Grasp All, Lose All

The Chicago Tribune (9/1/96) ran the story of Buddy Post, "living proof that money can't buy happiness." In 1988, he won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery. Since then, he was convicted of assault, his sixth wife left him, his brother was convicted of trying to kill him, and his landlady successfully sued him for one-third of the jackpot.

            "Money didn't change me," insists Post, a 58-year-old former carnival worker and cook. "It changed people around me that I knew, that I thought cared a little bit about me. But they only cared about the money."

            Post is trying to auction off seventeen future payments, valued at nearly $5 million, in order to pay off taxes, legal fees, and a number of failed business ventures. He plans to spend his life as an ex-winner pursuing lawsuits he has filed against police, judges, and lawyers who he says conspired to take his money. "I'm just going to stay at home and mind my p's and q's," he said. "Money draws flies."

I.                    Greed Leads to Deception (20-24)

A.                Greed-I Want It All

B.                 Deception-Motive of the Heart

Poverty wants much; greed, everything.   Publilius Syrus (First Century B.C.)

II.                 Greed Will Be Found Out (25-26)

A.                You Cannot Fool God (The Prophetic Office)

B.                 Greed Led Gehazi Outside of God’s Timing

He that serves God for money will serve the devil for more of the same.

III.               Greed (Unchecked) Will Destroy the Soul (27)

A.                Generational Curse

B.                 Punishment of the Heart

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole and loses his soul?”