Bigger Barns

[♪ 🎵~~ Music 🎵 🎵~~~ Good morning church. You guys staying with us this morning? Let's honor the Lord and welcome Him into this place today. This song says the King is in the room. He is the welcome guest. Let's lift Him up together. [♪ 🎵~~ Music 🎵 🎵~~~ Come open the doors and make way. The King is in the room. The King is in the room. We're expected for strongholds to break. We know what You can do. We know what You can do. We're gonna see lives changed and souls saved. Broken hearts made new. The King is in the room. Lord, we enthrone You upon our praise. The King is in the room. With freedom and life anywhere You reign. Jesus, we bow only to You. We're laying down all of our crowns. The King is in the room. [♪ 🎵~~ Music 🎵 🎵~~~ Come see all the captives run free. He's tearing down the walls. He's tearing down the walls. Expression in power when we sing. The Name above them all. Your Name above them all. The King is in the room. Lord, we enthrone You upon our praise. The King is in the room. With freedom and life anywhere You reign. Jesus, we bow only to You. We're laying down all of our crowns. The King is in the room.

Let's declare this together. Fear has to flee. Shame has to leave. Before the King. Before the King. Chains have to break. Dry bones awake. Prepare the way. Fear has to flee. Shame has to leave. Before the King. Before the King. Chains have to break. Dry bones awake. Prepare the way. The King is in the room. Lord, we enthrone You upon our praise. The King is in the room. With freedom and life anywhere You reign. Jesus, we bow only to You. We're laying down all of our crowns. The King is in the room. The King is in the room. The King is in the room. The King is in the room. The King is in the room. Would you clap for that this morning as we gather together and worship the King is here. And I miss, would you tell somebody good morning for just a minute, let somebody know you're glad they're here and come back and sing with us today. ♪ Come all you weary and come all you thirsty Come to the well that never runs dry Drink of the water, come and thirst no more Come to the well that never runs dry

Well, come all you sinners, come find His mercy. Drink of the water, come and thirst no more Come to the table, He will satisfy. And taste of His goodness, find what you're looking for. Come to the well that never runs dry Drink of the water, come and thirst no more For God's own love, the world that He gave us Is one and only Son to save us. Whoever believes in Him will live forever. Now bring all your failures, bring your addictions. Come lay them down at the foot of the cross. Jesus is waiting there with open arms. He is open arms. For God's own love, the world that He gave us Is one and only Son to save us. Whoever believes in Him will live forever. The power of hell forever defeated. Now in His will I'm walking in freedom. For God's own love, God's own love, the world. Sing this for us. Praise God, praise God. From whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, praise Him. For the wonders of His love. Praise God, praise God. From whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, praise Him. For the wonders of His love. His amazing love. For God's own love, the world that He gave us

Is one and only Son to save us. For God's own love, the world that He gave us Is one and only Son to save us. Whoever believes in Him will live forever. The power of hell forever defeated. Now in His will I'm walking in freedom. For God's own love, God's own love, the world. Bring all your fears. Bring your addictions. Come lay them down at the foot of the cross. Jesus is waiting. God's own love, the world. It is written. You're my refuge and strength. Though the earth may pass away, you will remain. And it is written. You provide every need. And everywhere that you will leave, you will sustain. You keep your promises. Your goodness never ends. From generation to generation, you keep your covenant. We see your faithfulness. From generation to generation. It is written. We're redeemed by your blood. Though all the old has passed away, the new has come. And it is written. It's not by power or might, but by the spirit of the living. ♪ God in us ♪ You keep your promises

♪ Your goodness never ends ♪ From generation to generation ♪ You keep your promises ♪ We sing your faithfulness ♪ From generation to generation ♪ Generation ♪ We will trust you and believe ♪ As it's written, let it be ♪ You alone will be a firm foundation ♪ What you've spoken is enough ♪ It's the ground we're standing on ♪ You are God and we will not be shaken ♪ We will trust you and believe ♪ As it's written, let it be ♪ You alone will be a firm foundation ♪ What you've spoken is enough ♪ It's the ground we're standing on ♪ You are God and we will not be shaken ♪ You keep your promises ♪ Your goodness never ends ♪ From generation to generation ♪ You keep your promises ♪ We sing your faithfulness ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation

♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ From generation to generation ♪ On the throne forever ♪ In your presence we bow down ♪ One we pray ♪ We all grow up together ♪ Not to us ♪ Not to us ♪ But to your name be the glory ♪ Your name be the glory ♪ Not to us ♪ Not to us ♪ But to your name be the glory ♪ Amen ♪ O God of the heavens ♪ We tremble at your presence ♪ O God of the heavens ♪ You are holy ♪ O God of creation ♪ We shout a great ovation ♪ O God of creation ♪ You are holy ♪ Not to us ♪ Not to us ♪ But to your name be the glory ♪ Your name be the glory ♪ Not to us Not to us, not to us, but to your name be the glory, amen.

Amen. Tear down every eye hole, desperate for revival. We cast our trophies in the dust. Consume our desires in your holy fire. The only worthy king is Jesus. Tear down every eye hole, desperate for revival. We cast our trophies in the dust. Consume our desires in your holy fire. The only worthy king is Jesus. Tear down every eye hole, desperate for revival. We cast our trophies in the dust. Consume our desires in your holy fire. The only worthy king is Jesus. Jesus, not to us, not to us, but to your name be the glory, your name be the glory. Not to us, not to us, but to your name be the glory, amen, to your name be the glory, amen. Amen. To your name be the glory, amen. Amen, amen, amen, amen. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. How beautiful. Let's pray together. Lord, we do want your name to be glorified. And Lord, as the singers just sang that beautiful song from Psalm 115, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name, give a glory because of your love and kindness,

because of your truth. Lord, you are so good to us. And as your word says, but if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there's forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And Lord, we pray that you would give us a healthy fear of who you are, the great God of the universe, the God who spoke the worlds into existence. And Lord, that we would desire to walk in your ways because your ways are right, concerning everything. And Lord, give us, tear down all those idols as we sang, and give us such a burning passion for Jesus, for Jesus to be glorified in us. For we pray in your name. Amen. When I was a kid growing up, we had three channels and UHF. And on Saturdays, there was, I still remember, Saturday mornings, they had wrestling on TV. Did anybody watch Saturday morning wrestling? You know, as a kid growing up, I had two older brothers, so they were excited about wrestling. So me, as a little kid, was getting... being introduced to wrestling and, you know, pro wrestling, it's sports entertainment. We understand, hopefully most of us understand, they're not really doing the things to one another that they are proposing to do, slamming their head in a turnbuckle, which is supposed to be a metal with just a little sheet over it. Everybody that did pro wrestling would be dead if it were the real thing, right? But those guys are amazing in what they can do, and they had these colorful names and personas. So, I remember as a kid learning about Bobo Brazil.

Does anybody remember Bobo Brazil? He was mean and he was tough. And then there was Gorilla Monsoon. He just looks scary, doesn't he? And then the granddaddy of them all was Andre the Giant. Andre was supposedly seven foot four, and he weighed close to 500 pounds. I found this picture and it said that the guy next to him is six foot ten. I said, there's no way, Andre is like eight and a half feet tall, if that's the truth. But Andre was a big dude. And you know, so wrestling was popular, but it really took off in the 80s after Hulk Hogan did Rocky III, where he played Thunderlips, the ultimate male, versus Rocky Balboa, the ultimate meatball. And Hulk Hogan, then everybody started to get interested in wrestling after that. And Hulk Hogan was the biggest thing, and he had his group of Hulkamaniacs, and people were excited to watch it. Now Hulk Hogan, he had a nemesis that he would go up against. He was supposedly a Scotsman. He wore a dress, he called it a kilt, but we all know it was a dress, Rowdy Roddy Piper. Remember Rowdy Roddy Piper? And they would fight against one another. Now Rowdy Roddy, all the wrestlers would have like a signature move, and Rowdy Roddy Piper had a signature move. It was called the sleeper hold. And if he got you in a sleeper hold, it was pretty much turn out the lights, the party's over. And they got Hulk Hogan in a sleeper hold in one of their matches, and even the great Hulk Hogan couldn't get out of it. Now we're in a series called More Blessed, because Jesus said in Acts 20, 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And today we want to look at a very familiar parable in Luke chapter 12.

It's called the Parable of the Rich Fool. It's about a guy who gets caught in the grip of greed. He gets put into a stranglehold of greed. And Jesus preferenced this parable by saying, beware and be on guard against every form of greed, this desire for more and more and more. Not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. And then he tells this parable that deals with the issue of greed. Now you know what's interesting about greed? Greed is a lot like bad breath. You never know you're the one that has it, right? Everybody else knows, but you don't know. And greed is always somebody else. When's the last time you were in a meeting where people were confessing sin and somebody said, oh, I'm greedy. I just want to confess that. No, nobody ever confesses that sin. Why? Because it's always the other person that's greedy. I'm just frugal. I'm just good with money. I'm not greedy. I saw an interview one time with Milton Friedman, the economist, and he was on the old talk show before Oprah and all those ones that was Phil Donahue. And Phil Donahue was the liberal and Milton Friedman's the conservative. And they were talking about government should be giving away money and things like that. And Milton Friedman made the statement that, you know, we always think it's the other guy who's greedy, you know, and we blame other people for being greedy, but we never turn the mirror on ourselves. Well, Jesus said, beware and be on guard and take heed and be alert and be watchful and be diligent.

Why? Because greed is out there and it wants to put you in the stranglehold, and before you even know it, your life. is consumed with greed. So the question for this morning, are you guarding your heart against greed and materialism? Luke chapter 12, I'll begin reading in verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. Now Jesus is preaching and there are thousands of people there and he's talking about a very important spiritual eternal truths and this guy in the crowd just pipes up. It's like, have you not listened to anything that the Lord has said? He just pipes up, teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. He was probably the younger brother and his older brother, the way things worked back then, the older brother would get more and he didn't like that and so he was looking to Jesus to get more out of the deal. Verse 14, but Jesus said to him, man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you? Then he said to them, beware and be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions and he told them a parable saying,

the land of a rich man was very productive and he began reasoning to himself saying, what shall I do? Since I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, ah, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods and I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Let's pray. Lord, as David prayed, search me, oh God and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there'll be any evil, hurtful way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Lord, show us if we're caught up in the grip of greed and materialism. Lord, help us to be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and Lord, that we wouldn't always think it's the other guy but we would say with that, the words of that song, it's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Lord, show us and speak to our hearts through this message. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, I wanna share with you three key discoveries from this wonderful parable, parable that obviously is about greed. Discovery number one, greed is rooted in selfishness. Greed is rooted in selfishness and when I think about greed, my mind goes back to the classic movie called Wall Street with Gordon Gekko who was played by some guy, I can't remember his name, Michael Douglas. That's what he went by sometimes and Michael Douglas and remember, Michael Douglas was Gordon Gekko, this big Wall Street guy who was worth millions and millions and millions of dollars and he gets up in front of a crowd and he says, greed is good. Well, that's kind of shocking because most of the people in the crowd, just as people in our crowd today, it's like, I don't think greed is good. I think the Bible has something to say about greed. Didn't Jesus say something about greed? He did, beware and be on guard against every form of greed for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. Now, greed is rooted in selfishness. So, this is a very easy story and the parables were earthly stories. Everybody could latch on to the earthly story that had a heavenly meaning. And so, the earthly story is something

that wasn't foreign to any of these people. They could latch on to all of it. And so, this rich man, he starts out as a rich man. He wasn't a pauper. This isn't a Horatio Alger story from rags to riches. A rich man had productive land that produced abundantly, that caused him to have more crops than he could store. That's the story. And he says, what shall I do? Since I have no place to store my crops, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build. larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, I, I, I, my, my, my. Six I's and five my's in his little soliloquy. It's all about him. Greed is rooted in selfishness, and greed does not consider God. And God's not on the radar screen. Does he ever say, wow, look at all this abundance I have. Thank you, God. Thank you for blessing me. There's no mention of him thanking God. There's no mention of him ever even thinking about God. He thinks it's all because of his ability. He doesn't give God credit for providing the rain. He doesn't give God credit for providing the sun. It, it clearly says that the land of a rich man was very productive. Well, who provided the land? Who owns the land? God. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains. Everything is from God. But greed doesn't consider God. It doesn't think about God. Somebody said, very interesting, they said, you know, prosperity is like glass. It's either a bay window from which you look through and see God, or it's a mirror in which you look at and see yourself. Look what I did. Look how great I am. Deuteronomy chapter eight, verses 15 through 18. Moses said, God led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water. He brought water for you out of the rock of Flint. In the wilderness, he fed you manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test you to do good for you in the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, my power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth. But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who is giving you

power to make wealth. We talk about self-made men. There are no self-made men. It is all a gift from God. So greed does not consider God and it doesn't consider other people. It just doesn't. It's just all focused on self. He's not thinking about anybody else. What am I going to do with all this abundance? He says, think, think, think. What should I do? I know what I'll do. I'll hoard it. I'll keep it all for myself. And since I don't have any place to put it, well, I'm going to have to tear down my barns and build bigger barns. And there I can store all my goods and all my grain. And then I'll just be on easy street. He's already a rich man. And he already has plenty. And now he's got more than plenty. He's got abundance. He's got goods and grain coming out his ears. But he doesn't think of God, and he doesn't think about helping someone else. You know, the adage of our sinful flesh is truly this. Get all you can, can all you get, sit on the can, and poison the rest. It's all about me, me, me, me, me. The Bible tells us in Philippians 2, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. So greed is rooted in selfishness. Beware and be on guard. Boy, the devil will use greed. He'll get you in that sleeper hole, and it's hard to get out. Rooted in selfishness. Second discovery is rooted in lies. Greed is rooted in lies. Think about verse 15, where Jesus says, beware and be on your guard against every form of greed. For not even when one has an abundance, that word abundance means to super abound over and above, when it's just, you're just overflowing with stuff. Does your life consist of your possessions? Well, we get the idea that, well, you know, I'm unhappy in life. My life's going nowhere. I'm unhappy. But if I could just win the lottery, then everything would change. Then I would be happy. I mean, if I could somehow Get to talk to Elon Musk and he could just think I was the, you know, all that. And he said, well, I just want to give you a gift. Here is $10 million. I mean, what's $10 million to Elon Musk? Nothing. You know, it's like me giving you a dollar. He's got so much money.

If something like that could happen, then, boy, then everything would change. Then I would be happy. Greed is rooted in lies. You mark it down. More money and more possessions cannot make you happy. It's impossible for that to make you happy because happiness is not a function of that. More money and more possessions can make life more comfortable. But that's not the same as being happy. I was talking to a couple not too long ago who God has blessed abundantly. And they both told me, they said, I can tell you firsthand, money doesn't make you happy. Just because you have a lot, it doesn't make you happy. You know, it was Solomon who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon who had more money than anybody's ever had. He had more possessions than anybody has ever had. He's got castles and palaces and wives coming out to your ears, 700 wives and 300 girlfriends. I mean, he's just got, he's got anything that he could ever want under the sun, as the book of Ecclesiastes repeats 29 times. And he's miserable. He says, I hated life. And he was talking about all the things that he had amassed. And he said, so I hated life because it's futile. Vanity of vanity, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities.

All is vanity. And he said, I've worked so hard and now I'm going to have to leave all my wealth to someone else, to my son or my family. And who knows whether that person is going to be a wise man or a fool. And Solomon had a son, Rehoboam. And guess what? Rehoboam was a fool. The kingdom split under Rehoboam. But Solomon understood, hey, I have all this stuff. I'm not happy with all this stuff. I'm actually miserable with all this stuff. It's not doing what it was reported in the brochure to do, that money and possessions would make me happy. So that is a big lie. You know, Ted Turner, the billionaire, he was asked one time, what is it like to be so wealthy? He says, I'll tell you what it's like. He said, it's like a paper bag. Everybody is trying to get the paper bag, thinking that that's going to make you happy. And he said, wealth is that paper bag. And when you finally get the paper bag, you open it up and you find out it's empty. Because there's nothing in money and possessions and materialism that can satisfy the longings of the human heart. You know, your car, your automobile runs on gasoline.

And if you said, well, you know, gas is pretty high right now. I'm gonna just run it on water. Oh, okay. Try that, see how that works. You pour water in there. Car doesn't go anymore. Say, well, maybe I need to have a little oomph in the water. I'll put salt water in there. Oh, that's really good. Doesn't work. You say, maybe salad dressing. No, none of that works. It has to have gasoline. That's the way it's designed. And if you put anything in there other than gasoline, it's not gonna go. Hey, when God made you and God fashioned you and me and all of us, he made us, as Pascal said, Blaise Pascal, with a God-shaped vacuum in our heart. And the only thing that can fill a human heart is God. And you try and fill it with money and possessions. And guess what? It just leaves you empty. It's that paper bag. More money and possessions cannot make you happy. And more money and possessions cannot secure your future. This guy thought he could secure his future. And so what does he say in verse 19? And I will say to my soul, soul, look what you have.

You have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. And he's thinking about the next 20 years, but he's short-sighted because, well, what happens in the next 20,000 years? He's just thinking his future is just this short period of time on earth, but there's life on earth. And then there's the after. life. And he can't secure that. And so, he forgets what's going to be. And the Lord reminds him, hey, before the sun comes up in the morning, you're dead. Greed rooted in selfishness. Greed rooted in lies. And discovery number three, greed is not thinking about eternity. He doesn't think about eternity at all. Look at it again in verse 19. I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. That's kind of his idea of retirement. And now I'm just on easy street and I can retire. And then all of a sudden, we have God introduced into the parable. But God said to him, you fool, this very night, your soul is required of you. And now who will own what you have prepared? So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now, this man's opinion of himself was so high. Look at me. I mean, I am something else. I'm the bee's knees. I'm the cat's pajamas. I'm going to be on the cover of Farmer's Monthly. They're going to be interviewing me. I'll make all the circuits, you know, for the talk shows because they're going to want to know, how did you do this? How did you think to make bigger barns and have so much stored up for yourself so that you can eat, drink, and be merry? Everybody wants to be like you. That's what he's thinking in his mind. I am something. And God says, you want to know what you are? You're a fool. You're a fool. That word fool means stupid, egotistical, acting rashly without reflection or reason. Because he was thinking about the next 20 years. He wasn't thinking about eternity. Eternity is one heartbeat away from you and from me. We need to be thinking like that. This life lasts, as the Bible says, what is your life? It's a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. What does the Bible say? The Bible says, man's years on this earth are 70 years, or if due to strength, 80 years. Yet its labor is, however it goes there in Psalm 90, yet its days are but labor and sorrow. And so you think, okay, I mean, the Bible says you're

going to live 70 years, maybe 80 if due to strength, or 90, or 100, or maybe 110. You know, we like to say, you know, when we're 55, well, I'm middle-aged. Middle-aged? That means you're going to be 110? I doubt it. I mean, you're over the hill at 55, right? You're coming down into that 70 or 80 range. And then the Bible says, then that's going to be the end of it. And so we have to think in terms of eternity. You and I are one heartbeat away. Your heart, as it beats in your chest this morning, it's pounding the drum to your funeral. And one day, that's it. We don't know when that's going to be. This guy thought he had a lot of time left, and he didn't because the Lord said, you're a fool because this very night your soul is required of you. What is all your wealth going to do for you now? It's interesting. He talks to his soul in verse 19. I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. But when God says, you fool, he said, this very night, your soul is required of you. You know, your soul is the most valuable thing you have. Your soul. Jesus said in Mark chapter 8, verses 36 and 37, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit his soul, lose his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Well, this guy dies, and he leaves everything behind. Now who will own what you have prepared? He doesn't take anything with him. You know, we've brought nothing into this world, and we're going to take nothing out of it, Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Naked I came from my mother's womb, as Job said, and naked i shall return there the lord gave and the lord has taken away blessed be the name of the lord it all belongs to god and you come into this world with nothing and you leave this world with nothing nothing of material wealth as adrian rogers said you leave this world and you you take with you you leave behind all that you have and you take with you all that you are well this guy is a fool because he wasn't thinking about eternity and he was providing for his body but he did not provide for his eternity he did not provide for his soul and the lord says all souls are mine ezekiel 18 4 the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son and the soul that lives the soul that sins shall surely die and this man died and his soul was required and he wasn't ready he had nothing to say to the lord concerning his soul there's a song that was written in 1923 by arthur hodge it's called you have you counted the cost i love the words it says there's a line that is drawn by rejecting our lord where the call of his spirit is lost and you hurry along with the pleasure mad throng

have you counted have you counted the cost you may barter your hope of eternity's mourn for a moment of joy at the most for the glitter of sin and the things that will win have you counted have you counted the cost have you counted the cost the chorus says if your soul should be lost though you gain the whole world for your own even now it may be that the line you have crossed have you counted have you counted the cost you're here today and the most valuable thing you have is your soul are you making provisions for your soul we have an opportunity every single one of us to give our soul to jesus christ who died in agony and blood for us you want to know how valuable your soul is you know that you determine the value of of anything by what someone will pay for it and the lord paid the ultimate price for you and me knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life inherited from your forefathers but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of christ god gave his only son for your soul to redeem your soul and if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul guess what you lose and you lose forever this man was a fool because he had bigger barns but he didn't have anything in heaven now it was jim elliott the missionary who was killed by the aka indians in the 1950s i believe who had this famous statement he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose remember telling my uncle my jewish uncle who was a wonderful guy but he didn't put his faith and trust in jesus i said uncle harry i said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose he said did they tell you to say that i said who's they i don't know i ran across this quote i thought it was pretty good and it applies to you because uncle harry had a lot but he didn't give his soul to the lord your soul is the most valuable thing you have and this guy wasn't prepared he was hoarding everything and he hoarded his soul and now his soul was required of him listen what do you do when you find yourself if you find yourself if you're honest enough to say hey i think i might be in the grip of greed i think that money and possessions are too powerful in my life i make decisions based on money and possessions and i don't make decisions based on god what do you want me to do and those things guide me and those things drive me you know one guy used to just kind of joke about things and so you know talking to a pastor well if if this church is wanting you and they're going to pay you more money go with the money god is everywhere go with the money and it was just like you know it's a light-hearted little joke but a lot of pastors

do that they They go with the money and it's like, don't do that. If that's where you go and you go with your money, you go with the money, you gotta say, man, has money gotten too far entrenched in my heart for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pangs. Now, the antidote for greediness is cheerful giving. That's the antidote. That's how you break the grip of greed. That's how you get out of that sleeper hole. You give and you give regularly and you give systematically and you give generously and God loves a cheerful giver and you don't hold on, you don't hoard and you thank God for everything that he blesses you with and you bring it all before him. Lord, this all belongs to you and I wanna honor you from my wealth. The tithe is the Lord's, that 10% and then over and above, God, how can I give that away? And as Robert said in the video, we don't give to get, R.G. Letourneau, who was the great industrialist, he was such a giver. He loved the Lord with all his heart. He got to the place where giving a tithe and even above the tithe wasn't enough for him. So he would reverse tithe. He gave away 90%, he lived on 10. And he said this, if you give because it pays,

it doesn't pay. But if you give because you love the Lord, it pays in spades because the Lord says give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap for by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. How do you keep greed away from arresting your heart and putting you in that sleeper hold? You give, you give and you give generously and you grow in giving and you grow in generosity. Listen, hoarders are not happy people. Givers are happy people. It is more blessed to give than to receive. And then lastly, we can take the long look and be rich toward God. He says in verse 21, so is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Are you rich toward God? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Store up treasure in heaven.

Learn to be a giver, learn to be a generous giver. Three things last forever, God, his word and people. And so if you take your money here and you invest it in the kingdom of God in reaching people, in spreading his word, well, that's sending your money on ahead. That's putting it in heaven's bank. That's being rich toward God. And when you do that, when you die, you hear the Lord say, well done, my good and faithful slave. You were faithful in a few things. I entrusted earthly wealth to you and you used it for my glory. You used it to further the kingdom. You didn't hold on to it, you gave it. And because of that, well done, my good and faithful slave. This is how your gifts and this is how your generosity, this is how I used it. I was thinking about something that happened to me years ago. I had done a funeral and in the funeral, I can't even remember the family, but it was about a week or so later, Larry did the obituary and prayer and then I did the bulk of it. And about two weeks later, I got a card in the mail from this family and it had seven $100 bills in. And I opened it up and it's like, wow, thank you, Lord.

That is so wonderful. And it was for the funeral. And so I said to myself, well, it's not good for me to hold on to all of this because Larry helped. And so I asked Vicki, our finance secretary, if I could get changed for a hundred. No, I didn't do it. I didn't really do it. I was just kidding, but you know, he didn't do a whole lot. So I went to his office. I said, hey, Larry, I said, I got a blessing from the family. And I said, here, you were involved in this. Here's a hundred dollar bill. I figured, well, if they wanted to give him something, they would have given it to him directly. And it didn't say anything in the card about make sure to pay Larry. So I thought I was being pretty good. And so then I went back to the office and I was feeling good. I gave Larry some. I still got 600. I read the card again. And it said, please put 500 to the church to help with the budget. I said, OK, that now my 700 that went down to 600 is now 100. So good grief, I went home, I told Debbie about it. I put the 100 on the little lamp stand there. And the dog ate it. I got a picture of me and the dog, we were able to retrieve some of it, but the dog took a chunk out of my hundred dollar bill.

And I thought to myself, well, good grief. Here I went from 700 down to 100, barely, you know, just like that. The Bible says that. The Bible says, do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. We have that phrase, money talks. It does. It says goodbye. And money just goes. And so while you have it, you can use it because it's not going to stay. Job lost everything just like that. He was a wealthy man. He went from the top to the bottom, bam, just like that. You have and I have, we have an opportunity, as God is blessing, to give that back to the Lord. But. The question, are you building bigger barns or are you investing in heaven's bank? Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, but I believe, Jesus, that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. And right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now, if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you. So please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you. And if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana.

Listen, you really are important to God and you're important to us. And we're here for you.