? (Theme Song) ? ? Jesus is worthy ? 00:00:01.70\00:00:11.86 ? oh yes, he's worthy ? ? worthy of all... ? 00:00:11.86\00:00:18.00 ? (Music) ? PB: Exodus Chapter 20:17. 00:00:18.00\00:00:25.30 The Word of God says to us, "Thou shalt not covet thy 00:00:25.30\00:00:33.23 neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, 00:00:33.23\00:00:40.66 nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor 00:00:40.66\00:00:48.26 his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." 00:00:48.26\00:00:57.66 God, come now in this place, move in this room. 00:00:57.66\00:01:02.03 Father, there are still individuals in the audience, 00:01:02.03\00:01:04.16 still individuals watching who need to be in this number. 00:01:04.16\00:01:08.03 God, move by your powers, sprinkle out your grace. 00:01:08.03\00:01:13.00 Lord, we just want you to be pleased with our praise. 00:01:13.00\00:01:17.63 Forgive me of my sins, hiding behind your cross, make me a 00:01:17.63\00:01:23.36 fit vessel to be used by thee as we proclaim your word. 00:01:23.36\00:01:28.23 In Jesus' name, let everyone say Amen. 00:01:28.23\00:01:33.20 What is this business of coveting? 00:01:33.20\00:01:41.83 Some of you today may be saying that this word 00:01:41.83\00:01:45.23 belongs right where it is, Old Testament antiquity. 00:01:45.23\00:01:51.66 It doesn't apply to me. 00:01:51.66\00:01:54.63 I, Pastor Byrd, don't covet. 00:01:54.63\00:01:59.40 But let me ask that question again. 00:01:59.40\00:02:04.26 If you put a new, contemporary definition to the word covet, 00:02:04.26\00:02:07.93 that word would also mean greedy, and would you then be 00:02:07.93\00:02:13.10 able to say you're not greedy? 00:02:13.10\00:02:17.36 You shall not be greedy for your neighbor's property. 00:02:17.36\00:02:22.36 You shall not be greedy for your neighbor's wife, greedy 00:02:22.36\00:02:27.33 for your neighbor's husband, manservant, maid-servant, 00:02:27.33\00:02:31.40 ox, or other resources. 00:02:31.40\00:02:33.16 You are not to be greedy for that. 00:02:33.16\00:02:37.90 So what does this commandment say to a bunch of people like 00:02:37.90\00:02:41.16 you and like me? 00:02:41.16\00:02:43.30 Does it have a place in the body of Christ? 00:02:43.30\00:02:47.50 To covet simply is, I want what you have, and I'll take 00:02:47.50\00:02:56.23 it by any means necessary. 00:02:56.23\00:03:01.50 To covet is, I want what you have and I'll take it at any 00:03:01.50\00:03:05.06 cost so I can have it, because I want it. 00:03:05.06\00:03:08.00 It's yours but I want to make it mine. 00:03:08.00\00:03:11.33 Some of this comes along because of the way 00:03:11.33\00:03:14.56 we look at life. 00:03:14.56\00:03:15.70 I think we would term it our vision. 00:03:15.70\00:03:17.83 How we look at life really determines how we handle this 00:03:17.83\00:03:20.10 whole issue of what we're going to do with 00:03:20.10\00:03:22.00 another's property. 00:03:22.00\00:03:23.03 The best way to handle an issue that has been invisible 00:03:23.03\00:03:25.23 is to put flesh and blood to it. 00:03:25.23\00:03:28.80 Nobody can do this better than the one named Jesus. 00:03:28.80\00:03:33.73 So take your Bible, go with me, under the premise of thou 00:03:33.73\00:03:39.66 shalt not covet, to the New Testament, 00:03:39.66\00:03:43.00 to the book of Luke. 00:03:43.00\00:03:44.16 Let's put story, life and blood to this issue of covet. 00:03:44.16\00:03:49.60 Go with me to Luke 12:13. 00:03:49.60\00:03:56.00 It is the classical story that Jesus deals with coveting. 00:03:56.00\00:04:07.00 Now to covet, remember, is to I want what you have. 00:04:07.00\00:04:12.90 I want it in my possession. 00:04:12.90\00:04:15.13 I want it for my person. 00:04:15.13\00:04:18.33 In Luke 12, Jesus begins to tell a story about two 00:04:18.33\00:04:22.83 brothers who were having an argument. 00:04:22.83\00:04:27.16 It is apparent by the reading of the text, according to the 00:04:27.16\00:04:29.83 Jewish heritage that the father of these sons 00:04:29.83\00:04:32.90 must have died. 00:04:32.90\00:04:34.03 The older brother has moved into a position as patriarch 00:04:34.03\00:04:36.40 of the family, which gives him the religious rights to 00:04:36.40\00:04:39.00 oversee as trustee the estate that has been planned and set 00:04:39.00\00:04:42.10 aside for the family. 00:04:42.10\00:04:44.86 He is managing the resources that his father has 00:04:44.86\00:04:52.06 left behind. 00:04:52.06\00:04:53.23 Each brother is to receive a certain percentage, but the 00:04:53.23\00:04:57.76 management responsibility belongs to the older brother. 00:04:57.76\00:05:02.13 Now, the younger brother has problems with that. 00:05:02.13\00:05:05.63 What he wants to do is he wants to bring in a mediator 00:05:05.63\00:05:08.70 to oversee the process and see if he can get more out of the 00:05:08.70\00:05:15.03 deal than what his daddy left for him. 00:05:15.03\00:05:18.43 It is apparent that the younger brother is 00:05:18.43\00:05:21.30 disappointed because he doesn't have as much as he 00:05:21.30\00:05:23.83 thinks he should receive. 00:05:23.83\00:05:25.56 So he asks Jesus. 00:05:25.56\00:05:27.46 He addresses Jesus as teacher, and he says to Jesus, would 00:05:27.46\00:05:31.66 you come and oversee this legal dispute that my brother 00:05:31.66\00:05:36.30 and I are having because daddy apparently was not himself 00:05:36.30\00:05:39.66 when he wrote his last will and testament and left 00:05:39.66\00:05:43.10 my brother in charge. 00:05:43.10\00:05:45.46 I know what the Jewish law says. 00:05:45.46\00:05:48.43 I know what Hebrew heritage says. 00:05:48.43\00:05:51.26 I know about the equal and symmetrical distribution of 00:05:51.26\00:05:54.10 resources, but there's something wrong with this. 00:05:54.10\00:05:57.56 I ought to get more than what I have. 00:05:57.56\00:06:02.50 Jesus says, don't drag me into this dispute, because I'm not 00:06:02.50\00:06:08.76 an arbitrator or a referee. 00:06:08.76\00:06:11.36 I've not come on the world's scene to decide who's to get 00:06:11.36\00:06:15.83 one-fourth, one-half, one-third, or one-fifth. 00:06:15.83\00:06:21.40 In fact, you just ought to be grateful that your father even 00:06:21.40\00:06:25.33 included you in the equation. 00:06:25.33\00:06:28.53 But it is clear to me that you have problems, not only with 00:06:28.53\00:06:32.20 your brother, but with your deceased father by saying he 00:06:32.20\00:06:37.16 did not know how to leave behind the right resources 00:06:37.16\00:06:40.00 for his family. 00:06:40.00\00:06:41.53 So you've got an issue that you've got to wait until the 00:06:41.53\00:06:44.80 resurrection to fight with. 00:06:44.80\00:06:46.66 I'm not an arbitrator, I'm not a negotiator, nor am 00:06:46.66\00:06:51.06 I a referee. 00:06:51.06\00:06:53.30 I'm not the one who comes in and settles these disputes. 00:06:53.30\00:06:56.40 Let me give you one word and this word is covetousness. 00:06:56.40\00:07:02.16 He says, watch out. 00:07:02.16\00:07:04.36 If you read this story in your Bible, it's right there. 00:07:04.36\00:07:07.90 Jesus says, watch out, be on guard against all 00:07:07.90\00:07:13.26 kinds of greed. 00:07:13.26\00:07:15.16 He says your life does not consist only in the abundance 00:07:15.16\00:07:19.50 of the possessions that you have. 00:07:19.50\00:07:21.83 But yet, in our society it seems that we predicate one's 00:07:21.83\00:07:26.73 being, one's self, one's work, and one's value based on how 00:07:26.73\00:07:31.63 much one has. 00:07:31.63\00:07:33.20 Consequently, the more one accumulates, the higher we 00:07:33.20\00:07:38.63 value that person's life. 00:07:38.63\00:07:40.26 And they who have not in the world are usually those people 00:07:40.26\00:07:45.83 who walk by and we don't give them much attention or 00:07:45.83\00:07:49.13 credence. 00:07:49.13\00:07:50.16 This has become not only a theological problem, not only 00:07:50.16\00:07:53.63 a sociological problem, but an ecclesiastical problem. 00:07:53.63\00:07:56.76 That is, it has become a problem in the church because, 00:07:56.76\00:08:03.30 I'm faulting us, my colleagues, my self preachers, who handle 00:08:03.30\00:08:07.53 the Word of God, many are standing up 00:08:07.53\00:08:11.40 now and feeding the idea that unless you drive a car 00:08:11.40\00:08:15.03 with two names on the back of it, unless you have a four- or 00:08:15.03\00:08:19.90 five-car garage, unless you have a watch on your wrist 00:08:19.90\00:08:24.76 that has two names on it, unless you wear tailored suit 00:08:24.76\00:08:28.46 this and custom suit that--and let me put a disclaimer here, 00:08:28.46\00:08:32.26 I'm not arguing against having all that, because you all know 00:08:32.26\00:08:38.83 me, but there just seems to be in our world today, even from 00:08:38.83\00:08:41.53 some who claim to preach the Word of God, that if you have 00:08:41.53\00:08:44.83 that you are more valuable than somebody else. 00:08:44.83\00:08:48.80 But let me tell you something. 00:08:48.80\00:08:50.53 You can have all of that and still be morally bankrupt. 00:08:50.53\00:08:53.93 You can have whatever you want to have, but you better know 00:08:53.93\00:08:57.56 something, you and I are living souls. 00:08:57.56\00:09:02.10 Genesis 2:7 says that God took dust of the ground, breathed 00:09:02.10\00:09:08.90 into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a 00:09:08.90\00:09:10.96 living soul, and the day is going to come, sooner than 00:09:10.96\00:09:14.33 later, when your body is going to return to dust, your spirit 00:09:14.33\00:09:18.40 will return to God and your soul will cease to exist. 00:09:18.40\00:09:22.83 Let me be clear, Bible students, today. 00:09:22.83\00:09:25.73 When an individual dies, they don't go to heaven. 00:09:25.73\00:09:30.16 Body go to dust, spirit go to God, soul ceases to exist, 00:09:30.16\00:09:39.00 waiting on the voice of the Life Giver. 00:09:39.00\00:09:41.03 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 00:09:41.03\00:09:44.23 with a shout. 00:09:44.23\00:09:45.20 With the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, 00:09:45.20\00:09:47.50 at that time the dead in Christ shall rise first. 00:09:47.50\00:09:50.76 Then we who are alive remain to be called up together with 00:09:50.76\00:09:53.96 him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall 00:09:53.96\00:09:55.96 we ever be at that time with the Lord. 00:09:55.96\00:09:58.76 But all the material trappings in the world will not bring 00:09:58.76\00:10:02.10 you the eternal comfort that you need. 00:10:02.10\00:10:04.80 What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and 00:10:04.80\00:10:09.96 lose his own soul? 00:10:09.96\00:10:11.76 What shall it profit a man to drive the finest car, wear the 00:10:11.76\00:10:15.66 finest clothes, live in the finest home, have the finest 00:10:15.66\00:10:20.00 job and lose his own soul? 00:10:20.00\00:10:22.90 And so your life consists more than in the abundance of 00:10:22.90\00:10:27.96 things you possess. 00:10:27.96\00:10:29.26 Yeah, go get 'em. 00:10:29.26\00:10:30.46 Ain't nothing wrong with that habit if you will. 00:10:30.46\00:10:32.56 If you have the ability and the mental capacity to do it 00:10:32.56\00:10:34.90 and the energy to invest your time and resources, do it. 00:10:34.90\00:10:37.76 But let me be clear today, do not mistake your material 00:10:37.76\00:10:40.96 trappings to be your eternal security. 00:10:40.96\00:10:43.73 Jesus said, I figure you all don't want to talk about greed 00:10:43.73\00:10:48.46 and covet, so he said, let me do it this way. 00:10:48.46\00:10:51.50 Let me tell you a story, because stories have a way of 00:10:51.50\00:10:54.93 sneaking up on you and getting you. 00:10:54.93\00:10:56.90 Well, in case you're not watching out and being on 00:10:56.90\00:10:59.36 guard for all kind of greed and you just assume that I'm 00:10:59.36\00:11:02.80 picking on you, Jesus says, there was a farmer and this 00:11:02.80\00:11:05.93 man had to get the horticulture. 00:11:05.93\00:11:08.03 Agricultural gifts were abundant to him,. 00:11:08.03\00:11:11.06 Every year this man's crops produced bountifully. 00:11:11.06\00:11:15.50 So much so that this man would stand out of on the back of 00:11:15.50\00:11:18.96 his house, look at the beautiful gardens, look at the 00:11:18.96\00:11:21.43 lush vineyard and inhale the ripening grapes, see the 00:11:21.43\00:11:24.76 ripening fields, the ears of corn that had been ripened and 00:11:24.76\00:11:28.16 ready for picking. 00:11:28.16\00:11:29.26 He would look in one corner and see his fig trees. 00:11:29.26\00:11:32.03 In another corner he could smell the grapes and the 00:11:32.03\00:11:35.33 orchards. 00:11:35.33\00:11:36.96 And all around there was nothing but agriculture. 00:11:36.96\00:11:39.56 Every year this man had this, so much so that the man was 00:11:39.56\00:11:43.80 plagued with a problem. 00:11:43.80\00:11:46.43 He said, what am I going to do with all that I've got? 00:11:46.43\00:11:51.23 I guess you say, great problem to have. 00:11:51.23\00:11:54.40 So he decides, he said, this is what I'm going to do. 00:11:54.40\00:11:58.60 I'm going to answer the question architecturally. 00:11:58.60\00:12:02.83 He says, I'm going to build bigger barns, and I'm going to 00:12:02.83\00:12:07.36 bestow my goods. 00:12:07.36\00:12:10.23 I'm going to bestow my fruits. 00:12:10.23\00:12:13.13 It is apparent that this man was rather astute, but I 00:12:13.13\00:12:16.26 wished he had picked up Martin Luther King's writing, 00:12:16.26\00:12:19.26 "Strength of Love" and read the passage because King said, 00:12:19.26\00:12:22.36 rather than putting all these goods in a barn, he could have 00:12:22.36\00:12:24.66 fed the empty stomach of some child and put all of these 00:12:24.66\00:12:26.90 leftovers in, it would have been a good place to invest 00:12:26.90\00:12:30.16 his agriculture. 00:12:30.16\00:12:31.66 But he said no. 00:12:31.66\00:12:32.96 Um-um. 00:12:32.96\00:12:34.03 Not me. 00:12:34.03\00:12:34.96 I'm not giving my goods away. 00:12:34.96\00:12:37.20 I'm going to build more barns. 00:12:37.20\00:12:40.23 And so the man had a construction project going on. 00:12:40.23\00:12:44.53 He built a barn, then a bigger barn, and then yet a bigger 00:12:44.53\00:12:47.53 barn and bigger barns and he had so many barns that he put 00:12:47.53\00:12:51.00 so much food in and than he was plagued again. 00:12:51.00\00:12:53.63 What in this world as I'm going to do with all that I've 00:12:53.63\00:12:56.33 got? 00:12:56.33\00:12:57.83 Grain is pouring out the top windows and breaking out of 00:12:57.83\00:13:02.03 the cracks and crevasses. 00:13:02.03\00:13:03.30 I don't know what to do with all that I have. 00:13:03.30\00:13:05.50 And so if you read the Word of God in this parable of 67 00:13:05.50\00:13:09.53 words, he refers to himself 11 times in personal pronouns. 00:13:09.53\00:13:13.93 I, me, my, mine, and he completely extricated all 00:13:13.93\00:13:23.20 other human beings out of his world. 00:13:23.20\00:13:26.16 He assumed that where he was, he was because he got himself 00:13:26.16\00:13:30.50 there. 00:13:30.50\00:13:33.36 The man had forgotten where he had come from. 00:13:33.36\00:13:36.56 Apparently he wasn't a student of Greek literature. 00:13:36.56\00:13:40.16 He hadn't read any of the Greek classics, he hadn't read 00:13:40.16\00:13:42.96 the Greek story about the snake who wrapped himself 00:13:42.96\00:13:45.90 around the tree, climbed up the tree and looked up. 00:13:45.90\00:13:49.23 He sees his tail wagging and gets envious about what he 00:13:49.23\00:13:51.93 sees. 00:13:51.93\00:13:53.63 So he reaches out and he eats his lower end and he dies 00:13:53.63\00:13:57.26 because he's wrapped up in himself. 00:13:57.26\00:14:01.53 Some of you'll get that when you get home. 00:14:01.53\00:14:04.76 And so this man uses words like independent and 00:14:04.76\00:14:09.86 interdependent. 00:14:09.86\00:14:12.00 I, me, mine, self, that kind of language. 00:14:12.00\00:14:16.63 He had a vernacular that had an appeal to that which was 00:14:16.63\00:14:19.53 personal and he just assumed that somewhere I'm responsible 00:14:19.53\00:14:23.70 for all of this. 00:14:23.70\00:14:26.00 So you know at that moment he was not a man who pays much 00:14:26.00\00:14:29.26 attention to the other world. 00:14:29.26\00:14:32.53 He didn't think out of the right brain. 00:14:32.53\00:14:35.76 Nothing contemplative was about him, because it really 00:14:35.76\00:14:38.90 doesn't take a genius to know that wherever you are in life, 00:14:38.90\00:14:41.60 somebody else helped you get there. 00:14:41.60\00:14:44.63 Somebody paid the way for you. 00:14:44.63\00:14:48.13 That's why, yes, on this Sabbath, even with baptism, 00:14:48.13\00:14:52.10 even with my announcement, I still got to acknowledge Elder 00:14:52.10\00:14:54.90 Wentforth, I still have to acknowledge Lewis, Elder Hill, 00:14:54.90\00:14:59.23 Elder Muzon, because somebody paved the way for me to get 00:14:59.23\00:15:04.03 where I am today. 00:15:04.03\00:15:05.80 Somebody toiled in the sun of existence. 00:15:05.80\00:15:10.73 Let me tell you something, don't you forget where you 00:15:10.73\00:15:13.03 come from. 00:15:13.03\00:15:14.13 Do I have a witness in this place? 00:15:14.13\00:15:16.10 It's like the painting that was hung behind the wall and 00:15:16.10\00:15:18.86 head of Alex Haley in his office for three years, a 00:15:18.86\00:15:21.96 turtle on the fence. 00:15:21.96\00:15:24.13 Beneath it, it said, I didn't get here by myself. 00:15:24.13\00:15:29.96 But there are some of us, we can't even rejoice, we can't 00:15:29.96\00:15:34.23 smile at that because you think where you are, you got 00:15:34.23\00:15:37.60 there by yourself, the success that you've experienced in 00:15:37.60\00:15:42.90 life, that you got there by yourself. 00:15:42.90\00:15:45.93 But let me tell you this, you better check the road that you 00:15:45.93\00:15:49.20 walk. 00:15:49.20\00:15:50.30 There have been some bent backs, some bloody feet, some 00:15:50.30\00:15:55.30 tear-stained eyes that have come along the way to make it 00:15:55.30\00:15:57.96 available for you to be just in a place like this. 00:15:57.96\00:16:00.76 You did not make it here by yourself. 00:16:00.76\00:16:04.70 Folks in the '60s sweat so you can smile. 00:16:04.70\00:16:08.50 They fought so you could be free. 00:16:08.50\00:16:11.60 They marched and gave their lives for voting rights, equal 00:16:11.60\00:16:15.83 rights, and civil rights. 00:16:15.83\00:16:17.20 I've got a problem when we don't register to vote or go 00:16:17.20\00:16:20.33 to vote when there's an election. 00:16:20.33\00:16:25.26 We make big money at our big time job, but some of us don't 00:16:25.26\00:16:30.90 give back anything to the community that has been a 00:16:30.90\00:16:33.43 blessing to us. 00:16:33.43\00:16:34.43 And that's why even with my decision, I can't live the 00:16:34.43\00:16:38.10 life I don't preach, talk about letting me get mine, but 00:16:38.10\00:16:41.03 what about the people? 00:16:41.03\00:16:42.70 I'm not excited about you driving your Rolls Royce. 00:16:42.70\00:16:47.26 I'm not impressed by your Mercedes Benz or your Jag and 00:16:47.26\00:16:51.03 you don't put a dollar back into the place that's been a 00:16:51.03\00:16:55.16 blessing for you. 00:16:55.16\00:16:56.33 You ought to be able to put back into the coffers more 00:16:56.33\00:17:01.63 than what you got on your back, your feet and your 00:17:01.63\00:17:05.33 wrist. 00:17:05.33\00:17:06.23 We want from life but we don't want to give back to life. 00:17:06.23\00:17:08.80 We want to take from our institutions but we don't want 00:17:08.80\00:17:11.36 to give back to our institutions. 00:17:11.36\00:17:13.23 And a whole lot of folk cry that you want more but give 00:17:13.23\00:17:16.56 more because the more you empty your barn, the more God 00:17:16.56\00:17:20.03 will fill up your barn. 00:17:20.03\00:17:21.43 Do I have a witness in this place? 00:17:21.43\00:17:23.60 So I'm about through now. 00:17:23.60\00:17:25.70 I'm just trying to tell a story. 00:17:25.70\00:17:28.96 Keep in mind the word is covet. 00:17:28.96\00:17:31.60 So the man said, I know what I'm going to do. 00:17:31.60\00:17:35.40 I'm going to sit down, I'm going to take it easy, and so 00:17:35.40\00:17:38.66 he does. 00:17:38.66\00:17:39.96 He kicks back in his nice easy chair, lifts his feet, takes 00:17:39.96\00:17:45.33 his weight off his lower half of the body, leans back and 00:17:45.33\00:17:48.70 then he says, hmm. 00:17:48.70\00:17:50.70 He may not have read some things, but it was clear he 00:17:50.70\00:17:56.50 knew some stuff. 00:17:56.50\00:17:58.10 He said, I know what I'll do, I'll eat, I'll drink and I'll 00:17:58.10\00:18:05.16 be merry. 00:18:05.16\00:18:06.80 And you know what I'm going to say? 00:18:06.80\00:18:09.80 In Luke 12:19, "And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast 00:18:09.80\00:18:15.56 much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, 00:18:15.56\00:18:18.43 drink and be merry." But you know where the man made his 00:18:18.43\00:18:21.40 big mistake? 00:18:21.40\00:18:22.43 He confused the satisfying of a stomach for the filling of a 00:18:22.43\00:18:25.73 soul. 00:18:25.73\00:18:26.63 Let me say that again. 00:18:26.63\00:18:30.96 He thought if you could fill your stomach, fill your head, 00:18:30.96\00:18:36.20 fill your heart, fill your wallet, or fill your house, 00:18:36.20\00:18:40.70 that it would compensate for your soul. 00:18:40.70\00:18:44.60 But the soul is an eternal vacuum that can only be 00:18:44.60\00:18:47.46 replaced and filled by the presence of an eternal God. 00:18:47.46\00:18:52.06 Paschal said that the human heart is an open vacuum that 00:18:52.06\00:18:55.56 can only be filled by an eternal God. 00:18:55.56\00:18:58.66 Augustine said, God has made us for himself and you can't 00:18:58.66\00:19:02.33 rest until you rest in him. 00:19:02.33\00:19:04.26 Paul Tillich said, your soul has to be connected to an 00:19:04.26\00:19:08.36 ultimate concern. 00:19:08.36\00:19:09.46 You've got to be something bigger than what's down here 00:19:09.46\00:19:12.16 to fill up what's on your inside. 00:19:12.16\00:19:14.66 But I like what Ellen White said. 00:19:14.66\00:19:17.23 She said, God cares for each and every soul as if there 00:19:17.23\00:19:22.36 were not another one on earth for whom he gave his son. 00:19:22.36\00:19:27.03 It's what God meant when God said, I'm not willing that any 00:19:27.03\00:19:32.13 should perish, but all should come to repentance. 00:19:32.13\00:19:36.23 Some of you can't sleep at night. 00:19:36.23\00:19:39.26 Some of you, you're mean, you're miserable, you're mad, 00:19:39.26\00:19:45.03 you're angry. 00:19:45.03\00:19:46.90 Cutting your odds. 00:19:46.90\00:19:48.73 You want more and you've got to have more, and you got more 00:19:48.73\00:19:52.10 than what you know what to do with. 00:19:52.10\00:19:54.33 But you don't know what to do with what you have because 00:19:54.33\00:19:56.50 there's something fundamentally wrong with you 00:19:56.50\00:19:59.56 and it has nothing to do with your money, nothing to do with 00:19:59.56\00:20:04.60 your cash, nothing to do with your resources. 00:20:04.60\00:20:08.06 It's your soul that's hungry. 00:20:08.06\00:20:10.13 When your soul is hungry, you can't sleep at night. 00:20:10.13\00:20:15.93 When your soul is hungry, you can't look on the bright side 00:20:15.93\00:20:21.23 of life. 00:20:21.23\00:20:22.50 When your soul is hungry you can't see the good in people. 00:20:22.50\00:20:27.70 When your soul is hungry you can't stop complaining about 00:20:27.70\00:20:32.30 something. 00:20:32.30\00:20:33.56 When your soul is hungry you can't rejoice on Sabbath 00:20:33.56\00:20:38.56 morning, you can't lift those hands and bless him, you can't 00:20:38.56\00:20:42.80 praise him for what he's done, what he's doing and what he's 00:20:42.80\00:20:46.03 getting ready to do. 00:20:46.03\00:20:47.50 When your soul is hungry you try to fill it up with a whole 00:20:47.50\00:20:51.46 bunch of stuff. 00:20:51.46\00:20:52.86 But, oh, when this man sat down that night, when he sat 00:20:52.86\00:20:59.96 down, he forgot one thing, that there is a common 00:20:59.96\00:21:05.00 denominator that becomes an equalizer to all of us. 00:21:05.00\00:21:09.96 Some call it the Grim Reaper. 00:21:09.96\00:21:13.13 It doesn't matter who you are when this equalizer shows up. 00:21:13.13\00:21:16.66 If you don't believe me, ask Howard Hughes. 00:21:16.66\00:21:19.33 Some of you know Howard Hughes was one time one of the 00:21:19.33\00:21:22.16 richest men in the world. 00:21:22.16\00:21:23.23 Hughes had gotten really peculiar. 00:21:23.23\00:21:25.70 He was over in Acapulco and on his way back he got sick and 00:21:25.70\00:21:28.13 they tried to revive him. 00:21:28.13\00:21:29.46 Thirty-two thousand feet in the air on his Lear jet, but 00:21:29.46\00:21:33.06 death, I found out, can take wings. 00:21:33.06\00:21:38.70 It doesn't matter whether you are on land, air or sea, death 00:21:38.70\00:21:42.46 can catch you where you are. 00:21:42.46\00:21:45.03 The Grim Reaper. 00:21:45.03\00:21:47.40 The common denominator. 00:21:47.40\00:21:49.36 You don't believe me, ask Elvis. 00:21:49.36\00:21:51.83 The King. 00:21:51.83\00:21:52.80 Elvis Presley. 00:21:52.80\00:21:54.96 Elvis will tell you down on a cold marble floor in the 00:21:54.96\00:21:58.30 Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, that you can keep 00:21:58.30\00:22:01.46 all of the people that want to view your mansion out, but 00:22:01.46\00:22:04.70 there's one Grim Reaper who has the access code, who knows 00:22:04.70\00:22:10.16 how to unlock doors, who knows your private number, knows 00:22:10.16\00:22:14.73 where you are. 00:22:14.73\00:22:16.13 Took his life and left him lying right there. 00:22:16.13\00:22:19.20 Ask J. Paul Getty. 00:22:19.20\00:22:20.20 When he was the richest man in the world, he too had become 00:22:20.20\00:22:23.26 peculiar. 00:22:23.26\00:22:24.36 He had bought six killer Alaskan dogs and had put them 00:22:24.36\00:22:26.76 outside the door of his penthouse. 00:22:26.76\00:22:29.43 But one night death walked through the door and left the 00:22:29.43\00:22:34.96 dogs sleeping. 00:22:34.96\00:22:36.26 Death went in, smacked their master out of the bed and when 00:22:36.26\00:22:41.26 other folks showed up, the dogs were still asleep. 00:22:41.26\00:22:45.20 Death is a common denominator. 00:22:45.20\00:22:47.70 He said, I'll say to my soul, soul, you have much laid up 00:22:47.70\00:22:53.30 for many years to eat, drink and be merry. 00:22:53.30\00:22:55.96 But Jesus said in the story, I don't want your barns, 00:22:55.96\00:22:59.53 I don't want your grain, I don't want your property, 00:22:59.53\00:23:03.86 I don't want your manservant. 00:23:03.86\00:23:05.56 I don't want your maid-servant. 00:23:05.56\00:23:07.16 I don't want any of that. 00:23:07.16\00:23:08.16 Today I'm coming to get what belongs to me. 00:23:08.16\00:23:13.30 Your body's going to return to dust, your spirit is going to 00:23:13.30\00:23:17.60 return to God, your soul ceases to exist, and Jesus 00:23:17.60\00:23:21.93 called him a word that's a bad word in the Bible. 00:23:21.93\00:23:24.90 Jesus said, look at the text, thou fool. 00:23:24.90\00:23:29.80 Anybody that is greedy and covet what somebody else has, 00:23:29.80\00:23:35.13 thou fool, because you want what somebody else has. 00:23:35.13\00:23:41.13 You don't even know the price they had to pay 00:23:41.13\00:23:43.53 to get what they've got. 00:23:43.53\00:23:45.53 And most of what we want is accessible and attainable if 00:23:45.53\00:23:50.26 we work and invest and give time to it. 00:23:50.26\00:23:53.30 But a whole lot of us, too many of us, hate on somebody 00:23:53.30\00:23:57.26 else because we want what somebody else has. 00:23:57.26\00:24:00.53 A whole lot of us covet what somebody else has. 00:24:00.53\00:24:04.23 But let me be clear today, you don't know how many 00:24:04.23\00:24:08.03 tears they shed at night. 00:24:08.03\00:24:09.43 You don't know the number of nights they couldn't sleep. 00:24:09.43\00:24:12.86 You don't know the days they had to go without light, 00:24:12.86\00:24:16.50 no food, no car. 00:24:16.50\00:24:18.13 You just don't know. 00:24:18.13\00:24:20.43 You don't know how many dark roads they had to walk. 00:24:20.43\00:24:23.46 You don't know about their valleys, their shadows, 00:24:23.46\00:24:26.33 their deaths. 00:24:26.33\00:24:27.43 You don't know about their hurts, their disappointments 00:24:27.43\00:24:30.40 and disconcertion. 00:24:30.40\00:24:31.73 You don't know the price that they paid, thou fool! 00:24:31.73\00:24:35.76 Quit hating. 00:24:35.76\00:24:37.93 Quit envying. 00:24:37.93\00:24:40.20 Quit resenting. 00:24:40.20\00:24:42.90 Quit begrudging. 00:24:42.90\00:24:45.40 Quit coveting. 00:24:45.40\00:24:47.60 And say, like I've had to say this week, 00:24:47.60\00:24:51.40 what God has for me, it is for me. 00:24:51.40\00:25:00.70 But the day is going to come, y' all, when God is going to 00:25:00.70\00:25:04.73 ask us to give an account of ourselves and there are two 00:25:04.73\00:25:08.73 words that are going to come. 00:25:08.73\00:25:11.06 If you're right with God you're going to hear faithful, 00:25:11.06\00:25:16.16 but if you're out of relationship with God, you're 00:25:16.16\00:25:19.50 going to hear foolish. 00:25:19.50\00:25:21.33 And I don't know about you, but I want to hear 00:25:21.33\00:25:23.70 God say faithful. 00:25:23.70\00:25:25.23 I don't want to live and die a fool. 00:25:25.23\00:25:31.53 So today, do you believe in God? 00:25:31.53\00:25:38.13 And if you do, if the answer is yes, then thou good and 00:25:38.13\00:25:46.50 faithful servant, you've been faithful over a few things. 00:25:46.50\00:25:51.93 God says, I'll make thee ruler over many things. 00:25:51.93\00:25:57.83 Leave other folks' stuff alone, because while you're 00:25:57.83\00:26:03.23 getting your new car, while you're getting your new house, 00:26:03.23\00:26:07.10 while you're making your bank account fat, while you're 00:26:07.10\00:26:10.60 getting some investments, make sure you get some God. 00:26:10.60\00:26:16.73 Get some Jesus that can stand the test of time. 00:26:16.73\00:26:21.06 PB: My name is Dr. Carlton T. 00:26:21.06\00:26:23.36 Byrd and I'm the senior pastor of the Berean Seventh-Day 00:26:23.36\00:26:27.43 Adventist Church here in Atlanta, Georgia. 00:26:27.43\00:26:29.56 I'm also privileged to be the speaker director of the Breath 00:26:29.56\00:26:32.60 of Life television ministry. 00:26:32.60\00:26:33.93 So when you see the Berean church, you're also seeing 00:26:33.93\00:26:37.13 Breath of Life television because we are one and the 00:26:37.13\00:26:39.70 same. 00:26:39.70\00:26:40.63 While in the Atlanta area, we invite you to come and visit 00:26:40.63\00:26:43.96 us as we worship the Lord together. 00:26:43.96\00:26:46.80 Our midweek worship service is on Wednesday evening 00:26:46.80\00:26:50.96 at 7:00 p.m. 00:26:50.96\00:26:52.36 and then we have two worship experiences 00:26:52.36\00:26:54.06 on Saturday morning. 00:26:54.06\00:26:54.96 The first worship experience begins at 8:45 a.m. 00:26:54.96\00:26:58.96 and the second worship experience begins 00:26:58.96\00:27:02.56 at 11:30 a.m. So, visit us. 00:27:02.56\00:27:03.90 We're located at 291 Hamilton E. Holmes Drive, 00:27:03.90\00:27:07.40 here in the city of Atlanta. 00:27:07.40\00:27:09.20 Also, you may feel free to log onto our web site, 00:27:09.20\00:27:12.63 www.atlantabereansda.org or www.breathoflife.tv. 00:27:12.63\00:27:19.40 May God continue to bless you. 00:27:19.40\00:27:21.80 >: The Breath of Life gift offer this week is the book, 00:27:21.80\00:27:24.16 "The Ten Commandments Under Attack." God's law has stirred 00:27:24.16\00:27:27.23 controversy in recent years. 00:27:27.23\00:27:28.70 So, are the ten commandments out of date? 00:27:28.70\00:27:31.03 Offensive? 00:27:31.03\00:27:31.96 Find out how the ten commandments lay a solid 00:27:31.96\00:27:34.66 foundation for society and how each commandment is so 00:27:34.66\00:27:38.10 important to us every day. 00:27:38.10\00:27:39.83 Contributing authors include Dwight Nelson, Clifford 00:27:39.83\00:27:42.83 Goldstein and Mike Tucker. 00:27:42.83\00:27:44.13 There's also an introduction by Mark Finley. 00:27:44.13\00:27:46.83 Living by the ten commandments will bring blessings to us, 00:27:46.83\00:27:49.90 our families and our country. 00:27:49.90\00:27:51.56 "The Ten Commandments Under Attack" is yours for a gift of 00:27:51.56\00:27:54.43 $5 or more. 00:27:54.43\00:27:55.83 Just call our toll-free number: 877-BOL-OFFER. 00:27:55.83\00:28:00.20 That's 877-265-633. 00:28:00.20\00:28:04.83 Please have your credit card ready when you call. 00:28:04.83\00:28:07.30 Or you may write us to request your copy. 00:28:07.30\00:28:10.30 Just send your check to Breath of Life, P.O. Box 340, 00:28:10.30\00:28:14.06 Newbury Park, CA 91319. 00:28:14.06\00:28:17.33 Get your copy of "The Ten Commandments 00:28:17.33\00:28:19.03 Under Attack" today. 00:28:19.03\00:28:21.86 PB: It's your soul that's hungry. 00:28:21.86\00:28:25.76 You did not make it here by 00:28:25.76\00:28:26.76