Matthew 6:19-34, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
This is a beautiful passage of Scripture. My pastor preached on this topic yesterday and I learned some helpful new things. I'm sure many Bible students have tried to understand Matthew 6:22-23, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” If you attempt to understand this Scripture without looking at the surrounding context, you won't be able to do so. The topic at hand is putting the things of God first in your life. Jesus is teaching that if your focus is right then everything else will fall into place.
Our text begins in Matthew 6:19-20, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” My first pastor who led me to Jesus Christ in 1980, taught me that where we invest our time, money and prayers will be where our heart is. Most people think where your heart is, that is where your treasure will follow; but that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says where your treasure is, that is where your heart will follow.
Someone once told me that they don't care, but want to, and they asked me how to start caring. I showed them Matthew 6:19-21, explaining that if they will start investing their time, prayer, resources and money in a ministry or person, they will begin to care over time. The $64,000 friend is: Where is your focus? May I kindly say, you cannot serve God in resources and money. Certainly those things can be tools, but all of the resources and money in the world mean absolutely nothing if you are not preaching the Gospel to win the lost.
The Salvation Army comes to mind. Pastor Jack Hyles is right, who said that the Salvation Army today has become more “army” than “salvation.” Where is the Gospel? Sadly, their corrupt Statement of Faith is Calvinist, not a free grace Gospel. I do not support or recommend the Salvation Army.
Matthew 6:22-23 is saying that if our spiritual priorities are wrong, then our life will also be wrong. No child of God can live choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of this temporary world and be happy and pleasing to God. Luke 8:14, “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” This parable of The Sower And The Seed (Luke 8:11-15) is not about getting saved, it is about Christian maturity to become a soulwinner. I humbly think most believers fall into group three, that is, those who are choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of this temporary world. The inspired Holy Bible exhorts us in Colossians 3:1-2, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Right Doctrine Matters
Jesus emphatically warns in Matthew 6:24 that no man can serve both God and mammon. That is, you cannot pursue making money and faithfully serve God. That is why the shameful institution of Pensacola Christian College (PCC) today refuses to contend for the Christian faith. They are A.W.O.L. from 'The Battle Of The Ages.' They take in millions upon millions of dollars annually, yet call people like me “radical” for preaching the truth and contending for the faith. PCC intern pastor, Sean Quinlan, in 2018 at the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Guam, horribly called me “obsessed over the Bible issue.” Sadly, Quinlan admitted to me that he couldn't show me even one thing wrong with the Devil's modern Bible revisions. Yet that wicked pastor falsely accuses and scolds me for caring enough to warn people about Satan's corrupt Bible perversions. Shame on Sean Quinlan and the PCC cult.
When I moved from Guam to Pensacola in 2021, and started attending Campus Church at PCC, Pastor Jeff Redlin shamefully criticized my website ministry, horribly accusing me of “finding weaknesses in preachers.” What a wicked thing to say, when in truth I am faithfully exposing wickedness in Lordship Salvation preachers. Bob Jones University today preaches hardcore Lordship Salvation and Wrong Repentance. PCC wickedly bids BJU Godspeed. PCC's priorities is making money, not warning people about false doctrine, false prophets, false Bibles and damnable heresy which has crept into the Bible colleges and churches. PCC are pulling on the same rope as the Devil, and God's wrath is upon them.
Worry Cannot Fix Tomorrow's Evil
I bought an AquaSonic Black Series high-powered electric toothbrush from Amazon for $29.95. It vibrates 40,000 times per minute. I was so eager while waiting for it, excited as I opened the box when I received it, and like a little kid as I loaded some toothpaste on it and inserted the brush into my mouth. That darn thing cracked my front tooth using it for the first time!!! OUCH!!! My first impulse was to search online to see if anyone else has experienced the same problem. Sure enough I found them! Even worse, I found an FDA warning against electric toothbrushes, warning that they'll crack your teeth. Why didn't Amazon warn me? I am returning the product and I gave it a bad review on Amazon (if they'll post it). I have to make an appointment with my dentist tomorrow, since today is New Year's Day. My tooth cracked on Saturday. It's not either of my two front teeth, but the first tooth to the right on top. The best electric toothbrush is a cheap Oral B brush from Walmart for $15, which is what I used for over a year with no issues. I thought buying a more expensive one would be better, but I was way wrong. So you see, evil things happen without warning every new day.
Jesus tells us in The Beatitudes (or as I say, “The attitudes that should be”) in Matthew chapter 6 not to worry about tomorrow. The Lord says quite a bit about this matter. Jesus said that King Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as wonderful as the flower in the field, yet God does it all without any help from mankind. The birds are always fed. Someone has said that if you collected all the birdseed in the world, it would only feed the world's birds for about 1/4th of a day. Yet, God provides for all the birds and they eat plenty. Nature was doing fine long before we were born, and nature will be going strong long after we are dead. The animals, insects and birds reproduce after their kind (DNA) each generation, just as humans do. God made everything to reproduce after its own kind (Genesis 1:24-25).
Jesus commands us as saints not to worry about the future. What human being by worrying can add one inch to your height? You cannot. Worrying never solved or fixed anything. Losing sleep, fretting and getting upset doesn't fix anything. As I type, a business man owes me $4,899 for a banjo that he never delivered to me. After 16 months of waiting I finally asked for all my money back. He gave me his solemn promise in writing that after 90 days he will refund all my money, no matter what.
Well, the 90 days ended on December 10, 2023. I still don't have my money back, and all he has done is make excuses. He said his daughter had an emergency in early December. He said because of COVID-19 he is short staffed at his music store. He said he is busy upgrading his showroom at his store. Now he says he was unable to credit the money back to my VISA card because he billed my card so long ago. When people don't want to give your money back, they just keep making excuses, like he is doing. But I am not worrying about it. He's either going to refund my money or he's not. Some people are just rotten, shady and don't honor their promises. He claims to be a Christian. All I can do is pray and put it into God's hands. Worry, fret and getting frustrated won't fix anything, so I just focus on Jesus and helping others through my ministry websites, blogs and social media. Thankfully, Jesus will never cause us to be ashamed for trusting in Him, because God keeps His Word to save them that believe (Romans 10:11; 1st Corinthians 1:21b).
O Ye Of Little Faith?
Read what Jesus said in Matthew 6:30, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” My pastor pointed out something yesterday in his sermon that I had never noticed before, that Jesus ended His statement about “O ye of little faith?” with a question mark, not an exclamation mark. Jesus was asking His disciples, after all you have seen and heard of me, you still don't trust me? What an indictment! Dear reader, after all that you've seen in this world which evidences a divine Creator, and after all that you've read in the inspired Word of God, and after all the goodness which God has blessed you and your family and country, do you still lack faith in God? Mark 11:22b, “Have faith in God.”
Dear friend, you can either worry, fret and lose sleep about tomorrow, or you can trust Christ. I choose to trust Christ. If that businessman I mentioned a moment ago never refunds my money, I can still look in the mirror each day and live with that, because he is the crook, not me. About 10 years ago another man in Indianapolis, Indiana stole $2,800 from me. I had shipped him my $1,500 used S-10 (single neck with 10 strings) Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar, which he charged me $1,300 on my PayPal for parts and labor to upgrade the undercarriage. Well, that thief (John Coop Sr.) kept my money and my guitar, and died a few years later. I am a compassionate man, so I told him that IF (my promise was conditional) he would return my guitar, he could keep the $1,300. I had learned that he had cancer, so I felt sorry for him. But he was healthy enough to lie, connive and cheat dozens of other people out of their money and guitars too. What a wicked person!
And then the next year another thief, James Moorehead in Oklahoma, stole $600 from me. He promised to send me a bunch of Sho-Bud parts that I ordered, so I could work on my own steel guitar, but he kept my money and never sent me the parts. What a rotten wicked person!
Thieves stole my car in Chicago in 2004, which cost me $5,000. I have been robbed again and again by thieves. And there are many incidents I won't even mention. But dear reader, I can live with all of these evil things which have befallen me and my family, because I was the victim. I can live with people hurting, divorcing, betraying, hating, banning, ostracizing, mocking and mistreating me, because I am the victim. I couldn't live with myself if I knew there was a man wanting to attend church, but as a pastor I refused to allow him to come to church. Over my dead body would that ever happen! Yet, I am banned by the wicked pastors of Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College (PCC), because they hate me and my preaching against the wicked Bob Jones cult. Pastor Jeff Redlin at PCC is a wicked person! Their complicit leaders at PCC are cowards, fools and go along and couldn't care less about hurting people. Their outrageous $150,000 annual salaries (and more) is all that they are about. The cult system always comes first at PCC, but individuals don't matter.
Focus On The Things Of God And He Will Take Care Of You
We serve a wonderful Savior! I challenge you (and myself as well) to brag on God's goodness this coming year. I receive countless letters from frustrated saints who are down, depressed and even talking about ending their life. Their problem (and I am guilty too at times) is that we lose our proper spiritual focus, taking our eyes off off the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 12:3); instead we focus on the negative daily news, wars, family issues, health woes, people who have mistreated and hurt us, abusive pastors and shallow Christians who just don't care anymore about people or right doctrine (crapholes like Pensacola Christian College), et cetera.
God's blessed Holy Spirit has to continually remind me that PCC are wicked people, who have neither regard for God nor man. They think they do, blinded by their own self-glorification, self-praise, worldly success and elaborate cult system, but they know nothing about the great forgiving heart of our awesome God, for if they did they'd beg me to come back to church instead of telling this beggar to go away (they've literally banned me in writing from attending Campus Church). That is the Devil's hatred, not God's unconditional love for people. I've done nothing to hurt them at PCC, Pastor Jeff Redlin despised me with jealousy from the day I stepped onto their college campus. God will deal with that wicked heathen. Sadly, PCC leaders are complicit and just don't care, only thinking about themselves like Hezekiah did.
The heathen world lives for things and resources. PCC exploits Christianity to make money and enrich their pockets, having no regard as did the Good Samaritan. I was left for dead in 2021 by PCC, told I couldn't return, because they hate me so much. I know how Samantha Field feels, betrayed by her own college from which she graduated at PCC. As God's saints we should focus on the things of God. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” I have never heard even one preacher get this passage correct. They all say to put the things of God first in your life, and everything will be added unto you. Dear reader, that is works!!! This beautiful passage is talking about none other than the imputed righteousness of God, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” To get to Heaven, you need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. That is, you need God's righteousness which is imputed to every lost sinner when they place their childlike trust in Jesus Christ. ...
Philippians 3:9-11, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
Matthew 6:33 is teaching that is you will get saved by putting your trust in Christ alone, then all of God's blessings will be yours. Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” And also, read what Jesus said in Matthew 6:7-8, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” God will take care of you!
God Will Take Care Of You
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