April 27, 2025 • 24 mins
When you join us for the next Treasured Truth, as we begin to look at the theology of stewardship, Pastor Ford will ask how many of us have made God the Lord of the leftovers? Because if we’re honest with ourselves, He usually gets our leftover time, our leftover talents, and our leftover treasures. We often think to ourselves—if we have anything left, then we can give to God. But that’s not good stewardship. So, join us as we begin a new message called, “God’s Pleasure and Your Treasure,” on the next Treasured Truth.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:00):
How many of us have made him the Lord of
the leftovers? He gets our leftover time, our leftover talent,
our leftover treasures that if I got anything left, then
I can give to God.
S2 (00:21):
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. As today we're
beginning a series called God's Pleasure and Your Treasure. And, pastor,
I think the problem with waiting until we've got something
left to give it to God is just being humans
like we are. There's not going to be anything left
for God. It seems like we're focused on what do
(00:43):
I want? And then you realize, oh, sorry, God don't
got anything left for you.
S1 (00:47):
Well, I think it happens that way most of the time, Steve.
You know, I'm really surprised when I read statistics that
tell me that the average believer gives 4% and the
average unbeliever 4.7%. Collectively, that's that's that's atrocious. You know,
(01:10):
here's what happened to me. It was kind of an
aha moment. It was a rhema word moment. Oh, I
just said word. Word. But anyway, it was one of
those moments when we had an appeal for Pacific Garden Mission.
They needed some suits so that guys could get work. Yeah.
And so I went in my closet, and the first
(01:31):
thing I looked for were the suits I didn't want. Right.
I had just brought two new suits, and it was
the Holy Spirit who said, don't give those that you
don't want. Give the two new ones. I said, it's
nobody but the devil. And, uh. But the Lord convicted me,
and I gave those two suits. Now, I didn't give
(01:54):
to get anything. Steve. Yeah. But then one of my
elders came to me and said, you know what? God
laid on my heart, pastor Ford, I said, no, know
what to take you out and to buy you a
couple new suits. I said, you got to be kidding me.
And I told him the story. He said, well, not
only am I going to buy you the suits, I'm
going to buy you the pocket square, the shirt, the
ties and the shoes. Wow. Yeah. And it was like, wow, Lord.
(02:19):
So I'm more ready, you know, to do what the
Lord says when he says, okay, write this out. Give
to this organization, give to this person. You know, because
I understand that seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you. Yeah, we leave the choice with him.
S2 (02:39):
Well, right now we're hoping that your choice is to
join us in the Gospels. We're going to be in
Luke 12 and Matthew six today as we begin God's
pleasure and your treasure. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (02:51):
When, uh, brother Mike Thompson was my assistant pastor, he
was my assistant pastor for five years. Now he's got
his own set of problems. He came to my office
before we had built this new sanctuary, and he said,
Pastor Ford, you need to come right away. Sister Parker
(03:13):
has been put out of her house. And so I said, what?
He said, yeah. So we went across the street. She
lived right in the horseshoe Apartments there. We went across
the street and sure enough, all of her belongings were
on the sidewalk. Uh, she was sitting there, and I said,
what happened? What happened? She said, well, I couldn't pay
my rent, got an eviction notice, and the sheriffs just
(03:35):
came and set me outside. I said, well, why don't
you come to us and, you know, ask your church
for help? I mean, you live right across the street. And, uh,
she said, well, I'm just kind of person. I don't
like to ask people for help. And, you know, I
didn't say it, but I wanted to say, well, you
have not, because you ask not. Amen. But I said, well,
(03:57):
I tell you what we can do. We had just
purchased Alexander's restaurant, on which our parking lot now sits.
And so it was a big building. And I said,
do you have anywhere to store your stuff? No, I
have nowhere to store it. I said, okay. So me
and pastor Mike, we'll move your stuff over into Alexander's
and you can store it there. We we weren't going
(04:18):
to tear it down for a couple of months, so
that would give her a place to keep her furniture
and belongings where it would be safe. And so we
start carrying the stuff across the street. And, uh, on
our second trip, a truck pulled up and an elderly
gentleman got up out. I had seen him around before.
He was a junk man, you know, going down the alleys,
(04:39):
picking up metal and those kind of things, bottles. And so,
you know, I thought that she had called him. Later on,
I found out she thought I had called him. And, uh,
so he helped us. It took us about four hours,
maybe four hours and 15 minutes to take all of
her stuff and put it in there. And thank God
we had his truck because it took us longer than that. Uh,
(05:01):
but after we got done, I said, okay, uh, so
she's going to pay you. He said no. I said, well,
you know, I'm not going to pay you. And, uh,
he said, no, I nobody's going to pay me. And
so I said, do you know her? And he said, no,
I don't know her. And I said, well, I don't
know you. He said, well, I don't know you either.
(05:22):
I said, so wait a minute. I don't get it.
Why did you stop? He said, well, I was on
my way to start my day. I'm retired and I
collect junk and I make money now, uh, my little
extra money by, uh, you know, getting my junk and
taking it to the junkyard. But as I. I passed
you by, I saw you. But the Lord spoke to
me and said. Those are some of my people. I
(05:44):
want you to turn around and help them. I said, uh,
so you say the Lord told you to turn around.
He said, that's what I said. And I said, oh, okay. Okay, okay. Uh,
I said, well, wow, that was really great, man. Uh,
that was really good. He said, yeah, he said I
(06:05):
was just being obedient to what the Lord said. I said,
so what are you going to do with the rest
of your day? He said, well, I usually only do
it for about five hours, so most of my day
is shot. And I'm, I'm probably just going to go
on back home. And I said, well, what do you
make a day on the average? He said, I make
about $200 a day. And then the thought struck me.
(06:26):
I said, you collect junk, right? He said, yeah, over
in our basement, man, I have some appliances, uh, some
vacuum cleaners, all kind of stuff that that we're not
even going to repair. Do you want that? He said, sure.
So I took him over there and we put the
we put about two, uh, dryers and two washers. One
of the dryers worked, uh, all kind of, uh, appliances. Uh,
(06:49):
there was a couple toasters and, you know, so I
saw him a couple weeks later and I said, so
how'd you make out with the stuff I gave you?
He said, well, I made about $800. I said you made.
About what? He said I made about 800 CE. One
(07:09):
man's junk is another man's money. I just didn't have
eyes to see it, Brother Bernard. Man, I wish I
could have saw that, but anyway, it's water over the
dam now. And I said 800. He said yeah, four
times what I usually make in a day. I said, yeah,
I can count. Wow. I said, do you tithe? He said, yeah,
(07:31):
to my own church. Now here's what got me about that.
The fact that he did not stop to get any
money because he didn't know there was any money to
be gotten. Did everybody hear me? So he stopped. Why?
Because God told him to help us. So then what
(07:55):
he did was put the plan and program of God
and people over paper. And I ain't talking about this
kind of paper. I'm talking about this kind of paper.
This man teaches us a lesson, doesn't he? He sought
the kingdom first. See, too many of us don't seek
(08:18):
God's kingdom first. As a matter of fact, if truth
be known, don't look around because we don't anybody come
under conviction. There's a whole lot of people don't seek
God's kingdom at all. Mm mm. Yeah. See, usually we
give God what's left and not what's right. Don't forget that.
(08:39):
Offering time. We say it all the time, don't we?
What's in your hand is a reflection of what's in
your heart. That's right. Come on, help me preach this.
Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor. When are you
going to take God off your benevolent list? The Bible
says we should lay up for yourselves Else treasures in heaven.
(09:02):
You can't take it with you. But that verse says
you can send it ahead. You're about that man who
told his wife he was. He was terminally ill. He said,
when I die, take all my money. Put it up
in the attic. Because on my way to heaven, I'm
taking it with me. He died. She put it up
there before the funeral, came back after the funeral, and
(09:23):
the money was still there. She picked up the money
and said, I knew I should have left it in
the basement. You get that on the way home. So
when you look at this text, this text is tailored
to teach this timeless truth, okay? This poignant pericope is
positioned to proclaim this powerful principle. Your commitment to God
(09:46):
determines your conveniences from God. That's what it's teaching. I mean,
too many of us are like my granddaughter Nina. Uh,
when she was a shorty, uh, I had had my
son over and had my grandkids over, and I had
bought them all a big bag of gummy bears, uh,
Elder Ben. And, uh, we were all watching TV. We'd
(10:07):
all come together, we're watching TV, and, uh. Nini was
sitting next to me. I said, nay, nay, give me
some of those gummy bears. Girl, she said, uh uh,
there's only enough for me. A big old bag of
gummy bears. £1 bag for each of them. Because I'm
generous like that. Now, wait a minute. Get this. I
(10:31):
bought them for her, I. Gave them to her. And
she's telling me the one who gave her everything I
can't have. Anything. Any nay, nays in the house. So then,
about 15 minutes later, we enter the movie. I think
it was The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, and
(10:52):
we're into the movie. And she says, here, Pat Paul,
here's a handful she gave me for I'm getting ready
to put them in my mouth. Sister Jackson and my
son smacks my hand. I said, what's wrong with you?
You crazy? He said, dad, she gave you the ones
that fell on the floor. And before we laugh at her,
(11:13):
how many of us in this room, under the sound
of my voice, have made him the Lord of the leftovers?
He gets our leftover time, our leftover talent, our leftover
treasures that if I got anything left, then I can
give to God.
S2 (11:33):
I think that's a mindset that many of us have,
and many of us may wrestle with and against. Because
if we're going to wait to give God what's left over,
so often we end up giving him nothing. We're going
to continue this message. God's pleasure in your treasure in
just a moment. If you ever miss a broadcast in
the series, you can always come to our website and
listen to each and every program online. Just come to
(11:54):
Treasure Truth radio.org. You can stream a program or download
an MP3 for free. Again, our website is treasure. Truth. Radio.com.
Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (12:04):
Now let me give you the con text before I
give you the content, because context is important. If you
look at Luke, you'll find the context. Luke gives us
the context. Matthew doesn't doesn't give us much of the
context as Luke does. And Luke chapter 12, he tells
us the parable of the rich young ruler. He said, look, uh,
(12:26):
will you tell my brother, uh, to give me my bank,
to give me my stocks, give me my inheritance? And
Jesus said, I mean, who made me the lawyer over
somebody's will? That's not what I came to be about.
The Son of Man came to seek and to save
that which was lost. Not to settle our money disputes.
(12:48):
I don't care what you see on TV. Don't believe it.
Tell you money cometh. You know money goeth. And so
what happens here? This man, according to Phillips, made three mistakes.
Number one, he mistook his bank book for his Bible. See,
he measured success in terms of his bankroll rather than
(13:10):
his Bible. And true success is found here, folk. Not
in your bank account. I expected somebody who knew to
say Amen. That's alright. Maybe they do believe. In other words,
too many of us measure our self-worth by our net worth.
And listen, what you have has nothing to do with
(13:33):
who you are. Mm. His second mistake is he mistook
his soul for his body. See, physically, we came into
the world with closed hands. And when we leave this world,
we're going to go with open hands. That's why Alexander
the Great said. Bury me with my hands outside the casket,
(13:55):
so that everyone will know that even though I conquered
the known world. I left here with nothing. Oh, preacher
would say it this way. You never seen a hearse
pulling a U-Haul. You can't take it with you. And
for some of you, it's good that you can't. Because
your money would only burn and your jewelry would only melt. Well,
(14:17):
you get that on the way home, too. Yeah. His
third mistake is he mistook time for eternity in Luke.
Luke says, but God. In other words, now, if you
live your life for the acquirement of things to get
bling and Benjamins and Benzes and all that kind of stuff,
(14:39):
you have wasted your life for, what if it profit
a man? Should he gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? There's a whole lot of people that
got a Benz and they going to hell in it.
In other words. But God, in other words, you may
forget about God. God's not going to forget about you.
(15:00):
That's good news. Yeah. And in other words, here's the
whole thing. Now let me do this. Let me do this.
You don't mind Bible study, right? I'm going to walk
you through this entire text because I want to give
you what the major theme is. I'm going to deal
with one verse, but the major theme is this don't worry.
Don't worry about material things. That's the theme of Matthew
(15:25):
chapter six, verses 19 through 34. Now walk with me.
I hope you'll walk with me by opening your Bible
and walk through as I share with you, because here's
what he's telling us. He says, let me give you
ten reasons why you should not worry. Ten reasons why.
(15:45):
Here we go. Reason number one, verses 19 through 21,
because it violates the command of God. That what he
tells us, in essence, is this I'm commanding you not
to be worried about stuff. Commit yourself to the Savior
we're going to learn later on and the Savior will
give you the stuff. Well, how come I don't have
the stuff that I want? Because the Savior hasn't given
(16:07):
it to you yet. And until he gives it to you,
the Lord gives us prosperity without the pain. Second reason
verses 22 and 23. It divides our focus. He says,
the light of the body is the eye. Therefore the
eye be single. Thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if be evil, then what's he talking about there?
(16:28):
He's saying, listen, that if you want to focus in
on the master and you want to focus in on
making your money, you can't do them both at the
same time. That if you worry, you know what the
word worry means. It means to divide your attention, to
have a two faced when it comes to what God
has told you. Verses 24 through 25. Look at it.
(16:50):
Here's what he's saying there. The third reason you don't
worry is life is more than just physical needs. Anybody
by any joy lately? Anybody buy any piece lately? Anybody
buy any? Those are things you cannot buy. And I
guarantee you can have everything you want. But yet if
you don't have those things, those things that you have
(17:12):
will not satisfy you. Some people talk about wealth. I
became a millionaire. I'd be happy. If you're not happy
with the dollar and a quarter that you got, you
won't be happy. If millions would be your lot. They.
They asked the one one millionaire how much money is enough?
He said always $1 more. Just $1 more. That was
(17:35):
Andrew Carnegie number four. Fourth reason you should not worry
is in verse 26, behold the fowls of the air
they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns.
Yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much
more better than they? Saying you are valuable in God's eyes,
that God made us in the imago day, the image
of God. He made us just like him. Personality, intellect,
(17:57):
emotion will free moral agency. And he said, you are
like me. We were made a little lower than the angels,
and God elevated us to his status. We are now
sons and daughters of God. Fifth reason why, verse 27,
he says, which of you, by taking thought, can add
one cubit unto his statue? Here's the principle. It won't
(18:20):
change your situation. Don't worry, because it won't change your situation.
Worry is like walking in a rocking chair. You got movement,
but you ain't going anywhere. Then notice. Notice verses 28
through 30 A he says, don't worry because God will
faithfully supply what you need. And we say it all
(18:45):
the time, don't we? But my God shall supply all
my needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
Let me get you to say something. What does all mean?
That's right. All means all. That's all, all means. Verse
30 B he says the seventh reason why you shouldn't worry.
In verse 30 B it demonstrates you have a lack
(19:06):
of faith in God. He says, O ye of little faith.
You got a lack of faith in God. So then
when I worry about things, it demonstrates I don't trust
God for them. Here's here's number eight, verse 31 and
32 a it reveals a pagan mentality. He said, for
these things the Gentiles seek. This is what worldly people want.
(19:30):
This is what worldly people give their lives to. But
then verse 34, he says, don't worry, because it brings
tomorrow's troubles into the day. And here's our verse that
we're going to look at today, verse 33. He says
don't worry because it demonstrates a need for recommitment to
(19:53):
Christ and His kingdom, to the Lordship of Christ. So
that's the context. Let me look at the verse content now.
I love this passage. Why? Because sometimes we'll tell people what.
But we don't tell them how and we don't tell
them why. But all of those are here in this passage.
(20:14):
Here it is in a nutshell. When Christ is our pleasure,
he gives us his treasure. That's it. Let me let
me walk through it real quick. Notice, first of all,
if this is going to happen, your perspective must change.
That's the first thing where you see that pastor in
(20:36):
Luke it says, but, but, but but seek ye first.
Here the. But now you know what it is. Conjunction. Junction.
What's your function? Function of conjunction. We talk about that
all the time. But what does it do? It's saying change.
You're over here with the materials. Focus on the master. Uh,
you're over here with the gold. Focus in on God.
(20:57):
You're over here, and. And you're worried about all of
these things. Worry about all of his things. Because if
you take care of his business, he's going to take
care of your business. Amen. Tell your neighbor that's something
I ain't heard. Ain't I don't hear that. In other words,
you're focusing on the wrong thing. You're worried about the
(21:21):
junk instead of serving Jesus. And what did that elderly
gentleman do? That teenager who helped us. He sought the
kingdom first. He put the master above money because he
knew you can't serve money, and the master can't serve
master and Mammon. And which is the Babylonian god of money.
So let me ask you a question. Say, ask us
(21:42):
a question. Do you own things or do your things?
Own you? Mm. We're supposed to love people and use things.
Most of us use people and love things.
S2 (21:56):
If we're really honest about it. I think a lot
of us would answer that question in a way that
we may find a little bit troublesome. But the great
thing is, as we dive into God's Word, we begin
to learn how we can change that perspective. You're listening
to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, a message called God's
Pleasure and Your Treasure, and you can find out more
about this program when you come to our website. Treasure
(22:16):
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S1 (22:36):
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(22:59):
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S2 (23:20):
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(23:43):
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Bible Institute.
How many of us have made him the Lord of
the leftovers? He gets our leftover time, our leftover talent,
our leftover treasures that if I got anything left, then
I can give to God.
S2 (00:21):
Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. As today we're
beginning a series called God's Pleasure and Your Treasure. And, pastor,
I think the problem with waiting until we've got something
left to give it to God is just being humans
like we are. There's not going to be anything left
for God. It seems like we're focused on what do
(00:43):
I want? And then you realize, oh, sorry, God don't
got anything left for you.
S1 (00:47):
Well, I think it happens that way most of the time, Steve.
You know, I'm really surprised when I read statistics that
tell me that the average believer gives 4% and the
average unbeliever 4.7%. Collectively, that's that's that's atrocious. You know,
(01:10):
here's what happened to me. It was kind of an
aha moment. It was a rhema word moment. Oh, I
just said word. Word. But anyway, it was one of
those moments when we had an appeal for Pacific Garden Mission.
They needed some suits so that guys could get work. Yeah.
And so I went in my closet, and the first
(01:31):
thing I looked for were the suits I didn't want. Right.
I had just brought two new suits, and it was
the Holy Spirit who said, don't give those that you
don't want. Give the two new ones. I said, it's
nobody but the devil. And, uh. But the Lord convicted me,
and I gave those two suits. Now, I didn't give
(01:54):
to get anything. Steve. Yeah. But then one of my
elders came to me and said, you know what? God
laid on my heart, pastor Ford, I said, no, know
what to take you out and to buy you a
couple new suits. I said, you got to be kidding me.
And I told him the story. He said, well, not
only am I going to buy you the suits, I'm
going to buy you the pocket square, the shirt, the
ties and the shoes. Wow. Yeah. And it was like, wow, Lord.
(02:19):
So I'm more ready, you know, to do what the
Lord says when he says, okay, write this out. Give
to this organization, give to this person. You know, because
I understand that seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you. Yeah, we leave the choice with him.
S2 (02:39):
Well, right now we're hoping that your choice is to
join us in the Gospels. We're going to be in
Luke 12 and Matthew six today as we begin God's
pleasure and your treasure. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (02:51):
When, uh, brother Mike Thompson was my assistant pastor, he
was my assistant pastor for five years. Now he's got
his own set of problems. He came to my office
before we had built this new sanctuary, and he said,
Pastor Ford, you need to come right away. Sister Parker
(03:13):
has been put out of her house. And so I said, what?
He said, yeah. So we went across the street. She
lived right in the horseshoe Apartments there. We went across
the street and sure enough, all of her belongings were
on the sidewalk. Uh, she was sitting there, and I said,
what happened? What happened? She said, well, I couldn't pay
my rent, got an eviction notice, and the sheriffs just
(03:35):
came and set me outside. I said, well, why don't
you come to us and, you know, ask your church
for help? I mean, you live right across the street. And, uh,
she said, well, I'm just kind of person. I don't
like to ask people for help. And, you know, I
didn't say it, but I wanted to say, well, you
have not, because you ask not. Amen. But I said, well,
(03:57):
I tell you what we can do. We had just
purchased Alexander's restaurant, on which our parking lot now sits.
And so it was a big building. And I said,
do you have anywhere to store your stuff? No, I
have nowhere to store it. I said, okay. So me
and pastor Mike, we'll move your stuff over into Alexander's
and you can store it there. We we weren't going
(04:18):
to tear it down for a couple of months, so
that would give her a place to keep her furniture
and belongings where it would be safe. And so we
start carrying the stuff across the street. And, uh, on
our second trip, a truck pulled up and an elderly
gentleman got up out. I had seen him around before.
He was a junk man, you know, going down the alleys,
(04:39):
picking up metal and those kind of things, bottles. And so,
you know, I thought that she had called him. Later on,
I found out she thought I had called him. And, uh,
so he helped us. It took us about four hours,
maybe four hours and 15 minutes to take all of
her stuff and put it in there. And thank God
we had his truck because it took us longer than that. Uh,
(05:01):
but after we got done, I said, okay, uh, so
she's going to pay you. He said no. I said, well,
you know, I'm not going to pay you. And, uh,
he said, no, I nobody's going to pay me. And
so I said, do you know her? And he said, no,
I don't know her. And I said, well, I don't
know you. He said, well, I don't know you either.
(05:22):
I said, so wait a minute. I don't get it.
Why did you stop? He said, well, I was on
my way to start my day. I'm retired and I
collect junk and I make money now, uh, my little
extra money by, uh, you know, getting my junk and
taking it to the junkyard. But as I. I passed
you by, I saw you. But the Lord spoke to
me and said. Those are some of my people. I
(05:44):
want you to turn around and help them. I said, uh,
so you say the Lord told you to turn around.
He said, that's what I said. And I said, oh, okay. Okay, okay. Uh,
I said, well, wow, that was really great, man. Uh,
that was really good. He said, yeah, he said I
(06:05):
was just being obedient to what the Lord said. I said,
so what are you going to do with the rest
of your day? He said, well, I usually only do
it for about five hours, so most of my day
is shot. And I'm, I'm probably just going to go
on back home. And I said, well, what do you
make a day on the average? He said, I make
about $200 a day. And then the thought struck me.
(06:26):
I said, you collect junk, right? He said, yeah, over
in our basement, man, I have some appliances, uh, some
vacuum cleaners, all kind of stuff that that we're not
even going to repair. Do you want that? He said, sure.
So I took him over there and we put the
we put about two, uh, dryers and two washers. One
of the dryers worked, uh, all kind of, uh, appliances. Uh,
(06:49):
there was a couple toasters and, you know, so I
saw him a couple weeks later and I said, so
how'd you make out with the stuff I gave you?
He said, well, I made about $800. I said you made.
About what? He said I made about 800 CE. One
(07:09):
man's junk is another man's money. I just didn't have
eyes to see it, Brother Bernard. Man, I wish I
could have saw that, but anyway, it's water over the
dam now. And I said 800. He said yeah, four
times what I usually make in a day. I said, yeah,
I can count. Wow. I said, do you tithe? He said, yeah,
(07:31):
to my own church. Now here's what got me about that.
The fact that he did not stop to get any
money because he didn't know there was any money to
be gotten. Did everybody hear me? So he stopped. Why?
Because God told him to help us. So then what
(07:55):
he did was put the plan and program of God
and people over paper. And I ain't talking about this
kind of paper. I'm talking about this kind of paper.
This man teaches us a lesson, doesn't he? He sought
the kingdom first. See, too many of us don't seek
(08:18):
God's kingdom first. As a matter of fact, if truth
be known, don't look around because we don't anybody come
under conviction. There's a whole lot of people don't seek
God's kingdom at all. Mm mm. Yeah. See, usually we
give God what's left and not what's right. Don't forget that.
(08:39):
Offering time. We say it all the time, don't we?
What's in your hand is a reflection of what's in
your heart. That's right. Come on, help me preach this.
Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor. When are you
going to take God off your benevolent list? The Bible
says we should lay up for yourselves Else treasures in heaven.
(09:02):
You can't take it with you. But that verse says
you can send it ahead. You're about that man who
told his wife he was. He was terminally ill. He said,
when I die, take all my money. Put it up
in the attic. Because on my way to heaven, I'm
taking it with me. He died. She put it up
there before the funeral, came back after the funeral, and
(09:23):
the money was still there. She picked up the money
and said, I knew I should have left it in
the basement. You get that on the way home. So
when you look at this text, this text is tailored
to teach this timeless truth, okay? This poignant pericope is
positioned to proclaim this powerful principle. Your commitment to God
(09:46):
determines your conveniences from God. That's what it's teaching. I mean,
too many of us are like my granddaughter Nina. Uh,
when she was a shorty, uh, I had had my
son over and had my grandkids over, and I had
bought them all a big bag of gummy bears, uh,
Elder Ben. And, uh, we were all watching TV. We'd
(10:07):
all come together, we're watching TV, and, uh. Nini was
sitting next to me. I said, nay, nay, give me
some of those gummy bears. Girl, she said, uh uh,
there's only enough for me. A big old bag of
gummy bears. £1 bag for each of them. Because I'm
generous like that. Now, wait a minute. Get this. I
(10:31):
bought them for her, I. Gave them to her. And
she's telling me the one who gave her everything I
can't have. Anything. Any nay, nays in the house. So then,
about 15 minutes later, we enter the movie. I think
it was The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe, and
(10:52):
we're into the movie. And she says, here, Pat Paul,
here's a handful she gave me for I'm getting ready
to put them in my mouth. Sister Jackson and my
son smacks my hand. I said, what's wrong with you?
You crazy? He said, dad, she gave you the ones
that fell on the floor. And before we laugh at her,
(11:13):
how many of us in this room, under the sound
of my voice, have made him the Lord of the leftovers?
He gets our leftover time, our leftover talent, our leftover
treasures that if I got anything left, then I can
give to God.
S2 (11:33):
I think that's a mindset that many of us have,
and many of us may wrestle with and against. Because
if we're going to wait to give God what's left over,
so often we end up giving him nothing. We're going
to continue this message. God's pleasure in your treasure in
just a moment. If you ever miss a broadcast in
the series, you can always come to our website and
listen to each and every program online. Just come to
(11:54):
Treasure Truth radio.org. You can stream a program or download
an MP3 for free. Again, our website is treasure. Truth. Radio.com.
Here is Pastor Ford.
S1 (12:04):
Now let me give you the con text before I
give you the content, because context is important. If you
look at Luke, you'll find the context. Luke gives us
the context. Matthew doesn't doesn't give us much of the
context as Luke does. And Luke chapter 12, he tells
us the parable of the rich young ruler. He said, look, uh,
(12:26):
will you tell my brother, uh, to give me my bank,
to give me my stocks, give me my inheritance? And
Jesus said, I mean, who made me the lawyer over
somebody's will? That's not what I came to be about.
The Son of Man came to seek and to save
that which was lost. Not to settle our money disputes.
(12:48):
I don't care what you see on TV. Don't believe it.
Tell you money cometh. You know money goeth. And so
what happens here? This man, according to Phillips, made three mistakes.
Number one, he mistook his bank book for his Bible. See,
he measured success in terms of his bankroll rather than
(13:10):
his Bible. And true success is found here, folk. Not
in your bank account. I expected somebody who knew to
say Amen. That's alright. Maybe they do believe. In other words,
too many of us measure our self-worth by our net worth.
And listen, what you have has nothing to do with
(13:33):
who you are. Mm. His second mistake is he mistook
his soul for his body. See, physically, we came into
the world with closed hands. And when we leave this world,
we're going to go with open hands. That's why Alexander
the Great said. Bury me with my hands outside the casket,
(13:55):
so that everyone will know that even though I conquered
the known world. I left here with nothing. Oh, preacher
would say it this way. You never seen a hearse
pulling a U-Haul. You can't take it with you. And
for some of you, it's good that you can't. Because
your money would only burn and your jewelry would only melt. Well,
(14:17):
you get that on the way home, too. Yeah. His
third mistake is he mistook time for eternity in Luke.
Luke says, but God. In other words, now, if you
live your life for the acquirement of things to get
bling and Benjamins and Benzes and all that kind of stuff,
(14:39):
you have wasted your life for, what if it profit
a man? Should he gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? There's a whole lot of people that
got a Benz and they going to hell in it.
In other words. But God, in other words, you may
forget about God. God's not going to forget about you.
(15:00):
That's good news. Yeah. And in other words, here's the
whole thing. Now let me do this. Let me do this.
You don't mind Bible study, right? I'm going to walk
you through this entire text because I want to give
you what the major theme is. I'm going to deal
with one verse, but the major theme is this don't worry.
Don't worry about material things. That's the theme of Matthew
(15:25):
chapter six, verses 19 through 34. Now walk with me.
I hope you'll walk with me by opening your Bible
and walk through as I share with you, because here's
what he's telling us. He says, let me give you
ten reasons why you should not worry. Ten reasons why.
(15:45):
Here we go. Reason number one, verses 19 through 21,
because it violates the command of God. That what he
tells us, in essence, is this I'm commanding you not
to be worried about stuff. Commit yourself to the Savior
we're going to learn later on and the Savior will
give you the stuff. Well, how come I don't have
the stuff that I want? Because the Savior hasn't given
(16:07):
it to you yet. And until he gives it to you,
the Lord gives us prosperity without the pain. Second reason
verses 22 and 23. It divides our focus. He says,
the light of the body is the eye. Therefore the
eye be single. Thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if be evil, then what's he talking about there?
(16:28):
He's saying, listen, that if you want to focus in
on the master and you want to focus in on
making your money, you can't do them both at the
same time. That if you worry, you know what the
word worry means. It means to divide your attention, to
have a two faced when it comes to what God
has told you. Verses 24 through 25. Look at it.
(16:50):
Here's what he's saying there. The third reason you don't
worry is life is more than just physical needs. Anybody
by any joy lately? Anybody buy any piece lately? Anybody
buy any? Those are things you cannot buy. And I
guarantee you can have everything you want. But yet if
you don't have those things, those things that you have
(17:12):
will not satisfy you. Some people talk about wealth. I
became a millionaire. I'd be happy. If you're not happy
with the dollar and a quarter that you got, you
won't be happy. If millions would be your lot. They.
They asked the one one millionaire how much money is enough?
He said always $1 more. Just $1 more. That was
(17:35):
Andrew Carnegie number four. Fourth reason you should not worry
is in verse 26, behold the fowls of the air
they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns.
Yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much
more better than they? Saying you are valuable in God's eyes,
that God made us in the imago day, the image
of God. He made us just like him. Personality, intellect,
(17:57):
emotion will free moral agency. And he said, you are
like me. We were made a little lower than the angels,
and God elevated us to his status. We are now
sons and daughters of God. Fifth reason why, verse 27,
he says, which of you, by taking thought, can add
one cubit unto his statue? Here's the principle. It won't
(18:20):
change your situation. Don't worry, because it won't change your situation.
Worry is like walking in a rocking chair. You got movement,
but you ain't going anywhere. Then notice. Notice verses 28
through 30 A he says, don't worry because God will
faithfully supply what you need. And we say it all
(18:45):
the time, don't we? But my God shall supply all
my needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.
Let me get you to say something. What does all mean?
That's right. All means all. That's all, all means. Verse
30 B he says the seventh reason why you shouldn't worry.
In verse 30 B it demonstrates you have a lack
(19:06):
of faith in God. He says, O ye of little faith.
You got a lack of faith in God. So then
when I worry about things, it demonstrates I don't trust
God for them. Here's here's number eight, verse 31 and
32 a it reveals a pagan mentality. He said, for
these things the Gentiles seek. This is what worldly people want.
(19:30):
This is what worldly people give their lives to. But
then verse 34, he says, don't worry, because it brings
tomorrow's troubles into the day. And here's our verse that
we're going to look at today, verse 33. He says
don't worry because it demonstrates a need for recommitment to
(19:53):
Christ and His kingdom, to the Lordship of Christ. So
that's the context. Let me look at the verse content now.
I love this passage. Why? Because sometimes we'll tell people what.
But we don't tell them how and we don't tell
them why. But all of those are here in this passage.
(20:14):
Here it is in a nutshell. When Christ is our pleasure,
he gives us his treasure. That's it. Let me let
me walk through it real quick. Notice, first of all,
if this is going to happen, your perspective must change.
That's the first thing where you see that pastor in
(20:36):
Luke it says, but, but, but but seek ye first.
Here the. But now you know what it is. Conjunction. Junction.
What's your function? Function of conjunction. We talk about that
all the time. But what does it do? It's saying change.
You're over here with the materials. Focus on the master. Uh,
you're over here with the gold. Focus in on God.
(20:57):
You're over here, and. And you're worried about all of
these things. Worry about all of his things. Because if
you take care of his business, he's going to take
care of your business. Amen. Tell your neighbor that's something
I ain't heard. Ain't I don't hear that. In other words,
you're focusing on the wrong thing. You're worried about the
(21:21):
junk instead of serving Jesus. And what did that elderly
gentleman do? That teenager who helped us. He sought the
kingdom first. He put the master above money because he
knew you can't serve money, and the master can't serve
master and Mammon. And which is the Babylonian god of money.
So let me ask you a question. Say, ask us
(21:42):
a question. Do you own things or do your things?
Own you? Mm. We're supposed to love people and use things.
Most of us use people and love things.
S2 (21:56):
If we're really honest about it. I think a lot
of us would answer that question in a way that
we may find a little bit troublesome. But the great
thing is, as we dive into God's Word, we begin
to learn how we can change that perspective. You're listening
to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, a message called God's
Pleasure and Your Treasure, and you can find out more
about this program when you come to our website. Treasure
(22:16):
Truth radio.org. You know, pastor, I know that probably almost
on a daily basis. We have people who are finding
this radio program. They are beginning to listen. They appreciate
the Bible teaching. They may not really understand how this
program is produced and how we're able to get it
on the air each and every day, right?
S1 (22:36):
Because it is a listener supported program, they may not
know that I received a letter from someone who was
just trolling through their radio and hit Moody Radio, and
my voice attracted them and they said they listened. This
has been a couple of years ago, and they've been
listening for a few years. Well, they had sent in
(22:59):
a donation, they let me know. I sent in a
donation to the program, something I've never done before, and
I thought, wow, that's really amazing. And even when I
was working with Cher, I had a couple people call
in and say, I've never given before, but I'm being
ministered to and I'm so grateful now to be a
part of the Moody Ministry.
S2 (23:20):
Well, if you're a new listener, maybe you've just been
listening for a couple of years now, and it's just
never dawned on you that this is a listener supported ministry.
That is how this program is able to stay on
the air each and every day. Production costs, airtime, all
the things that happen behind the scenes. It's all made
possible because of your generosity. You can give a gift
right now by coming to Treasure Truth radio.org and clicking
(23:43):
on the donate button. Well, thanks for listening. Treasure truth
is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody
Bible Institute.
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