I hope that today's little heart-to-heart talk will mean an awful lot to you.
This, of course, is the third talk that we've had together on this thing regarding
the material things of life. And of course, that affects all of us.
Oh, you know, we've come to the place where I believe that this generation
knows more about life than any generation has ever lived. And yet, we know so little about how to live.
I mean that. And I was just thinking the other day, as I too am learning,
I would give anything in the world if I had only had all the knowledge that I have
regarding this thing of how to live when I was 16 years of age.
And, oh really, as it is now my word, I'm, well, I'm not going to tell you how old I am, but anyway,
here I am just beginning to learn how to live, and it won't be long before I will have lived my life,
and the whole thing here on earth will have been accomplished.
Therefore, I only pray that as I bring you the word today, regarding something that's very practical,
so understandable, that you'll just be honest enough to look yourself,
your problems, your weaknesses directly in the face, and then come and throw yourself on God's side
and live according to his laws for living. If you do, I promise you, you won't miss.
All right, I shall read the previous scriptures just to lead you up to our third in a series of messages.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I'm going to stop right there before I go on with the next three verses.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
In the morning, I knew that I was going to speak on this subject in one of our evening services,
and I said, Maggie, now just before I go in to pray about my sermon tonight,
let's just go down the street and get a bowl of soup.
And we did, walking out of the restaurant, going down the street.
And this happened the same day that I was to preach on this subject.
We had not gone more than a block when something happened
that touched me so deeply. And in the incident, I saw the true meaning,
God's spiritual interpretation of this familiar portion of the word of God.
Maggie and I were talking, walking very rapidly, and I heard a voice.
Maggie and I were talking, walking very rapidly.
When suddenly I realized a precious colored woman had just passed me.
As I looked up, she was even with me, but going the opposite direction.
And as I looked into her face, I realized that she recognized me.
And knowing that the colored lady recognized me, I just stopped.
And when I turned around, sure enough, she had turned completely around.
Perhaps it was the very first time that she had ever seen me on the street,
had ever seen me in street clothes. Perhaps the only time she had seen me was,
as I stood behind the pulpit, and she stood there startled.
And her first words were, Kathleen Coon.
I said, yes, honey, that's right, I'm Miss Coon.
And she just looked at me. Her face just smiled.
Just smiled. She was too awed to say anything further, just that.
But she did something so quickly, it was so spontaneously,
she had no time to think whatsoever. It was not premeditated.
She reached her hand out. I thought she was going to reach her hand out to shake hands with me,
but it wasn't that. In that hand, she was holding something,
and in reaching her hand out, she placed it in my hand.
Here, she said, I want you to have this. God bless you.
And she turned around and continued walking down the street.
Do you want to know what she had placed in my hand? One nickel and two pennies.
I'm not ashamed to tell you. With those three coins in my hand pressed very tightly in my hand,
I continued down the street crying.
Tears just wouldn't hold back.
I saw love in those three coins. I saw a depth of consecration. I saw a spiritual life.
I saw the heart of a Christian in those three coins.
You say, Miss Crumen, it was only a nickel and two pennies. It was only seven cents. How can you say
that? Beloved, it wasn't the amount that she had placed in my hand. It was the love that prompted
the giving of the gift. It was what those three coins represented.
The gift was not premeditated. It was spontaneous.
She was not really giving them to Kathleen Crumen. It was the one that I represented to her.
I represented the Lord to her. I represented the Christ that she loved.
And you cannot love without giving. You can't do it. It's as impossible, beloved,
it's as impossible to love without giving as it is for you to stand in the middle of the streets the
middle of noonday and try to argue the sun out of the heavens. You can't do it. There's something
about it. We're constructed that way. God made us like that.
When you really love enough, I'm talking about honest to goodness, the sincere loving,
not the surface stuff. When it comes from the very depths of your being, love is something you do.
It goes way back to the time when Jesus so loved lost many women that he offered himself
through the Holy Spirit to be given of the Father. And the Father so loved that he gave,
he has only begotten Son. It's the love that he gave to the Father.
He gave, he has only begotten Son. It's the whole principle of living, of life,
the foundation for the whole works.
I represented
Christ to that precious colored woman as I passed her on the street.
The first thing she did because she loved him
was to give.
It was not premeditated.
It was spontaneous, but it was as natural for her to give as it was for her to breathe.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Love, obedience, giving are all wrapped up in the same bundle.
You cannot separate one from the other. It's like that. When you love the Lord enough,
you will put Him before the material things.
And they will be in the same bundle.
You will put Him before the material things. And then when you put God first,
when He is the center of your thinking, your living, everything else revolves around that.
In other words, you get your spiritual sight first. Make the spiritual the center of your life.
Make the spiritual the center. And all these things shall be added unto you.
If you put the material first, then all these other things, security,
everything else in life shall be subtracted from you because you have your addition all wrong.
You're living contrary to God's laws and rules for living.
It's just that simple. All right, now watch it. I continue with the next three verses.
The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine 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.
What in the world is Jesus saying? Remember, every word that left His mouth was important,
vitally important. And He's talking about something that is important to every one of us.
If you are a part of humanity, this is something that's most important to you
because we cannot exist and live without the material. And He's still talking about the
material. He has just said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now, in using the
eye here, the eye symbolizes spiritual perception. I told you before I began this series of messages
that people usually do exactly what they want to do. I can preach until I'm blue in the face.
I can give you the word of God. I can tell you about God to you. I can tell you about
God's laws. I can give you God's rules. And even after presenting them to you, I know
that I'm perfectly helpless in forcing you to follow these laws, to follow His rules.
And God Himself will not force any human being to comply with His rules or His laws.
Should you break them, you will suffer. You cannot live contrary to any one of God's rules,
any one of God's laws without suffering. You are the one who will pay the price.
He has made the laws. He has given the rules. But man is also born as a free moral agent.
And you are absolutely free to live contrary to the laws or you are free to accept them.
In a true sense, it is your life. You can do with it whatever you want.
You can be a failure or you can be a success. You can live a life of defeat or you can live a life
of victory with the assurance of complete security. But the only person in the whole world
who is absolutely secure and has a complete sense of security is the man or the woman who is secure
in his God and is secure in spiritual things. All these things are the laws of God.
And is secure in spiritual things. All these people who are so frustrated,
I don't care what the outward appearance is. The person who spouts off the most,
the man or the woman who is usually the loudest, the one who tries to impress you the most,
is really the one who is the least secure. They're just coming up. That's all.
I say it again. The only person in the whole world this hour who has honest and goodness security
for this life and the life to come is the man or the woman who is secure spiritually.
Now the eye here symbolizes spiritual perception.
Whatever you give your attention to is the thing that governs your life.
And every life is being governed by something. I don't care who you are listening to me just now.
I don't care whether you're poor, you're rich, I don't care what your status in life might be,
whether you live in a mansion or a little old Abbey group.
Every person this very hour is being governed. Your life is being governed by something.
Just tap a minute. I know what governs my life.
I know exactly what I put first in my life. It controls me completely,
controls my every action, controls my every thought, controls me seven days a week.
I'm a servant to it. It is my master. Think just a minute. What governs your life?
What governs your life? You say, Miss Koeman, I'm not quite sure. What do you put first?
Now your free will lies in the direction of your attention.
And this thing is the thing that will dominate your life.
If God comes first with you, then your eye is single and your whole body will be full of light.
That's exactly what Jesus said. The light of the body is the eye.
If therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
If your eye is focused upon the spiritual, if your eye is focused on God,
do you want to know why the material things are so important?
Do you want to know why the material things are dominating the lives of the majority of people?
It's because their eyes have been focused on the material things here on earth.
Earthly things, the getting, the getting. That's the reason your wife really drives you mad
is because her eyes are upon the material things. Just right, everyday living.
Lift your eyes up, see Jesus, and when you get the right perception, the right perspective,
the whole body shall be full of light, Jesus said. There's a new light, new light.
With God first, all these things shall be added unto you, and you cannot miss. God bless you.