Hello everyone, welcome to our scattered group for this session. We are in part two of Money is Not Your Brother. We'll be in First Timothy chapter six. Let's continue to pray for our Invite Your One evangelistic campaign. I'm working on a message that will be clear and concise and let's ask the Lord to call people to faith in Christ during that day. And so please bring those names, put them on the cross and take those invitations and hand those out this week personally and specifically to those that you are inviting. Let's go ahead and pray and then we'll continue right into our study here. Father, thank you for this time to gather, to encourage one another, to worship, to open the Bible, and to just share life together. We thank you for this model of ministry and how it's enriched our walk with you. and i pray for each one that's participating now we thank you for all the hosts and all the food and the fellowship that we can have together and we pray that you would continue to grow this ministry of the scatter crew so you also look forward to our church gathered as we gather on sunday and then as we get together for the invite for one day we pray for great and wonderful things so lord thank you for your blessings and we pray this in jesus name amen So when I was young, I remember after piano lessons at the church, took piano lessons, I would walk a couple blocks down the street and go to a gas station. And at the gas station was a vending machine, a soda vending machine, and it had 20 ounce Coca-Cola. And I carried in my pocket 15 cents. 15 cents for 20 ounce coca-cola I don't know if they call it classic by then I think it was classic now just the way everything's changed over time but coca-cola classic and so after piano that was kind of my highlight or reward was to go and get that 15 cent coca-cola 20 ounce how much is it today is it $2 20 ounce I know a ballpark to 20 ounces like $6 sometimes So here's a chart on the screen. I have it on my phone so I can look at this. I found this just a few weeks ago in preparation for this series. And so the dollar, the value of it has diminished. And you can see the purchasing power of the dollar, how it's fallen. There's a little bit of a timeline on top, and you can kind of see George Washington, the cut out of him, and then how the dollar bills diminished. It's actually being cut down there, you can see on the screen. And you have the, uh... the world's reserve currency back in nineteen uh... forty something and the gold standard was abandoned in nineteen seventy the quantitative easing back in the two thousands and then the money supply grew back in twenty twenty by three point eight trillion dollars that was twenty percent of all dollar bills ever created that's just astonishing amount of money to consider that they just they just printed all of that suddenly uh... back in 1929 for $1 you could have bought 10 rolls of toilet paper. Today it costs over $15. Today if you bought 20 bottles of Coca-Cola that would be $14.71 but back then you could get 20 bottles for a whole dollar. All right, a bag of pretzels, 10 bags of pretzels today, $9.69. I guess that'd be the small bags. It'd been a dollar back in 1953. A drive-in movie ticket, a dollar back in 1964, where now it's over $8. Oranges, $6.39 for 17 oranges today, and back then it was a dollar. in 1971 boxes of crayons okay back to school kiddos getting those crayons and if you get the two boxes be 228 if you get the Crayola ones I think they're even more than the Ross ones and so that back in 1987 would have been a dollar grapefruits for those for a dollar sixty one today back in ninety seven that would've been a dollar two lemons today for a dollar twenty back in two thousand eight would've been a dollar and we can go we can really spring for a whole one dollar for mcdonald's coffee today and uh... that's what it costs today as well as that dollar so just an idea of how the dollar has declined now here's the problem is the less your money is worth, the more you feel like you've got to work for more. So this kind of can create this need for second jobs, third jobs, and fourth jobs. I've heard of people having those. And I need more hours, I need more time, because things aren't worth as much. So maybe you kind of feel like you're in a crunch. Well, that's part of the reason why is the dollar is lessening in its value. But then, in a spiritual way, that can contribute to a spirit of covetousness. and I need more. I need more money. Now at the same time I think we could all agree also when you look around you see something that you really like and we we want that and our eyes are never satisfied. We want to buy that so I need money for that. So coveting isn't only just about money but it's also the things that money can buy. But since money is worth less we tend to, if we're not careful, covet it more. Our passage is 1st Timothy chapter 6 and last time we identified that the love that is being spoken of here is Philadelphia. It's the brotherly loves. Let's read. Godliness with contentment is great gain. for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and raiment let us be there with be be there with content but they that will be rich fall into 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 roots of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." When they erred from the faith, that means they have gone astray. They went astray somewhere along the way. And they're coveting. The word coveting means to stretch out or to reach for, and that is the theme. Now, as we read verse 9, what word really could describe those that will be rich? Those that will be rich. And that means desiring, will be, is desiring. And to be rich is not just to have a little bit of money, but an excessive amount, an abundance of money. So what is the word that we use to describe verse 9? Well, we found it in verse 10. It's covetousness or coveting. they that will be rich, coveting or covetousness. The word covet is the word orego. Orego means to stretch out or to reach after, I'm yearning for, I'm aspiring for, desiring, and longing. And now there's three examples I want to share as we consider the sin of covetousness. The first is in Joshua chapter 7, and we'll call this one Bacon Achen. Bacon Akin, and Joshua Chapter 7. So go ahead and find it. We're going to look at three narratives in this scripture dealing with covetousness. So the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Avon, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up, and view the country. And the men went up, and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up, but let two or three thousand men go up, and smite Ai, and make not all the people to labor thither, for they are but a few." Now they did not know that Achan had stolen something that was cursed by God. God had told them, I want you to go into this place and take over in this war and don't take the spoils, you burn everything, you don't take things for yourself. But Achan saw something and he took it. And notice what happened then, because Joshua sends just less of an army, even if he sent the whole army up, they were gonna lose that day because of this particular sin. So there went up about 3,000 and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai, verse 5, smote them, about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate, and smote them into going down, wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Now Joshua, he ran his clothes then, verse 6, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until eventide. He and the elders of Israel put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou All that brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us, would to God. We have been content and dwell on the other side of Jordan. He said we could have stayed over there if we were going to come over here and be butchered by those who live in Ai. The Lord said, What shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? Here's God's response to Joshua, Get thee up! Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Get your face out of the ground, stop crying. Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. For they have taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also, and they put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before the enemies, because they were accursed. Neither Will I be with you anymore, except ye destroy the accursed from among you? Up, sanctify the people, set them apart, and say, Sanctify yourselves tomorrow, for thus saith the Lord God. There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel, and thou canst not stand before thine enemies until thou takest away the accursed thing from among you." So they go through a plan that God gives to them to find who is the one who stole The money who stole the stuff. Achan, verse 16. Joshua rose up early in the morning, brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the family of Judah, took the family of the Zerites, and he brought the family of the Zerites, man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought his household, a man by a man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, the tribe of Judah, was taken, and Joshua said to Achan, My son, give me, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him. And tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan answered and said, Joshua, indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them. I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hidden in the earth, in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it." So Joshua sends messengers in, they go find the goods, the stolen goods, and he says in verse 25, Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day, and all Israel stone him with stones, and burn him with fire. And after they stoned him with stones, they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. They called it the Valley of Achor. And so that's where Achan died. Achan, Achan Bacon. He got in trouble because of his covetousness. He sinned. He stole because of the sin of covetousness. Think about this. In the middle of a battle, in the middle of a battle, a war zone. Greed captured Achan's heart. All the fighting all around him, bloodshed and devastation. He looks over, he sees the garments, he sees the gold, he sees the silver, and immediately captivated. It was covetousness, the sin of coveting. Let's turn our attention to Luke chapter 12, then, there's two grieving brothers. In Luke chapter 12, two grieving brothers, what a sad story this one is. As we read in chapter 12, beginning in verse 13, two grieving brothers, their father has died. They're sorting through the estate, they're looking for What we would call today the paperwork, the will, the inheritance papers, all the information that would be in a locked box or a safe place. And they've been going through all these things, the personal effects, etc. And one of the company, in verse 13, said unto him, this is Luke 12, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Who made me a judge or a 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 possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? because I have room where to bestow my fruits. He has no room, he says. And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns, and build a grater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool this night, thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? In other words, it's all going to go to somebody else anyway. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. So after the funeral, the brothers are grieving, of course. They're going through, and one brother is coveting. And perhaps the one who is talking to Jesus is coveting, because Jesus even says to beware of covetousness. He says to this man, take heed, you take heed, you take heed, and beware of covetousness. So you have both brothers coveting the stuff, the money, and the things. and they're basically fighting over inheritance money. What a sad thing. And you've known people, we've heard stories of people that after the loss of a loved one, they're fighting for the wealth, the inheritance. How's it gonna be divided up? There's lawsuits and pending litigation, all kinds of things like that that happen. You hear it in the news, et cetera. What a sad thing. Take heed, beware of covetousness. Money is not our brother. Achan, money is not our brother. To the grieving brothers, money is not our brother. Here's one more story. There was a seeker in Luke 18. In Luke 18 verse 18, notice a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, and that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and mother. And he said, All these I have kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing? Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it, the disciples, those around, said, Who then can be saved? And then Jesus responds by saying, With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Think about this. This young man, this wealthy man. He was probably an intelligent man. He had business savvy about him. He came really close to the truth. He was a moral man. He followed the instructions that he heard while growing up about how to follow Judaism and how to honor Jehovah God. And yet he came this close to salvation. See what I have right here? A coin. It's a thin coin. This is a widow's mite. It's a replica. I have a real one. The coin that this man probably had was a little bit thicker. The drachmas were a little bit thicker coins that they would have used. But he came this close to eternal life. What kept this man from trusting Christ? covetousness. He loved his money and was not willing to give it up in comparison to saying that he would love God. Here's a young man, a wealthy man, who missed eternal life by the space of the width of a coin. Friends, money is not your brother. One of the top 10 commandments of the Old Testament tells us, 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. So, hey, the car, the truck, the stuff, the things, the house, the game system, whatever it is, Sometimes that will compel us to love or covet the money. because we're coveting those things. There's kind of a ripple effect that can happen. So here's a question. How much is too much? That's different for each person. Some people will be millionaires and billionaires and they love Jesus just as much as the person who doesn't have that much. It's not a sinful thing to have a lot of money. The issue is the heart. If the heart says more, more, more, then it could be sinful. Second question. What should I do with money? Some people have an excessive amount of money and they don't do good things with that money. I think about The two brothers, when the one talked to Jesus, and then Jesus gives the parable about the rich man, who tore down his barns to build bigger, instead of giving his money away, instead of doing good things with his money, he made spaces so that he could save his money up even more, just hoard it to himself. Some people have an excessive amount, they don't do good with it. I think that's a tragedy as well. And number three, what tangible ways demonstrate faith in God instead of faith in money? Are there some tangible ways we demonstrate faith in God? Well, I can think of one right off the top, it would be tithing. If you give away to God 10% of what you make, that is demonstrating I'm trusting God to give me everything that I need. I trust him so much I can give 10% away and not think anything of it because I'm believing God. That's a thing of faith. You know, when you give to God through the church, you're actually worshiping God. The tithes and offerings are acts of worship to the Lord. I'm trusting God. He's going to provide all that is needed. Sharing. Giving money and things to help other people with their problems or during their times of difficulty or loss. Whenever you give of your resources or your talent and things like this, that's a giving spirit, a generous spirit. Be generous like that. Having a budget, not spending all your money in one place. That's basically what a budget helps you with. And you want to ensure that you have a place for giving and a place for saving both long-term and short-term in your budget. It's important to have a budget. If you recall from our last session, the first session of this series, that 46% of Americans don't have enough money to cover a $400 expense. Okay, how's that possible? They're not budgeting right, or they're spending all the money that they have, et cetera. Most of the time, not having money is a spending problem. And so having a budget helps you moderate and balance out the money that you have. And then really, if we come to this point, seeing that it all belongs to God, then that certainly helps with covetousness as well. Our expenses belong to God. Our bank accounts belong to God. The stuff we want to buy belongs to God. Our savings account belongs to God. And all that goes to say this, because we belong to God. We belong to the Lord. If you love Jesus, you belong to Him. And He belongs to you. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. Thank you, David, in Psalm 50, for that amazing truth. It all belongs to God. It helps us with our management and stewardship of money. So, please come back for next week as we continue our series that money is not your brother. I read a story about some poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout their colony. The man who put the poison down returned later to see how well the poison was working. Hundreds of stinging ants were carrying the poison down to their hill. But then he noticed a hole, kind of like a cavity going right through, like a little highway going right through all the stinging ants. And it was smaller, non-stinging ants who also found that food. They were coveting that poison that they thought was food, and they'd made a little highway right through all the stinging ants and were bringing that poison back to their ant hill as well. And so when we're coveting money, it's much the same way. When we're coveting, we can do ourselves much harm. Friends, money is not our brother. Avoid the sin of coveting. Please take some time for some good discussion and then pray with your group. God bless.