Good morning. I can't help but share a passage that came to mind during Peter's example. Matthew chapter 7 and in verse 11. Well, let's start in verse 9. Well, what man is there of you whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? And the reason that comes to mind for me is because as a father, I've not always known what the wise thing was to hand to my children. Maybe they need an elephant, Doug, I don't know. But the one that does know is our Heavenly Father. And so as fathers, I think it's very important that we seek the Lord's guidance and seek his way, seek what he wants for our children. And then we can rest assured that they will have what they need. So, okay, before I get started in my devotion, let's have a word of prayer. Our father, we do thank you that you are a great and mighty heavenly father. Lord, we thank you that you are such an example for us to follow. Lord, following the grace and mercy that you've shown to us because, Lord, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Lord, when we were disobedient children, Father, you were caring for us. So, Father, I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful that you've left us your word. that continues on a daily basis to give guidance to those who will receive it. And I pray, Father, that we would this day be those that receive guidance from your word, that you would direct us in the paths we should go, and that you would guide our lips and guide our hearts, Father. I pray that our time together, this brief time, would minister to the saints, and Lord, that you would provide encouragement and direction for our lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We got people working the scriptures on the wall. Again, this is something that's not a part of the devotion the Lord put on my heart, but I do want to share this. Would you put 1 Thessalonians chapter four and starting in verse nine there? But it's touching brotherly love. You need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Now would you skip down to verse 13? But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Go ahead to verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And I wanted to share that verse because I attended the memorial service for Randy Robinson yesterday. And even from the time I became aware that this tragic accident had occurred, every time I encountered my brother, Otis. He was ministering to me. I did not feel like I was adequate toward him, but he was ministering to me. And I bet all of you guys felt that too. If you weren't here, brother Otis led the song service during his son's memorial. That was just astounding to me. But he did it in love. He did it in ministry. And what a lesson, what a lesson to gain from how we are to minister to one another. Death doesn't have the same impact to the believer. And if we truly, truly, truly believe that to be so, then the work doesn't end just because somebody dies. You know, so anyway, I wanted to give that flower to my brother. Because it was impactful to me. Okay, I've given you a couple of things that weren't what I'm going to talk about. Now I get to the thing I am going to talk about. And I've struggled with how to begin this, so I'm just going to go and see where the Lord takes me. You have smoke detectors likely in your house. Most of you probably do. And that's to warn you of any sort of danger that's occurring in your home in relation to fires and smoke. Some of you also have carbon monoxide monitors in your house. And did you know that carbon monoxide is colorless, tasteless, and odorless? So if this room were currently, at this very moment in time, filled with carbon monoxide, we'd only begin to see symptoms in each other. We wouldn't know it was there. It would just be killing us. it would just be taking us out slowly because something that we could not see and did not pay attention to was happening in this room. And I think that's sort of the path that the Lord took me when I started thinking about what I want to share. How many of you know the Ten Commandments? Let's hear some of them. One at a time and only one per person. Okay, thou shalt not steal is on the table. I'm sorry. Okay. All right. Only God to serve. Honor thy father and thy mother. I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Thou shalt not kill. Okay. Anymore? Only one per person, Alexander. I'm sorry. I'm going to take away the one you just gave me. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thou shalt not lie. I think it's what I heard. Do not commit adultery. Okay. Well, how many have we got? Okay. Exodus chapter 20 is where you will find all of them listed. And let me quickly go through. Thou shalt, verse three, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Verse four, thou shalt not take, make unto thee any graven image. Verse seven, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, verse eight. Verse 12, honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Verse 13, thou shalt not kill. Verse 14, thou shalt not commit adultery. Verse 15, thou shalt not steal. Verse 16, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. That's the last one. And verse 17, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. I propose to you that the carbon monoxide silent killer in our nation and in many of us is covetousness. covetousness, the one that is most often forgotten among the Ten Commandments. It's most often not referenced, and I did not expect anyone to share that because that's what happens. But if you think about it, and I just captured this, I'm going to read you this little statement about covetousness. Covetousness is a very grave sin. Indeed, it's so heinous, so heinous is it that the scriptures class it among the very gravest and grossest crimes. In Colossians 3.5, it's idolatry, while in 1 Corinthians 6.10, it's set forth as excluding a man from heaven. The highness doubtless is accounted for by its being in the very real sense, the root of so many other forms of sin. The root of many of the other problems we face. It's covetousness. You know, a foundation of where this evil comes from, where this struggle we have comes from, is in covetousness. It's a departure from the faith, it's lying, it's theft, it's domestic trouble, it's murder. Indeed, it leads to many foolish and hurtful lusts. It's what the scripture says about covetousness. So what is it? It's to wish to have more than one possesses. You want more than you got. You are wanting it inordinately. And it's a love of money. It's a love of resource. It's a love of things. It's a love of this world. The things Brother Kerry said something this morning, he said, the bad is remembered and often it's things we never touch. All those other Ten Commandments, we could sort of look around and identify those as we view society. We can see murder. We can hear people lying. We can see the results and the outcomes of adultery. You can see that people aren't honoring God. You can hear people not taking his name in vain. All of these other things you can sort of touch. But to me, carbon monoxide covetousness is the silent killer. It's the silent thing in society. It's the silent thing in our nation. It's the silent thing in me. And it's the silent thing in you. Odorless, colorless, tasteless, but there it is. Luke chapter 12 to our people that are putting the scriptures up and start in verse 11. And I'm going to go through verse 15. So as I read, we'll just go through verse 15. And when they bring you into the synagogues and onto magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed. and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses." If you happen to open your Bible during that time, as I was reading, those words would be in red. They're the words of our Savior. And, you know, one of the things that I always try to take note of is when the Lord tells me to beware. To beware. If this room were somehow filled with carbon monoxide, then it would be a kindness to us for someone to put a sign on the door. Beware of CO poisoning. Do not enter. Okay? The Lord himself says, beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abundance of things he possesses. Now here's where I'm going to go with the remainder of my time, and I'll let you think about it for a second. Think about Examples in scripture of covetousness, names of individuals in scripture that you would consider having succumbed to covetousness. Think about that. I did. I thought about it and I got a few names. Let's start at the beginning. Eve. Genesis chapter 3 verse 6 says, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat. To wish to have more than one possesses. Every tree in the garden was available. I just want that one more, that one more, one more thing. And it can, covetous can become a family affair. My next example is Rebecca. the mother of Esau and Jacob. Genesis chapter 27, verse six says, and Rebecca spake unto Jacob her son saying, behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother saying, bring me venison and make me savory meat that I may eat and bless before the Lord, bless before the Lord before my death. Now, therefore, my son, Jacob, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory meat for thy father such as he loveth, and thou shalt bring it to thy father that he may eat, that he may bless thee before his death." That wasn't right. That wasn't the way it should be, right? It was Esau's blessing. It wasn't Jacob's blessing, but it's a family affair. Mom wanted something for Jacob. So she coveted it, so she went after it. She took steps to go after it. That's the type of thing that covetousness does. You take steps to get there. to get to what's not yours, to take something that is not yours. And I said it's a family affair. Esau was impacted by this. And I'll just read chapter 27, verse 41. Here's the result of that covetousness in Esau's life. Chapter 27, verse 41, and Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then will I slay my brother Jacob. Caused hatred in the family. Heard a sibling rivalry. Yeah, I've seen and heard of those things. The impact of covetousness. Here's an example you'll all remember when I say the name of the city, A.I. A.I. Aiken. Joshua chapter 7 verse 21. Joshua chapter 7 verse 21. says, when I saw, and these are the words of Achan, and I'm making, I look around and I only see a few people that I'm not familiar with, but I suspect everyone that has a biblical background is familiar with these accounts, so I'm not taking the time to go into all that, because it's a lesson for us. Joshua 721, when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. We know what happened, don't we, to Achan and his family. And we know the impact of that covetousness, what happened to the nation of Israel. They had had a great victory at Jericho. They had had an amazing victory at Jericho. And then the nation was going to go up against these itty-bitty people from AI. It's a little country. We can take them. But because of covetousness of one, covetousness of one, they suffered major defeat. Because of covetousness. Just a couple more examples. Are you getting it? Are you following? That covetousness, even though It's colorless, tasteless, and odorless in the room. It is insidious in its damage. Ahab. You remember Ahab wanted a field from a man named Naboth. Ahab was a king in Israel and his property bumped up against Naboth's property. And Ahab the king decided he wanted that property. I think Naboth had a, what was it, a vineyard. And in first Kings chapter 21, let's start in verse two. And it says, and Ahab spake unto Naboth saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it's near unto my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it. Or if it seemed good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money." So he was willing to pay for his covetousness. He was gonna pay for it. But Naboth said, the Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. Why didn't he wanna sell it? Why didn't he want to give it away? Because it was the inheritance of his father's. There's a preciousness about what our father has given us that we don't want to give away. We don't want to sell for any price what God has given us. Nothing is worth it. Verse four, and Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him. For he said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread. Now that's the funniest thing. When I think about that, here's the king of Israel laying on the side of his bed, pouting. I imagine he was sucking his thumb and he was just upset because this bad old Naboth didn't give me what I wanted. But Ahab had a wife and her name was Jezebel. She went and got that field for her husband. If you read the entire story That covetousness led to their downfall and the destruction of that land. Covetousness. All he wanted was a field. And then finally, the final example, the one that, again, you will be most familiar with, there was a man named Judas. who was one of the disciples of Jesus. He walked with him. He was around our Lord. Put up John chapter 12 and start in verse three, and I'm gonna read to verse six. Then took Mary, a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judith Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? What a great guy. He's watching out for the poor. Wait a minute, there's more. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. Do you think he coveted the offering? I think he did. Don't waste this on Jesus. Put it in the bag for me. Covetousness. Colorless, tasteless, odorless. You couldn't look at somebody and say, you are covetous. Because I see it. But it's there. So some results of covetousness, one that, well, it's sort of a solution, sort of the result. 1 John 2, 15 says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. So Satan has one trick that he uses, one approach, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. I see that as his tactics every time. Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. Go after you where you're weak. Go after you where your own covetousness has impacted you. The covetousness of this flesh. This flesh wants what it wants. I see some smaller babies in the room. The first thing you typically hear from a baby is, wah! Okay? You know why? They want something. They want something. So we come into this world with a want. We want something for this flesh. Take care of me. I'm here. You know the only way we overcome that? It's by the spirit of God. Walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walk in the spirit. I'll just read you this. You don't have to put this one on the board. Proverbs 2419. Proverbs 2420 says for there shall be no reward to the evil man. the candle of the wicked shall be put out. Covetousness is wickedness, colorless, tasteless, and odorless, but wicked nonetheless, and just as destructive. Okay. Interestingly, and I'm going to go ahead and say this out loud, I had a conversation about this devotion with some of my family yesterday. My brother and sister called me and we were just talking about various things. And my sister said, as we were ending our conversation, she said, well, Gary, make sure you end with hope. It's a heavy topic. So you can thank my sister for trying to be more hopeful. But the bottom line is, well, there's hope in the fact that Christ put a sign on our door. There's a sign on the door that says, remember the first verse, beware of covetousness. It's colorless, tasteless, odorless. So would we have seen it or been knowledgeable to be aware of it if Christ hadn't said, beware? So there's some hope. And he goes on to give us more hope. James chapter four, and let's start in verse six. but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore unto God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. If this room were filled with carbon monoxide, And suddenly people started being a little woozy and passing out and struggling and their eyesight was getting crossed or whatever. What's the solution? Get out of here and get some fresh air. Get out of here and get some fresh air. Go away from, beware of that. Now that you're aware of it, now that you're suffering from it, get away from it. Resist the devil and he'll flee. 1 John 1, 9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us, cleanse us, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I hope I've proved to you that covetousness is unrighteousness. Just like the other commandments, the Lord tells us to stay away from. So just like you shouldn't go out and murder somebody, you shouldn't covet. I shouldn't covet. Okay, I got a couple more things to say. Put John 16, verse two. I think it's verse two. I didn't check this. We'll see. They shall put you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think they doeth God's service. And now put Luke, that first verse I asked you for, Luke 12, 11. And when they bring you into the synagogues and under magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say." Now, here's where I'm going with this. Both had to do with God's people being brought before magistrates, brought before the powers that be. Brethren, the powers that be in this world are not in favor of the things of God. especially at this time. I personally expect to be brought before magistrates. That's my expectation every day. That the powers that be are going to say what you believe is wrong or is dangerous for our society. It's dangerous. So if you want to keep living in this society, you're going to have to conform to what we say. Now, what is the hook that they could have in my life that would drag me over onto their side? My covetousness. If I can't give up this world, if I gotta hold on to my holding on to things, then they can force me into their side. You gotta let go. You gotta let go of this world. And you gotta be willing to let go. And you know what, brother? It's easy for me to stand up here and say this. It's easy for me to stand here because I know you agree. I know you're on my side. There are people that are not on our side that are wielding power and want to bring you before magistrates for what you believe in your heart right now. And the hook that they wanna use to drag you over is your covetousness. If you cannot give up this world, if you're not willing to give up the things of this world, then they got you. They got you. 1 Timothy 6, six, two more verses, three more. First Timothy 6.6. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Go ahead and go to verse eight for me. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content. What's the opposite of covetousness? Contentment. Contentment is the opposite of covetousness. So you need to be content with food and Raymond. You know? You know, there are things in this world that are just that. They're just things in this world, but this world is passing away. This world is passing away. The last verse I want to read is Hebrews chapter 13, verse five. Let's put that on the board. Let your conversation, which is your life. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. You know what? That hook has no bearing because the Lord is with me and the Lord is with you, brethren. Man. Thank you.