Coveting
Have to Have
Coveting
means I have to have what the “haves” have.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 59)
Thou Shalt Not Covet Hamburgers
When I was
in sixth grade, I went to a small Lutheran school in New Orleans. Our school
didn’t have a cafeteria, so each student brought lunch from home and ate it at
his or her desk. Every day I carried the same meal in my blue snap-down lunch
box:
Baloney
sandwich on white bread. (This was before whole wheat bread was “invented.”)
Small bag
of potato chips.
Thermos
bottle of tomato soup.
Moon pie.
Robbie
Buckner sat to my right. He never brought a lunch box to school. At noon each
day, his mother delivered him a hamburger from the restaurant down the street.
In those days my family was relatively poor, so I got to eat a hamburger at a
restaurant only a couple of times a year. Robbie ate them every day.
Each lunch
period I was forced to smell his hamburger. I watched in agony as Robbie opened
his mouth wide and chewed off a mouthful. I was tortured as I listened to him
smack each bite, while I forced a baloney sandwich down my own throat.
Paul said,
“I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not
covet.’” I would not have known about coveting if it weren’t for Robbie
Buckner’s hamburger.
I memorized
the Ten Commandments in this Christian grade school. I could say the tenth by
heart: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his
donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Ex. 20:17).
With my
head I learned not to covet, but with my heart I learned how to covet. I
know that hamburgers aren’t mentioned in the off-limits list in the tenth
commandment. I didn’t covet my neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox, or donkey.
But that last phrase did me in: “or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Yep, that includes hamburgers.
And who is
my neighbor? Anyone outside of me.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 59-60)
Criticism
You Cannot Please the Critics
A father,
son, and their donkey were traveling from one village to another. The boy walked
while the man rode the donkey. The father overheard a bystander say, “That’s a
shame. Look how that man is making that poor boy walk.”
Not wanting
to be the object of criticism, the father and son changed places. The boy rode
the donkey while the man walked. He then heard a woman comment, “Look how that
boy on the donkey is making that poor man walk.”
The father
and son both climbed onto the donkey. As they traveled down the road, someone
said, “Look how that man and boy are making that poor donkey suffer.”
They both
got off and walked. The people remarked, “Look at that stupid man and boy.
They’re walking when they could be riding that donkey.”
When they
entered the next village, the boy was walking and the man was carrying the
donkey!
No matter
what you do, someone will find fault.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 109-110)
Death
Unusual Deaths
Anthony
Fernando, a twenty-one-year-old man living in Colombo, Sri Lanka, went fishing
one day off the coast of the island. He had no idea he would never make it back
alive. If you would venture to guess how this man lost his life, what would you
say? That he died from a heart attack? Perhaps he fell out of the boat and
drowned? Or how about a shark attack?
It was none
of these things. A forktail gar fish jumped out of the water and cut him on the
neck with its tail. He bled to death before a fellow fisherman could get him to
a hospital. If you had told him before he left to go fishing this would happen,
he wouldn't have believed it.
Lance
Foster, a twenty-three-year-old student at the University of Kansas was studying
at his desk one night. Little did he know he would be dead a few minutes later.
How did he
die? Was he shot by a roommate? Or did lightning come through his window and
strike him? It was neither. He was killed by a soda machine.
Foster
became thirsty and decided to walk down the hallway to get something to drink.
He put his money in the machine, but the drink didn't come out. When he rocked
the vending machine back and forth to get the can of soda, it fell on top of
him. He died from internal injuries shortly thereafter. If you had told him he
would die when he went to get a drink, he wouldn't have believed it.
If you
would have told Ali-Asghar Ahani he would be shot to death by a snake, he
wouldn't have believed it. But it happened. Although he could have shot the
snake, this man from Iran was trying to capture it alive. When he pressed the
butt of his shotgun behind its head, the snake coiled itself around the gun.
With its tail thrashing, the snake pulled the trigger, firing one of the barrels
and shooting Ahani in the head. Ahani had also died an unexpected and unusual
death.
After
winning $3.6 million in the lottery, William Curry must have thought he was the
luckiest person in the world. But he wasn't lucky for very long. Two weeks after
hitting the jackpot Curry, at the age of thirty-seven, died of a heart attack.
His sister-in-law said the stress of winning the lottery killed him.
None of
these people knew or even imagined that death was just moments away. Death can
come unexpectantly to anyone.
Have you
ever thought about how you will die? Will you be cut by a fish tail? Crushed by
a soda machine? Shot by a snake? Maybe your heart will just stop beating. You
probably won't be able to predict how or when your death will occur.
Nevertheless, you have an appointment with death and you need to be prepared.
(Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003,
212-213)
The Spirit Departs the Body
One young
minister was doing his first funeral. He explained to the congregation how the
spirit departs from the body when a person dies. Then he pointed to the corpse
in the open casket and said, "Folks, what you see here is just a shell. The nut
has already departed!" (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 215)
Death for the Christian
A little
boy asked his mother what death was like. She said to him, "Do you remember when
you fell asleep in the living room? Your father picked you up in his big strong
arms and took you to your bedroom. When you woke up, you found yourself in
another room. Death for the Christian is like that. You go to sleep in one room
and wake up in another." (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 216)
Last Wor. . .
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist . . ." --Last words of Union Army General John B. Sedgwick, Civil War Battle of Spotsylvania, May 9, 1864
The Reality but not Finality of Death
“We do not defy the
reality of death. But, forever in Jesus Christ, we deny the finality of death.”
--E. Stanley Jones
Deception
A Perception Based upon Deception
Several
years ago someone called a package delivery driver’s wife in Kansas while her
husband was on the road. A man in a professional-sounding voice said, “Mrs.
Jones, this is Dr. Johnson. I’m sorry to inform you that your husband is in the
hospital with a life-threatening, unknown disease and may die. We need a hair
sample from you immediately because we believe you may have also contracted this
disease.”
The
terrible news jolted the poor woman. The man instructed her to get a pair of
scissors and cut off all her hair at the roots so the hospital could run some
lab tests. She obediently did as she was ordered, cutting off her hair.
After
completing the caller’s instructions, she asked what to do next.
The man
replied, “The next thing you need to do is wait for your husband to come home. I
made up this entire story.” The prankster then hung up.
Satan wants
your perception to be based upon deception. This woman acted on what she
believed to be true. You act, not necessarily upon what is true but on what you
believe to be true. Satan also knows this, so he creates an unreal world
through your imaginations. He knows that if he can get you to believe his lies,
you’ll react as though they were true.
(Kent
Crockett, I Once Was Blind But Now I Squint, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers,
2004, 130-131)
Finding the Camouflage
An army spokesman stated,
"We don't know of a single case where the enemy successfully used camouflage
against us."
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Before God Can Set Us Free . . .
"Before God can deliver
us we must undeceive ourselves." --Augustine of Hippo
Kent Crockett's Sermon Illustrations www.kentcrockett.com
Decision-Making
To Jump or Not to Jump
Three frogs sat on a
lilly pad. One decided to jump off. How many were left?
Three. He only decided to
jump off, but never took the leap.
It's not enough to make a decision. You've got to take a leap of faith and follow through with it.
Impulse Buying
A car salesman told me that 95% of the cars he sells are bought on impulse. --Kent Crockett
A Smart Move
"When I was 18, I wanted
to be a brain surgeon. God only knows how many lives have been saved by my
change in major." --Bob Gates, Texas A&M University President
Kent Crockett's Sermon
Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
Depression
Thoughts Affect Moods
Have you
ever wondered why you become depressed? I would like to give you a little test
to help you analyze yourself.
The
Thought-Analyzer Test
1. When I
am happy, I have been thinking _______________ thoughts.
2. When I
am sad, I have been thinking ________________ thoughts.
3. When I
am angry, I have been thinking _______________ thoughts.
4. When I
am depressed, I have been thinking _____________ thoughts.
The answers
are:
1. happy
2. sad
3. angry
4.
depressing
It is so
profoundly simple that it is simply profound. The way we think will affect the
moods we are in. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 78)