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Amen Okay this morning I'm gonna be preaching on the subject of church discipline for covetousness Church discipline for covetousness now, let me explain what's going on here in 1st Corinthians chapter number 5 of course, we know the famous story of this man who is Committing fornication and he's committing it with his father's wife It says in verse number wife It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles That one should have his father's wife now what's taking place here? Well, you know first and foremost we understand that if someone commits a sexual sin with someone who is married It's not considered fornication. It's actually called adultery Whereas in this case, it's called fornication because of the fact that the father is actually not alive Okay, so he's committing this this this sin of fornication With his father's wife and the reason it's stating that it's his father's wife It's because of how inappropriate this relationship is you understand obviously fornication is inappropriate and sinful But to commit fornication with your father's wife is obviously definitely Wicked as well. Now. This isn't referring to his mother. Okay, it's referring obviously to his stepmom and What we see here and you say well How do you know that the father's passed away well because of the fact that it labels it fornication and we understand when two Individuals get married and one one of those spouses dies that they're no longer bound by the law to their husband or to their wife They're no longer considered necessarily married. And so that's why it's referring to This person as the father's wife. Okay, and so he's committing this this gross sin He's doing this and here's the problem is that it's it's commonly reported in the church So what does it mean when it says it's commonly reported? It means everyone knows about it. Okay, it's kind of out in the open People know about it. You asked them or you're like, oh, yeah He's he's there doing that fornication with his with his dad's wife and all these things And so this is commonly reported and if the church members know about the sin, that means the pastor knows about the sin That means the church leadership knows about the sin. And so the problem that's that's being faced here That's being confronted by the Apostle Paul's the fact that they know about this, but they're not doing anything about it. Okay They're just allowing this sin to go unfettered in the church the the the person involved is not being disciplined for This sinful act and he's not being cast out of the church and the Apostle Paul is telling them. Hey, you're prideful You're puffed up. You're being arrogant. You're glorying over the fact that you're not getting rid of this individual You're not removing them from the local assembly, you know, and the implication there is that these people who are in the church They just think there's their spiritual giants for not removing this individual. Well, you know, we're loving, you know We're just loving people and we long suffering. We're merciful to them We're not gonna just remove people from the church. Whereas the Bible actually says that's that's called being puffed up Okay, because when you are nicer than God and when you are more long suffering than God, you're just being prideful You're not carrying out the biblical mandates that God has set forth in his word when it comes to the subject of church discipline So the solution was for them to remove that individual from the local church now This this is not the sermon but this shows you that you know, the universal church doesn't exist You guys ever heard of the universal church? Well, all believers are part of this universal invisible church Well that would completely contradict what we see here in 1st Corinthians 5 because how do you cast someone out? Of the universal church. I mean you throw them to another planet you get them out of the solar system I mean if every believer is part of that same church, how do you cast someone out like that? This is only possible with a local visible New Testament Church model Okay, you cast them out of that local congregation and that's that and so now what's the purpose of Church discipline? Well, let me get into that in just a bit. I Don't want to get ahead of myself here So that's what's taking place in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 the Apostle Paul is not present He's not there and he's saying hey, I don't need to be president. I already know what needs to be done Okay He's judging already though He's not present and he's instructing them to remove that individual from the local congregation and he refers to him as Levin Okay, why because Levin? Can spread can permeate throughout the whole congregation and Levin is a picture of sin So he's basically saying if you allow this sin to go unfettered in the church what it's gonna do It's gonna spread throughout the church. Why well because if the church leadership is Tolerating and not disciplining this specific sin other individuals will be emboldened to commit that sin If not worse sins in the church and what you will have in the coming years is this local congregation? Just being a cesspool of sin. Okay, just adultery drunkenness all types of wickedness taking place in the church It becomes defiled and the church is destroyed because of it. Okay, and So he tells them hey you need to deliver this person unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh What does that mean? You need to cast this person out? Because of the fact that when they get cast out they're gonna be delivered unto Satan Satan will be given You know, basically unfettered access to basically destroy that person's life in hopes that that person will repent they'll come back They will get right with God they will no longer commit fornication and they can be restored back into the fold Okay, that's the purpose of Church discipline now Let me preface this sermon by giving some preliminary points some very important factors that we need to take into consideration When talking about this matter of Church discipline preliminary point number one Let me define which church what Church discipline is. Okay Church discipline can be can be described as Removing a member from a local Church who has committed a sin worthy of expulsion who has remained unrepentant Okay. Now look when people hear this. They're like, why are we all sinners? No one's perfect and you know, they come up with all these Arguments and the answer is duh. I know we're all sinners. We all make mistakes But here's the thing. There's a list in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 that God says there's zero tolerance for in the local church There's certain things you cannot just do in the local church where God says well you can commit this sin just still remain in the church not according to the Bible and In fact, if they committed a sin worthy of expulsion and they remain unrepentant Then that person is to be removed from the congregation. So it's not necessarily like well, you know, these people are committing fornication They can't even step foot in the doors of the church. It's not necessarily what it's saying what it's telling us is if these people are committing this sin and Maybe they're doing it ignorantly They don't know that they can't be in the church if they're committing this in and they're confronted with this You know, they're confronted by the leadership or whatever may be the pastor and they say well, no I'm still gonna commit these things, you know, this is just the way I live and at that point they can't be here At that point we basically tell them well if that's the way you want to live that's on you and that's your choice But you just can't do it here. Okay, and people freak out about that. I'm like, oh man, that's not loving How can you guys call yourselves a church but folks? I mean you have businesses out in the world that can they refuse service to people all the time Right and according to the Bible we have the right to refuse service To a person who's involved in these things That's what God says and you know, who cares if people don't agree with that. It's clearly written out in the Bible. Okay, and It's for the good of the church because again if these sins were allowed to go unfettered in the church people are not repenting It would be it will become a den of iniquity in the coming years, okay drunkenness fornication extortion all these things can can go unfettered look at verse number four says in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you're Gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such in one and to Satan For the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord of the Lord Jesus your glorying is not good knowing not that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump purge out Therefore the old leaven so the old leaven is referring to that sin that this person is committing and so he's saying Purge out this person from the congregation that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us look at verse 13 If that's not enough proof for you, it says in verse 13, but then there are without God judgeth Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person Okay, so it literally says there you need to put that person away from you it calls them a wicked person Why because they refuse to get it right they refuse to repent they're not Getting this particular sin out of their life. Okay, go to Matthew chapter 18 if you would this is all introduction So again Church discipline is when we excommunicate someone From our assembly because of their refusal to repent of a sin that merits expulsion That's what it means We remove this individual we dismiss them from our assembly because of a particular sin that they've committed Where they're unwilling to repent of it. Okay, look at Matthew 18 verse 15 It says moreover if thy brother trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee that was gain thy brother now, this is applicable obviously to trespasses and offenses You know someone offends you you confront them you kind of hash it out They apologize you get right you move on with your lives live happily ever after okay But this also applies to even the sins that we see in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 Okay This this this model that we see of confronting an individual regarding a sin that we see in 1st Corinthians 5 verse 16 But if he will not hear thee now, what does it mean when it says but if he will not hear thee in other words He's not gonna get it right. I Get what you're saying, but I don't agree with you and I'm not gonna stop fornicating. I'm not gonna stop drinking I'm not gonna stop, you know, worshiping false gods or whatever idolatry is one of them This is what that means Okay But if you will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more Then in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established now It is of my persuasion and opinion that that two or three includes the pastor Okay, if the pastor is not included in the first part, then he's for sure included in the second. Okay, so If he's not willing to repent then the church members and the pastor confront him that individual of that sin Okay to tell him hey, this is wrong. You can't be doing this Etc verse 17 and if he shall neglect to hear them, he still remains unrepentant in other words tell it unto the church but if he neglect to hear the church Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican this basically means okay at that point You need to remove that individual from the assembly there to be like a heathen and as a publican Almost treated as an unsaved individual who's out there in the world. Okay, that's what the Bible saying there so again church discipline is When we remove an individual from our assembly because of the refusal to repent of a sin that merits expulsion now in first Corinthians 5 We typically focus on the fornication aspect the drunkenness aspect and the reason for that is because these are the common Prevalent sins today in churches unfortunately, you know, a lot of people just come into church there because of the culture they're fornicating They're living together. They're committing this grievous sin or sometimes, you know people there's people out there. There's just they're drunks They drink alcohol on the weekends. They smoke weed they get involved in these psychedelic drugs which the Bible would consider to be drunkenness and So we have to constantly deal with these things and make sure that we're preaching on them Helping people to clean up their lives and if they refuse to Clean up their lives if they refuse to repent of that particular sin Then we tell them then go to a church where they will tolerate that sin because you just can't be here. Okay? You say well, how do you grow a church like that? Well, here's the thing We're not here to grow a church We're here to obey God's Word Regardless if it makes sense to us regardless if it's logical to us. This is what we're supposed to do now There's some sins in 1st Corinthians 5 that we don't necessarily have to deal with on a regular basis like fornication or drunkenness for example idolatry You know, we don't really have to deal with that And I'm not saying that we're not gonna have to deal with that in the coming years Maybe there might be someone who's just I don't know Maybe they come from Catholicism and they're just not willing to get rid of that Virgin Mary That you know that their great-grandma gave them or something like that and they're just like, you know I when I pray to her I'm actually praying to Jesus or so. I don't know, you know That's not really a case obviously in other parts of the world. That's a case though, you know, Southeast Asia India Extortion you don't really have a whole lot of that going on Extortion is basically do this or I'll do this to you kind of thing Railing is definitely one that does sometimes happen in the church But we see here the sin of covetousness as well Okay, and make no mistake about it covetousness is a very grievous and wicked sin And there's a reason why God says that covetous people need to be removed from the congregation if they're unwilling to get it Right now, let me define covetousness for you Now this to this morning sermon is not gonna be a bombastic sermon So you're gonna have to discipline yourself to pay attention to what's being said. I might get bombastic later, but no promises, okay So let me define covetousness for you covetousness can be described as an inordinate affection towards something that doesn't belong to you or Should never belong to you. Okay, maybe it doesn't belong to you now But maybe you should never belong to you. For example, the Bible says in Exodus 20 verse 17 thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife Nor his manservant nor his maidservant nor his ox nor his ass nor anything. That is thy neighbors This is referring to covetousness. It's when you desire something that doesn't belong to you. Like someone else's spouse This is what the Bible also describes as lust, okay, so it says don't covet your neighbor's house They're their spouse. They're their servants, you know their ox or their ass now, you know I don't know of anybody here in the United States would be like man. I want that cow so bad. I want that ox We would we would actually translate this as like their vehicle or something, you know, I mean It's not like man if I can just get a goat like that Are you gonna ox like that if I can just get a donkey like that it was just I Want one of those, you know, this is we can translate this as being like a vehicle. Okay, and It says nor anything that is thy neighbors. This is covetousness now, obviously we understand that the subject of covetousness You know often starts off in the heart Does it not because you desire something in your heart and we don't throw people out for things that you do in your heart Because we can't read hearts. We're not mind readers, right? It's like, you know, I think you're a coverage person I believe in your heart. You're coveting after my my band or something, you know my whatever No It's actually when things are actually being carried out and fleshed out that it becomes this matter of covetousness that merits expulsion Now here's the thing. We looked at these at these particular things that people covet such as an ox and ass a Spouse a house, but here's the thing is that more often than not just referring to that which is monetary finances money Okay, now go to Ephesians chapter 5 if you would Ephesians chapter number 5 I'm gonna read you a couple verses before we get into my main points Luke chapter 12 and verse 13 Says this and one of the company said unto him master speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance With me and he said it's a man who made me a judge or divider over you and he said unto them Take heed and beware of covetousness For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possess it So this individual is coming to Jesus is not complaining that his brothers behaving unjustly towards him over some inheritance That's rightfully his what God is saying. What Jesus saw is the fact that this man is just a covetous person He just wants an abundance of things his life, you know is is characterized by how many possessions he has How many things he has how much money he has in the bank and therefore Jesus takes advantage of this and says hey You need to beware of covetousness and recognize that your life doesn't consist of possessions, you know It's not based upon how much money you have in the bank how many cars you have how big a house you have you should Embase your value off of these things. Okay look at Ephesians 5 verse Verse 1 it says be therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and have given himself for us in an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness Let it not be once named among you as become its Saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient But rather giving of thanks for this, you know that no whore monger Nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any Inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God now what I believe that this is actually referring to I don't believe this is saying That a covetous person a whore monger An unclean person, you know that they can't be saved. Okay, I Think what this is referring to is the fact that a person who lives a Christian who lives like this It's not gonna receive any inheritance in the kingdom of God in other words, they're not eternally minded. They're more temporal minded They're they're living their lives to fulfill the lust of the flesh. Okay, you know, they're they're fornicating they are Covetous, they're greedy of gain and because of that they're not laying up treasures in heaven where moth and rust that's not corrupt Neither do thieves breakthrough nor steal and so if a person lives their life like that at the end of that life when they go To heaven what's gonna happen? They're not gonna have any inheritance They're not gonna have any rewards Why because they receive that which they wanted here on this earth and then invest in that which is eternal. Okay Go to John chapter 2 if you would John chapter 2 Psalm 119 36 says incline my heart into thy testimonies and not To covetousness Proverbs 28 16 says the prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor But he that hated covetousness shall prolong his days The Bible says the Bible goes on to say in Jeremiah 6 13 for from the least of them even into the greatest of them Everyone is given to covetousness and from the Prophet even into the priest everyone dealeth falsely now Let me just segue here on something else this right this sin of covetousness It's so prevalent in churches in My opinion over the last 14 years that I've been saved and I observe and analyze churches I see how covetous people really are when it comes to church And I'm not talking about the church members. We'll get into that just a bit. I'm talking about the church leaders Church leaders pastors where they're so covetous. They're all they think about is money Every sermon is about money Every little sermon that before the offering is about money Everything is dealing about money Everything is just about finances and monetary gain and and you know Give to this and give to that and give to this folks out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh You know, all they talk about is tithing. It's like how many sermons do you need to preach about tithing? It's pretty simple folks. Look, here's my sermon on tithing it you just give 10% of your gross income there I mean you do I really need to expound anymore If you don't the devourer come and devour your goods and then you have to you'll get it one way or another The end okay read the book of Malachi you got it Because here's the if you don't tie that really doesn't affect me at all who does it affect that affects you So the person who's constantly hammering this you gotta tie you gotta tie offering offering give to this building do all this give me money That's a person where you just thinking to yourself this guy thinks about money a lot Okay Brother T just told us about a church that one of his family members were going to Well, they got like ATMs at the church Right, they got like ATMs and it's just like, you know the people walking around with the little card reader Card readers like hey, did you give oh man? Yeah, I forgot my I forgot my you know, I don't have any cash I mean, oh, don't worry. We have a card reader here. You can give right here. I Remember going to a church before I was saved it was in Los Angeles It was one of those preachers of LA churches you guys remember that show preachers of LA those wicked false prophets covetous people and I remember going to this church and literally they took up like four offerings in one service and One of the offerings was a mandatory $20 bill Mandatory like what do you mean mandatory? What are you gonna do to me if I don't give you $20? Mandatory $20 everything was about money and What is it? Well according to Jeremiah 613? It's when the prophets and the priests are dealing falsely because they're just covetous. They desire they love money Okay, and this is obviously a wicked thing to be guilty of now. Let me just get into the actual Sherman itself that was all introduction covetousness is such a grievous sin according to 1st Corinthians 5 That according to the Bible it merits expulsion from the church if the person in question is unrepentant Now what classifies a covetous person and you think to yourself? Well, hey pastor someone being thrown out today Is this where you're preaching? No one's being thrown out today. Okay, some of them are like the other half are like, oh man I want to you know, it's kind of exciting when things get you know, things get a little hot in here, you know I'm not throwing anybody out. But let me say this. There's a reason why I'm preaching this Okay, and and here's the thing as a pastor it's my responsibility to take the oversight thereof to keep a pulse on the patterns and trends of the church and so if I if I when as I'm keeping a pulse on the church and things that are going on, you know There's often times when I think to myself I need to preach on this particular subject because this could be a potential problem. Okay? So what classifies a covetous person? Well number one when you make merchandise in the house of God or make merchandise of the house of God Either or will classify a person as being a covetous Individual that merits expulsion you're in John chapter 2 Let me reach you from Matthew 23 verse 14 when talking about the Pharisees It says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayer Therefore you shall receive the greater damnation The Pharisees were guilty of literally not devouring literally the houses of the widows But basically taking their monetary money their finances Okay, because these were people who were greedy of gain there were covetous individuals who would just you know, destroy people's lives look at John chapter 2 verse 13 and the Jews Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changes of money sitting And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them out out of all the temple Excuse me he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and Over through the tables and he said into them that sold doves take these things hands and think excuse me take these things hence make not my father's house a house of Merchandise and his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up folks This is an important subject. How do we know that because Jesus was mad? He was so mad that he made a cord of small a scourge of small cords He's whipping people inside the temple He's chasing people off. He's chasing the animals out this is how mad he is and To add to that. He's flipping tables over you know everyone always has this picture of Jesus and he's just like How about how about always just like flipping the toilet table over, you know? Obviously, I'm against having images of Jesus But it's funny how they always want to have this image where he's just gracious and merciful and just you know The protruding heart that's bleeding in the chest and it has a crown on it. Just the morbid looking Jesus Why not one where he's actually flipping over tables and beating people up in in the temple for buying and selling in the temple that made him mad and he did it more than once and in fact a parallel passage Tells us that he cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple Okay, so he's not only casting those who are selling the animals for the animal sacrifices He's casting out the people the people who are buying them as well. Okay, why because they were making the father's house a house of Merchandise now automatically when we read this passage, we automatically think well, that's when like the church has like a coffee shop Right a coffee shop a bookstore, you know They have some sort of store in this in the church or you know Christian school or Bible college Some manner which the leaders are literally trying to make money By using the church. Okay as a center of commerce but this applies to any individual who comes to our church and Seeks to make merchandise off of the house of God by soliciting in our church. Okay? Now Look, let me let me just get on this for just a bit regarding church leaders selling in the church This is a very wicked sin. Okay, and And here's the thing. Why do they do that? well because they're trying to make ends meet sometimes or because they have a building to build or because they have all these Expenses that they have but folks Nowhere in the Bible does it give you a 10-step program a hottest how to start a business in church In order to make more money so you can provide for the needs of the church No, in fact God's way of providing the finances necessary to meet the needs of the church is through prayer generosity integrity obedience stewardship and faith That's how you do it Right prayer. You have to be generous have integrity be obedient to God's laws Be a good steward have faith gotta provide for all your needs And look I'm not against churches even doing like a fundraiser where they're raising money for a specific project not necessarily You know purchasing things or anything like that or maybe that's not even the correct term Is the fundraiser when people buy things in the church? Is that what it is? Does anybody know? It is Thank You Adam Fundraisers I guess what is when you actually buy some of the church I'm referring to when you're collecting money for a specific cost, you know We have a pastor friend of ours who's going through a difficult time and you know, he's whatever, you know He's in need of a financial. He's in a financial crisis There's nothing wrong with taking up an offering to help that pastor you understand, but what would be wrong is like Hey this pastor needs help. Let's sell cookies on Sunday and and let's do some sort of you know Drive through where you know people you can bring all your your junk to the church and we can just buy it and stuff like That and raise the money that's wrong. Okay. Well, it's for a good cause though, but here's the thing the Bible never says Hey, don't make my father's house a house of merchandise unless it's for a good cause right and It looks like here that this was a good cause I mean doing the animal sacrifices was something that you were supposed to do in the Bible, right? But even then Jesus was upset even then he drove them out because of the fact that church should never be a place a center Of commerce to make any type of business. Okay, and this applies to the church members as well When members see church as an opportunity to network and build their business at this point It becomes wrong selling products in church. Okay Now, let me let me just say this. Okay, let me make this disclaimer Because we have people in our church that have businesses and you know They sell products and every once in a while. You might be able to sell to someone in our church. Okay, and Because maybe that individual is interested in that product and you're able to do that I'm not referring to that necessarily because you're not going out of your way To solicit your product and to come to church in order to solicit your product. You understand? It's not like right church day trying to get all my business cards going on and my products going on in the trunk of my car You know, it's just something that happens in passing At that point it's not wrong. Now. The transaction should not take place here at the church and What should be done is that if you have a product you want to purchase from another church member or vice-versa What you do and say hey if you're interested just let me know but let's talk about it after church Somewhere else, you know, I'll give you a call tomorrow. Let's you know, we're in church right now So we shouldn't be discussing these things. Okay selling a product and look This is something that a lot of churches are guilty of I've seen this so many times. How many you've ever heard of the rainbow vacuum? Okay, how many were guilty of purchasing a rainbow vacuum, okay, oh man you guys are great yes, I wasn't either Okay, I just I just observed but I know a lot of people who were who were guilty of buying this rainbow vacuum And it was just like this pyramid scheme. It's just like it costs like $3,000 it's like here's this rainbow vacuum purchase it but don't worry you'll make your money back because if you can get four more people to To purchase this then you make your money back and you started it just starts doubling It's this get-rich-quick scheme type of a thing, okay Cutco, how many of you guys ever heard of cutco? Okay, how many fell to the trap of cutco in church? Okay, Maury All right. I see the hand knives, right I Don't know anything about that. I just know that people did that life insurance And look I literally was in a place where the Spanish pastor Literally had the insurance guy come up during service Behind the pulpit and Basically advertise his life insurance stuff or whatever so people can can buy it from him or whatever You saw a man Well, the pastor is probably just genuine he wants people to be prepared for you know when they die and everything like that No, no, no. No, he's getting a cut That's Why he's giving this guy a platform because he's getting a cut because he's greedy a filthy lucre It's wrong Look, I'm not saying any of these things is wrong except for the rainbow vacuum I don't know about that one. But you know these other things I'm not saying they're wrong They're not sinful in and of themselves is the fact that these things are used often in a church setting Because people see church and like Oh business all these people networking couldn't you know sell to these people could buy from these people Okay, I Was gonna mention Avon, but I don't even know if that's even a thing anymore But I do know one thing Monat am I pronouncing that correctly Monet. Okay. Thank you, brother, George Monet okay, you say what is it? That's as far as I'm gonna go cuz I know nothing else about some women hair product or something like that. Okay nail Street These are all multi level level marketing things that can often be used in a church setting because church is filled with people And not just people but honest and generous people and often Individuals who are filled with covetousness will come into a church setting in order to solicit these things to make money. This is wrong. Okay So if you are selling a product in our church, okay if you're guilty of this now Well, here's your chance to repent. Amen like oh, man. I don't know that. I'm sorry about that. I won't do it but if you're like Too late. I already got a bunch of customers. I'm still gonna do it then We're gonna customer you outside of this church Okay, if you're not willing to get it, right Coming to church with the purpose of soliciting business partners now again if it happens Organically where you're talking to someone and maybe you can give someone work or whatever it may be You know, obviously there's nothing wrong with that But I'm saying when you come to church with the purpose of soliciting business partners that point it becomes wrong Okay Making church the center of commerce for your business. This is wrong Okay, and so just keep that in mind Covetousness is obviously a sin of the heart But it begins to manifest itself on the outward appearance to the point where it could affect your membership in church When you are selling a product you're coming to solicit business partners for your particular business You're making the local church a center of commerce for your business at that point has become sinful You will be approached by it And if you say well, I'm still gonna do it then we're gonna say then you need to go somewhere else Okay, and I don't think it's ever gonna get to that point, but this is preventative. Hey, man And look, this is one of the reasons why we don't sell anything in church. We never sell anything in church anything Everything is free Right, I mean don't go overboard on that like don't start taking the chairs or something, you know, like You know start taking the instruments or something You know, obviously I'm referring to you know song books or even when we have food it's always free When we have special events, those are always free when we have activities free Okay, you know when we when we host activities for the couples free, you don't have to pay a fee or anything like that Everything is basically free Okay, and number one we do that because of the fact that we shouldn't sell in the house of God number two because we want To be generous and number three, it helps people to be grateful. Okay Now obviously there's a danger in that sometimes where people are ungrateful. They're just like, oh, this is what we're getting Oh, this is it. Oh, is it there more? It's just like oh, I'm sorry Let me go ahead and take that away from you real quick and never give you another slice. Okay. Oh We're having that again. Oh, no. No, we're having that again. You're not having anything apparently, you know and so Everything in our church is free. Okay And look, let me just say this is that that's something that I had to have learned within the last couple of years Because I grew up in an independent fundamental Baptist church I grew up in an old IFP Church where things were always being sold and that was just part of the culture of the church But then we really when I realized hey, this is wrong and I began to observe old IFP churches who do this I can see the error and I can see the fruit of that error I can see the consequences that those churches face constantly in debt Constantly in debt our church has never been in debt Those churches constantly in debt always in the red at the end of the year Always in the red and let me just call out a church real quick just to just to let you know There's a church and in Santa Clara, California called North Valley Baptist Church pastored by Dr. Jack Treiber, okay This church is tens of thousands of dollars in debt every single year But you go to that church. They have like five ivory pianos Fountains screens like crazy they own streets a Church that owns the street They own all these things and they're and you know what they do at the end of the year They're constantly asking for money from other churches They have something called what is it called the what the bucket brother hikes been he's been Keeping up with North Valley. They call it the bucket list or not the bucket list They just call it the bucket fund or whatever And what he does the pastor gets up and gives buckets to every ministry and says you need to fill up this bucket With a certain amount of money. I mean we talk about bus kits They go to the bus kids who are typically when they pick them up. They're from poor areas Like you got to fill up this bucket with money he goes on his radio station and What does he do asking for people for money He's like who's willing to give $100 who's willing to give $700 who's willing to give $1,000 people calling to give him 50 bucks and he like complains about it Like oh, that's it. Well, okay. Well, I guess we'll take the 50 there. You could have given 100 though or something. What? Now is it any coincidence that this same pastor You know So during this whole COVID thing We met in church like an actual building We've never met outside because there's no place to meet outside anyways, even if we wanted to so we're just like we're just gonna keep meeting inside and Even when we were protested when we were protested, I mean the enemies of God were outside of our church with the police and It was not legal or whatever to meet inside the building to meet inside the building The Health Department still wasn't called on us. No one called anything on us We were still having to meet in church. Whereas Dr. Jack Treiber, Dr. Whack Treiber, you know what he did He's constantly Constantly praising the police constantly praising the mayor and the go and you know what they all turned on him Won't let him meet inside the building Finding him So he's there finding him for because he wanted to take a stand and meet inside the building Because he wanted to be like a John MacArthur kind of guy which by the way, he is like a John MacArthur In his in his because he's a false prophet and he's like he's he's making videos governor Newsom Please let us meet a church And you know governor this is probably laughing his face off at that, why are you asking the devil to let you mean in the church I'm like, this is hilarious. Let's watch it again But You know, that's what he gets That's what he gets for being such a covetous person Constantly asking for money constantly asking people for tens of thousands of dollars And and let me just say this North Valley Baptist Church is a covetous church Okay, and let me give you one more example before I move on My brother-in-law went to North Valley Baptist Church for some sort of tournament a guy came up to him and said this Hey, that's a nice tie And he grabbed his tie looked behind looked at the brand and said I'll never mind True story When he told me I was like, well, did you knock him out? Did you slap him Upside the head. I mean, what did I mean that would have infuriated me But it just shows you the level of covetousness of that church Okay, and all the IP pastors they defend him all the day long because they want to be just like him so anyways So when you're making the house of God a house of merchandise at that point You become a covetous individual who merits expulsion if you remain unrepentant go to Matthew chapter number six If you would what else classifies a covetous person making merchandise of the house of God number two the will to be rich Classifies a covetous person Now let me make let me clarify some things, okay It's not wrong for you to be rich It's not it's not wrong for you to have an abundance It's not wrong for you to be rich if you have gained those riches by honest means Okay Now it is wrong for me to be rich because of the fact that I hold a special position as a pastor and as a pastor I should not own five mansions and Teslas and all these things living like a luxurious life because I'm a pastor Okay, and as a pastor, I'm just I'm just to live a normal life Where I can provide for my family we can still enjoy life But there's certain luxuries that we can't have as pastors according to the Bible Okay, but that rule does not apply to church members Okay, church members if you work and you you labor hard you work hard and you make a lot of money Good for you as long as it's done honestly, okay But if you are making money through dishonest means To so you can give the church a good tithe or something like that. That's what that's that's sinful Okay, you have a will to be rich now What's what's a what's a real good example of someone who wants to who has the will to be rich? How about you know playing the lottery? Yeah, that's someone who has the will to be rich because here's the thing people who are poor can still have the will to be Rich and can be thrown out of church for that. Why because if they're gambling They're going to casinos and gambling and playing the lottery These things merit expulsion from the church because it shows that you are a covetous person Trying to gain money quickly rather than by hard work and the Bible constantly teaches gaining riches or abundance through labor Through labor through hard work through honesty and integrity This is the way you gain riches if you gain it any other way and the only exception to that would be if you receive an Inheritance, okay, but if you gain it another way through dishonesty theft Okay, playing the lottery gambling etc. It's wrong The Bible says you're in Matthew chapter 6 the Bible says in Proverbs 15 27 he that is greedy of gain Troubleth his own house folks if you are a covetous person you're greeting I guarantee you you have all kinds of issues in your household Because money is a subject in that household You're gonna trouble your own house, but he that hated gifts shall live look at Matthew chapter 6 verse 19 Lay not out for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt or and where thieves Do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there where your heart be also now I want you to notice here that God is not against you gaining treasures He's just saying don't lay them up here Don't follow the Elon Musk's and the Warren Buffett's of this world And all these people would say lay up treasure and get all this money and get as rich as you possibly can You know lay up what God is saying well No, the proper investment should be in heaven because don't you want to keep your riches don't you want to keep your treasures? Don't want don't you want to keep that abundance? Well in order for you to keep them you have to send them ahead into eternity so you can see them again one day And he says for you where your treasure is verse 21 there where your heart be also look what it says in verse 22 the light of the body is the eye if Therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evil The whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness? No, man can serve two masters for either He will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon go to Colossians chapter 3. What does that mean when it says? Having a single eye and an evil eye. What does that mean? Because remember it's in context of treasures It's in context of even Mammon, right? We see that sandwiched between those two concepts there What does it mean to have a single eye and an evil eye? Well think about this single simply means you're singling something out and we have a single eye it means you're setting your affections on that which is eternal and So in contrast to that the evil eye is not just looking at that one thing is looking at multiple things Look what it says in Colossians 3 verse 1 If he then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Set your affections on things above not on the things on the earth So when it says to have a single eye, it's basically telling you. Hey, make sure you have the right focus in your life Don't have this evil eye where your main focus is money Don't have a focus in your life where all you think about is money Where are you thinking about is man? How much can I make from this? What's gonna happen with this if you're constantly doing that you have an evil eye and the Bible says that if your eye is Evil your whole body shall be filled with darkness Why because the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after have pierced themselves through with many sorrows They have erred from the faith the Bible says so you being you know Focusing on finances and that which is monetary and treasures will ultimately affect every aspect of your life It'll destroy your life Whereas the Bible says no let your eye be single focus Don't turn to the right hand nor to the left make sure you're looking forward set your affections on things above Live for that which is eternal Don't live for that which is temporal Well Well, I think I can you know just still be that way and serve God no the Bible says no man can serve two masters For he for either he will hate the one and love the other Or else he will hold to the one and despise the other he cannot serve God and mammon You see the right thing to do would be like Solomon Lord Give me wisdom and understanding to lead your people and what what has got what did God do he gave him riches in abundance? Because he knew his heart was in the right place We want God to give us riches and wealth because our heart is in the right place You understand Where's our heart? It's in heaven It's focusing on that which is eternal. It's focusing on souls. It's focusing on the spiritual growth of our family It's focused on the spiritual growth of people in church. It's focusing on that which is most important not on money Okay Says in verse number five mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and Covetousness, which is idolatry Proverbs 28 verse 22 says this he that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and Considerth not that poverty shall come upon him go to first Timothy chapter 6 first Timothy chapter 6 now Let me give you a practical way to apply this. Okay, so you say well, okay hasty to be rich we get that So, how would so how would we determine if someone is hasty to be rich in the church? Well again, if you're playing the lottery if you're gambling Or how about this this is a new thing Bitcoin Now let me just say this is it's not wrong to invest I don't I don't believe it's wrong to invest for a long term Now you put something in there you just forget about it you move on with your life and you check it 20 20 years later or whatever may be but you know, what what where it becomes wrong is if you're in church checking the numbers Well, should I cash out now? She's just doing it by the way, that's that's like gambling Because you're waiting for that number to go nice and high so you can cash out and make that quick money Right That is the haste to be rich If you can't even focus on what I'm telling you right now because you're thinking about those numbers And you're just itching to pull out your phone and check the graphs or whatever it is that they do or whatever I don't even know how it works. How does it work Adam? I'm just kidding Adams not one of them by the way and look Adam. He's one who's probably like one of the experts in Bitcoin here at our church But I guarantee you every time that I've talked to him He's never even talked about the money aspect of it He's always talked about the technological aspect of it how the technology works, which is a lot different Okay, but if he's going around like let me give you an example and I'm just gonna I'm just gonna put him on the spot Okay You're gonna be the person we throw out. Okay, theoretically speaking. Let's say Adams just going around say hey You need to invest in this you need to invest in this. This is what you need to do. Check it tomorrow Hey, this is up right now. You should cash out. Hey, you look at this. Hey, what's how's your how's your stocks doing or whatever? At that point. Yeah, then he merits expulsion because he's causing other people to be covetous in the church And look folks when we come to church, you know, we should be doing when we come to church church things What we're gonna talk about the Bible I Mean you could talk about your jobs and stuff like that and family and all these things wholesome things but folks We're not gonna become this church That I've seen in times past where they come to church and all they talk about is two things one money to sports I'm serious churches are just like they can't wait to get out of church because Whatever the Dodgers are playing or something or something going on in football or whatever. It's just like oh, he's just what time is he? Getting out. He's just going so long. We got to catch up on this NBA stuff or whatever I don't know what season we're in Whatever Happened to Making the house of God the house of God Where you come and you discuss spiritual things and look we don't have that issue here because after church All these people they start fellowshipping and you know what they're talking about They're talking about the Bible to talk about their babies and families and I think that's great. We need to remain that way But Don't let yourself like yes, what do you think I should I cash out right now? It's like up 50 70 percent right now man I'll check it in five minutes. Okay, we'll see. We'll see what happens there That's covetousness You're becoming a covetous person When all you can do is think about? Money and how much you're gonna be able to cash out in 15 minutes if it goes up 50 percent or whatever You've become a covetous person Well, I know a lot of people don't like hearing this right now You know the more I see that people don't like to hear it the more time I'm gonna spend on this point You've become a greedy individual a covetous person and you need to get right with God and if you don't like that then go to some Baptist Church where the pastor is just as covetous as you are and Maybe you both can share statistics and numbers and cash out at the same time if you want Don't be a person who's hasty to be rich. Here's the thing, you know a Bitcoin a lot more sophisticated than that lottery ticket You talk to someone who's against lottery it's just like oh I wouldn't do that That's so low and for such low-class people. Yeah, you're more sophisticated gambler now, aren't you? You do it from your phone And again, I'm not against investments. I I'm not against investments at all. I'm not against you investing in money into something and just forgetting about it It's it's when it comes to this what consumes you What is it that's consuming your thoughts? What's in your heart? What are you thinking about when you're in church? What do you think about when you're with your spouse? What are you thinking about when you're with your children? If you just constantly checking those statistics making sure that money goes up you've become a covetous Person and you're on your way to expulsion Look at first Timothy 6 and look I'm not just telling you this because I'm mad at you I'm not upset at you. I don't think you're a wicked person I think any individual can can fall into this trap if they're not careful Okay, and this is preventative. Amen What should I do? We'll look at verse 6 but godliness with contentment is great gain. You really want to make some gains? Why don't you check check the statistics of heaven See, how am I doing on my on my treasures in heaven right now? How many souls have I won how many people in my discipling have I been obeying my husband? Have I been loving my wife as Christ loved the church. Let me check the stocks in heaven See how I'm doing on that Godliness with contentment is great gain For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain you can't carry Bitcoin out Gold or whatever that is Can't carry any of that out, right? You don't understand. It's so decentralized. No one's gonna be able to you're not gonna be able to take it with you. I Don't care how decentralized it is it's not going with you now unless you use it to invest in eternal things You Can carry nothing out Having food and raiment let us therewith be content but they that will be rich fall into what temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and Perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and Pierce themselves through with many sorrows money is one of the greatest liars This world has ever known Because it makes you think it's the answer to all of your problems It it poses this fantasy that if you just have me Everything will be a-okay folks if you live like that that means you have no faith Now look folks we gotta have a balanced view of this obviously Ecclesiastes says money answer with all things You know why because we need money to pay the bills We need money to put food on the table We need money to do X Y & Z things that are necessary in this world, but the balanced view is this But if we don't have money, we just depend on God We're just gonna pray and have faith and be content with the things that we have Etc. Okay, go to Proverbs chapter 23. I mean this is my last point of we're done. It's a short point So don't don't worry about it Fear not. Amen And So the will to be rich Are grounds for expulsion if that's all you're doing now look Whatever you do in your home That's your business and I get that and we're not we're not the the thought police or we're just going around checking Hey, so what are you doing at home? Do you check the numbers at home too, or you do this at home? I don't know and I don't care and you know what if if it's sinful where you're doing eventually God will bring it to light Because be sure your sin will find you out But I'm taking the oversight thereof here at this church, okay Number three what classifies a covetous person last one is the excessive promotion of a luxurious lifestyle The excessive promotion of a luxurious lifestyle what I mean by that if you come to our church and all you talk about is Possessions possessions money and possessions you need to get this you need to get that This is the kind of car that you need. You need to get yourself a Tesla You need to get yourself this and that and this is the kind of lifestyle you should at that point you are Those are grounds for expulsion because you're promoting that type of lifestyle to people in our church and you're causing them to be covetous as well Okay The Bible says in Proverbs 23 look what it says in verse number one now Proverbs 23 has often been viewed as a chapter or a portion of Scripture dealing with gluttony Because it's some of the terminology it's using but it's actually not referring to that at all Look what it says in verse 1 when thou sittest to eat with the ruler Considered diligently what is before thee and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite Be not desirous of his dainties for they are deceitful meat now What does it mean when it says deceitful meat this is not talking about like the the Carl's jr Burger who claims to be a meat burger, but it's like a vegan burger or something. Although that's definitely the case, too That's that's deceitful meat right there. That's false advertisement Who would ever want to eat a vegan burger and if there's any vegans out here meat is better, okay There's a guy I ran into from from back in the day he was a Christian I just saw him like two days ago. He's like, yeah, I got into veganism and I was like, oh man, that's not good He said no, it was really good for me. And you know, it was it would fix my body So one thing those he's like I just feel really weak And I thought I was like, well, you know Bible says he that eateth herbs is weak So, you know Deceit stay away from deceitful meats. Hey, man But it says be not desirous of his dainties for they are deceitful meat. It's not the meaning of itself That's deceitful. It's the person who's giving it to you Says in verse 4 why labor not to be rich cease from thine own wisdom It's interesting what I'll set on eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings They fly away as an eagle toward heaven eat down not the bread of him that hath a what an evil eye Neither desire thou his dainty meats for as he thinketh in his heart So is he eat and drink saith he to thee but his heart is not with thee the morsel Which thou has each other vomit up and lose thy sweet words. What is the same when a person presents dainty meats before you? What are they trying to do according to this passage of Scripture they're trying to make you as covetous as he is That's what they're doing They're trying to show you a luxurious lifestyle so that you in turn would desire those things and become a covetous person just like they are and he says eat and drink but his heart is not with thee and First Corinthians 15 it says let us eat and drink and be married for tomorrow. We die Be not deceived evil communication corrupts good manners And so last portion of Scripture Hebrews 13, this is the last one I promise is the last one So don't come into church and look I'm not again I'm not saying you can't come and say hey I just got a new laptop or I just got a new suit or something like that You know, and I'm just talking about when that when you're characterized by those things When You are characterized as a person who all they do is promote a luxurious lifestyle at that point. That's very much suspect Because why are you doing that? Why out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaking? So what's the lesson here Hebrews 13 verse 5 says this let your conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee Nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man Shall do unto me. What is he saying? At the end of the day, we just need to learn contentment Even if you have an abundance, even if you are rich, even if you are wealthy the Bible says learn contentment Why because the reality is this God can take that away from you like that he can remove your riches like that and If you don't have contentment It's gonna destroy your life Hey Bitcoin is great. But what if the internet just crashes or something? There goes your Bitcoin Bitcoin is great until the New World Order is established and everything on the internet belongs to the Antichrist And it's no longer decentralized now, it's centralized Okay Don't set your affections on on the things that this earth set your affections on things about Be a content person and don't get thrown out of church for covetousness. Amen inspire heads and have a word of prayer father We thank you so much for your word Thank you so much for These teachings Lord and sometimes people think these are just so many strict rules But we know that your laws and your rules are actually for our benefit. We benefit greatly because of it It's not to make our lives miserable Because the reality is people out there who are rich People are out there who have an abundance and they don't have the Lord a lot of those people are very miserable And it just it shows us that you know riches can't necessarily buy you happiness Joy comes from the Lord contentment and godliness coupled together make for a great life and I pray Lord that you'd help us to to Temper that Lord and to recognize that and not allow ourselves to be caught up in the luxuries of this world The the gain of this world help us to to set our affections on things above Recognizing that we're not always gonna be here and even if we have abundance and riches and and wealth We're not gonna be carried We're not gonna be able to carry any of those things out and I pray Lord that you'd help us We love you so much and we thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen