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Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS023009S
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00:11 (music ends) 00:17 >>Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:18 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:20 This week, we're looking at lesson number nine; 00:23 the subject is covetousness. 00:25 This quarter, we are looking at "Managing for the Master 00:28 Till He Comes." 00:31 A fascinating subject 00:32 where we are delving into faith and finances 00:35 and how they intersect one with another. 00:37 With us again this week is the author 00:39 of this quarter's Sabbath school lesson, Ed Reid. 00:42 He is a licensed attorney and an ordained minister. 00:45 We're delighted to have him back. 00:47 And in a moment, we are going to take a look 00:49 at the subject of covetousness, 00:51 but first, let's have prayer. 00:53 Father, we ask that You will bless us this week once again 00:55 as we continue looking at the subject 00:58 of finances and our faith. 01:00 And as we look at covetousness, 01:01 help us to understand the significance of this illness 01:05 and how we can avoid it 01:07 and head in the right direction. 01:09 We thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:12 Ed, welcome back once again. 01:14 >>Well, thank you, it's great to be with you. 01:16 >>So this week, looking at covetousness, 01:18 the memory text is Luke 12, verse 15. 01:22 It says, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, 01:25 "for one's life does not consist 01:27 in the abundance of the things he possesses." 01:30 So an entire lesson on covetousness, 01:34 one might say, "Well, isn't it just enough 01:36 to say, 'Don't covet?'" 01:38 But apparently there's a little bit more to it than that. 01:40 >>There is actually, Eric, 01:41 and this is a first time 01:43 I've actually written on this topic, 01:45 but it was really eyeopening for me, 01:47 and I hope that it will be for the viewers 01:49 and those who study the lesson this week. 01:52 Covetousness has been defined 01:54 as the inordinate desire for the position 01:58 or the possessions of another. 02:00 So, "I'd like to have your job," 02:02 or, "I'd like to have your stuff," 02:04 that's what covetousness is about. 02:06 And it is so interesting 02:08 that it is actually one of the 10 Commandments. 02:11 Believe it or not, the 10th commandment, 02:12 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife 02:14 or anything that belongs to your neighbor," and so on-- 02:16 covetousness is defined as one of those heinous sins 02:19 that will keep a person out of heaven. 02:21 So I just wanna read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 02:24 and you'll be able to see this topic listed 02:27 with a whole bunch of other real heinous sins. 02:29 "Know ye not that the unrighteous 02:30 "shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: 02:34 "neither fornicators, ...idolators, ...adulterers, 02:38 "[or] effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 02:41 "nor thieves, [or] covetous, 02:43 "...drunkards, [or] revilers, [or] extortionists, 02:46 shall inherit the kingdom of God." 02:48 So if it's this bad, we ought to talk about it, 02:50 seems to me. 02:51 >>Now, you mentioned it being this bad. 02:53 You know, when you list the grand scheme of terrible things 02:57 that people can do to themselves or to one another-- 03:00 you know, we think of murder 03:02 and we think of, you know, 100 other things; 03:05 covetous, it sounds, well, it doesn't sound good, 03:08 but it doesn't sound all that bad 03:11 if you just look at it on the surface. 03:13 But as you mentioned in Sunday's lesson, 03:16 the title is actually a question; 03:18 the question is, "The Ultimate Original Sin?" 03:21 question mark. 03:23 What is it about covetousness and its origins-- 03:26 I don't know if that's the-- 03:27 its history, maybe that's a better word-- 03:30 that got us to where we are today? 03:32 >>Well, that's a good question, 03:33 and the reason I put a question there, 03:34 because we call it the mystery of iniquity; 03:37 why did Lucifer do this? 03:39 But one factor at least was covetousness, 03:42 because the Bible says in the book of Isaiah, chapter 14, 03:48 that in verse 14, Lucifer is saying-- 03:50 King of Tyre in this illustration--is saying, 03:53 "I will be like the Most High." 03:55 And the interesting thing to me is, the interesting part, 04:00 is that the Bible talks about, 04:01 "Godliness with contentment is great gain." 04:02 You read that earlier. Paul says in Colossians 3:5, 04:05 "covetousness, which is idolatry," 04:07 he calls it idolatry. 04:08 The interesting thing also is... 04:11 I just, I know I put this in the book, 04:13 it's not in the lesson, but I'll just tell it to you, 04:16 that I believe Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden 04:18 for some time before the sin problem came along, 04:21 because they had, they watched the seasons come and go, 04:24 and Eden was a school, et cetera. 04:27 And the devil was limited to one tree, 04:30 and he could only tempt 'em 04:32 in that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, 04:33 and they'd had warning about it and so on. 04:36 He's thinking now, "How am I gonna get to them?" 04:38 And the basic thing, I think, has happened 04:41 is he said, "I'll do what took me down." 04:44 So when Eve came by the tree, 04:45 he used the serpent as a medium, of course, 04:47 but he said that, "If you eat this fruit, 04:50 you'll be like God to know good and evil." 04:54 So do you see the desire 04:56 to have more knowledge than you have, 04:58 or more than God has given you, 04:59 or lack of trust and so on? 05:00 So that's probably part of the problem as well. 05:03 >>So we've got a picture here of covetousness 05:07 originating with Lucifer, 05:09 who wanted God's position. 05:10 Then we see it make its way down here to Planet Earth 05:13 with the offer that he gives to Eve and she accepts, 05:16 and of course, Adam comes along as well. 05:20 We get to Monday's lesson 05:21 and that story or these stories that we've just looked at, 05:25 the story of Lucifer and his fall, 05:26 and Adam and Eve and their fall, 05:28 those aren't the only stories in the Bible 05:31 that deal with covetousness. 05:32 And on Monday, you delved into a story 05:36 that I think many of us are at least somewhat familiar with, 05:39 it may not be one of the most frequently quoted stories 05:41 in the Bible, 05:43 but it's entitled "An Accursed Thing in the Camp." 05:46 So give us a little background on the setting of this story 05:50 and why it's significant as we're talking about 05:52 the subject of covetousness. 05:54 >>Well, it's interesting that the devil 05:56 tries to use the miracles that God performs 05:58 to his own advantage. 06:00 And it's very interesting that two major miracles happened 06:04 when Israel finally crossed the Jordan River. 06:07 You remember that for 40 years 06:09 they'd been in the wilderness wandering, 06:10 and God fed them with manna and so on. 06:12 That was a big miracle in itself, 06:13 but they encountered the Jordan River 06:16 at springtime flood stage. 06:18 And it was so wide, just like some of the rivers 06:20 that we have in America and other places 06:22 are very big in flood stage. 06:25 God performed a miracle and dried that river up, 06:29 a path wide enough, dry ground, 06:31 for them to go through it. 06:32 It just piled up on one side 06:34 and ran away on the other side, 06:35 and they went across on dry ground; 06:37 more than a million people crossed on dry ground. 06:40 Now, that's a big miracle. 06:42 The next one was the conquest of Jericho. 06:44 This is incredible. Do you understand? 06:47 Joshua was leading them then, 06:49 didn't know what to do for sure, 06:50 and so he went out to pray 06:51 and encountered the captain of the Lord's host; 06:53 Christ was there to tell him, 06:55 "Here's what you're gonna do. 06:56 "You're gonna march around it once a day for six days. 06:59 "And on the seventh day, you march around seven. 07:01 "And by the way, everybody's gonna be absolutely quiet, 07:04 "no talking, no joking, no singing, 07:06 "nothing; you're absolutely quiet. 07:08 "Just march around one time a day, 07:10 "and then seven on the seventh day. 07:12 "When the priests blow seven trumpets, 07:15 then the walls are gonna come crashing down." 07:18 And the walls came crashing down. 07:21 This is amazing. 07:23 All they had to do was walk in like a cakewalk 07:25 to conquer the city. 07:27 The only thing that didn't fall down 07:29 was Rahab's house that was in the wall. 07:32 And the two spies that had been there said, 07:33 "If you're in your house and anybody you wanna save 07:36 in your house with you when you come, you'll be saved." 07:39 They were spared. 07:40 But this is interesting, now. 07:43 You have to feel sorry for bad guys sometimes. 07:47 Achan was one of the people that went there. 07:49 He saw a "goodly Babylonish garment," a new suit, 07:53 200 shekels of silver and 50 shekels of gold, 07:57 a golden web--a wedge of gold, and he took those things. 08:01 Now, this wasn't unusual 08:02 because God, through Joshua, told them, 08:05 "All the spoils, destroy everything inside, 08:08 "but all the spoils, the gold and the silver 08:11 "and precious things like that, 08:12 bring back to the temple to start the temple economy." 08:15 So everybody's hauling stuff back, 08:17 but Achan stopped by his tent and hid it in his tent. 08:20 Now, the "accursed thing" is interesting; 08:22 that happened so interesting that they decided 08:25 that they wouldn't send the whole group up to Ai; 08:27 they would just send 3,000 men. 08:30 When they sent 'em up there, 08:31 the men of Ai fought for them, their own lives, 08:34 and they actually killed 36 Israelites. 08:37 So when they came back 08:38 after being defeated like that, running away, 08:41 Joshua said, "What's going on?" 08:43 And he laid down on the ground and prayed all day, 08:46 and God said, "There's a cursed thing in your midst. 08:48 "There's no way you can go forward 08:50 until you take the cursed thing out of your midst." 08:52 So they cast lots, 08:53 and the lot fell on Achan, as you remember. 08:56 The amazing thing about this story is that... 09:01 Achan said, "I coveted this when I saw these things, 09:04 and I hid them in my tent." 09:06 So bad is covetousness-- 09:08 what was God's counsel to Joshua to do with Achan? 09:12 Believe it or not, he said, 09:13 "Stone him to death, along with his whole family, 09:16 "pile all their stuff upon them, 09:18 all their belongings, and burn them up." 09:20 Then they made a big heap of stones there. 09:22 The bottom line is, 09:24 trust God to take care of your family; 09:27 don't covet the possessions of someone else. 09:29 >>So this story of Achan 09:31 is one that is absolutely a cautionary tale, 09:34 an instructive tale, 09:36 but there are other stories in the Bible. 09:38 We've got just a few minutes before we take a break. 09:40 Let's talk a little bit about Tuesday's lesson, 09:43 "The Heart of Judas." 09:46 What was it about Judas that was covetous? 09:50 What was he after? What was he, what were his ambitions? 09:53 And what caused him to-- 09:55 if you think of the great evils in the Bible, 09:59 Judas is probably right up there. 10:02 What was it that motivated him 10:04 to make the decisions that he made? 10:08 >>Well, this is a very good question 10:10 because the story is an amazing story. 10:13 In the Bible, we read about the feast at Simon's house. 10:17 And this was the last week of Jesus' life, 10:18 and He was in Jerusalem for the last time. 10:20 And He's out at Bethany, and Simon invited Him to come. 10:23 He also invited Lazarus, 10:25 who Jesus had recently raised from the dead, 10:27 which was the greatest miracle Jesus did 10:28 in His whole 3 and 1/2 years of ministry. 10:31 But interestingly enough, 10:32 the Bible says that many people came to this feast 10:34 to see Lazarus more than Jesus 10:36 because here's a guy that'd been dead for four days, 10:37 and now he's eating supper. I mean, this is incredible. 10:41 What happened at that feast is interesting 10:43 because Mary, who Jesus had healed and cleansed, 10:49 had an alabaster box of spikenard, 10:51 which is very costly and very expensive, 10:54 worth about 300 denari, which is like a year's wages. 10:57 And at this Simon's feast, she broke the box, sealed up, 11:01 and anointed Jesus' head with it 11:03 and washed His feet with it as well, 11:05 and the perfume went all through the building. 11:08 And it's interesting that Judas said, 11:09 "This could've been sold and given to the poor." 11:12 Now, interestingly enough, he wanted the money. 11:16 Here's why. I've written in the lesson there 11:20 he said this; this is verse 6 of John, the 12th chapter. 11:23 "Not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, 11:26 and [he] had the bag, and [he] bare what was put therein." 11:29 Since Matthew was a publican and a tax collector, 11:32 he knew, he was probably an accountant or an attorney, 11:34 he probably should've been the manager, 11:35 but somehow Judas got himself 11:37 as the treasurer, carried the bag. 11:39 And the Bible says right here 11:40 he was a thief and took stuff out of it. 11:42 So he wanted it; this was an act of covetousness. 11:45 So I'll just tell you this interesting thing. 11:48 Mary had this 300 denarii, a year's wages, 11:52 invested in this spikenard. 11:55 Judas went out from that feast 11:56 and bargained with the Jewish leaders 12:00 and sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, 12:03 which was much smaller than what that was worth. 12:05 So this is an interesting story 12:07 in the fact that his covetousness 12:09 led him to that point in his life. 12:13 >>So an amazing story of where Judas went, 12:16 the slippery slope that led him to betraying Jesus 12:20 and really to be listed among 12:22 the great wicked individuals in the Bible, 12:26 all because of, or largely because of, covetousness. 12:30 >>Yes. 12:31 >>So we're gonna continue looking at some stories 12:34 in the Bible about covetousness, 12:36 but if you have been enjoying this quarter's lessons 12:38 and you want to get more out of it, 12:40 I wanna encourage you to pick up the companion book 12:43 to this quarter's Sabbath school lesson. 12:45 It is called "Managing for the Master." 12:47 Of course, it's by Ed Reid, 12:48 our guest this quarter 12:49 as we are looking at these subjects. 12:51 You can pick this up 12:52 at itiswritten.shop. 12:54 Again, that's itiswritten.shop. 12:56 This particular book contains more insight, 12:59 more wisdom, more stories 13:01 than what you will find in the quarterly itself, 13:05 in the study guide itself. 13:06 You will be blessed if you pick that up. 13:08 We're going to be back in just a moment or two 13:10 as we continue looking at this fascinating subject, 13:13 the subject of covetousness. 13:15 We'll be right back. 13:16 (upbeat theme music swells and ends) 13:20 >>[John Bradshaw] You know that at It Is Written 13:22 we are serious about studying the Word of God, 13:24 and we encourage you to be serious as well. 13:27 Well, here's what you do 13:28 if you wanna dig deeper into God's Word. 13:30 Go to itiswritten.study 13:32 for the It Is Written Bible Study Guides online, 13:35 25 in-depth Bible studies 13:37 that will take you through the major teachings of the Bible. 13:40 You'll be blessed, 13:42 and it's something you'll want to tell others about as well: 13:44 itiswritten.study. 13:45 Go further: itiswritten.study. 13:50 There's something I wanna tell you about 13:52 that is so important. 13:54 It's My Place With Jesus, 13:57 It Is Written's ministry to children. 14:00 Take the children you care about to myplacewithjesus.com. 14:05 At My Place With Jesus, 14:06 you'll find so much that will bless your children 14:09 or grandchildren or great-grandchildren 14:12 or the children at church. 14:14 There are the My Place With Jesus Bible Guides, 14:18 21 studies that will take the children you care about 14:21 into the Word of God. 14:23 They'll learn the important things, 14:25 especially the love of God 14:28 and the sacrifice Jesus made for them. 14:31 As well, take your children to Journey Through the Bible; 14:34 it's there at myplacewithjesus.com. 14:36 It's a special Bible-reading program 14:39 that will get children into the habit 14:41 of reading their Bible daily 14:43 and connecting with God regularly. 14:45 So don't forget myplacewithjesus.com 14:48 from It Is Written. 14:50 (upbeat theme music) 14:55 >>[Eric] Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:57 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:59 We are looking this week at the subject of covetousness; 15:02 this is lesson number nine of 12. 15:05 We're getting close to the end and dealing with 15:07 some very significant subjects, covetousness. 15:11 Ed, why is covetousness so bad? 15:15 It doesn't sound real bad, but why is it listed up there 15:19 amongst some of these other terrible, terrible things? 15:23 >>Well, that's a good question 15:24 because the answer is quite simple, 15:27 but it's amazing as well. 15:29 Covetousness is a matter of character; 15:31 it's a matter of the heart. 15:32 And so you can't look at me and I can't look at you 15:35 and tell whether we're covetous; 15:36 that's something between you and God 15:37 and your relationship with God, and what you read earlier 15:40 and what we'll read again in this one: 15:42 "Godliness with contentment is great gain." 15:45 So if you want something, you wanna desire to be rich, 15:47 that can be a real problem for you. 15:49 So one of these stories, 15:51 all of these stories, deal with people who had a problem. 15:56 And I think what we're gonna find out 15:57 is that if we follow the council of Scripture, 16:00 we'll be able to overcome that 16:01 when we look at Thursday's section. 16:02 >>So before we get to Thursday, 16:03 which is coming up here very quickly, 16:06 let's look at one more story 16:09 that you make mention of here on Wednesday's lesson. 16:12 Wednesday's lesson is about Ananias and Sapphira. 16:15 Who were Ananias and Sapphira? 16:18 What was going on in this story? 16:21 Why were they dealt with so harshly? 16:23 Because it may seem to some people like, 16:26 "Wow, that's a pretty severe 16:29 "and fast punishment for these two 16:33 for something that doesn't sound so bad." 16:36 But my guess is there's something under the surface 16:39 that helps us to understand why 16:41 what they did, or didn't do, is so significant. 16:45 Talk with us about Ananias and Sapphira. 16:46 >>Well, the story's in Acts, the fourth chapter. 16:49 And this is an interesting chapter 16:50 because in Acts, the second chapter, 16:53 you have Pentecost 16:54 and the apostles speaking in different languages and so on, 16:58 because Pentecost was one of those times of the year 17:01 when people came bringing their offerings to Jerusalem-- 17:03 Pentecost, the Passover, and Feast of Tabernacles. 17:06 So the fourth chapter of Acts, 17:09 the disciples, two of the disciples had been put in prison, 17:12 and they had a miraculous deliverance from prison, 17:16 as you may remember. 17:18 But the interesting part is 17:20 the leaders had told them, 17:21 "Don't ever talk about Jesus again," 17:22 and they said, "Well, you be the judge. 17:25 Should we obey God or man?" 17:27 But they had a season of prayer, 17:30 and they asked God to give them boldness to speak. 17:33 And the interesting part about that 17:34 was God did give them boldness. 17:37 And during their prayer session, 17:40 a large group of people were there, 17:42 and apparently Ananias and Sapphira 17:43 were a part of that group. 17:44 And they all received the Holy Spirit again 17:47 and boldness to speak, 17:49 and they said, "Things are going great. 17:50 If we just had the funds, we could do this, this, and this." 17:52 So people were selling stuff and pledging money and so on. 17:56 So Ananias and Sapphira said to themselves, 18:00 probably bumped each other with their elbow and said, 18:01 "We could sell that piece of land we have." 18:04 So they said to the brethren, 18:05 "We've got a piece of land we'll sell, 18:07 and when we get the money, we'll turn it in." 18:09 So when they went back home, 18:12 they found this out that they needed to sell this property, 18:17 but when they got it, 18:19 maybe there's a time of inflation like now, 18:20 and they got a lot more for it than they thought. 18:21 And they said, "Well, the brethren will never know; 18:22 we'll keep part of it for ourselves." 18:25 >>And so they kept that part for themselves. 18:27 In essence, who were they stealing from? 18:31 >>Well, they had received the Holy Spirit, 18:33 you see, that's the point, 18:34 and they were stealing from God. 18:36 And when Ananias came back-- 18:39 this, to me, is an interesting topic-- 18:41 when Ananias came back, 18:43 the...he laid the money at the disciples' feet. 18:48 I should also say that they decided together 18:50 that they wouldn't turn the whole amount in. 18:52 So from a legal perspective, 18:54 I can tell you that they were co-conspirators to this, 18:56 so they're both guilty. 18:58 He came back with his check, and they said, 19:00 "Thank you so much, 19:01 "this is gonna be a real blessing to the church. 19:03 By the way, is this all you got for the property?" 19:06 And he said, "Yes," and he dropped dead right in church. 19:10 Now, this is incredible, 19:11 because he had lied to the Holy Spirit. 19:13 This is the sin that will not be forgiven, 19:14 you see; this is amazing, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 19:18 And the interesting thing is 19:19 the young men, they didn't even wait for the funeral; 19:22 they buried him that day. 19:23 So men came in and dug a grave and buried him in it. 19:26 And the story's interesting to me 19:28 because the Bible says several hours passed, 19:31 and Sapphira thought, "Well, 19:33 "I should've taken the money myself. 19:34 "He goes down there and gets talking to the brethren, 19:35 and we were going out to Olive Garden or someplace to eat." 19:39 This is a big story in her mind, 19:41 so she said, "I'll go down and see myself." 19:43 She goes down there and said, 19:44 "Has anybody seen my husband?" 19:45 And they said, "Yeah, he's been here, 19:46 "but he brought us this check. 19:47 "Oh, and by the way, is this how much 19:49 you got for the property?" 19:50 What did she say? "Of course that's what we got." 19:53 And she said, "Well, the men that have buried your husband 19:55 are coming to bury you," 19:56 and she dropped dead right in church. 19:58 The real interesting part about that, 19:59 they had had the privilege of being 20:01 where the Holy Spirit was poured out, 20:02 they made a covenant with God, 20:04 and then they didn't fill it. 20:06 The big question is people should say, 20:08 "Well, maybe we shouldn't make promises to God." 20:10 If the Holy Spirit impresses you to do something, 20:12 you should do it. 20:14 We're doing that right now in our lives, 20:16 doing what God's asked us to do, what we can do. 20:19 So the whole point of this is 20:21 God sees our hearts, and He'd like us to be faithful, 20:25 but if we're covetous for more money 20:26 and keeping stuff back for ourselves, 20:28 that's selfishness as well; bad things can turn out. 20:30 The story didn't turn out too well, as you can understand. 20:34 >>So they started out with the best of intentions, 20:36 wanting to do a good thing, 20:38 and then somewhere along the line, 20:40 covetous worked itself in there 20:42 and they were looking for a way 20:44 that they could benefit themselves afterward. 20:46 And like you said, it didn't turn out very well for them. 20:49 So all of these that we've looked at are cautionary tales. 20:53 God gives us these in the Bible 20:54 so that we can learn from them 20:56 so that we don't follow in the footsteps, 20:58 follow in the path of individuals 20:59 who have gone this way before us 21:02 and had unpleasant endings, 21:05 I guess is a good way of saying that. So what about us? 21:08 Thursday's lesson talks about overcoming covetousness. 21:12 If it is such a terrible thing, 21:15 if it has taken so many people in its wake 21:20 and we have these lessons 21:21 that we've learned from the Bible 21:22 or these stories that we've read in the Bible, 21:25 we should realize it's a significant problem 21:28 for us, too, to recognize. 21:30 So what is it that we can do 21:32 to overcome this thing, covetousness, 21:36 that has taken down so many other people? 21:39 What hope can we have that it's not gonna take us down to? 21:43 >>Well, Eric, this should be a matter 21:44 of our personal prayer life, I think, as a matter of-- 21:46 I'll just tell you that to begin with, 21:47 but I will just tell you 21:49 that since it's a matter of the heart, 21:50 that's between us and God to take care of it. 21:52 And there are many references; 21:54 I'll share some with you here; 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, 21:57 "There hath no temptation taken you 21:59 "but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, 22:02 "who will not suffer you 22:03 "to be tempted above that ye are able, 22:04 "but will with the temptation 22:06 "make also a way [of] escape 22:07 that [you] may be able to bear it." 22:08 So if we're tempted to be covetous, 22:11 ask God to take it away from us. 22:13 There are many things that people do in their lives 22:15 that the devil's got them trapped. 22:17 People get involved with bad habits and so on 22:19 and say, "Man, I like to do this; 22:20 there's no way I'm gonna give this up," 22:21 but the bottom line is it's true, you can't, 22:25 but if you surrender to the Lord 22:27 and ask Him to take care of it for you, He will do it, 22:29 and that's the point there. 22:32 Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do"--how much?-- 22:35 "all things through Christ who strengthens me." 22:38 God gives us the power. That's Philippians 4:13. 22:40 God's power can protect us 22:42 against these very dangerous, deceptive sins 22:45 like covetousness. 22:47 I have, I put down three things here that I suggested, 22:50 that I thought would be valuable to people, 22:52 and I'd like to share them with you. 22:55 One of them is make a decision to serve and depend on God 22:58 and to be part of his family. 23:00 "Choose you this day whom [you] will serve." 23:02 Are you gonna serve God or mammon? 23:04 You just have to decide. 23:05 And talk about the rewards of faithfulness at the last week, 23:10 and you can read it in the book as soon as you want to, 23:11 but the bottom line is 23:13 it's incredible when you think about it. 23:15 So make a decision: "I'm gonna follow God no matter what." 23:19 The second one, be daily in your prayer 23:21 and include Matthew 6:13--"Lead us not into temptation"-- 23:25 in other words, lead us away from temptation-- 23:27 "but deliver us from evil: 23:28 for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, 23:31 and the glory, for ever." 23:32 This is the prayer Jesus taught us to say-- 23:34 help us to get away from these temptations. 23:38 The third one is be regular in Bible study. 23:41 "Your word I have hidden in my heart, 23:42 that I might not sin against You." 23:44 I tell people, "If you regularly read the Bible, 23:48 "whether you're a scholar 23:49 "or understand biblical languages or not, doesn't matter. 23:52 "If you read the Bible, 23:53 God has pledged Himself to transform you." 23:56 And I can just tell you when you spend time in the Bible, 23:58 your heart is changed. 24:00 People will just come away from the Bible reading, 24:01 and they'll say, "I no longer have a desire 24:03 for doing these kinds of things," 24:05 because the Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible 24:07 will inspire you as well 24:08 and give you the power to be victorious. 24:10 So those are things that I would just recommend to people 24:13 to think about. 24:14 Another one is Isaiah 55 in verses 6 and 7: 24:18 "Seek the Lord while He may be found." 24:21 Now, this is incredible 24:22 because He's not always gonna be whispering in your ear. 24:25 "Seek the Lord while He may be found, 24:26 "call upon Him while He is near. 24:28 "Let the wicked forsake his way, 24:29 "and the unrighteous man his thoughts; 24:31 "let him return to the Lord, 24:32 "and He will have mercy on him, 24:34 and...our God, and He will abundantly pardon." 24:36 God will pardon you if you seek pardon, 24:38 but the bottom line is we must do that 24:40 to be able to get the victory over covetousness. 24:43 It is a big deal, and it's not one that you can just say, 24:46 "Well, sometime in the future 24:47 I'm gonna give up covetousness." 24:48 That's not gonna happen that way. 24:50 This is part of our daily transformation, 24:52 part of our covenant relation with God. 24:55 Let me tell you one other interesting thing. 24:57 When we trust God with our finances, 24:59 we really trust Him, and we get to know Him. 25:03 God will take care of us; 25:04 He has fulfilled His promises to us. 25:06 You'll never hear the words 25:08 that are spoken to the unfaithful people at the end, 25:11 "Depart from me; I never knew you." 25:13 That's not gonna happen to people 25:14 who trust God with their finances 25:16 because they've learned to know Him, 25:17 they trusted Him and take care of Him. 25:20 >>Ed, I wanna conclude things for this week's study 25:23 by reading a passage from 1 Timothy, chapter 6; 25:26 it's found in verses 6-10. It says in 1 Timothy 6, verse 6, 25:30 "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 25:34 "For we brought nothing into this world, 25:35 "and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 25:38 "And having food and clothing, 25:40 "with these we shall be content. 25:42 "But those who desire to be rich 25:45 "fall into temptation and a snare, 25:47 "and into many foolish and harmful lusts 25:49 "which drown men in destruction and perdition. 25:52 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, 25:55 "for which some have strayed from the faith 25:57 "in their greediness, 25:59 and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 26:02 It kinda brings things nicely to a head. 26:05 Any final comments on covetousness 26:08 as we tie up this week's lesson? 26:10 >>One interesting thing about covetousness, 26:12 we talked earlier about tithe and offerings. 26:15 If I'm faithful with God 26:16 and put Him first in my tithes and offerings, 26:18 then I'm not wanting to keep more for myself. 26:23 Generous contributions helps 26:24 to overcome covetousness as well. 26:27 And I think that's very valuable to people, 26:29 because we're not trying to look 26:30 and see how big of a bank account; 26:32 we wanna see how much we can help God's cause advance. 26:34 And that's very helpful to me to understand that. 26:37 I can also tell you that God is faithful; 26:41 we should be faithful as well. 26:43 And if we're faithful, He'll take care of us. 26:45 He told us that, you know, 26:46 "Call [on] me in the day of trouble." If you're faithful, 26:48 "[I'll] deliver you," and I'll take care of you. 26:50 That's Psalm, chapter 50. 26:53 >>Ed, I wanna thank you once again 26:54 for being with us this week. 26:56 We're still looking forward to several more weeks 26:58 of you sharing the wisdom that God has shared with you 27:01 over several decades of working in the area of stewardship 27:04 and in ministry and law and some valuable, valuable insights 27:08 that we've learned this week 27:09 about the subject of covetousness. 27:13 So we have several more weeks to go. 27:14 In the very near future, 27:16 we are going to be tying this particular quarter together, 27:19 but we're not there yet. 27:21 And you can expect that the coming lessons 27:23 are going to be just as valuable, 27:25 just as practical as the lessons 27:28 that we have had in the past. 27:30 So invite others to watch this with you. 27:32 If you know somebody who's going through 27:34 some financial challenges, 27:35 this is a fantastic program to share with them. 27:38 We're going to be back next week with more 27:40 on the subject of stewardship. 27:43 God's finances, your finances, and your future. 27:46 God bless you, have a wonderful week; 27:48 we'll see you back next time. 27:49 (upbeat theme music) 28:26 (music ends) |
Revised 2023-02-23