Text: Colossians 3:1-10<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Gambling is now rampant in our nation<\/p>\n A. Not too long ago, the only gambling available were raffle tickets, bingo games at\nthe Catholic Church, and casinos in La Vegas, Nevada.\n B. No longer! Gambling is everywhere: at the gas station, at the corner market, even\nat my doorstep. \n 1. A young man interrupted my supper one night to offer me raffle tickets for\nsome local charitable organization. The raffle was being sponsored by the\nOmaha Church of Christ! I suspect it was done by the group that is\nassociated with the International Church of Christ. \n 2. I don’t know which surprised me worse, a group using the name Church of\nChrist selling raffle tickets or the fact that the young solicitor couldn’t tell\nme where the Omaha Church of Christ was located.\n
C. So what harm is there is a little bit of gambling?<\/p>\n
II. What do I mean by gambling?<\/p>\n A. Websters: “to play games of chance for money or some other stake; to take a risk\nin order to gain some advantage; to be, wager; an act of undertaking involving risk\nof a loss.”\n B. This definition is too broad, as it includes risk taking. A better definition is\n“getting something for nothing without rendering service or exchange of goods.”\n C. “A simple definition of gambling would be, desiring the possession or possessions\nof another (the prize), the gambler creates a risk (that of losing his own\npossession) in an attempt through chance to gain the possession or possession of\nanother with nothing given in exchange. Gambling takes many forms: card\ngames, dice, numbers, betting, slot machines, sports pools, punch boards, bingo\n(for money or prizes), raffle tickets, matching, and even pitching pennies”\n D. Gambling is a matter of kind, not degree. Whether the wager is 50 cents or 50\ndollars, it is still gambling.\n
III. Why do people gamble?<\/p>\n
A. A desire to gain wealth quickly.<\/p>\n
1. People get impatient with getting ahead through regular work.<\/p>\n
B. A desire for excitement.<\/p>\n
1. The risks, suspense, hope, and shock of surprises entertains many people.<\/p>\n
C. The instinct of combativeness.<\/p>\n
D. Gambling is basically driven by covetousness, laziness, and recklessness.<\/p>\n E. Gambling is also addictive. There are millions of compulsive gamblers in our\ncountry (an article in 1996 puts it at 10 million, 1 million being teenagers). In\n1996 we had a series of bank robberies in Omaha, which is believed to be done by\na man trying to support his gambling habits. \n 1. Earl Grinois, economist at University of Illinois, “The casino industry is\nheavily dependent on the revenues of psychologically sick people.” More\nthan half of a casino’s take comes from problem and pathological\ngamblers.\n
IV. Why is gambling wrong?<\/p>\n
A. God has commanded man to work for his living – Genesis 3:19<\/p>\n 1. Paul told the Ephesians to labor with our hands – Ephesians 4:28; I\nThessalonians 4:11\n
2. If we don’t work, we shouldn’t eat – II Thessalonians 3:10-13<\/p>\n
3. Gamblers are seeking to win without earning through shear chance.<\/p>\n
4. Proverbs 12:11 – Gambling is definitely a frivolity (a vain thing).<\/p>\n
B. Gambling is associated with sin<\/p>\n 1. Harrison County, Mississippi, saw divorce rates rise from 440 in 1992 to\n1,100 in 1993 – the first full year gambling was legalized in the county\n 2. In the first three years after Atlantic City legalized gambling, it when from\n50th to 1st in the nation among cities in per-capita crime. Nevada is\nalways near the top of the list.\n 3. In the first five years that Deadwood, S.D., legalized gambling serious\ncrime rose 93 percent.\n 4. In the first three years after Foxwood opened rape, robbery, car theft, and\nlarceny all increase more than 400 percent.\n
5. Why would government support something that increases crime?<\/p>\n
a. Isn’t the complaint already that our jails are full?<\/p>\n b. The answer is money. For example, Maryland collects 61% tax on\nslot machine revenues.\n
C. Gambling violates the golden rule<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 7:12 – Do unto others as you would have them do to you.<\/p>\n 2. A gambler seeks for others to lose, while he wins. Just because others are\nwilling partners does not make it right.\n
3. This is covetousness! – Luke 12:15<\/p>\n 4. How are we doing good to all, when we hope they lose their money? \nGalatians 6:10\n
5. Love does no harm to a neighbor – Romans 13:10<\/p>\n
D. Gambling creates a false hope<\/p>\n
1. You hope you will win – perhaps this next time.<\/p>\n
2. The lure of becoming a millionaire overnight is strong. – Ecclesiastes 5:10<\/p>\n
3. Yet where is a Christian’s hope suppose to be? – Colossians 3:1-3<\/p>\n
E. Gambling is a poor investment<\/p>\n
1. Most games of chance return on 30 to 50 percent of every dollar invested.<\/p>\n 2. How many of you would place your retirement fund in a place you know\nwill, on average, only return half your money?\n
\n
\n
\nHow to Win the Lottery by David Olsen<\/p>\n
True story for anyone’s gambling lesson:<\/p>\n There is a man at the Texas City church of Christ named Marlin Ridenour. He works for the City\n of Galveston and oversees the water department.\n The year the Texas State Lottery commenced in 1991, one of the employees wrote on a\n whiteboard a little table tracking lottery winnings of employees. Any employee could put their\n name on the board and track to see who won the most money. Six people signed up and tracked\n how many tickets they bought. When they won, they added money. When they lost, they\n subtracted the costs of the ticket.\n Marlin put his name up there too. He bought 0 tickets made $0 dollars and lost $0. After about 10\n months of tracking … HE WON!!! With $0.\n
Finally a guy who was in the negative by about $400 erased the whole board in disgust.<\/p>\n You would think it would have taught everyone a lesson, but it didn’t. They still play and he still\n doesn’t. He probably has a net worth more than the other five employees combined.\n
Lottery = Tax for foolish people <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
3. Yet many frivolously gamble away their life savings.<\/p>\n 4. Governments love it because it is a willing tax from the people. We talk\nabout reducing government, and then freely offer them our livelihood.\n 5. God expects us to be good stewards of the things he has given us – I\nCorinthians 4:2\n
V. How Gambling is Justified<\/p>\n
A. Its harmless – we’ve already shown that it is not.<\/p>\n
B. Good can come of it<\/p>\n 1. This is why gambling is brought in saying, “It will fund our schools,” or\nsome charitable organization is supposed to get a portion of the proceeds\n
2. I have people claim, “If I win, I’ll give 10% to the Lord!”<\/p>\n 3. Saul justified his disobedience by claiming there would be a sacrifice – I\nSamuel 15:19-22\n
4. Good doesn’t come from wrong – Romans 3:8<\/p>\n a. Thus a claim of a good result doesn’t prove it was right in the first\nplace.\n
5. God doesn’t want the money of sinners – Deuteronomy 23:18<\/p>\n C. Other church people drink or use the Lord’s name in vain. They think nothing of\nit, so what’s so wrong with me gambling?\n
1. Essentially saying my sin is no worse than your sin<\/p>\n
2. The problem is that they are all still sin!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Colossians 3:1-10 I. Gambling is now rampant in our nation A. Not too long ago, the only gambling available were raffle tickets, bingo games at the Catholic Church, and casinos in La Vegas, Nevada. B. No longer! Gambling is everywhere: at the gas station, at the corner market, even at my doorstep. 1. A young man interrupted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[815],"class_list":["post-14810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-gambling"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26028,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-bag-raffle-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":14810,"position":0},"title":"Is a “bag raffle” gambling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong to participate in a bag raffle?\u00a0\u00a0I purchase my groceries from a health food store, and when I bring in my own grocery bag, they subtract\u00a0five cents from\u00a0the total, and they offer me a\u00a0raffle ticket so that I can\u00a0put\u00a0my name in a jar to possibly be chosen\u00a0to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-raffles-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":14810,"position":1},"title":"Are raffles wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I have a concern. As far as I know, I am completely sure that games like lottery, bingo, casinos, etc. are incorrect as are all kinds of raffles or sales sponsored by the church, since it is not authorized by the New Testament for the church to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-stock-market-considered-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":14810,"position":2},"title":"Is the stock market considered gambling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the stock market considered gambling because they are no guarantees and it involves a risk of loss? When one buys stock they do it in hopes of that stock going up and that could be considered covetousness, greed and not being content; otherwise, they could just put their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-advisable-to-be-involved-in-bitcoin-or-cryptocurrency\/","url_meta":{"origin":14810,"position":3},"title":"Is it advisable to be involved in bitcoin or cryptocurrency?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Please I want to make an inquiry on bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and the like. As a Christian, is it advisable to be involved in these? Answer: Cryptocurrencies are electronic funds. They do not represent anything in the real world, such as a stock of gold somewhere. They are not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-what-they-told-you-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":14810,"position":4},"title":"Not What They Told You – Gambling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Proverbs 28:19-22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Gambling is not a new problem \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But it has become a big business. Every state in the United States has some form of legal gambling \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Though Nebraska is the least state addicted to gambling, it still exists (the next lowest are Alabama,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-gambling-sinful\/","url_meta":{"origin":14810,"position":5},"title":"Is Gambling Sinful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by T. Sean Sullivan Are you familiar with, or have you ever heard any of these terms: Raffle, bingo, chances, scratch n\u2019 win, lottery, or gaming? Have you ever made a \u201cwager\u201d on the outcome of a sports event? The Super Bowl is coming up in a couple of weeks.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}