Sunday, September 25, 2011

“GREED”


Good morning everyone.  Well, fall is in the air and I personally am not looking forward to the cold to follow.  Don’t get me wrong, I know each day is a blessing and I will be thankful for everyone I get to see, but I don’t do well in the cold.

Today, I want to speak on the subject of greed.  Greed can be exhibited in many ways.  Greed is an inordinate desire to acquire and possess.  Greed is sin - contrary to the character of God.  Greed involves the "personal aspiration" of the "lust of the eyes".  Greed is related to materialism.  Greed is idolatry.  Greed, while having an appeal and the appearance of satisfying, can run you down, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Let’s go to “The Book” and see what God has to say.

1 Corinthians 5:11 says, “What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people.”  Mark 7:21-23 says, “21For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God."  Luke 12:15 says, “Then he said, "Beware! Don't be greedy for what you don't have. Real life is not measured by how much we own."  Ephesians 5:5 says, “You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world.”  1 John 3:17 says, “But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help -- how can God's love be in that person?”

There may be greed if you:  ..can't say "no" when offered money to do a job.  ...feel resentment when someone acquires what you would like to have.  ...engage in the "one-up-man-ship" of topping another's accounts of acquisitions.  ...give something wanting to be properly credited or reciprocated.  ...feel imposed upon when one of your children asks for money to buy something.  …if you begrudge another of a meal, a new pair of shoes or maybe some new clothes.

Some how, we have evolved from a world where families and communities use to stick together, “one for all and all for one”, to “the one with the most toys wins”.  It use to be if your neighbor was hungry, you didn’t go around whispering about it, you shared what you had.  If you only had two shirts in your closet and your neighbor didn’t have one, you gave them one of yours. 
I remember a show on Andy Griffith where Andy was suppose to evict a family and instead their neighbors got together and helped to raise money to pay up their mortgage.  Statistics today show that approximately 1 in 200 Americans are homeless.  God forgive us.

If each of us that has food to eat, clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads and can pay our bills of necessity and have money to spare would just do a little for those that don’t have these things to live, the world would be a much better place and the we would be the better for it.

Remember:  Thomas Jefferson said, “Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor”.

Until next time, please pray for each other, and me, as I continue to pray for you.  Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church

“CHARACTER”


Good morning to everyone. Once again, I pray you took advantage of the privilege to
attend a house of worship of your choice. At least we have not lost that blessing yet.
People try to take us away from Christ and Christ away from us, but we can still get up
and go to church, if we will.

Our topic this week is "Character". Character can be defined as,
1>the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or
thing.
2>one such feature or trait; characteristic.
3>moral or ethical quality: a man of fine, honorable character.
4>qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity: It takes character to face up to a
bully.
5> reputation: a stain on one's character.
6>good repute.
7>an account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.
8>a person, esp. with reference to behavior or personality: a suspicious character.

With these definitions, we see things that help to show others who and what we are.
The Bible tells us of how the early Patriarchs made their way through life building alters
and digging wells to leave monuments to others and their children. Generations later,
people could tell you who built the alter and for what reason, or who dug the well and
why. Character was passed down through time and it was the actions of those that
made their character.

I can remember as a child living in Tennessee, my grandmother on my dad's side lived
in Alabama and my grandparents on my mother's side lived in Florida. We use to make
a lot of trips back and forth between the two of them. We could have jumped on 65
and took the fast track, but most of the time we took the back roads. We would stop
at the roadside picnic tables and eat a packed lunch of fried pork chops or fried
chicken, potato salad and maybe some tea made in a milk jug. No fast food junk. We
would load up in the station wagon and stop by the state parks and walk around.
During the car ride, we would play "I spy", "Popeye" or maybe "hangman", or if the ride
was too long between stops we may even have a fight between siblings. We did ok
without laptops, psps, Nintendo ds, portable dvd players, mp3 players, ipods, cell phones
and notepads. We actually talked about what was going on in our lives. We talked
about how things have changed over the years. Now days, everyone is flying up and
down the 6,7,8 lane roads in a hurry to get to where they think they have to be and
the little 2 lane roads that have history and character, little ma and pa shops and
cafes, are disappearing, and with them all the character that goes along with them. And
with that goes the character that becomes instilled in us.

Have you ever heard the saying, "so and so looks just like so and so, or he cannot
deny him"? It use to be we were known by our families and the character and
reputation of our families were known by people all around. I would venture to say that
most teens could not even tell you their grandparents full names, let alone anything
about their great-grandparents. Parents are doing all they can to pay for the things they
think they have to have and our children are being left to raise themselves on cable,
video games, friends, gangs and who knows what else. That is where they are learning
their character.

If we look back a generation or two, we see families taking care of each other. There
was no microwave foods, families made sure they cooked real meals to share. Families
ate together. After meals, everyone didn't shoot off to do their own things. They sat
around together and talked, played games, sang around a guitar or piano, watched the
sunsets, learned about what it took from their ancestors to make it possible for them to
be where they are today. Today we tell people they need to "find themselves", forget
the past and any parental influences and just be yourself. Looking back at the past, it
wasn't all that bad. Today we have the highest rate of teen violence, teen pregnancy,
unwed mothers, divorce, homosexuality, suicide, low to no self esteem, people living with
each other without being married and there are more people living on prescription drugs
for mental disorders than ever before.

We are told in the book of Romans, chapter 5, that tribulation produces perseverance;
and perseverance, character; and character, hope. If we are going to have hope in these
times, and I think there could be no argument that these are rough times, we must
return to the teachings of the Bible and stop looking to Oprah and Dr. Phil for the
answers to life questions. It is this type of thought and evolution that have brought us
from the times of happy families and Andy Griffith, to where we are today.
Character is not something we can tell those we influence to have. We can tell them
about others in our past, that have helped us to have the character we have, but we
must also live out the character our ancestors passed on to us, if we hope to get back
on track. The change we need is not what the presidential hopefuls are trying to push
down our throats, but a change back to the basic and simple things of life. When times
were much better and character said something about you and you were proud of what
it said about you.

Remember: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7] THE BIBLE.

Until next time, please pray for each other and me, as I continue to pray for each of
you. Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church

“A WALK IN THE PARK”


Good morning. I pray you all had a restful and spirit filled weekend. I was blessed with
the ability to be in God’s house this week and I am so thankful for that, and for the
spiritual feeding I received. I also would like to encourage any of you that actually read
this to voice any opinions, commits or questions you may come up with.

Today’s topic, “A Walk In The Park”, is inspired from all the “real life” that is going on
all around us right now. There is some “myth” that says, “if you are a Christian, it will
always be smooth sailing. You will never have any money problems. You will always have
good health. You will never have a bad day. You will always be up and you will never
have a ripple in your pond.” This train of though is BOLOGNA. Let me show you a few
things God’s word has to say about this.

Psalms 34:19 says, “ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him
out of them all.” Job 2:10 says, “ But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish
women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept
adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Proverbs 24:16 says, “ For a
righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by
calamity.” Hebrews 12:6 says, “ For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges
every son whom He receives." John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken to you,
that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world." 1 John 5:3-4 says, “3 For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For
whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome
the world--our faith.” Revelations 2:10 says, “Do not fear any of those things which you
are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that
you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I
will give you the crown of life.”

Friends, the reality is, in this life, there will be times that you don’t have enough money
to go around. There will be times when people mistreat you and reject you. There will
be times of illness and death. There will be times of loneliness. There will be times
when it seems like nothing will go right and everyone is against you. There will be times
when you are down and cannot see the forest for the trees.

But wait; All this bad, is just for a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To everything
there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” Matthew 7:10 reminds us
that it is God’s desire to give us good. God is on the side of those that are His.
There will be times of rain, but there will be times of sunshine as well. There will be
times of pain, but there will be times of happiness. There will be times of poverty, but
there will be times of prosperity. “A Walk In The Park”??? Depends on who you are
walking with.

Remember: You cannot experience the thrill of victory, if you’re never in the fight to
begin with.

Until next time, please pray for each other and me, as I continue to pray for each of
you. Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church