Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Will take your Bibles and go to Genesis chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5 and verse 18.
And we're going to read just a few verses to jump in this morning. Genesis chapter 5 and verse 18. I'm going to go ahead and start reading. You can catch up. Says this, and Jared lived a hundred sixty and two years.
And he begat Enoch. And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years, and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years.
begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with God and he was not. For God took him, Lord, I love you and I need you this morning. And God, we have this little bit of time to go through your word.
And Lord, I pray that you'll bless it. Please use me and fill me. Help me to do what you want, and nothing else. In Jesus' name, amen.
So I want to tell you a story this morning as we jump off.
So about four months ago, they had a 5K race in downtown Winston, a running race, and it was the mistletoe run. And I was trying to do something that I hadn't done before. I've run it before, but I was trying to do this 5K, and I was like, I'm going to go in, and I had two things that I wanted. I wanted to beat my time that I had last time, and I wanted to get a medal. And you guys are looking at me like, yeah, you probably should do some more running, and that's true.
But I was out there and I started the race, and I had these two goals in mind: I want to beat my time, and I want to. Whatever it was. My mind is gone. Get a medal. Yes, thank you.
And so as I was getting ready to run, I started, man, I took off and I was starting as fast as I could go. You know, you're not supposed to do that, but I was trying to do well.
So I'm booking it. You know, I look like the green giant huffing and puffing going down the road. But I'm running and I'm going as hard as I can. And if you've ever run a race, you realize that there's two things that happen. The people that are really fast, like others in here, I won't name names, they are long gone.
And then you have the people that are a little slower, you pass them pretty quickly.
So then you have like the 35-year-old middle-aged men right there in the middle that are just trying to just trying to make it through. And so I'm going and I'm getting about a mile left in this race. And as I'm running, I'm Kind of find the people that are around me, and there's like this. These few guys around me, and then there's this old lady in a 2-2 running, and I'm thinking, so I'm gonna change my goal. I want to beat these people.
And so I'm already running as hard as I can, and as I'm getting closer and closer to the end, and I'm like, I had caught up to them, but then they started to get a little further. And I was like, I am not letting that lady in a tutu beat me. And so I, I mean, I'm giving everything I've got, and I'm getting close to the end, and we start, and then we get close to the end, and everyone starts like sprinting, and I'm already about to give out. I look like death warmed over me. My wife's waiting at the finish line, and she's like, you look like you were dying.
And those people got so far away, and I'm giving everything I got, and I could not catch them. That lady in the tutu beat me. And I was so dejected. And because the reason was, I had, in the middle of my race, I had changed my goal, my treasure that I was trying to get. I was trying to get a medal and I was trying to beat my time.
Did beat my time, but. My treasure changed. And this morning we're going to be talking about our treasure. Our treasure. Our treasure is something that we value.
And as I started that race, There was one thing that I wanted.
Well, my treasure is going to be different from your treasure. Your treasure might be Oh, there's no telling what your treasure is. Everyone has something different.
So someone may say, hey, I found this ball that somebody threw in a game and hit a home run with it. And it's extremely valuable and to somebody else in here would say, hey, that's worthless. It's just a old baseball. Or you might say, there's all kinds of things. Your treasure is different than my treasure.
Number two is your treasure can change. Like I said, when I was running, I had this goal in mind that there was something I wanted. more than anything else than anything else that I was running for But your treasure can change. And you might be in life, you started out as a young person, hey, this is what I wanted, and you might be an adult now and say, the things that I desire now are different than when I was a kid. Or you might have a different season of life and the things that you desire different.
But what it is. Our treasure is what we pursue. It's what we are actively seeking.
So I have over here, and this represents our treasure in life. And I have some things in here. And most of you are probably like, all right, so he's going to save money, and that's not the case at all. Um but if you were to go a more a deep level This morning I want to show you some things. Let's put that right there.
That we treasure. And these are different. You might say one of those is mine, one of them is not. But the problem is, we have to be careful not to make these our treasure.
So, one of them is this: security.
Some people say, hey, I want security, so I'm chasing and pursuing security in my life. Is that a bad thing? No, to want security. But when that becomes our treasure, that's a problem. Another one is this, our world is desperate for happiness.
And they will with all of their heart they will pursue happiness. Another thing is this. Companionship.
Some people will give everything in their life, even if it's a relationship that God does not want in your life, because we just desperately want someone to love us. Another thing that people pursue is importance. We want to be important to somebody. We want to have respect of people that desire to be around us or think highly of us. And that can be a treasure that we have.
Another one is this fulfillment. We want to have our lives mean something. We want to have that feeling of, hey man, I'm important, there's something going on. And then this might be you.
Some just pursue rest. Do you ever feel like you're a guinea pig on a wheel? And you're just running and running and running and running and running and running, and what you crave most is rest. But all of us have treasure, and they may not be one of these five things. But there are things that we treasure.
And we're going to look about that today a little bit. First of all, we're going to look at the wrong treasure.
So I'm going to pull some verses up here. You can look them up if you'd like to. Luke chapter 15. Verse 11 through 13, it's on your screen. It's the story of the prodigal son.
And it says, and he said, a certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Forgive me. Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country.
and there wasted his substance, With riotous living. I want to number one, I want you to notice what the wrong treasure is. The wrong treasure is what our flesh desires. What we want, the things that we crave. When I was a teenager, there was one thing I wanted above everything else: I wanted a four-wheeler, and you're like, That's dumb, but that's what I wanted.
And I asked for months of that for Christmas, and I begged my parents gonna have a four-wheeler, and they never got me a four-wheeler. Legitly so we lived in a subdivision, there was nowhere to ride it, but I wanted one. But it was what I craved, and what you crave might be different than mine, but you have something that you crave. And it's what our flesh desires. Number two, it's of this world.
It can be things, it can be people, it can be ambitions, but our wrong treasure is what's of this world. And number three is it's perishable.
So the other day I was walking down in this very nice neighborhood. I had tried running and then I was walking back because I was just dead tired. And so I was walking through this neighborhood and I was thinking, I was like, man, these are beautiful houses. And I was like, I'll never be able to afford to live in them, and that's okay, but I can admire from the sidewalk. And as I'm walking down through this neighborhood, I'm looking, and I'm just, I mean, the grass is just perfectly manicured.
And they've got the trees are nicely cut. And whenever I was in college, and this is related, but in college, I worked in a bus route in downtown Chicago. And these are a row of houses, multifamilies in each house. And these kids that I knew had never really been out of that little bubble area. The closest thing they saw to the ocean was a little lake, Lake Michigan.
I guess it's not super little, but. That was the closest thing they had seen to an ocean. And if I were to take those kids That I had known back in college, and I were to walk them down the street with me today and look at those beautiful houses. They would be like wow Man, it must be amazing to live in that house. And look how gorgeous and everything is because they had never seen it.
And I got this thought, and it was this. We would look at these houses and you'd say that's a beautiful house, but one day those houses will decay. and they will fall apart. But you know what God says? Look at the houses that I have in heaven.
You're so mesmerized by these beautiful houses that you've got here on earth. And all the stuff that they put in, and you say, And he'd probably like, that thing's made out of... Mud. And sticks. And rocks.
But you'll put such great value on something that's perishable. And God says, the things that I have are eternal.
So we have the wrong treasure. I want you to look at the right treasure. Matthew chapter 22 and verse 37 says this: Jesus saith unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. With all thy heart. And with all thy soul.
and with all thy might. If we could pause it all today and say, hey, what should we treasure? It's this one thing. We should treasure the Lord with everything we have. He should be number one above everything that we have.
If we look in Genesis chapter 5, you've got your Bibles open still. It says in verse 22, it says, And Enoch walked with God. After he begat Methuselah three hundred years and begat sons and daughters. What do we know about Enoch? He's a kind of obscure Bible character.
not the most versed in their Bible. Enoch is the seventh in line from Adam, so God created Adam and Eve.
Well, seven generations later, you have Enoch. And Enoch is in the lineage of Joseph. Uh Jesus's stepfather.
So if you go down through the lineage, you'll find Enoch right there. But there's some things that are interesting about Enoch. The Bible says that he lived to be 365 years old. And you're like, do you really believe he lived to be that old? Yes, I do because the Bible says it.
But You would say that was a really long life. You look at the people around them. His dad lived to be over 900 years, his son lived to be over 900 years, and his life is pretty short. A measly 365 years. And we're going to look at that a little bit later, but Enoch was a special person in the Bible because he had his treasure right.
How do we know that his treasure was right? I'm going to give you a test this morning. You're like, this is not school? It is now.
So you get to take this test. First of all, I want to mention a few things going into our test. I'm going to give you some definitions and then we'll take it at the end. Number one: our treasure is what we deem valuable. You will only pay for what you Pay highly for what you treasure, okay?
Number two, what's valuable to us determines our priorities. In our life, what we think is valuable to us will decide to help us make our priorities in life. Kind of like this. In 1848. A man named John Sutter.
He lived in California, was building a water-powered sawmill. Built along the American River in Coloma, California, approximately fifty miles east. of present-day Sacramento. And on January 24th, his carpenter, James W. Marshall, found flakes of gold in a steambed.
And they agree together: we're going to keep this a secret and we're going to find out as much gold as we can find. And that secret did not work. It got out very quickly, and this was the beginning of the gold rush in California. And what happened is, as soon as that news got out, people all over the East Coast. People all over the West Coast, people all over the country, and even other countries decided.
I need to get in on this because I need to make some money. And so they literally left their homes. There are men that left their families and kids. They mortgaged their house. They sold the things they had so they could go to California and make some money.
What happened? Their priority was to make money. And so it superseded all of the other decisions. And so their priority was number one. The problem is we often We're very bad at judging what's valuable.
Have you ever bought something and realized this was kind of a mistake because I wasted my money on it? Whenever I was in high school, my dad would always say, don't buy CDs because they're just worthless. How many of you still use CDs? Just wondering. Probably a few.
Okay, there's more hands than I thought. The C D's I had, they were worthless. And I don't listen to the the music I did then. But we are very sh we struggle at figuring out what's valuable. And these families that went, and the men that left for California, a lot of them came back empty-handed.
Because they changed their priorities, or their priorities were wrong. Number three, our priorities direct our decisions. We tend to make our high priorities happen and our low priorities might happen. What are you talking about?
So In my yard. I have Grass that sometimes I'm busy and I don't get to cut it.
So, say you have two priorities. I have two things that I have to get done today: the kids need to eat, and my grass needs to get cut.
Well, the priority determines on which one. You say, oh, yeah, well, the kids can eat.
Well, let's say my yard, the grass is this high. And you say, hey, that really needs to get done today so the neighbors don't call people. I mean, they haven't done that, but some of you are like, you don't ever cut your grass. But while you're sitting there, like, I've got to make a decision.
So, if my decision is, I've got to cut the grass or I've got to feed the kids lunch.
Well, if my priority is I want my neighbors to be pleased, then I'm going to go cut the grass and the kids just wait. Or the other priority is this. My priority can be: my kids can eat and I can cut the grass later. Your priorities determine the decisions that you make and in the order that they do. And lastly, our decisions display our true treasure.
At the end of the day, We do what we want. If you say, hey, I want to have a very athletic, very strong, lean body, and you say, hey, but I actually sit around the house eating zebra cakes. You can see what your real treasure is. Because we do what we really want to do. And so if we were to look and at our test this morning, If you were to look past the last week, New Sangha What have I pursued?
this last week. Would have you pursued earthly things? How have you pursued the Lord? What has been our number one thing that we pursue? Understand we have to work.
Understand that there are challenges and things in life. But with our heart and what we've done in our actions, have we pursued the Lord, number one. How do we know that Enoch's treasure was evident in his choices? How do we know that Enoch treasured the Lord? Number one, the Bible says he walked with God.
And that means he was in God's presence on a regular basis. He knew who God was and he spent time with him. Uh number one, it was not common. You would say Man, it was probably easy for him back then. No, the world was completely against God for the most part.
The Bible says his grandson, his was the or great-grandson, was Noah. And God destroyed the entire world during Noah's day.
So, this was a very wicked society. But he still found time to walk with God, made it his importance. Number two, it was a continual walking, he did it routinely. Number three, it was concerted, it was on purpose. The Bible says that he walked with God.
after the birth of his son. At 65, for 300 years he walked with God. And the Bible says that it's something that happened. It didn't just happen by chance. He decided.
And if you're going to walk with God, it does not happen by accident, it comes by purpose, you doing it. Number four, it was communal. Communal. It was a real relationship between him and God. You know what God wants from you?
He wants to be close to you. He doesn't want your money. He's not looking after your time. He's not trying to get everything in your life. The Bible says he wants to be a friend to you and close to you.
And we can get so wrapped up in religion that God wants me to do this, and I need to serve Him and do this. And we forget the biggest aspect is God says, I want to be close to you. And I love there's something about Enoch that's very special, this. There's nothing special about it. The Bible doesn't say that Enoch was this super wealthy guy or he was a prominent member of society.
The Bible just says he walked with God. And that could be any one of us. God wants a relationship with you. And you don't have to be anything special. But he, number two, he pleased God.
Hebrews chapter 11, verse 5 and 6, you can see it on your screen, says this: By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. And it was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had the testimony that he pleased God. Verse 6 says this, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
This is telling us that he not only walked with God, but he desired to please God. How did he please God? Number one, he believed that God was who he said he was. We can't please God if we don't have faith enough in Him. Number two, he believed that God rewards.
And then number three, he obeyed God. You're not going to have a walk with God if you're disobedient. I have my children, I have four of them. And a lot of times I have to make sure that they're in line doing what they're supposed to do because they don't like to obey. I don't have to teach them to disobey.
But if we're going to be close and have a good relationship with me and my kids. They have to obey. Jude chapter 11, verse 14 says, In Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, The Lord cometh. When 10,000 of his saints, he was talking about to execute judgment. He's talking about the coming flood coming.
He was obedient to God to tell others that what was coming. Number six. We're moving quickly. We're almost done. If you'll stay with me this morning, it says this: when the wrong treasure is pursued.
What happens, Brother Jacob, if I pursue the wrong thing?
Well, number one, we experience loss. 1 Corinthians talks about when, as a believer, when we pursue the wrong things, it says: Now, if any man hath built upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it. because it shall be revealed by fire. And there and the fire shall try every man's work what sort it is.
If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. But if any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
So God says, all the things that we have that we pursue that are wrong or with the wrong motives, the Bible says that they're going to be burn up. They're going to be lost.
So whatever we pursue in our life, the Bible talks about all those treasures that we have if we don't pursue the right one. then they'll lock be lost. We'll lose our time, we'll lose our treasure. Things break and are stolen. We'll lose our reward.
And then here's a big one: we lose peace. When we pursue the wrong things, we don't gain peace. Here's another one that we lose. Number two, we reap vanity. The Bible says in Proverbs 22, verse 8: He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail.
What is vanity? It's a waste of effort.
So say I was to go to the beach. And I was just... To get a big shuffle and get all the molds, and I take hours and I spend my time digging sand castles, and I build a modern replica of downtown Kernersville. I mean, I have every building down to the T. You have all the stuff set up.
There's even crabs walking down the street. I mean, you just have all kinds of stuff. And that night I leave and I come back in the morning, and it's all gone because the tide washes it all away. You know what the Bible says? That's what it's like when we pursue...
treasure that's the wrong treasure. It's a It's a thing that we think we're going to grab and we can never hold on to it, just like it was when I was racing. I never can catch up, never can get it. But what happens? when we pursue the right treasure.
What happens when we get the right treasure? I want to make sure I do it right. Number one, we experience gain. Yeah. When we get when we put the Lord first as our treasure.
What does the Lord do? The Bible says in Matthew 6:33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things Shabby. added unto you. What are all these things?
What does God add to us when we treasure Him? Remember when we talked about these treasures of things that we treasure? When we make God our treasure, we make the Lord Jesus our treasure, you know what He gives us? He gives us rest. When God's our treasure, you know what he also gives us?
Fulfillment. When the Lord is our treasure, he gives us importance. He gives us companionship. When the Lord is our treasure, He doesn't give us happiness, it gives us joy which is lasting. He gives us security.
The Bible says he will add all these things to us. when we pursue him. A lot of times what the problem is we're pursuing the wrong thing. And the things that we'll actually get is we'll get if the things we desire, we'll actually get if we pursue the Lord. How do we pursue the right treasure?
I'm almost done. Number one: pursue a relationship, not a ritual. God wants you to know Him on a personal level. He doesn't want you to be this ritual religious person. He wants you to know him closely.
Number two, pursue righteousness. over regret. If we're going to be close and we're going to walk down the road together, me and my wife, when we were dating, We basically one of the things we did on dates was we just go walk through neighborhoods and talk. But if she is going the opposite direction from me, and I'm trying to go this way, she's trying to go this way, we're not going to have a close fellowship. Because we're going opposite directions.
If we have sin in our life, The Bible talks about we can't be close to the Lord. We have to repent of our sins so we can walk alongside God. Amos chapter 3, verse 3 says this: Can two walk together except they be agreed? If you desire to walk with God and get these things that God wants to give you, you have to be close to Him, you have to be clean. Number three, pursue the eternal over the temporal.
Amen. All these things that we can value, all these treasures on earth that we think are so important. They'll fade away, but the Bible says, set your affections On things above, not on things on the earth.
So why and number nine is my last one, I'm done. Why should I make God my treasure? Because number one, You are his treasure. You think of God of the universe. who created the stars, created the heavens, created our sun, created the earth.
created puppies and kittens and everything that you think is cute. All the things that you could treasure, the Bible says that he treasures you. You are God's treasure. You are treasure enough that God sent his son to die for you. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. but of everlasting life. As we go through our test this morning, it is the simplest thought in the world. What is your treasure? What have you been pursuing?
Have we been pursuing things? That'll fall apart, that'll disappear and go away. Or has our treasure been the Lord? Because when our Lord is our treasure, He gives us everything that we need. If you're here today and you say, I don't know the Lord, I don't have that relationship with the Lord, I don't know what you're talking about, you can begin a relationship with the Lord today.
It's something that he wants to know you on a personal level where you know him. And it's available to you, but you have to begin it somewhere, just like Enoch began his walk with God.
So, this morning I want to ask you two things. First of all, If your treasure has not been what it's supposed to. Can we get it right? And if you don't know the Lord is your treasure. You've never begun that relationship.
Would you consider doing so today? One just a moment we're going to pray. And I want to give you an opportunity to begin a relationship with the Lord. And that's something that's so easy, he did all the work for it. But what's your treasure?
Lord, I love you and I thank you for being so good to us. Thank you for loving us. Not just loving us, God. Thank you for making us your treasure. God, I pray that this morning we'll put away the things that we think are so important.
And that will put our minds and focus on you and make you our only treasure what we pursue in life. Because those are the only things that will last. With your head down. The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally.
Would you take a moment to hear this to-day? Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven.
Because of that sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life for the through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior.
Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans 10.9 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior?
There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Saviour? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Crowin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times.
We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
