35:36 minutes (16.3 MB)
Sermon text: Luke 12:16-21
A few years ago a man from West Virginia won the Powerball lottery jackpot. His friends had always described him as a boisterous, generous and happy-go-lucky guy until he won the $315 million prize. To most of us that would seem like such a blessing, but with money comes great temptations and complications. Whittaker’s winnings were the richest undivided jackpot in U.S. history at the time. Although he quickly gave millions away to his church and other charities, his money eventually brought him problems and difficulties that he had never experienced before. He became a slave to his wealth and it led him down paths where he never thought he would find himself. Since winning the jackpot in 2002, Whittaker has been arrested twice for drunken driving and has been ordered into rehab. He eventually pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge for attacking a bar manager, and was accused in two lawsuits of causing trouble at a nightclub and a racetrack. His wife, understanding the effects that the money had on her husband, was quoted as saying, “I wish all of this would have never happened, I wish I would have torn that ticket up.”
