How Not to Be A Fool Pt. 1

[Music] turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke chapter number 12 Luke chapter number 12 commencing in verse 13 through verse number 21 and one of the companies said unto Him master speak to my brother that he divided the inheritance with me and he said unto Him man who made me a judge or a divider over you and he said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth and he speak a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully he thought within himself saying what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits and you said this will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my Goods and I will say to my soul soul thou has much Goods laid up for many years take 9 ease eat drink and be merry but God said to him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou has provided so is he that lift up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower that all faded away with the word of our God shall stand forever this morning I want to preach from this subject how not to be a fool I know it may be too late for some of us but I want to help the rest of us this morning to learn how not to be a fool this pericope this this passage of scripture is occasion by this this unnamed man who comes to Jesus because there is a family dispute his brother is being unfair in dividing the B inheritance that it was a civil matter going on and he comes to Jesus not for salvation but for arbitration he comes to Jesus who is the Prince of life to settle some trivial legal matter he comes to Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith to handle some little Testament some Lu some little last wheel matter he comes to Jesus and says to Jesus essentially my brother is is a mistreating me make him make him act right towards me make him divide the inheritance fairly with me he says master speak to him that he divide the inheritance that he that he that he split it right let it that he be fair with me and Jesus in this passage is rather Curt and short Jesus doesn't usually speak to people like that Jesus is not usually impatient and and short-tempered as he seems to be in this passage and I suspect Jesus is saying I came here to die on the cross and you were in me about a wheel here is a crown over you and you were in me by some ground under you I've come here to speak to you of eternal life and you want me to speak for your brother about some knives and forks sheets and pillowcases spools and shoes suits and clothes he said man who who made me a judge or a divider over you and do you want to see a family at the food especially if you got three or four in the family if you want to see a mess in your family let somebody die and leave three or four pennies in the bank I ain't talking about the real money I mean if they leave some just just three or four hundred dollars in the bank they'll stop speaking to each other over shiver Road you haven't heard that word in a long time having over some spoons and and some pots of Mama's last words was for me to have that jewelry come on talk back to me if you can will get mad and fall out and don't speak to each other for years over nonsense over foolishness jesus said who made me a judge a divider over you and he springboards from this conversation into a teachable moment for his disciples he says taehee listen to this conversation watch were just took place take heed be ware of covetousness beware of an inordinate lust for things beware of of an out of bounds what forstuff beware of covetousness for a man's real life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses life is not determined by what you own but by who owns you your your heartstrings can be tired to your chequebook I wish I had a witness here because if what you have makes you who you are when you die everything that's you goes in a six foot plot and if we can bury everything that's you on the day of your funeral you didn't live in the first place because if your life consists in the small things that you collect and gather then your life has had no real meaning and no real purpose and then Jesus uses this occasion to talk to them from a parable and he said to them the story the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully and after he amassed all of his crop he said my barns are too small to collect all of this stuff so I will tear down these small barns and build bigger ones and then I will have enough room to bestow all my fruits and all of my goods and then I will say to my soul so take it easy eat drink and be merry Clara's Jordan and his cotton patch translation of the Bible calls that reclined dying and shine take it easy sit back be careful talking to yourself about your stuff because there's a conversation going on that you can't hear because when you start talking about what you all and what you have what you buy and who you are that's another voice that speaks from eternity and after he says all of these things I would tear down these small barns and build bigger barns and I will have room to store all my fruits and my goods and I will say to my soul soul it's time for you to retire take it easy enjoy yourself you deserve to sit back and enjoy what you have a mass but God said I want you to see the simultaneous juxtaposition he said but God said don't miss that he said but God said he's saying all the stuff he was going to do but God said I don't care what he said God has the last word he said but God said some of you who were raised by parents like my parents my mother had some friends who would come over to visit with her and they would Steve sometimes over into the night drinking coffee and talking and then my mother would walk them a piece to their house she'd go down the street with him a while and it was miss lilly or miss leona but before they left she said Lily I'll see you tomorrow if the Lord says the same a lily with Miss Lilly would say may I see you tomorrow if the Lord spared they never left each other's company they never beat each other farewell you never talked about what they were going to do tomorrow without tagging on if the Lord spares if the Lord says the same be careful talking about your stuff and and where you going tomorrow and what you're gonna do when you retire and what what's gonna happen with your stuff be careful of how you talk to yourself about your stuff cuz that's a voice that speaks from eternity he said but God said fool tonight your soul is required but but the here is the line that makes me tremble all in my shoes then whose shall those things be whoo go get the stuff you provided somehow help me shout ready whoo gonna get all that stuff you work for Google Drive your truck who gonna wear your good night gowns that you will save until you go to the hospital who gonna eat on your China that you didn't use until Thanksgiving and Christmas who's going to sit in your furniture that you wouldn't let your grandchildren sit on don't drive your car when it's raining got plastic all over your lamps got certain dishes you can't heat out of believe me when I tell you this be sure and I waiting for you to die I'm telling you it's a setup they got it all figured out they've already planned what to do with yo money that's why I'm spending it all I want I want my last check to balance before I die stop that foolishness have not taken a vacation and not enjoying yourself and not not praising God for what he's done for you and and not sharing what God has given to you a man's real life it's not measured by ready always but by who owns him let me help us this morning to not be a fool it's pretty bad when we called each other a fool but you don't want God to call your food here is why this man in the text was a fool and conversely if we if we take what he did and reverse it it will help us not to be a fool this man in the text was a fool because he spent everything he had on time and not eternity everything about him was wrapped up in right now and listen when you are busy accumulating and and put your head down and making money and all you think about is money and clothes and cash and cars you think that your welfare but you can't enjoy yourself because everything is about overtime and making money and I got to get up early and I got to get I got to give God I got to be there to get this I got to make sure I get that I've got to put my money in this stock and I've got to put my investments over here and what the market is going to do and I don't know what the who the president is going to be and I've got to make sure that I get this and I amassed that and I accumulate this and then you're watching the Dow Jones Industrial Average and you are watching S&P and you are watching Wall Street I don't know anything look like to me all that's people on the floor but I just have to go sweep it up because it's just a whole lot of trash and junk down there for me but when you think about it it's really a whole lot of trash and junk down there because when one second after he dies Bill Gates will be the same as a beggar on the street one second after Bill Gates dies one second after Bezos dies who owns Amazon he will be on the same level as the man on the corner of 16 and Scott because you will bring nothing into judgment with you but your naked soul and what does it profit a man to gain the world and then lose his soul Elvis the King Presley had millions of dollars and millions of fans people are still going now to Graceland to Elvis Presley's mansion but Elvis once said his mother was the only real friend he ever had and Elvis the King pressman millions of dollars millions of friends people are still going to Graceland but Elvis died on a cold bathroom floor from a drug overdose with no friends and no family Howard Hughes from right here in Houston one of the richest men at one time who ever lived Hughes Tool Company and Hughes movies and Hughes oil Howard Hughes died on a lonely airplane between Acapulco and Houston a hermit a man who almost lost his mind because he was a germaphobe Howard Hughes died on a lonely airplane by himself J paul Getty of the Getty oil fortune was so mean and surly that he had black Draper is on his bedroom windows to keep out sunlight three Alaskan trained killer dogs outside his bedroom door to keep away visitors but one night death got in over the sleeping dogs and said get it tonight Elvis tonight Howard Hughes tonight members of Miller Grove tonight [Music] your soul is required in the judgment then who shall those things that you provided he was a fool because he spent more on time than he did only turnitin and then he was a fool because he spent more on the material rather than the spiritual he was more concerned about the material rather than the spiritual in the story this man has crops he has abundance he has wealth that has been accumulated from years of Industry but he takes no thought of who sent the sunshine who sent the rain to make those crops grow who provided the soil and then who gave him strength to make wealth who woken up every morning who provided a risk over his head none of those things ever ended his mind because all he could think about was what he owned this is right here in the text listen let's walk around these personal pronouns and hopefully they will mess you up like the immense mere and he thought within himself saying what shall I do I have no room where to be store my fruits and he said this will I'll do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods and I will say to mouth ah now now himself ah now himself ah ma himself is all about you know himself and when everything in your life is about ah ma and myself you spending more time on the material then the spiritual is nothing in my house I don't use let me say that one more time there's nothing in my house I don't use if I feel like it I just go in there in the china cabinet and get a good cup and drink coffee out of it leave it on the counter and no man will come in and drink out no cup I never drink either [Music] something ought to help me preach it no no no no no no if he's gonna sit down in front of the TV I didn't watch it already I didn't seen that show five or six time shoes and too good for me to wear I don't have no Sunda shoes I used to have that when i when i was when i was in my mom and daddy's house I had Sunda shoes and school shoes and and no shoes but God's been good to me and I don't take any a blessing that God has given me for granted that I put it on the shelf and make it an idol because anytime you can concentrate it more on stuff their spiritual then all stuff that I'll stop this material then stop that is spiritual you've turned it into an idol you little grandbabies too cute you don't whip them this Cillian and talking back and telling you to shut up and spitting on you and telling you no no here too pretty where he can't go in the hospital you have turned that baby into an idol someone ought to help me preach it that was a little child here and you know he's real bad they say and I was just kidding around playing with him and they say Oh pastor you lucky he didn't kick as you know he lucky he didn't kick because I don't love him like y'all love it if he kicked me i'ma teaching what his feet are fall come on help me preach if you can we need that we need to get back to parents who ain't scared of their children and houses where we seek first the kingdom of God and are His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto us we need to get to the place where we are not so concerned about what is material that we leave alone what really matters listen listen listen to me you can't put money in church because you're so concentrated on the material you can't tithe you can't give because you're so concerned about your 401k and your savings and I gotta take care of myself and the Lord understand and so you don't put any money in church you're not a giver you're not a tither you're not generous because you are trying to hoard it and and keep it to yourself because you gotta save for a rainy day I gotta take care of my grandchildren I gotta take care of my son I gotta look out for my daughter and and your boys 61 years old still in your house still acid is a mama for gas money well I can't put him out yes you can no we all are children two things we owe them roots of responsibility and wings of Independence teach them how to live and put them out I know that that don't sit well with your theology because in our culture we are the only ones who let our children stay with us till they're on Social Security but you have turned them into an idol you have crippled you have hurt them when you have not taught them that life is about more than what you own and possess when you concentrated on the material you don't know how silly that makes you look and God calls you a fool that's a man riding around in this neighborhood with a Bentley Rolls Royce with some 13-inch spokes wheel elbows only I'm a bitly I'm not talking about a Chrysler that looks like a Bentley I'm talking about a Bentley with some 14-inch elbows on them beautiful car new car and he had some spokes these big you can't hardly get next to him because these these things are rolling and they need and he's spinning and it was so funny to me that I just pulled up next to him and took a picture of it and I said I mean that's a bad ride you see all thank you man it ain't you know just a little something to ride around in and and and I was too scared to tell them you fool but you know these people carry guns where I'm not you know I didn't have the nerve to say you fool you're riding around here with a car that don't need nothing but some armor on this car don't need nothing but gas in it and you riding around making it looking like a ghetto wagging of some kind because you're so concerned about them and then there are those in your neighborhood and mind with these sound systems that cost more than the car your house is rumbling and shaken and they down the street with this music and the music stuff they put in the car is worth more than the cars worth because we are more concerned about the material and the spiritual then many of you in here don't shout and don't move because you're so perfectly quaffed and immaculately dressed that you want to sit by yourself you don't want to know about it that close to you because you don't want to sweat out your silk go please all the doors God has open for you all the prayers God has answered for you all the enemies God has put down for you all there all the tears God has dried for you let everything I said let everything that has breath praise the Lord if God's been good to you if you lose your job in the morning God will make a way out of Mary because I know some people here who know his master job and never missed a meal cuz he's Jehovah Jireh he will provide he will make a way out of no way he will help you raise your children by yourself somebody he ought to help to testify somebody who's been to same stuff y'all that if God took that from you he's getting ready to give you something better if God closes a door he's getting ready to open a window and listen God ain't trying to find a way to bless you he'll make a way to bless you when it looks like you at the end of your rope God will step right in and make a way out of no way I wanted to have a got a witness here this morning but God will never leave you nor forsake you because if you put your trust in God if you put your hand and God and watch him work on your behalf there's some testimonies in this church of people who have to take care of their sick parents who put their lives on hold missed out on promotions and and raises on their jobs but somehow God made it up I wish I had some noise here you decided that you were just gonna trust God with your money god I don't know how you're gonna fix it I don't know how these bills are gonna get paid but I'm gonna put my trust in you because your word says that trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your path God I'm gonna trust you on that today and you are here this morning to testify won't he do it yes he will yes he will yes he will when you concentrate on the spiritual and leave the material with God the word bans me out here seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and hits righteousness and all these other things would just be added unto you God would just throw some stuff in there that you didn't ask for I wish I had somebody to help me shout that's called serendipity God will just give you what you didn't even ask for you have to you have to be from Louisiana to help me shout right here you you Texas people just watch us shout and let me give you a Louisiana colloquialism that'll help you really understand what I'm talking about in this little text here and in Louisiana that's a word that we use for something extra called land yacht land young la ji ni a PPE land yacht if I go to your house with a bowl of soup and bring my my vessel there with a bowl of soup laniel is when you bring it back is more than what I put in [Music] you bring me back some soup some corn breads and some some sweet potatoes and some cake I didn't bring all that I just brought you some soup but to show your appreciation you just give me some land yow that's what God does when you pray and pray right you you bring him the tithes you bring him your offering and he'll give you some land yeah he'll make the doctor come back with a good report he'll make them give you a raise on your job when they said you fired he'll make your enemies your footstool you just make a way I don't know where God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you can even ask my grandmother my grandmother would drink coffee she keep a coffee pot on the stove all day long some of y'all remember those little two-piece coffee pots they put their coffee grind in there and put a pot on the stove and heat some water and keep that coffee pot in that hot water he did all day long because she kept a pot of fresh coffee I learned how to drink coffee sitting down with mama and mama would make coffee all day long and she knew I like to get that sugar at the bottom of the cup and she would put a lot of sugar in our coffee so that I could get the cup when she got through and get that sugar at the bottom but but once in a while she let it run over into the sauce and and and and she would drink out the cup and hand me the salsa you see where I'm trying to go with this feel my cup and let it overflow and those of us who are shouting hit is a morning we're shouting over God's overflow gods just let me some stuff overflow in your life that you didn't even ask for you weren't even looking for you didn't even pray for that but God just let it overflow because you know that if you trust God he'll make a way for you thank God for living in the overflow he was a fool because he spit everything he had on time rather than he turn it and then he was a fool because he spent everything on the material and nothing on the spiritual but finally he's a fool because he spent everything on himself and nothing for others and when life is all about you my myself and others never come into your sphere of concern you a fool others never ended his man now with all that crop he had he never thought to give his neighbor's son he never thought to share with his friends he never thought that instead of building bigger barns I will give some of his stuff away and you never think about your house may be too small because you've got too much stuff in it you don't need a bigger house you need to get rid of some of this stuff talk back to me if you can again my daddy raised hogs and grew corn and okra and tomatoes because he had a lot of children it was ten of us in our family and my mother didn't go to work until Johnny was in the first grade so my daddy had to feed all those children and he had hogs that he raised in the backyard and and tomatoes and and and cabbage and cucumbers and my daddy never took any of the stuff in without thinking about people who were around us my neighbor our neighbor down the street miss Talbert Hayes would go hunting and he'd come back with two or three rabbits and give my mother a rabbit or two and and say when you when you when you cook it send me a piece my cousin down the street went fishing and he never went fishing without bringing us some perch when he got through fishing because we shared with everybody in the neighborhood around this time of year November getting cold my daddy would have a hog or two killed and Miss Leona had some pigs feet miss Gracie wanted a rose miss Ella down the street like to put pigtails in her greens and that pig was gone because my daddy shared it with everybody in the neighborhood and now we almost barbecue in the house because we don't want the powder to smell to smoke and come over and and and and and ask for a piece of meat that's not lowdown we are that's not stingy we are my I myself and when you live to yourself you die by yourself did you hear that when you live to yourself you die by yourself I will tear down these small bombs feel greater and I will say to my soul so take it easy eat drink be merry but God said fool hey you I'm talking to you fool tonight your soul is required you got to come up here and give an account of what you did but what I gave you we will not be judged by what we have but by what we've shared is anybody happier because you passed this way does anyone remember that you spoke to him today the day is almost over and the toiling time is through is there anyone to utter now a kind word of you can you say in parting with the day that's slipping fast that you helped a single brother of the minute that you passed did you waste the day I lose it was it well our soul is spent did you leave a trail of kindness or a scar of discontent tonight when you close your eyes in slumber do you think God will say that you've earned one mortem by the good you've done today and I can help somebody as I pass along if I can share somebody with a word or song if I can show somebody he's travelling wrong then my living shall not be in vain he was a firm because he spent more on time than he did on eternity he was a fool because he invested more in the material than he did in the spiritual he was a fool because he was about all about himself and nothing about others now if you don't want to be a fool let's turn it around build your hopes on things eternal because everything you have everything you own everything you drive everything you wear everything you sleep in everything you eat on everything you invest in past temporary written on it everything is passing away that that's the law spiritual in the only reason I know something about it because it has something to do with anything something spiritual the second law of thermodynamics has to do with something spiritual the second law of thermodynamics says that everything will eventually run down you will eventually run down okay how cute you are okay how young you are okay how fine you are I don't care how viral and strong you are sooner or later you will run down some of us here over 50 can testify that I used to could remember anything I want to remember now I want to remember I got to write it down and try to remember what I wrote it on and then if I remember what I wrote it on I got to try to remember where I put it come on help me preach if you can you go in a room and forget what you went in there for looking for your cell phone and is in your hand because you will eventually run down you won't be able to see as far in the distance as you used to can't walk as fast as you used to you used to walk in the room and and people were safe but you come in the room 9 is the Lord help this poor thing help us somebody because you will eventually wonder but when your hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and His righteousness it doesn't matter what happens in time your treasure is in eternity I've got another building the house not made with hands but eternal in the heaven shift it again when you put your treasure in what is spiritual rather than and what is material when you lose your material wealth it can destroy your spiritual wealth don't-don't-don't lay up treasures where moth can corrupt it where thieves can break through and steal it but send treasures in heaven where moths can't corrupt it and thieves can't break through and steal it and then finally when you live for others rather than for yourself here's the shout you are most like Jesus [Music] because jesus said I didn't come to be served but to serve I didn't come to be ministered to but I came to be a ransom for many I did not come to be a king I came to lay down my life for those that the father has given me I came not to live for myself but I came to live and to die for others some men worry themselves into nameless graves while other men forget themselves into eternity some men worried themselves into nameless graves while other men forget themselves into eternity Jesus came and suffered and died and he didn't have to do it he did nothing wrong he there was no fault in him there was no guile in him there was no deceit in him he came to lay down his life for a wretch like you and I and when you give yourself to others may not be a whole lot of folk at the funeral may not be a whole lot of flowers it may not be who doves turn the loose at the cemetery and and you may not have a white carriage with horses to carry you down there but all of that and you're going to hell no no our rather one rules beyond my coffin and two or three people at my funeral who loved me put me in the ground and go eat some barbecue because what's really happening is not happening at the cemetery when I get home when I see Jesus bells will be ringing Saints will be singing because this world is not my home I'm a pilgrim I'm a stranger I'm just traveling through here and I'm trying to do the best I can with eternity with what is spiritual and giving my life for others so that's when it's all over he won't call me Bishop he won't call me pastor he won't call me Reverend he won't call me any of that serve well done you've been faithful over a few things I'll make you ruler over many [Applause] [Music]

Channel: lillygrovembc

Views: 74,912

Rating: 4.7280369 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 4-9ydUGp8MU

Length: 50min 27sec (3027 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 04 2019