Covet

Deuteronomy 5:21: ²¹ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
 
*its the hardest commandment because it deals with the heart
*we often wish we could be better and more talented
*what does the commandment prohibit
*"covet""hamat"-a lusting after belongings and posessions of our neighbour
*provokes jealousy and greed
*we can see it
*we just wanna have more and more and there is no stopping

*Matthew 15:19: ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
 
*Matthew 6:21: ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
 
*James 4:1-2b:

Submit Yourselves to God

4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

*the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart
*this commandment tells us to introspect ourselves
*Jeremiah 17:19:

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹ This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.

^*foundations for covetousness
*the get what i have not got will bring me happiness
*the idea that things and persons can bring happiness
*the idea that self has to be pleased and satisfied
*God shaped vacuum can only be filled with by God
*this commandments brings us back to the 1st and 2nd commandment
*this big cells needs to be satisfied but we know its not true
*what breeds covetousness?
-our environment
-the advertisement
-the multimedia
-the modern financial facilities
*some of the company we keep
*discontented heart
*demanding spouse
*were good enough if we have this certain body shape,hair style,sports car
*we should be aware to be each others watch dog
*consequences about our covetousness
*story bout Judas and king David coveting Beersheba says so much about the consequences
*we must learn to be contented

*Phillippians 4:10-13:

Thanks for Their Gifts

¹⁰ I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

*even ministers can be so calm outside but their heart of covetousness is always there
*10 commandments is there for us and our
*it works very subtly among us
*focus on relationships not things
*"love people,use things"
*life is meaningful because we have a relationship with God
*we trust God to be the all wise God and will give us what we need so that God can use us
*God will provide
*choose to be a giver and give more and more
*evaluate our priorities
*"our want is not our need"
*cultivate the discipline of fasting
*covetousness in the end destroys us

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**