Pastor Bob: This morning, we have already concluded our series in 1 Timothy.
Pastor Bob: We are continuing into a new series.
Pastor Bob: It's going to be a series of standalone messages.
Pastor Bob: We're going to have a number of guests this summer.
Pastor Bob: Pastor Dave and I will do one or two messages, but we have guests coming in.
Pastor Bob: We're calling it Summer in the Scriptures, and we're excited about it.
Pastor Bob: This morning, I have my friend Sidney Bowie from City of Relief.
Pastor Bob: I'm going to invite him to come on stage now.
Pastor Bob: If you don't know Sidney, he is the donor and mobilization officer with City of Relief.
Pastor Bob: He started with the organization four years ago.
Pastor Bob: as an outreach leader, where he connected with, he served, he walked alongside individuals experiencing homelessness.
Pastor Bob: He became a witness to the transformation that can happen as a result of compassionate outreach that acknowledges the dignity of every image-bearing individual.
Pastor Bob: In his current role, he is grateful for the opportunity to connect with churches to the mission of City Relief, hoping to inspire dedication to Jesus and his example of leading a life where we intentionally care for the least of these.
Pastor Bob: So I think you'll be blessed by Sidney's message this morning.
Pastor Bob: He's going to be bringing God's Word.
Pastor Bob: Would you welcome him with me today?
Sidney Bowie: Thank you.
Sidney Bowie: Thank you, Pastor Bob.
Sidney Bowie: Thank you for the invite.
Sidney Bowie: Thank you, Millington, for having me.
Sidney Bowie: It's always awesome to be here.
Sidney Bowie: There are so many people here.
Sidney Bowie: Okay, cool.
Sidney Bowie: Yeah, always good to be here.
Sidney Bowie: I made this comment in the first service as well.
Sidney Bowie: When I saw ahead of time the video, the VBS video that was going to be shared, I was like, man, it's so awesome to see what God is doing through the youth and the kids here.
Sidney Bowie: And I'm sure that after watching them have all of that fun and excitement and being very lively, that everyone here is like, man, you know what I really, really want right now?
Sidney Bowie: A message about covetousness.
Sidney Bowie: That would be...
Sidney Bowie: That would be great.
Sidney Bowie: So yeah.
Sidney Bowie: And Johnny, I'm well aware, like one of the worst places to stand is between a group of people and lunch.
Sidney Bowie: So I will probably condense this a little bit from what I did this morning.
Sidney Bowie: But we are going to be in Exodus chapter 20, and we will be touching on covetousness.
Sidney Bowie: And essentially, I am inviting you all into the loving beatdown that I've been getting from the Lord as I've been going through this word.
Sidney Bowie: But before we get into it, let me just pray real quick.
Sidney Bowie: Father, thank you so much for this time that we get to worship you, to connect with you, and prayerfully to hear from you.
Sidney Bowie: Thank you for all the amazing things that you're doing through this church, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: Thank you for all the ways people are getting involved in serving you and serving others, God.
Sidney Bowie: And Lord, I pray that this message would just be one that would help to encourage more people to continue to do the same.
Sidney Bowie: So speak whatever it is you want to speak, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: You know what each and every one of us need individually, and you can somehow beautifully use one message to touch every single person where they are.
Sidney Bowie: So have your way.
Sidney Bowie: We thank you and we love you.
Sidney Bowie: In your name we pray.
Sidney Bowie: Amen.
Sidney Bowie: So, Exodus chapter 20.
Sidney Bowie: I was thinking about just skipping to the end of the Ten Commandments, but I feel like sometimes it's good to just kind of go through all ten.
Sidney Bowie: I haven't done that with a group in a long time.
Sidney Bowie: So we're going to start in Exodus chapter 20, verse 1.
Sidney Bowie: Then God spoke all these words...
Sidney Bowie: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Sidney Bowie: You shall have no other gods before me.
Sidney Bowie: You should not make yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
Sidney Bowie: You should not worship them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
Sidney Bowie: Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me and showing loving kindness to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments.
Sidney Bowie: You should not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.
Sidney Bowie: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Sidney Bowie: that your days may be prolonged in the earth which the Lord your God gives you.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not murder.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not commit adultery.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not steal.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Sidney Bowie: And the last one.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Sidney Bowie: Now, as we go through these commandments, there are essentially seven that focus on you shall not.
Sidney Bowie: whatever it is, right?
Sidney Bowie: And most of them are directly connected to an action.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not do this thing, right?
Sidney Bowie: So from the first one, you shall not make an idol.
Sidney Bowie: Don't get gold and silver and wood and craft this thing to worship.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not take the Lord's name in vain.
Sidney Bowie: You will not say his name in connection to things that aren't actually connected to him.
Sidney Bowie: Not working on the Sabbath, not committing murder, not committing adultery.
Sidney Bowie: These are all very clear actions.
Sidney Bowie: Don't do this thing.
Sidney Bowie: And then we get to 10.
Sidney Bowie: You shall not covet.
Sidney Bowie: And that isn't about an action.
Sidney Bowie: That's about the state of your heart.
Sidney Bowie: Covet, the root word used for that in the scripture here, is used in a few different places throughout the scriptures.
Sidney Bowie: And it can be used to talk about something that's pleasing.
Sidney Bowie: It can be used to talk about something that's delightful.
Sidney Bowie: It can also be used to talk about something that someone desires, right?
Sidney Bowie: And so one of the easiest ways to define, I think, covetousness from a biblical perspective is having a strong desire for something that belongs to someone else.
Sidney Bowie: Or put another way, that doesn't belong to you.
Sidney Bowie: So I don't know of, I feel like I don't hear a lot about covetousness, you know, in Christian circles a lot.
Sidney Bowie: I don't know if I've ever heard like a sermon or extended message on it.
Sidney Bowie: But it's incredibly important that we're aware of it and when it creeps up in our hearts because it is wildly deceptive and incredibly damaging.
Sidney Bowie: And If I had no other evidence to support that statement, I think this fact is enough that covetousness is the means by which sin entered into mankind.
Sidney Bowie: Like that's how it got started.
Sidney Bowie: Again, that word that's used for covet in the Hebrew is used in a few different places to mean a few different things.
Sidney Bowie: And the first place it's ever used is Genesis chapter two, verse nine, which says out of the ground, And so the word pleasing there is that same word that is used to speak to covetousness.
Sidney Bowie: The second place that it's used is chapter 3 in Genesis, verse 6.
Sidney Bowie: which says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate.
Sidney Bowie: And so that word desirable that's used, again, the same root word that's used for covetousness.
Sidney Bowie: And so there is this element of covetousness that is there in the very first sin in mankind.
Sidney Bowie: And what covetousness does, I believe, is give us a twisted approach to the good provision of God.
Sidney Bowie: Every tree in the garden, every single one is desirable and pleasing.
Sidney Bowie: All of them are.
Sidney Bowie: And Adam and Eve have access to all of them, including like the tree.
Sidney Bowie: I remember reading this at one point and looking like they actually had access to the tree of life.
Sidney Bowie: Like they could have eaten from that, but they didn't.
Sidney Bowie: They wanted the one thing that God said was off limits.
Sidney Bowie: And so again, covetousness will present this and will create this twisted approach to the good provision of God.
Sidney Bowie: It will put us in a place where we feel like the good things that he's given us and surrounded us with, for whatever reason, actually aren't enough.
Sidney Bowie: And he hasn't done enough.
Sidney Bowie: And like we're actually lacking something.
Sidney Bowie: but it will also have us focusing on some of the things we perceive as good that he hasn't provided and feel like, well, I should have that.
Sidney Bowie: Like I deserve to have that.
Sidney Bowie: I should want those things.
Sidney Bowie: And so I think it's helpful to notice that what Eve actually wanted, when it talks about why she wanted to eat the fruit, none of it was actually bad.
Sidney Bowie: Like the tree itself, when God made all the trees, day three.
Sidney Bowie: And so everything that he made, he called good.
Sidney Bowie: He made the tree.
Sidney Bowie: So the tree itself was good.
Sidney Bowie: The desire to be wise, like wisdom is a good thing.
Sidney Bowie: There's plenty of scripture about how we should be wise.
Sidney Bowie: So wisdom is faith value, is good.
Sidney Bowie: And even like the idea of wanting to be or become like God, as Christians, our entire lives are given over to wanting to be more and more like Jesus.
Sidney Bowie: Like that is our goal.
Sidney Bowie: And so again, just on face value, like the idea of becoming like and more like God.
Sidney Bowie: It actually could be a good thing, should be a good thing.
Sidney Bowie: And so the tree was good, wisdom's good, being more like God is good.
Sidney Bowie: What wasn't good was reaching out for anything in a way that God has not said is for you.
Sidney Bowie: And so just the fact that the things were good were not enough to make it okay for the methods that they choose to reach out for them.
Sidney Bowie: And so I think it's important to notice that because Not everything that is good or every method that appears good is for you, right?
Sidney Bowie: It's just not.
Sidney Bowie: And we can sometimes have this opinion that, well, if God has done good things for me in other places, well, surely he wants me to have this good thing so I can just desire it and long for it and go after it.
Sidney Bowie: And not everything that's good is necessarily inherently for you.
Sidney Bowie: There's this perspective that sometimes people have that even the world, like everything that's been created, the world itself and creation was created for mankind because the conditions are so perfect and God's been all this time getting the world perfect for us and then brought us here.
Sidney Bowie: But the world and everything in it was made for him.
Sidney Bowie: He's the starting point.
Sidney Bowie: Colossians 1.6 says that everything was made by him, through him, and for him.
Sidney Bowie: And so nothing is inherently ours.
Sidney Bowie: Nothing is inherently just for me.
Sidney Bowie: It's all for him.
Sidney Bowie: The reason that's important is because the thought that anything is inherently mine.
Sidney Bowie: is the soil where the seeds of covetousness can start to grow.
Sidney Bowie: Because it's this short jump from, okay, well, I have things that are mine, that inherently belong to me, that are inherently for me.
Sidney Bowie: And so then if I see something else that's similar to some of those things, I'm like, well, it makes sense that those things could or even should be mine as well.
Sidney Bowie: And so you have Eve, who is surrounded by all of these trees that are good for food and pleasing to the sight.
Sidney Bowie: She sees She's another one.
Sidney Bowie: And scripture says, why did she eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
Sidney Bowie: Because it was good.
Sidney Bowie: She saw it was good for food.
Sidney Bowie: It was pleasing to the sight.
Sidney Bowie: But it had this little extra component of being able to make one wise.
Sidney Bowie: And so because it matched what she was used to saying is mine, she reaches out for this thing.
Sidney Bowie: And so...
Sidney Bowie: The desire to have good things is obviously good and makes sense.
Sidney Bowie: And we should long after the things, the good things that God has said are for us.
Sidney Bowie: But covetousness will slide in and kind of present itself differently so that when we are actually longing after something that somebody else has that God hasn't said is for us, we don't necessarily view it as bad.
Sidney Bowie: And so there are a couple of masks that covetousness can wear.
Sidney Bowie: I think one of them is admiration.
Sidney Bowie: And so I can be in a place where I'm like, well, I don't covet that thing.
Sidney Bowie: I don't have this strong desire for that thing that somebody has.
Sidney Bowie: I just admire it.
Sidney Bowie: I don't covet my neighbor's house or my neighbor's car or whatever.
Sidney Bowie: I just admire it.
Sidney Bowie: But there is this line that can be crossed when we step from admiration into covetousness.
Sidney Bowie: If I go to a museum, And I go walk through and enjoy the art and all the paintings and sculptures and things.
Sidney Bowie: It's something me and my wife have done a lot in the past.
Sidney Bowie: I enjoy it.
Sidney Bowie: I enjoy going to see everything and admiring what's there.
Sidney Bowie: And then when I leave, I leave.
Sidney Bowie: I'm like, good.
Sidney Bowie: I don't have a desire to have those things for myself or possess those things for myself.
Sidney Bowie: Personally, if I go to Foot Locker...
Sidney Bowie: There's a line that the admiration crosses when I'm like, oh yeah, I'm just going to see what's there.
Sidney Bowie: I'm just going to see what's new.
Sidney Bowie: And then I'm leaving the store and my wife is like, why do you have a bag in your hand?
Sidney Bowie: And so there's this line that goes from, oh, I'm just admiring what's there to...
Sidney Bowie: I'm starting to have really a desire to possess this thing for myself.
Sidney Bowie: And I was speaking to someone after the first service, and he was basically like, you know, everybody has their footlocker.
Sidney Bowie: Like, whatever that thing is for you, like, and we have to know it really takes...
Sidney Bowie: Honesty with ourselves before the Lord.
Sidney Bowie: Okay, what's that line between this thing is just something I admire, it's just a hobby, it's just whatever, and going to, no, this is becoming something that is really stirring my heart to long for something that actually isn't mine or feel like I need some additional thing added, right?
Sidney Bowie: Like I...
Sidney Bowie: Yeah, Foot Locker's my thing.
Sidney Bowie: My wife has a list of, I don't know, 120 things on Amazon that is just like, she's just admiring, but it's like, cool.
Sidney Bowie: But every other week, there's a new box here.
Sidney Bowie: But again, it's that reality of like, what's that line for you?
Sidney Bowie: What's that line for us, right?
Sidney Bowie: Because we don't want to be in this place of not being able to...
Sidney Bowie: Again, if covetousness twists our approach to the good provision of God, right?
Sidney Bowie: I don't want to be in this place where I am feeling like everything that he's given me already isn't adequate or like he himself isn't adequate, right?
Sidney Bowie: And so I need some new thing to add on to it.
Sidney Bowie: So, but again, covetousness will come under the kind of the guise of admiration sometimes.
Sidney Bowie: The other thing that I think sometimes it'll mask itself is inspiration, right?
Sidney Bowie: So I'm not coveting what I see.
Sidney Bowie: I don't covet something I see my neighbor have.
Sidney Bowie: I don't covet something that I'm seeing on social media.
Sidney Bowie: I don't covet what successful people have, but I'm inspired to kind of go after those things myself.
Sidney Bowie: And again, There's this deceptive thing about it because you think, okay, well, if you covet what someone has, that means you want that specific thing.
Sidney Bowie: I want to take that.
Sidney Bowie: I want that for myself.
Sidney Bowie: But there are a couple of places in Scripture where coveting is not necessarily associated with removing something from somebody else.
Sidney Bowie: It really has to do with what's in your heart.
Sidney Bowie: With Eve herself, right, when she covets the– or she has this desire to be wise and this desire to be more like God, eating the fruit, even though God does actually say, like, they have what come like us.
Sidney Bowie: It didn't make God any less wise and it didn't make God any less God, right?
Sidney Bowie: So it didn't actually take anything from him.
Sidney Bowie: There's a situation in Joshua chapter seven when the Israelites have conquered Jericho and God's like, everything that's there, all the gold, silver, everything that was left, destroy it.
Sidney Bowie: Don't take any of it.
Sidney Bowie: And there's someone, Achan, and the scripture literally says in chapter seven, verse 21, that he coveted.
Sidney Bowie: And so he took gold he wasn't supposed to take, took silver he wasn't supposed to take, took this robe he wasn't supposed to take, Because he coveted it.
Sidney Bowie: Again, he didn't remove it from any, it wasn't going to anybody.
Sidney Bowie: Everything was, it was going to be destroyed.
Sidney Bowie: But again, it wasn't about just, oh, this is coming from your neighbor or coming from somebody else.
Sidney Bowie: It's about what is actually going on in your heart.
Sidney Bowie: And so just because I'm inspired to go get something for myself doesn't mean that that might not be coming from a place of coveting.
Sidney Bowie: And so the questions that we can ask ourself Because there is a theme between Adam and Eve and Achan and Joshua that the thing that they were coveting, they wanted it for themselves.
Sidney Bowie: They wanted to be wise.
Sidney Bowie: They wanted to be like God.
Sidney Bowie: Achan wanted to have the gold.
Sidney Bowie: It was about them.
Sidney Bowie: And so one of the questions we can ask ourselves is, okay, if I'm inspired to go after something because of something I've seen around me, why am I inspired to do it?
Sidney Bowie: What is the end result of me achieving and getting whatever that thing is?
Sidney Bowie: Is it about me and possibly my little circle around me or is it actually about other people?
Sidney Bowie: Is this actually going to be a benefit to someone who Is it going to benefit somebody else in a way that actually has nothing to do with me?
Sidney Bowie: Is that the reason I'm inspired to go after this?
Sidney Bowie: Or is that inspiration coming from this place of, yeah, I really want what I've seen this person have or that person have or what I feel like I'm missing out on?
Sidney Bowie: And so we have to ask ourselves, I think, that question.
Sidney Bowie: Is it about me?
Sidney Bowie: And things being about us is really...
Sidney Bowie: what keeps covetousness going self-centeredness is the battery that keeps covetousness running, if we are constantly thinking about our own desires and our own needs and how do I get what I need to get?
Sidney Bowie: How do I satisfy what I'm looking for?
Sidney Bowie: How do I achieve what I'm trying to achieve?
Sidney Bowie: If we're constantly looking at that, it becomes very easy to see the world around us through that lens.
Sidney Bowie: It's easy to see whatever is around me as how can that help satisfy the desires and the needs that I feel like I have.
Sidney Bowie: And what can make that worse, honestly, is when we just have the ability to get it.
Sidney Bowie: Where we don't actually have to ask the question.
Sidney Bowie: Like some people might be in a place, and covetousness can affect anybody, right?
Sidney Bowie: But some people are in a place where like, man, I really, really desire that thing.
Sidney Bowie: I can't get it though.
Sidney Bowie: Like I could go buy those shoes and then I can't pay rent or whatever.
Sidney Bowie: Like, you know, I can't do it.
Sidney Bowie: And so you still need to deal with what's in your heart.
Sidney Bowie: But it gets a little...
Sidney Bowie: more difficult when like I actually can just get whatever the thing is that I'm longing after with no difficulty whatsoever because I don't often we won't spend time thinking about should I why do I want this it's just hey I want it I can get it I'll go get it and we never actually all you know address the issue of where is this coming from And so the question isn't that we should be asking, we shouldn't be necessarily, will having this or getting this affect me in some negative way?
Sidney Bowie: The question is, why do I long after this thing?
Sidney Bowie: Why am I longing to have something that isn't mine, that belongs to someone else?
Sidney Bowie: It's interesting that the Ten Commandments start with, you shall have no other gods, right?
Sidney Bowie: And then end with, you shall not covet.
Sidney Bowie: because they seem to be connected, actually.
Sidney Bowie: Colossians chapter three, verse five says, therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Sidney Bowie: The word that's used for greed here, again, this is in the Greek, but the word that's used for greed there is also used for covetousness.
Sidney Bowie: In fact, depending on what translation you're reading, Colossians 3.5, that's what it will actually say.
Sidney Bowie: It will say covetousness amounts to idolatry.
Sidney Bowie: And here is the thing about idols.
Sidney Bowie: They don't have to take up that much space in your life.
Sidney Bowie: There is a account in Genesis when Jacob is taking his family and they're leaving and Rachel steals the household gods from her father's house.
Sidney Bowie: And they're small enough for her to put in the saddlebag that's on the camel.
Sidney Bowie: And when her father comes to look for them, he can't even find them.
Sidney Bowie: And so the fact that they were small didn't make it any less of an idol.
Sidney Bowie: The things that we covet are The things that we long after that someone else has that doesn't belong to us, they can easily become idols.
Sidney Bowie: And again, it doesn't matter if it takes up a lot of space in your life or a small amount of space in your life.
Sidney Bowie: An idol is still an idol.
Sidney Bowie: And so is there things that we have that we ought to say, Lord, I've been longing after this thing, or accumulating this thing, or going after this thing, and maybe my whole life isn't surrounded around that, but it's something I keep getting drawn back to, keep being made to feel like I don't have enough with what you've already given me, keep being made to feel like I don't have enough just in you.
Sidney Bowie: Is that thing actually an idol?
Sidney Bowie: I'm gonna confess, I have too many shoes.
Sidney Bowie: I do, and it's funny, but honestly, As I went through this and prepared this, I'm like, dang, I really got to deal with this now.
Sidney Bowie: Because it doesn't take up a whole lot of space in our house.
Sidney Bowie: Like, I got my spots where I keep them.
Sidney Bowie: But why is it that when I am stressed out about something or bored or whatever, like, I'm just, oh, let me see what's new.
Sidney Bowie: Let me see what's not.
Sidney Bowie: Because idols become the thing that we run to instead of God.
Sidney Bowie: We go after what we think will make us feel good and take care.
Sidney Bowie: And so...
Sidney Bowie: So, yeah, this is my open confession.
Sidney Bowie: I'm going to have to get rid of some shoes, man.
Sidney Bowie: Dang.
Sidney Bowie: I got to deal with that.
Sidney Bowie: Anyway, sorry.
Sidney Bowie: Have a little moment.
Sidney Bowie: But, yeah, so these things can become idols.
Sidney Bowie: And it's almost like the Ten Commandments begin with, like, don't have any other gods.
Sidney Bowie: And then the first commandment after that is do not make any other idols.
Sidney Bowie: Don't fashion any idols.
Sidney Bowie: Don't physically make any.
Sidney Bowie: But it's almost like it ends with, here's the last step.
Sidney Bowie: Also, don't have any idols in your heart.
Sidney Bowie: Don't let anything abide here that puts you in a place of seeing what other people have and wanting that for yourself more than the good provision that God's already given you.
Sidney Bowie: And so the question becomes, how do I deal with what's going on in my heart, right?
Sidney Bowie: And I think we gotta be honest and go before the Lord and let him expose that covetousness and that idolatry that can be in us But then I think the practical response to it that we can take is to be outward focused.
Sidney Bowie: Because if covetousness is empowered by how focused on my own desires and needs I can be, then the exact opposite of that is being more focused on the needs and desires of other people.
Sidney Bowie: And saying, how do I now put that as something that's more important for me to focus on on a regular basis than just me fulfilling the desires of myself in my own flesh?
Sidney Bowie: If most of us created a ratio and looked at even our last week and said, okay, how much time, money, and thought did I put towards fulfilling my own needs and desires?
Sidney Bowie: versus how much of that I put towards somebody else.
Sidney Bowie: Again, not even necessarily in my immediate circle, but even outside of my immediate circle.
Sidney Bowie: How much time, energy, money have I put towards somebody else experiencing the good provision of God and having their needs and desires met?
Sidney Bowie: I would imagine that for most of us, that ratio is heavily skewed in the direction of focusing on us.
Sidney Bowie: And so adjusting that ratio matters, right?
Sidney Bowie: And to be clear, honestly, it's not just the financial piece.
Sidney Bowie: That part is needed.
Sidney Bowie: Like what we do with our treasure matters.
Sidney Bowie: Where we put that matters, right?
Sidney Bowie: And God's gonna call us to sow seeds and put in different places and it's awesome.
Sidney Bowie: All the different things you guys have going on here where you are clearly supporting with your finances.
Sidney Bowie: But often we can sometimes get to a place where we just kind of like write a check or make a donation and it doesn't take that much thought and it doesn't take that much effort.
Sidney Bowie: And so we kind of use that as the justification to go on back to our covetous ways.
Sidney Bowie: Like, okay, well, I did my part.
Sidney Bowie: I supplied the finances.
Sidney Bowie: Now I can go back and get whatever it is I want for myself and just focus on me again.
Sidney Bowie: And so actually incorporating time and energy and effort into helping someone outside of ourselves experience the good provision of God and receive the needs and desires they have is an important part of the equation.
Sidney Bowie: When we actually say, hey, I'm going to make my life, I'm going to carve out time regularly, like I want this to be a thing that I do on a regular basis to take, to give myself over to helping somebody else have what they need.
Sidney Bowie: That is gonna be one of the most practical ways that we can deal with the covetousness that abides in our hearts.
Sidney Bowie: And it actually leads us to achieving what Eve and Adam were trying to achieve when they ate the fruit, right?
Sidney Bowie: This idea of becoming like God.
Sidney Bowie: One of the things that is most like God is looking outside of yourself and saying, how do I go provide for the needs of those around me?
Sidney Bowie: And I mean, Jesus is the epitome of that in leaving where he was and going to where he was needed, right?
Sidney Bowie: And so how do we say, I'm gonna follow that example?
Sidney Bowie: The lemonade stand that we're doing is one of the ways you guys can even start to do that.
Sidney Bowie: Obviously, again, we'd love for you to be able to donate here, but especially if you've got kids, you've got families, like, think about actually doing it by your house.
Sidney Bowie: Think about doing it, you know, in your neighborhood.
Sidney Bowie: It's an amazing way to even just to begin to instill into children, like, we are not going to be a people, as we serve God, we're not going to be people who are just focused on our own needs and our own desires and the things we're longing after, but we are going to set ourselves aside to really trying to provide for those who are on the margins.
Sidney Bowie: And so, you know, That's one way you can do it, but there's so many ways, even so many ways that are happening here in the church.
Sidney Bowie: And so even with that, I would just really encourage you, if you're seeing different ways to volunteer and get involved, step outside of the comfort zone that you're in and put yourself in a position where you are helping to show people the good provision that God has for them.
Sidney Bowie: And it's a reminder when we do that, when we actually will walk in that selflessness you realize how limited the impact of some of those things that we're coveting actually, how limited the impact it can have on your satisfaction.
Sidney Bowie: I have a bunch of shoes because the last shoes I got didn't, I said it was the last one.
Sidney Bowie: I have said it was the last one so many times.
Sidney Bowie: This has really become just me confessing about my shoes.
Sidney Bowie: But really, it's like, again, I go after these things to try to meet some kind of thing in myself, and it never satisfies, really.
Sidney Bowie: But if we are willing to let God take our focus off of ourselves and what we think is going to satisfy us and let us allow him to bring us to walk alongside him in doing real kingdom work, we are going to be much less prone to what is genuinely idolatry and much more impactful and effective for his kingdom.
Sidney Bowie: So that's all I have.
Sidney Bowie: I'm not gonna keep y'all for much, too much longer.
Sidney Bowie: I'm gonna just pray.
Sidney Bowie: And yeah, and the worship team can come.
Sidney Bowie: Lord, thank you for your word.
Sidney Bowie: Lord, thank you that you are, you are enough, God.
Sidney Bowie: Lord, so often there are ways that the enemy will speak and things that will happen in this world or times our eyes get so focused on other stuff that we forget that you actually are enough.
Sidney Bowie: And God, I pray that that wouldn't be something that's just cliche that we would say, but that our hearts would truly live in that space.
Sidney Bowie: And so, God, whatever it might be for any individual in here, God, whether we've been calling covetousness admiration or calling it inspiration or motivation, whatever it might be, God, I pray that you would show us the things that are in our hearts that don't please you.
Sidney Bowie: Lord, take us beyond just the actions because, again, even in those Ten Commandments, you made it clear it's not just the action, it's the state of your heart.
Sidney Bowie: And you promised in your word that you would give us new hearts.
Sidney Bowie: And so, Lord, we ask you to do that in every area that it needs to happen, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: And we pray that you would lead us to focus outside of ourselves to those who are in need, to those who are on the margins, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: I thank you for all that you've been doing through Millington, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: I thank you for what you've been doing through City Relief, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: I thank you for all the ways that people have to get involved to be mindful of those who are on the margins that have been pushed aside by society, Lord.
Sidney Bowie: I pray that we would be open vessels.
Sidney Bowie: For you to come in and steer us in the places that we need to go.
Sidney Bowie: So that we could be examples to other people that there is a God who has good provision for them.
Sidney Bowie: Lord, we need you to do it in us.
Sidney Bowie: And we thank you that your word says that you will.
Sidney Bowie: So have your way in our hearts, God.
Sidney Bowie: And truly be our one desire.
Sidney Bowie: We love you.
Sidney Bowie: In your name we pray.
Sidney Bowie: Amen.