Turn to Luke chapter 12, starting verse 16 to 21, if you have your Bibles with you. Title of my message today is Laying Up Treasure for Thyself, How to Prepare for End Times, Part 1, Food and Water. Let's pray real quick. Dear Lord, we thank you, God, for this opportunity, Lord, to come before you. We thank you for your word. We pray, Lord, you'll give me the boldness, Lord, God, and help me not to err in any way. Have your spirit upon me this day, Father. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today, we're going to examine a few topics relating to the challenging times we're currently facing, experiencing. Firstly, you know, last week, former President Trump's head almost got destroyed, basically, a few inch, an inch away from having been killed or seriously injured. And recently, just on Friday, a software patch glitch that caused millions of computers to malfunction, resulting in canceled flights, temporary bank shutdowns, and disruption in transportation, hospitals, no source of chaos. My company was affected by that as well, or the company I work for. In light of these events and the powerful message that Brother Mike delivered to us last week, let's examine these verses for guidance and understanding a little bit more. Luke chapter 12, starting verse 16 through 21. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? I have no room where to bestow my fruit. And he said, I will do, I will. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul that has much fruit, that has much good laid up for many years, take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Thence who shall these things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. This is a profound parable because, well, any word of God is profound, but it talks about this rich man having laid up treasures for himself Let's look back at verse 20 where it says, so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Well, what does it mean by so is he that layeth up treasure for himself? In the context here, he's talking about this man's life was gone in an instant. He was rich. He was well-to-do and ready to store up treasures for himself. He got barns. He got things stored up. He got pepper items. He got all sorts of things stored up. But God said, the fool this night is thy soul required. We don't know what the day may bring. Life is but a vapor. If we're fortunate, we might live to be 75 years old or 80 years old, but we don't know what a day might bring. At first glance, this passage appears to discourage the idea of storing goods and resources. However, when you look upon it a little bit more, you can see that the reason why this man was in the state that he is, I believe is added towards possession, his possession. His heart was not in the right place. So in verse 16, it describes a rich man having a land that produced abundantly. Yet there's no indication of this man's gratitude or humility before God. Instead, his reaction, verse 18, reveals a spirit of selfishness and indulgence, saying, soul that has much good laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat and drink, and be merry. In verse 20, God addresses the man, calling him a fool. questioning the purpose of his hoarded wealth. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? From this, we could identify a few points, I believe. One, the man was wealthy and rich. Two, he was selfish and he had self-indulgence. Three, I believe he lacks humility and thankfulness towards God. There was no mention of him thanking God that God has granted me these things or thanking God that my land was able to produce plentiful. There was no mention of that. And fourthly, he had no plan or greater purpose for his accumulated resources. He was just stocking up just for stocking up to maybe make himself feel good. He was simply whoring them for themselves. That's why the Bible says, it says, laying up treasure. So it's he that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. According to the Bible, one sign that we're living in the last days is that people are high-minded and are haughty. And the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6, verse 17 through 19, he says, charge them that are rich in the world, in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. that they may do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. We know as kingdom believers, this good foundation against the time to come is the time of judgment, the time of when we meet God at the judgment seat of Christ. We want to lay a good foundation against that time, meaning we want to have a leg up on that time. We want to have our treasures stored up in heaven, not mainly on earth. We want to have our works be purified through the indwelling spirit. We want to have things laid up. a good foundation so we can make a good case when we stand before God and have to give an account for what we've done, we can have a good foundation that we may lay hold on eternal life, the eternal life of the kingdom. But the Lord goes on to explain in Luke 12 verse 22. It says, and he said unto his disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn. And God freeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you, taking thought, can add to a statue one cubic? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not. They spend not. Yet I said unto you that Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed in one of these. If then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow's cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, neither ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. So the Lord Jesus is explaining to the disciples, you don't want to be like this rich man, where he stores an abundance of things, but yet are not appreciative of God's actions towards him. He basically forget God. There's a verse in the Bible that talks about, you know, You know, when we become rich and full of things, we tend to forget God. And we don't want to be like that. And the Lord is reiterating to his disciples that everything comes from God. The lily of the field that gets clothed by God and the ravens that get fed by God. So we are more than sparrows. We are more than ravens. But how do you balance these things with such verses as in 2 Thessalonians 3, 10-13? For when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, not working at all, but are busybodies. Here, Jesus seemingly tells his disciples, don't worry about the food, or the clothes, or the raiment. God's going to feed you. If God's going to feed the ravens, God's going to clothe the lily of the fields. He's going to care for you. But then there's verses that talks about, well, if you don't work, you're not going to eat. So you got to have that balance. God gives us perfect balance in his word. And in Proverbs 12, 27, it says, the slothful man roasts not that which he took it in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. So a slothful man, he has the fortitude to go hunting, but he, for some reason, wouldn't roast the meat that he took in. which to me is a waste of time. You spend all the time preparing to go hunting and you got something but you just left it and you leave it there or you don't do anything with it. It's just wasteful. But in Matthew, God gives us a solution to this seemingly dilemma. It says in verse Matthew 16, 19 verse through 21, lay not for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and whereby 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. So how do we lay up treasures? How do you lay up treasures in heaven? I believe the key to laying up treasures in heaven is not to focus solely on accumulating earthly treasures for yourselves, but to prioritize helping others, helping your Christian brothers and sisters, and helping those who are without. If you choose to pursue earthly treasures, ensure that you do so with the intention of benefiting others, not just yourself. Brother John delivered a good message a few weeks ago about finding opportunities to help others, finding ways to help others in their daily lives and their daily struggles. A timely call or a timely email or timely, you know, some money or timely this or that could help tremendously in a person's life. So how do we lay up treasures in heaven? I believe earth serves as a pathway for our treasures to reach heaven. We're not in heaven right now, so we're not going to be able to go and lay up treasures right there. So God gives us opportunities and means on earth to lay up treasures in heaven. And I believe in doing so, by doing things on earth, you lay up the treasures in heaven. But you have to balance what this all means as well. You must maintain a balance in your life dealings. You cannot help others. to an extent where you give everything away and you leave yourself vulnerable to where you don't have nothing to live on and thus yourself, you'll be in a place to serve others. If you haphazardly do things and not really plan in things, your endeavors might not be as fruitful. The one thing that I realized that, you know, it's one thing to give somebody something. It's another thing to give somebody something and also give them knowledge and wisdom to obtain that something. You know, if you know how to farm or you know how to fish or you know how to do things and your knowledge and your skill when you consider Giving that as well to folks and teaching them, that's also a way to provide for them, not just the basic necessity, but also the pathway to gain those necessities. The Bible calls us spiritual leaders. In Hebrews 5 verse 12, it says, For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be first principle of the oracles of God. And it becomes such a need of milk and not of strong meat. expect us as believers in Christ, especially those who have been saved for a long time, to have this leadership quality, to be expected to guide others in spiritual things. But I also believe God wants us to do the best our ability, where we have understanding of things, to lead people in material things as well. If we know the concept of finances, if we know the concept of self-defense and how to run a good home or how to work a garden and stuff, I believe those skills are not only for our own benefits, I believe it's going to be beneficial to those when the time comes, when we're going to be living in the last days and people are going to expect to look to you for those type of information. Because if they're looking for your spiritual things, they might assume that, hey, this guy is very versed and very smart in spiritual things. He might know a few things about material things, earthly things. So imagine the numerous witnessing opportunities this could afford you. Ultimately, we don't want to be here when the time comes where everything goes to chaos, you know, everything's a mess. But if for some reason the Lord allows us to go through these things, imagine the opportunities that we could have, the knowledge that we have in regards to the kingdom and God's word. and the knowledge that we could obtain by studying a few things, to be able to witness to folks, to be able to extend them a helping hand. Imagine people coming to you for nourishment, not only for physical nourishment, but also spiritual nourishment. So I believe it's good that we learn and seek to gain these things in our lives so that we can help more people. Like I said, people would be looking for food and water. And again, we know the story of the woman in the well who's seeking water in that well. And the Lord Jesus was there and he was telling her, you know, this water you're going to drink, you're going to get thirsty again. But he has a living water that when you drink of it, you're not going to be thirsty again. So we understand this living water. We have the truth of this living water we give to people. The Bible talks about lots of spiritual things like that, you know, living water and food, spiritual food. But the Bible talks about also a lot of practical things as well. And from here, I'm going to transition a little bit towards some of the little practical things that I see in the Word of God. Psalms 37, 25, and like I said before, God expects us to be leaders, but I believe he wants us to be more than leaders in the spiritual sense. He wants us to be leaders in all sense. Psalms 37, verse 25, I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor her seed begging bread. This passage suggests that a righteous man who follows the principle of God's word, including hard work, faithful tithing, giving of time and resources, and maintaining humility, is less likely to have their children begging for food. because he's following God's plan, he's following God's ways of doing things, so it's going to be hard for this man if he's righteous that his children are going to be begging for food, his children are going to be in the welfare line, or he's going to be you know, homeless or, you know, all that stuff, is a general statement. But instead, I believe the children, this faithful man, this righteous man, will equip his children with the knowledge and the strong work ethic necessary to provide for their families. And I think, and thanks to the example of their righteous parents, these children will not be lacking food, would not be lacking the ability to procure food or water because they've lived a life of hard work and they're able to procure themselves a place and means to provide for their family. In Proverbs 5 verse 15 through 19 it says, drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the street. In this passage we see a reference to both Cisterns and wells. Back in the day before we have electricity and everything, they had wells, probably shallow wells that could pump up with hand pumps and such. Back then, they also had cisterns, big, huge containers to store rainwater. That's how our family had it. All the rural places we lived in had cisterns of clay pots, probably as big as this table here, and not just a few of them, just probably three or four of them, to catch rainwater. So the Bible talks about having your own cistern, having your own running water out of your own well. The times we're living in right now, it's hard to do that. Right now, we have wells and such because we're in the country. But in the city, you don't have that. You're depending upon the city water. You're depending upon what's coming through that tap. And a lot of times, that city water is not as healthy for you, lots of treatment being made to make it drinkable. Also, it's controlled by the city. So at any point in time, if Let's say the event that happened this Friday where a glitch happened to where their water filtration system or their water treatment plant is not functional, you might not have water. Or if, God forbid, there's a big EMP or something and there's no electricity, you might not have water because electricity will bring the water to you. So, I think it's very important and very practical, at least from the Bible standpoint, that we should look at cisterns as another means of getting water. And so, it's vital to know that, you know, while some people might not have access to wells and such, I believe it's imperative that if you don't have access to wells, you have to find other ways to get access to other means of water, like cisterns. because I believe having a redundancy backup system is very important. I've read a lot of prepper and EMP related books and they discuss something called the rule of three. It's three minutes without breathing, you're dead. Three hours without shelter in an extreme environment, let's say you're outside in extreme cold and you can't get shelter for three hours, you might freeze to death. Three days without water, in three weeks without food. So water should be a top priority for our survival. It should be on your list. And we are fortunate, like I said, in these areas, we have access to wells. And my new property, my well is not that good. It's a shallow well, and it doesn't give us much water. So I'm planning to add a bunch of cisterns in there to supplement the well water. But like I said, in the event of a prolonged power outage or software glitch or something that would disrupt the electrical system, we should therefore understand that having a system might be a good thing to do to have. So in addition to acquiring systems and such, I think it's vital for us to essentially learn how to purify water. Learn how not only to collect them, but learn how to purify water. You could purify water from using charcoal, and there's different methods of purifying water. And I think we should look into these things. And as time goes on, I want to try to you know, put more of these resources out and when we do our Wednesday Bible study and such, I might get into more of these things, hands-ons and such. But I believe with anything we have to prepare, like what Mike's saying, we prepare By learning to defend ourselves, learning to defend our household, and in regards to attacks in our house, we prepare by learning first aid and learning how to treat wounds and such like that. I believe we should prepare and learn how to get water and the resources that we need to clean our water. So Mike brought up a good point when he mentioned the Good Samaritan and how he's able to render first aid to that neighbor of his. In Ecclesiastes 7.12 it says, For wisdom is the defense and money is the defense. But the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to them that have it. So like I said last week, Mike mentioned and talked about the Good Samaritan, how he took that neighbor of his who was beaten and trotting down and he was able to pour that oil and wine on the wound and he offered monetary assistance to the innkeeper to look after this neighbor and if he comes back and he still needs money for that stay, he's going to offer that money as well. So he will see a man who's not only able to give this aid to this man, he also has the ability, the money needed to allow this man to stay in the inn for a few days. Money can be used to gain wisdom. The Bible says money is the fence. rely on money in a sense where we have the love of money. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. But we do need to understand that money is the defense. And God gives us money so that we could gain wisdom and help others. Money can be used to gain wisdom and access to expert advice. As a software engineer consultant, I understand why companies invest a lot of money into valuable knowledge and insights from experts because they could get a lot of things done when these experts know what they're doing. They could save a company a lot of money. other experts in our lives, whether it be a gardening expert or be a water expert, I think we should seek out these experts to help us train, help us learn, because I believe a few hundred dollars here and there in learning from an expert would be a worthwhile investment. Likewise, for those who do not know how to can food and such, paying for someone to teach us how to can food and the proper way of food preservation and water filtration, I think is a good practical skill to have. So, why do we have to prepare for such things? Couldn't we just trust in the Lord that he's going to provide for everything? Yes, we can, but he also allows us to trust in other means as well. If you know the example of Joseph, you know what happened to him, right? He was taken, falsely accused and thrown in prison, and at that time, Pharaoh had a dream. Let's look at that in Genesis chapter 41. So basically Joseph through his preparation practically saved Egypt, Israel, and basically the whole world because he was smart enough to foresee what's coming through God's wisdom and was able to tell Pharaoh to prepare. So in Genesis chapter 41 verse 25 to 36, And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the dream of Pharaoh is won. God has showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven kinds, or seven years, and the seven years of ears or seven years, the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill-favored kind, kind is just another word for cow, that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. What God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and there shall arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land. and the plenty shall not be known in the land by the reason that famine following for it shall be very grease and for that the dream was doubled onto pharaoh twice it is because the thing is established by god and god will surely bring it to pass now therefore let pharaoh take look out a man discreet and wise and set out over the land of egypt so imagine you're that person that's discreet and wise you're that person that Pharaoh could look to you and give you this opportunity to save many. Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous year. Let them gather all the food of those good years that come and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh. Let them keep food in the cities and that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine. which shall be in the land of Egypt, and that the land perish not through the famine. So in contrast, this story, this passage is with Luke 12, which warns against storing up treasures for self-glorification. This passage highlights the importance of storing up resources to save lives. It's recommended that you, you know, In all my learning and prepping and reading of such, it's recommended that you store at least one year of food so that way it gives you enough time to establish your own food production. One year of food might be a lot, but it's doable. The Bible says in Proverbs 24, 27, it says, prepare thy works without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterward build thine house. I interpret this passage as advising us to prioritize essentially work outside of our homes before investing time and money and resources in beautifying our dwelling. The Bible's not saying you should be homeless and just focus on your barn and farm and stuff. The Bible's saying have your basic living structure where you can live in, but don't focus too much on making it beautified, beautiful and all that stuff. Focus on getting your setup outside first. your water, your garden, your... food production, then once you've done that, you could then focus on the inside. Because it is important for you to establish these things first, because back in those days, they relied on God. They relied on the ground that's bringing food out of the table. They didn't rely on Walmart. They don't rely on supermarkets, per se. So that's why God tells them that, hey, get your stuff in order outside first. So, like I said, nowadays we live where we have readily available things in the local supermarket. But, however, this apparent abundance is just one supply chain glitch away from going away. There's only about three days' worth of supply in any supermarket, and that's on a good day. That's why there's always, you see when you go to Walmart or this store, you'll see at night, there's always restocking because they're doing every day, they're restocking. So, you know, I've spent over $50,000 a while back to create a documentary to help us other, to better understand this food system. And I'm going to do a little plug here. My documentary is called Beyond Off Grid. And so, I believe The information in this is very important for us to understand. I believe as Christians we need to be able to help others in the way that we can. The things that God gave us, I believe we should give back. So, in conclusion, having said these things, I think we should take action. We can't no longer sit on our bottoms anymore and expect other people to do it for us. And that's why I'm so excited for me to move into my new place, this 10 acres. I'm planning to do a lot. And my children might say, well, we have land right now, and I don't see you doing anything. But it's different, because it's not really my land. So when you have your own piece of property, it somehow makes you want to improve upon it. So, you know, my advice to you, you know, start small. Start with bucket, you know, gardening in a bucket or something. You could get lots of things planted in those five-gallon buckets. Consider, you know, chickens. Like, we all have chickens, and consider, you know, raising chicken not just for eggs, but also for meat and such. Consider planting trees, planting fruit trees. Consider, you know, taking up a skill, learning how to fish. I know Brother James' boat is I'm about to be ready, so I'll pay you to help me learn some fishing and stuff. In conclusion, I'd like to emphasize that taking action is a good thing. It helps us to get ready for that time to come. Ultimately, we need to get ready spiritually first and foremost, but I believe getting ready physically as well is also a good thing. It's an extension of serving God by serving others. The Bible talks about, you know, when he said, well, when did you visit me when I was, you know, when people said, well, when did I visit you when you were in prison and stuff? And the Lord said, while you were visiting those people, my brothers and sisters, you were visiting me. So anything we do to help others in this lifetime is also helping God, in that verse, helping towards God. Let's acquire new skills. Let's share our knowledge. Let's do things that are going to be beneficial, not only for our immediate families, but also our spiritual Christian family and also people who are unbelievers. With that, let's pray. Dear God, I come before you, Lord. I thank you, God, for your word. I thank you for the wisdom that's in your word and that we could look towards that and see everything that we need, Father. And I pray, Father, for me, Lord, to help me, Father, get these things in place, Lord. And as I, you know, bring these things to people, I need to be on top of it myself, Lord. And please forgive me for being slack. And I pray, Father, for the times we're living in, that we could be a light, Lord God, in this perilous time, Lord, and that we could help many, Father. I thank you, God, for this body believer, Lord, and pray that you'll just bless each and every one of them. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.