I was working on a project and I knew I needed to stop at Menards to get this thing.
And I was driving through Oregon and I had put in my phone the location where I was going
which was actually to like, she's like my second cousin's house in Oregon.
And then as I went past Menards I was like, oh man, I got to stop into Menards and get
the part that I need for home.
So I'll just grab that real quick and then I'll go on to my destination.
I didn't think anything about it.
And so I grabbed my, I actually remembered to get my phone out of the car and I put it
in my pocket and I put it in my back pocket as I am accustomed to do.
And then I went in Menards and I was looking for it and my phone said to me, proceed to
such and such a road.
It was proceed to Curtis Road.
And I'm like, that's odd.
So I put my phone out and it was still navigating.
I had forgotten to turn off Google Maps or pause it, right?
You've ever done that?
Those of you who use Google Maps or young people are like, I don't know.
Us old people don't know where we're going sometimes or don't know exactly if you use
Google Maps or IMaps or whatever.
And so it was still telling me to go where I was going.
So I picked it up and I'm like, I'm trying to figure out how to pause it.
I don't want to turn it off because I'm going to go there as soon as I've done it in Menards,
right?
But I couldn't figure out how to turn it off.
So the only button I could find that would stop it from talking to me while I was walking
through Menards was end trip.
So I pressed the end trip button and it just went back to the main screen and that screen.
And when I got out of the car, I was able to restart it to go where I was going, which
was fine, right?
But then the Lord said to me, imagine where I'm going with this, I think right now, we're
all on a journey.
We're all going somewhere.
The ultimate destination, hopefully for each one of us is heaven.
That is the goal, right? To go to heaven when we die.
That is the goal.
And our eyes are to be focused on that.
I think a lot about that as I'm walking throughout my life and food, business, and shopping and
all these things.
I think a lot about it when my real destination is heaven.
I don't actually belong here.
I have a lot of good things here.
My house is here.
My family is here.
My church is here.
A lot of good things here, but I don't actually belong here.
I'm going somewhere else.
So I think about that a lot.
Then I was thinking about how a lot of times as we're living our lives supposedly for Jesus,
something will come along that we decide we kind of want.
We got, obviously, to pick that off real quick, and so we're tempted, and then we go over
and we grab that thing.
And while we're doing that, Jesus is talking to us saying, no, continue the journey.
Keep going.
Thank you.
That was nice of you to do that.
And keep going.
Keep focused on me.
Keep going where you're going.
That's where we're on a journey.
And I'm going, no, no, no.
I just want to pause.
I'm going to step over here for a minute and just take this thing that I want that's part
of this life that doesn't have anything to do with where we're going.
And there is no pause.
There's only end trip.
Now, the beauty of Jesus is if you're foolish enough, and I will say I have been at times
foolish enough, you're foolish enough to do that, to walk away from Jesus, following
Jesus while you're headed somewhere you're supposed to be going, you walk away from him
for a moment and grab something, whatever, that you can go back to Jesus, you can restart
the journey, you can repent and turn to him again and say, okay, Lord, I do love you.
I do want to follow you.
I do want to go where we're going.
I do want to work only for you and only with you.
I want you to live through me and so on.
You can do that.
Here's the problem.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in that other thing that it leads to habitual behavior.
It leads to doing things over and over again.
Or I could have shopped for an hour in Menards, for example, oh, I need that too, and oh,
I need that too, and oh, here's a bargain, and then had no time left to go where I was
actually going.
And so I submit to you that that is not the plan that Jesus has for us.
He does not want you to get off the journey.
He does not want you to take a break and go after the thing that tempts you.
And we make an excuse if we want to say, oh, the temptation is so much, but as we talked
about a few weeks back on Tuesday night, there was no temptation except that which was common
to man.
Jesus faced it all and he never veered off God's course.
And we can do the same.
Now we have the Holy Spirit.
We can do the same and stay on the course.
And so while it is there, our little navigating voice always taking us where it's trying to
take us.
And those things that are along the side of trying to take us off this course, we need
to say no.
And don't hit end trip.
Don't try to pause your journey with Jesus because you might miss the greatest thing
that God is trying to do.
You might even wind up trapped in sin again when you as a believer should never be.
So that was how the Lord spoke to me regarding Google Maps.
All right.
We definitely go.
I got a little bit of a motion.
Okay.
Yeah.
I hear your voice.
I'm going to start.
Romans 16 20.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
The devil keeps knocking at my door.
He tells me with him I'll be better.
He tells me to be more careful.
He tells me to look in me in the mira.
He tells me to be more careful.
He tells me to look in my family.
He tells me to stay with him.
I'll be better.
He tells me, oh my god is that he is more powerful than the devil will ever be.
He crushes the wall that will be back in my life and görbus in the.
He makes me better in everything is in his eyes.
I am great.
I am Paulist.
In the eyes of my God, my Jesus, I am victorious.
My Jesus the death.
He be everything.
I know this to be true.
be true so no matter what you say, Satan you ain't breaking me down. You ain't holding me back because my God will plow you over like a
freight train. I follow the one who saves and I follow the one who has all the power. I will tell you, Satan, nothing you do will keep me back.
My God, plant my feet here on this rock that is unbreakable. I stand on this rock because Jesus died for me so I can be free. I have Him in my heart and with Him here you have no place.
I surrender all my strength to follow Jesus Christ. The power that you may think you have is nothing when you compare yourself to the power Jesus has which I now have because Jesus lives in me.
You may think you're strong but you are nothing. Now you listen to me. You stay behind me where you belong. Go ahead and try to get me by the heels. My Jesus I'll take you to the curb. You know the power I have now, the Holy Spirit power.
So I'm going to keep you in my rear view and I'll keep my focus and the one who has the master plan. The one who keeps me in his arms always and loves me always. That person is my Lord, my Savior Jesus Christ.
With Jesus we have the Holy Spirit in us, even the evil spirit please in the man of Jesus. This is why we don't have to be afraid. All we have to do is believe in Jesus and use the power He gives to repute evil and surrender to His name.
Okay, anybody else? Okay one very short illustration that also touched me. It's very important. It says there was a Scotchman, it means he is from Scotland, who was once asked how many people it took to convert him. He said two.
Two? How was that? Didn't God do it all? He says the Almighty and myself converted me. He said I did all I could against it and the Almighty did all He could for it and He was before it.
I am reminded that before I was saved for 25 years, I lived my life my own way. And even at the end when Jesus was calling me, at the end when He was telling me this is for you, it's available to you, it's free, it's taken, it's good for me and let's go the rest of the distance together.
Even when He was doing that, I was still resisting. But He overcame me. He said God you did it. Because here I am today, serving the Lord, praising the Lord, knowing where I'm going and yes I make mistakes and He covers them for me. Praise the Lord.
Alright, so let's pray together and then we'll have tithes and offerings of an act of worship and then we'll continue to learn more worship.
Alright, Tommy, would you do this in prayer? I think it's kind of a place that we can have to worship you and keeping our eyes toward you.
I think that's a great part of working here, that you just meet with everyone. Give them peace of mind throughout the week as they are supporting their families, working colleagues. And that chili cracotta goes well. Have a good time in fellowship and remember that the purpose that we're there is where you can name my friend.
Grace knows your name.
God's not done with you.
Even when you're broken high and you're lost and it's God's.
God's not done with you.
Even when you're lost and it's high and you're falling apart.
God's not done with you.
It's not over, it's only begun.
Don't hide, don't run.
Just God's not done with you.
There's a light you don't know there.
You're standing in the dark.
There's a street that's growing inside your shadowed heart.
God's not done with you.
Even when you're broken high and you're losing your sky.
God's not done with you.
Even when you're lost and it's high and you're falling apart.
God's not done with you.
It's not over, it's only begun.
Don't hide, don't run.
Just God's not done with you.
You've got a plan, this is part of it.
You've got a finish where you started.
You've got a plan, this is part of it.
You've got a finish where you started.
It's not done.
God's not done writing your story.
Who am I that the Lord of all the earth
would care to know my name,
would care to feel my blood?
Who am I that the bright morning star
would choose to light the way
for my ever-wandering heart?
Not because of who I am,
but because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
but because of who you are.
Now I am well-prepared for the day,
and today and tomorrow,
away tossed in the ocean,
the vapor in the wind.
Still you don't hear me when I'm calling,
though you catch me when I'm falling,
the time before I am.
So last week we began a sermon series
on being a fanatic.
And you saw a little screen at the Inspirational Limit time
talked about being a fanatic.
And we're not a fanatic, obviously,
like the world might be a fanatic,
or like the cultist might be a fanatic,
but we are a fanatic as in sold out for the Lord.
And we read a little story last week,
and we're going to read that story for you again today
as an opener to kind of a transition
between last week's sermon and this week.
And it says, what could the king do?
In the second century they brought a Christian
before a king who wanted him to recant
and give up Christ and Christianity,
but the man spurned the proposition.
But the king said, if you don't do it, I will banish you.
The man smiled and answered,
you can't banish me from Christ,
and you cannot forsake me nor forsake me.
The king got angry.
He said, well, I will confiscate your property
and take it all from you.
And the man replied, my treasures are laid up on high.
You cannot get them.
The king became still more angry and said, I will kill you.
Why?
The man answered, I have been dead 40 years.
I have been dead with Christ, dead to the world,
and my life is hid with Christ and God,
and you cannot touch it.
What are you going to do with such a fanatic?
This is what we're talking about
when we talk about being a fanatic.
The truth is the world will come at us
in so many different ways,
and sometimes it may look a little bit like that.
Whether it's a king or someone else
who thinks they have that kind of authority
over your life, they will come at you,
and if you are not clear about to whom you belong,
clear about who you are serving,
clear about where you are going,
about how you are walking that day in Christ,
you just may wind up in a trap.
You just may wind up fearful
for what may come next and unable to stand for Jesus.
In that way, we are seeking to be a fanatic.
At the end last week, we also read these verses.
It says, if then you have been raised up with Christ,
keep seeking the things above where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth,
for you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God.
These are the facts.
I'm going to present them as three whereases,
which is like, these things are true,
and then I'm going to give you a resolution, if you will,
or an action plan that Scripture calls us to.
So the first one is this.
There is an end coming, and the way to that end is known.
That's a fact.
Jesus was speaking in Matthew chapter 7.
You're welcome to flip around in the Bible with me,
if you will, and then we'll kind of settle in one text
by the time we're through to bring it all together.
So Matthew chapter 7, Jesus is speaking,
and he says in verses 13 and following,
Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide,
and the way is broad that leads to destruction,
and many are those who enter by it.
For the gate is small, and the way is narrow
that leads to life, and few are those who find it.
Jesus was pointing to a moment in time
at which one of two things will be true.
It is the end, if you will,
it is the conclusion of all matters,
and either we will find the gate of life
or the gate of destruction.
There will come a moment in time
where all men will face judgment.
Jesus tells a great parable about the goats and the sheep
and how they will be divided from one side
of the throne to another, but there is a specific reason
why we're not looking at that at this moment.
It is just, is there an end?
It is appointed for all men once to die,
and then the judgment.
There is indeed an end, and we are headed toward it.
Jesus said, Therefore, verse 24,
everyone who hears these words of mine and acts upon them
may be compared to a wise man who built his house
upon the rock, and the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew
and burst against that house.
And yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine
and does not act upon them will be like a foolish man
who built his house upon the sand,
and the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew and burst against that house,
and it fell, and great was its fall.
After Jesus spoke these teachings,
they were amazed at his teaching,
for he was teaching them as one having authority
and not as their scribes.
I submit to you that it's easy enough to get wrapped up
in the affairs of this life, easy enough
to think you know something, to have some knowledge,
some understanding of what you're supposed to do,
who you're supposed to be, and miss the key point.
There is an end.
Eventually we will come to the end.
Whereas the gate is narrow, and the way to life
and that moment is narrow, we must take a certain path
to get there.
Secondly, notice the end is certain.
If you look at Hebrews in chapter 1,
flipping all the way to the right pretty much in your Bibles,
Hebrews in chapter 1, which we are not completely unfamiliar with
if you've been around for a while,
we studied this together some, about a year ago,
pretty in depth,
Hebrews chapter 1 verses 10 to 13,
which is actually a quote from the Old Testament,
Psalms 102,
and Hebrews 1, 10 to 13 says,
Thus, Lord, in the beginning there slay the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of thy hands.
They will perish, but thou remainest,
and they all will become old as a garment,
and as a mantle thou wilt roll them up as a garment.
They will also be changed, but thou art the same,
and thy years will not come to an end.
And as I said, that's a quote from Psalm 102.
Basically, there is an end coming to everything as you know it.
It's your car, your house, your money, your food, your time here on earth.
It's all coming to an end.
And as with a garment, you would take it off and fold it up.
So too will God take that mantle, that garment,
and it will be done.
But God will remain.
He will remain the same.
So there's an end to all things as we know them,
but not an end to God.
The end is certain.
Jesus would say, with absolute certainty, an end is coming.
In Hebrews 13, verse 8, it says as follows.
Now go back to verse 7.
Remember those who led, who spoke the Word of God to you
and consider the result of their conduct.
Imitate their faith.
Verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yes, and forever.
So as much as the times may change, technology may become different.
The way we earn our money or keep a roof over our head may change.
Whether or not people own property or build wealth may change.
Everything in the world might be changing.
You might say, I'm a young person.
You don't know me.
You don't know my life.
It's different.
Everything in the world may change, but Jesus remains the same.
The end is certain, and it is certain that Jesus will remain the same
to the end and beyond.
Then, whereas the gate is narrow and the only way,
the end is certain also all will meet God, but not all will be glad.
So in other words, no matter whether you believe in God or not,
eventually you will stand before God, and ultimately,
Scripture says, eventually you will kneel before God.
Whether you like it or not, whether you agree or not,
whether you are happy or not in that moment, all will meet God,
but not everyone will be happy about it.
Romans 14 says this, 14, 10 through 12.
But you, why do you judge your brother?
Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.
For it is written, As I live, says the Lord,
every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.
So then each one of us shall give a count of himself to God.
So there is an end moment where all mankind will gather at the throne of God,
and in that moment there will be gladness and there will be not gladness.
The gladness will be subject to what we did with this life.
And I would love to say that it's how we lived and did we do everything perfectly,
and we never told a lie, and we didn't steal and all of those kinds of things,
but that is not it.
Jesus did not come to condemn the world,
but know that they are condemned already by what they have done with the Son of God.
So it is truly about the Jesus.
It is truly about the Christ.
All will meet God, but not all will be glad.
Back to Hebrews chapter 5.
Plenty of flipping going on.
Hebrews chapter 5.
I'll get there in a moment.
Those of us who are flipping are flipping.
Hebrews chapter 5 verses 7 to 10 say as follows,
But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.
And in this case, hold on a second, that's chapter 7.
We'll go back one page. There we go.
In the days of his flesh, it's chapter 5 beginning in verse 7,
not chapter 7, beginning in verse 5.
So it's 5, 7.
In the days of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying
and tears to the one able to save him from death.
And he was heard because of his piety.
In other words, Jesus, while he was alive, prayed, begging God with tears,
crying to the one who was able to save him from death.
But notice he was saved because of his piety or because of his faithfulness to God.
Verse 8.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered.
And having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him,
the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest
according to the order of Melchizedek.
That's talking about Jesus.
And it explains to us that while he lived, he had that moment in time.
He begged God not to use the crucifixion, not to go through that experience,
to save him from death.
And some would say he did not answer, that God did not save him because he was crucified.
But actually we know he did answer because he was crucified and then rose again.
And then through the experiences, what he went through,
he learned obedience to God and became eternal salvation to all, essentially.
So those are the whereases.
The gate is narrow, the end is certain, and all will meet God, but not all will be glad.
Therefore, as we came up with kind of last week as well,
do all things you do as if you do them for him.
That's Colossians 3.17, whatever you do, word or indeed,
do all things as if you do it for the Father.
Also look at 1 Peter, so go all the way to the right, 1 Peter.
It's the Nidabooks.
We're in chapter 4, verse 4, next to the last chapter in the book of 1 Peter.
And it's verse 11, chapter 4, verse 11.
Whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterance of God.
Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies,
so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs the glory and the dominion, that's the rule, forever and ever. Amen.
So the bottom line is, if we have discovered our identity,
and that's what we talked about last week, right?
We were dead and now are made alive.
And if we are dead and made alive, then we realize there is an end coming.
It's an end to suffering.
It's also an end to what in this lifetime the lost would call blessings.
So it's an end to money, earning money, cars, celebrations, drug use, sex, as we know it.
It's an end to all of the things of this life that might actually be considered good things,
and all of the things of this life that are considered bad things.
Because of that, we can do all things in this lifetime as if we were doing them for Him,
always doing them for Him and in the strength that He supplies,
because we realize whatever may come against us, whatever may distract us,
whatever may be tempting, whatever may be suffering, all of that will come to an end.
One amazing trait of people is that they can dream, they can imagine, they can plan.
Best understanding of scientists is that there aren't a lot of animals, there may be a few,
there aren't a lot of animals that do this at all,
that think about what tomorrow will bring or next month or next year.
They plan for the cold to come, but they don't understand what they're doing necessarily.
They don't have the brain power to dream, to plan, and so on.
It makes a lot of sense for a man to plan for his future, and we know that this future ends at an end.
There is a narrow, a straight path that leads to a place in which we will be glad to meet God.
Therefore, since we have that amazing trait of people, we need only watch out for one real problem.
See, God also has plans, and humans were created in His image, so we have plans.
There's nothing wrong with having plans, dreams, desires.
The caveat or the warning is this, if your plans are out of step with God, that's the problem.
How to become a fanatic, to make your plans in step with God,
and if you know that your plans are in step with God's plans, then there is literally nothing that can stop you,
nothing that that king of this world can do to you because your plans are in step with God's plans.
Jesus called it this. He called it storing up treasures for yourself in heaven.
What is a treasure? It's the thing that you desire, the thing that you want, the thing that you need.
It's the thing that has value, the thing that can be used to get you later on to a better place.
So maybe you keep your cold medicine from one cold to the next,
and when that next time when the cold medicine comes, that cold medicine becomes a treasure because it can help you with your cold.
You fill your tank at night before you go to bed because you're assuming you're going to wake up in the morning
and have to go to work or to school or whatever, and when you get up in the morning,
the gas in the tank is a treasure because it helps you get where you're going
without having to stop in the cold in the morning and get gas.
A treasure is that thing that we keep so that it will be a benefit to us at a moment in time.
And Jesus said that we are to store up our treasures in heaven.
See, we've got to learn where our family keeps this treasure.
In our house, when we were not saved, we had an iron box, a metal box,
and we would put in the metal box everything that needed to survive if there was a fire in our house.
In the very big box, in it we would put some money that we had collected, we had some bonds that we'd bought for the children,
some stock certificates, things like that. We kept them in there, locked in there.
If the house ever burned down and was nothing but ash, the box would survive, and in the box would be the treasures.
But as Christians, as followers of Jesus, our treasures are not stored in iron boxes.
There are huge vaults of treasures stored up for Christians, and they are not on this earth,
nor can they be consumed by fire.
Flipping your Bibles with me then to Matthew chapter 6.
And now we'll hear it straight from the mouth of Jesus, albeit almost 2,000 years later.
Matthew chapter 6 takes place during a great discourse of Jesus.
Does anybody know what that speech is called?
We talked about this on Tuesday nights.
It's Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and they are what?
They are many parables.
They are the Sermon on the Mount.
And so this takes place, remember I told you,
if there was a moment in time that Jesus gathered what is probably the largest crowd he ever gathered,
and he stood up on a peak, and he spoke to them in a natural amphitheater
and his voice was magnified by that natural amphitheater,
as well as it might be by this microphone, probably better with much larger speakers,
there was a moment in time that Jesus gathered all of those people and he spoke,
then what he said that day was important.
What he said when there were thousands of them all gathered there by the sea was important.
He said this in Matthew 6 beginning in verse 19.
Do not lay up for yourself treasures upon earth where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal.
In other words, if you have anything good, don't put it away where someone can steal it,
don't store it where it can be dissolved by the moth, rust, etc.
or where it can be stolen by thieves, but rather he said, verse 20,
lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in or steal.
We'll stop there for one second.
What I want to say to you that because we know there is an end,
I'll give you an example, back in the day, this is many, many years ago,
all the little ATMs and stuff, they weren't all connected.
It wasn't like it is now where it's all through the internet.
You can literally pretty much go to any ATM anywhere and get money out of your bank.
Now you've got to pay the operators of the ATM a fee and it can be a lot,
it can be 7, 10, 12 dollars, right?
So back in the day, we had some money in the bank and we took a vacation
and we went pretty far and then while we were gone, we took with us travelers checks.
Does anyone remember travelers checks?
Travelers checks are like a certificate worth money, you can pay with it at the restaurant.
You can pretty much still do that today, but it's very uncommon now
because most people use credit cards.
We took travelers checks and then while we were gone, we used up the travelers checks.
Now we had money in our bank at home, but we didn't have much cash on us
because we planned to do most of our spending with the travelers checks
and if anybody stole the travelers checks, you report them as stolen
and then they don't get your money and instead you can get them replaced, right?
So there was safety in having travelers checks.
So we used all the travelers checks and then we wanted to go out to eat.
We were camping at the time in Pigeon Forest, Tennessee, not far from Gatlinburg.
We used up all the travelers checks, but we had money in the bank,
a couple thousand dollars in our bank account at home.
But we had to find an ATM that would access our bank at home
and it wasn't that easy back then.
Now they weren't all connected in a massive network.
And so after some searching, we finally found an ATM that would access our bank at home
and the fee was like $7 and I told Sherry,
I don't know if I want to pay an extra $7 to go out to eat.
That's a lot of money to get money.
So we'll get enough money to last us for the next couple days and then we'll go home.
We're getting ready to go home anyway and it's fine.
It's that or we can't spend our money very easily.
And so we put the card in, we put the PIN in and it says accessing your bank.
Spiral spun for a long time.
Two minutes, three minutes passed and I'm going like,
I wonder if we're going to get any money out of this machine.
It's accessing our bank back in Toledo, right?
Finally, after like about four minutes, it says your bank is accessed,
your withdrawal has been approved.
And the money came out and of course then they communicate with our bank
and they give out that money plus $7 and we had the money for the rest of our trip.
Our family, the church, we have a bank, but our bank is at home.
It's not, our bank is not, once you put money in it, money in it,
once you store your treasures in it, it's not necessarily going to provide you
with the cold medicine that you need.
It may not put gas in your tank, but the fact is that money that you put there is forever safe.
That service that goes there, that investment, whatever it is that you put there is forever safe.
The time spent is forever safe.
It is in our house's bank that cannot be touched by moths, by thieves.
It does not wilt away or rust away.
Verse 20 says this, it says,
But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in or steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
See, if you store your money in your bank, if you store your goods in your cupboards,
if you store your stuff in your car, then you're going to be concerned about
what happens to your car, your cupboards, and your bank.
You ever see it come out on the news and it says such and such a bank folded
and people aren't getting their money back?
What's the first thing you do?
Look and see if it's your bank, right?
To see whether or not your money is lost.
Now, most of us would not lose our money because most real banks are insured.
And unless you have more than $100,000 in the bank,
you get it all back from the federal government in time.
But you still wouldn't want it to take a long time, right?
You still wouldn't want it to be your money is all tied up for several days.
Wherever you put your treasures, that's where your heart is going to be.
Now, where do we start at?
We started asking ourselves, how do we behave as a fanatic?
How do we live our lives in such a way that if somebody comes after whatever we have
and if they have the authority and the power and they take it from us,
we've literally lost nothing.
Well, this is the answer.
You store up for yourself treasures in heaven where those treasures are safe.
Because why?
Because if you're a follower of Jesus, that's where you're going.
The other $1,800 or whatever it was that we didn't use while we were in Pidget Forge,
that we didn't take out through the ATM, when we got back to Toledo,
we used that money to pay our light bills, to put gas in our gas tank and so on.
When you get to heaven, your treasures will be there waiting for you
if you store up treasures in heaven.
But more important than that, your heart will be where your treasures are,
which means if you treasure the things of this life and use them for your enjoyment,
use them for your benefit, your blessing, your progress,
whatever while you're on earth, then when you want to go to heaven,
you're going to have a problem because your heart is going to be here on earth.
That's a problem.
Verse 22 then says, the lamp of the body is the eye.
If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
If you see this clearly and realize that the things of this life have a purpose
and they are for you to translate, for you to transfer,
we went years ago over to England for our 20th wedding anniversary.
We got to go to London.
We went to see where they shot Downton Abbey because that was Sherry's favorite show back in the day.
She still likes it and likes it when the movies come out and stuff like that.
We went to go to High Clear Castle.
That was kind of the big point of our trip was to go there.
But before we went there, we stayed for five days in downtown London in a beautiful old hotel.
We walked and we saw the palace and all these cool things.
It was really a great trip, except Sherry got the flu while we were there
and that took her down for about two and a half days.
But then we got some medicine and she got going again.
So it was great.
We were real glad that we were there for 10 days, not like five because she was sick for two and a half days.
Bottom line is while we were there, you can't spend American money.
Nobody takes cash.
Pull a dollar out of your pocket, they're not going to take it.
So all over the place at grocery stores, at the airport, all over the place,
there's places where you can turn in your American money and get money from England, pounds and pence and so on.
And it's like that.
If you're using your money for worldly things, you're turning it into worldly currency and you may have great success here.
If you're using your time for worldly things, you're turning it into worldly currency and you may have great success here.
But the only way you can actually do that is if you can deny that there is an end
because you'll invest in this lifetime so much that when the end comes, all that you invested, all that you got is gone.
If it comes before the end of your life and Jesus comes again,
then all the money you have in the bank will not benefit you a bit in heaven.
And all the time you spent taking care of yourself and taking care of your preferences and feeding your flesh and giving into sin or temptation,
or even you might even say, no, this is not sin or temptation, but invested in the good things of life that are not putting treasures in heaven,
when Jesus comes again, it'll all be done.
That's why the way is narrow.
That's why it is narrow because there are so many good things that you can do, so many that do not store up treasures for you in heaven.
But if your eye is clear and you see this and you realize that we're supposed to be translating the things that we're blessed with in this lifetime
into treasures in heaven that our family stores its blessings in vaults in heaven,
when you realize that, then your body will be full of light because your heart is there where your treasure is.
Verse 23, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?
You realize if you invest in the things of this world, then when this world ends, you have nothing.
And if you can know that and still do it, if you're a Christian and still be concerned,
about the events and the things around you, you're wrapped up in the drama, wrapped up in the temptations,
wrapped up in the physicality of life and blessing yourself and your mind and feeling good about yourself.
If you're wrapped up in all of that, how great is that darkness?
That you would take the blessings that God has given you and use them for your earthly life,
rather than use them for kingdom advance and store up treasures for yourself in heaven.
James chapter 5 has a warning to those who have access to wealth specifically.
I don't want to drill down too much on money, although it's quite clear that he was including money in his conversation.
He was not only talking about money.
James chapter 5 right off begins with a warning to those who have access to wealth.
5.1 says, Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments have become mothy and your gold and your silver have rusted.
And their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure.
Behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you.
In other words, they earn some of their money by bad means, by cheating people.
And the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
Do you understand that those who mow and those who do harvest, they represent servants.
And if the servants are not taken care of, the servants are not receiving their just reward.
If we're not pouring into the kingdom of advance is what he's saying,
then that failure to pour into the kingdom of advance as it falls away from us will destroy us and carry us into eternal fire.
That's what he's alleging.
In verse 5 it says, You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of want and pleasure.
You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned and put to death the righteous man.
He does not resist you.
Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil,
being patient about it until it gets the early and latter rains.
You too be patient.
Strengthen your hearts and the coming of the Lord is at hand.
We are warned that whatever treasures we are blessed with, we should be using them for the kingdom of advance.
And if we do not do so, God calls it robbery and says that there is a just reward.
1 Timothy chapter 6 and then we're in the conclusion.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
I'm finding it.
There we go.
1 Timothy chapter 6 beginning in verse 6.
But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
We have brought nothing into the world so we cannot take anything out of it either.
And if we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.
But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires,
which plunge men into the ruin and destruction.
We're in verse 10 now.
But the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.
Note, not money, but the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.
And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang.
But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and perseverance, and gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
And you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus,
who testifies the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which he will bring about at the proper time.
He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of the kings and Lord of lords,
who alone possesses immortality and dwells in the unapproachable light,
whom no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches,
but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future,
so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
That brings us to our conclusion.
You remember when we studied 1 Corinthians 13, we talked about love.
We talked about how love abides and remains, and nothing else really does.
There are three great things that do remain, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.
And so in that we were reminded that investing in love will never fail.
If you have a dollar, use it to genuinely love somebody, and you translate it into the vaults of heaven.
If you have a bit of an hour, use it to serve and to love somebody, and you invest in true treasures.
You become a person who spends their time, money, health, strength, creativity, and more
on being an example of love and loving others even when they do not deserve to be loved.
We see it as our basic identity. We were dead and brought to life, translated in a new kingdom.
This kingdom has its coffers not on this earth, but in heaven.
We invest in this identity, not just who we once were or who we've changed a little bit to be,
but the one whom God sees us as. It's nuts. It's crazy.
I'm literally feeling like to live this way, I would be absolutely insane.
I would be investing my money in vaults I cannot see.
I would be storing up my time in treasure troves that I will never see with these eyes,
that I will never feel with my hands.
Now I can feel the dollar that's in my pocket, and I can taste the candy bar,
albeit a small one these days, that I can buy with it.
But I would be divorcing myself of my physical reality to do this very thing that Jesus called me to.
That I would be taking all that I am and all that I have and sacrificing it on an altar of praise to God.
Yes, He's the Creator God. Yes, He sent His only Son to die for me.
But on a daily basis, I would have to decide not to taste, not to touch, not to invest in all that I have desired.
And instead, to store up my treasures in a place which I will not go until I am dead or until Jesus comes again.
Well, they'll think we've gone bonkers.
They'll think we've gone over the edge. We've lost our self-respect as we deny ourselves and instead invest in others.
They'll think we're absolutely crazy as we stop desiring ourselves to do as well as we possibly can
and instead investing in the kingdom that the gospel might prosper.
At the very same time, we will be propelled in Christ to the very same eternal victory that God purchased us for.
That's how we will become a fanatic.
We will look at the good things of this life no longer as a thing to be tasted or a thing to be experienced or a thing to make me stronger.
And we will look at the good things of this life now as a gateway, a method, a possibility, a thing that can be used to store up treasures in heaven.
Do you like something?
Do you like your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your spouse?
Do you like your car, your house, your income?
What if you began as Jesus led us to to look at that very same list of things as a means to store up treasure for yourself in heaven?
We're going home one day.
Not everything that is on this earth is automatically connected to our bank there.
But because Christ died for us and made us new, we can take the things of this earth and translate them to a new currency, a currency that can only be held in the bank of heaven.
And we can trust that he will do just that.
That's why Paul could write, I know in whom I have trusted and that he is able to keep unto that day that which I have entrusted to him.
People are wonderful investments because people can go to heaven and begin to invest themselves.
So people make wonderful investments.
But cars and houses and bank accounts and food and hobbies and pastimes, none of those things make good investments because they're all going to end.
Rather, you will need to invest in the things of the kingdom.
And so let's say, for example, you love food.
It's of no earthly use to you unless you can use it to win souls.
Let's say, for example, you love a certain hobby or certain sport.
It's of no earthly use to you unless you can use it to reach people with the gospel, to draw closer to Jesus.
Now this proposes a real problem, doesn't it?
Because all of these hobbies, all of these recreations, all of these activities, even cooking, even eating, even working your job, all of them are parts of life that exist.
And we kind of have to, don't we?
We're kind of obligated, aren't we?
Don't we have to get up and go to work?
Don't we have to pay our electric bill?
Don't we have to pay for gas in the car?
Don't we have to pay for medicine when we're sick?
We're kind of obligated.
And so then how do we do those things that we're obligated to?
How do we become good at the thing that we think God wants to use without being in a place where the investments are lost on this earth?
It's tough.
I want you to think right now about the single thing that you invest the most time in.
It might be your job.
It might be your hobby.
It might be a relationship you have with another person.
It might be social media.
Now I want you to ask yourself, how are you translating that labor of love into something that can be stored in heaven?
It will not be your winning record.
It will not be your number of likes.
It will not be the dollar amounts in your bank account.
None of those things will be translated into heaven.
When you get to heaven, there won't be one person up there saying,
Yeah, when I ended, I had $4 million in the bank or $40 billion in the bank.
I owned all the newest sports cars.
None of them will be saying, I owned all the newest sports cars.
They'll all be singing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty.
They'll all be praising Jesus for bringing them out if they're there at all.
How will you make sure that the things that you're invested in are translated into kingdom currency and stored in heaven for when you arrive?
There's a story told by an old preacher probably over a hundred years ago.
And he talked about being at the bedside of an old saint, a person who professed the name of Jesus Christ.
And they had lived and give as far as he knew.
They had served in the church and give a lot over the years.
Pay for this, pay for that, help people when they're in trouble, that kind of thing.
He was laying next to them. They seemed to be suffering greatly as they were dying, which is not normal the way Christians go out.
Most true Christians go out praising the Lord because they know where they're going next.
But he was, thought it was bizarre and he said, well, let me pray with you. And he asked the old saint laying in the bed, all covered up to her neck.
He asked, let me take your hand and pray with you. And she wouldn't give him his hand.
And he asked her several times over a couple of hours, take my hand and pray with me.
And she lay there and she was struggling and she was in angst.
She was worried about where she was going next and what was going to happen.
She acted like she was more than just in pain even and she wasn't supposed to really be in pain.
And she would never take his hand.
A couple of hours later he sat by her bedside for a couple of hours and he prayed over her.
A couple of hours later she passed away.
And then they went to pull the covers back and take her out of her bed to go to the mortician or whatever.
And they found that under the covers she was clenching with both hands the safe key, the key to the safe in her house.
So she had given. She had served.
But at the moment of her death, rather than Jesus being on her lips, rather than peace knowing where she was going,
she was clutching the key to the safe in her house, which was filled with a lot of wealth that went to her heirs and did a lot of good.
She wrote a will that did a lot of good.
But the preacher said he wondered, and we'll never know until we get to heaven,
he wondered whether or not in the moment of her passing the God of her life had not become the God of her eternity.
And if it happens, don't doubt, you will still stand before God.
And you will be asked, what did you do with this lifetime?
And if your answer is, well, I collected.
I invested in charities or I invested in activities.
I paid for things.
If that's your answer, that has nothing to do with Jesus.
And you just may not wind up where you want to be.
There are a lot of treasures in this lifetime.
There are many currencies that we deal in and we must translate them into the currencies of heaven.
Is it possible, though, that even this thought, this is confusing,
even this desire to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven,
even that could stop us from storing up treasures for ourselves.
What if you now did this and you said, I choose from now on to be loving and giving and serving all the time.
That's all I'm ever going to do. From now on, I'll only do that.
If somebody needs, I'm there. If somebody needs money, I'm there.
I'll always do it. From now on, I'll always do it.
Because that way, I'll become a translator of currency and store up for myself treasures in heaven.
What if you chose to do that?
And the motivation was so that when you get there, you'll have a great big bank account awaiting you.
What if that's it?
No, no, we mustn't forget last week's sermon.
Because if you are still dead in your trespasses and sins,
then you can do that for your whole life.
And the currency that you store in the bank of heaven will be there, but you won't be.
Hebrews 13-12 says, Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate.
So let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his reproach.
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
You see, we want to surrender all our sources of blessing and income and whatever to the Lord.
To do so, we will suffer.
The lady who gave her tiny two coins gave so much more than all those who dumped their treasure chests in.
Because she was giving out of her need and they were giving out of their abundance.
If you become rich, you're in trouble.
Because it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
And how is that fair, the disciples basically asked.
And Jesus said, With God all things are possible.
If you should become rich, keep your eyes on the prize.
Jesus is the prize.
Keep your eyes on what's to come.
Because that is the prize.
Clutch on to the gospel and its center focus, which is Christ and his sacrifice.
Not because we may lose it, but because only he may avail us in the end.
No matter what your bank account says, no matter what your score is, no matter what your winning record is,
no matter what you have accomplished in this lifetime, if you do not translate it into the currency of heaven,
you will have nothing in the end.
One last illustration and we'll be through.
Let me ask you this.
Did Jesus expect zeal from his disciples?
Energy to go and do the kingdom work? I submit to you, he did.
Take up your cross daily, deny yourself, follow after me.
There's a story about a woman who had a young boy.
She lived in Wales, which is in Scotland also.
She tells the story, actually I'm sorry, and an English friend of hers, a mother, had a child that was sick.
At first they considered there was no danger until one day the doctor came in and said that the symptoms were very unfavorable.
He took the mother out of the room and told her that the child could not live, that he would die.
It came like a thunderbolt.
After the doctor had gone, the mother went into the room where the child lay and began to talk to the child and tried to divert his mind.
Darling, do you know you will soon hear the music of heaven?
You will hear a sweeter song than you have ever heard on earth.
You will hear them sing the song of Moses and the lamb.
You are very fond of music.
Won't it be sweet, my darling?
And the little tired sick child turned his head away and said,
Oh mama, I am so tired and so sick that I think it would make me worse to hear all that music.
Well, the mother said, you will soon see Jesus, you will see the seraphim and the cherubim and the streets all paved with gold.
And she went on picturing heaven as it is described in Revelation.
The little tired child again turned its head away and said,
Oh mama, I am so tired that I think it would make me worse to see all those beautiful things.
At last the mother took the child up in her arms and pressed her to her loving chest.
And the little sick one whispered, Oh mama, that is it.
That is what I want.
If Jesus will only take me in His arms and let me rest.
Are you weary of sin?
Are you weary of suffering?
Or are you excited?
Excited about the things of this life.
Excited about what you get to participate in.
Happy and joyful, even blessed to play another game, to work another day, to pay another bill, to collect a little more money,
to do a hobby or a talent or an art or play a sport or go camping.
Are you blessed?
Are you truly blessed?
If you're truly blessed, then you'll translate that blessing into the things of heaven.
But if you're truly not truly blessed the way God wants you to be,
if you're not risen in the Lord, then you'll use those things for your joy and your sustenance now.
I remember thinking so many times as a lost person before I came to New Jesus,
I was so tired, if only I could get some rest.
I so much wanted this.
The burden in me to have the new play system or a computer.
I remember I literally took out two credit cards and got all the debt I possibly could to get a new computer before Pentium was invented.
It was a 286 and it could play a few games.
And I spent hours and hours and hours playing those games because I thought if I could just get to the next level,
if I could just get my crew up to be this good, I kept thinking I'll be okay.
I'll do well. I'll feel better.
I'll be a better person. I'll be a better gamer. I'll be a better whatever.
I remember thinking when I was not saved and I was dating my wife and we moved in together
and we had a baby before I was married and I didn't know Jesus.
And I remember thinking if I could just get her to do this, I'll be okay.
If I could just get that, when she would do that thing, then I would think, yes, I'm good. I'm good. It's working.
And it would last for a few minutes.
And then I would think, well, if I could just have this for dinner.
I remember thinking always if I could just have, if I could just get, if I could just be,
I yearned and I desired and my desires were out of control.
If your desires are still out of control today, you're not saved.
You're following something and then you're following something else and you're following something else
but you're not following Jesus.
But if you'll go outside the gate, outside the gate is what? Is suffering.
If you'll divorce yourself from that thing that you think,
and if you think your ships going to come in and that's going to solve the problem,
or you're going to get a better job and that's going to solve the problem,
you're going to retire, that's going to solve the problem, you get your wife to behave,
that's going to solve the problem with your husband, that's going to solve the problem.
You're going to get a handsome boyfriend or a handsome girlfriend and that's going to solve the problem.
going to solve the problem? None of those things are going to solve the problem.
Someday you're going to meet an end and you have to have taken all of the things
of this life and put them subject to Jesus and stored them in treasures in
the vaults of heaven so that you will have something. Otherwise you will have
nothing. Our lives should not be, oh I'm so yay I scored, yay I took, yay I ate. It
should be I'm waiting for Jesus to hold me, waiting for Jesus to overcome my
suffering, to provide for me because I know He is the only one who can. But if
you're waiting for your ship to come in, if you're storing up treasures here on
earth thinking it'll be good when He comes and He will, you'll be like oh man
gonna miss the game. Oh man can't watch now. Oh man can't eat that. Oh man all
that money I put in the bank I won't get to spend it. And your heart will be where
you stored your treasures and that will not be with Jesus and that results in an
eternity of separation and that is not what you want. I'm asking you today to
nothing less than be born again. Start fresh and let Jesus be first in all
things and invest in the kingdom. Invest in people. Serve and love. You can't take
anything else with you to heaven but you could take a person. Go tell somebody
about Jesus. If they get mad at you and they hate you and you have to
persevere persecution, so be it. Don't be surprised when it happens by the way
because this world will not run on the currency that we're talking about. Once
you translate it stored in heaven now you'll have nothing to pay everybody
with to love you. This concludes the sermon. The praise team is going to come
and lead us in a final song but I want you to stop and think about what you're
investing in and how much great joy you're finding in the things of this
world and if you find yourself finding great joy in the things of this world
then you have to decide either to give up that thing or to give up you and turn
that thing into something that cannot honor the Lord. If you've not accepted
Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior until this moment in time, the Lord is the first
who comes to the kingdom to do it. The Savior is the first person who paid the price of your sins.
Then you do that right now. From now on Jesus through me. From now on. And start fresh.
If you have already done that, then I want you to think about that since you got
saved what are you clinging to in this life? What's that important to you?
And that thing is failing to store up treasures in heaven. Please do not be in
the multipurpose room unless you're checking on your chili. Please do not go
in and out the dock door. Use the end doors. If you want to hang out that's fine.
Just not in there.