1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:05,680 It's a wonderful Lord's Day and we have a wonderful crowd here 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:08,360 for which we are very thankful. We have visitors that are among 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,280 us, and we want you to know that you are our honored guest. 4 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,000 Welcome and please come back every opportunity that we have 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,040 to meet and assemble. I want to talk on a passage of 6 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,680 Scripture found in the great Sermon on the Mount as we 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,280 continue our series. And now we come to Matthew 8 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:30,320 chapter 6 and verse 24. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24 9 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,040 is a bridge between what Jesus has just talked about and what 10 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:36,560 he's going to talk about. And I don't have time for any 11 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:37,880 review. We got a lot to cover. 12 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:43,320 We got to keep moving today. But verse 24 marks a bridge 13 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,600 between priorities that he just spoke of, about laying up for 14 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,200 yourselves treasures in heaven and what he's about to talk 15 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,360 about, which is proper faith. I'm going to talk about the kind 16 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,080 of faith the Lord wants us to have in our life. 17 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,800 We're going to talk about how to cultivate great faith later on 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,080 in our lesson, How to do that as we put all of our faith and our 19 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,240 trust in God in the hands of God. 20 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:14,040 Even though in life we got a lot of stuff that comes our way that 21 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,320 sometimes derails us, sometimes discourages us, and sometimes 22 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:21,320 causes us to worry and have all kinds of anxiety. 23 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,640 The Lord is going to deal with these things today in our 24 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,200 lesson. You can't serve 2 masters. 25 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,520 It's impossible to serve God faithfully. 26 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,720 That's the point. It's important. 27 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,600 It's impossible to serve God faithfully when all of your 28 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,800 thoughts and all of your concerns are on worldly or 29 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,360 fleshly things. It's hard to do. 30 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,360 The Bible says in Romans chapter 1 and verse 25 that you can't 31 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,560 serve. You can't worship the Creator 32 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,000 and serve the creation. So let's look at this passage 33 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,640 beginning in verse 24, Matthew chapter 6. 34 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,800 Jesus says you cannot serve 2 masters for either. 35 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,360 He will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be 36 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,759 loyal to the one and despise the other. 37 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:13,200 Then he says you can't serve God and Mammon. 38 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:14,800 We'll get to what that means in just a moment. 39 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,120 But first of all, the phrase you can't serve 2 masters. 40 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:21,800 The word serve literally means become a slave too. 41 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,920 You can't become a slave to two masters. 42 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,760 And by the way, the word masters in this passage is often 43 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,320 translated with another word that we know, and that's the 44 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,520 word Lord. In other words, you can't have 45 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,480 two Lords in your life. You just can't. 46 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,640 And by the way, the concept there is talking about a master 47 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:45,360 that owns slaves. The Lord's point is very clear. 48 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:48,560 Everybody has a master. And you might say this, I 49 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,160 remember this when I was young, I used to say this really an 50 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,360 ignorant statement, but I used to say I'm my own man. 51 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,640 I make my own decisions. And while that might be true, 52 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:05,520 I'm not my own man. Everybody is owned by something 53 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:10,160 or someone, whether you know it or not, or whether you believe 54 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,080 it or not, or whether you've considered considered the fact 55 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:17,880 or not, you have a master. And if we do not deliberately 56 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:20,760 place ourselves under the control of God and we do that 57 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,720 willfully by obeying Him. Do you not realize that by 58 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:29,240 default we become the servant of sin by default, if we don't make 59 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:30,920 that willful and deliberate choice. 60 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:33,360 I'm going to give you some Bible for that. 61 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,280 There's no middle ground. What Paul say, Romans 6 and 16. 62 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,280 Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey 63 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,960 you are that one slaves whom you obey, whether sin leading to 64 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,200 death or obedience leading to righteousness. 65 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,600 And by the way, death there is talking about spiritual death. 66 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,440 One of those two things are controlling our life. 67 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,680 Now I got to say this, that perhaps one of the greatest 68 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,120 problems today and struggles in Christianity Today is the 69 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,920 notion, OK, that I can make the world's pursuits my number one 70 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,080 priority and then just drag God along for the ride. 71 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,560 That is a real struggle with people in Christianity Today. 72 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,200 This is a frank ISM, by the way. You've heard me say this, the 73 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,720 phrase just add a little Jesus to your life. 74 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,280 A lot of people want to just add a little Jesus to your life. 75 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,880 I got to make a reference to a passage that's found in the 76 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,720 Bible when Jesus talked about the rich young ruler. 77 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:38,080 And I can't go into that very deeply. 78 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,040 I'm just going to be very brief. There was a man that came to 79 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,800 Jesus and he says, what good thing must I do to inherit 80 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,320 eternal life? And Jesus says, gave specific 81 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,600 things about the commandments. He gave a few commandments. 82 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,080 And the man says this. The man says, oh, I've kept all 83 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,360 that from my youth. What do I lack? 84 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,800 And Jesus says what you lack is you take all of your 85 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,440 possessions, and a man was very wealthy and you sell all of your 86 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:08,280 possessions and you give to the poor and you'll lay up treasures 87 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:10,120 in heaven. And then he says, take up your 88 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,360 cross and follow me. The Bible says that the man went 89 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:16,480 away sorrowful because he had great riches. 90 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:20,800 What was the point? The point was not that the man 91 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,000 was rich and Jesus condemned being rich. 92 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:26,480 What Jesus was saying is he knew that that man's riches were 93 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:31,880 standing in his way of following Jesus with his heart, soul, mind 94 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,040 and strength. Sometimes people today view God 95 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,120 as a personal good luck charm. Yeah. 96 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:42,880 In other words, I want to do whatever I want to do. 97 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,480 I just want to carry God around in my pocket as a personal good 98 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,640 luck charm. I want God along for the ride 99 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,600 because I want blessings and protection. 100 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,360 I'm going to make some bold statements. 101 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:02,120 Here they are. Please get this number one. 102 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:15,960 God is not a toy #2 God is not a tool for our manipulation #3 God 103 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:22,280 is not our servant, we are His. Just as a master is in total 104 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:26,760 possession of his slaves, we are in total possession of God. 105 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,160 He owns our life. We've been bought at a price by 106 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,040 the blood of Jesus. Therefore our allegiance 100% 107 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,480 must be completely and totally to God. 108 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:38,960 And you know what? That entails? 109 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,720 A word that sometimes people don't like that entails self 110 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,640 sacrifice. Notice what Paul said in Romans 111 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,520 chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, 112 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,760 brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a 113 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,160 living sacrifice. Then he goes on to describe it 114 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:04,560 holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 115 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,840 It's not above and beyond the Call of Duty. 116 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:13,480 It is your reasonable service because we are enslaved to God 117 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,800 and because of what Jesus has done for us and dying for our 118 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:21,200 sins and do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by 119 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,720 the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good 120 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,520 and acceptable and perfect will of God. 121 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,000 I'm going to make 3 very irrefutable statements right now 122 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,800 regarding salvation and everybody I study the Bible 123 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,520 with, we come up with these things and I discuss these three 124 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:44,880 very important facts. These are three general facts. 3 125 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:46,520 irrefutable facts about salvation. 126 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,920 Here they are, number one, you can't go to heaven without Jesus 127 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,680 #2 it is only the blood of Jesus Christ that takes away our sins. 128 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:03,440 And you contact that blood. Baptism, irrefutable fact #3 129 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,000 about salvation. You've got to live the Christian 130 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,080 life and all that's entailed. OK? 131 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,080 But one of those things in living the Christian life is you 132 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:19,560 must worship God. Worship is part of it. 133 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,840 You know what the word means? The word actually means to kiss 134 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,240 the hand to or kiss the hand toward. 135 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:29,760 When we've come here to this assembly today, do you realize 136 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,440 we are the participants and God is the spectator? 137 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:38,559 We've come together to worship God. 138 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,960 And by the way, it is not about coming to a place. 139 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,480 And my motive is or the motive behind my ACT is so I feel good 140 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,880 or lifted up or encouraged. Now, I got to tell you, when you 141 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:53,480 worship in spirit and you worship in truth, and the motive 142 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,680 behind the ACT is to worship God, man, you can't help but 143 00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:00,760 feel good. I feel great right now 144 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:04,640 worshiping with you. I've enjoyed every aspect of our 145 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,320 worship so far. You can't help but feel good 146 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,480 when you put everything you've got behind it. 147 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,600 But the motive behind the ACT is not what we get, it's what we 148 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:19,120 give. And that is our worship to God, 149 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,120 for He is worthy. I'm going to make a statement 150 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:23,320 here. I'll make 2 statements by the 151 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,400 way. 2 statements that are both incorrect. 152 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,040 Now you may not be surprised about the first one, but you may 153 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:31,240 be surprised with the second one. 154 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,240 But I'm going to give you 2 statements and they are both 155 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,480 incorrect. Please hear my words. 156 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:44,200 The only worship that God requires and expects from my 157 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:49,480 life is personal and private worship. 158 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:57,320 That is incorrect statement #1 Here comes incorrect statement 159 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:03,240 #2 The only worship that God requires and expects from my 160 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:08,000 life is public worship in the assembly. 161 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,840 That is incorrect statement #2 What makes both of those 162 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:19,760 statements incorrect? The Word only because our life 163 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:25,200 is about worship that is personal and private, and it is 164 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,160 about worship that is public, as we do corporately in the 165 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:30,640 assembly. I'm going to give you Bible. 166 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,080 What's the Bible say about private worship? 167 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,280 First of all, let's talk about that very concept. 168 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:39,680 When Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew chapter 4, 169 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,280 after he was baptized and he's in the wilderness, 40 days, the 170 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:47,560 devil comes to him and he says you can have all the kingdoms of 171 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:49,480 the world. He shows him all the kingdoms of 172 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:51,960 the world. He said you can have all of it. 173 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,240 All you got to do is fall down and worship me. 174 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,840 The word worship means kiss the hand toward it means to honor or 175 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,800 serve me. The devil was saying to Jesus 176 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:08,400 you worship me individually and privately, you personally 177 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,320 individually. He wasn't saying go out and 178 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:15,920 start the a satanic church talking about personally and 179 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,880 Jesus said in response to that get behind me Satan, for it is 180 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:24,760 written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you 181 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:29,320 shall serve another passage, private worship, personal 182 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,800 worship. Matthew chapter 28 after Jesus 183 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,600 rose from the dead, Jesus rose from the dead and the two 184 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,800 wonderful Marys. They go to the sepulchre and the 185 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,080 stone is rolled away. When they finally realized that 186 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:45,480 was Jesus, do you know what they did? 187 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:51,680 The Bible says they fell down, they grabbed his feet and they 188 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:57,440 worshipped him personally. Now make no mistake about it, 189 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,680 and I know another gospel account says Jesus says touch me 190 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:05,440 not, but the actual phrase in the original says stop clinging 191 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,440 to me. So they did cling to him in 192 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,920 worship. And Jesus says, stop clinging to 193 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,320 me, for I've not yet ascended to my Father, which is in heaven. 194 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,160 Right? OK, that was a act of personal 195 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,400 worship. All right, Is there a Bible 196 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:24,720 passage that encourages personal worship? 197 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:27,080 Yes, I'm going to give you one right now. 198 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,520 There are others, but here's number one in Philippians 199 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:32,720 chapter 4. It's Paul's antidote for 200 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,480 anxiety. In other words, don't worry 201 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,440 about anything, but pray about everything. 202 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,040 Notice what he says. Be anxious for nothing, but in 203 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:44,280 everything, by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, 204 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,240 let your request be made known unto God. 205 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,960 So if we are going to go to God in prayer and supplication and 206 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,400 Thanksgiving, isn't that prayer in itself? 207 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,520 Is it going to God and making our request known to God? 208 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,400 Prayer in itself? In a general sense, yes. 209 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,840 But this word prayer in this passage is a different word. 210 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:10,960 This word prayer means praise, adoration, and worship. 211 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:14,880 It's when you go to God in prayer. 212 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,600 And Paul was given the antidote for anxiety instead of worried 213 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:21,600 about your problems. First you tell God how great he 214 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,200 is. You praise God from whom all 215 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,920 blessings flow. You get your mindset on God and 216 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,560 fixed on God. You praise his name. 217 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,440 That is a form of worship. And Paul here was not referring 218 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,280 to the assembly. Although every time we pray, I'm 219 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,160 just going to say it, we ought to spend some time as we begin 220 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,680 praising God, giving God the honor and the glory and praising 221 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:48,120 his name. Absolutely hallowed be your 222 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,080 name. Absolutely. 223 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,320 But this is praise, adoration and worship. 224 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,600 That's personal and private. Here's the problem. 225 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:02,040 Our Christianity is not limited to personal and private worship. 226 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,320 It's included. It's not limited to what else is 227 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:10,960 required public worship. In John chapter 4, when Jesus 228 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,920 was there with the woman at the well, and the woman said to 229 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:20,120 Jesus, he says, good teacher. He says to Jesus, he said, our 230 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,160 Father said that the place of worship is in the mountain here. 231 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,400 And then the Jews say, no, it's in Jerusalem. 232 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:29,240 Jesus says, I'm telling you there's going to come a time 233 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:30,920 when it's not going to be in the mountain, it's not going to be 234 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,880 in Jerusalem. Then Jesus said this. 235 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,240 In other words, she was referring to public worship. 236 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,280 Jesus said in John 14 and 23, but the hour is coming, and now 237 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:45,120 is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in 238 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:50,960 spirit and in truth. The Father is seeking such to 239 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,560 worship him. That is public worship. 240 00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,720 All right. How important is it to worship 241 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,920 publicly and how do we actually do that? 242 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,000 First of all, have you ever stopped to consider the 243 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,560 importance or the magnitude of being part of a family about 244 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:15,080 being part of a body? In First Corinthians chapter 12, 245 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:21,200 Paul said you are the body of Christ and members individually. 246 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:25,400 You have to be part of the congregation. 247 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,680 Paul goes on to say in First Corinthians 12 when 1 member 248 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,160 suffers, all members suffer with it. 249 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,400 When 1 member rejoices, all members rejoice with it. 250 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,000 If you're not part of the body, how you going to know who to 251 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,080 rejoice with and to suffer with? We are the body of Christ. 252 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,480 So when do we come together or how is it that the body worships 253 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,280 publicly? Well, Paul deals with that too. 254 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,760 First Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 23. 255 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,400 It's when the body of First Corinthians 12, it is the 256 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,720 church, 1st Corinthians 14, and it's when they come together in 257 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:08,360 one place in undivided assembly. That's the kind of worship that 258 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,080 Jesus was talking about. And you know what? 259 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:11,560 It doesn't have to be on a mountain. 260 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,120 It doesn't have to be in Jerusalem. 261 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,120 It doesn't have to be any particular place. 262 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:19,760 It's anywhere the church comes together as a body in one place. 263 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:23,680 We just happened to do it right here at 2215 Plans Rd. 264 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:29,760 We pack up and go to Terry's house, Wade's house. 265 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,440 As long as it's the whole assembly, the church coming 266 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,880 together in one place as a body, public worship is required. 267 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,200 I like this, though. I found this quote. 268 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:39,520 Somebody might say, well, what about me? 269 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:41,720 I don't have a lot of talents or abilities or whatever. 270 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,640 Yeah, OK, whatever. Everybody's needed. 271 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,280 And it doesn't matter who you are or where you came from. 272 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:52,440 I like this quote. It doesn't take much of a man to 273 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,880 serve God, but it does take all of him. 274 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:59,360 That's what God wants. And we can't serve 2 masters. 275 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,560 So what did Jesus say? He said you can't serve 2 276 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:04,960 Mathers, for either you will hate the one and love the other, 277 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:09,079 or else you will despise you will be loyal to the one and 278 00:17:09,079 --> 00:17:11,520 despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. 279 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,319 All right, first of all, the word loyal means to hold to one 280 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,520 according to the King James. What does that mean? 281 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:23,480 Hold to one. It means this line up your face 282 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,560 with your master. That's what it means. 283 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:28,680 Be loyal. By the way, Line up your face 284 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,640 with your master. That's what the the focus hold 285 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,920 to 1 means. It means God is my master. 286 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:41,680 I am going to focus and line up my face with his face. 287 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:46,360 Now we can't do that literally. We do that figuratively, OK? 288 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:49,880 He's our number one. That's a mindset. 289 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,840 It's impossible to serve somebody else and serve Jesus at 290 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:56,640 the same time. So the Lord says, hey, you line 291 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:58,640 your face up with me. That's what I want for my 292 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:00,720 disciples. OK, Then he said this. 293 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,680 You can't serve God and mammon. What's mammon? 294 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,600 Mammon is an Aramaic term meaning wealth or riches. 295 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,600 OK, so the concept here is riches. 296 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,520 And I want to say this too, that there's some expositors that 297 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,400 say, and I don't know that you can prove this, but this is what 298 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,520 Robertson said, but I'll just pass it along. 299 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,960 Some expositors actually believe that there was a Pagan God and 300 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:29,200 his name was Mammon, and all pagans actually worshipped 301 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,640 Mammon, which was the Pagan God of money. 302 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,560 So it's entirely possible that's what the Lord was saying here. 303 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,160 You can't serve 2 masters. You can't serve God and money at 304 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,360 the same time. And again, again, nothing wrong 305 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,680 with money. It's the servitude of it that 306 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,480 becomes wrong. Remember all the examples we 307 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,200 gave in the Bible couple lessons ago of people that were very 308 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:55,960 wealthy, but they put God first and God was number one. 309 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,440 Question is this, folks, It's where your heart is. 310 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,760 And if you had $1,000,000, how much would the Lord have? 311 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:03,920 I'm just going to leave it right there. 312 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:09,880 That's it, OK. It's true though, that even 313 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,040 though this may not be true about a Pagan God, which may or 314 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:17,880 may not, it is true that often times money becomes the God of 315 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,240 people today, the most important thing in the world. 316 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:25,800 So here's the point. This phrase completes the 317 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,960 picture. We have two choices. 318 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:34,160 We either line up with the face of God or we by rebellion decide 319 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:38,200 no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to gaze my focus and 320 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:44,000 focus on the world's goods. Now because of all this, you 321 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,080 can't serve 2 masters. He now talks about the attitude 322 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,680 that we should have about worldly things and worldly cares 323 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,240 and this is what he said. I know it's hard to do but he 324 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:56,840 says don't worry about your life. 325 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:07,240 Wow, you know the King James says take no thought, but this 326 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:11,000 is a better translation. The new King James is a better 327 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:12,560 translation because that's what it means. 328 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,080 He wasn't saying the Lord was not saying don't think about 329 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:17,760 life, don't think about things, don't make plans, don't don't 330 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,920 get your mind. Didn't didn't mean that at all. 331 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,800 What he's saying is don't worry about your life. 332 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,840 The English standard version renders this passage do not be 333 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,200 anxious about your life. And that's really the point. 334 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,440 Don't be anxious about worldly things because God is in 335 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,080 control. I'm going to tell you something. 336 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,720 I know a lot of people that say that God's in control. 337 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,520 Yeah, He is. But do you really believe it 338 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,760 when you say it? I mean, do you really believe it 339 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:55,920 or just God's in control? Yeah, He is in control, but do 340 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:02,120 you really believe it or do you think, yeah, but I'm really in 341 00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,320 control too. I'm going to tell you something 342 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:13,560 about control, that you know, control is an illusion when it 343 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:17,320 comes to us. You think you're in control. 344 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:23,200 You don't have a clue. God is in control. 345 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,800 And when you think you're in control, oh, that's an illusion. 346 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:28,560 Control is an illusion. Have you ever heard the phrase, 347 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:36,280 oh, he's a control freak? You know it's an illusion, it's 348 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,520 a power struggle and an illusion, but think about it, if 349 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:41,840 you want control your power struggling with God and you will 350 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:49,960 lose. Let me just say this, when you 351 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:57,240 worry about the cares of life overly so, then the cares of 352 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,200 this life begin to control your mind. 353 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,400 And when the and when that happens and controls your mind, 354 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,160 guess what? You just violated verse 24 about 355 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,160 serving 2 masters. You've just allowed that to 356 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,080 control your life. OK, Jesus gets specific here. 357 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,120 He says three things, so don't worry about your life. 358 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:21,320 Then he gives examples, what you're going to eat, what you're 359 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:23,600 going to drink, and what your body's going to put on your 360 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:25,120 clothes and all that. Don't worry about that. 361 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,040 These are three things. These are not luxuries. 362 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:29,840 These are the necessities of life. 363 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,600 They aptly portray the entire human existence. 364 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,360 These three things, food, drink, and clothing. 365 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,480 The Lord's point is this. If we can get our mind right and 366 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,760 fixed on our faith on God to take care of those things, then 367 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,440 everything else will come into proper perspective. 368 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:51,880 If we could trust Him with that, we can trust Him with anything. 369 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:58,960 OK, Paul said this first Timothy 6:00 and 8:00 and having food 370 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,520 and clothing with these, we shall be content. 371 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,720 I'm going to tell you this word right here is a hard word. 372 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:14,600 It's the word content, man. It's hard because sometimes 373 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,560 we're not really just content with what we need. 374 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,960 We overly strive for and worry and are concerned about what we 375 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,960 want. But there's a big difference 376 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,200 between what we want and what we need. 377 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:34,400 Paul goes further. This in Philippians chapter 4 378 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:36,560 and verse 11. Not that I speak in regard of 379 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:38,000 need. And I got to tell you this verse 380 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,520 really encourages me because you know what? 381 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,280 When I'm stumbling and struggling with being content, 382 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:43,720 guess what? Paul said. 383 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,600 For I have learned, he had to learn it. 384 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,240 Anything you learn is hard or everybody would have it. 385 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,480 Everything you learn takes work. If we go to school takes work. 386 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,600 Anything you learn takes work, and anything you do by way of 387 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,160 learning takes time. And Paul said this. 388 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,920 I've learned it in whatever state I am there with to be 389 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:10,480 content. What else? 390 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:14,200 How about Hebrews 13 and five? Let your conduct be without 391 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,520 covetousness. Be content with such things as 392 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,360 you have. For he himself has said, I will 393 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:23,920 never leave you nor forsake you. What an amazing passage. 394 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:27,600 I will never leave you nor forsake you. 395 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,080 I guess the point is this. When we spend an inordinate 396 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,280 amount of time and energy worrying about physical things, 397 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,040 we miss the entire point of our existence. 398 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:42,000 And now he's going to give three things, 3 illustrations that 399 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:43,880 prove his point. We're going to go quickly 400 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:45,680 through these verses, very quickly. 401 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,440 The first one is the next verse, verse 26. 402 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,880 He said look at the birds through the illustration. 403 00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:00,560 Look at the birds, for they sow neither sow nor reap, nor gather 404 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,880 in the barns. Birds do nothing, fly around, 405 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,880 eat seed. OK, yet your heavenly Father 406 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:13,160 feeds them. Are you not more valuable than 407 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:19,760 they? If God can take care of birds 408 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:24,960 through His system of nature to care for birds, don't you think 409 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,160 He could take care of those that were created in His very image? 410 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:36,080 Even more so, that's example #1 how about this verse 27? 411 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,560 Which of you by worrying can add 1 cubit to his stature? 412 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:44,400 By the way, scholars vary and differ whether this is talking 413 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,440 about, are they talking about adding to your height or is it 414 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,280 talking about adding to the longevity of your life or adding 415 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,320 to your life? It doesn't matter. 416 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,120 It's a rhetorical question that has no answer, and the answer is 417 00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,040 obviously obvious. Nobody can. 418 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,160 Here's the point. Whether it is your physical 419 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,560 stature or whether it's talking about your the length of your 420 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:09,200 life, here's the point. Worry will not allow you to grow 421 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,320 even this much. And anxiety is not going to 422 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,240 extend your life, by the way. It's going to shorten it. 423 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,080 Yeah, Oh, the Lord was brilliant, wasn't he, Master? 424 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,560 Notice verse 28. So why do you worry about 425 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,160 clothing? Consider the lilies of the 426 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:38,560 field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. 427 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:43,240 Now interestingly, don't let the world's affairs overwhelm us 428 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:47,880 because God wraps an insignificant Lily in beauty and 429 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,960 splendor. And you know what? 430 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:58,680 They don't work and they don't spin one thread to make clothing 431 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,280 and yet God erase them in beautiful splendor. 432 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,280 Again, His point is this. How much more is God going to 433 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:15,080 provide for his own then he says this verse 29 and yet I say to 434 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,400 you that even Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like 435 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,320 one of these Solomon was the wealthiest is of Israel's king, 436 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,320 wealthiest king. But he said this Solomon and all 437 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:31,800 of his wealth and all of his royalty was not arrayed like the 438 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,040 beauty of a Lily. In other words, he couldn't take 439 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:43,520 his all of his wealth and array himself like a Lily even that 440 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,680 God did. And then he says this. 441 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:55,600 Now if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and 442 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,880 tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe 443 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:01,160 you? And then here it is. 444 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:07,800 Oh, you have little faith. You know, this is a common 445 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,160 rebuke in the Gospels. There's many places I don't have 446 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,360 time. I just don't have time. 447 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:19,000 I'm going to mention two. That time that Peter walked on 448 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,880 water. Yeah, Peter walked on water, 449 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,200 too. The disciples were out in the 450 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,080 middle of the water on in a boat. 451 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,960 Jesus waits and it's dark and it begins to walk on water. 452 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,560 Jesus walked on water first. They looked up and they saw 453 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,400 Jesus and they think they're looking at a ghost and they're 454 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,680 scared. Jesus says don't be afraid, it's 455 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,800 not a ghost, it's me. Peter says, Lord, if it really 456 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:48,640 is, you bid that I would come out to you. 457 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,920 And Jesus says, come on Peter. And Peter steps out of the boat 458 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,880 and yes, Peter walked on water too. 459 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,680 For a moment, you know what happened though. 460 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:09,000 Peter lost his focus. Peter took his eye off Jesus. 461 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,160 Peter started looking around at the peripheral issues and 462 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:14,520 realized what he was actually doing. 463 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,520 Got the waves going like crazy and I'm walking on water now. 464 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,680 I'm scared. It all began because he took his 465 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,080 focus, his eye off Jesus. You know what happened after 466 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,400 that? He lost his focus and then he 467 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,840 lost his faith. He's in the water now. 468 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:32,920 He's beginning to sink because he has doubt. 469 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:37,440 Doubt set in, despair set in, and a lack of faith kicked in. 470 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,000 He's now afraid and he says, Lord save me. 471 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,960 And Jesus does. And what did Jesus say to him? 472 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:45,960 Jesus says, Peter, why did you doubt? 473 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:51,320 O you of little faith, let me tell you something. 474 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,080 If you have a lack of faith in your life or your faith is 475 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:56,960 shaken, let me ask you where your focus is. 476 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,600 Are you focused on all the problems in your life and all 477 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,760 the peripheral issues, or are you focused on Jesus? 478 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,680 Get your focus back another time. 479 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,840 I got to move quickly. In Matthew 17, we're going to 480 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:11,760 talk about the difference between little faith and great 481 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,000 faith because this is little faith. 482 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,440 When you don't trust God and you don't put your your life in 483 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:23,240 God's hand, that's little faith. In Matthew chapter 17, I have a 484 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,400 whole sermon on this. I'm not going to step on that 485 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:26,880 sermon. I'm not going to use those 486 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,480 illustrations and most of you in this room have heard it. 487 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:34,960 I had to look at the passage though, Matthew 17, when that 488 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,240 man, I'll go quickly through the story, brought his demonically 489 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:44,160 possessed epileptic son to Jesus and he said, I took him to your 490 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,320 disciples. They couldn't cure him, right? 491 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,720 Fast forwarding through the story, Jesus heals the boy. 492 00:30:50,720 --> 00:31:00,400 He cast out the demon and then then Jesus departs and his 493 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,480 disciples come to him. And the disciples says, how come 494 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:07,920 we couldn't do it? And Jesus says because of your 495 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,920 unbelief. But in the original it doesn't 496 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,720 say unbelief. You know what it says your 497 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:20,280 little faith. Because of your little faith. 498 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,240 It didn't square well with them. You know why? 499 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,560 Because in Matthew chapter 10, they were given the power to do 500 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,280 this. In Matthew chapter 10, they were 501 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,600 given the Commission to do this every time they preach the 502 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,720 gospel. And according to the gospel 503 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,000 according to Mark, they already had been doing it. 504 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,520 What was the problem? This was the first miracle like 505 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,360 this that they were going to have to perform without Jesus 506 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,560 being present. That was going to take faith and 507 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,920 they had little faith and not great faith. 508 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:55,880 Jesus says to them, if you had faith of a mustard seed, you can 509 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:58,360 do two things. Number one, you can move 510 00:31:58,360 --> 00:31:59,920 mountains. And by the way, that's mountains 511 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,520 of difficulty. That is not literal mountains 512 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,840 and #2 nothing would be impossible for you. 513 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,080 That falls within the realm of the Lord's promise and God's 514 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:10,840 will. And by the way, those two things 515 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,400 apply today. If you have the right kind of 516 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,840 faith, the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains of 517 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,800 difficulty in your life and nothing would be impossible. 518 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,360 That falls within the promises of the Lord and God's will. 519 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:28,520 So what's it mean to have the faith of a mustard seed? 520 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,680 I've heard this all my life. Well, all you got to do is have 521 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:32,920 a little bit. They had none. 522 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:34,200 No, they didn't have none. They had little. 523 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:35,840 They just got to have a little bit. 524 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:37,320 If you have a little bit, it can go a long way. 525 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:39,440 That's not what he meant. That's not the principle of the 526 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,160 mustard seed in Matthew 13. The principle of the mustard 527 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,160 seed in Matthew 13 is not that it starts off small. 528 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,480 It's that it starts off with a small seed, which represents 529 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:52,880 their faith. Starts off small and it grows to 530 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,760 the greatest of herbs. In other words, your faith has 531 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,480 to grow to greatness. That's great faith. 532 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,160 You've heard me say this before. Little faith is trusting God 533 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:06,640 because you see what he's already done. 534 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:09,680 Got a roof over my head. Got food on my table? 535 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:11,000 Yeah, God provides. I got faith. 536 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:12,160 Oh, I got faith. Big deal. 537 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:18,080 It's called gratitude. Great faith is trusting God with 538 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:23,640 nothing in your hand. When you lose your job and 539 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:29,040 you're out trying to find one and you got bills to pay, that's 540 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,080 great faith. When you trust God for that, 541 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,440 that's great faith. That's the faith of a mustard 542 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:36,640 seed. That's the faith that has to 543 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,040 grow. I'll tell you some unbelief or 544 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:41,840 little faith is as old as mankind. 545 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,040 But remember, please, God is always pleased with those who 546 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,240 cultivate a great faith in their life. 547 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,080 So the context of the passage, in this context, Jesus speaks of 548 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:56,040 anxiety and worthy over worry, over clothing, but in reality, 549 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,200 he's addressing a deeper spiritual problem. 550 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:07,640 One man said it this way. Ultimately, all anxiety stems 551 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,159 from a lack of a spiritual commitment to God. 552 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,239 That's harsh, isn't it? It's true. 553 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:19,800 You either trust God or you don't. 554 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:29,800 When you don't have faith, when God said I will provide and you 555 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:34,080 don't have faith, you are literally saying I don't trust 556 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:39,239 you to the Father. We don't want to do that, right? 557 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,320 Something else too. It's not a trivial thing, it 558 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,800 actually something that chokes out our faith and hinders our 559 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,280 whole existence. Let's notice Luke 8 and 14. 560 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,560 Now the ones who fell among the thorns is with a parable. 561 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:56,639 Lasaur notice are those who when they have heard, go out and are 562 00:34:56,639 --> 00:35:01,200 choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life and bring no 563 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,880 fruit to maturity. Now we all understand about 564 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,240 riches and we all understand about the pleasures of life. 565 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,320 We get that. But make no mistake about it, 566 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,920 Jesus also said the cares of this life too. 567 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,200 Worrying about the cares of this life, You know what does it 568 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:26,520 chokes out your faith. Then verses 31 and 32, therefore 569 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,280 do not worry saying what you shall eat or what you shall 570 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,760 drink or what you shall wear, for after all these things the 571 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,920 Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need, that 572 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,200 you have needed these things. First of all, obviously the word 573 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,000 Gentiles, we refer to it as anybody that's not a Jewish 574 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,040 person. And while that's true, the 575 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,280 actual word means peoples or multitudes. 576 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,120 It's talking about peoples or multitudes. 577 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:55,240 What he's talking about is the people that are in the world. 578 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:58,160 There's a comparison between Christians, those that are in 579 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,920 God's family and non Christians, those that are outside of God's 580 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,360 family. He's saying stop worrying and 581 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,320 don't worry because you know what, that's what the world 582 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:07,200 does. They worry. 583 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,080 You could say it like this. God is saying hey don't worry, 584 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:22,560 you got me, you have God. Then verse 33 but seek first the 585 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,240 Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these 586 00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:30,240 things, the things He said not to worry about, will be added 587 00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:31,800 unto you. Now let's talk about this 588 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,680 phrase, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. 589 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,200 Now we know that the Kingdom is the church. 590 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:38,880 We know that, but I'm going to tell you this right now. 591 00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:45,200 Putting the Kingdom first is more than putting the church 592 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:48,080 first. Does it include that? 593 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,920 Absolutely. Does it end there? 594 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:56,920 No, it does not. Putting the Kingdom first. 595 00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:03,760 It also means allow God to thoroughly and completely 596 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,000 control your life. That's what it means to put the 597 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:12,360 Kingdom first. When we do that, He promises to 598 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,840 reward us in that regard. Not as payment, just a promise. 599 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,480 Not because we've earned it, but a promise. 600 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,120 I'm going to take care of your needs. 601 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:24,960 Now, you might need transportation. 602 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:29,080 God may send a skateboard. You may want a Mercedes, but you 603 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,520 may get a bus ticket. But that's transportation he 604 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:36,000 provided. See, remember we said before the 605 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:37,760 big difference between what we need and what we want. 606 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,720 Jesus says God's got this, but there's something else too. 607 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,440 He also promises us something far greater than necessities of 608 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,840 life, and that is eternal life. All right. 609 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:54,920 What about this phrase though, and His righteousness? 610 00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:58,160 The word righteousness means God's attributes. 611 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:02,880 Now God has many wonderful attributes, but what does it 612 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,600 mean about God's attributes? And how can I attain God's 613 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:08,960 attributes? The first thing I'm going to say 614 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:14,960 is this righteousness is not attained by empty ceremony. 615 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,200 In other words, going through the motions. 616 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,680 Sometimes people think, man, if they attend all the services, 617 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,880 man, they're dialed in, they're spiritual, they're righteous, 618 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,480 they're great. Is attending the service as part 619 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:29,360 of it create our Christian life? Absolutely. 620 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:34,080 Does God want us to do that? Absolutely, but it's not limited 621 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,360 to that. I'm going to get to how it's 622 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:37,840 not. Just stay with me, please, 623 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:41,840 please. Righteousness is not attained by 624 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,440 just simply simple empty ceremony. 625 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,640 It's not attained only by the things in which we do which is 626 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,760 included. It has to include the things in 627 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:57,960 which we are. So I'll build on this statement. 628 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:00,800 Righteousness is not attained by empty ceremony. 629 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:04,600 It is a surpassing righteousness that is the result of an 630 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,880 intense, constant, ongoing dedication of heart, dedication 631 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:13,160 of mind, and dedication of soul. That's what it means to seek 632 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,720 first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. 633 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,320 That's what that means, means all that. 634 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:28,320 So then he sums it up like this. Therefore don't worry about 635 00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:32,520 tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. 636 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,800 Have you ever heard the phrase don't borrow trouble? 637 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:39,720 How about this? Don't suffer future pain. 638 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:42,040 I'm telling you what pain's in the future, so why worry about 639 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,040 it now? Or don't worry about something 640 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:50,200 that may or may not happen. Notice, sufficient for the day 641 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,440 is its own trouble. In other words, there's enough 642 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:56,320 to worry about right here today. The Bible is filled with 643 00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:58,760 passages that say don't worry about tomorrow. 644 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:02,720 Do you know this? Tomorrow is an unbiblical 645 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,400 concept. For example, the Bible says 646 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,000 today is the day of salvation. In other words, don't put it off 647 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,120 for tomorrow. Jesus says don't worry about 648 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,040 tomorrow, be focused on today. Everything is about today 649 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,040 because you know what, like James says, for what is your 650 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,400 life? It is even a vapor that's here 651 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:25,920 and gone. Just simple as that. 652 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,160 We don't know if we're going to be alive tomorrow. 653 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,720 We don't even know. I like a preacher who said one 654 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:32,720 time he said, you know what? If the Lord comes back, we don't 655 00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:37,200 have to worry about it anyway. Don't suffer future trouble, 656 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,040 Don't borrow trouble. Don't suffer future pain. 657 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,040 Don't worry about tomorrow. Focus on today and put tomorrow 658 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:46,600 in God's hands. That's what the Lord said. 659 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:52,920 But even though that's what the Bible says, that's what we 660 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:55,560 struggle with, I would imagine all of us the most. 661 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:01,040 That's where we struggle. And guess what, if you're a 662 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:04,240 person that never is concerned about tomorrow or never has 663 00:41:04,240 --> 00:41:06,360 worried about tomorrow or never has worried about how 664 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:08,200 something's OK, then I don't know. 665 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:14,040 Congratulations, you're perfect. I'm not, but man, I have. 666 00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:21,680 I think we all have. The plan is perfect and simple 667 00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:24,640 here. It is hard to do sometimes, but 668 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:26,120 we're going to get to how to do that in a minute. 669 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,160 Hard to do sometimes, but it's simple. 670 00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:34,920 Here's the instruction. Trust God #1 and live for today. 671 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,840 What a simple life, man. I can get this thing really 672 00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:41,880 complicated if I start worrying about stuff down the road. 673 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:47,480 But look, here's the plan. Trust God and focus on today. 674 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:51,720 That's all I got to do. You know, the world knows that. 675 00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:54,160 My dad used to say by the inch is a inch by the yard is hard. 676 00:41:54,160 --> 00:42:00,920 We get that today when I rode bulls for years. 677 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:05,000 You don't think about 8 seconds. 8 seconds on the back of a bull 678 00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:10,200 that's 1800 lbs is an eternity. Yeah, it is. 679 00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:12,480 You might think 8 seconds. No big deal. 680 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:17,760 Oh, it's a big deal. You never think about 8 seconds. 681 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,560 You never think about how long you're on his back. 682 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:22,200 You think about 1 jump at a time. 683 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:30,440 That's it. 1 jump, that's the principle that Jesus is saying 1 684 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,960 jump today. Don't worry about the next one. 685 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:41,520 It's coming maybe, but you'll be ready for that too and be guided 686 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,240 by God's Providence. That's where anxiety is going to 687 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:47,920 flee from our life and our burdens become manageable and we 688 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:51,480 experience real peace. So as I wrap this up in 689 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:57,360 conclusion, if we're going to have the kind of faith that God 690 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,080 expects us to have, please get this statement. 691 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:01,720 If you're taking notes, write it down. 692 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:10,560 God must be alive in your life. If you are going through the 693 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:16,080 motions, attending the services, checking the boxes, look in the 694 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:22,280 part obeying all the rules. If that's the extent of your 695 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:24,040 Christianity, you are dying spiritually. 696 00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:28,600 You are, as Jesus said, you've left your first love. 697 00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:34,520 You've left the motive behind, the ACT, all those things about 698 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,040 how we live. That's important and that's part 699 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,120 of it. But if that's the extent of our 700 00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:40,920 Christianity, that's not good enough. 701 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,600 God's got to be alive in your life. 702 00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:49,920 It has to be real. I'm going to make a statement 703 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:51,960 right now. Have you ever heard somebody say 704 00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,400 this? The only thing that matters in 705 00:43:55,400 --> 00:44:00,680 my life is having a relationship with Jesus Christ. 706 00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:02,200 Have you ever heard anybody say that? 707 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,000 I'm going to say something that may shock you. 708 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:18,240 That statement is 100% true. It is a true factual statement 709 00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:22,160 that is misapplied. Here's how it's misapplied. 710 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:25,600 Nothing is required of me. I don't have to be part of 711 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:27,160 organized religion. I don't have to be part of a 712 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:28,440 church. I don't have to assemble on 713 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:29,400 Sunday. I don't have to do anything. 714 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:31,040 I do anything. I want all that matters. 715 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:32,080 Having a relationship with Jesus. 716 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,440 That is a misapplication of a very true fact. 717 00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:38,920 But make no mistake about it, it is all about having a 718 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,880 relationship with Jesus. Here's where we differ with some 719 00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:44,600 people that make that statement. It's how you have a relationship 720 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:47,880 with him. The point is though, it is 721 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,680 everything, a relationship with Jesus. 722 00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:52,120 Let me give you some Bible for that. 723 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,640 In Galatians chapter 3, this is how you begin a relationship 724 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,400 with Jesus. For as many of you as have been 725 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:02,000 baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 726 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,440 Some translations render it like this, have clothed themselves 727 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:07,920 with Christ. Guess what? 728 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:12,760 That's a relationship. That's a relationship. 729 00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,600 I didn't have a relationship with Jesus. 730 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,480 I'm baptized for the remission of my sins. 731 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:22,800 I have clothed myself with Jesus. 732 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,240 I have now begun my relationship with Him. 733 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:32,200 What about after that? Do we continually stimulate and 734 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:35,040 cultivate a relationship with Jesus beyond that? 735 00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:39,200 Yes, we do notice in first John two and three. 736 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,680 Now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. 737 00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,440 Interestingly, these two words here know. 738 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:51,080 This word know here is a Greek word that's found 13 times in 739 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:54,680 the Epistle of John, and the word actually means to know for 740 00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:58,960 certain in the here and now. It's the same word that first 741 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:03,800 John 513 says, I'm writing these things that you may know that 742 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,160 you have eternal life. In other words, to know for 743 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:07,920 certain that you have eternal life. 744 00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:11,880 Now, the same author that gave the assurance is the same one 745 00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:13,720 that gave the conditions. We'll get to the conditions in 746 00:46:13,720 --> 00:46:14,880 just a moment. OK. 747 00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:16,640 That's the first word. Know here. 748 00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:19,960 By this we know for certain that we know Him. 749 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:23,920 That word means relationship. I can even phrase it like this. 750 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,760 By this we know for certain that we have a relationship with Him 751 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,760 conditional if we keep his commandments. 752 00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:39,160 Yeah. Of relationship with Jesus. 753 00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:45,760 You got a relationship with Jesus or do you go through the 754 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,360 motions? What else? 755 00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,200 Remember we talked about Paul said to Galate in Galatians. 756 00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:58,760 He says we cry ABBA, Father. Second word, Father denotes 757 00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,880 God's paternity as the eternal heavenly Father, the almighty 758 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,760 creator. What about ABBA? 759 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:08,680 Don't forget that word. Powerful word. 760 00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,160 It's an Aramaic term of endearment that a child uses for 761 00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:16,080 their dad. Your Heavenly Father is the 762 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:19,040 Heavenly Father, but he's also your father. 763 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:26,280 That is a relationship. What's wrong with that? 764 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:31,440 Don't let your religion become stale and stagnant. 765 00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:35,520 Understand you got to have a relationship with God and Jesus 766 00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,320 Christ and cultivate that. I'm not finished. 767 00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:42,000 This is our relationship of us knowing if we know Jesus. 768 00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:44,160 What about this? What about when He knows us? 769 00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,640 Because that's a relationship. First Timothy 219 Nevertheless, 770 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:50,080 the solid foundation of God stands having this seal. 771 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:54,360 The Lord knows those who are his. 772 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:58,160 That's a relationship. How does he know those that are 773 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:01,240 His? Let everyone that names the name 774 00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:05,360 of Christ depart from iniquity. So I know that I have a 775 00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:07,680 relationship with Him if I'm keeping His commandments. 776 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:10,480 It all began when I was baptized into Jesus Christ for the 777 00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:13,160 remission of my sins. It continues and the Lord knows 778 00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:17,120 me as I know Him, as I keep His commandments, and I depart from 779 00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:22,840 iniquity. Relationship, relationship. 780 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:30,000 May I say one more time, if you're going to have the proper 781 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:34,760 faith that God expects you to have, He's got to be alive in 782 00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,800 your life. It's got to be real. 783 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:46,200 That's a proper relationship. So if you're struggling with 784 00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:48,840 that, then let me say this. If you're struggling with your 785 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:56,080 faith, then let me say study God's Word every day. 786 00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:03,880 Meditate on God's Word every day, be in the Word every day if 787 00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:07,880 you're struggling with your faith, but there's more and then 788 00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:13,720 pray to God constantly and ask God to help you with your 789 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:19,120 unbelief. Remember that man in Matthew 17 790 00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,600 when he came to Jesus and he wanted his boy healed that we've 791 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:24,040 already noticed. He said Lord, I believe, but 792 00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:30,520 then he says help my unbelief. So if you're struggling with 793 00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:33,080 your faith and you ask God specifically, please help me 794 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:35,960 with my faith. He will. 795 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:42,080 He will if he will give you, by the way, wisdom when you ask of 796 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:45,480 it and he gives it liberally. Don't you think He'll help you 797 00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:48,400 with that too? Help me with my unbelief. 798 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:52,360 Trust Him in everything. If he's going to provide the 799 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,800 food on your table, can't you think take take care of the big 800 00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,400 stuff too? Yeah, He sure can. 801 00:49:58,840 --> 00:49:59,880 I'm finished. This morning. 802 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:04,200 The lesson was serving 2 masters. 803 00:50:05,720 --> 00:50:09,720 We can't serve 2 masters. You'll love one and hate the 804 00:50:09,720 --> 00:50:10,840 other. You can't do both. 805 00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:14,360 God must be first and foremost in your life. 806 00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:18,320 He must be ever present before your eyes and have your eyes 807 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:22,440 fixed on Him. Trust Him for all the things 808 00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:24,720 that He will provide in your life and don't worry about the 809 00:50:24,720 --> 00:50:29,400 things of this world. Have faith in God and trust in 810 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:32,520 God. Focus on today and don't worry 811 00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:35,440 about tomorrow. He'll take care of it. 812 00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:38,080 And if you're struggling with your faith, we got to have that 813 00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:41,400 faith of a mustard seed, folks. It takes time, but it's got to 814 00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:44,120 grow. Work on that growth this week, 815 00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:46,400 work on praying for your faith to grow this week. 816 00:50:46,520 --> 00:50:49,080 Work on having the faith of a mustard seed that someday it'll 817 00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:50,920 grow to greatness. Do that. 818 00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:53,600 I'm telling you, it'll change your life. 819 00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:57,280 Make God and Jesus alive in your life. 820 00:50:57,720 --> 00:51:00,160 I'm finished. We never close the time that we 821 00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:02,440 assemble and we teach from God's Word without extending an 822 00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:05,320 invitation. It's the greatest invitation in 823 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:08,040 all the world. It's the invitation to become a 824 00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:09,720 child of God, to become a Christian. 825 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:12,560 The steps to become a Christian are very simple. 826 00:51:12,880 --> 00:51:14,800 You got to hear the Word. Romans 10/17. 827 00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:18,400 So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. 828 00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:21,440 After we hear the word of God, we've got a choice. 829 00:51:21,720 --> 00:51:22,920 We got to believe with all our heart. 830 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:25,600 Hebrews 11 and 6. Without faith, it's impossible 831 00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:29,000 to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, 832 00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:32,440 and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 833 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:35,400 Then we've got some things to do. 834 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:38,920 Got to repent, repent of our sins, got to make a change in 835 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,960 our mind, change in our life. Acts 17 and 30. 836 00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:45,440 Truly these times of ignorance got overlooked but now commands 837 00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:49,240 all men everywhere to repent. Got to make a change, Got to 838 00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:52,360 serve God, got to follow God and not the world anymore. 839 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,280 Then be willing to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 840 00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:59,320 Acts 837. Then Philip said if you believe 841 00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:01,880 with all your heart you may. And he answered and said, I 842 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:05,160 believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 843 00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:08,680 Upon taking these steps of obedience, you're now a fit 844 00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,040 candidate to go to the point of salvation, which should be 845 00:52:12,040 --> 00:52:14,240 baptized for the remission of your sins. 846 00:52:14,240 --> 00:52:18,480 Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized 847 00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:22,600 will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. 848 00:52:23,240 --> 00:52:25,240 If you've never taken those steps of obedience, we'd love to 849 00:52:25,240 --> 00:52:28,040 assist you in that today. We're ready, willing, and able 850 00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:30,560 to do that. Maybe have taken those steps of 851 00:52:30,560 --> 00:52:32,440 obedience. Maybe you've drifted. 852 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:35,280 Maybe there is something in your life that you need to correct, 853 00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:38,000 that you need the prayers of the congregation for just. 854 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:40,320 Maybe you're struggling and you just need prayer. 855 00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,840 If we can assist you in any way, come forward while we stand and.