If you have your Bible with you today, as you have your Bible, not if. We are not an if Bible Church, we are an as Bible Church. So Matthew 6 verse 19 through 24. Matthew 6, 19 through 24. Thank you for being patient. Let me walk through that again. I just want to be clear on this. I don't want to be repetitive, but I just want everybody to understand what we're doing here. So Matthew 6, and this message is a part two of last Sunday.
If you weren't here last Sunday, you can retrieve those messages on our app, online. But we're looking at investing in eternity, and that's the topic of Jesus's discussion here. And if you notice verse 19, it says, lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
If you read verse 21 with me, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. He goes on and says, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. And then he says, no man can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon. Father, we thank you for your word today. We pray that it would accomplish all your desire in the hearts of your people, Lord. Draw our hearts to focus on what you would have for us today, and if anyone doesn't know Jesus Christ, may today be the day of their salvation. We ask it in Christ's name, and God's people said, man, you may be seated today.
I just want to give a preview. Next Sunday, actually the next two Sundays, I'm going to be preaching on the mission of the church, which is to know Christ, first of all, and then to make Him known. Next week we're going to look at how can we know Christ, and we're going to look at four specific ways of knowing Christ. The following week, how as a church we can make Him known, and we'll look also at four specific ways.
These are things you don't want to miss because it's really the reason why we exist, why Lighthouse exists as a church. But today we turn return to this passage of Scripture. Jesus has been teaching on the topic of what we're referring to as investing. He's teaching on investing, and He's calling people to not waste their life, but to invest their life into what really matters. To not be foolish, to be people who will not one day lose everything, but rather be people who will keep everything. He is teaching us to go from short-term investing to long-term investing, from being consumed with the temporary to being consumed with the eternal. This is an adjustment because we are born as consumers, but we should be born again to be contributors.
And every person here is daily investing. Daily we're putting our time somewhere, our money, our resources, our energies, our focus, and Jesus is saying what and where we invest in will determine the length and reward, and you will receive that and from that investment. It is important to understand that Jesus doesn't separate the spiritual from the physical. He attaches rather what we are really on the inside spiritually to what we do with what we have. Now what we do with our physical possessions reflects God's priority. Christians must live a life focused on exalting Jesus Christ in all they do, and that's the only way a life will not be wasted. The Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians 10 31, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. There needs to be a vertical motive in everything you do.
On the other hand, people waste their life when they use their life to fulfill their own fleshly, selfish purposes and not for the glory of God. If I could pause here for just a second, it just brings me to mind, I don't know, did anybody see that house date game? I mean I don't stay up that late hardly ever.
I stayed up till 11 15. This is a rare occurrence for your preacher. This is this is like over-the-moon stuff. Like so but what was what was interesting to me is they have a star athlete who is a is a solid Christian running back and and he had even on his face you know Romans 3 23 and and he made a mistake in the game where he got let his emotions get to him and he ends up hitting one of the other players like in the helmet and and they ended up calling a 15-yard penalty and and the announcers just made this thing into this huge thing like you know the game's really going downhill ever since Henderson did this and just I mean it was like every time they could talk about anything it was you know I can't believe you know these guy hit this guy and and and I had some sympathy toward that because as your pastor I know in sports I when I was in high school I could let emotions get to me this is one of my sins of the flesh I struggled with in high school was was holding my temper in and and just very so I could sympathize in some sense with him some people are not super emotional and they they don't care if they win or lose that was not your preacher when he was in high school it's probably still not the case and so but it was it was awesome afterwards they were asking him about you know he and then he bust loose in a 75-foot 75-yard play to end up smacking Texas back down and but it was a great play and and what was interesting after the game they brought up that run and he went back and he says you know but I made this you know I did something very wrong and he said I got on the sidelines and and I got that right with Jesus Christ my Lord and some of the guys were and and it was just an amazing to me the humility the focus on exalting Christ and I think it's good for the world to know just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're going to be perfect in every situation and aren't you thankful that Jesus Christ takes our penalties and washes them under the blood of his cross amen and and that's that's really an awesome thing but you can use football you can use sports you can use your work you can use whether you eat or drink whatever you do needs to be done for the glory of God your life should be focused on a vertical motive and most of us don't understand and consider how brief our life is and so today I I kind of want to show you with an illustration of maybe a ruler what your life would look like this may be discouraging for some but this is a for some of you young guys this is this is a ruler this is a construction item okay we need to teach them don't we Doug you know construction under their belt so this is seventy seven and a half inches this is this is the average span of human life average person lives seventy seven and a half years women live like eighty point five years to be specific guys live about seventy five years but we're gonna split the difference seventy seven and a half years on average the average person will spend twenty five point eight years of their life or thirty three percent of their life sleeping if you sleep eight hours a day you say well I only sleep seven hours wait till you turn like sixty and then you'll but no I'm teasing now the sixty year olds are gonna write me a letter don't do that I understand some of you guys can't sleep more than four hours without getting up I know that so that leaves you down to fifty one point seven years of your life after that you're gonna work about nine and a half years of your life twelve percent of your life is worked on average that brings you down to forty two years of life left the average person in America will watch and this is a very conservative number the average person will watch nine point seven years of their life watching TV or twelve percent of their life that doesn't include social media the average person will spend another seven point two years on Facebook social media other platforms like that that brings you down to twenty five years of life left after twenty five years of life left you have also chores to do food to prepare dishes to wash laundry to fold grass to mow all of the chores that go into that you're gonna spend about six and a half years or about eight percent of your life performing those chores then this number may be skewed a little bit but you will spend four percent eighty five minutes a day or three point seven years of your life eating I say it's skewed because it's probably more higher than that for most of us since we are part of the lighthouse Baptist Church we like to eat but that brings you down to fifteen years of your life almost four years of our lives just eating that's that is a good thing to do because whether you eat or drink you can do for the glory of God you're down to fifteen years you're gonna spend if you spend the average person spends about an hour a day commuting driving places gonna store work kids games all that stuff average about three point two years of your life four percent of your life driving that brings you down to twelve percent of your life twelve years of your life left it's interesting we think about we go to school a long time in our life but you actually only go to school for one point eight seven years of your life to around four percent of your life will be spent in school so that brings you down to ten years now you include with this go into the store exercising socializing getting ready for work that's another six and a half years of your life that brings you down to three and a half years of your life and then your life's over that's how frail life is what's interesting I just I was just curious because lighthouse has a Sunday morning service which is an hour and a half long we have a life group that's an hour long and then we have Sunday nights that are an hour and a half long and then we have Wednesday nights that are about an hour and 20 minutes or so and if you come to all the services in a week at lighthouse that's five and a half hours if you were to read your Bible and pray 30 minutes a day and again I think every Christian should have that as a baseline be it everything that when the body comes together the Bible says don't don't forsake that it's a command of God like I don't want to miss that let me be a part of that if you do that your own that's only giving God five percent of your your time sacrificial again I understand when you're driving you can be praying I understand that you can do some other things that you can incorporate into that but but but but this is all it is it's it's it's four it's four years of your life 30 minutes a day and it everything the church ever has to offer compared to compared to this God can God can I give can I give you this and we look at the church and say that's too much it's too much but then we're gonna give TV this we're gonna give social media both of those combined this before you know it your life's over this is this is the reality we don't think about this stuff and I'm talking about 77 and a half years we don't have any infants in here right now so none of us have 77 and a half years left probably it kind of gets I don't want to get the press it's like man preacher I'm like down to the last wire over here you know I'm gonna watch another TV program the rest of my life my point in that is just to say don't waste your life it the real seems to be pulling you in quicker the order we get doesn't it I I don't ever like to be negative and I don't like negativity I'm I'm a positive guy negativity always like I don't like that so I never want to be negative but but let me just say this I I struggle to even say this but I'm gonna say it I get disappointed when no more than 50% of lighthouse attends life groups it as a as a pastor I just I just need to say that like it just disappoints me I'm so thankful for 50% to do and I'm so thankful for the people who don't go to life group or anything else and they come to church I'm so thankful for you if you just come I'm praise God that's that's fantastic I don't want you to be discouraged just by coming but but there needs to be a growth like unless you know all the things you need to know about the parables of Jesus you should go to a class to learn about the parables unless you know the book of Ecclesiastes better than the teachers then you need to be in there learning about Ecclesiastes unless you know how to evangelize like really well like super clear going through the gospel making a gospel presentation verse by verse walking somebody through that you need to be in one of the classes teaching about evangelism unless you're the man that you know God's called you to be the woman and you just you have it mastered you should be in a men or women's class unless your teens are just that great I don't know why you're laughing here all the teens are like what are they laughing for you know we have some great teams around here but they need to be they need to be grown in the Lord and I could just go on and on it's it's it's these kind of things I will tell you this there was a point in my family my brother is in ministry I have two brothers that are in ministry and myself we have no one in our family in the ministry there was some there was a day though when God got a hold of my father's heart and my mom's heart in such a way that I am still here today because of the effect that God had on them and that they submitted to that we were a Sunday morning and every other Sunday morning family we were the family that came in 30 minutes late to church every sir the Bevins were the late ones always always our families had to tell us family get-together started at noon when they actually started at 1 because they knew we would only show up at 1 we'd come at 1 we're like we're so sorry we're late and they're like oh we're just getting ready we knew we had to tell you I mean that and I look back on that and I just think man and and but there is something that clicked I think it was when pain hit our family where Jesus was so casual to us we weren't really reading the Bible really seeking him and but when God gripped our hearts because my parents almost got a divorce our lives were falling apart and and true salvation and transformation happened I can tell you it gripped us and we went from being there on Sundays we're like oh they got a Sunday school and we started going and man we started learning the Bible going back Sunday nights went to Wednesday nights we started serving we started going on visitations and going to men's prayer breakfasts and going to these things and I can tell you I didn't have to be told to go to church they didn't ask me to come to any of this stuff they just led and I just followed and then I loved Christ and I just grew and God got a hold of my heart and I can tell you when he gets a hold of your heart he gets a hold of your time when he becomes number one he just masters everything I stayed up till 11 o'clock to watch a game because I love seeing Ohio State win there was an amen there it's okay to amen that but but I can tell you I rise up early every day because I love Jesus Christ I want to seek his face I want to learn his word I want to memorize it I want to grow in him I want to give myself more at 44 years old than I've ever given to him since September I have memorized a chapter of the Bible every week since September and I don't say that to boast I'm telling you I want to give him more of my mind more of my preaching more of my family more of my life my time is running out I don't want to waste it I know I can't repeat it I know I can't go back you have one shot and it amazes me sometimes the casualness that people have towards the things of God and I don't know how to stir them up and I don't want to be negative and critical I just want to put before us like wake up we're living in America that just lulls people to sleep we're like California who cut their budget by seven like a hundred million I think it was this last year in their fire department some crazy percent being lulled to sleep and now wildfires break out and they're like oh maybe we shouldn't put so much money into DEI and saving the snails and you have a state that is unprepared and I feel like we can lull ourselves to sleep with games and events and activities and busyness and a lot of times it's good stuff like it's not wrong it's like do that you need to do those things but at the same time sometimes we miss it because we give God our leftovers and not our best if you just read the book of Malachi that's what you see they were bringing God sacrifice but they were bringing him their leftovers what they could afford this isn't really going to cost me anything no skin off my back it fits the schedule it fits the budget it fits my time it just it's really easy to do it we make God a really easy God to serve don't we I'll serve you if it's really convenient God then I'll do it I just I think God has so much more for us and it's not that he's like hey I want to make your life miserable so you serve me and then we like really make a mess of our life it's when you serve him you really get to live you get a look back on your life and say thank God I did that I mean if I could rewind it I would do that all over again I never want to stop doing that and so just I just want you to consider the things that Jesus is talking about here I need to get into the sermon today I wasn't planning on hitting on all of that but maybe God wants me to say some of those things some of the things that we saw there's eight truths out of this passage we saw five of them last week I want to look at three more today and last week we saw just by a quick way of review Jesus teaches here that we are all investing somewhere with our time money resources energy talents abilities all of us are investing somewhere secondly he taught where oh we only have two options to invest in heaven and earth you have no third option we were born with the mindset of earthly investments were born again it should be turned toward heavenly focus thirdly our investments give different returns you as I said last week at best investments into the things of the world are temporal at worst heavenly spiritual investments are eternal number four he taught that all earthly investments will last forever he says here lay up for yourself treasure in heaven moth and rust does not corrupt and thieves can't break through and steal there is an eternal reward there live for what is eternal he's lit he's calling earth citizens to live for the eternal he's like don't invest in the world stop doing that I'm not saying it's wrong to have retirement I'm not saying it's wrong to have a rainy day fund those things nothing wrong with that but it's when your heart your life your money all of it's just sunk in here all of it's going to be gone it was interesting I heard Mel Gibson this last week his house burned down in California and somebody was asking him the question like how do you feel about that burning down he said it's just stuff it's just stuff it doesn't matter I thought you know there's there's a guy that has at least some understanding and I don't know where his spiritual condition is but but you know what everything we have can be burned up and let me say it will be burned up you could be the greatest athlete on the planet and an injury can totally finish your career I know one young man that's sitting in this room right now who would have been very likely a professional baseball player but God must have had different plans for him because he allowed his shoulder to get injured like multiple times and that's a hard thing to swallow as an athlete it really is but I can tell you knowing that your life is in the hand of a sovereign God and it's like he dictates what happens to me and so we live under that that that that leading of God and he has a better path a better plan he never takes stuff from us he always just gives it back better whatever we give to him giving your marriage he'll give it back better give him your kids he'll give them back better give him your job your mind your thoughts your life your resources everything you have turned over to God only gets advanced and then all heavenly investments he teaches will be kept forever everything in the earth will be lost everything in heaven will be kept forever 1st Peter 1 4 and also Ephesians chapter 3 tells us are we have an inheritance eternal in the heavens and I pray today because it was when I was 17 I so specifically remember God gripping my heart on this issue I can't even I can't tell you the amount of pressure I still so vividly remember it I mean I don't know how many years 44 minus 17 all those years ago and and I remember so heavily contemplating like I had two roads I could go down I knew it too I knew I could go down this road or this road this was good and I would serve God and I would be a Christian but I felt like God was saying if you give everything to me then then I have another plan for you and and I I weighed my life in the balance of eternity I felt like God let me see this I was really seeking him and and I'm so thankful that I I took that path and I prayed to some teenagers today would surrender everything to Jesus Christ it would call some of you to preach to go on the mission field to fully give all that you are to all that he has for you to say God I don't want to live a successful life to have nice things to have just good stuff and then all of it be gone I want to live for what is eternal nothing wrong with having nice things it's God gives us all things richly to enjoy it's nothing wrong with that it's when those things have us and we live to say you know what if I do this now I can retire then and then I can go and collect seashells on the shore in Florida nothing wrong with going out and enjoying some retirement nothing wrong with those things but if your goal is to work only 40 years to retire and to collect seashells you're wasting your life that's a wasted life you need to live your life to say I want to live for the glory of God and I never want to retire from the work of God it doesn't mean you keep doing the job you're doing but it means you never go out of employment for Jesus Christ what is tragic is so many people have bought the American lie which is called the American dream and I can tell you you're not happier when you have nothing to do you're happier when you're living fully for Jesus Christ and you're not wasting time I ask yourself are you learning the Bible I'm always set I have I had a lady the other day in her 80s come up to me and she was asking me some of this stuff what are you memorizing I was talking with her about it and I said she said you ever thought about memorizing the Sermon on the Mount I said that's interesting you say that because I'm working through Romans right now up to Romans 9 I want to finish that and then I want to go over to to the Sermon on the Mount and she said she said you know I memorized that like last year and she's going through I was like you memorize the Sermon on the Mount and like 80 years old that's fantastic why why would you do that why would you do that why would you take the time to do that no wonder God's using that person's life to affect people every week throughout this church you fill your heart up with the Word of God it just flows out it's it just happens you don't even have to like work at ministry ministry just happens the effect flows out when the truth flows in Jesus said if I be lifted up I'll draw all men to myself when he's exalted in a person's life I'm just amazed the excuses people give well you know I would try to do that 52 you know verse memory thing but it's just I'm just not a good at memorizing really for all of sin and come short of the glory of God that's Roman Street 23 week one you're telling me you can't remember that for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Roman 623 the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Roman 623 what was the score of Ohio State's game how many yards of Trey Henderson run who was a Steelers record better than the Bengals but unfortunate how many games is Burroughs thrown for over 250 yards you with me with some of the women in here like I don't have a clue what you're talking about some of your women no more sports that I'm just saying we remember what we want to remember right is this true nothing wrong with those things nothing wrong with those things have those things you remember but I'm saying don't don't don't put this on the lower shelf keep this on the top shelf say God you're number one I give you the best of my mind the best first you get the first portion of my time my energy that's why I love Sunday being on Sunday morning right it's a first day first hours of the week you're here at 830 thank you for being here and when we started our 830 service we used to not it's so hard to get people to come it was like you know you get 20% of the attendance in the early service now we have 50% of the church coming to the early service if you didn't do that we would be at a third service so thank you you've allowed us to maximize our facilities most people don't think about that but now we can use double our parking lot double our sanctuary double because now 50% come here and 50% come to the late service so thank you for loving Christ enough to get up early to be here and some of you are like if you had a six-o-clock service preacher I would be there because you're very early bird now so so the Lord's teaching us here about investing and he says here in verse number 21 another truth about investing says teaches here in verse 21 where your treasure is there where your heart be also and what he's teaching here is our investments rebuild our heart where your treasure is is the Greek word thesaurus thesaurus it's where we get the word thesaurus from which is means Treasury of words Treasury the idea is a treasure house both what you have and where you place it your thesaurus and in Jesus is teaching where will determine the there where your treasure is there will your heart be also the the the heart will be wherever your money is and your resources are no the heart is the Greek word cardio we get the word cardiology cardio cardiac arrest cardio is the the word there in the Greek physically our heart is the vessel that circulates the blood through the body the seat of the physical life you know in our culture we say I love you with all of my heart Jews would not say that this sounds funny but they would say I love you with all of my bowels because they saw the bowels as the the part of where your your affections were like you get butterflies not in your heart if that happens you're in trouble you you get them in your stomach right you feel it in your gut your your nervousness is here and it's interesting we have a doctor in our church who talked I don't want to get too far down that road but there are some some basic things that connect your gut to your your brain and and it's it's amazing how that God put our bodies together but there are 750 references to the heart in the Bible so so to the Jews and according to Scripture the heart is the very seat of who you are though the heart is the place that conceals discerns instructs meditates muses perceives plans plots ponders thanks ways and another 700 plus references to it that's why the Bible says in Proverbs 4 23 keep your heart with all diligence out of it are the issues of life Matthew 22 37 Jesus said love the Lord with all of your what all of your heart we are to trust the Lord with all of our heart right so God told Samuel I found a man after my own heart David's a man after my own heart so the heart is the very center of who you are and so Jesus says an amazing statement here that where we put our resources will reveal where our heart is where our very essence of who we are is and it's interesting that Jesus doesn't say where you put your words reveals your heart he doesn't say where we put our time reveals our heart rather he says where we put our treasure our resources our money that reveals our heart and so I would say if our hearts really value if our hearts real value is seen by what we do with our money what part of the worship service do you think honors God most you ever think about that is it easier to sing or to give to read the Bible to preach or to faithfully give to the Lord how you treat God with your resources reflect his importance and priority in your life this is this is the truth of this and if my giving reflects my love for the Lord what is my giving revealing you know in 2nd Corinthians I spent about a year preaching through 2nd Corinthians and he spends two chapters just talking about giving two entire chapters 2nd Corinthians 8 through chapter 9 two entire chapters you're like yeah I remember you preaching through those two chapters preacher took you like three months and but listen to what he says here he calls it the grace of giving 2nd Corinthians 8 verse 7 he told the Church of Corinth as you abound in everything in faith in utterance in knowledge in diligence and in your love to us he says see that you abound in this grace also and he's talking about the grace of giving he said I speak not by commandment but by occasion of the forwardness of others and he says and I want to prove to prove the sincerity of your love for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ what was the grace of giving what did it look like in Jesus's life that though he was rich he became yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich isn't that something so my giving evidence is not only my love but he says you should grow in that just as you grow in faith you should grow in giving you should you should not be the same place in your faith you were ten years ago you should not be in the same place of biblical knowledge that you were ten years ago you should not be in the same place in giving you should grow in those things and in our giving reflects what we treasure I think about the wise men when they came to Jesus from the East traveling for months when they came into the house Matthew 2 11 says this they saw the young child with Mary his mother they fell down and worshiped him and they opened their treasures presented gifts gold frankincense and myrrh and that's something think about Zacchaeus when Zacchaeus came to Christ what he do he said the Lord of the half I give to the poor half my goods I give the poor if I've wronged anybody I give it back fourfold Luke 19 think about that compared to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 who left Jesus because he would not surrender his resources to him I think about Mary in John 12 John 12 is the scene we mentioned this the last Sunday of 2024 but in John 12 Mary and Martha were very close to Jesus they had a brother Lazarus that died Jesus raised him from the dead in John 11 they have a meal at their home it's about two weeks before about a week before Jesus is crucified by the time you get to John 11 John 12 Lazarus is there who Jesus raised from the dead Martha's serving she's preparing a meal praise God for her heart to serve but then Mary Mary is does something very unique in John 12 verse 3 says that Mary entered the room without a word she comes in and she she's carrying with her alabaster box of ointment it's about 12 ounces of fragrant oil that comes from India and it's harvested there in the mountains of India it's very very expensive they estimate the cost about 300 pence or denarii which is equivalent about a year's worth of income I can tell you in her life she owned nothing that was more valuable than that a year's worth of income and what was it was fascinating according to mark 14s parallel account it says she broke the vial and poured it all on him I just want you to consider 12 ounces one splash is a month's wages like one few drips you know here we go Lord it's another month I mean she just broke it and just gave it all unrestrained and the reason that she gave Jesus her most valuable possession was because he was her most valuable possession she uh the Lord owned her heart and therefore he owned her possessions and how did the people respond if you remember in John 12 verse 4 through 6 if there was anybody that should have amen this it should have been the disciples but you know what happened according to Matthew's parallel account in Matthew 26 8 & 9 it says when the disciples saw it they had indignation saying to what purpose is this waste for this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor isn't that so sad the same people who should have been like wow that's an amazing sacrifice they were annoyed by it I think there are people today that you have in your life that will look at you and say why are you wasting your time on Sundays Wednesdays Sunday nights going to church don't you know there's so many other things you could do with your time don't you know why would you give those resources to the church are you why would you waste it that's it could be used for so many other things and you're like you don't understand he owns my heart he owns my heart therefore he owns my schedule my time my family my marriage my children he owns everything and if you think I'm giving I'm not giving I'm only returning you understand when you get saved you're an owner of nothing and a steward of everything we're only stewards he owns it all and I'm so thankful he does and he lets us use his stuff my children are not mine they're the Lord's I just take care of them sometimes it's like Lord what would you have me to do with this one over here also you don't see Mary getting upset and running out of the room when they badmouth her she didn't get up and just run out hurt you know why she didn't do it for them you get that she didn't do it for them she did it for Jesus applaud me scorn me doesn't matter Christ you are my cause that's that's living for the glory of God you know there are some here today that will be in the early late service you know your heart I don't know the situations but you've stopped serving you've stopped maybe giving you've stopped being involved because somebody hurt your feelings at some point in the past the way you survive the scorn of men and the foolishness of what sometimes Christians can say is by keeping your eyes on Christ I had to learn long ago people say too many good things about me and when they say bad things about me and and distort something I said in a sermon and and get upset with me and write a letter and all those things I will not keep preaching because of support and I will not stop preaching because of discouragement you do it for Christ you do it for his glory and and and however people take that is between them and the Lord and so I would say this the you know in the next chapter John 13 Jesus washes the disciples feet did you know that last week it was only Mary that watched Jesus's feet only Mary only Mary you know why she did that because you go back earlier in her life Jesus came to her home and Martha's busy serving she's so busy serving great good things but Mary could not serve because her priority was being served the word by Christ she had to sit his feet and hear his word if we can't sit in a class for an hour I just wonder who we would end up being I know that's a sharp statement but I think it needs to be said and I think one day in heaven you'll say preacher you should have said that a little louder I think one day when you stand before Jesus Christ you see the world being dissolved and you're standing before the holy face of God you would say surely I could have given him more than that we get this today we have one life to live you you will never look on Amazon and they say hey you need to get real with Jesus all right you're never going to turn the news on and they're gonna they're gonna you're not gonna have some ad Pope pop up and say carry the cross right and then I'm thankful that you come here because you're coming on your own accord your time is a freewill offering to God this morning you're saying God you're worth my time praise God for that and so so let us let us receive these things that Jesus gives here I got a couple more things I need to give you that clock is it's like this cursed red thing back there let me just give you the last couple things if you want to hear the totality of this I don't even know if I'll get it in the second service but Jesus taught where we invest reveals our spiritual condition he expands this in 22 and 3 said the light of the body is the eye therefore if an eye be single the whole body shall be full of light but the fine I be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness let me simplify this very quickly the word single there is there is a good translation when your eye has a healthy singular focus it's from a word that carries that idea just one single pure focus it creates light for the entire body but when you have what's known as an evil eye which Proverbs refers to as somebody who's greedy materialistic and focuses on the wrong things it's like a double visioned person you can look at the right thing but you're looking over here and you'll just you ever see a guy drop a pass he sees a guy coming but if he takes his eyes off the ball right or if the fields open he's like man I got 20 yards I can run this thing and just give the ball and he's looking up too quick he drops the ball he's a double-minded man he's seen not not seeing the focus and what we in like the guy who rocks a tightrope when they do that they look at something in front of them and it keeps them balanced but if they look down and saw the rapids below or they saw it'll throw them off and what we have to do is keep our eyes on eternity focused on Christ and if I could say this concludes in some sense in verse 33 when Jesus says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things that you worry about in life like your food and clothing and shelter and lifespan verse 25 through 32 talks about he says all of that will be added you you focus on putting God first and he'll focus on taking care of your everything else elevate him and he will care for you if your father knows what you have need of and so the health of our life spiritually will be revealed in how I handle the resources I have and what I do with that he says it's going to what's your eye focused on and then lastly wrong investments will cause you to serve the wrong master look what he says in verse 24 he says no man can serve two masters no no no one can serve two courteuses it's impossible either you serve the one hate the one and love the other else you hold the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and money or mammon mammon there is is actually a transliteration of the Aramaic word mammon spelled basically the same way so it just transliterates it into the English it's more than just money it's it's your riches your possessions your money your house all your things he says you can't serve God and the world's stuff you you have to make your choice you have to make your choice and and I think today that we have to look at this and say God what am I going to serve with my life friends the the covetous draw of the world never ends and it's not wrong having money the Bible does not say money is the root of all evil it says the love of money is the root of all evil it's actually the affection for it when you love it when you when you desire it when it's that's your passion and desire the love of money is the root of all evil it says which while some coveted after they erred from the faith according to 1st Timothy 6 10 there's a lot of people that leave the faith air away you know Judas sold Jesus for money Demas left the ministry for the world stuff and it says they pierce themselves through with many sorrows I can tell you money getting and gaining stuff does not make one happy John D Rockefeller said I have made many millions they have brought me no happiness Vanderbilt who built his wealth and railroads and shipping said the care of 200 million is enough to kill anyone there is no pleasure in it Henry Ford said I was happier doing a mechanic's job Andrew Carnegie said he led the great expansion in the steel industry he said millionaires millionaires seldom smile and he went on to give away about 90% of his fortune Jesus said you either love the one or hate the other you you either hold to the one or despise the other so so choose choose your world in other words so as we launch into this eternal impact initiative I challenge us to live for the eternal not the temporal with our time resources our money our our life our our service I want more people to know Christ I want more people to make him known I want to see a church united behind the Great Commission to see a lost and dying world come to Christ I can say this lighthouse is here because there are people who believed in that and I think we continue because we believe that and we need to expand and advance by believing that and holding that and so I wrap up we're all investing you have two options heaven or earth they give different returns temporal or eternal everything in the earth will be lost everything invested into eternal spiritual things and heavenly things will be kept forever our investments reveal our heart where we invest reveals our spiritual condition our health and wrong investments will cause us to serve the wrong master I conclude with 1st John 2 17 where John says this and the world passes away and the lust thereof but he that does the will of my father abides forever the world's passing away what happened what's what's tragically happening in California 16 have died so sad they're seeing things burn up beautiful neighborhoods I have a sister-in-law that was born and raised in Orange County California my brother Meredith brought her back to Ross County Ohio I was like I don't know how that's gonna work Orange County man everybody has a multi-million dollar home go back to Ross County over here that's like culture shock like a missionary all of its gonna be gone one there was a man named CT stud who was a very wealthy guy very successful business his father owned he got passed down to him and he gave like almost all of it away he went out of sight for 13 years into foreign jungles and missions that you can't even it was just unbelievable sacrifice the man went through after 13 years of nobody really hearing of him they said where did you go what did you do he says most people want to live this safe life but he says I want to I want to run a rescue mission a yard from the gate of hell and and he invested in so many incredible many ministry Spurgeon's ministry and different ones and gave his wealth away to such things I think CT stud at the end of his life who look back and say thank God I live for the eternal now that's a drastic step I'm not saying that to sell everything you need a house you need your cars you need nice you those things are okay what I'm trying to say is this let us leave here today with an eternal focus whether we eat or drink everything we do let it's do for the glory of God amen don't waste time when you're driving listen to a sermon listen to preaching when you're getting up in the morning listen to stuff on your phone that's beneficial not just wasteful music or talk that doesn't gain anything feel your heart up just begin to look at your life and begin to fill things in with spiritual things that your life can become fruitful amen amen thank you and for being here in your faithfulness the Lord let's all stand
