Video gets me. Thank you.
Happy Father's Day to all of you.
Is anyone else moved by that video?
I'm. I'm talking about the one with
the astronauts, not the I'm so grateful that you are here on
Father's Day and I'm so grateful to all of you that served at
VBS. I was talking to one woman on
Friday. I'm like day 5.
Can you make it? She's like, I'm so sad that it's
ending. Like you, you want five more
days like praise the Lord, such a special week here in the House
of the Lord, both in the morning and the evening.
Just again, thank you for those of you that planted seeds.
Really we all did, whether you were here or not supporting this
VBS ministry. It's not just day camp to
babysit kids for a week. Actual Kingdom advancing going
on, so praise the Lord, Amen. Happy Father's Day to you.
I don't I don't know if maybe you saw this social media post
by Louis Giglio, Passion City. Church he's the pastor of he's
the leader of Passion Conference that happens typically in the
winter with thousands, 10s of thousands of college young adult
kids and. He put out a post that says I
find it very interesting how Jesus introduces us to God.
We don't see God from Jesus perspective as God the creator.
We don't see him as. God our defender, God our
Savior, God our healer, God our provider, on and on and on.
Jesus all throughout the Gospels repeatedly refers to God in the
same way. He says God our Father and this
truth should bring joy and comfort in its beautiful mixture
to every situation in the room today.
Because I know as you enter, everyone enters Father's Day a
little bit different. Maybe you didn't have a father
that was so great and this day feels tenuous to you.
Maybe you're longing to be a. Father and that hasn't happened
yet in Jesus name and it pings on you.
Maybe your dad, you just never even knew him.
Or maybe your dad here and you. Walk in, you're like, man, I
don't know that I've been a very great dad and everyone's telling
me Happy Father's Day and I don't feel very happy about the
reality. And God is Father, Holy is his
name, which means that he's the cover and the protector.
He's the leader and the disciple.
Or He's the one who loves us enough to discipline us.
And in all cases, no matter the situation you walk in today,
He's going to father you in His perfect way.
Believe it. Count on it, that this is who He
is. The very essence of Father in
its perfected form. He is to you, sons and
daughters, can we pray a blessing.
Father, we bless you. Holy, is your name distinct?
Set apart the everlasting Father, God our Father.
Though we thank you for your covering and protection, your
leadership in our lives, your discipline in our lives, your
voice in our lives. We honor you today is the one
true Holy set apart none other than Father, and we bless the
fathers in this room and the sons and daughters for which we
are all sons and daughters and God.
Where there's gaps, I pray that your name, your presence, your
spirit would sit right there. And where there's honor due and
rejoicing for a father doing the work, that's heavenly Lord.
We say bless and encourage and say do not be weary and well
doing. The tree will grow, the seeds
will take root. You are Father and holy is your
name. Amen.
Amen.
Come on, give him glory. He's worthy.
Today I want to address the entire church, but I am going to
emphasize a few points along the way to dads.
But really, anytime I say that, I want you to know everybody's
included. All right, say yes, nobody's
left behind. But I am going to address some
things to fathers. Today's message is called called
Hyde and Seek. Anyone.
Love them some hide and seek. Yeah, We're going to be hitting
Matthew chapter 13 today. So go ahead and seek that
Scripture in your Bibles. If you need a Bible, raise your
hand and they will bring you one.
It takes a little bit to get all these Bibles out, but they'll
bring you one. Just raise your hand.
Hide and seek. I love hide and seek and all its
variants like manhunt, anybody, ghost in the graveyard, anybody,
everyone. The reversal of hide and seek,
which is sardines, anybody. It's a strange version of hide
and seek. I love hide and seek so much
that I once tried to organize a hide and seek tournament, but it
turns out that hide and seek players that are good are really
hard to find. You see what I did there?
Welcome to Father's Day. You might have thought that I
would forget about dad jokes, but dad jokes are here.
You know what's funny? I already forgot about this from
the first service. I was already traumatized.
I did some freedom counseling in between services and I'd
forgotten what is happening to my chin there.
I don't I Yeah, I wouldn't look at that too long it.
Will burn your retinas. Yeah, I did not forget about dad
jokes. They're here today.
Dad jokes are my gift to all of you.
Which really, it's a self-serving gift because nobody
likes these jokes but me. Yeah, you're saying that you're
just trying to accommodate me and make me feel good about
myself. But as tradition holds, there's
no Father's Day to illuminate church without dad jokes.
So here we go. Are you ready?
1st, I'm going to start with some personal news.
I I just found out that I'm color blind.
Yep. The news came completely out of
the purple. It was like, whoa, explain it to
your neighbor. Yeah, my doctor, same doctor,
also told me that I was going deaf and that news was very hard
for me to hear. It was just like, Steven, you're
my favorite. Steven's laying it out for me.
Yep. Speaking of like the body, did
you know that your pupils are the last part to stop working?
When you die, they dilate. Yep.
Oh wait, there's more. I have some interesting facts
for you. This one's my favorite.
And the first service, like 3 people laughed.
So there you go. Are you glad you stayed Club 56?
Two clubs for Club 56. What do you call a French man
wearing sandals? Philippe Flop.
That's a good one, isn't it? The answer's no.
No, dad joke is a good joke, so it's not a good one of all.
Here's another interesting fact. Of all the inventions over the
last 100 years, the dry erase board, the whiteboard is the
most remarkable. Did you know that the first
French fries weren't cooked in France?
They were cooked in Greece. Yeah.
Yep. I I I happen to know Forrest
Gump's password. I'm going to put it up here for
you. Forrest Gump's password is 1
Force One. Hey, it's cute.
It's not that good. OK, back to some personal news.
After dinner just recently my wife asked me if I could clear
the table and it took a running start, but I did it.
You have to really think about that one.
You get it. She also asked me the other day
where I get so much candy. I said babe.
I always got to twixt up my sleeve, in fact.
No, no, no, it'd be melty. That would have been great.
I should have done that. Next year, come back next year.
In fact, I love sweets so much, my wife gave me an ultimatum.
She said, hey, it's either me or your addiction to sweets.
The decision was a piece of cake.
I'm looking over my kids. When you're telling dad jokes,
it's never a good idea to look at your kids for those of you
who weren't here. I had a reprieve of dad jokes.
You probably would have wanted to be here if you don't like dad
jokes during the COVID and the quarantining period.
Remember when we isolated at home because I stopped telling
dad jokes during COVID quarantines?
Instead, I told inside jokes. Hey, you get that one?
Come on. Hey, when I see you laughing.
Yeah, All right, you probably wish I kept all my jokes inside.
And that is the end of my dad jokes.
So there you go. Can we say goodbye to Club 56?
Sorry, my shoe untied itself. Well, can we talk about some
stuff that are not jokes? This is not a joke.
In this series called The Kingdom Unveiled, we are
studying the parables of Jesus, these earthly stories that have
heavenly meaning. Jesus has come to reveal the
Kingdom of God and what it's like right here, right now.
So if your life does not feel heavenly in any sort of area,
you can look at the parables and say, how am I living outside of
a God intended me to live and use the parables to make this
kind of transformation. I don't feel heavenly in this
area. Let me consult the parables and
find out what heaven looks like and begin living in that way.
You can live this way here and now.
Believe it. Amen.
I just want you to think these words when we're reading through
the parables. This entire series, revelation
through the parables is meant for reflection.
Everyone say reflection. When I say reflection, yes, I
mean meditation, Psalm, chapter one, verse two.
I meditate on your word day and night.
I'm going to hold it in my mind. I'm not just going to let it go
out the ear. I'm going to chew on it,
marinate on it and think, what Lord are you trying to say to
me? It's what we do when we're
sitting in a room like this and somebody's preaching.
We're together, considering the Word of God and hanging out
there. For a while, we're not just
doing the 32nd daily Devo on the Bible app.
So yes, meditate, reflect on it, but also I'm talking about
reflection in regards to your lifestyle.
As we read each parable, we can use the parable as a measuring
stick or even as a mirror and ask ourselves, do I in my life
reflect the heart of the Kingdom that this parable is revealing?
It's an opportunity for us to do some introspection as we
interact with parables. Today we're going to be in
Matthew chapter 13. It's one parable or two parables
depending on how you look on it. They're kind of combined
together by the words that Jesus uses. 3 short verses, Matthew
chapter 13, verse 44. If you're ready to say I'm
ready, nice. The Kingdom of heaven is like
treasure hidden in a field. Remember, this is Jesus
speaking. When a man found it, he hid it
again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought
that field. Verse 45.
Again, there's a continuation here.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine
pearls. When he found one of great
value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Just want to pause occasionally and remind you Jesus is trying
to reveal what heaven is like so we can begin to experience it in
our lives now. Salvation with Jesus isn't a get
it now and wait to have it until you get to heaven.
It's a. It's a.
Begins the moment you receive Jesus as salvation here and now
experience for those who have ears to hear and eyes to he to
eyes to see. Jesus even says the Kingdom of
heaven is like he's making it very clear and easy for us to
understand. This is something you can see
here. And now there are two major
interpretations of these two parables.
That's one parable. And both of these
interpretations reveal to us what the present Kingdom of God
is like on the earth. I want to share the first
interpretation with you, and then I want to lift up some
Kingdom principles. These Kingdom principles are the
revelation that we need to reflect on.
Amen. Amen.
Interpretation #1 When you truly discover the Kingdom, nothing in
this world compares. Nothing.
The Kingdom is so valuable that you and I would joyfully decide
to give up everything else to possess the Kingdom.
The Kingdom deserves and also demands our total and glad
surrender. The Bible says he went away in
his joy and sold all that he had to buy the field.
You could juxtapose this, compare this with another part
of the Gospels where Jesus is interacting with the rich young
ruler and the rich young ruler is like, I've done everything
right. I followed all the laws, have
done it all. Can I enter the Kingdom?
And Jesus says. You have done well, but one
thing you lack this one thing. Go sell everything you have and
return to me and follow me. Give it to the poor and return
to me. And the man had to make a
decision. Am I going to embrace the
Kingdom of God or continue to live in the Kingdom that I have
built for my wealth and my riches and my family and
whatever? And the rich young ruler goes
away sad because he knows he cannot let go of his Kingdom for
the Kingdom of God. Here in the parable, the man in
joy and glad surrender. Chooses the Kingdom.
These parables are a value proposition.
What do you value the most? My son, Eli, he's down here.
He used to a lot. Now he does occasionally ask me
a question like, hey Dad, would you do?
This for this amount of money like anyone here watch survivor
come on great great great TV show Hallelujah.
I don't know what's wrong with the rest of you.
And in Survivor had the Survivor auction and they have like these
covered dishes and they battle with their money, fake money for
whatever's under there. So they open up sometimes like
chicken and waffles and like. Yeah.
And sometimes they open it up and it's like sea slugs.
They're they're like white, like this long.
They're kind of creamy looking with like this brownish,
blackish head. And when they put them in their
mouth, there's this crunching, squishing, juicy, nasty gag
reflex kind of vibe. And so you know what I say like,
hey, for a would you eat that for 500 bucks?
Nope. For 100,000 maybe.
Hey, Dad, would you skydive for $500?
There is not an amount of money that would let me jump out of an
airplane with fabric on my back. Fabric saved my life.
Yeah. So anyone here who went
skydiving and didn't make it? That's another dad bad joke.
I apologize. It's a value proposition.
Is it worth it to you? Let's lift 3 Kingdom principles
based on this first interpretation Interpretation
and again, see if you reflect these Kingdom values in your
life. That's why Jesus is teaching
them to us. Kingdom principle #1 Hidden
treasure is found by seeking. Only found by seeking.
You may be like duh, but it begs the question, are you looking
for the treasure? Does your life have evidence
that you are seeking the Kingdom of God?
This treasure in the parable is hidden in a field.
Think of it. It means it can't be seen.
It's not like a part is poking up and like, oh, what's that?
It's buried unseen, which means the only way you find it is if
you're looking for it. We have to believe that this man
found it because he was actually searching for it.
If this was a field of crops, might have been found long ago
in the annual cycle of turning the crops, but it's been there.
He it hasn't been found, but this guy finds it because he's
looking for it. Treasure is found by seekers.
Do you reflect us in your life? I would say.
You're here at church, so you're on a great start.
I hope that you're here seeking heavenly wisdom.
Kingdom values and here's the heavenly benefit that Jesus
tells us himself. Matthew Chapter 7 ask and it
will be given to you Seek and you will find knock and the door
will be open to you for everyone who asks receives the one who
seeks finds and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.
If you're brand new to the Bible and never read the will bees in
the Scripture, the will bees are the promises of God and the
promises of God are yes and church yes.
And meaning he says yes, I'm going to do it.
And the church says Amen. We believe it, we agree to it.
Your promises have been coming true, are coming true and will
come true. So if you seek, you will find
that's the promise of God. Believe it.
Our family recently was in New York City to celebrate a
birthday of a young lady I'm married to.
And we got into the subway from JFK airport.
And we get off the subway, we're walking a few blocks, and we
realize that we've lost a backpack on a subway, that the
backpack's now by itself. Can you imagine all the other
people in the subway? Like there's a backpack on the
subway. They think it's a bomb and it's
just a sweatshirt. And so we sent ourselves off,
but we kind of studied the website, like how do we find our
last backpack? And it's like all these words
and at the bottom is like fat chance, never going to happen.
I made that part up, but that's how I felt.
So you you're supposed to get back on the subway and write it
to the end of the line. And when you get to the end of
the line, you go to like the little kiosk and you talk to the
person And if the cleaners at the end of the line, I found the
item, they put it there and you get it.
And we walk into the Dang and we're like, do you have?
It and her face already told me like nobody ever turns in a
backpack somebody else in New York City is wearing your
sweatshirt and your deodorant we.
Searched all over and never found it.
One time I was playing golf. And I had my pitchy wedge next
to the green and I chipped the ball up there and I go put the
ball out. Then I go back to my cart and a
bunch of holes later. I realize I left my.
Pitching wedge by the green like.
Seven holes ago, anyone ever done this?
Come on, testify. It's a terrifying feeling when
you get like seven holes later and you realize I left the club
now I got to go through the shame and everybody sees it
like, oh, that guy forgot his wedge.
And so I go back, I look all over.
Never found the. Wedge.
To this day, some other homeboy is using my wedge.
Still bothers me. Like, what's my point?
I'm glad you asked. Let me talk to the dads for a
minute. I'm wondering.
And remember when I'm talking to the dads, I'm talking to
everybody. What are you looking for right
now? What are you seeking?
What has your attention when you wake up?
You're like, I gotta, I gotta. I'm driven to find, search,
seek. What What?
What are you seeking? Is it money in America?
That would make sense. Is it status, position?
Is it validation? Is it a quiet room with the TV
and a plate of nachos that sound good to any dads?
Amen. Here's what I want to say to
you. I don't know if all the effort
of your searching for those things is going to pay off, and
neither do you. There is no guarantee when we
search for the things of the world, there's no promise that
you're going to find it. You're.
Seeking could end up without you finding the very thing that you
are looking for. It may happen or it may not, and
hope deferred makes the heart grow sick.
And so you search and you search, and you long for and you
long for the things of the earth, and you don't get it.
And then your heart's sick. You're a failure because you
didn't make it. You're a failure because you're
still lost. I'm not sure what you're
searching for you're ever going to find.
Only the Lord our God makes the guarantee.
When you seek the Kingdom, you will find it.
And based on his character and his ability, the promise comes
through, not. Yours, all you got to do is
search. Look open the word search, pray
with other people, search, come to church, search your treasure
hunting. Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 says
seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.
By the way, live holy. And then it says and everything
else would be added to you. So all the things that you're
pining for in the world that you may or may not get and maybe you
shouldn't get, when you seek the Kingdom of God, He's going to
change your heart so that the things that are really necessary
in the world for you to have, you will have.
It may include money for you, may not, but you got Jesus.
It may include status and position.
You're up on a platform preaching, or you're in your
workplace and your influence in your home with your influence,
whatever it is you're carrying with you in your bosom, the
Kingdom of God. Hidden treasure is found by
those who are seeking, and there's only one treasure that's
promised to be found. It's the Kingdom of God.
Kingdom principle #2 The Kingdom properly always properly
assesses worth. What is somebody worth?
What is a dream or an opportunity worth?
Is it worth it to do it? Worth is often understood by
asking yourself, what is someone willing to pay for it with time
and money and effort? This guy in our parable finds
the treasure, and then he buries it.
And then instead of buying just the treasure, Jesus tells us
that he buys the entire field. Why?
What's going on? I'm glad you asked.
Under the law of the Rabbis, the Rabbinic code, if a Workman were
to come upon a treasure in a field and lift it out.
It would belong to the owner of the field.
Like look at this. Treasure I found, and the
owner's like mine. But here the man, knowing this,
is careful not to lift the treasure out until he has bought
the field. Now check it out.
The man in the parable is not interested in the field, not
interested in the land, but he values the treasure so much that
he's willing to pay for the land just to get the treasure.
The treasure is worth the price to him, even if he overpays.
That's what the Kingdom is like. It values things properly.
It values people properly so that the Kingdom overpays for
what matters to it. That's the essence of grace.
Grace is excessive by nature. It overpays every single.
Time because it's valued what it's purchasing.
Properly remember, these parables are checking our value
system. How do you determine the worth
of people? One suggestion I would give to
you is instead of using the lens of the world to determine what a
person is worth, use the lens of the Kingdom.
That's what these parables are also teaching.
US. Look in Second Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 14 for Christ's love compels us, meaning I
barely have a choice. I'm so moved by his love.
I must do this because we are convinced that one died for all,
and therefore all died, and He died for all, that those who
live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died
for them and was raised again. If you didn't follow all that.
This is Galatians, for it's no longer I who live, but Christ
lives within me. I died with him, and I rose with
Him when I put my faith in Him. Right now because of that so
from now on we no longer regard anyone from a worldly point of
view. I'm not going to judge your
worth based on what the world says your worth instead though
we well though once we regarded Christ in this way, they even
looked at Jesus as. Just like a regular guy.
And they judged him as a regular guy until he rose from the dead.
They're like, hold on a second. We no longer judge him that way,
therefore. Familiar scripture.
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is
gone, the new is here. Glory to God.
Isn't this an encouraging scripture?
We often read it in a self focused way.
Man, I was the old creature, but God has come and redeemed me, so
now I'm the new creature. And you know what?
That's right. But it's also a narrow reading
if you take it in context. Paul's trying to teach us not to
view people in the worldly sense.
He said if somebody's in Jesus, the old version of themselves is
gone and the new version is here.
And that's the way the Kingdom judges their words, and that's
the way that you too should see them.
For when you look at a person in faith, you should see the person
of Jesus. Not the person of their past,
not the person of their faults and their failures, but the
person raised to new life with Jesus.
God views you through his lens and sees you as a person of
great worth. Kingdom bringers people who
participate in the parables. In order to reflect this very
parable, we need to see others the same way.
And dot dot dot. You also should see yourself
that way. It's a hard time to value worth
than other people when you're looking at something you think
is unworthy in the Mirror Kingdom principle #1 Hidden
treasures only found by seeking #2.
Properly assessed worth and #3 exchange the lesser.
For the greater everyone, say greater first a man in our
parable. He sought the treasure.
Secondly, now he's weighed things correctly.
This treasure is incredibly valuable.
It's worth all of my possessions.
They don't hold a candle to this thing in my hand.
And so then he goes and determines to not be.
Deceived by the devil as to the actual worth of the treasure,
and makes an exchange. He trades out what he now
understands is lesser for what he has assessed in his heart is
greater. This is what Kingdom people do.
What do I mean? Well, we often think that we're
giving up something great when we decide to be fully devoted to
Jesus. Like, oh man, I got to give up
all those great things in my life to go follow boring Jesus
and the Bible. Most people fail to recognize
that we gain far more than we give up.
Let me say to you this way, What would you give up for peace?
What would you give up for joy? How much is it worth to you?
What would you give up for forgiveness and purpose?
What would you give up for eternal life?
Is it worth everything? Is it worth everything?
Amen. Me too.
This is the point, the purpose, and the meaning of the first
interpretation. I've recognized the greatness of
the value of the Kingdom of God and the King therein, and I'll
leave everything behind to pursue it, to seek it.
Knowing it's a bonus that as I seek it, God's going to provide
everything I need anyway. If I go searching for it by
myself, I may or may not get it, but if I go searching for the
Lord God first, everything follows.
That's the first interpretation. What about the second one?
This might blow your mind. We often see the parables
through the lens of it's about me.
That's what we talked about in the first week.
But what if this parable, the subject is God?
The star of every parable is God and his Kingdom.
If that in mind, what if interpretation to Jesus?
Is the Finder the searcher, and you are the treasure he seeks.
It's time for a praise break. Come on, it's time for a praise
break. We're going to have a few praise
breaks. I don't want to look like a fool
up here by myself. So when I start praising you,
start praising. Come on, let's praise the Lord.
Anybody. She's she.
Whoop, whoop, whoop. 1st I'm going to answer the question,
why are there 2 interpretations? Like shouldn't there just be
one? Well, the first part of this
parable says that the Kingdom of heaven is like the treasure.
But the second one begins with the words again meaning that
Jesus is saying, I'm repeating myself.
There's a theme going on here. These two are connected.
And then he says the Kingdom of heaven is like the merchant
who's searching for the treasure.
Fine pearls, which means that the second part is pointing more
towards the Finder than the treasure.
And since no one in the history of humanity other than Jesus has
given everything in obedience and worship of the Lord, we can
understandably make the conclusion that Jesus is the.
Finder and we're the treasure. Jesus is the merchant, and we
are the Pearl. Look at your neighbors.
Say you are Pearl. Now look at the neighbor you
neglected and say you're a Pearl.
Yep. Any ladies here named?
Pearl. I keep nobody the first to ever
see there. I'm blessing you to have a
child, and it will be a girl, and you will name a Pearl.
And OK, Jesus didn't say that I made that up.
OK, I want to talk to the dads. Look up here everybody.
Please dads, I want you to know that the greatness of you has
not been forgotten by God. This parable proves it.
When you were fearfully and wonderfully made in your mother,
you were made with purpose. Otherwise why would God make
you? I need this man on the earth to
fulfill these things. Boom, you were born.
And somewhere along the way, that purpose, that destiny, that
greatness got buried. It's.
Hidden in a field right now, buried by shame, buried by
failures, buried by the opinions of other, buried by wounds from
your past, wounds maybe from your father, Buried, buried,
buried. And the parable says the
searchers coming to find the treasure of you to unbury the
greatness that's in you. And this morning, I'm just
trying to look at as many dads as I can.
I bought an eyeball and say, hey, it's not too late to let
the treasure be found and come out of you.
He's searching and he will find. Yes, the treasure.
So wonderful that Jesus would give all to purchase is you and
I, the individual believer. I think this parable powerfully
shows us that Jesus gave everything to redeem the whole
world just to preserve the treasure that's in it.
And the treasure is his people. Praise break.
Come on, let's go. Hallelujah, I was tripped.
There you go. Charles Spurgeon said it this
way. So did Jesus himself, at upmost
cost by the world, the entirety of it, to gain His Church, which
was the treasure He. Desired.
All three Kingdom principles that I said earlier apply to
either to both interpretations. Buried things are found by the
one searching. The searcher places a high value
on that which is being sought, and the searcher willingly pays
the price, acknowledging the worth of the treasure.
Jesus came looking for us, determined our worth, and paid
the price. Price break.
This is when I need one of them organs, you know.
Man, I'm just not cool enough to have an organ behind me yet.
Where was I? Praise Break.
Yes. I want you to know this Jesus
overpaid for me, same for you. He bought the whole world, Jesus
it says John 316. For God so loved the world that
he paid the price. He gave his life, his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. He overpaid its grace.
It's excessive and I'm so glad he did.
Praise break. One day I want you to know, he
bought all the land just for the treasure of you.
Now here's how to bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth.
Here's how to put this parable into practice and be part of the
meta narrative. The story of the church, the
story of the gospel, the story of Jesus has rested on our
shoulders, and now we have this parable so that we can keep the
story going. What you value communicates to
those you influence, for good and for evil.
Now listen, just because you're communicating to somebody
doesn't mean that it's determinative of what the person
has to do. The person that's following your
influence stands in the wake of your life still has a decision
for themselves to make. But I'm telling you what you
value will communicate to the people that you're influencing.
I grew. Up a Cowboys fan.
The Dallas Cowboys? Yeah, sinners in the hands of an
angry God. I follow the Cowboys except for
some middle years of my childhood when I was rebellious
and said I don't want to follow what my parents are following.
I'm going to cheer for their arch rival, the Pittsburgh
Steelers. Yeah.
OK, Gene, I see you. Yep.
I even bought a sleeping bag, which is like the ultimate
fandom. I'm going to sleep in a sack of
Pittsburgh Steelers. Then I went back to the Cowboys
and during their glory years won a bunch of Super Bowls with
Florida Gator Emmett Smith. You heard me.
But why was IA Cowboys fan? And the answer is because my dad
was a Cowboys fan. What he valued, I valued.
I love playing golf. I love playing golf because my
dad loves playing golf. What he values I value.
The difference is he has 5 hole in ones and I have 0.
True story, sad story I I I value excuse me I went to church
nearly every Sunday morning of my.
Childhood because my parents, who are people of faith, value
Jesus, and what they valued, I valued.
I want to honor the dads here today who are bringing their
families to church, who are leading them in the light of the
Savior, teaching them to love the Word of God and to serve His
bride, the church. Because you dads value the
goodness of God, you are communicating to your family.
The King is worthy of our time. The King is worthy of our
finances. The King is worthy of our
attention. So I say to you, dads, even if
you don't feel like the greatest dad on earth, you brought your
family to church. Today.
Well done. Well done.
So what my dad sought, I sought what my parents sought.
And better yet, who my parents sought is who I sought My own
kids. They like the Buccaneers because
I've gone from the dark side of the Cowboys to the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. Can I get a witness I?
Rebuke ye, my kids like the Gators.
My my kids like soccer and golf and most importantly, my kids
value. Jesus, why?
You too, William. Thank you.
What I value, what Christine values communicates to them.
They still have to make a decision for themselves.
And by the way, Owens 10 times better at golf than I am and his
fiance Amy's 10 times better at soccer than I am.
Just saying the truth I put in a sentence.
I need to be intentional about what I value for the health of
my soul and the health of my influence.
I want the wake behind me to give life to the people that are
following me. I don't want to be turbulent
water that they barely are surviving in, and the way that
that happens is when I apply the parables to my life.
If I'm seeking first the Kingdom of God, my my wake, my influence
is going to be life giving Deuteronomy.
Chapter 6 says. These commandments that I give
you today are to be on your hearts.
Listen to this. This is a.
First step, the commandments that God gives us has to 1st be
the passion, the affection, the direction of our lives.
And once it's there, then impress them on your children.
But first has to be the passion you have to then give to your
children. Talk about them when you sit at
home and when you walk along the road and we lie down and when
you get up. Fathers, I know that you are
training your children up, but what are you training them in?
If you're training them to be successful in life, Maybe with
money, you're teaching them entrepreneurial skills and maybe
you're teaching them sports skills, maybe teaching them how
to manage their money or how to be a good husband or a good son
or good daughter or whatever. You're training them up on all
these things and they're not bad things.
But if the first thing isn't training them to value the
Kingdom of God, you may be setting them up for failure.
Because let's say you put the weight on one of your sons or
daughters, like hey, you got to excel and become academically
strong and be a straight A student and all of a sudden seek
first good grades. And what happens if they don't
do it now? All of a sudden they're a
failure and a disappointment to you, to themselves, because you
gave them a goal that they may or may not reach.
But if you teach them to seek first the Kingdom of God, God
made a promise they will reach that goal and not fail.
When we teach our children, even your spiritual children, maybe
they're not your flesh and blood children.
All these people leading VBS to teach the children to seek first
the value of the Kingdom of God. When they seek that, they will
not fail. They'll find it.
It'll give them life. Just some questions to end with
today to help you understand the value you're communicating #1
what does your calendar say about what you value?
I think about the people. Who serve on Sundays here on our
worship team, which includes the band and all those techno wizard
Star Trek people back there that they're just amazing.
And our kids ministry. I get here early on Sundays, and
I'm not the first one here by a long shot.
There's dozens of cars already in the parking lot.
I asked David Pabon, who's playing keys today.
I said, David, what time did you wake up this morning?
He said 4:00 AM. That's the cost he's paying and
with his time he's speaking to his family, his friends, his Co
workers. I value the Kingdom of God more
than my comfort and I His. The way he spends his time
speaks to his family about what he values.
What does your calendar say? What does your bank account say
about what you value? We're talking about money in the
church, Jesus. Talked about money more than
salvation in hell combined. Believe it.
I recently shared with our kids in a family devotional how much
our family ties to the Lord here at Illuminate Church.
The intentional, explicit reason I was doing that as I wanted to
communicate to our family we value the Kingdom of God and our
finances speak it. Yes.
I sometimes think about, wow, we could do other things with that
money. Vacations, cars, to name a few.
More rounds of golf, Lots more rounds.
Maybe some lessons before the rounds.
That's not funny. It's painful.
I have trauma. Yeah, Amen, Bob, Don't be
fooled. Anybody.
The people around you that live in the wake of you, that you
influence will see what you spend your money on, and it will
tell them about you. God sees what you spend your
money on, and it tells him a lot about you, what you value.
By the way, there's some revelation that we can all
understand that makes money so simple, and it's this every
penny, peso, yen, Ruby on the earth belongs to God.
All the resource of all the earth came from, was created by,
and belongs to our Heavenly Father.
And so when I tithe, when I bring my first 10% of anything
that comes into my house. Paychecks, tax returns, which
don't happen anymore. We bring 10% to the church and
when I bring it, I'm not bringing a gift to the Lord, I'm
just returning to Him. What's his God?
This is yours. And then when anybody in the
church, outside the church does any sort of a generous act
beyond the tithe, it's answering the question, God, what do you
want me to do with your money? Sponsor some compassion.
Kids, Yes. Help beyond pregnancy care
center? Yes.
It's all his money. We're just doing what he wants
us. To do with it.
The kids get it. That's because they don't have
any money. Mom and dad, you should get
more. #3 we're almost done. What do your words say about
what you value? Do your words lead others to
value the Kingdom For what you champion is what you value.
What you try to sell to other people is what you value.
If I told you you need to go to Chuy's and try the ponchos, Have
you ever tried the ponchos at Chuy's?
I'm championing them right now. In fact, I just busted Chuy's.
They're going to be so packed by illuminators right after the
service now. Anyone even know what the
ponchos are at Chuy's? Oh, they're not the rain things
you wear when it's raining. They're like nachos but they
take an entire tortilla, cut it in half, fry it, and then you
have like 10 of these half fried tortillas covered in.
Cheese. Yeah.
Guacamole, Jalapenos. Muy yummy.
Yes, you can have chicken or steak or both.
See, I've just champagne this to you because I value it.
I'm trying to sell it to you. Follow me here.
I've been golfing many times in my life where I show up to the
golf course by myself and they pair you with randos, people you
don't know. Like go to the first tee,
there's John and Peter. Like what's up, What's up?
We're going golfing, we're playing and roughly around hole
131415, whatever, there's eighteen holes, so we're almost
done. You're like enough.
Golf talk? Gag me, right?
OK, hold on. One of the guys will say this
just happened last August. I went play golf by myself in
Sarasota. This guy, he's a theater guy.
Deep voice. So, like Tim, what do you do?
I said, well, I work for the guy whose name you said about 100
times. I play with the guy and I, he
asked me the same thing. He is funny.
He had one of those veterans had to have like the ship on it,
like USS boat, whatever. And he literally cussed like a
sailor the whole time. And he asked me like hole 15,
Tim, what do you do? I said I'm a pastor.
And he says, why didn't you bleep, bleep, tell me you were a
pastor. Ha ha, funny.
But isn't that a good question? Why did it take 15 holes in for
me to tell him that I was a pastor?
Don't I value the Lord got enough that I'm not embarrassed
to tell people I'm a pastor? And then they're all worried
about their behavior and nervous on the golf course around the
pastor. So I just keep it private so I
don't, you know, hurt anybody's feelings.
What does that say about my value of the Kingdom of God?
Shouldn't it be on whole one that they know who I serve?
Should it? Shouldn't it be one of the first
things out of my mouth? I'm ratting myself out.
Does your family? Your Co workers, your neighbors?
Ever hear about your king from your mouth?
Would people who are scrolling through your social media be
shocked to find out that you're a Jesus follower?
Here's the last thought. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to
help us answer this question. What might I need to give up in
order to fully possess the treasure of Jesus?
What in your life might you need to give up in order to fully
possess the treasure of Jesus? Maybe you're making a list like,
hey, I need to give up excessive alcohol.
I need to give up pornography lust.
I need to give up the hoarding of money.
I need to give up bad habits with eating, exercise.
I need to give up profane cussing.
I would say to you all of those are fruits of the actual root of
what we need to give up, which is 2 things, comfort and pride.
These are the lesser value things that we could give up for
the greater value of the Kingdom.
A little bit of comfort, little bit of pride.
This is not about me and my Kingdom.
It's about Him and His Kingdom. Because I value it, I will take
up my cross and bear it daily. It turns out that both
interpretations are true. It's not one or the other.
Here's how it works. The Bible says that we love
because God first loved us. It means that we were the
treasure buried in the field, and he came.
In Jesus and found us and unbound us and set us free.
And now, for the rest of our lives, we're going to continue
to pursue the treasure that is Jesus by giving up everything to
follow the One. Who came to find us?
Both interpretations are true, so let's just use this morning
as an excavation. Let's allow the searcher, the
Holy Spirit, to unbury us so that the greatness of the
Kingdom of God, which is deposited in you as a believer
in Jesus, could burst forth would.
You bow your heads, close your eyes.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask first of all that you would
silence the mouth of the deceiver, who says to anyone,
You are too buried, too bad, too far gone, not redeemable.
God's going to find everybody but you.
We rebuke that in Jesus name. Instead we speak your words that
there is treasure in the room that you've come to seek and in
your joy endured the cross scourting its shame so that
anyone who professes Jesus can have new life.
Lord, I pray that my words, your words, would be a shovel over
the souls of men and women here. You would unbury us from sin and
shame. You would unbury us.
Dig up the roots of bitterness and arrogance.
Dig up the roots of offense and woundedness.
Unbury us, Lord, release the treasure that you created in US.
Only Jesus can do this. And maybe you're here today and
you've never received Jesus, and you're in the tomb of death and.
Jesus has brought you to this place, the Holy Spirit has
brought you here to illuminate church today, June 21st, 2026,
because he wants to say to you, it's time to come up out of the
grave. His blood is the excavation.
That brings us from death to life, from darkness to light.
The old thing is gone, the new is here.
Just by believing on Him, He sets you free.
He unburys the treasure of you. You just got to believe Him,
receive him as Savior. So the whole church is going to
pray. We're going to scatter the seed
every week, the seed of the gospel.
Would you close your eyes? Are you already doing that?
Would you just repeat after me and give it some voice?
Don't be whispering in here. Saying Father, in the name of
Jesus, I am a Sinner. That needs saving.
That needs to be found. I am buried.
Treasure waiting for the Savior to search and find me and set me
free. So I believe and I confess that
Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead so that I may have
new life. I receive you into my heart and
ask you to help me to live for you all the days of my life.
Glory to God, glory to God, Hallelujah, Holy Spirit, go and
do your work. If you've prayed that prayer for
the first time today, you've just become a born again
believer, born into the life of Jesus.
Amen. So I just do one thing here.
I'm going to count to 3. And if you prayed that prayer
for the first time, I want faith to fill your heart and say, yes,
I'm in. You're in a family of faith.
There's No Fear in this house, no awkwardness.
We've all raised our hand and gone to the altar in this
moment. And it's you.
And this is your first time on the I'm going to count to 3:00
and you're just going to throw your hand up like this.
And it's important because Jim's got something.
To bring you. I can't see too far and other
people I can't see that far. Sorry, that other usher.
Is going to bring something to you.
So on the count of three, raise your hand. 123 No one believing
on Jesus for the first time. Amen.
Well done. Love you.
Who else? Anyone else up there?
We're coming to you. We're running to you.
Run, run, run. See you.
Praise God for you. Hallelujah.
Come on, let's worship the Lord.