Hand out and we're going to get to that in just a minute We've got two parts to our lesson here today, and I'm hoping to get to both of them because of the nature of the Questions and the length of time involved and maybe dealing with them. I don't want to get bogged down with any one Topic but at the same time I want to make sure we give information that's necessary in order to help us to see where the Bible stands and I I just asked today and As we get started in this, this obviously is reflective of a heart, a young people's heart that asking questions is a natural part of growing up. And if you know and have children, you know that questions are a big part of children's conversation. And they make it easy to be able to give information because they're asking, their minds are open. And that's what we're looking at today, being able to answer questions, being able to answer these in a biblical way that I think will give us some standing as to why we don't do certain things, why we do certain things, and why we believe the way we believe. And this is something that, as a pastor, It would be easy for me, as a man, to just come and say, well, this is what we do, and this is what I've done. But we need to go back to the Word of God, and we need to find out what the Bible says. And so, some of this would be very... Common I mean everybody will understand it some of it will be well I never thought of that before you know or whatever But the point is we want to we want to look at the scriptures We don't understand and so parents if this will help you to be able to answer Children and raise them up in the right way praise the Lord for some of you that are older that have questions Maybe you don't have a problem with this, but it's nice to know why we don't do things and or why we do things. And it gives us some standing in the faith as we go into these situations. So I'm going to take you, first of all, today with this matter of gambling and the lottery. And the question was, what's wrong with gambling and playing cards and playing the lottery and those type of things? What's wrong with that? uh... and and for most of us we've never been tempted with that probably you know i don't know uh... maybe i have maybe it's something that you know you you've done or whatever the case is but i'm just saying this morning uh... as a whole christians the father lord we believe that that it's it's not Biblical not the Lord's will for us to take part in things of that nature gambling and lottery and so forth But the question is why? Is it just because you know we're stingy with our money. We don't like to give it to other people That's part of it My dad says, if you're going to play the lottery, just throw your money at me. I'll use it a lot more wisely than they will. And I'll say that, too. If anybody wants to play the lottery, just give the money to me, and I'll make sure it gets spent wisely. I'm just kidding in that. But the point is, it's not just because we're stingy with our money. There are biblical principles that help us to see why we don't do this, and gambling as a whole. uh... uh... you know it seems to be taking root in our culture more and more this matter of gambling and i think it's dangerous i think it's wrong and i think it's a symbol of the society who is becoming more and more uh... Carnal, and even the word that I'm thinking of is maybe primitive, alright? These games of chance that don't require skill or anything. It's all about kind of a greed that overtakes a man's heart, and today I've got You've got it here. I didn't even, I know I'm not going to get through 17 reasons why we believe the lottery is wrong, but I wanted to put it in your hands because there are, there's just numerous, numerous principles in the Bible that teaches this. And I want to go through a couple of things, but I want to start this morning, if you'll hold off on this biblical reasons, I want to start this morning with the social aspects of this. There's a social argument against gambling and I just I want to give you some stories that help us to see why it's bad for our Our humanity, all right? It's bad spiritually, but gambling is really bad for our social structure. It's bad for our families. It's bad for ourselves as a person. It's bad for our culture and our society as a whole. And let me just give you a couple thoughts on this. Number one, I believe it preys, and again, you don't have these in your notes right now, all right? So I don't want you to be confused. But the social arguments are that it preys on those who can least afford to lose money. And that really becomes the situation. If you'll look and see where lotteries play, now there's a lot of people that play lottery, and there's a large social spectrum, but if you look at the percentage of people that play, it's the percentage of people who have the least amount of income that they can afford to lose. And I don't have the details on that right now, I know that the studies are out there, but you'll find that those who are the poorest, are spending the most in percentage of their income on this matter of chance games, because they want that get rich quick, it'll get me out of problems, it'll get me out of this poverty. And so it's a situation where it preys on those people who can least afford it. Obviously you need more money, you can spend three or four dollars and you have the possibility of making, you know, a thousand dollars. That seems to be a pretty good chance. But they fail to recognize how dangerous that is and then how very much they're losing because of that. So that's the first reason. So the idea here is that we have really a situation that is preying on those who are the poorest. And I'll say this, that there's a biblical principle in the Bible that talks about preying, and I'm talking about taking advantage of those who are poor. And I believe that the curse of God, now I'm not saying this lightly, the curse of God is on the organizations, the people, and the structures that pray, that take advantage of those who are the poorest. Instead of helping them in a way that God would be pleased in, and that's biblical and sound, they're taking advantage of this and actually prolonging and encouraging their poverty. And the Bible says if we do that, then God will not hear our prayers. And boy, that's not something I want to be a part of. Now, I've got an article here today that I'd like to read to you. And it's an article from a magazine that I found that I want to just read regarding the social aspects of gambling, and then we'll get on. Do you ever find yourself dreaming of the day your lucky lottery numbers are called? Or thinking about what numbers lurk under the silver bar of that scratch-off ticket and your impulse that you bought kind of on a whim, you know? And I'm saying this in this article, so listen carefully. The lure of mega millions, Powerball and other lottery jackpots has millions in search of this kind of money that they think they can get their hands on. Well, it's fun to daydream about having more money and what you would do with it. I'm paraphrasing here, I just need to read it. Winning the lottery might not be all it's cracked up to be. A windfall of widely publicized winnings that finally allows you the luxury of affording a trip around the world or a fancy car or a flat screen TV for every room in your house might just be what ruins your life. And here's a look at some ugliness landing all of that loot can bring to your life. And a reminder that being mega rich isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Number one, and this is a secular author. Here's what she said. Your friends will take advantage of you. Once the word gets out that you have a winning ticket, you can expect everyone to try to cozy up to you from the college roommate you haven't heard from in 20 years. The kid you tortured on the kindergarten playground to the fellow carpool parents and friends you barely recognize. It's common for lottery winners to see a flood of online and in-person friend requests that range from wanting to share a meal to suggesting a weekend getaway. Of course, these buddies all hope that you ultimately pick up the tab for their good time. And that's, I believe, one of the situations that we find here. And for time's sake, I'm going to go on. There's some illustrations of real people who've done this. I go on. Number two, your relationships could fail. Money ruins relationships when it's wrong, the foundation is wrong. And in a social aspect, one of the points that was made in this article was that your relationships could fail. Here's an illustration. Alexei Bulikov, a certified financial planner who's worked with a family who won a lottery jackpot, saw this devastation firsthand. Following a string of unfortunate financial decisions, the family fell apart. Bluenkopf says the husband who was emotionally unprepared for the enormous responsibility and pressure of winning the lottery took to gambling and womanizing to deal with the troubles adjusting to his new lifestyle. When his wife found out, she retaliated with vindictive shopping and spent all the money. Eventually, they talked and sorted it out. But needless to say, the level of trust was not the same. And the fighting and blame placing for the squandering of their fortune became routine occurrence in this once tightly knit family. And so they ruined relationships, money does, that's used wrongly. Number three, an increased risk of bankruptcy. You say, Pastor, if I win the lottery, how can I be bankrupt? Well, listen to this. Given the fact that you have enough dough, To clear up your debt, bankruptcy seems a long shot after winning the lottery. But experts say lottery winners actually are at a greater risk for bankruptcy. Winners suddenly have significantly more credit available to them than they ever had. That makes them more likely to make purchases on credit rather than use cash. Winners are much more likely to make significant impulse purchases far beyond their previous means. So purchase amounts will be much higher, making the interest accrued on those credit cards the much greater. Because they don't stop to think of the money that could run out. Winners don't generally think they need to create or live by a monthly budget. It's always going to be there. And all of these things push together to make people have a greater risk of bankruptcy. Again, we're talking about social reasons why playing the lottery is wrong. We're not even to the Bible yet. It's bad for our social structure. Number four, you'll have to fight a host of long lost family members. And I already indicated that with our friends. But one situation here. Lottery winners often become targets of long-lost relatives who knock on the door with one hand and hold the other one out for a hand-me-out. Somehow they think that when one family member wins the lotto, the whole family wins the lotto. Again, we're talking about the lottery, but I'm talking about gambling, any kind of luck in that sense. So many winners find themselves fielding pleas for help with a pile of credit card or medical debt, foreclosure, or car repairs. The majority of my family members treated me the same as they did before I won the lottery. However, there were those family members who suffered the entitlement syndrome. A few of my family members with whom I did not have a previous relationship with before winning the lottery came out of the woodwork and started calling me to butter me up for money. Number five, you'll be a target for lawsuits and scams. Again, this is the article that's dealing with the repercussions for winning the lottery. You now become a target for scams and for lawsuits, hoping to carve out a chunk of your fortune. The people that work with these people who win the lottery say that winners are often targets for bogus lawsuits because everyone starts to come after them. The winnings are public knowledge. Winners can bet their phone will never stop ringing. If you're going to be betting, you might as well bet your phone won't stop ringing, right? Winners hear from investors, reputable firms, scammers, every planner, schemer under the sun, he says. So you need to be wary and other things that they will have. So the point is that these five reasons we understand are a real problem for those socially, all right? And that's from a secular writer who recognizes the danger of gambling. Now, to me, if something puts me at those kind of risks, that's enough for me to say I'm not going to be a part of it. All right. Now, that's only one aspect. And I want to just give you that briefly. But I want to take you to the biblical aspect now, because really the Bible is our it is our final authority in faith and practice. Right. And that's where we need to go to understand this. And so I want to just take you, if I can, to this part. Nathan, will you remove that little block there from there? And let me just give you, and these are things that are found in your notes, but I wanted to make sure we understood it. The question is then why do we not play the lottery? And what's wrong with gambling? Fast money. It seems fine, Pastor. If I could just give a little bit and win a little bit more, hey, what's the error in that? What's the problem in that? Well, let me just give you some biblical reasons why I believe that it's wrong. And I already gave you the social argument, and let's go to the scriptural argument then. And you have those in front of you there. And I'd like to just, number one, start with this idea, and that is that gambling encourages violation of the first commandment. Pastor, what's the first commandment? Somebody tell me. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. What does the Bible say? Don't put anything in front of me. This becomes a god in your life and it encourages this in our lives. People think about it daily. They think about what I would do with it, what I can do with my life, how is it going to change me, and it becomes their focus and it becomes their God. And so the lottery then is something that can really take the thought and the emphasis away from the God of heaven and they put their attention and they give their resources and they give their affections Just as we should to the Lord Jesus we give that to that that Lady luck as we see number two The lottery encourages violation of the 8th commandment. What does the 8th commandment say? Thou shall not steal Say pastor. What do you what do you mean about stealing? Well, let me just explain you how it works All right, maybe some young people or somebody doesn't understand the lottery works The lottery works like this millions of people pay a couple dollars or whatever it might be, for the chance of one of those people taking it all. In order for you to benefit as winning the lottery or winning at gambling at all, in order for you to benefit, many other people have had to take their money away, right? You say, well, they gave it. It's not stealing. Well, it is stealing in the sense that you didn't earn it. The biblical principle of money is you work for what you get. And when we get it any other way, by taking advantage of someone else, the Bible classifies that as stealing. And I'm not taking that too far from the biblical context of the Ten Commandments to say that stealing is taking money from someone without earning it. And so the Bible is very clear on that, and we need to understand that the Bible is true. In the essence, then, this whole habit of gambling is A matter of theft, and it takes it away, and it's something that's wrong in that way. Does your paper say the lottery? Does it say gambling on all these lotteries? Okay, it's supposed to say gambling, but you get the idea here, all right? And we, and we, and I say gambling, it kind of just envelopes everything. These, these principles affect all. There's a quote from G. Campbell Morgan there. It's a very good quote. The Bible at the end there, the gambler, whether he wear purple, broadcloth, or corduroy, is a thief in the sight of God. Ought to be so in the sight of all honest men and we need to understand it. It's a it is a Way of making money where there's no honest work involved and God makes it very clear that that's stealing number three The lottery encourages the violation of the Tenth Commandment What is the Tenth Commandment do you remember That's right. Don't covet your neighbor's house or, you know, his donkey, his maidservant, manservant, all those kinds of things. Don't covet. What is the covet? It's a desire for that which we don't have. You say, well, that's just a simple thing. That's an innocent thing. No, it's not. It's a breaking of God's law. And when we covet something, we desire something that we don't have that somebody else has. We're breaking the law of God and the lottery, the gambling, the lust for more is something that God says we shall not do. Did you read about the woman who won eight million dollars? I want to be like her. If only I could have the luck that she had and win what she won. That's what we feel in our hearts and we're breaking the commandment of the Lord. Number four. Lottery or gambling encourages that which is unwise and foolish. And we find here a definition. We're looking to be back from 1958. It's interesting. Gambling means staking something of value in a game of chance. All right. So I take something that I value money, time, possessions, whatever it might be, and I stake it for loss. in a roll of the dice or some other kind of chance happening. Now, the Bible says that we are stewards of that which God has given to us. We're going to talk about that in a minute. And when we're foolish with those things, then what we're doing is we're saying, God, what you've given and placed in my hands is not valuable enough to me to take and make good, wise decisions on. And I'm going to have to I'm going to have to turn this over and do it my own way. Gambling means taking something of value in a game of chance. True games of chance require no skill on the part of the player. Their outcome depends entirely on luck. People gamble because they hope to win something for nothing. But one can more easily lose, and the loss may involve money which is earned by hard effort, which may be difficult to replace. A serious loss often causes hardship. Hence, it's not considered desirable or wise for anyone to gamble. And in this sense, that's from a worldly encyclopedia. But even in 1958, this source warned about the dangers of gambling. And it's so important to understand that the biblical principle of that which is unwise or foolish. And listen, don't undermine and downplay the foolish versus the wise, all right? That's very important. And the Bible wants us to be wise people. Playing the lottery, gambling, is foolish, according to the Scripture, because of the way it uses our resources. The lottery only multiplies the problem of gambling addiction. This is a situation where I understand that The flesh, when it gets involved in things, it has a tendency to really become tied up in those things. And people get into these habits. It may be gambling for some person. It may be some other habit for another. But it is a situation where we can prolong those and multiply an addiction that is an inordinate affection of our flesh that causes us to be wrong. Anything that controls us, apart from the Holy Spirit, is a sin. And gambling is no different. Playing the lottery is no different. And some of you say, well, I can quit any time. All right. Well, let's just quit today. How about that? Right. And that's what we need to do for the Lord and make sure we're not following after that. Number six, playing the lottery is extremely poor financial management. We believe at Broadview Heights Baptist Church and as Christians that all that we own belongs to the Lord. We believe that. Turn over in your Bibles to First Corinthians, if you would, very quickly there. Chapter six. And I'll read the verse that's highlighted here. First Corinthians six. Notice the Bible says. In verse number 19, what? No, you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God and you're not your own for you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now you say, well, that means my body is God's, but my my money is not my body. Let me just ask you a question here. How did you get your money? You get your money by working, right? You get your money by Lord willing and honest labor. How do you do that? By your body. You go to work. You do something. Somebody is doing that. And if God takes away our body, then we don't have anything else, do we? I don't need my house. I don't need my car. I don't need clothes. I don't need money. I don't need anything if I don't have my body. So God owns my body. That means He owns everything that I have. Now, there's other principles in Scripture, other places where this principle is borne out. But I'm just telling you today, we believe that everything is God's. And if everything is God's, then we must be a faithful steward of that which God has given to us. That is, that I'm not to take the things that I own and say, I want to use them for my own benefit and for my own good, but I want to use them for God's benefit. And what can I do? Lord, what do you want me to do with this? That's being a good steward of that which God has placed in our hearts. And so how foolish it is to carelessly gamble things away that God has placed within our hands and just frivolously send them away. All right? It's not something that God desires. And so God sees then unto whom much is given, much is required. And it's required in a steward that a man be found faithful. And there's other scriptures illustrating this idea of giving a little bit to a person, and he's going out and he's squandering it to the point where he does not use it wisely. And then the Bible says that man comes back, the master, and says, thou fool, You have not taken what I've given you and used it for the right thing, therefore I'm going to take it away from you and you will lose it. When we are not faithful with the things that God's given to us, then God cannot entrust us with more. That's what the principle is. So the principle here is that it's poor financial management. I say that families, we already talked about this, suffer. And if God owns it, then we have to understand that it's important that we use it rightly. And we could go on and on about how it affects people in their lives. The drunkard takes money that's needed for his family, spends it on his booze, needed for his bills and other things. The gambler will take things that money is necessary for, and he'll spend it on other things that are wrong. That's a foolish, foolish way to live. The Bible is very clear on that. Number seven, the lottery pays poor dividends and is a terrible investment. Again, Matthew 6 tells us that we need to put our treasure where we get the most return. Where is that? In heaven. Matthew 6 tells us, right? Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. So if that's the only principle that we have and understand, then it's got to be understood. Listen, you're laying up treasures on this earth. Oh, pastor, if I won the lottery, I'd give it to the church. You've heard that argument before, right? I would pay off all my debts. God wants me to be debt-free. God does want us to be debt-free. God wants us to owe no man anything but to love one another. But let me say something to you today. That when we play the lottery, you're taking a very bad investment and you're making it something that you think is worthwhile. I've got to catch up here on my notes if you're looking at the thing here. If we understand that then, the risks were, if the risks were as high on the stock market as they are in the lottery or gambling aspect of things, No one, we wouldn't even have a culture, all right? The risks are so much greater on the lottery and the gambling. Now, it doesn't seem to hurt so much because we're only just giving out a little bit, maybe at a time. I'm telling you, the risks are great and the chances are slim to none, all right? Let me tell you that. Someone told me that the chances of getting struck by lightning twice are greater than winning the lottery, all right? I don't know what those chances are, but I'm just saying that as a Christian, we can't just disregard that and say, oh, it's no big deal, I want to just do it anyway. No, we need to understand that there is an investment that needs to be made, and it needs to be made wisely with God's money. And the things that God's put in our hands, we need to use wisely. So that's an important aspect as well. Number eight, the lottery can deceive people into thinking that it's a blessing not to work. God says that it is a blessing to work and labor. Did you know that? And that is an honor. That's something that God's put within us. Now, you say, Pastor, I thought that was part of the curse, that mankind was going to have to work and labor for his bread, and by the sweat of his brow and the thorns and everything, he's going to have to work through. But I'm saying today that God says that work is a blessing. It's something that God has given to us as a mark of a godly person. Notice, if you would, the sin of Sodom in Ezekiel 16, you'll find that it was a sin of idleness. Now, if somebody says Sodom, I would say, well, the sin is homosexuality and it's wickedness. But notice in Ezekiel, turn there very quickly, and we won't take a whole long time. It's right before the book of Daniel. Look at what the Bible says, Ezekiel chapter 16 there. Verse number 49, the Bible says very clearly here, Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and notice what the Bible says, an abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of her poor and needy. You know what I think part of the problem in Sodom was? They probably had a lottery. Look at what it says. It encouraged the idleness. There was an abundance in the sense that people could just kind of say and do whatever they wanted. And then it says they did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. You know what they did? They weakened the hand of the poor and needy. I mean, I don't know if you thought about that before, but I'm thinking that God looked at this sinfulness of Sodom and they said, this is what the problem is. And so it's an amazing thing to understand that mankind can come to the point where they can think, it's a blessing, I don't have to work anymore. No! God says it's an honor. 1 Thessalonians teaches, and we've gone through that, and 2 Thessalonians even, where he says, let every man labor with his own hands. Ephesians teaches that. I don't have that listed here. But the idea is that God says there's a point in time where we need to understand that it's the labor of our hands that brings glory to God. That's what God has ordained. And so the lottery takes the gambling and the things, take that idea away, and they teach us wrong, wrong doctrine. The man in Luke chapter 12, who was the rich young ruler, he says, If I do all these good things, I've got all these things stored up for many years, and I'm just going to build greater barns. I'm going to eat and drink and take thine ease. That's what he said, right? I'm going to be idle. And the Bible says, thou fool, thou fool. Taking ease is not something that we rejoice in. We take rejoicing in a labor of the Lord. Number nine, lottery causes people to look to unrealistic expectations or solutions to their problems. Unrealistic. What is it? I'm poor, I can't pay my gas bill today, or my electric bill, or I can't afford food, or my house payment, or my car payment, or whatever it might be, so I'm going to take the money that I have, that I can't afford to part with, and I'm going to risk it on a chance that could absolutely make me the most wealthy person in the world. Do you see the flesh involved in that? Do you see how the flesh can just be overwhelmed by that? That is just not what we need to do as Christians. The lottery causes people to look for unrealistic solutions. The realistic solution is if you can't pay your bills, you either need to increase your income by hard work or you need to decrease your outgo. Alright? And those are the principles of the Word of God. Not look for some unrealistic expectation to bridge that gap. All right? And that is just not what God has told us to do. Those who look to the lottery for a solution to their problems are greatly disappointed. Even the big winners discover that wealth doesn't solve their problems. The Bible says, in Ecclesiastes, you remember our verse there about wealth? When bread is increased, I think I've got to go back and look, they are increased that eat it. And that's the illustration. The more you have, the more problems you have with what you have. Problems don't go away. You just bring a whole new set of problems. That's the biblical principle. It's unrealistic to think that a lot of money at one time is going to solve your problems. In contrast, when you look to the living God who greatly rewards. Number 10, the lottery promotes an ungodly idea that you can give a little and get a lot. What's the biblical principle that denotes that? Don't look, don't look at your notes there. Don't cheat. Give a little, get a lot. There's a biblical principle that contradicts that. You reap what you sow. I sow a little, I get a little. I sow a lot, I get a lot. Do you see how that's a wrong principle here? The Bible teaches that where I sow, I reap. And if I sow abundantly, I'm going to reap abundantly. If I sow a little, then it's unbiblical for me to reap a lot. It's filling the place of God in my life. And it's a biblical principle that takes us apart from that point. And there's a lot there that are mentioned in Galatians 6, 7 and 2 Corinthians 9, 6 there, and you can read through that. But number 11. The lottery teaches. People to look to Lady Luck instead of trusting a living Lord, how about that? And again this idea of it becoming a God to us the first in the first Commandment they're breaking the first commandment the unsaved seek after all these things Though we cannot condone it. We understand how those with no Heavenly Father can look for some other God Isn't it something that the world they can't go to a Heavenly Father and ask their needs and They can't go to a Heavenly Father and expect that the promises will be there for their deeds. So, yeah, they're going to have to fill that with some other God. But what a shame it is for a Christian to do that. What a shame it is for a Christian to deny God's provision in their life and have to go and make money or seek money in that way that's unbiblical and unscriptural. And so it teaches people to look instead of looking to God, to look to the hand of man. Number 12. Gambling provides people with a false hope and with wrong goals. You get rich quick. Is that the goal of man? Get rich quick? Is getting rich the goal? No. So getting rich quick is just a quicker end to a wrong goal. And so it teaches wrong doctrine here when we're thinking about this. It's not something that God wants us to have as a goal. And by the way, our hope needs to be in the Lord. The lottery is my shepherd, I shall not want. It maketh me to lie down and win ease, and it enricheth my life. My bank account runneth over. Right? And that's what it happens. That's what we say. Listen, if I win the lottery, I replace all that God wants to do in my life, or if I win in any kind of gambling, it replaces all that God wants to be and do in my life with what I now have materially. It replaces a God. You say, well, that's a little... That is a huge thing. That is the only thing. I mean, the first thing is thou shalt not have any other gods before me. That's God's command. And when we violate that scripture, we're violating his his very character and his command in our lives. And so pleasing God is all that counts, regardless of the cost of our sacrifice. The believer's goal is to do the will of God. It's not our goal to get rich quick or to even get rich. It's our goal to follow the Lord and to please Him. Gambling or the lottery promotes the wicked philosophy that it's more blessed to receive than to give. Do you see how it turns God's word on its head? What does the Bible say? It's more blessed to give than to receive. As a matter of fact, we work so that we can give to those who are in need. You see that? That's the point. And it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. And the gambling philosophy turns that principle on its head, upside down, and makes it something that is not true. To people, sometimes they think to themselves, well, basically, what is the gambling all about? Well, I could do so much good. I want to buy a house for my mom. I want to pay off debt. Listen today, it's not about that. It's if you win, it's about you getting. That's the point. And it's wrong. And we end up losing even though we desire to get. All right, number 14. And I'm moving a lot faster than I thought I would, so you guys have been a great listener here. Gambling promotes the sinful love and lust of money. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. And it's important to understand that when we place this in priority, we dethrone the Lord Jesus Christ. And in a Christian's life, this is absolutely wrong. We violate scripture there. Gambling has this way of elevating money, elevating, getting, elevating something that I should not have as an admiration or an affection for. Money is a tool. Money is a medium of exchange. It's not a God. It's not a master. We don't love it. We don't serve it. We don't pursue after it. It's something that God allows for us and blesses us with, but it's not our God. Gambling turns that around. And number 15, let's move quickly. We'll get done. I see the end in view here. Gambling tends to get people to think about what they do not have. what you could have. You know what that's doing? Taking your eyes off of what you have right now. The Bible says, I have found that whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Contentment with godliness is great gain. We need to keep our eyes on that which we have presently and not what we could have in the future. This is the problem that it turns our eyes about what we do not have. Instead of thanking God for what we have, Ephesians 5.20 and 1 Thessalonians 5.18, in everything give thanks, we are now worried about what we don't have. Number 16. Gambling is in opposition to the biblical principle of contentment. We just commented on that here, but I want to make it clear that those who have found Christ to be all-sufficient do not need lottery don't need gambling they don't need quick money they need the Lord and they found that he is all that they need and that is the key here to be right in Christ we need to let him and him alone be all that we need and to play the lottery to play in gambling situations it does not speak that in our testimony and it and it violates that principle in scripture and then lastly gambling Lottery causes people to focus on the things in life that are temporal And what is more temporal than winning a lot of money, right? Money makes itself wings and flies away It's like putting our possessions in a bag with holes Right, we get it. We walk around by the end of the day. We don't have anything left That's where we live. The Bible says that if we don't lose it, then someone's going to come and steal it And if someone doesn't come and steal it, then moth and rust are going to come and eat it up. It's a losing proposition, my friend, because money is temporal. And when we put our focus on that which is temporal, we're violating the scriptural principle that those things that are real, those things that are eternal, are those things that we cannot put our hands on. And really the only thing, you say, why do we have money then? Why do we have possessions? So that we can translate that into that which is eternal. Laying up in heaven and we need to keep our eyes on that which is eternal as the bible says and so I hope today to give you this little bit of answer. Why don't we play the lottery? Uh, do you do you understand today? That is a biblical principle that's broken when we when we play the lottery I hope today that there's some at least realization in the scripture that there's a foundation why Christians don't do this. It's not just because we're stuck up or we're too stingy with our money. It's because there's some biblical principles about how we use our money that God is very interested in and our testimony is very important. This isn't an exhaustive list. We didn't talk about the fact of it robbing from the poor and other things that the Bible talks about. There's biblical principles there. It's important that we understand that. don't want to look what we put a lot of what we get a lot of play cards and and uh... you know go to the casinos everything else lot of reasons but i hope today we've talked about some scriptural reasons that god's given to us uh... to help us in that i would just and by asking and i were were need to finish up but maybe there's a question concerning this or comment miss patty uh... That's a good point. And that's a great question. You know, a lot of times you might get it as a gift or something. And here's what my principle would be, and I'm just speaking personally, all right? I think that the Lord would lead you on this, but I would tend to think that anything that would... Someone had to buy that lottery ticket. And even though it wasn't me personally, I may be taking part in that if I were to follow through. And for my conscience's sake, again, just speaking personally, And maybe it's just because the way I was raised or whatever else, it would be difficult for me to do that, understanding maybe what would happen in the sense, if I won, the money would be mine and therefore I would be taking it. Now, you could make the argument, well, somebody's going to win it, you know, I might as well. Again, it's all about self and that kind of thing. So I personally would probably say, well, I just prefer not to, or to decline or whatever the case might be in that. You know, and there's lots of other situations that comes about in our lives as we live in this world. And, you know, seemingly innocent. And they may be in the sense of the world, you know, we're not spending our money, that kind of thing. But I guess I go back to really the spirit, the principle of the thing. I really just want to be clear on that. I guess that would be my answer. That was a great question. Great question. Very legitimate there. Anybody else have a thought? Maybe a thought that I overlooked or something you could be clear on. Maybe a testimony. Sure, go ahead. Would the same thing apply if you go out and you enter a raffle to win this? Yeah, that's a great question too. Yeah, and again, here's the raffle. And I tell you this, this is something that's very personal to me because I was a volunteer firefighter in Humphrey, New York. And if you know anything about volunteer fire departments, They make their money on raffles. And I mean, that's all they do. And so I shouldn't say all they do, but it's a lot of what they do. We do fight fires sometimes. So the point is that I had to make a decision. I was in an elevated position. I was a chaplain. I was a fire commissioner. And so I had a lot of responsibility. And the raffle time comes along, and there's pressure to sell raffle tickets. There's pressure to participate in the raffle. And I had to go through and think that through. Now, here's the point. And I go back to the definition of gambling or whatever. And this is where I came to personally on my thing. And I would have to give money. for some tickets. I take the tickets. Half the tickets go in a little tumbler, you know, or whatever. And they draw out the tickets. And if I get a call on my ticket, then I win that prize. Now, I did not feel comfortable with spending my money again because of that principle. It is a dollar or whatever. No big deal. But the principle is the same. It doesn't matter if it's big or little. You know, there's not a cut off about if you spend more than a hundred dollars, it's sinful. The principles are the same. Now, it's different in that, for that reason I didn't participate in it. And I'm not demeaning or bringing down the raffle. Here's what happened. Many times people donate prizes for raffles and they're for a good cause. They're a fundraiser or something like that. And it's a donated thing. People just donate it and then people get it. In that sense, I don't think we'd be violating the principle of robbing from the poor and benefiting. But I still think, and again, you say, well, I'm helping a good cause. It's a fundraiser. I want to give it. Here's what I would just encourage you to do. I would just encourage you, instead of taking part in something like that, if you want to give something that would benefit, give it to them, all right? Just give the money to them. But then ask yourself the question, I want to invest in something. And there's a lot of good causes out there. But again, as a Christian, we need to make sure, number one, that our responsibilities are taken care of, your bills are paid. Number two, that you're investing in eternity. All right? That's the key. And if you've done those things and God has given you extra or you're allowed and you have a feeling for that, well then, you help a charity and you help something out. That's fine. Doing it in the sense of getting some return, I think that's still preying on the flesh a little bit. Uh, you know, if I get this, I can win this TV or, you know, this car or whatever. And it's still kind of fleshly. And so again, there's levels of this kind of commitment to Christ. And I think if we were to be honest, it still appeals to the flesh and it still takes away from the money and so forth, even though it may be small. So that again, a great question is something I've, I had to come to an agreement on and in my own heart, because it, you know, here I am. And, you know, I had to take a stand on that and say, you know, sorry, we're not going to be a part of this. And it was a good testimony, but. You know, I had to really know where I believed. So great question. Great question. Someone else had a question real quick? Maybe? Nobody? Anybody else have a question or thought? Brother Larry, go ahead. That's all right. When you first started and you thought about, was this just the way I see it in my life? It's like, OK, I'm like, You were saying something about is it wrong or right to shift things and give things and want things in a lottery. You know, I always thought that that was just a gimmick to, like you said, go for the poor. And, you know, we all can't get rich. We all try. A lot of people have been dead right now just playing that lottery. But I looked at it like everything is wrong if it's not, you know, with God. that's good it's good yeah That's good preaching brother Larry you're doing well I'll say this that you you alluded to the biblical principle whatsoever is not a faith is sin and Again that idea of you know just doing whatever we feel like and whatever seems right That's not a faith, and it's sinful and so there's a good good principle there as well. Thank you for that I And I encourage, maybe you have a thought or question on that at some point, you're welcome to let me know, maybe ride on a car or come see me or something, send me an email. But, yes ma'am, Mrs. Donnelly? Yeah. Yes. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I see. Yeah. Well, you know, and there again, you just go through the principles of the word of God. Not, you know, there's a, it's fun to take part of things. If it's a door prize or something, and you're playing a game for it or, you know, something like that. I think, you know, there again, there's wisdom that God gives us there that But again, I want to just emphasize there's a lot of principles in play that we need to be careful of, and just making sure that we're doing what's right. If you're not spending money for it, or someone else isn't spending money for it, or whatever, I don't know. I'd have to look through the whole situation there. But there's a lot of nuances there. We need God's wisdom, and just seeking His will on that. And God will help us in that. That's a great testimony, and lots of things going on there. I'm on the committee to get some money. Oh, good. There you go. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Well, and that's a good, good thought there. The Lord will direct you on that. I appreciate that. Are you, are you being party to that? Yes. You know, Mrs. Donnelly, I'd love to talk to you about that more. I don't want to sit and judge you here in front of everybody. I'd have to know more about the circumstances and so forth. But, you know, I believe the way you're describing and what you're part of, you know, it's something that's a part of a program and it's not costing and taking from the poor. You know, we'd have to look through that and see. I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of things that come into play there. And maybe I could talk to you about more about that. We could look through the situation. I appreciate your sensitivity in that. You know, the Lord will lead you in that. All right. He promises he'll do that. And it's a good question. And so we'll talk together more about that. OK. Excellent. All right. Well, the Lord's been good today and I appreciate the opportunity. This is a beginning of a long, possibly a long series here. We'll probably Sprinkle it with some other things to break it up a little bit, but boy, there's some great questions I'm looking forward to these things. Let's pray together Heavenly Father. Thank you for your love today. Thank you for your grace Thank you Lord for the Word of God that makes these things very plain and clear to us as we desire to obey you Lord, I pray that you help us, Lord, many choices in life and decisions that need to be made. Would you guide us, Lord? Thank you for the tender hearts and, Lord, the willingness to know and understand your word. We just want you to bless, Lord. We want to be in your will. And may we be humble and willing to do.