Treasures In Heaven | Frank Brancato

We have several of our number that are missing, but we have a

great crowd because you're here and it is always a pleasure and

a privilege to worship God, as Terry pointed out in the very

beginning about worshipping God. That's why we're here.

It's all about God. It is always a joy to preach

concerning the word of God. And I am enjoying this series

very, very much on the great Sermon on the Mount.

Today we've come to a passage of scripture that's found in

Matthew Chapter 6 and verses 19 through 21, where Jesus is going

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

to talk on the concept of laying up for yourselves, treasures in

heaven. And thank you, Chris, for

leading that song just a moment ago, because it's really fitting

to our lesson, treasures unseen. There are things in life that we

spend a lot of our time investing in.

We do. We have investments that we do

with our money, We invest of our time.

And there's things in life that do draw our attention.

What the Lord is going to say is the Lord is going to tell us

that the treasures in heaven far surpass any treasure that you

could ever try to get in this life.

The things of this life are temporal.

They're passing, and they can all be taken away.

Let me just ask you a question before we go any further.

Have you ever had something in your life that was taken away?

Everybody has. And it's painful.

And the more emphasis you put on what was taken away, the greater

the pain and the greater the effect on your life.

This lesson is about focusing on better things and investing in

heavenly treasures. And we're going to talk about

what all that means. By the way, we're going to

prefer heavenly things over earthly things.

You know, before Jesus taught on these passages though, he taught

on the subject of fasting. And I'm not going to go back

into that because about eight years ago I gave a two-part

series on fasting and I'm not going to go back and do that.

What I want to do is though I'm going to skip those verses, but

I'm going to mention them in general really briefly as an

introduction as they apply to the same concept Jesus said

about praying. What did Jesus say when he

taught the concept of prayer? He gave principles of proper

prayer. And what Jesus said is he said

don't do it for the wrong motive.

Don't do it for the wrong reason.

Don't do it to be seen by men. We know that right?

It's got to be for the right reason.

In other words, prayer is something personal between you

and God. So is fasting.

So Jesus says when you fast, implying that you're going to

when you fast. And there are times when a

disciple of Jesus is going to fast.

Absolutely. In fact, in the Old Testament,

it's called afflicting the soul. What that means is that just

means humbling yourself. And there's times when you

humble yourself in fasting and it's accompanied by prayer.

What did Jesus say about that? He said, when you do it, don't

do it to be seen by men. Wash your face.

Put a smile on your face. Don't have a sad.

The Bible says a sad countenance.

Oh look at me, I'm starving. Don't do that.

Don't do it to be seen by men. After he got finished with all

of that, he's going to talk about the things that are most

important in our life, laying up for ourselves, treasures in

heaven. Now what I got to tell you is

this. I'm going to give today 5

practical ways to do that. You know, the Bible is filled

with general principles, and general principles are

wonderful. But the Bible is also filled

with practical application of how to achieve those general

principles. So I can get up here today and I

can say, you know, what you got to do, what you really got to do

is just kind of put the Lord first.

OK, great. What you got to do is you got to

really get your priorities straight.

How many times we heard that. Thanks for that.

What if I could, you know, in my career as a preacher, one of the

things that comes to mind or comes to my attention or is

brought to my attention from people wherever I preach is I

really want to do what's right. I really want to live the

Christian life, but I struggle. Everybody struggles.

I'm weak and sometimes I fall and I struggle.

I try to stay focused, but man, I keep getting derailed.

And one of the greatest requests from me is can you give us some

practical things that I can do to apply in my life to stay

focused and stay on track? That is so important.

I'm going to give you 5 things today on how to lay up treasures

in heaven and five ways to know if you actually are great stuff

from the word of God. OK, before we do that, let's go

to verse 19. Because in verse 19 Jesus is

going to say the flip side. He's going to say what not to

do. And the first thing he says is

do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.

First of all, let me say Jesus is not condemning wealth.

He is not condemning earthly riches.

He is not saying that you have to live your life in poverty.

He's not saying that at all. He is also not suggesting that

money is inherently evil. You know, I got to tell you,

there's a passage in the Bible that talks about money with

regards to evil. We all know what that is, right?

I was watching a movie not long ago and Hollywood tried to

depict that phrase that is found in the Bible, but they misquoted

it. It was regards to a guy that was

guilty of greed. So somebody in this movie says,

well, you know, as they say, money is the root of all evil.

No it's not. And that's not what the

scriptures teach. What the Bible teaches is it's

the love of money that is the root of all evil.

There's many examples in the Bible by by the way of

describing men and women that were very wealthy and very rich,

but they were godly men and godly women.

Give you 2 examples. We all know who they are and I'm

use the two very common examples.

One. How about Abraham?

Abraham, a man of God, was extremely wealthy.

The Bible says he had gold, he had silver and he had cattle.

But he was a God fearing man. He passed the great test.

You remember when God told Abraham to go and and give your

son as a sacrifice to me? Fast forward through the story.

He's about to do it. God stops him.

What's the point? He put God first in his life.

Wealth. Not a problem.

What about Job? How about Job?

We always talk about the patience of Job.

What about Job? You know what the Bible says

about Job? He was the wealthiest man in the

East, the richest one. And yet do you remember what God

says about him? I love this.

God is talking to Satan about Job, He said.

Have you considered my servant Job?

How? There's none like him in all the

land. He said this.

He's faithful and upright. He fears God and shuns evil.

Here's the point. Wealth is not morally good or

morally bad. It's not.

It is a meanless. It is a mindless means of

exchange. We all need to have it.

And by the way, I'm just going to say it again.

I've said it before. I know it's repeating, but if

God has blessed you with wealth, that's great.

Good for you. Use it for the cause of Christ.

Use it for the glory of God. Be a giving person and go do

good with it. If you had $1,000,000, here's

the question. How much would the Lord have?

That's the point. It's not the wealth.

Wealth is neither good nor evil. The problem is our affection to

it can become a problem. I want to notice with you a

passage found in First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 9.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

But those who desire to be rich, following the temptation and a

snare and into many foolish and harmful lust which drowned men

in destruction and perdition. This does not say those that are

rich fall into temptation. It says those who desire to be

rich. That's the problem.

I had a friend, I've known him many years.

He's six years younger than I am.

All he ever talked about was being successful in business and

being wealthy. That's all he cared about.

It was the most important thing in his life.

He had a desire to be rich. It was such a desire.

It overwhelmed him so much. Let me tell you what happened.

He got married on his honeymoon. He cut his honeymoon short to go

back home and go back to work because that was more important,

his wife said. What are you doing?

It's our honeymoon, he said. You knew what you married.

This is number one in my life. Desire to be rich.

They had a son. A year later, they were

divorced. It ruined his relationship with

his wife, destroyed his marriage.

It ruined his relationship with his son.

Had nothing to do with either one of They didn't have anything

to do with you, either. Either of you.

Either of them destroyed it. He got remarried, and she had

children too. His desire to be rich continued.

No, he did. He just kept pursuing wealth.

He got incredibly overweight, his health began to deteriorate,

and he was a severe alcoholic. At the age of 50, his kidneys

failed and now he's on dialysis at 50.

While on dialysis, he had a heart attack and died at the age

of 50. His greatest desire was to be

rich. Did he accomplish it?

Yep. He had a $50 million company.

You know what his father told me the other day?

He said. It's really sad.

He was this family's financial rock, but he was a terrible

father. Was it worth it?

Was it worth it? Throughout the Lord's ministry,

the Lord repeatedly warned against possessions.

He said this in Matthew chapter 19 and 24.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

It's hard for a rich man to enter heaven.

What he said is this. It's easier for a camel to go

through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven.

You know, why all the distractions?

What else did he say? Riches can choke out the seed of

the gospel. Not only riches but the cares of

this life. Mark chapter 4 and verse 19 #3

Mark 4 · chapter mention

You can't serve God and money. Didn't say you can't have God

and have money. It says you can't serve both.

You just can't. What's the point?

The point is this. The key to wealth is our

attitude toward it. And I'll just put this little

quote on the screen. If your possessions begin to

possess you, you've forgotten about God.

Have you ever stopped to consider that we are bought at a

price? In Romans chapter 6, a beautiful

Romans 6 · chapter mention

chapter, it talks about that very thing.

You are a slave to someone or something.

Right now you are. Everybody is You're either the

slave of sin or the slave of righteousness.

When we come from the world, we are a slave of sin, right?

We're in sin. We just sang a song about Jesus

and we find redemption in Jesus and life in Jesus.

Why? Because we came from the slave

market of sin. The Lord purchases our salvation

by His blood. We contact the blood baptism,

our sins are washed away. And guess what?

From that point forward we become the Lord's servant or

slave. And that being the case, be very

careful. Don't let your possessions begin

to possess you, because the one that possesses us is the Lord.

He owns our life. This is what Jesus says though,

about treasures that are on earth.

He says, where moth and rush destroy, and where thieves break

in and steal. Here Jesus is going to give

three things that demonstrate the perishable nature of worldly

goods. Here they are moth, rushed and

thieves. You know the Lord was absolutely

brilliant. You know why?

Because they would have understood the relevance of

everything he just said, did you know?

And back in ancient Palestine, back in those days, 1st century

Palestine, one of the things that described wealth was

clothing. Now, back in 1st century

Palestine, most of the clothing was made out of wool.

OK, a moth can destroy what's often considered what's

describing your wealth, which was your clothing.

What he's saying is don't put too much stock in the treasures

on the earth when an insignificant moth can destroy

it. Don't do that.

By the way, this is a very fitting example because clothes

were very valuable. I'm gonna give three reasons.

Number one, average person didn't have much.

I got to thinking about this. I kind of even felt a little bit

bad about this. This morning I'm in my office.

I'm looking over my lesson and I started thinking about all the

clothes in my closet that I do not wear.

I would imagine that everybody in this room has a bunch of

clothes that you haven't wore for a long time.

I think that's everybody. You know why?

Because we don't live like that. What we do is we've got the

abundance of everything, especially in our country.

It's easy to get clothing, by the way, you can go down to a

thrift store and get it for inexpensively.

You can buy it at a garage sale. I know a preacher that's got

money, but he buys all of his clothes at thrift stores and

garage sales, all of them. Suits, ties, everything.

OK? It's his choice.

I'm just saying, it's easy to get clothes.

You can even go to places where they give it away for free.

The Lord was making a point here, though, that clothes was

very valuable because the average person didn't have much.

You couldn't just go down to the store and buy it down at the

mall. You had to make it.

So it's very precious. What else?

Secondly, clothing was so valuable that in ancient times

it was frequently taken as spoils of war.

Joshua Chapter 7 and verse 21. Again, clothing is valuable.

Joshua 7 · chapter mention

What else? The size of one's wardrobe was

often marked by his financial status.

Judges 14 and 13. OK, So what he's saying is he's

talking about the kind of wealth that they would have had back in

them days. One of which is clothing.

Don't put too much stock in that.

Why? Because an insignificant moth.

Here he comes, going to chew it up.

Wow, what about rust? Now I'm going to tell you, when

I think about rust, I think about corrosion, don't you?

Corrosion on steel. Maybe you've heard this phrase

when it comes to a boat, that a boat's cancer is rust, right?

You got to get the rust out. You got to do something about

the rust because they don't eat it up.

Interesting. It's very interesting because

the actual word rust, according to Mr. Robertson, means eats.

What's he talking about? He's talking about things that

eat your wealth, A moth, and even rust.

So while the application, I think in the general sense,

could be about rust and it could be in corrosion, it could be in

those things. Yeah, that's true.

But I think in the context of the passage and what the word

actually means by eating, I think it has a broader

application. Let's go back to wealth.

The first thing we said that marked their wealth was closed.

We know what the second thing was.

According to Luke, Chapter 12, grain.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Grain marked wealth. Remember the parable, the rich

fool. I'll not go there.

We don't have time, but wealth or grain marked his wealth.

That's why he says I'll pull down my barns and build greater

than all my stuff, right? So the concept in a broader

perspective regarding grain and things that a farmer would grow.

Rust describes something that eats.

And now what do you got? You got mice, you got rats,

rats, you got bugs, you got all kinds of stuff eating the

profits of the grain from the farmer.

That's wealth, too. Insignificant things.

And by the way, did you just notice what I just gave you?

The two examples of cloves and Moss, and I'm talking about

grain and mice and rats. They are things beyond your

control. Does that mean things in life

can be taken away from you, beyond your control?

Yes. Does that mean it's unfair?

Yes. But it's true.

And it does happen. So don't put too much stock in

those things that can be taken away beyond your control.

What about this, though? What about thieves?

Thieves pose a great threat, threat to anyone who has worldly

goods, and there's a great number of passages that bear

this out. I'm going to tell you, if you

have something, it doesn't have to be expensive, it doesn't have

to be extravagant, it doesn't even have to be all that

valuable to you. If you possess something and you

don't protect it, somebody will take it.

Give an example just the other day.

Tanner in the back of his truck had a blower left in the back of

his truck. Got stolen.

A blower. Come on.

I gave him the blower. Didn't even cost that much.

You know what else they did? They unscrewed the ball off of

his trailer hitch and stole that too.

The ball. Not the whole hitch, just the

ball. If you have something, somebody

will take it. Thieves are always that way.

What does the Bible say about thieves?

Well, it says many things. I'm going to give you one.

Verse John, chapter 10 and verse 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and

destroy. That is a thief.

Look at the flip side. Look at the Lord here.

But I have come that you may have life and they may have it

more abundantly. That's the difference between

treasures on earth and treasures in heaven.

All right, what about this? What do we do to keep the thief

out? Oh, we do all kinds of stuff.

We've got locks, we've got alarms, We've got bars on

windows. We got barbed wire on the back

wall because people were jumping the wall to break into cars.

Really. Has it come to that?

Yes, but it's always been like that.

Thieves will breakthrough and steal.

But do you know, back in those days when Jesus gave this

illustration, back in the 1st century Palestine, there were

two ways that you protected yourself from a thief.

Two ways. Number one, you took your

valuable possession and you buried it in the ground.

That's number one. The number two thing that you

did to protect your goods from someone is you place them in

your home. Let's talk about, first of all,

the hidden treasure as found in Matthew 13 and 44.

Now again, Jesus is making in this parable.

He's making a spiritual application of the Kingdom.

Remember what a parable was. A parable is a laying alongside

something from the physical realm, laying alongside the

spiritual realm. And get this, they were always

true. It was true on the physical

side. It was true on the spiritual

side. Always.

OK, that means this. He said again, the Kingdom of

heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field.

Why? Because that's what people did.

They took the treasure and they hid at the field.

They stuck at the ground so nobody would take it right.

The 2nd way that they did that, by the way, is they put it in

their house. Homes back in those days were

not built like homes in our day. Homes were built by way of dirt

and clay that was hardened by the sun.

You know, mud huts, Clay huts, right.

So you know what's interesting here?

This phrase right here. Thieves break in and steal some

translations. Say breakthrough and steal.

Do you know what the word actually means?

It actually means this. Dig through Why, 'cause that's

what you had to do. You had to dig through a clay

wall or a dirt wall of a house. And you might think, man, that

was back in those days. Glad I live in this day.

I'm going to tell you an example of how that's still happening

today. Tina's work, her boss, a

dentist, owns a building. You know what some guys did?

Couple guys, they busted through the outside wall of the

building, climbed through, busted the drywall on the

inside, got inside the building to try to do some stealing.

Still good thing the alarms went off and all that and got him out

of there. But I'm telling you, the Lord

was pretty brilliant, wasn't he? Back in them days, they dig

through. That's what a thief will do.

They'll dig through, They'll do whatever it takes.

My father used to say that fences make good neighbors and

all that. That's all true.

But he used to say this too. He used to say that a fence

keeps out the honest people because a dishonest guy's

getting through. That's just the way it is.

Nothing is secure. So in summary so far, don't put

too much importance on the things that can be easily taken

or destroyed. And then he talks about what is

really, really important and this is what he says.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where

neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break

in and steal. Here's the point.

Heaven is a spiritual realm. Please get this where our

possessions are safe with God. The very forces of advert that

adversely affect earth's goods have no power over the heavenly

realm. This does not mean that I can't

mess up and lose my salvation because I messed up.

That's not what this means. What this means is, when I lay

up for myself treasures in heaven, all the things of the

earth that adversely affect the world's goods have no bearing on

that inheritance. They can't do a thing about it

because it's secure and safe with God.

When we lay up spiritual treasures in heaven, they will

not perish First Peter One and Four says to an inheritance

incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away reserved

in heaven for you. So with that being said, here's

my question. I really want to do that.

I want to lay it for myself, treasures in heaven.

I want to try not to be derailed.

I want to try to stay focused. I want to do that.

How do I do it? Here we go.

I'm going to give four general principles and then I'm going to

give a #5AA specific, practical way to do that.

I'm going to tell you in advance it's going to be hard.

I'm going to tell you it's going to be trying sometimes and

sometimes, often times it's going to be a struggle.

But please get this. This is Bible.

OK, here's the general principle.

Number one, recognize those things that are of lasting

importance. That's number one.

General principle. Get to how we do that.

Number two, general principle, cultivate a deep love for and a

relationship with God. I'm going to tell you something.

The greatest relationship you can ever have is the one you

have with God, the one that you have with God and Jesus Christ.

And let's not ever become or think we are just being stagnant

or just going through the motions, punching our time in as

we come to church and do all those things.

Let Jesus be alive in your life and have a relationship with

God. Make it real #3 General

principle. Understand that material goods

are given, so God's cause might be furthered.

Understand that you know the Apostle Paul, when he turned his

back on Judaism, lost everything.

He lost his status. He had a a status of being an

important guy. I like what Lynnwood Smith used

to say. We might have called him as an

educated man. We might have called him Doctor

Saul today. He was the very hired gun of the

Sanhedrin. He had all this authority.

You know what happened to him? He obeys the gospel in Acts

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9 and also as described again in Acts 22.

Do you remember what happened to his life immediately after he

obeyed the gospel? You want to talk about difficult

times? Please get this part.

Please tune in tight. They wanted to kill him.

Just because you become a Christian does not mean

everything's going to be good and wonderful and smooth and

easy. It's not.

If you turn your back on sin and you turn your life toward Jesus,

I'm telling you, the devil's coming with everything he's got.

Now remember what I said before We whip the devil with the Thus

saith the Lord. Submit yourself therefore to

God. Resist the devil.

He'll flee from you absolutely. He's a vanquished foe.

He was whipped at the cross. We share in that victory because

we have the blood of Jesus at baptism.

But we got choices to make, folks.

We got to make choices. You got to make the choice as

difficult as it might be. We need to understand that

material goods are given, so God's cause might be furthered.

What did Paul say about all the things he lost?

Notice Philippians 3 beginning in verse 7.

But what things were gain to me before these?

I counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all

things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ

Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things,

and count them as rubbish that I might gain Christ.

Wow. Let me ask you something.

Don't answer out loud. Answer inside.

Inside. Are you willing to give up

anything and everything to follow Jesus?

Or let me ask it like this. Is there anything you wouldn't

give up to follow Jesus? Paul says I gave all of it up,

that I might gain Christ. Do you know why?

Because none of it matters. Can I say something else too?

Even family? Jesus says he that loves father

or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

He didn't say don't love your father and your mother.

He said love them with everything you got.

Love me more. That's what he said.

OK, general principle #4, here we go.

Give to others freely, Give to others free freely.

Now, by the way, this is not just earning merit with God, and

we give to others freely. That's not what this means.

What it means is we are cultivating the proper spirit

and attitude toward the things that we have.

If we're a miser and a skin Flint about what we have, and

we're not giving people, we're holding on to the possessions

and we're giving that too much credence in our life.

But if we give to others freely with what God has already

blessed us with. And by the way, what you have,

God gave you because it's his and he gave it to us for us to

use. And when you do that and give to

others freely, you are on the right path to having the proper

mindset and perspective. Let me notice what these four

things are and I'm going to get into #5.

And this is what we're going to get specific.

Here we go. So let's do this.

How am I going to recognize the things that are of lasting

importance? How am I going to cultivate a

deep love for and relationship with God?

How am I going to understand that material goods are given so

God's cause might be fulfilled? And how am I going to have the

proper mindset to give to others freely?

Here we go, #5 I need to add to my life the fruit of the Spirit.

I got to add those things to my life.

Galatians chapter 5 beginning in verse 22.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

But the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

self-control. And Paul says against such there

is no law. OK, I got to make some

clarifications here. When you look at various

commentaries, there's a debate and a discussion over whether or

not the fruit of the Spirit is the human spirit.

Please stay with me on this. Is it the human spirit or is it

the Holy Spirit? Folks, it's an easy answer.

The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Let that sink in for a minute, OK?

The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

OK, but it doesn't mean that the human spirit is not involved.

It does not come by direct operation.

The Holy Spirit does not give me these things by direct operation

without my choice. I'm going to give you some

reasons. I'm going to give you some

proof. In the passages prior to these,

what did it say? The works of the flesh are

manifest. Which are these?

And he gave adultery, fornication, idolatry, all the

things he lists us in. OK, that is the work of the

flesh. You could call it like this,

too. You call it the fruit of the

flesh, if you want to. OK.

All those things in the works of the flesh, and all of those

sinful things exist with or without me.

They exist as fact, right? They are the works of the flesh.

It doesn't mean I'm guilty of them, and it doesn't mean I've

applied them in my life just because they exist on their own.

In similar fashion, these things are the fruit of the Holy

Spirit. It's wonderful.

And they exist. And you know what?

They exist independently from me.

They exist because the Holy Spirit is perfect and it's the

fruit of the Holy Spirit. Great.

But it doesn't mean that I apply them to my life without my

choice and without working on it.

My human spirit has to be involved.

Personal choice has to be involved.

More on that. Just a moment.

But let's just talk about what they are.

Let me just talk about what they are.

The fruit of the spirit is love. You know what love is?

Love has sacrificial giving as its motivating factor.

That's great. That's what love means, by the

way. Sacrificial giving as a

motivating factor. Here's another one.

How about joy? Joy describes a delight because

of the expectation of good coming out of a trying

circumstance. Joy is to be seen in good and

bad circumstances equally. So wow, that's hard, isn't it?

What else? How about peace?

Peace is the condition that exists between man and God, and

between man and his fellow man. That's what the word peace

means. But you know, there's a broader

scope because of what the word actually means as defined.

You know what it means. It means whole.

Please stay with me because I promise you this is going to

make sense. It means whole.

And it refers back to Joshua chapter 8 and verse 31, when

Joshua 8 · chapter mention

they had to take stones that were whole, that didn't have

pieces broken off. They had to take stones that

were whole to build the altar without any peace broken off.

That's the same word, peace. So the word peace means whole

meaning this in my relationship, I'm whole in my relationship

with God, and I'm whole in my relationship with my fellow man.

That is a it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

What else? How about long-suffering?

long-suffering is the opposite of wrath.

It's when people try our patience.

We're patient with them. That's hard to do when people

try your patience. You're patient with them.

By the way, when I'm done with these, I'm going to follow my

sword right in front of you. OK, just hang with me.

It's the opposite of wrath. It's manifesting long temper and

not short temper. That's the fruit of the spirit.

What about this kindness? That's kindness in words and

actions. Sometimes we use the word oh,

he's a kind person. Well, kindness in the Bible as a

fruit of the Spirit is kindness in words and actions.

What about this? Goodness is behavior that

benefits the people we associate with.

What about faithfulness? Faithfulness is when a person's

belief in God is shown, it makes him trustworthy to others.

What's the difference between faith and faithfulness?

Faith is your belief in God. OK?

Faithfulness is belief in action.

It's a pretty good list here, isn't it?

We're not done. How about this?

How about gentleness? Some translations say meekness.

It's the opposite of being self assertive and having

self-interest. Wow, that's hard.

And finally, self-control, that is, controlling yourself with

your emotions and your passions. The words actually mean to hold

yourself in. Now, Paul said against such

there is no law. What does that mean?

He means this. No responsible government would

make a law against the practice of any of the characteristics of

the further spirit. Nobody 's going to give you a

hard time for living like that, right?

OK, so let me just say this. If we got these wonderful fruits

of the Spirit by direct operation of the Holy Spirit

beyond our will and beyond our choice, then that would mean

that everybody, I'll just get specific about this room.

Everybody in this room manifests all of these things all the time

because the Holy Spirit's perfect, I would say maybe you

don't. Come on.

Is sacrifice to others your motivating factor all the time?

What about joy of all these on the screen?

You know what I struggle with the most?

I struggle with joy. I do.

I also know where that's coming from, too.

That's coming from the devil. The harder I work for the devil,

the more it makes a man. The harder I work for the Lord,

the more it makes the devil man. If the devil can discourage me

by taking away my joy, then he wins.

He wins. What about the next one about

peace? Peace means whole.

I'm going to tell you something right now.

Sometimes I am broken. Are you?

Or do you just got her all dialed in?

By the way, If you got it all dialed in, if you're sitting

there going, hey, I'm good with always, then great,

congratulations. Good for you.

But to the rest of us that are not perfect, listen closely.

Sometimes I'm broken too. I don't always have patience for

people that try my patience. I don't always demonstrate

kindness in words and actions all the time.

I don't always do that which benefits the needs of others all

the time. I don't always demonstrate

faithfulness because nobody's perfect.

I'm not always gentle and meek. Sometimes I want to stand up for

myself. That's the opposite of meek.

And you know what? Everybody struggles with this

one right here? self-control.

Have you ever said something you didn't mean or you shouldn't

have said? And then you reeled it back in?

It was too late. I said some things here.

I want you to be encouraged by the next thing that I'm going to

say to you. The next thing that I want to

say is this. Don't feel discouraged if you

have not mastered the fruit of the Spirit.

Don't feel like you've failed because I'm going to tell you,

it's a struggle, It's a work. And transformation in our life

is a process. It's a journey.

It's not a destination. That's facts.

The Holy Spirit indwells every Christian, yes, but he he does

not, by direct operation make me manifest these things without my

choice. I've got to make the choice.

I got to work at it. And that's OK doesn't take

anything away. Remember this.

The Bible also says the Holy Spirit's in US, but it also says

we're in him. Later on in the chapter said if

we are living, one translation says, by the spirit, let's walk

by the Spirit. You know what other translations

say? If we're going to live in the

spirit, let's walk in the Spirit.

Don't you see that we got to make our Part 2.

Our part is The Walking. Our part is the choice.

Our part is applying these, and that's work, and that's OK.

And when we do these things, we are working toward our mindset

of laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven.

That's the next passage here. Jesus says this for where your

treasure is, there your heart will be also.

There's a natural link between your treasure and your heart.

But here's a philosophical question that's often asked Does

our treasure follow our heart, or does our heart follow our

treasure? I think it's both true.

I think both are true. The point is, we naturally

invest in the things that mean something to us and the things

that we love. That's a fact.

So the point is this. If that's the case, and this is

important to me, it won't be long before my heart will be

there too. It's the way it is.

And what did Jesus already say? Don't put too much stock on the

physical, fleshly, worldly things as treasures 'cause it

can be taken away. But if you invest in heavenly

things, God secures that investment.

Wow. If your treasures are in heaven,

our affections, our longings, and our desires will also be in

heaven. If our treasures are on the

earth, then our affections, our longings, and our desires will

be on the earth. Period.

Simple. So what am I saying?

Let's be careful what we value because that's where our hearts

going to be able to put some on the screen.

I believe this to be true. Christianity is a decision of

the heart. That's just what it is.

It's a change of mind. By the way, when we talk about

heart, we're talking about the mind.

It's a change of the mind and the change of will that

ultimately we understand this too, that all spiritual problems

come from a problem with the heart, folks.

That's why when we struggle and we get out of focus, it's

because of the heart, which is the mind.

The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

OK, all right, sounds great, preacher.

But how are we going to do all that?

How are we going to stay focused and keep our hearts right?

I want to keep my heart right. How do I do that?

OK, the very next verse. Jesus said this.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good,

your whole body will be full of light.

So now the Lord switches from the heart to the eye, and once

again He's talking about focusing on heavenly things.

The analogy is physical, but the lesson is spiritual.

If we have single vision for God, then we'll be dedicated to

Him. But when life clouds our vision,

that's usually when we struggle. Some translations say it like

this. If your eye is single and by

looking at it that way it appears that it's saying this,

it just means if my eye is focused and it does include

that. But the translation of this word

in the new King James is good. It doesn't say single.

What is the word actually mean? The word means healthy or clear.

Aren't you seeing the point here?

If my eye is healthy and clear, that's first and foremost.

When we see healthy and clear from a physical sense, then our

body is able to process the environment and it works

effectively. Likewise, if my spiritual eye

and my vision is set on good, then that'll be affected too.

How do you do that? I'm going to tell you something

You can't know about God without reading about God.

If you're struggling, OK, let me ask you how much Bible reading

you're doing. How much in the Word are you?

That's the first thing you can do.

When you get out of focus and your eye gets out of focus, this

gets clouded, muddy. Go back to the word of God.

Go back to the Bible. Get grounded.

OK, good. I'm.

I'm set. Now I I feel better.

Then close your Bible and go to God in prayer about the things

you read. You want to find out where God

is. You got to find out where he is

in His Word. You got to read His Word.

Stay in the word. Let that be living in your life.

That's how you're transformed. By the way, there's a connection

between our eyes and our hearts. I'm going to put a phrase on the

board. I'm.

I'm finished, but I'm going to put a quote on the board.

You've heard it before from me. But it is something that I

believe in and it is something that I live by.

I think it's totally true. It was a saying that was in a

movie and then it was used in a football sense and I used it as

a coach. But I investigated what this

means and had nothing to do with football.

It had everything to do with cancer patients that were

fighting the greatest battles of their life.

I'm going to tell you something. If you ever fought cancer, you

know what I mean? But nothing like it.

This one lady was eaten up with cancer and she tattooed these

words that I'm going to show you on the inside of her armor.

Here, here's the words. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't

lose. If you have clear eyes, which is

healthy and clear, and you're focused on that which is good,

and you're not allowing all the muddied things of the world

getting the way, it will lead to having the proper heart that

we're talking about. How do you have a full heart?

The hearts, the mind. But it also includes the

emotions as a demonstration or manifestation of the mind.

It begins in the mind. How do you get the mind right?

It begins with a clear eye. You're looking at things with

proper perspective. It leads to a full heart.

How do you do that? You rid yourself of all the

negative, hateful, bitter stuff. You get rid of it, you dump it

and you fill the heart, the mind.

You fill it with all that is good and right and wonderful and

the people that you love. You fill it with that kind of

stuff. When you do that, you have clear

eyes that leads to a full heart. You know what?

You can't lose meaning this. It doesn't matter the outcome of

the circumstance. You cannot lose because you've

just become the greatest version of you.

You can be, and the outcome doesn't matter.

Set your affections on things above the Bible says, not on

things on the earth. How do you do it?

Work on the furthest spirit in your life.

Work on having the proper eye, a good, clear, healthy eye.

Work on having a full, proper heart.

And guess what? When we do that, our inheritance

is secure and we cannot lose. And nothing that happens in this

world can take it away. Wonderful.

I'm finished this morning. Great blessings for being a

child of God. The first thing that a person

has to do in order to have the blessings that we talked about,

those You got to become a child of God.

You got to become a Christian. We never teach from God's word

without extending an invitation. The first thing you got to do,

you hear the word of God. Romans 10/17.

So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

After you hear the word of God, we all have a choice.

You got to believe it with all your heart.

Hebrews 11 and six. Without faith, it's impossible

to please Him. For he who comes to God must

believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who

diligently seek him. Then what?

I got to repent of my sins? Truly these times of ignorance

God overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

Then what I need to be willing to confess Jesus as the Son of

God Acts 837 That Philip said, if you believe with all your

heart you may And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God. These steps are leading toward

or pointing toward the point of salvation, but it's a baptism

for the remission of sins. Where a person contacts the

blood of Jesus has his sins washed away.

He who believes that is baptized will be saved, but he who does

not believe will be condemned. If you've never taken these

steps of obedience, we'd love to assist you in that today.

Maybe you have. Maybe there's something in your

life that you just would like to get off your chest that you need

to correct. That is the case.

Come forward. Either case, we'll pray with you

and for you, God will forgive. Come forward while we stand.

While we're saying we thank you for listening to our podcast put

on by the Church of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield.

If you would like any additional information or you would like to

receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail,

please e-mail us at [email protected].

Our service times are Sundays at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM and

Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us.

We would love for you to be our honored guest.