Picture This Week 5: The Parable of the Rich Fool

Picture This Week 5: The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:13-21

As we continue looking at the parables of Jesus, this week we hear from Pastor Ken from Blantyre Baptist Church as he shares more insight from the story of the rich fool. Jesus cautions us to “Take care and to be on guard against all forms of greediness, acquisitive behavior. We are not to devote our lives to gathering and accumulation of wealth. It is in human nature to lose sight when we are blessed with wealth, instead of using it to further the Will of God,we are so focused on managing and increasing our possessions. 

We are not blessed by God to keep all our possessions to ourselves, we are blessed to be a blessing in our lives to others and to build the Kingdom of God. This life we treasure so much is going to be demanded at some point and we are going to have to account for it. Let us involve God in our lives and how we use our resources. We are not guaranteed tomorrow but that should not stop us from making plans, God should be at the center of those plans.

Next Steps questions:

  1. Is there any area of your life where you feel like you are putting “things” above God?
  2. What steps do you need to take this week to live more like Christ this week?

Catch up on earlier Picture This sermons: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

Picture This Week 5: The Parable of the Rich Fool

Picture This Week 4: The Parable of the Lost Sheep

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15:1-7

This week we take a look at the story of the lost sheep. We hear from Andee as she enlightens us on how natural it is for children of God to get lost in our lives or communities, and how amazing God is in searching for that one lost individual.

God is just so amazing that He affords us the free will to make our own choices, and oftentimes times these choices are not the right ones, they lead us astray. The God, our King, is going to leave the 99 just to search for the one who is lost. God is going to welcome him/her home and celebrate along with others. His love is just so overwhelming that He will search for you and He will find you, God loves us even more when we are lost.

Next Steps questions:

  1. Who in our community is lost? Do we need to go and search for them? Go find them! Go get them and bring them back.
  2. How is your heart? Do you feel lost right now?
  3. If you are feeling lost, can you reach out to one of us? We will come find you.

Catch up on earlier Picture This sermons: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3