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Greetings and welcome once again to the Signature Word Podcast. This is for the week of Monday, July the 6th, 2026. Today is part one of a new series entitled Parable of the Rich Fool as spoken by Jesus in the book of Saint Luke, chapter twelve, verses thirteen through twenty one, where it reads Then one from the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Friend, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. Then he spoke a parable to them saying, The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully, and he thought within himself saying, What shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, Thou fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. While Jesus was speaking to the multitude, including his disciples, he was interrupted by a listener who presented a most inappropriate request. He asked Jesus to settle a dispute between his brother and himself over an inheritance. We are not told whether the man was being deprived of his rightful portion or whether he was greedy for more than his share. Jesus quickly reminded him that he did not come into the world to handle such matters. The purpose of his coming involved the salvation of human of sinful humanity. He would not be deflected from his glorious mission just to divide an inheritance. In addition, he did not have legal authority to judge matters involving estates. This responsibility rested with the scribes, the custodians of the law on such matters. Jesus then warned the petitioner against the covetous spirit which makes and maintains such disputes. Jesus went on to use the parabolic illustration of the rich fool to expose the folly of covetousness in any form, and the error of thinking that a person's life consisted in the abundance of the things they possessed. To think of life only in terms of things is both foolish and fatal, because life is not held together by material possessions, even if they are abundant, but by things spiritual and eternal. Such is the background of this parable. Jesus here used a hard word to characterize the mistake of the rich man. He called him a fool. The word fool is used in the Old Testament sense of one who rejects the knowledge and precepts of God as a basis for life. Throughout this series we will highlight the five ways in which this farmer, though rich, was a fool. First, he was a godless fool. Secondly, he was a rich fool. Thirdly, he was a self-centered fool. Number four, he was an ambitious fool. And number five, he was a doomed fool. Join in next Monday as we continue with part two of this series. And our weekly signature thought beliefs don't just change what you think is possible, they change what you're capable of seeing as possible. May God bless you.