Live Sermon | What Do You Want?

Coveting is one of those sins that doesn’t always look like sin at first. It can sound like “I deserve better,” “I need the upgrade,” or “If I had their life, I’d finally have peace.” We take the Tenth Commandment, Exodus 20:17, and slow it down until it stops being a dusty rule and starts reading like a mirror for our daily thoughts, attitudes, and emotions.

Dr. J. Perry Fowler explains why this commandment is different from the others: it confronts what’s happening underneath the surface. We talk about how feelings can hijack our decision making, why the Holy Spirit works to anchor our emotions in truth, and how Scripture can describe both godly desire (hungering for the things of God and spiritual gifts) and greedy coveting (an inward longing for what belongs to someone else). Along the way, we connect ancient examples to modern ones: homes, marriages, jobs, money, health, and the constant pull to compare.

The message gets painfully practical through stories and Scripture, from Eden’s “pleasant tree” to Paul learning contentment, from the rich young ruler to the rich fool building bigger barns. One of the clearest pictures is the idea of covetousness as a squatter that moves into your mind and heart and starts rearranging your peace. The only real eviction notice is surrendering control and putting Jesus on the throne, until we can honestly say, “I’d rather have Jesus.”

If you’ve been carrying that restless sense that something is missing, press play and let God challenge your cravings. Subscribe, share this message with a friend, and leave a review that helps more people find truth that transforms.

Transcript

Welcome And The Final Commandment

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Kid Us Off First Podcast, where we're building transformed lives one message at a time. Each week you'll hear Christ-centered sermons from Dr. J. Perry Fowler, rooted in the truth of God's Word. This is where real faith meets real life, because a life built on truth is a life that lasts.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Verse 17, we see the last commandment. We've had nine other ones. Now we come to the last one. There's a reason why this one is the last one. The reason why is because it deals with something different. You know, all the other commandments we look at, we look at them and they deal with actions. But this particular commandment deals with our attitude. Anyone need an attitude adjustment this morning? All right, we have a few amens across the room. We all need an attitude adjustment sooner or later. And so what we find in Exodus chapter 20, verse 17, we learn these words. It says, you shall not covet. You shall not covet. And then it gives you the entire list of the things from 13 to 15 BCE of the things that they struggled coveting. But we're going to kind of bring that home. We're going to bring that relevant this morning as we look at that scripture. Let's read it together. It says these words, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not cover your neighbor's wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

A Cookie Story About Desire

SPEAKER_01 1:48

I was reading this story about this man. He was laying on his deathbed. And while he's laying on his deathbed, his wife was there. She was soon to be a widow. She was there and she was trying to just kind of process everything that was going on with the loss of her husband. She knew it was imminent, and she sat there and she thought, What am I going to do to take a break? Because she had been there for days and she decided, well, I'm going to get up and I'm going to go downstairs and I'm going to go make some cookies. We've done this. My husband loves my homemade chocolate chip cookies. And so she went down there and she began to mix everything up in a mixing bowl. And she began to lay them out on a cookie baking sheet. And while she was doing that, of course, she was thinking and reminiscing about the many, many days that they had had together enjoying making chocolate chip cookies. And then she ended up putting them into the oven, and all of a sudden there was that aroma. You know, the aroma, the aroma of fresh baked cookies. I mean, this afternoon, you're gonna go home and you're probably gonna do it because you said, I he made me think about it. It's just amazing. It makes the home smell good. I mean, they even make candles that make that smell for you. You know what I'm saying? And so what happened was is while she was there, suddenly that aroma began to rise up into the second floor where her husband was laying on his deathbed. He smelled it and it just kind of just awakened something in him, and he said, I've got to have one more of those cookies before I die. So he began to kind of do everything he could to try to muster up enough strength to get out of the bed. And he began to crawl. And as he crawled, he got to the staircase and he crawled down the staircase and finally he made his way into the kitchen. And there his wife was, she was taking the cookies, and she had made a hundred of them, and she was taking them out of the oven, and there were some that were sitting there cooling on uh the the side uh on the side there. And so what she did is she saw him, he saw her, and he reached up to grab one of those cookies, and suddenly she slapped his hand. She said, Leave those alone. Those are for the funeral dinner, that's what they're for. You know, things don't always work out the way we want. I have no idea what that had to do with the sermon, no idea.

Coveting Starts In The Heart

SPEAKER_01 4:16

But uh, but you know, when we think about in our world today, we think about the things that we desire, the things that get us up and get us moving. And there's a lot of emotional things in our world today that really get us moving. And God made us emotional creatures. And there's nothing wrong with that. We have feelings, but one thing we know about feelings is that they have to be managed. They have to be managed by a master who understands those feelings, who gave us those feelings for a reason. But often it becomes that those feelings become a struggle. And this commandment deals with feelings, it deals with the emotions because there is an emotional attachment spiritually to this idea and this sin called coveting. It's something that we want on the inside that may or may not be right. And so, in this, what happens is the Spirit of God works in our life to say, is this coveting or is this something that I want for you and your life and a goal for your life? So today we're gonna look at that. We're gonna sit in, we're gonna look at this whole issue of coveting, and we're gonna see how God helps us manage that and how the Spirit of God will work in our life to make sure that this particular thing doesn't rise up in our life and we become someone who covets. And so the reason why we do that is because we understand the importance of managing these emotions. So, how does God do this? How does the Spirit of God bring us into check when it comes to these issues, these emotional issues of our life that might lead us in the right way or might read us in the wrong way? How does God work? Well, we ourselves are brought to this point in our life we say, I want the right things that God has for my life. And so what does the Spirit do? He says, I want you to want what I want. And so here's the thing. We're gonna say this together. I should want the right things. Let's say that together. I should want the right things. So let's just admit that. We want the right things. We need the right things in our life, we desire the right things, but often one thing about this particular commandment that's so strange is because it has an emotional attachment, sometimes it comes in underneath the radar. See, all the other commandments relate to action. It's pretty good to know whether or not it's not that hard to figure out whether or not you want to murder somebody, right? It's not that hard to say, okay, this is right and wrong. Have I committed adultery? That's one of those things. And say, no, that's wrong. Those relate to action. But this relates to attitude. This relates to attitude. The whole thing relating to covetousness, the whole thought behind covetousness is that it relates to emotions. So I want us to unpackage that this morning. I want to look at it and ask ourselves: what does the Holy Spirit do to help me so that in turn I will have the right attitude? When we travel through God's word, what we find is God is constantly changing us. And he changes everything about us, he changes the way we think, but he also can change our feelings. And we are an emotional being. And so what we are seeking to do when we look at this tenth commandment, we're seeking to say, God, I want your feelings to be my feelings. And so often it's a struggle. And in order for that to happen, we have to first off acknowledge that we have feelings. The second thing we have to do is we have to bring our feelings to God. The third thing we have to do is make sure our feelings are anchored in truth. And that's what the Spirit of God's job is. He's working on the inside, he's doing an inside job to work on those things that we often struggle with, and that is feelings. So we're saying, well, I've got to have this to be happy. Or this is what's important for me. And if I don't have this, I'm not gonna be at peace. So what the Spirit of God does is this He says, Listen, I'm gonna make sure your feelings are anchored in truth, and then if our feelings are biblically wrong, what he does is he seeks to transform our action by choosing truth over feelings. Now, where do we get to

Two Types Of Coveting

SPEAKER_01 8:50

on this? We get to the word covet. In the word covet covet, the word covet is actually a very emotional word. Somebody say it's very emotional. All right, so we're getting on track, we're understanding what we're dealing with here. The whole idea of coveting is it's dealing with my feelings, and it's about managing things that really matter, that change the way we behave. And so the word covet means an intense, an inward longing for something that belongs to someone else. The word covet is a word that deals with our emotions, saying, these are the things that I really want. But sometimes they can get unmanaged. And that's why Jesus is Lord, and that's why we have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us, because that Holy Spirit's job is to say, listen, I'm gonna help you to crave after the things that I want you to crave after. What's very intriguing about the word is the word is used in two different contexts in the scripture. Now stay with me. One of the ways is a godly context. There is one such thing as godly coveting, and then there's such thing as greedy coveting. For example, in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, 31, we're told to covet. Matter of fact, we're told, but covet earnestly or earnestly desire, have an intense and emotional desire and inward longing for spiritual gifts. In other words, there is some things in life that we are to have an intense desire for. And so when it comes to serving God and knowing Christ and experiencing Him moving through us with spiritual gifts, this is something that we should literally, the word is used here, we should covet after. We should have an intense desire for that. So feelings are not bad, they are used by God and His Spirit in a positive way to lead us to what we know to be godly coveting. But then there's also greedy coveting. And that's the bad side of it. And that's the Holy Spirit coming and saying, I'm gonna keep you in check because we got to make sure that your emotions stay where they belong. We need to keep those in check. We need to turn our cravings over to God and say, God, I wanna feel, I want to want, I want to desire the things that you desire for my life, not the things that I look around and say, boy, it would surely be nice to have this or

Learning Satisfaction With God’s Gifts

SPEAKER_01 11:19

that. So what he does is that he gives to us a list. Now, this is a list back from Noah's time. So it goes all the way back from somewhere around 13th to 15th century BCE. So you look at this and you say, There's not a lot of this I'm greedy about. For example, uh, at first we look at it and it says, do not covet it as a list, do not covet your neighbor's house. Now you can do that even today, but think about it, we're gonna look at some of the things that are a little harder to covet over. You can look at your neighbor and you say, Boy, their house is really nice, and mine really stinks. You see the attitude? And so we can begin to, that can kind of well up in our emotions, and we begin to say, you know what, I really want that, and I've got to have this, and this is the only thing that's gonna be happy. I just don't really feel like I'm happy on the block because my neighbor's house is better than mine. But then there's another greedy coveting that he mentions here, and it gets kind of interesting because he says, but you should not covet your neighbor's wife. I mean, that goes from amen to omen. You're going, hang on, my neighbor has a trophy wife. And I really wish I why did I have to be stuck with this old lady? It's literally what Moses is talking about. But yet, see, what what the problem here is, the problem is that God gives us what he gives us, and we get to the point where the this world has a drag on us, and sometimes our emotions get out of control, and we don't, we're not even grateful for what we have. We don't water the grass on our own side of the fence. We look and we say, okay, he says, listen, guys, understand, you can't covet your neighbor's house, and you're definitely not going to look at the trophy wife. You're satisfied with your wife. And listen, do you imagine can you imagine what would happen in marriages today if we actually got up and if people got up and said, Listen, God has given me what he's given me, and I am satisfied. I am I am happy and I am going to grow in my love for my wife, versus look around and have a roving eye. That's literally, I mean, that is pretty straight up what Moses was talking about here. But then it gets really interesting, this list. It goes on and it says, and you should not covet uh uh his male slave. I mean, back in the slavery in those days, you should not covet his female slaves or his ox. When's the last time you said, Man, I'm really jealous over my neighbor's ox? Probably has an what about his donkey? Probably not, you're like, this is hilarious. Or anything else that belongs to your neighbors. Listen, if we were going to put this in, just kind of move it forward to our century, we might say, you know what, it might read like this: don't covet your neighbor's house. Okay, we've got that. Don't covet your neighbor's trophy wife. I mean, it's getting down and dirty here. Don't covet his multi-figure job and his workforce, the guys he works with. Don't don't covet the luxury SUV, the Bentley, the Porsche, the Ferrari, nor anything else on display with your neighbor's name on it. See, there's this is what we have a hard time with. We have a hard time with the sovereignty of God. See, God has things for you that has your name on it, and God has things for your neighbor that has his name on it. How many of you as a kid would go to Christmas and your brother or your sister would get something and say, Boy, I surely wish David had given me this, and said, I got socks and underwear. You know what I'm saying? And you struggle with that. That's what he's saying. Listen, get satisfied. Let your emotions, let your feelings, let your understanding be that God is a sovereign God and God has given me what he's given me. And when I become satisfied with the things that God has chosen for me, it changes everything in my life. And maybe that's where you're at today. Maybe you're struggling with some of that. You're saying, well, I really covet my neighbor's health. He's he seems to, you know, he's up, he's running, he's lifting weights, he looks good, and here I am, and you know, I've been eating like rice cakes for a month, and I still look like this. You know what, you know what I'm saying? People struggle because we're always trying to think that listen, there's got to be something more, something I'm missing when the sovereignty of God comes into our life and we become satisfied with God's hand upon us, we become satisfied with what he gives. And so, this is what this whole tenth commandment is talking about. And so, so many of the other commandments deal with actions, and this deals with attitude. And so that's so important. So the word covet is actually a word that's used by horticulturalists, and it literally means pleasant tree. I think it's so interesting that he used that word, and that word has its root in pleasant tree because remember the first sin of the world, it was Adam and Eve. And remember what they did, they coveted, God gave them miles of a garden, miles upon miles upon miles upon miles. If you study this in the book of Genesis, you'll figure out I mean, it was probably hundreds of miles of a garden full of all these trees, and God just says, This this one tree, stay away from it. But the Bible says that they coveted that particular fruit. The Bible says that they saw that it was good for food, and it was. It was something that looked delicious, it was something that looked very intriguing, it looked very aesthetically pleasing. He said, But don't eat of it, because when you do, on that day you're going to die. Isn't that what the scripture says? But the first particular coveting that took place took place in the Garden of Eden. The Lord God commanded, saying, Of every tree, of every tree you may freely eat, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, you shall not covet it, you shall not get emotional about it, you shall not get an intense desire about it, because on the day that you eat of it, you're going to die. So they saw that it was good for food, they saw it was pleasant to their eyes, and you know what they did? They got greedy. They got greedy, they weren't satisfied with the sovereignty of God. And the result of that was they ate of the fruit, and the rest has been devastating. So there is a difference between greedy coveting and godly coveting. God says, listen, don't be greedy about and emotional about the things of this world. I will give you what you need. God already knows before you even pray what your needs are. So let me ask you, are you very satisfied today? Are you saying, I'm I'm always down in the mouth, I'm always frustrated, I'm always upset because I feel like I just got shortchanged in life. You can do this with so many things. You say, Well, I wish I had kids like they got. If I had kids like what they got, I wouldn't be so stressed out. Or you might say, Well, I wish I had a job like they got, or I wished I had a salary like they've got, I wished I had this, I wished, I wished, I wished, I wished. And you know what that is? That's the temptation of coveting that the enemy is bringing into your life where he says, Listen, God's sovereignty is not enough. I'm gonna ask you, are you satisfied with Jesus? Are you satisfied with what God says I've given to you? See, there is godly coveting either as well, and that's an emotional craving for the things of God. And saying, God, I want more of Jesus. And listen, that's what will really satisfy. I want more of serving Him. I want more gifts that you can use in my life to touch lives for Jesus because one of these days this life is gonna be over, and I want to leave a legacy. I want to leave life to other people. But see, the enemy gets our focus on the world and we get emotional about it.

Contentment In A Wealthy Culture

SPEAKER_01 19:35

It reminds me of the old farmer, the old farmer who had a small farm, good farm, fertile soil, annual harvest was great, sufficient to meet his needs. But the more and more he worked on that farm, the more and more dissatisfied he became with it. I mean, it uh he got over the honeymoon. You know what I'm saying? And so what he did was is he he be he just his attitude got horrible about it so much that he said, one of these days, I'm just gonna sell this place, I'm gonna get rid of it. And finally he acted upon it. He called a realtor, he listed his property, and when he listed it, it came out on in the paper one particular Sunday morning. But he didn't know it was supposed to come out on Sunday, he thought it was supposed to come out on Monday. So he was already looking for his next place to go, and he happened upon this particular listing, which he unbeknownst knew. This was his listing for his farm. And this is what it said: ideal location, modern equipment, healthy stock, acres of fertile ground, high crop yields, well-kept barns, a nice two-story house on a hill overlooking a panoramic view. He saw that and he called the realtor up and he says, Sell my place quick, because this is the place I've got to have. And this realtor said, That actually is your place. To which he said, Please take it off the market then. I want to stay where I'm at. See, Paul learned. The Bible says in Philippians 4 11, Paul learned to be content. And that's what the Holy Spirit's job is. He's our teacher, he's our Patagogos, is the Greek word. Literally, it means he's looking, he's homeschooling us. He's got his head over our shoulder, he's looking over what we're doing, he's watching over our souls, he's watching over our attitudes, he's watching over our lives. And when he does this, he teaches us. And Paul says, I was a student and I learned how to be content in all things. So let me ask you, how content are you today with what Jesus has given to you? Are you still looking around as your attitudes, your spirit, and your emotions all stirred up for something of this world? You know what would happen in America today if our altars would be full of people that's I want to be coveting the things of God. I can't even imagine what this would be like. At the turn of our nation, we have a 250th birthday coming up this coming weekend. And I think, what if our altars were full of people who said, God, we are instead of all, instead, the American way is now going to become your way. And we want the things of God for our nation. We want the things of God for our home. I want the things of God for my life. I want to become satisfied. Whether you know it or not, in America, did you know that we are among the wealthiest people in the world? I mean, I'm not even joking. We are among the wealthiest people in the world, but we're among the least satisfied. You know why? Because the Tenth Commandment needs to be preached to us often. Because we always are stirred up emotionally about what's next. Because listen, we can go down to stuff mark all the time and we can take a credit card and get what we want. But yet the reality is, is God saying, that's not what I want for you. I will supply all your needs according to the riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So first off, we have to recognize this. This is part of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our life. And the second thing the Holy Spirit does is he helps us recognize our wrong attitude. In our church and in my staff, I have several rules. They're going to all laugh right now because it goes like this. I say, here's the rules show up, be on time, do your job, have a good attitude, and don't mooch for free stuff. I say it all the time. They hear it all the time. Those are five rules. As long as you can do those, we're going to be happy. It's going to go well. And by the way, if you own a business, let me ask you, if your employer show up, be on time, do their job, have a good attitude, and don't mooch for free stuff. You know what don't mooch for free stuff is? Don't be always asking for a raise. Okay? That's what a cat of means. Or don't start looking for what more can I get out of him? What more can I get out of my employer? What can I get out of what you know? I want more. I want, I want, I want, I want. And the whole point of the matter is, is what would it be? If we just said, I'm going to be satisfied. I'm going to serve, as the New Testament teaches, if we just, if I'm just going to serve and I'm going to serve people, and I'm going to let God be in charge of how He gives me an increase. What would that be like? But this attitude thing is usually our biggest challenge. So the Holy Spirit works. I want to show you a couple of times in scripture where the Holy Spirit goes to work and where Jesus goes to work to kind of rearrange this and to reveal this coveting that comes underneath. Now follow me, comes underneath the radar so much in our life. And we get we cop an attitude and we think, oh, I'm entitled to this or this, I'm not being done. And in the old country song, Somebody Done Somebody Wrong song, we start singing that. And God says, listen, no, listen to my voice. Listen to the Holy Spirit. He does this often through, first off, our conscience.

Jesus Confronts What We Cling To

SPEAKER_01 25:26

So in our conscience, what the Holy Spirit does, and we see this in Mark chapter 10, verse 17. We see this man, and he's called the rich young ruler. He's a guy that has a lot in life. He's been given a lot in life. And he's really tried to do what he thinks is necessary to really experience real life. But yet one thing seems to be missing. There's a spiritual hole in his heart. So he comes to Jesus and the Bible says this, I'll just read it to you. As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him, fell on his knees. Listen, how desperate he is to get this hole in his heart filled. And he says, He says, Listen, I fall on my knees. And he says, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? You know what this guy understood? He understood life was more than just here and now. He knew that experiencing the good life was not just about riches on earth. It was about something that he couldn't buy, sell, or trade that comes by the grace of God. And that is the grace of God that gives eternal life. So he says, What must I do? And Jesus starts messing with him. I want you to see what Jesus does. Jesus says, Why do you call me good? No one's good but God. You know what Jesus is doing? He's saying, Okay, I want to awaken your senses to understand who you're talking to here. Obviously, you're talking to God. So he stands there and he says, Who How do you say this? Uh how do you call me good? No one's good but God alone. He says, You know the commandments. Isn't there? He points him back to the 10 commandments, and we've just taken weeks to go through them. And he goes through and he talks about the commandments. He says, You shall not murder, you should not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you should not fare a false witness, you shall not defraud, you shall honor your father and mother. And he said, Teacher, I've done this ever since I've been a boy. I've been doing this. Hallelujah. Thine the glory. And Jesus looked at him and he dropped the scud missile on his heart. And he says, Let me clear the fog since you really, really do want to know the answer to this question, since you really want to know where life really is. He says, one thing I'm going to tell you to do, go take everything you have, go sell it to the poor, sell it and give your money to the poor and come follow me. You know what Jesus is doing? Jesus is revealing to him where his real problem is. His problem was in coveting. He had to hang on to these things. He wanted it all. Now notice something about him. He came eager. He came, nobody drugged him out of bed to get him to Jesus that morning. I bet somebody this morning got drugged out of bed so you get to the church this morning. You know why? Because listen, you're not much like the rich young ruler. But he said, no, I've got, he had gotten to the point in his life where he said, something is missing. There is a God-sized hole in my heart, and I've got to get it filled. And so he went to Jesus, he's a good teacher, and Jesus says, Listen, how do you call me good? Only God is good. And he pauses and he drops the microphone, makes him realize he's talking to God face to face. He comes humbly, he comes courageously. The Pharisees and Sadducees would have given him grief about coming and talking to Jesus about eternal life. They would have said, You should have come to us. We're the religious leaders. And then what we find too is he came sensibly, sincerely, and Jesus is kind. And Jesus knows what maybe he's doing in your heart right now. Maybe you're watching online and he's saying, listen, all this stuff, all this stuff and all this dissatisfaction, all this attitude that you've got right now, and all the doubt in the mouth, and all the negativity that you've got rolling up in your spirit right now. Guess what? I've given you what you need. But he says, listen, I'll tell you this. Go sell everything you have and go give it to the boy and come follow me. Watch Jesus saying, you're missing spiritually out on a relationship with me. And I want to tell you, there's a God so sized hole in your heart that I promise you the world cannot satisfy it. Only Jesus will satisfy it. You've been looking to say, I just can't seem to get fulfilled. There's something missing in my life. I want to tell you who that person is. His name is Jesus Christ. But we covet everything in the world. He says, listen, covet godly things. And how about just say, I've got to have an intense desire like this, reaching young ruler. I've got to have Jesus. I've got to have eternal life. There's something missing in my life. And Jesus, he just says, let me just clear out the fog and just show you what's missing. You love these things so much. They're at the top of the throne of your heart. I want something more for you. I want to live there on the throne of your heart and give you true peace. And some of you have been looking for that for a long time. You're desiring it, you need it, you want it, and it's Jesus that you're missing. The rich young ruler, God was kind enough. Jesus was kind enough to say, I'm going to show you what you've been coveting after is not godly things, it's greedy things. And you love it so much you can't let go. If I asked you to let go of these things, you would not be satisfied. There comes a point in our life when there's this God-sized moment where God says, if you lost everything, am I enough?

Bigger Barns Cannot Fill A Soul

SPEAKER_01 31:11

And God will bring us to those points in our life. The second thing he uses is not only our conscience, but also our conversation. Remember the conversation of the rich farmer? The rich farmer, I kind of look at him. The Bible says the land, uh, the land of a rich man was very productive. This sounds like the United States of America. This land is your land, this is my land, from California to the New Orleans. You know, we could sing that song. But it's very productive. We're living where the rich farmer lived, if you want to put it that way. And this is what it said. And he began thinking to himself, what shall I do? This is what happens. Look at the covetousness that starts in his life. He's got so much, he's one of the wealthiest guys in the area, but he says, that's just not enough. It's just not enough. Why? Because he has a God-sized hole in his heart. And Jesus is saying, I want you to recognize it. But he says, But what shall I do? Since I have no place to store my crops, he said, This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns, build larger ones, I will store all my grain and all my goods there, and I will say to myself, You have many goods stored up for many years. Relax, jump to it. Move on. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. And God said, You're a fool. I mean, God just drops the microphone on me. You're an idiot. You're a fool. You're brainless. You're not even using your mind. Because this very night, your soul has demanded of you. And as for what you have prepared, who will own it now? I remember several years ago living next door to a couple that got a divorce. And I remember they had a three-day cell. And in the three-day cell, I saw everything they had accumulated in their large over 3,000-story uh or 3,000 uh square foot house just go down the street. Afterwards, I went and talked to the wife, and I said, How did it go? And she said, I never recognized or realized how how little value all the stuff that we've worked for all of our life. I just failed to understand how little value it really had. It was a moment for me to recognize, you know what, the Lord gives and the Lord takes it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Sometimes God gives us a lot. Sometimes God prospers us, and sometimes God takes it away. But listen, that shouldn't be where we find our satisfaction in life. Say, how in the world do you get there? That is so huge. I tell you how you get there. Jesus will get you there. I'm not sitting there saying I'm all the way there. I mean, all of us are in a journey. But I'll tell you, naked, you came into this world, naked, you'll return. And all this stuff in between, by the sovereignty of God, just be grateful for it. But realize there's something greater, there's a God-sized hole in your heart. And Jesus, if you give your life to him, he's never gonna leave you or forsake you. He's not checking out, he's not gonna divorce you. He's gonna live in you. And yeah, sometimes he's gonna have, he's gonna work you over really good, just like he is these guys. To say, listen, I want to clear the fog. I want you to see where real life comes from. It comes from me. And this is why God does some stuff with the fisherman. You know what the fisherman did? Jesus said, Go leave your nets, and they did. He said to the tax collector, go leave your booth, and he did. And the reason why is because they needed a dramatic change in their life, in their attitude, to say, everything I need is in the hand of God. I'm gonna trust him. I'm not gonna live a life of coveting.

Evict Covetousness By Enthroning Jesus

SPEAKER_01 35:31

The third thing we must do is choose the right thing. And that is the good master. Let me show this to you. When we think about this, think about the tenants. How many of you plan to go home today? Any of y'all planning on going to the house after this? Uh anybody need a GPS to get there? Everybody know how you're where you're headed? You know how to get home? What happens if you get home and somebody else has moved into your house? I'm just asking you a question. What are you gonna do? I mean, that happens in America. You realize that, right? There are some people that do that while you're out. They come move in, they move your furniture out, they move in, they're called squatters. Some people call them nesters. I know what you're gonna say. What you're gonna say is if that happens, I'm calling the authorities. Somebody's in my house. This is not a three bears thing, you know? Listen, somebody is sleeping in my bed, they're getting out. That's my bed that belongs to me, that's not their home. They need to leave. Right? We're gonna do that, right? Everybody, everybody in agreement, we're gonna do that. Nobody's just gonna just come and just move in to what you own, what belongs to you. That's not gonna happen. I mean, we have laws against that, but we also have some laws that kind of have that are a little janky. And I'll give you an example. There was a 23-year-old guy that went down to, he was a Brazilian national, he went down to Boca Ratan, and uh some of the some of the he knew the law, and by the way, his name was Andre Loki Boy Barbosa. Andre Loki Boy Barbosa moved into, he was a 23-year-old Brazilian national, moved into 580 Golden Harbor Drive in Boca Reton. And what he did is he just decided that he would live in this 7,522 square foot mansion. And they tried to get him out, and they were struggling with this. They had to file all kinds of papers, go to all kinds of trouble to evict this guy out of their house. They finally got it done, but it took a long journey. But you know what? What would you do today? If old man covetousness moved into your home? Okay, you getting somebody out of the house is great, but what about if old man covetousness decided to move into your mind? What would you do if old man covetousness moved into your heart? That's a little harder to evict, isn't it? When you cannot help but think, you know what, old man covetous is here, and for me to be happy, for me to be satisfied in life, I gotta have this, and you just can't get it out of your head. You're like, how do I evict these thoughts out of my mind? How do I do this? How do I do this? How do I do this? What would you do if old woman covetousness moved in and she said, I don't like your furniture of your mind. I'm gonna move that out, I'm gonna change your way of thinking. I'm gonna give you the worldly way of thinking, I'm gonna put it on a different path. I'm gonna try to disrupt your life and take away your peace. I'm gonna move in. We're not roommates. You're going to live with me because I am old woman covetousness, and I'm gonna live this way with you. What do you do? You say, Well, I try to get her out of my mind, I've got to get her out of her heart, I've got to get this out, and you say, How do I do it? How do I get this out of my head? Here's how you do it. You put Jesus on the throne of your heart. You say, Jesus, you're in charge. Jesus, you're in charge of everything. Everything and everyone belongs to you. Everything I have belongs to you. My health belongs to you. What I own belongs to you. My family belongs to you. I don't own anything. You own everything. And the result of that is everything that you're receiving, everything you uh you you you have your name of ownership on, and everything that is in your life, you see it in a different frame because you see it's a gift from God. Because He is Lord of everything. Can you receive that word today? This is kind of deep. But God doesn't come just to do a surface work in our life, He comes to change our life, He comes to transform our life, He comes to do everything. To make our life a life of peace, to put it in its right place. And I'll tell you, you'll know when you get there. By first off, when you say, God, change my cravings, what would it be if we come to the altar and say, God, change my cravings today? I'm not satisfied with my life, my life. I'm not satisfied with what you've given me. And God, what if we just said, God, change my heart, change my feelings, and sudden through it, change my actions.

Surrender Everything And Receive Grace

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Maybe you might be like the old story Herschel Ford told about, about the man from Oklahoma that called into a radio station one day and he won a trip to New York. He won this trip to New York, and when he won the trip to New York, he went to New York and he thought, I've never been across the Oklahoma border. I've never been across the Oklahoma line. And he flew all the way out there. He met a lot of prestigious people. He did a lot of things for a week, and then at the end of the week, he got on his knees in his hotel room and he said, God, thank you that during this trip I didn't see anything that I have to have. He could be like the old George Beverly Shea song. I know this dates me, but he sang a song like this. I'd rather have Jesus. Anybody know the song? I'd rather have Jesus try it out with me. I'd rather have Jesus that much. Come on, we gotta get out of here sometime today, and you gotta sing with me for it to happen. All right. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail pierced hand than to be the king of a vast domain or be held by sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything that this world affords today. Lord. And today we sing I'd rather have Jesus than anything. I'd rather have Jesus. And Lord, across this room, there are people who are making that decision right now. Saying, Jesus, whatever you have for my life, I'm gonna trust you. Whatever you have in my health, I'm gonna trust you. Whatever you have for what I have in the bank, I'm gonna trust you. I'm gonna fall in love with my wife again. I'm gonna fall in love with my husband again. We're together, we're gonna ask you to give us the feelings we need. To have for one another. Because God, you've given us so much. We have people across this room that are going to say, God, I'm ready to truly surrender complete control of my life to you. And right now, in that, the great thing is when we are willing to surrender complete control of our life to Jesus, we come and we recognize how bankrupt we really are. And Jesus reveals to us the riches of what he's given to us in the poverty of the life that he lived for us. He, naked and dying, bled for us. He without anything on, hung on a cross with barely a stitch of life left, he said seven amazing words and phrases. And among them he said to one man, Today you will be with me in paradise. What a statement. You might look at a man like that and you may say, How is this guy gonna say, you're gonna be with me in paradise when he has absolutely it looks like he has nothing? They've stripped him of everything, and his life is just simply bleeding away on a cross. But it's right there in that poverty we find the riches of God's grace. So would you strip down your soul today? Would you strip down your mind and your spirit and your, would you humble yourself enough as Jesus did for you to come as that one thief on the cross and say, Jesus, would you remember me? Jesus, I'm surrendering everything to you, everybody and everyone and everything to you. My job, my everything, everything is gone. And today I lay it at your feet, and I'm gonna trust you with my life, and I'm gonna accept the grace of God that's what I need. I trust that you lived and died and rose, and your bleeding for me was so great, and you gave it all so that you could say to me, today, today, you're forgiven. Today, you're set free. Today, it all is in the hands of Jesus. So, Lord, here we are, totally yours, now responding to you in this invitation, all full of your glory and praise in Jesus' name.

Share And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_00 47:23

We're glad you joined us for today's segment. We believe a life built on truth is a life that transforms everything. To stay connected, share this message, subscribe, or visit us online at Kinnesoft First.church. We'll see you next time. Keep building your life on truth.