. You know, but let's take a look at Abram. Abram was very rich in cattle. So the problem is not being rich. The problem is when you think that riches is the answer to whatever it is. You know, insert problem here. If I only had more money I'd be able to do X, Y, and Z. Not true. And Abram was very rich in cattle and in silver and in gold and he went on his journeys from the south even up to Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Hei. You know, Genesis 13, 4 says this, onto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first. And there Abram called in the name of the Lord and Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents and the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together for their substance was great so that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the hermit of Abram's cattle and the hermit of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the parasite dwelled then in the land and Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my hermit and thy hermit. For we be brethren is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. So right there in verse number 9 gives us an idea of the kind of man that Abraham was. He wasn't a selfish person and he could care less about getting, you know, the first dibs you can say. He was more interested in just making sure that everybody is good. He was the type of guy that wasn't seeking riches, he was just seeking to do the right thing. And that's why he went to Lot saying, Listen, we need to split. You know, we need to split. We're too big. You got your people. I got my people. The land is not big enough. Hey, you go wherever you want. I'll go the opposite direction. In other words, you get first choice. What Lot should have done is been like, Look, Abraham, no. He's like, I'm blessed because of you. I've been with you. That's why I got everything I got because you're following the Lord and I'm following you and you're following the Lord and the Lord has blessed both of us. He probably would have been smarter to say, Hey, let's just join up together. You're the boss and I'll be behind you. You know, I'm cool with that because I'd rather be with somebody that fears the Lord. But that's not what happened. He's like, Score! Where should I go? Oh, first dibs? I see something that can benefit me financially. Let me take it. So let's just look at verse number 10. And it says, And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zorah. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves, the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But look at verse 13. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. The reason why they were wicked before the Lord exceedingly is because of committing abominable sins. But the Lord knew it and guess what? Everybody else knew it around there. And Lot, I have a hard time believing that he didn't know it either. But yet he still pitched his tent toward Sodom because guess what? He kind of looked at it like, Man, it would be nice to be there. Look how awesome it looks. Once again, the deceitfulness of riches got Lot. Next thing you know, he is. He is there, you know, in there right away. Just flip the next chapter, please. Go to Genesis 14. So we saw in Genesis 13, Lot, he looked, he pitched his tent toward Sodom, even though Sodom had a reputation of being wicked, being a wicked town. And right there, let's look at verse number 1. In Genesis 14, it says this, Now go to verse number 10. It says, So what do we see here? We see that somebody just started out with coveting, coveting in verse 13, looking at something that he thought was going to make his life better. That was the main decision that he made is I'm going there because it's going to benefit me financially. I mean, it has everything I need to grow my business. It has great water and everything looks good. But then we see right away that he loses everything. Right away he loses everything for making a bad decision. How do we know it's a bad decision? Because the Lord knew that they were wicked. You're telling me that it was only the Lord that knew? Sodom has this reputation of being a wicked town and he didn't care. He went there. So he knew I'm going to surround myself with a bunch of wicked people. But once again, like Aiken, I think I'll be fine. I think I'll be okay. I know that the Bible says X, Y, and Z, but I think I'll be good. You know, God knows my heart. Yeah, the heart is deceived above all things and desperately wicked. But when people start making decisions that are clearly wrong decisions, like trying to send their kids to college, not necessarily because they want them to learn more, but to have a backup plan in case something goes bad if, if whatever X, Y, Z, you name it. It doesn't matter. Why? Because that's what's happening with college these days. It is poisoning people. And the people that I've noticed get blessed a lot in our church. None of them have college degrees. And the people that do have the college degrees, I'm not saying it's always the case, but once they go after the college degrees, they're the ones that are missing church. They're the ones that are screwing up spiritually, less so when, but the other people that I noticed, hey, I'm just going to let God bless me, see what happens. They don't go anywhere. I don't think it's a coincidence. The people are like, well, I got to go to ASU. I got to do this. I got to do that. You know, you see them kind of struggling to even be there. And when you finally see them, they're like, oh, man, it's a breath of fresh air being here with courage and going so any, because my roommates are wicked. I'm just tired of the wickedness going to class or whatever. And obviously, we believe that, you know, we, the men, are supposed to go out there and we're supposed to provide, you know, and that God's will for our daughters, God's will for our wives is to be at home, you know, not to send them out to the university to basically go out there and get a little bit of education, get a little bit more knowledge, you know, I think it'll benefit them. For what? You know, for what? That didn't come from the Bible, you know? So you can go around doing that and telling people that, hey, I don't mind my daughters going to college and whatever. That's fine, but hey, you didn't get that from the Bible. What college are you going to send them to, but they're not going to be intermingled with a bunch of people that don't think like us, walk like us, talk like us, want anything to do with us, you know? Now if people have college education and they survive all that craziness and they're, you know, provided for their families, then that's great, but the thing is this, is the motive really to help your daughters or your sons to go to college, pay for their college to make them smarter or because you want them to make more money? What is the true motive? If they're honest with themselves, it's the money. Why? Because they, as parents, have been deceived by riches and they think, well, you know what, I don't want you guys to whatever, you know, be like such and such. Because when I was working as a contractor, I had people that made more money than me and they got back to me that they were despising me. They're like, what an idiot. You know, he's working for pennies. You know, it's like he could just go to college. He should just get himself a career, go to school for a little bit and whatever and he'd be making twice as much or whatever. Yeah, here's the difference though. The difference is that if I go that route, guess what? I got to miss this. I got to miss that. And yeah, I'm basically getting paid nothing, but I'm happy as a clam because I'm going to church every time the doors are open. And I'm going soul winning, you know, twice a week and before obviously growing up as a kid, we're deceived by riches and we want to be, like I said, a rapper, you know. You want to be a movie star. Yeah, I kind of thought of that too. Rapper, movie star. As a kid, I'm thinking that's what I want to be because they make millions of dollars. They're so cool. It's an awesome career. I love movies. I love rap. Might as well go into that. That's kind of what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking. I'm like, hey, that's a little kid. That's what I'm thinking. But obviously, I don't know any Bible and of course, if I knew this stuff, I would have thought twice about it, like hold up. And I did. It's like, wait a minute. That's a wicked career to go into. These are not the ways of the Lord. It's like, you know what? I'm not going to go this route because then I'm going to lose my family, end up in bondage and that's the mistake that we make when we start following the money. What happened a lot? He followed the money. He followed pleasure. He followed pleasure. What happened? He ended up being basically captive and he lost everything. Isn't that what usually happens? Because think about it. What if I did get into the rap game? I'd be smoking pot. Then from pot, who knows what I'd be doing? I'd be doing meth. Who knows what I'd be doing? I've been committing a lot of fornication. Isn't that what hip hop is known for a lot? For pot-using, fornication. It's like barely a few people make it. Snoop Dogg, he's still famous, right? I was at Raising Cane's and I saw his big face. They have like this cutout of Snoop Dogg at Raising Cane's. He's still making money. He's still popular. He's the guy. He was one of the main guys that made me want to get into that type of career. Because we grew up listening to Snoop and we're thinking, Snoop, man, he's so happy smoking weed. It's like maybe I should reconsider marijuana. Look how happy Snoop is. It's like, man, he's still driving a 6-4. He's still making millions. I mean, he's so popular, you know, even Raising Cane's of all places basically have his face. Go to Raising Cane's. Who's been to Raising Cane's recently? They have like a cutout of Snoop Dogg at Raising Cane's. I was there with my kids. I'm like, look, it's Snoop. You know, I guess he has a new show. A new show, Raising Cane's. You know, but what was the issue? My issue was that I didn't care about living that lifestyle to help people. I was living that lifestyle because I was the super richest thinking that's what's going to make me happy. Making millions of dollars, getting into that type of sin. You know, but that's the same thing that happened with Lot. You know, Lot ended up basically going into Sodom. He lost everything, all his goods. And that was in the end. The end was him losing his daughters, losing his wife. He got turned into a pillar of salt. But it also said that Lot lost some daughters. God burned the whole town down, including his daughters. And I'm pretty sure if he would do it again, he would be like, it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it. I should have not been selfish and gave Abraham the first choice. You know, because Abraham probably could have handled Sodom a whole lot more than him because Abraham was rich. But if you have your Bibles, go ahead and go to Psalms chapter number 37 verse 16. Psalms 37, 16. So, so far what am I preaching about? I'm preaching about being deceived as Christians. It can happen to any of us. I don't think we're all going to go off the cliff, you know, that easy. Especially being part of this church. But it's good to remind people that hey, you know what? If you love silver, you're not going to be satisfied by silver. You know, if your motive is to make more money, that's a bad motive. If you want to make more money and you're going to miss out on the things of God. If you feel like, hey, you know what? Just for a little bit, if I just, you know, get this degree or take extra classes, I can be qualified for that promotion or whatever. It tends to be the opposite effect. You know, yes, you'll probably make more money, but you're going to lose the real money. The true treasure, which is the treasure that we have in heaven. You know, because hey, even though you guys are sitting here, I'm the one preaching, I do believe God's going to reward everyone here for every time you go to church. It may not be like the biggest reward on the planet, but the Bible does say that hey, in keeping God's, you know, commandments, there is a sure reward. There is one. And isn't it part of God's commandments to come and assemble together and have the pastor edify the people? In other words, church, hey, is a commandment, is it not? So by you coming to church, hey, every time you miss church, I believe you're missing a reward. You lost that reward for that week or that service or whatever the case may be. Some people may not believe so, but I'm thinking, hey, if it says by keeping his commandments, there's going to be a sure reward. I'm thinking to myself, if anything, use that as a way to motivate yourself to church. They're like, oh, a bunch of girls preaching, man. I don't like that guy. I think I'll skip out the service. Hey, then don't come for me. Come to get yourself a sure reward. That's just how I see it. But hey, let me just remind the little kids of the importance of doing the right thing. Look at what the Bible says in Psalms 37, 16. If you're there, great. It says this, a little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. Let me repeat that. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. Of many wicked. Let me just go to Proverbs 15. Do you guys go to 1 Kings 3? Go to 1 Kings 3 and I'm wrapping it up. It says, better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 16, 8. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. Anything that's going to cause you not to do right, like going soul winning, like going to a Wednesday night service or whatever. It's like, these things are not going to be worth missing out. Especially when the Lord is the one that's coming down, looking down on you and is going to bless you. Remember that guy that just would not skip church? Started at 13 bucks an hour, says I'm not going to skip church. The reason I'm quitting my job is because he's making me skip church. He didn't expect to have a business. He just said, hey, if I go solo, I can at least make 200 or 300 bucks a day and that would be enough to pay my bills. Well, one thing led to another. The guy was like, hey, I'm not just going to let you pay your bills. I'm going to take you to the next level. I see why you did what you did. Hey, you didn't do it because you wanted to make millions. You did it because you wanted to serve me and make the true riches. I'm going to go the extra mile and bless you. And now he's helped a lot of church members become plumbers because of his actions. You know, and it was just his faithfulness. You know, but if you're there in 1 Kings 3, 5, once again, I'm just going to quickly go over this. Riches is not the issue. Never has, never will be. Love of money, that's the issue. 1 Corinthians 3, 5 says this, in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask what I shall give thee. And I sometimes stop and wonder, what would I have done if I was in his shoes? I think it would have been that dumb to ask for riches. If God's coming to me and says, Chris, you know, ask and I'll give you what you want. I probably would have been like, Lord, I just want you to like bless me. You know, can you bless me with wealth? All the things that he basically said Solomon didn't ask for, I didn't know what to ask for those things. You know, I've got these haters over here. Can you handle those haters? You know, it's like, I would like to kind of, you know, have a little bit more money if that's okay. And you know what? You can kind of extend my life. I probably would have been foolish enough to do that, but Solomon didn't do it. So you're right there in verse 5. Let's just read verses 9 through 14. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. This is what he tells the Lord. In verse number 5, the Lord appears in Solomon and says, ask what I should give thee. Verse number 9 says, give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that may disturb between good and bad. Who is able to judge this that is so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord because he wasn't being selfish with what he was asking for. Now let's go to verse number 12. It says, Behold, so he does give him his wisdom and an understanding heart. Behold, I have done according to thy words, though I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, and neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not, as both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, and keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. And when I think of this, I do think about that guy that I was talking about every single time. You know, because that's what he did. He did exactly what Solomon did. He's like, Lord, I don't know what to do. Help me. Help me figure this thing out. My boss wants me to work just about every Sunday now. And I told him, hey, this is why, you know, I'm working here, because you allow me to get Sundays off, and that's how it all started, but that's not how it all stayed. And so he's asking, God, show me what to do. And that's where him and his wife say, maybe you should just go solo, see what happens. You know, it's not like we're trying to be rich. We're only in need of us so much every single day. And they say, you know what, it's better than missing church. Let's just do it. You know, turns in his resignation, says, Boss, sorry, but I can't continue. All right, whatever. It's his boss attitude. He goes out there, starts advertising on Craigslist, and then boom, here comes the blessings. Because what he was not asking for was to be rich, have his own business, make millions. He was not asking for that. He was simply saying, Lord, I don't care about the money. You know, I just want to go to church, because I know that has benefited me more than anything I've ever done in my life. That's why he came to Faithful Word from California, because he heard the preaching that was changing his life, and he says, hey, I need this. You know, this is more valuable to me than staying here in California and making money. So he quit his job, moved down, and I remember meeting him for the first time. He went out soul winning. The first time I met this guy was not in church. The first time I met this guy was out soul winning. How awesome is that? And then sure enough, he stayed with it, and then he started to get blessed, and that's what it was. He got tried and tested, and he passed the testifying colors, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't regret it. You know, he doesn't regret it whatsoever. And the people that work for him that are church members, I don't think they regret it either, because he's paying them very well. He's paying them very well. You know, but go to Luke 12 16. I got eight more minutes to preach, and then I'll be done. Luke 12 16 says this. Well, while you go to Luke 12 16, I'll just read from Ecclesiastes. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. Think about that for a second. Here's a rich guy that can't sleep because he has too much. He's worried about his cars, he's worried about his house, he's worried about his boat. You know, just having all these things are a snare. Remember what the Bible says? Deceitfulness of riches is going to choke you. It's going to choke you, you're going to be unfruitful, and you will regret it in heaven. Of course, you'll be in heaven, but don't be the guy that gets choked out by the deceitfulness of riches and goes week after week without doing any soul winning. It's like, man, we try to make it as easy as possible. Just show up and don't say anything. And a lot of times, believe it or not, when people show up and they didn't want to show up, they end up getting people saved. It's just crazy the way it works. But I think God just blesses it a little bit more when you have to push through and show up versus people who are already used to it. Ecclesiastes 5 19 says this, Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth. So God does give riches and wealth to people. He gives riches and wealth and has given him power to eat thereof and take his portion and to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. Let's never forget that. It is God that will decide whether you're rich or not. You just continue to serve him, let him guide you, let him open up opportunities for you, and he'll work it out for you. And if it's riches that he's going to end up giving you, at least do it the right way. Amen? But thou shalt not remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which is sworn to thy fathers. And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What should I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I will take my fruits and give it to the poor and help those brothers that are in need. Is that what this rich man does? No. What does he do? He hogs it all. Here's a guy that's rich. He's rich and then he gets more. And he doesn't become better, he becomes worse. A lot of times we may think that, You know what? If I had millions of dollars, I would give it to the poor and help all my brothers. No, you're probably not. Chances are, you're not. And he said, This is what I do. I will pull down, I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, So thou hast much goods laid out for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that lateth up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God. And that's the issue, not being rich towards God. Go to Psalms 19-7 and we'll finish there. Go to Psalms 19-7 if you can. If that's the only verse that you've been able to turn to tonight or this morning, just go to Psalms 19-7. We'll wrap it up there. Of all the verses that are preached on, brought up, you know, disregard those. I want you to go to Psalms 19-7. It'll be well worth it, I promise you that. You know, we'll just finish it up with Psalms 19-7. While you go there, I'll just read from Matthew 6-31 that says this, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For unto all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So hopefully you're right there in Psalms 19-7. So the reason why I read Matthew 6-33 is because it's that simple. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He's going to give you everything that you need. Everything that you need. You know, so let's just look at Psalms 19-7. It says this, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. You know, so clearly, what is the Bible claiming? The law of the Lord is perfect, but whatever it tells you to do, hey, do it. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. And here's what I want you guys to see. If anything, just remember this. Obviously, the riches, the riches of this world, things of this world, the world is very deceitful. You know, let's just not let it deceive our hearts into thinking, hey, this is the answer to my problems. This is what I need to do now, is figure out a way to get that gigantic house, get those two or three cars, you know, get that pool, whatever the case may be. Nothing against pools, but people who use that as motivation to make more money and skip out on church. But here's the thing about God's commandments. Psalms 19-10 says this, More to be desired, and what is this more that it's referring to? The loss of God. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. So remember how I said that, hey, it is what it is. People that miss church are not just missing out on God's words, they're missing out on rewards, rewards that we're going to receive in heaven. And that's what God wants you to do, store up treasures for yourself in heaven. Look at that next verse, you know, verse number 11 of Psalms 19. It says, Moreover by them is thy servant warned. So the good thing about God's commandments is that they're going to make you wise, you know. They're going to warn us which way to go. It's going to show us, enlighten our eyes, to show us that we're screwing up or we're doing right. You know, this is the great thing about the laws of God. So when people are skipping out on services, they're missing out on instructions. They're missing out on the things that God has for them to keep them from making errors in their lives. But the part that I wanted to end is that last part where it says, In keeping of them there is, I like that, great reward. Great reward. And I think it's great reward in this life and the next. So as much as we think that, you know what, if I just did this or did that, you know, I can bring in a little bit more money, but it's going to cause you to break God's commandments. In the long run, you're missing out on great rewards. And even though, even though I don't have a verse to say, If you come to church, thou shall be rewarded. I do believe where it says in keeping of them, then what? God's laws, you're going to receive great reward. I do believe that this is teaching us that, hey, by obeying what God tells you to obey, there's going to be a reward for that. How many churches are a reward for that? Coming Wednesday, Wednesday nights is a reward for that. Sunday nights is a reward for that. Whatever it may be. And it's not just a reward, it says it's a great reward. It's a great reward. And that's the difference between what people that are coming to church are thinking. They're thinking, hey, it's important to come to church, this is way more important than money. Versus people that started compromising their mind and they're thinking, yeah, I know what the Bible says, and they're like aching, but I think I'll be fine. I think I'll be okay. You know, I'm only going to do it for this long and this long and this long and this long. And then obviously six months becomes who knows how long. And that's the problem is that Christians are being choked out, becoming unfruitful because they're letting the deceitfulness of riches infect their lives to the point where they'll make decisions to maybe even take the promotion because it does pay more. But what are they going to end up causing themselves to do is miss the list of church. So that's the main thing that I wanted to teach you guys or at least go over and remind you guys because this stuff is not hard to figure out. You can figure it out on your own. But this morning I just wanted to make sure that we just put God first as much as we can, as best we can. And it's not going to be easy, but it's going to be well worth it. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you've done, Lord. And we ask you, Father, to just bless us and not just bless us, Lord. Give us wisdom, not just wisdom, but also give us bonus to do what we know we ought to do. And Lord, obviously you do want us to serve you, Father. You will take care of us. By living in this world, it's very easy to get deceived. We already have a sinful nature that can easily deceive us. You made it very clear that the heart is deceived above all things, but not just our own hearts, Lord, the world, everything. There's a lot of fakeness out there, God. And obviously for people that have been in church for a while, they probably can think of one or two people who decided to try the money route. And their lives are just downhill as we speak, Father. But we do ask that anybody that's thinking, Lord, thinking that, A, it's not so big of a deal to try to earn extra, Father, but it's going to cause them to serve you less. You know, help them to just wake up. Help them to be wise toward those decisions because, Father, It's a whole lump, and it is what it is, Lord. One bad decision can ruin our lives in the end. And we ask you to just keep us from doing such things. We ask you to do all this for your honor and glory. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. So with that, go ahead and pull out your hymnals. We'll sing our last song for the morning. It's song number 310. Song number 310. Footprints of Jesus. 310. We'll start there on the first. Sweetly, Lord, have we heard the calling. Come, follow me. And we see where thy footprints falling lead us to thee. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where e'er they go. Though they lead o'er the cold, dark mountains seeking his sheep. Or along by Siloam's mountains helping the weak. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where e'er they go. If they lead through the temple, holy, preaching the word. Or in homes of the poor and lowly serving the Lord. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where e'er they go. Then at last when on high he sees us our journey done. We will rest where the steps of Jesus and at his throne. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where e'er they go. Amen. And with that, you are dismissed. You guys have a blessed day.