PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL
Luke 12:13-21
“Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.”
Luke 12:15 (The Message)
“That’s what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God.”
Luke 12:21 (The Message)
Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said,
“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.
You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am.
Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.
Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way,
to saving yourself, your true self.
What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?
What could you ever trade your soul for?
Mark 8:34-37 (The Message)
Yertle ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
And, using these turtles, he built a NEW throne.
He made each turtle stand on another one’s back
And he piled them all up in a nine-turtle stack.
(Seuss)
You know I guess…you use what you’ve got
But the way Yertle did it, wasn’t so hot.
A foundation of turtle shells isn’t the way
to build up a throne that is going to stay.
(Alan’s addition)
“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life,
homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a
smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit — but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.
But if you just use my words in Bible studies
and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach.
When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying —quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.
Matthew 7:24-29 (The Message)
Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18 New International Version (NIV)
First pride, then the crash —
the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
Proverbs 16:18 (The Message)
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
Matthew 23:1-11
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Matthew 23:12 (NIV)
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8 (NIV)
Come into my heart, forgive me my sin,
And I’ll give you as much of myself as I can.
I’ll try not to fight you, I’ll give you no strife,
And I know that with time you’ll be Lord of my life.