Shownotes
We all sense it: the anxious drive to grab hold of more, fearing loss or being left behind. Pastor Will names the grind and invites you to trace its roots with honesty, seeing how the fleeting nature of stuff and status leaves us restless and divided.
What if the problem isn’t out there, but what we treasure, how we see, and whom we serve? Jesus’ ancient wisdom offers more than rules—it’s a soul-level diagnostic that uncovers blind spots and sets you on a freer path.
Together, take a fresh look at earthly treasures, the lens through which you view life, and the subtle loyalties pulling at your devotion. It’s not about shame or striving, but learning to desire what lasts.
Accept the challenge: realign vision, trust the One who sees you, and step into a generosity and clarity the world can’t steal.
Scriptures Referenced: Matthew 6:19–24
Key Insights:
- What you treasure reveals your true priorities and shapes your heart.
- Spiritual health depends on what influences your vision of reality.
- Divided loyalty always results in confusion and anxiety—serving God brings freedom.
- True generosity flows when you recognize everything is God’s.
Key Moments
00:00:00 - Unpacking True Treasure
Everyone fears loss, collects “just in case,” and tries to protect what’s theirs—yet frustration and emptiness remain. Pastor Will refuses to sidestep the anxiety, guiding you through the reality that storing up more never brings lasting security.
00:15:24 - Spiritual Diagnostics
When your soul seems restless, it’s not just emotion. Jesus’ words act like a spiritual MRI—revealing layers we prefer to ignore. This is a chance to courageously ask what shapes your joy and peace.
00:38:31 - Choosing Your Master
Trying to hold both God and wealth in your heart? Pastor Will exposes the myth of multitasking devotion, helping you name your hidden masters and pointing to the freedom of clarity in serving One.
https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/treasures
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
Well, Holy Spirit, we're thankful that you are here with us. We're
Speaker:thankful because of Christ Jesus, Father, that you
Speaker:invite us to come boldly before your throne room of grace.
Speaker:And Lord, I just pray as we exhale this evening, Lord, that
Speaker:you would soften our hearts to hear what you want us to
Speaker:hear as we lean in deeper into your truth. God, I'm so
Speaker:grateful for a God who sees the end from the beginning,
Speaker:who breathes stars, who heals us, who knows
Speaker:us, who loves us. So
Speaker:thank you for being here with us this evening. In Jesus name,
Speaker:amen. You may be seated this evening in the presence of the
Speaker:Lord. Welcome. Glad that you are here. This
Speaker:spring day we are continuing our
Speaker:our series Sermon of S. And tonight
Speaker:we are in for a treat. It's been rich. I mean, I've enjoyed
Speaker:each of the sessions and the speakers and. You
Speaker:know, one of the things that I love about
Speaker:the man who's gonna share tonight is the shepherding
Speaker:heart that he carries for people. And Will is just.
Speaker:I admire him as a pastor and a friend and I'm
Speaker:just so grateful for you, brother. So would you guys just stretch your hands out
Speaker:to Will. Father, I pray that you would touch Will tonight. I thank you for
Speaker:preparation. I pray, Lord, that you would, that you
Speaker:speak through him, Father. And if he tells a story, let him do it with
Speaker:expediency. In Jesus name, Amen.
Speaker:Come teach us, brother.
Speaker:Okay, in all honesty, I just had that conversation
Speaker:with Nooms and I alluded to the fact
Speaker:that I have. There's this dichotomy when I speak
Speaker:that I'll either prepare too much material and I don't have
Speaker:time to tell all the stories I wanna tell so I don't get to everything.
Speaker:Or this time I thought I prepared less so that I could tell the
Speaker:stories. But I think we probably will
Speaker:get out of here before seven. And he
Speaker:said, and he goes,
Speaker:you know how to take people for a walk.
Speaker:Which reminds me of what Justin said that time that I know how to.
Speaker:What was it? I know how to take somebody for a
Speaker:long walk for a short glass of water. Anyway, if
Speaker:y' all will bear with me, I will tell stories tonight. I'm so sorry.
Speaker:It's a. It's part of who I am and.
Speaker:And that's okay because God made me this way.
Speaker:If you have your Bibles, turn.
Speaker:Okay, I'll do that. Computer locked up. Here we go. If
Speaker:you have your Bibles turn to Matthew, chapter six.
Speaker:Is this ready? Yes. So I've titled the
Speaker:teaching tonight Treasures,
Speaker:eyesight and your master.
Speaker:Treasures, eyesight and your master.
Speaker:Kind of three sides of the same coin.
Speaker:Let's. Let's read this together, and I have it up here in
Speaker:one translation, but you're welcome to look at it in
Speaker:yours, because we're going to cover more than one tonight. Do not
Speaker:store up for yourselves treasures on earth where
Speaker:moth and rust destroy and where
Speaker:thieves break in and steal. But store up for
Speaker:yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
Speaker:moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not
Speaker:break in and steal. For where your treasure
Speaker:is, there your heart will be also.
Speaker:The eye is the lamp of the body. So then
Speaker:if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full
Speaker:of light. But if your eye is bad, your
Speaker:whole body will be full of darkness. Then
Speaker:the light that is in you is darkness.
Speaker:Excuse me, I've got to read that right? Or it does. It. It doesn't
Speaker:mean the same thing. If. Then the light that is
Speaker:in you is darkness, how great is
Speaker:the darkness? No one can serve two masters.
Speaker:For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
Speaker:devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot
Speaker:serve God and wealth.
Speaker:God, I want to take a second and just breathe you in.
Speaker:You're the breath in our lungs. Holy Spirit,
Speaker:have your way. As we study your
Speaker:scriptures, as we study your words,
Speaker:as we picture hearing this with fresh
Speaker:ears, as we focus
Speaker:on cultivating our hearts the way you want
Speaker:to grow us, speak to us,
Speaker:Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker:The opening of a teaching. Hey, Kim.
Speaker:The. Hey. The opening of a teaching is
Speaker:supposed to give the listeners
Speaker:really two things. And they teach this to you in. In. In
Speaker:Bible college, and they're of equal value. Okay, so the
Speaker:teacher or the minister is supposed to give the audience an idea of what they're
Speaker:going to teach on, like a rough outline, like, touching on what they're going to
Speaker:talk about and a reason why the listener might
Speaker:be interested or would need that information.
Speaker:And ideally, this is done without the congregation noticing,
Speaker:which, to be clear, I've just ruined that part. But
Speaker:the passage today can be separated into three parts.
Speaker:And,
Speaker:And. And just simply. I. I've just placed little, like
Speaker:some summaries. One. One sentence summaries, if you will. Your
Speaker:heart will follow what you treasure.
Speaker:Your life is shaped by how you see it.
Speaker:And what you serve reveals your master, or who your
Speaker:master is. But that's not grammatically correct. So I tried to clean that up,
Speaker:but that's how I talk. Anyway,
Speaker:it's a little bit
Speaker:intimidating. Might Be the wrong word. This is a.
Speaker:I don't take this lightly. The opportunity to share God's word.
Speaker:It's a beautiful and it's a precious thing. And I do
Speaker:hope that anything that's frivolous would
Speaker:just be frivolous and go away and be forgotten. And then
Speaker:the things that are rich, the things that are coming straight from Jesus, that, that
Speaker:would pierce us. Sometimes we get tied up
Speaker:in hearing things that we've heard many times over and over again, like
Speaker:store up treasures in heaven. We've heard it a thousand times. Store up treasures in
Speaker:heaven. And then sometimes we hear that and we think so and so
Speaker:needs to hear that. Or this person that I know of in
Speaker:the media or whatever needs this, or this person I know across town
Speaker:really needs to hear this message. And I
Speaker:think my challenge is the more I studied this,
Speaker:the more convicted I got. And I think that's probably
Speaker:what goes along with teaching, I think, sharing your faith.
Speaker:So I encourage you to allow this to be a mirror
Speaker:for you that this is for me and
Speaker:this is for you, it's not for somebody else. Today,
Speaker:Let's, let's take a little bit of time and go over some context for where
Speaker:these verses are coming from.
Speaker:This is referred. The message in general is referred to as
Speaker:the Sermon on the Mount. Sermon on the Mount. We've heard it
Speaker:many, many times. But a
Speaker:mountain in Tennessee is different than a
Speaker:mountain in Israel, in Palestine, it's
Speaker:just different. Having stayed on Mount Scopus over one
Speaker:summer 26 years ago,
Speaker:I was an exchange student in Israel and took some
Speaker:courses from the Hebrew University. It was really cool.
Speaker:Oh, it was really cool. I'll tell you all about it, John. But the.
Speaker:You could see the Temple Mount and I was standing
Speaker:in, in the dorm room was on Mount Scopus.
Speaker:And if you turn like this, you could see the Mount of
Speaker:Olives. And to us they
Speaker:would be hills, right?
Speaker:It's just different. It's different than we might think.
Speaker:And in Galilee, where, where, where Jesus taught for the Sermon
Speaker:on the Mount. It was, you have to imagine.
Speaker:So when Jesus goes up to the top of a mountain,
Speaker:he wasn't extremely far away
Speaker:from his audience. He was just in a high place
Speaker:where he could be heard and,
Speaker:and then he taught. So let's go
Speaker:over a little bit of context. So first century life, right?
Speaker:First century Jesus is houseless.
Speaker:Sometimes we say homeless, sometimes we say houseless.
Speaker:We want to recognize the fact that he was
Speaker:nomadic, that he had one
Speaker:possession, earthly possession, and
Speaker:that was his garments.
Speaker:Garments were Very expensive in that day compared
Speaker:to what we see as garments today. We have
Speaker:closets full of our clothes. You know,
Speaker:and part of the reason why garments were expensive was because, you know, there was
Speaker:less supply and it was difficult and things were handmade.
Speaker:There were a lot of other things that were different during that day. The Roman
Speaker:occupation, King Herod and Pontius Pilate,
Speaker:there was heavy taxation. And, you know, if you
Speaker:think what we have in the US Is heavy taxation,
Speaker:forget that there was heavy taxation.
Speaker:And the people, because of the oppression
Speaker:of the Roman rule,
Speaker:the people were
Speaker:yearning for a Messiah. But what
Speaker:they were yearning for was very different than what God had in
Speaker:mind in
Speaker:their speech. So this is more context. You guys understand that
Speaker:context is different than the verse before and the
Speaker:verse after. What you're studying context. This
Speaker:is a little bit of historical context just scratching the
Speaker:surface. It's a different world when Jesus
Speaker:said these words than it is now. It's for us
Speaker:now. But it wasn't. It wasn't said necessarily to us
Speaker:in that way. It was in this context.
Speaker:Jesus, most likely in most of his
Speaker:conversation, spoke Aramaic,
Speaker:although he would have spoken Hebrew fluently and would have done
Speaker:so in the synagogue and would have taught in Hebrew a lot.
Speaker:Okay? But some of his conversation would have been in
Speaker:Aramaic, and anything that was written down or
Speaker:communicated with somebody from another country would have been in Greek.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah. So I have a friend of mine. Here's the first
Speaker:one. I have a friend of mine.
Speaker:He's like a brother, although I haven't seen him in a while, but he
Speaker:lived at my house during college because my parents took him
Speaker:in. He's from Brazil, and he was an exchange
Speaker:student. And his natural
Speaker:first language is Portuguese, but because he's from
Speaker:South America, he speaks Spanish fluently.
Speaker:And then he got here as a freshman and had to learn English.
Speaker:And he realized when he was in graduate school that when
Speaker:he started thinking in English, that's when he knew he was
Speaker:fluent. How neat is that? But because he's
Speaker:trilingual, you know, he has a great job
Speaker:and the Lord's really blessed him. It's one. But it's just fascinating to think
Speaker:about three languages. Most of us, at most, we know
Speaker:somebody who might be bilingual, which is impressive.
Speaker:The area of Galilee is where Jesus was when he
Speaker:gave this sermon. Okay? The area of Galilee was much
Speaker:more diverse culturally
Speaker:than Judea and Jerusalem areas. Okay? So
Speaker:he's in the northern part of Israel, if you'll picture it in your
Speaker:mind. And it was much more diverse. And this was written by Matthew,
Speaker:who was one of the disciples, and he was
Speaker:a former tax collector who left that
Speaker:job and lifestyle to follow Jesus.
Speaker:Little bit of a review for the Sermon on the Mount.
Speaker:It starts with the Beatitudes, right? Thank
Speaker:you, Pastor Ronnie. Then it goes into more
Speaker:of a character driven narrative where
Speaker:Jesus teaches on salt and light and other things. He goes into
Speaker:righteousness, covering laws, anger,
Speaker:adultery, marriage, revenge, and loving your enemies.
Speaker:And then Jesus taught on the religious practices,
Speaker:giving prayer, fasting.
Speaker:Today we cover treasures
Speaker:and we're halfway through
Speaker:the Sermon on the Mount. It's dense.
Speaker:There's so much to it. You can study it for the rest of your life
Speaker:and you'll still be. You'll still be getting into it.
Speaker:So what I'm going to share today is what I feel like the Lord
Speaker:has shown me to share. It's not
Speaker:the end of the story when it comes to these verses. Is that fair?
Speaker:Have you ever had a car that had the check engine light come
Speaker:on? I have been
Speaker:driving a car with the check engine light on
Speaker:for months, and I'm very close. I
Speaker:believe there's like one or two more things that need
Speaker:to happen before that check engine light might go off.
Speaker:Shout out to Mike Dennison, I love you, man.
Speaker:But there's something about a check
Speaker:engine light that kind of gives you pause, right?
Speaker:Because you know it means this. You also
Speaker:know that when they hook up the diagnostic
Speaker:to your car, you may not like
Speaker:the report it gives us.
Speaker:It's not all roads. It's not everything you want to
Speaker:hear. But guess what? It's what we need to hear.
Speaker:Kevin, have you ever had an mri?
Speaker:Like, recently, anyway? It's not fun
Speaker:if you ever get, you know, you get in what feels like you're getting
Speaker:in your coffin and then
Speaker:the noise and it's like MRI stands for, like,
Speaker:magnetic resonance image or something like that. I'm not a
Speaker:doctor. I don't. I didn't. I only played one
Speaker:twice
Speaker:again. So I'll never
Speaker:forget that time Michael and I were watching something and we were. It was
Speaker:a clip. It was great clip by this pastor saying something and he says, listen,
Speaker:the pastors in your home church are not professional actors. And Michael says, speak
Speaker:for your own church.
Speaker:So you get. I get in this MRI machine and it's going
Speaker:for 45 minutes. It's the worst thing ever.
Speaker:But there's something fascinating and applicable to the mri.
Speaker:Okay, I do believe that these verses we're going to look at today
Speaker:are like an MRI of our soul.
Speaker:Okay? In other words, you're going to see things you may
Speaker:not have seen before.
Speaker:Has a way of when it takes the images, the Images are in
Speaker:3D, okay? It uses all the angles.
Speaker:It sees through everything, but it also sees
Speaker:everything. And
Speaker:I'm not technical or anything, but it's in layers, it's in 3D. So they've got
Speaker:an image of every layer of whatever they're. For me, it was a shoulder
Speaker:thing and they've got everything they need.
Speaker:But I think it's neat that it sees everything. It sees through everything, but it
Speaker:also sees everything. I do feel like
Speaker:that the Sermon on the Mount is like hooking your heart, your spiritual heart
Speaker:up to God's diagnostic device.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Some of what God says in these verses are pretty challenging
Speaker:and I'm asking us to reevaluate our spiritual well being.
Speaker:So don't hear this and think about others,
Speaker:think about yourself.
Speaker:Jesus gives us examples of treasures on
Speaker:earth. In fact, just the passages
Speaker:just through this from last week. Thank you, Pastor Allen. They
Speaker:talking about getting earthly reward, praises
Speaker:of, praises from people instead of
Speaker:glorifying God. And then these verses
Speaker:kind of focus on wealth, wealth and possessions.
Speaker:So let's start there. You're.
Speaker:There is something coming next week that's very, very
Speaker:important. But the entirety of the Sermon on the
Speaker:Mount is about kingdom living.
Speaker:And
Speaker:if you want to know what it means to live in the kingdom
Speaker:now, study these verses.
Speaker:Your heart will follow what you treasured. Do not
Speaker:store up for yourselves treasures on earth where
Speaker:moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and
Speaker:steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven
Speaker:where neither moth nor rust destroys and where
Speaker:thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
Speaker:there your heart will be. Also
Speaker:notice the mention of the moth, right? That's something that even
Speaker:in today's day, we know what that means, right?
Speaker:That's vermin. That's if you store something for
Speaker:a long time and you don't have the mothballs in there and
Speaker:you pull your jacket out. Listen, we've all. I mean, maybe, maybe I'm
Speaker:not young, maybe some of you are too young to understand this, but I have
Speaker:seen this with my dad, like, get the coat out of the closet and
Speaker:you pull it up and it's got a, it's got a hole in it
Speaker:and it's like, ah, suddenly your nicest
Speaker:sports coat is not nice anymore.
Speaker:So the moth, this is the natural deterioration
Speaker:of wealth, right? This is a metaphor
Speaker:for how things of the earth
Speaker:naturally go away in value there.
Speaker:It doesn't mean they're inherently bad, but they
Speaker:deteriorate.
Speaker:I'll call this nature's
Speaker:corrosion. Wait, did I put that on here? I thought I put that on here,
Speaker:yeah. Moth, rust, and thieves. I practiced this
Speaker:earlier, and it came out to 25 minutes. And that's
Speaker:when I knew I better keep my story short.
Speaker:In Jesus's day, the garments were a representation of class
Speaker:and wealth. And a moth
Speaker:represents the natural destruction of such things.
Speaker:Then rust. Okay. Also, what else is natural? I've got a
Speaker:list of things. Termites for a house.
Speaker:Moths for a nice suit. Moles in your yard
Speaker:when you just had. What do you call that when they roll it out
Speaker:when you just had sod put down, and then they're ruining your
Speaker:yard. Don't you love it?
Speaker:Or when your pet goes outside and when they come back in, they've been sprayed
Speaker:by a skunk. Does that ever happen?
Speaker:Rust. Rust would be times corrosion,
Speaker:right? Over time, if you think of the jingly
Speaker:change, if it sits there long enough, it'll rust
Speaker:times corrosion. Over time, at some point, everything temporal
Speaker:loses its value.
Speaker:For me, that's a Dodge Ram.
Speaker:I'll keep it short. So when I was a kid,
Speaker:one of the coaches on the basketball team I was on when I was in
Speaker:high school, he bought a brand new Dodge
Speaker:Ram 1500. The first year that they had that they were big.
Speaker:Now, do you remember this? When they had the big front? Now,
Speaker:newsflash. I had one of these for a few years on its last
Speaker:leg, and I just sold it last year.
Speaker:But it was. I sold it for
Speaker:$1,000, and I was thrilled to get.
Speaker:Was still running. Praise the Lord. And somebody needed it more
Speaker:than I did. And anyway,
Speaker:so, yeah, that Dodge Rams, like, it was the
Speaker:coolest thing I had ever seen. In
Speaker:1995. Yeah. Fast
Speaker:forward 30 years, 31 years. You're
Speaker:it. It's rusty and. And it's old,
Speaker:and it's just going away.
Speaker:And then. Then there's thieves. Now this would be human corrosion.
Speaker:And think of it like a metaphor. This is not like.
Speaker:It's not just those things that. That a thief can come
Speaker:in and steal. I know our house was broken
Speaker:into one Sunday while we were at church. And that's one of the
Speaker:things that, like, my parents were like, maybe
Speaker:it's somebody we know because.
Speaker:Because they knew we would be at church because it was during the
Speaker:day, and it ended up being somebody we knew. And
Speaker:that. That was a crazy story, but it was
Speaker:invading for your stuff to be gone.
Speaker:For me at the time it was a CD player that
Speaker:was important, like a boombox thing.
Speaker:Anyway, so I'm dating myself. But the.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, but when. That's something
Speaker:tangible that thieves can steal. But you know,
Speaker:there are metaphorical thieves. People
Speaker:in your life that you allow to steal your joy.
Speaker:People in your life that take away your emotional well
Speaker:being. People in your life
Speaker:that you're allowing to change your
Speaker:perspective.
Speaker:Human corrosion and even financial
Speaker:spam calls your identity being
Speaker:stolen. That leads to great losses. I mean, we,
Speaker:we ended up getting our money back, but there was one like month
Speaker:where all the money came out of our account
Speaker:and it was wild. And the bank put a stop to
Speaker:it after the. When they tried to go from
Speaker:so many thousand to add a zero because it wasn't there. But they locked it
Speaker:up and they were able to get some of it back. And then. Anyway,
Speaker:long story. The Lord took care of us, of course,
Speaker:but you know, it happens. Your favorite material
Speaker:possessions can be stolen. It can be ruined by a busted
Speaker:pipe.
Speaker:Jesus said to store up your treasures in heaven. What does that mean? And
Speaker:how does that work.
Speaker:For me? It's the,
Speaker:it's the, it's the word treasure.
Speaker:Okay? And I heard a message
Speaker:by Timothy Keller one time and I wrote this down
Speaker:and. And he said
Speaker:that the translation from Aramaic to Greek, or if he said it in
Speaker:Greek, it just works better in Greek. And
Speaker:listen, I'm not Pastor Barbie, I'm not going to be able to give you the
Speaker:Greek, but I will tell you his English
Speaker:translation of, of that phrase.
Speaker:And Timothy Keller said, treasure
Speaker:the treasures of heaven and not of earth.
Speaker:Think about that. Treasure the treasures of
Speaker:heaven. It kind of changes your
Speaker:mentality on that verse a little bit in an interesting way.
Speaker:What is it that you treasure? What's important to you?
Speaker:Do you treasure the things of the world that
Speaker:will rot? Things that can get. Will get
Speaker:broken? We had a new
Speaker:rug one time and my dad
Speaker:was at the house and I was peeved. I was not
Speaker:happy because of something. That
Speaker:something happened and a rug was getting ruined.
Speaker:And it's not that important what happened. It did
Speaker:involve diaper
Speaker:and I was just ticked. And my dad.
Speaker:And you know, I have his temperament.
Speaker:I get this from him. And so my tendency to want to get
Speaker:frustrated. And he said, son, took me a long time
Speaker:to learn this, but remember that
Speaker:nothing here is sacred,
Speaker:if you'll remember that. It's all just stuff. And I was
Speaker:like, it's just a rug. Okay. This helped. You know, why am I
Speaker:angry? Because it's just stupid. It's just a rug.
Speaker:I wasn't allowed to say stupid when I was growing up either, but Mike said
Speaker:that Sunday. That's me too.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's a great warning because we should treasure only the kingdom things,
Speaker:and we don't.
Speaker:And if you want to know what your heart desires, show me your bank account.
Speaker:Bank account. And your bank statements. Don't.
Speaker:I don't want to see it. But the, the
Speaker:phrase works. Yeah. If you want to know what your heart
Speaker:desires, print out three months of statements. Put
Speaker:your eyes on them, go through them, sort them
Speaker:out. What does Dave Ramsey say? If
Speaker:you. If you don't tell your money what to do, your money tells you what
Speaker:to do. I want
Speaker:to give a little bit of a sports analogy. And I know this for
Speaker:half the room. You guys will be like, why are you saying this? But
Speaker:imagine that you. You.
Speaker:You're a parent and you don't like basketball.
Speaker:I can't use baseball. It's too close to my heart.
Speaker:Imagine that. I'll use Jonathan.
Speaker:You were looking right at me. Of course I'm the one speaking.
Speaker:641. Imagine that
Speaker:you don't care for basketball.
Speaker:Levi falls in love.
Speaker:An NBA team comes to Nashville 10
Speaker:years from now. And he begs dad, can we go? And
Speaker:dad looks into tickets, and it's so expensive.
Speaker:And you go, because you're a good dad, but it's not
Speaker:your thing. And he loves it, but it's not your thing,
Speaker:but he loves it, but it's not your thing. And so it's kind
Speaker:of expensive to you. And then you go home,
Speaker:turn it around. What if you
Speaker:were the one who loved the basketball and you
Speaker:wanted to do something with your kid? It's a lot easier to spend the money
Speaker:on those tickets. When it's something that your heart
Speaker:desires, when it's something that your heart treasures,
Speaker:your money just. It becomes easy to share it.
Speaker:Think about the kingdom of God. When,
Speaker:when you. When all this. It's just stuff. It's just money.
Speaker:It's. There's. There's important things in life. Yes, we need to pay our
Speaker:mortgage. You need to pay your rent. But. But it's so
Speaker:much easier to give when you know it's not yours, it's
Speaker:God's and he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And when you see a
Speaker:need, there's so much joy and being able to share and
Speaker:give that need.
Speaker:I will say this. I. I'm only spend a second on this because it's 6:42.
Speaker:I can't believe it's 6:42. The
Speaker:accumulation of stuff can be a cancer.
Speaker:You can never have enough. Every single thing that you can
Speaker:buy right now has an upgrade that you can't afford. And you've
Speaker:got to settle for this one. And your neighbor might be
Speaker:using this one. It's a lot less expensive, but that's
Speaker:beneath you. But you can't quite afford this one. But
Speaker:someday you'll upgrade. Someday I'll be able to
Speaker:upgrade and get the next one and the next biggest thing and then get the
Speaker:next one. It reminds me of a
Speaker:conversation a very wise man said to his son when his son
Speaker:wanted Air Jordans.
Speaker:And it's like, son, I promise you I will get you shoes that
Speaker:you need, but I may not necessarily buy you the shoes that
Speaker:you want.
Speaker:Treasure the kingdom. Things that go beyond this life,
Speaker:your life, your desires, your loves, passions, and your bank account will follow.
Speaker:Okay, next part. Your life is shaped by how you see
Speaker:it. The eye is the lamp of the body.
Speaker:So then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
Speaker:But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
Speaker:Then, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is
Speaker:the darkness? Now, raise your hand if this passage has been
Speaker:tough for you. Like, I.
Speaker:This is one that I would read and I'd be like, okay,
Speaker:I get it. It's a metaphor. I kind of get it, I guess, and I
Speaker:move on.
Speaker:But I. I feel like I was given some
Speaker:illumination is what I wrote. And then it's a bad joke, sorry.
Speaker:But okay, so this is a metaphor for kingdom living,
Speaker:right? On the surface, healthy
Speaker:eyesight means you see the light of life, right? A
Speaker:blind eye means a world of darkness.
Speaker:But your life will be shaped by how you see it.
Speaker:It's your perspective.
Speaker:Pastor Wayne once said one time, put on the lens the kingdom lenses
Speaker:so you can start seeing that a. You don't see everything. God has a
Speaker:bigger plan. And start
Speaker:seeing things through God's eyes.
Speaker:What about spiritual vision? Healthy
Speaker:Kingdom goals, Healthy Kingdom aims,
Speaker:ambitions. Wouldn't they lead to a life of clarity and
Speaker:purpose? If your spiritual vision is unhealthy,
Speaker:it'll lead you to darkness. And we've all been
Speaker:there.
Speaker:I've been struggling the last
Speaker:six, seven years with a hearing
Speaker:journey. Hearing loss journey.
Speaker:Hearing's getting worse every year. It has been. And
Speaker:praise the Lord, my hearing
Speaker:did not get worse from last year. And
Speaker:praise God, he's healing me. He's healing me. Part of the healing comes from
Speaker:These amazing, you know, hearing aids, which, you know, I've had
Speaker:to get used to and I still have to get used to, but God
Speaker:provided them financially, that. I've been talking about this for nine
Speaker:months, and that check came in last Friday. I,
Speaker:God provided and we paid off that bill. So
Speaker:praise the Lord. It's just a beautiful thing. But
Speaker:I've struggled with not being
Speaker:able to do some of the things I could always do before or it being
Speaker:very, very difficult. And that's
Speaker:painful. And I get to ask questions like, why, Lord, why?
Speaker:But we don't have all the answers. And when I start
Speaker:looking at some of the things in my life,
Speaker:number one, God orchestrated a change in
Speaker:my position way before hearing became
Speaker:so much of a challenge that it was affecting me
Speaker:with music. And so
Speaker:God saw that ahead of time and kind of brought me through and prepared. And
Speaker:then he has this opportunity to have the
Speaker:hearing aids paid for by this program that helps people keep their jobs.
Speaker:How neat is that? And. And like, you have to know somebody
Speaker:or something. I don't know. It was. But I think I
Speaker:know. Think I know the one that made the difference.
Speaker:I. I think that last phrase in
Speaker:this. In this verse is the most dangerous. I think it's the
Speaker:most dangerous if someone doesn't know they're in the darkness.
Speaker:And sometimes we can see it.
Speaker:But you cannot
Speaker:illuminate somebody being in the darkness. That's not something we
Speaker:can do. We can be a witness, but
Speaker:we cannot show. So it's not
Speaker:our job to show somebody exactly how, that they
Speaker:are blind, that they're living in the darkness. What we can do is
Speaker:be the witness. God has called us to. To be. Only Jesus
Speaker:can heal the blind, and that's the metaphorical
Speaker:blind and the physically blind or deaf.
Speaker:So how do we cultivate spiritual vision, Healthy
Speaker:spiritual vision. One thing that comes to mind
Speaker:is remain abide
Speaker:abiding in Christ prayer, God's word.
Speaker:Carving out those disciplines
Speaker:in our life,
Speaker:guarding ourselves against materialism,
Speaker:focusing on the eternal, seeking first the kingdom.
Speaker:I think I said that. Did I say that?
Speaker:What you serve reveals who is your master.
Speaker:I'm going to get through this, I promise.
Speaker:Let me read that verse again. Verse 24. No one can
Speaker:serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and
Speaker:love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
Speaker:You cannot serve God and wealth.
Speaker:Now, one of the things that is alluded to in this verse is slavery.
Speaker:I'm going to leave that alone. It's. It was different then. Than it is
Speaker:now. I could spend an hour and not be able to explain
Speaker:it well, because I don't know that I grasp it too well. I'm going to
Speaker:leave it alone. But I am going to tell you this. Many translations
Speaker:use the word money here.
Speaker:And the NASB uses the word
Speaker:wealth. And then there's another word,
Speaker:see if I know it. Mammon. Mammon,
Speaker:which. Mammon is an Aramaic word
Speaker:and it means. It doesn't mean money. It means possessions.
Speaker:Because in that day, the possessions that you
Speaker:had was your wealth. Okay? Your. If your
Speaker:flock increased, your wealth increased. If your property had
Speaker:increased, your wealth increased. Are you picturing me?
Speaker:Okay, Even if your family increased, then you
Speaker:had inherent more wealth.
Speaker:Mammon by capitalizing it. By using it as
Speaker:a. Jesus uses it
Speaker:as a. As a noun, of course,
Speaker:but he. He's
Speaker:personifying that like it. Like it's a proper noun now. Okay, that's what
Speaker:I mean by that. That the dangers of
Speaker:the love of wealth
Speaker:is telling us that loving or desiring wealth,
Speaker:money or possessions can become a God in your life. It. It can and
Speaker:will become an idol in your life. And you won't know
Speaker:it. Super important.
Speaker:If you walk away from things today, I do want you to remember those three
Speaker:things. If you walk away and learn something. Okay,
Speaker:but. But in terms of this section, all
Speaker:right. That what you serve reveals who is your master.
Speaker:Jesus says.
Speaker:Jesus does not say, try not to serve two masters.
Speaker:Try not to serve two masters because that'll get you in trouble.
Speaker:That's not what he says. He says,
Speaker:he points out that it can't be done. You can't. It's not
Speaker:possible. It is impossible to serve two masters. You're either serving
Speaker:one or the other. You can think you're serving one
Speaker:and be serving the other. Newsflash.
Speaker:You can think you can. You're serving the Lord and you're
Speaker:serving wealth. You can think that you're serving the Lord and be serving self
Speaker:gratification. You can think that you're serving the Lord
Speaker:and you're all about number one and you don't realize it.
Speaker:That's why they call them blind spots. You can't see
Speaker:it. The Holy Spirit has to point it out in your life.
Speaker:And you know, there are people who have said that Jesus is saying
Speaker:money is bad. And of course, of course that's not true.
Speaker:But money makes a good servant and a bad master.
Speaker:I do know that the love of money is the root of all sorts
Speaker:of evil. I've read that somewhere. And I did Hear, hear.
Speaker:A pastor say this one time. And so I. I'm remembering it and stealing it.
Speaker:I don't remember who said it. You'll have to forgive me,
Speaker:but I'll use it. Money makes a good servant, but a bad master. It's not
Speaker:mine.
Speaker:This passage being an MRI of our souls,
Speaker:being a mirror or a check engine light or a
Speaker:diagnostic to where we are.
Speaker:Don't allow yourself to serve
Speaker:earthly, temporal.
Speaker:The. The desire for
Speaker:hoarding. We
Speaker:and Jesus used three metaphors,
Speaker:and that's treasures, eyesight and your master. Okay?
Speaker:If you treasure kingdom things, if
Speaker:you keep your eyes open with a kingdom perspective,
Speaker:if you serve God and not the idol of wealth,
Speaker:then you'll have what cannot fade or be stolen. You
Speaker:will see and you will walk more clearly and you will live a godly
Speaker:kingdom life of generosity.
Speaker:And it all ties into these treasures. What you desire with
Speaker:your heart. Let's desire the things
Speaker:that the Lord has for us, God's kingdom.
Speaker:Let's keep our eyes open with a kingdom perspective
Speaker:and let's live a life of. Of generosity. Because
Speaker:it's just. It's just earthly
Speaker:economics. It really is, and
Speaker:it's necessary, but it's all the Lord's.
Speaker:It's all the Lord's. God, thank
Speaker:you for your word. Thank you
Speaker:for what
Speaker:you brought us today. I do hope that
Speaker:you've been glorified in this evening. That
Speaker:you've been glorified in us that you would see
Speaker:and
Speaker:that we are desiring to grow closer to you. That we are
Speaker:desiring to grow in our faith
Speaker:and we're desiring to spread and seek the kingdom
Speaker:that.
Speaker:That Jesus might be glorified in all that we do
Speaker:and all that we say. We praise you, God,
Speaker:for who you are. And go with us. May these.
Speaker:May these three. May these three metaphors
Speaker:stay with us and resonate
Speaker:and do your work. Holy Spirit,
Speaker:we ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. You're
Speaker:dismissed.
