Pastor Armstrong's sermon is based on Luke 12:13-21.

The Peril of Plenty  (Luke 12:13-21)

I.   Pleonexia = covetousness, greed, insatiableness (v.15).

A. It is _______________.

B. “Pleonexia never rests from acquiring pleon [‘more’],” Plutarch, On Love of Wealth (Moralia, 523 E).   

C. It is ______________ (Colossians 3:5; Matthew 6:24).

D. _______________ are especially symptomatic.

II.  God is so generous He gives _____________________.  What is our response? 

A. Hoarding.   

1. Possessions are not intrinsically evil, but they are intrinsically ______________. 

2. The more you have, the more ______________ you put   between yourself and others (vv. 17-19; Isaiah 5:8).

3. Surpluses provide only the ____________ of security, for life is not a right but a gift—on loan from God (v.20).

B. Sharing. 

1. “Paul envisions ______________ redistribution of goods among Christians to address the imbalance between rich and poor. 

“To give to another’s need is to lay a gift on the altar of God.” 

“The bellies of the poor were better storerooms than than the rich man’s barns,” (St. Augustine of Hippo, North Africa).

2. Our abundance today will relieve the needs of others today, while their abundance tomorrow will relieve our need         tomorrow (2 Corinthians 8:14).   This is God’s way of _______________________.   

3. To be “rich toward God” is to view all life as _________________ (v. 16; John 3:27; 1 Corinthians 4:7),     including _______________________ (Ephesians 2:8-9).