What's Wrong With Gambling?

Intro: ***A preacher saw a man who looked homeless sitting on a park bench and seemed to be in deep distress so he passed by him, handed him a $20 bill and whispered to him, “Never Despair”. The next day the preacher saw the man coming toward him hurriedly and gave him $60. The preacher asked what that was and the man said, "You were right! Never Despair came in first yesterday paying out 6 to 1 odds in the 4th race...

I. WHAT IS THE SPIRITUAL EFFECT OF GAMBLING?

A. Money is designed to do 3 basic things…

1. Take care of personal and family needs…

2. Further the work of God…

3. Provide help for those in need….

B. Troop – "Gad" – means Fortune...A Babylonian god who was considered “the greater god of fortune” worshipped through giving offerings for good luck...

C. Number – Meni – means Fate or Luck, Was considered to be a female goddess who was of the lesser fortune or “DOOM”, ...Lady Luck

When you lay down a bet or buy a lottery ticket you are literally laying down an offering for the gods of fortune, fate and destiny...

In the Old Testament we find the "casting of lots" determinig the outcome of a decision...These lots were controlled by a spirit.

Sometimes God would determione the lots for the Hebrews.

The heathen had their gods determione theirs...

Must ask two questions…

1. Does gambling bring glory to God?

a) If God’s men preach against gambling how can good honest Christians ignore God’s men?

2. Does it edify the believer? EXPAND!

II. What is the Social Effect of Gambling?

***A lady and her husband were playing the slots side by side. The lady’s husband had a heart attack. The lady pushed her husband out of the way, straddled both machines and continued gambling while the medics tried to revive him to no avail.

***At the Lake Charles riverboats a few years ago there were two homicide-suicide cases. Both were over one of the spouses going too far in debt so the other killed the spouse then committed suicide.

***Children left wandering the corridors in the gambling establishments...

***Crimes soar! A friend of ours was an auditor for the Calcasieu School Board and had a large number of embezzlement cases to support their gambling addiction. Unfortunately these are not recorded in the law books as gambling related crimes.

III. WHAT IS THE STEWARDSHIP EFFECT OF GAMBLING?

TURN TO I TIMOTHY 6:17-19

A. If you spent $50 a month on the lottery you would lose $12,000 over 20 years…

If you invested $50 a month over 20 years you would have over $34,365.00

B. Suppose you had a bank account with $20,000 in it.

The Bank Pres. Calls you up and says he’d like to invest your bank account by buying lottery tickets in hopes of hitting it big and making you a big return. What would you do? I’d change banks and you would too...

C. Gambling is designed for you to lose….

It is extremely exploitative...

1) For 1 person to win many, many must lose….

Can you see God in that????

2) It targets the poor…..EXPAND!

3) It destroys the local economy…..

-GONNA HELP SCHOOL FUNDING...

THE PERCENTAGE GIVEN WAS THE PERCENTAGE CUT FROM THE STATE BUDGETS...

THE FIRST ONES TO BENEFIT IN LAKE CHARLES WERE:

-THE STATE POLICE……

-a NEW court house……

-New roads right there where the casinos are…NOW HAS EASY ACCESS…ETC…

IV. IT VIOLATES THE PRINCIPLE OF GOD’S OWNERSHIP AND OUR STEWARDSHIP!

A. God gives to us with the expectation of responsible stewardship….

We are to be a river of blessing not a dam to hoard up wealth…if you let that dam flow God will keep filling it and you’ll have to let it flow more …and then more….PREACH!