Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Subtle Temptation of Greed

Transcript

The Subtle Temptation of Greed · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We all remember where we were on ninety eleven. It's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: doubtful anyone remembers where you were on nine to ten
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the day before. Sort of the way life is, since
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we don't know what's coming around the corner. And that's
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: even true today. Things happen in an unguarded moment that
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: a day or two later, if we're not careful, we'll
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: haunt us for the rest of our days. If only
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: we had known ahead of time, Who knows what could
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: have been done, at least in part to stave off
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: what became the worst tragedy of an attack on our
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: own country, the savages who took the lives of over
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: three thousand people. Serious thought, I realize, But I stand
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: before you today to talk about one of the insidious
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: temptations in ministry that you may not realize right now
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: is finding root in your life. But may some day,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: in an unguarded moment, explode, and from that day on
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: you will live in the sadness of its impact on
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: your life. Now, having said that in a rather dramatic way,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I want to turned back to the subject we were
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: thinking of earlier, which is far more pleasant, and that
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: is the role of a servant. I came on the
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: campus sixty years ago this summer, so coming back is
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: always a wonderful reminder of the grace of God, because
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I can tell you without hesitation, in my opinion, I
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: was the least deserving of a place to sit as
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: a student at Dallas Seminary. Trying to look humble. Looking
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: humble stinks. I'm just telling you the truth. I never
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: dreamed there would be the kind of future God has
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: made possible for us, because I truly did believe, having
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: been raised as I was, that the best I could
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: ever say for myself is that I'm a servant of God.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the greatest titles in
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the world. Paul writes of it in the fourth chapter
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of First Corinthians. If you would like to check that
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: with me, the very first verse. Let others regard us
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the mysteries of God. First as servants and then as stewards.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: They're not the same. We'll take the words apart for
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the next few moments, and I think you'll appreciate the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: unusual nature of the first word. It's a term Paul
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: uses nowhere else in all of his writings, and it's
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: a surprising term because when he refers to servants on
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: other occasions, even in the previous chapter, he doesn't use
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: this word. This is a one time only term used
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: by the Apostle. It means under rower. Strange sound, isn't it,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Because it referred to a time when ships were built
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: differently than today, and when they were moved through the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: water in a different manner than ships moved today. In
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the larger, longer ships called the Tryrene vessels, there were
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: three layers, three days down below of those who rode,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and they were called by this word under rowers. A
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: classmate friend of mine named David Roper, in a great
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: little book you need to have in your library titled
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: A Burden, shared rights of this word. And because he
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: says it better than I could, I want to read
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: some things David says about this word. Literally, the word
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: means under rowers. Originally referred to the slaves who pulled
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the sweeps in ancient seagoing vessels. It was slave labor
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: that kept the galleys going. If I follow Paul's analogy,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Rite Roper, he's saying that we leaders who make the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: galley go, so to speak, are mere under rowers. We're
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: just part of the crew. Don't miss any of this.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: You who are greatly gifted, you who have promise, You
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: whom I worry about the most. You who are highly intelligent,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: who ace the courses, who will sail through this school
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: with hardly a blip on your academic record. I fear
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: most for you, because waiting at the gate of your
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: future will be this insidious temptation called envy that leads
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: to greed. But continuing, they are the ones seated down
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: below decks in the lower seats, pulling on each one
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: on his own or with all the other rowers. We're
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: not up on top. That's the captain's place. We set
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: neither the course nor the cadence. It is his task
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: to determine the heading and to call the stroke. This
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: is something quite different from the usual picture of the
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: pastor on the main deck, resplendent in full regalia, telescope
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: in one hand, tiller in the other, the only one
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: who knows where the church is going, with everyone else
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: down below. No, no, no. The apostle wanted to be
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: regarded in a much different way as one of God's
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: galley slaves down in the hold with the rest of
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: God's people, pulling on an oar like everyone else. That's
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: what we are. If it was good enough for Paul,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: it's good enough for us. In fact, we just read it.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Let others regard us in this manner as under rovers.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: But it isn't so much about him. He would be
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the first to tell you. It's about the one he
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and we pattern our lives after, who had every reason
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to strut his stuff, but never did. He came humbled
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: himself and became obedient into even unto a cross kind
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of death, says Philippians two. That's the servant. Notice the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: other word is the word steward. Let others see us
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: or know us as stewards. As best time, I am
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: able to understand this original term. That's a word for
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: someone who works in the house, behind the scenes, fusses
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: around in the kitchen with the bread and the wine,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: preparing it for the meal. The one who puts together
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the recipes and prepares that food for those they will
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: be serving, often unseen. You will frequently go to a
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: restaurant serving delicious food, never knowing who the chef is,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: never seeing her face or his face so it is
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: in ministry, the one who works deep in the realm
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: of God's mysteries, fussing around in the book that we
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: all love, that intriggers us and holds our attention like
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: no other literature on earth, so that we might have
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: prepared well the meal that will be served, whether to
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: a class or a congregation, or a small group of
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: those living in the bush we call it, or those
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: in the military, or wherever God calls us. You're training
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: for that, so learn it well. That's why the school emphasizes,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: day after day, month after month, semester after semester, learn
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: the book, learn your way around it so that you
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: don't say stupid things about it, pulling verses from contexts,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: saying what you wanted to say, which does not help anybody,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: but making sure you are representing what the writer wanted
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: the reader to understand. That's what we want to know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that's what God has inspired, and so we are stewards
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: of the magnificent mysteries of God. In the same context,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the Apostle speaks against boasting. It has no place in
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: our lives, no place whatsoever, not even a little subtle
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: hints toward ourselves, little self serving remarks little unguarded moments
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: where we take the credit. None of that out of place.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Not good servants, that is under rowers and people who
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: serve behind the scenes, whether butlers are servants in the house, cooks,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: people who wash the dishes, clean the pots and pans.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: We are those who work in the mysteries and secrets
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: of God. And what a privilege it is to keep
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: doing that year after year. Take it from me. The
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: privilege only intensifies the longer you live. The more you
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: do it, the more grateful you are for a book
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: that is infallible, in errant, inexhaustible, that will feed souls
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: in every context in which you find yourself is a
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: steward of the mysteries. Now, then, while serving down on
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the third uh lowis deck, way below the main deck,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: your your mind can play tricks on you. Uh. There
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: are days, especially when you get fairly good at working
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the recipes and serving fairly edible meals. Uh. Before long
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: you you can be attempted, and you can start thinking
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: beyond the realm of under rowers and sewards. By the way,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I should have gone on to read that second verse
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: where it says it is required of us that we
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: that we be found found, faithful, trustworthy. That that is
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the word. It suggests a dogged refusal to jump ship,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: a determination to stay.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: At it, to row row our boat, to stay at
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: it year after year, place after place, in season and
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: out of season.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: You know the text, whatever the setting, stay at it,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: faithfully doing what you do. Doesn't even say fruitfully, says
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: faithfully staying at it through hardship, through criticism, through hate mail,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: through boredom, through sickness, through in gratitude, through sacrifice. It's
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: all part of the role of a steward and an
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: under rower, as part of being faithful. That's what's in
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: front of us. That's our calling. So settle it in
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: your mind. This is our future. This is what we do.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Now back to this little ornery temptation that begins to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: take our attention off our work. I've been rowing a
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: long time, you will one day say, and I'm not
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: complained about being down here. I've got the blisters to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: show for it with this or I've been pulling in
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: my part on this great ship ministry a long time.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Uh seems only right that I uh cash in on
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: some of the perks that others uh seem to be enjoying.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: It seemed like my classmate from seminary back in the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: class of whatever. Uh boy, I see what's happened in
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: his life, and man that hasn't happened in mine. And uh,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I see the church he serves, and I see all
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the people that are there, and I see you'll have
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the same bunch. And you know, it's it's not that
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: great shakes about three blocks off main street. Ah. Shoot,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I even ought to be making a lot more money.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Then it starts. It's a thought. It's an alien thought
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: can happen so easily. It's sort of the not the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: nine to eleven in our lives, it's the nine to ten.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: It's before it breaks out into the open. It's not
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: shared with anybody, even your own partner in life. You
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: just start getting a little greedy. It happened to a
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: servant whose life is mentioned in Second King's Chapter five.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: So if you will turn from First Corinthians four back
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: to Second Kings five, the last eight verses of the chapter,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: you'll meet the man. Here's an interesting story. For the
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: first nineteen verses of Second King's five. There's a man who,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: at least to begin with, is suffering from leprosy. I
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: don't know if you've ever seen leprosy. I had when
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: our Marine Corps outfit had the opportunity on the island
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: of Okinawa to go to the North End, and I
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: happened to be in the third division band and they
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: invited us to come. We had a long about two
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: hour trip, and we got there and we came to
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: a leper colony. Probably you have never been to a
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: leper colony. I'd never been to one. And we got
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: out of the back of this big vehicle and we
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: got our instruments ready and they were so grateful to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: see us because nobody ever ever came to entertain them.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: And we had a chance to see people who had
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: no lips, who had no ears, whose nose was no
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: longer on their faces, all of them grotesque looking. When
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: they applauded, they applauded on stumps. Most of them had
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: only stubs for fingers, and they just loved our music
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: and they just wanted us to play and play and play.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: It was great. We did a couple of encorees even
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: but the best part was seeing with our own eyes
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: people with leprosy. It is the most pathetic, heartbreaking scene
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that you can imagine these dear people living in their
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: own colony, unclean, and especially in biblical days, outside the camp,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: stay out of the wall, away from the gate. And
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: of all things, this high ranking officer gets leprosy. I
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: mean he's in a world of hurt. He also happens
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: to be rich, or at least has riches available to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: him through us chain of events. He's told about a prophet,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Jewish prophet, so he puts his pride in his pocket
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and decides it's worth a try, and he went and
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: attempted to get a hold of that prophet. And the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: prophet sent a messenger to the door and say, go
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: down to the river here and wash, dip into it
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a few times, and when you come out, you'll be cleansed.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: He was incensed. Doesn't he realize my rank? Do you
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: know who he's talking to? I mean, is he is
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: so great that he's got to send a messenger to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the door. I mean, at least I thought he would
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: come and talk to me. There's no way I'm going
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: to do that. I got rivers in my own country
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: that I can dip in. How stupid an idea is
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: that he gets back and somebody prompts him it might
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: be worth a try, as you haven't done that before.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: So he goes, and you know, the story comes up cleansed. Well,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: just like now, when something great happens to an individual
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and it's in the category of what one would call
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: him miracle, most people in the world want to pay
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: for it. So trust me on this. About three million
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: dollars worth of stuff he brings with him and he
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: wants Elisha to take it as a thank you. He
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: comes genuinely, he comes in all in, all gratitude now
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: and he says, here this is there are suits of
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: clothes here, and and there's silver, and there's gold, and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: you just take it all. You just look, I'm cleansed.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I don't have that terrible disease anymore. And Elisha makes
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: it clear I don't want your money. By the way,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: it's a nice line to remember. Think before you take
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: money for a funeral. Please think before you plan a wedding,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: knowing it'll it'll really pay nicely. Think seriously about giving
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: yourself as a under rower and a steward. You'll only
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: not only shock the recipient, they'll never forget the act
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: of grace. But Elisha was just built like that because
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: he's called the servant of the living God, he was
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: truly a servant. So he turns him away, and the man,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I'm sure amazed that he wouldn't at least take something
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: for the miracle. But Elisha says to him verse sixteen
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: of two kings five, I will take nothing, and he
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: refused it. Okay, Now the problem with this whole thing
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: is that Elisha has a servant. Then Gahazi Gehazi, who's
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: hearing all of this, may very well have been the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: messenger that went to the door and turned him away,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: or at least he turned away because of that. So
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Gahazi's been in the middle of all of this and
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: has watched the possibility of the transfer of the money,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and he doesn't have the attitude that Elisha has. So
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: we read in verse twenty an alien thought is implanted
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: in his brain, Gahazi, the servant of Elisha thought. Don't
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: go too quickly past that. It all begins in the brain,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: in the mind, in the imagination thinking, well, I'd like
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: to have a couple of nice new suits. I mean,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I don't need three million dollars, but half a million
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be bad. I mean I don't want to be
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: greedy about this, but I mean the guy's probably offended.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: You See, when you begin to rationalize, you could talk
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: yourself into anything, even another woman who isn't your wife,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: or another man who isn't your husband, or another church
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: that isn't God's call for you, or another role that
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: he hasn't had for you to fill in Godzi's place.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: It's he thought, behold, my master has spared this name
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and the Araman by not receiving from his hands what
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: he brought. As the Lord lives, and look how we
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: That's that's always a great line to use when you
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: want to justify it. You before God, as the Lord lives,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I will run after him and I'll take something from him.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: The thought is now already in action. I'll find him.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I know which way he went, and so look at
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: what he does. Watch closely verse twenty one. So Gahazi
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: pursued Naemon. He pursued him when Naeman saw one running
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: after him. Now watch the lies as they unfold in
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the life of this man. He saw one running after him,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: he came down from his chariot to meet him. He said,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: is all well, you okay? Everything okay? Back there at
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the shack where you and the Elisha hang out. He said,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: all is well, that's a lie. It's not well with him.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: He's in the middle of deceiving himself. My master has
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: sent me. That's a lie. But of course when you
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: want to get something from a rich guy and you
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: got to build a case, then you got to build
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: it out of lies, since it's not based on truth.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: And Naama could see through it if he didn't word
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: it this way. And he's not through lying. He says, behold,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: just now, two young seminary students from Dallas, sons of
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the prophets, have come to me, from the hill country
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: of Ephraim. Give them a talent and say, that's a lie.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: But it makes it sound better if you're going to
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: get it for a couple of seminary students. They're always poor,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: they always need something. So let me raise a little
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: money for Nelliet and put a new suit on their
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: on their backs. Uh, and and two changes of clothes.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: It's all a lie. And Namon said, will be pleased
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to take two talents, and he urged him, and he
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: bound two talents of silver and two bags with two
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: changes of clothing and gave them to two of his servants,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: and they carried they carried them before him, and it
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: all looks so good, and Namon left feeling great. At
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: least they took something. I feel better about it. And
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and uh, and Gahazi thinks, now, I got to get
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: that from those guys, because they're not gonna they're not
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: gonna touch it. Look at the next line. When he
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: came to the hill, he took it all from their hand.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: It's all for him. He he acted so pious. Yes,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: and he says he deposited them in the house and
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: he sent them away, see you later, guys. And they departed.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: He went in and stood before his master. Is where
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: it gets pretty ugly. Be sure your sins will find
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: you out you mess secretly with pornography, it's going to
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: catch up with you. It ain't a secret. And if
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: you're doing that, it's only a matter of time. So
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: he either deal with why you're doing it and stop it,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: or get out of Dallas Seminary. Don't live a lie.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Don't let us help you cultivate a habit that's going
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: to ruin the very thing we're trying to prepare you for.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Don't go there tell yourself the truth. But see this
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: is the moment of truth. It for it Gahazi, And
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Elijah says to Gahazi, where have you been? Are you
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: ready for another bold face lie? Gahazi said, your servant
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: went nowhere. See when you'll lie to yourself, and then
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: when you lie to someone else, you'll have no problem
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: lying to your master. I didn't go anywhere. Your servant
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: went nowhere, And he said to him, did not my
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: heart go with you? When the man turned from his
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: chariot to meet you, how do they know that he
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: is a man of God? God speaks to Elisha. Is
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: it time to receive money and to receive clothing and
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and female servant? What are you thinking? Therefore, the leprosy
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: of Naman shall cling to you into your descendants for effort.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: So he went out from his presence, white, a leprous
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: white as snow. Okay, you've listened very carefully, and I
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. Obviously. I feel passionate about this because I
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: have seen this. Details are different, greed is the same.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: And don't think for a moment that I don't know
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: what it is to be tempted. Because I fight the
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: temptations just like you fight them. That's why it turned
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: out so ugly. I've been fighting them all these years,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and thank goodness, I've yielded to just the ones that
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I've been able to handle and deal with. None of
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: them scandalous, thank god. But some of them has scared
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: me to death when I've thought about them. Let me
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: tell you my story. Now you're all really listening. When
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I graduated, it was my privilege to have opportunity to
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: go one of four places. One was Dayton, Ohio, one
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: was Chadanooga, Tennessee, one was Castro Valley, California. And one
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: was to stay right here and remain on In the
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: most enviable position one can imagine. As a graduate from
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Dallas Seminary in nineteen sixty three, I could serve as
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: the assistant to doctor J. Dwight Pentecost. I've been serving
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: at Grace Bible Church for two two and a half years,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: and doctor Pentecost felt he needed an assistant. He had
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: no one to help him at Grace Bible Church. And
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: he said to me, if you're willing, I'm willing to
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: have you, and we would love to have you interviewed,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and we'd love to have you be our assistant pastor.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I thought about the opportunities, and Cynthia was carrying our
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: second child. We had lost a baby between our first
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: and this pregnancy, so we were sort of afraid. She
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: was bleeding from a car accident we had had, and
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: we were afraid of losing our sweep a second baby,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: as we had lost the first one in a miscarriage.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: And we talked over it at length. I knew the
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: people in Grace and they knew me, and it wouldn't
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: involve a long move and I could serve there. And
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I wasn't ready for a pastor. I knew I wasn't,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: and I thought, if you're willing to doctor Pentecost to
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: help me and train me, I'd consider or an absolute honor.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: And I really was honored. They amazingly said yes, voted
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: me in, and I became his assistant pastor. Now, doctor
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Pentecost at that time was the voice, especially in the
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: realm of biblical prophecy. If there was a conference held
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: and it was on that subject, if you didn't invite
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: doctor DWIGHTE. Pentecosts, you were missing something very important. Unless
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: you brought in John Walvert. If you had them both,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: you had a packed house. And they all wanted to
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: hear what either one of them said about future things.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: And our church at Grace grew. We built a new
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: building and it became a little by a little full,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: and it's not fulled with two services and a Sunday
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: evening service. And what a joy to serve in a
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: situation that is just if you've ever been in one
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: like that, or will be, you'll know what it is
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: to feel the thrill of such growth and excitement. And
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: never once did I watch Doctor Pentecost call attention to himself. He,
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: in fact, was painfully shy. In fact, he said to
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: me on one occasion, Chuck after the service, I don't
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: always know what I've never told him what it is,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: but I'm telling you today. He said he's gone, so
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: he won't corn him me afterwards, and he said, I
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: don't know what to say. People bring their babies and
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: I think, oh, nice baby, and I he said, you
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: kind of have this gift of gab. I thought, is
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: this a compliment or is this? So he said, you
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: know what to say? Could you stand near me? And
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: I said, doctor pentecost, I would be honored to stand
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: near you. As a matter of fact, maybe it'll rub off.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: So I was there with him following service after service,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: just year after year. It was a marvelous experience. Now
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: when he traveled to speak of all things, he asked
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: me to preach in his place, and the church was packed,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: of course, because they thought he was preaching on that
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Sunday that I was going to be there. But how
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: easy for me to think, wow, and how few guys
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: as young as I was and as inexperienced had such
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: a captive audience. Then I had a visit from an
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: elder in Grace, never forget it. Love. The man name
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: was Jim. Jim said to me one day, Chuck, you
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: got a few minutes. I said sure. He said something
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: I want to I want to say to you. It's
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: it's kind of a warning. And I said, uh sure.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: And I quickly went back, thinking, have I done uh something?
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Have I said something you know how you'll do? And
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: and he said no, no, I don't. Nothing's out of
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: line yet. But he said, us want to tell you, Uh,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: you're in an enviable place. And we on an elder
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: team know that maybe even more than you do. And
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: we just want you to realize that all this popularity
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: for you, and I'll never forget the words, is a
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: borrowed popularity. Isn't that a good line? I said, I
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: know it, Jim. He said, don't ever forget that. You
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: don't deserve these crowds. It's not your flock. And he said, no,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: nobody's said to me that if they think you're trying
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: to like that, but they know you're human. He said,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: if you're not careful, before long, you will start to
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: think alien thoughts. What he was doing was wanting to
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: guard me against the Gehazi syndrome. Don't get caught up
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: in it. Yours is a borrowed popularity. They didn't come
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: to hear you. They thought the man was on and
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: he was gone. You don't know how many of them went. Oh, brother,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: that helped me so much, And I still remember it
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: to this day when I stepped into the role as
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: president of this school house as the least likely Chad
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: to date. But you know what worked because I followed
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: great men and I stood on their shoulders and they
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: hadn't made a mess of things, and they were men
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: of integrity, and there was nothing I had to clean up.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: I just had to build on what was already established,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: and to keep my eyes on the role of an
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: underrower and a steward. That's what I'm good at. Not
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: much more, but i'm good at that. I can grab
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: that over and I've been pulling that thing now for
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: over fifty five years, and I love it. And I
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: sometimes think you're too good. God. Thank you for a
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: book that just preaches itself if I just get out
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: of the way. Thank you for saying these great things
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: and revealing this about Ghazi and not telling them all
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: about me. Thank You that I can go after Ghazi,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: and to remember that most of the success is a
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: borrowed success. Jesus is the one that drew them in.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: He's the one they worship for goodness sake. And Jim
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: left and turned around and stow at the door, and
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: he said, just remember you got one main calling. Just
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: love the flock and get out of the way. And
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: every time I see him, I think him, it's been
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: all these years. One of the greatest contributions he made
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: in my life. He made that quiet morning so that
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't experience a nine to eleven in my ministry.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Let's about it together. Please, Lord, if we had one
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: single prayer to offer, it would be glorify yourself in
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: my life, in our lives. Be glorified. Lord, Help us
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: in the process of learning all these great truths, so
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: that we can read the recipe and serve the meal,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: so that we can row better and more faithfully. Lord God,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: may we remember we wouldn't have a ship if it
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: weren't for you. There'd be no meal if it weren't
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: for your word. Thank you for blessing us often in
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: spite of ourselves, But remind us that you share your
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: glory with no one else. All of it belongs to you.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, we pray, everybody said Amen.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, The Subtle Temptation of Greed, was copyrighted
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: in twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen, and the sound recording
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty nineteen by Charles Arsundall, Inc.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.