Once again, welcome to those who interviewed us via internet all over the world. I believe right now it's more than 100 countries. Lord's bless for that. Thank you. And opening hymn number 129. 129, at the cross. Alas, I'm did my Saviour split, And did my Sovereign die! Would He name all that's sacred head, For such a worm as I? Just where I first saw the light And the burning of my heart rolled away It was there by faith I received my sight And now I am happy of the day Was it for Christ that I am dead? At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light And the burden of my heart rolled away It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day. Well might the sun in darkness hide, and shut his glories in. With Christ the mighty make And the creatures sing At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light And the burning of my heart rolled away It was there by faith And received my sight And now I am happy all the day But drops of grip can't yet repeat the depth of love I hold. Here, Lord, I give myself away, taste all that I can do. And the burden of my heart flowed away. It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy of the day. Our Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for that cross upon which Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, chose to lay down His life, where He went willingly. We're thankful that He was willing to lay down His life to shed His blood for our sins, that we could be forgiven, saved, and serving Thee in this world in which we live. And we pray for each one that is saved and listening today. We pray that thou would continue to encourage us, that we would be bold for thee and be able to help others to know thy peace and blessing in these days of grace. Pray for those listening that are not saved. We're thankful that they have chosen to tune in today. And we pray, Father, that they might see the importance of truth. and the importance of submitting to Thee today. Stop fighting and know Thy peace today. We continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray for Mr. Netanyahu, that he would be saved, for his cabinet, for the soldiers that are out fighting. We pray for the hostages as well. Pray, Father, for their safety. Pray that if there are individuals that are saved, that they would draw their strength from Thee. We know that life is difficult for them. Pray for those that are not saved, that they might see their hope is in thee. They may never come out of there alive, but they could know thy peace and blessing today. We do pray for the Arabs, that many of them would be saved as well as they have chosen the path of wickedness. And we know that we have a God in heaven who loves them too. We also know that we have a God in heaven who decides when time is up. And so we pray that many would be saved in these days of grace. Pray for our own country as we have taken a position against thee and against Israel. We pray that our Prime Minister and his cabinet would see the need to repent for Mr. Pollivier and his cabinet as well. for many others in our own provincial government as well as the municipal government. We're thankful that we can be a voice for truth and we pray that we would learn how to be that in a better way, in a stronger way. yielding to Thee so that Thy Word can shine forth as it needs to and be that help that it needs to be. May Thy will be accomplished in this service. May we glorify Thee in all that is said and done. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And over to 210. 210. Saved by the blood. Number 210. Saved by the blood of the Crucified One. He'll ransom from sin, and He'll work begun. Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son. Saved by the blood of the Crucified One. Save, save, my sins are all parted, my guilt is all gone. Save, save, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Saved by the blood of the Crucified One The angels rejoicing because it is done A child of the Father joined there with a sign Saved by the blood of the Crucified One Save, save, my sins and all pardon, my guilt is all gone. Save, save, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Saved by the blood of the Crucified One The Father is big and His will it was done Great praise to the Lord on His own precious sign Saved by the blood of the Crucified One Say, say, my sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone. Say, say, I'm saved by the blood of the Crucified One. Saved by the blood of the Crucified One All hail to the Father All hail to the Son All hail to the Spirit of the Three-String Wine Saved by the blood of the Crucified One Saved My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone. Saved, saved, I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. And over to 432. 432, rescue the perishing. number 432. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Snatch them and pity from sin and the grave. Wait for the airing wine, lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus' demise. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Though the earth's lightning and sting is waiting, waiting the penitent child to receive. Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently, He will forgive if they only believe. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Down in the human heart, harassed by the tempters Feelings that burning, that grace can't restore Touched by the loving heart, weak by the whiteness Voices that are broken will rise Jesus is merciful Jesus first saved Rescue the perishing, duty demands it Strength for the labor the Lord will provide Back to the narrow way Shall the poor wanderer's saviour as night? Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, we're going to be reading this afternoon or this morning from verse 22 to verse 34. We'll stand for the reading of God's word. Luke chapter 12, beginning at verse 22. 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, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn. And God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field, and tomorrow is 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 be 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. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. Where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this practical teaching once again. authoritative teaching which we need to hear, which we need to apply to our lives. We're thankful that we have a God of mercy who loves us, who knows what we need, and is well able to supply that need. Thankful that we have a God who is able to help us to identify the difference between a need and a want. And we're thankful that we can understand from thy word that our greatest need is not physical things, but it's spiritual truth. So we're thankful for each one who has been willing to listen to me this morning and come to the service here. Those who have chosen to join us via live stream as well. We pray particularly for those that they would see the importance, even if they're in their home, to set aside the distractions which are so readily available in the house. that they could take the time to stop and listen to the truth. Help those of us that are here. It's easy for us to let our minds wander as well and to get sidetracked from what we need to be hearing. So we just pray that thy will would be accomplished as we look into these verses. Pray again if there's someone that is lost and needing to be saved that they would see the importance of doing that today. turning to Thee in repentance, knowing Thy forgiveness through the blood of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. May Thy will be accomplished. I pray for strength, for wisdom to preach that which Thou wouldst have me to, that Thy will be accomplished. Here we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the message this afternoon is Trust in One Who is Real. Trust in one who is real. And that's very important for us to do in this time in which we live. It's important in any time. It was important when Jesus was on this earth. The Pharisees had been busy, had developed a false religious system, and they were very powerful in the eyes of the people. They didn't have any power in God's eyes, but in the eyes of the people, they had pushed their way in, they had the support of the Roman government, and they were able to inflict a lot of pain upon the people because of their false religion. But Jesus Christ came to set the captive free. And he's still wanting to do that today. And so it's up to each person to listen to him, and to be sure that we are set free and not living in bondage. So the first thing that we see in this passage is don't be anxious. Don't be anxious. Says in verse 22, 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. That's very interesting and very important. Take no thought for your life. That's a contrast to fallen human nature. We take thought. Oftentimes we can be preoccupied with our thoughts. And I remember as a young person, I had A goal in life as a young person, I worked for my neighbor and he was a farmer and he had chickens and ducks and turkeys and he had a couple of cows and made some hay and things like that. And I really enjoyed working for him. And I thought at that time that when I got on my own, I was going to be a farmer. And I liked working with chickens, so I thought I might even be a chicken farmer. So as I continued to grow up and become a man, I had many different jobs, but that was always my goal, to be a farmer. And so, you know, I was one that, I was more of a leader type person than a follower. And I thought I knew what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. But yet, at the age of 30, We moved onto a farm, and we were partners with Farm Credit, and we were on that farm, and I thought this was gonna be it. I was already a married man by that time, and I remember as a young person wanting to get married, I thought those are two important things, get married and have children, have a family. And so when I got married, of course now I have a wife to look after. And so even though I was more of the leader type than the follower type, it still struck me, how am I going to supply for my wife and myself? And then when our daughter came along, our first child, and I held her in the hospital in my hands, and it struck me. I wanted children, but how am I going to provide for this young baby? Not just the physical things, but the spiritual things. And God helped me to see through the different things that I've been through in life that I needed to learn to be far more trusting in him, less confident in myself. And as it says here, take no thought for your life. And too often we get hung up on our life and we get hung up on our plans. You know, I said that one of my goals was to be a farmer. And I've said many times in the past that Jonah spent three nights and three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. I spent five years. And farming is a good life. If God has chosen you to be a farmer, praise God. It's a good life. Good place to raise children. But that's not where he wanted me. And I knew that. I knew that. But I was being disobedient. I had a plan. And I was going to work my plan. And it took that time on the farm for me to be broken again and see, you know, you need to listen to what the word of God says. And there's no verse in the Bible that I can point you to and says, thou shalt not farm. Doesn't say that. But God was working in me and he was showing me that he had something different. And I didn't know what he had in mind, but I knew that he had something different in mind for me than farming. And as I became more obedient to him, of course I was saved at the age of 20, but as I became more obedient to him after I was saved, he began to reveal to me what it was that he wanted for me. But the important thing is to want to listen to him, to want to hear him, and to get off of our high horse. And so he says, therefore, I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, neither for the body, what you shall put on. Both of those things are important. God knows we can't live without food. He knows that. He knows we need clothing. He's the one that clothed Adam and Eve. He showed us that we need to be properly clothed. It's not what our world says today about clothing, but what God says that's important. Modesty is important. a matter that that is being ignored, even in many fundamental Baptist churches. And we need to get back to what the Bible says and follow that. God knows that we need these things, but God also knows that unless we know him, first of all, we're not going to look after even these things properly. Gluttony is a sin. The Bible says so. So if we're not saved, we don't have that control that we need to have over food. Every one of us has taste buds, and your taste buds are likely different than mine. But we have taste buds, and there are certain things that we like and we really like, but we still have to learn to say, no, that's enough. And if it's something that is something we like, but bad for us, we need to realize, I need to stop eating this. But again, if we're not saved, we don't have the right perspective on life. And clothing as well. We need clothing, but we need God to help us to see what kind of clothing is right in his sight, not what the world says. If you're going to follow the world, you're going to have to be changing your wardrobe often because the standard of the world changes often. But Christians don't dress to please the world. Christians dress to please God. So that's important that we understand what needs to come first in our lives. And so God says here, Verse 23, the life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment. And that's the reality, that's the fact. And so if we look at Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, And we look there at verses one and two. It says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And as we're told here, again, Paul here is writing to believers, writing to Christians, and yet Christians need to be challenged in this area, many areas. But we need to be challenged in the fact here that we need to present our bodies as living sacrifices. So if we're doing that, then we're not preoccupied with ourselves. I had an uncle growing up that couldn't walk past a mirror without stopping and examining himself in that mirror. He was a man who was, he had wavy hair when he was a young man. I didn't know him at that time yet, but he had pictures and he had wavy hair as a young man. And at around the age of 25, his hair began to fall out in clumps. And when I knew him, he was a bald man. He had a little bit of hair, but nothing to talk about. But he still couldn't go past the mirror without stopping and looking and making sure his hair was in place, the little bit that he had. He was obsessed with that. That's where his value was in his looks. And, you know, all of us can be caught up in something like that, where we put our value in something that is really quite minor. Now, yes, we need to keep our hair in place, we need to comb our hair, and we need to look after our bodies, we need to keep our clothing right, but we need to make sure that our bodies are a living sacrifice to God, that we're asking Him and we're yielding ourselves to him and telling him that he can take our bodies and use them for his glory. That's what we need to do. Our life is more than meat and our body is more than raiment. And as we see in this passage further on in verse 31, it says, but rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. So we need to prioritize our lives, and we can't do that properly unless we know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. But He needs to be more than just our Savior. He needs to be the Lord of our lives. And again, every true Christian is going to find times in their life when they're going to have to say, going to have to admit, God and Jesus was not the Lord of my life in this moment. That's just the reality. That's not an excuse. but that's a reality. But as we grow in our faith, it should become more evident that Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives. And so Jesus, secondly here, he used some very practical illustrations to help his audience then and us today to see how he looks after things. And he begins with the ravens. And far as I know, people don't hunt ravens to eat. They're a scavenger type of a bird. And God uses them, Jesus uses the ravens here. He says, consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. And it's true. You won't find the ravens collecting seed or collecting anything and storing it up for a rainy day. God feeds them. God looks after them. He created the ravens in Genesis chapter one. And today we still have ravens. They're still around. And then he closes off verse 24, are you not better than the fowls? So included in that, he's talking about the birds in general, not just the ravens. But he uses the ravens first of all, here is his illustration, and how then he looks after them. And they don't concern themselves with where is their next meal gonna come from. They fly around. They have their senses, they can see where their food is, and they find it. But God looks after them. And then he points out here that we are much better than the fowls. Man is created different. We're not an animal. We're different. And we are living in a time of great confusion when there are people in our world who don't know the difference between an animal and a person. And that's wrong. And that's what happens when you don't know the true God. You cannot distinguish, you cannot see things the way that you should. And so you get out of balance. And then in verse 25, Which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? So you can stop and think about it. You may be five foot four inches, and you look at someone that's five foot six or five foot eight, and you say, I want to be that tall. And you can waste your day, day after day, thinking about that. And it's not going to make you any taller. That's what Jesus says. You don't grow because you stop and think about, I'm gonna be this tall. You grow because of the genes that God gave you, the DNA that you have, and in that DNA, it's pre-programmed, this is how tall you're going to be. We can grow sideways by things that we do. Sometimes that's not a good thing. But sometimes we have health issues that also can cause us to grow sideways when we don't want to do that. But it's just a reality of our fallen nature. We can be thankful again that God helps us in many ways to be able to address things like that. And it is important again to make sure that we are putting our priorities where they ought to be. Whatever height you are, whatever features you have, you need to be thankful for who God made you. I remember listening to one speaker talking about women and makeup, and he said in his illustration, he said, if a barn door needs painting, paint it. Well, I don't think my wife is a barn door, and I don't think she needs painting. And I told her that shortly after I met her. God made my wife with certain features. That's my wife. Why would I want her to cover that up? That's who she is. And so we need to focus in on the things that matter. And as men, myself included, get away from those pictures that talk about the beauty queen. You know, beauty is an eye to beholder. And what one person calls beauty, someone else says that's beauty. I have a sister and when I was in the hospital this week, I went for my bone scan, yeah? And she happened to be there. She lives closer to Brandon than we do. And she happened to be there because her husband was in for some treatment. And she walks past me, we just got into the hospital, and she walks past me, and I don't see her that often. She doesn't want to talk to me. But anyway, she walks past me and she says, I think she said, hello. So I stopped, and we're just in the hospital looking for where we need to go. I thought she was a hospital staff and was going to help us find where we need to go. And I looked at her, and I didn't recognize her. She's very modern. And so I didn't recognize, she's my sister. My wife says, that's Ruth. And then I looked at her again and that's Ruth, yeah. I went up and gave her a hug and we talked a little bit and she was offended that I hadn't recognized her. But you see, she is one who wants to fit in with the world. So she has her hair colored and not just one color. And so, and then the glasses she has on and things, it just, I didn't recognize her. But you see, people can get so caught up in, I have to fit into the society of this world, and can miss out on the things that really matter. And then in verse 27, Jesus points out the lilies. Consider the lilies, how they grow. And so when we look at the plants, looking at the lilies here, comparing that to the raven, now the raven flies. So the raven can move around to find his food. But what does the lily do? The lily is stuck in the ground, doesn't move. It spreads out its roots to a certain point and everything that that lily is going to get is within that realm of where its roots are. and what the sun gives. That's what the lily is dependent upon. And when you look at the lily in nature, nobody goes around there with some fertilizer and sprinkles it around that plant, but it grows and it comes back year after year. How does that happen? Well, God looks after the lily. And God says in verse 27, he says, they toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Solomon was one of the richest men that ever lived. I'm sure he had quite the fancy wardrobe. But God says that Solomon could not compete with the lily. Because one of the things we know from Solomon's life is we know that he married many foreign wives, strange women. And those women all had their own culture. And they influenced Solomon in a negative way. The Bible tells us that. They turned his heart away from God. So I have no doubt that even in Solomon's wardrobe, he had things that were contrary to the will of God. Because he allowed his pagan wives to influence him, Solomon, you should wear this. And because he's with that woman that day, he's wearing what she likes. The next day he's over here. He must've been one of the most confused men around. But it was a choice that he made. But God says the lily is arrayed in a more wonderful way than Solomon. So again, be natural. Be thankful for the way God made you. Don't try to make certain parts of your body stand out. Learn how to dress in a way that pleases God. And again, Put your focus on pleasing God, and in order to do that, you need to know Him. And then in verse 28, It's an interesting thing when you think about grass. We get out there and we mow it every week in the summertime. The farmer that has cattle, he takes his mower out there and he cuts it for hay. He doesn't burn it. But in previous times, they would use some of that grass when it was dry for fuel. If you didn't have a lot of trees around, what are you going to burn to heat your soup or your roast or whatever? You got to have something, so they use grass. But yet that grass keeps growing. You cut it off. and you make hay out of it, you take and use it for fuel, but that grass keeps growing. How does that happen? Cut your finger off, do you get a second finger? I remember when my dad fell off the barn and lost part of his leg as a result of that, and I had a brother, he's gone now, but he was in the charismatic camp, and he told dad that he was gonna pray that dad would grow another leg. What foolishness. But when you build your life on Kenneth Copeland, that's what you become. But the grass can regrow and it doesn't holler out and cry because it's been cut. And it doesn't bleed because it's been cut. It's the way God made it. And so Jesus says, if then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you? Oh, ye of little faith. You see, here's the problem. When we get preoccupied with ourselves, we are lacking faith in God. That's the problem. That can be fixed. but it can only be fixed when we turn to God and trust in Him. We've been looking at the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 is called the faith chapter. We've been looking at different individuals that God named in that chapter about individuals of faith. And we need to learn to walk by faith in our time. We have the same God. The important thing is to know Him and then to trust Him. And he is able to provide for us and his way is always right. And so the third thing that we see is that God knows what we need. knoweth that ye have need of these things." All the world has is what they can hold in their hand, what they can store in their barn, what they can stick in the bank account. I heard yesterday that in the United States because of the China embargoes and so on that there are soybean growers in the United States that they are talking about that they're going to combine enough to fill their bin and then just leave the rest to rot in the field because there's no market because of China's actions. See, that's a problem. God has given us land, given us productive land, but we don't know how to manage it properly. And that's a problem. When we grow crops, and then because we have tunnel vision and we can only see this market, and we don't listen to wise counsel in what we're going to grow in the first place. They said when I was farming, I heard that often from more experienced farmers, and they'd say, whatever the government tells you to grow, do the opposite. And that's good advice. The government doesn't know anything about farming. And really, we need to ask God what we should grow. How do we feed? That's what a farmer is for. He's not just to put money in the bank. He's there to feed the people. And so when we don't have a right perspective on life, then we come up with all kinds of problems. And so Jesus says, seek not ye what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, neither be of doubtful mind. Can God supply for my daily needs? Give us this day our daily bread. That's what we're supposed to be praying. Can we trust in God to do that? Now we live in a time today when, you know, we are so caught up in materialism. And I've heard people say before when somebody has a house fire, for instance, and the first words out of people's mouths, I hope he had insurance, or I hope he had good insurance. We are so dependent upon the world's way of thinking. And we don't think about God's way of thinking. And we should be dependent upon him. So he says in verse 30, for all these things do the nations of the world seek after. What did the apostles get accused of in the book of Acts? They were turning their world upside down. Because they were preaching Jesus, they were living for God, they were helping people to see the importance of truth, and they were establishing churches. They were turning their world upside down. That's what we need to be doing. The nations, the world, yes, the world has a way of thinking. And that way of thinking is becoming more and more secular. Christians need to think differently. Can a Christian have a house that burns down? Sure he can. Can a Christian have a car that rolls into the ditch? Sure he can. Can a Christian have other problems that he's gonna need help fixing? Financial help fixing? Sure. But should the Christian be dependent upon the world to fix those things? Or should he be dependent upon God? It used to be that Christians were known, you know, the JWs, they put us to shame in one way. When we were in Bible school in Nipwin, Saskatchewan, A JW group decided to move into that town. And they came in on a Friday. They had advertised they were going to be putting up their building. They came in on a Friday, and they delivered the materials. And by Sunday, a building was up, functional building. Grass was on the property. They were meeting in that building on that Sunday, not the week after, that Sunday. They got together a crew and from lumber laying on the ground, nothing there, just land, they put up a building, a functional building, a good looking building, but for what purpose? To serve the devil. And I believe that we as Christians need to get back to that. If there's a need in a Christian family, we need to show the world our love for one another as brethren. And so we should be teaming together. That person needs this here. Let's go and do it. Next time that person needs this over here, let's go and do it. And the world would be amazed to see how Christians can work together in harmony. And it's not all about the dollar. And the world needs to see that. They're driving themselves silly. They're dying, tripping over dollars, going straight to hell. and we need to be able to show them a better way. In practical ways, Jesus gave practical examples here of how that we need to be changing our thinking. In verse 31, but rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you. The ravens find their food because they follow God. The lilies grow because God looks after them. The grass grows because God designed it that way. And God tells us we're worth more than that. And he says that we'll have our clothing, we'll have our food, we'll have our housing if we will put him first. And we can learn. One of the things that God helped us to see when we went off to Bible school is how little we could get by on. We had housing, we had a car, we had fuel for the car. We didn't go on frivolous journeys, but we had fuel in the car to go where we needed to go. We had everything that we needed. We left Bible school debt-free. I'm not bragging about how good I am. I'm bragging about how big God is. He looked after us. We had three children. He looked after us. We didn't sit around twiddling our thumbs, but he looked after us. That's the same God who is still our God today. And he will look after us when we put him first. And it's amazing how he does it. And when God's people work together as God's people, it's an amazing thing, the testimony we can have to the world of why. we function the way we do. God wants us to use our circumstances to speak for him. And when people observe us, we can tell them, here's why I function the way I do, because God saved me, Jesus Christ is my savior, I have a goal, I want to lay up treasure in heaven, and I want you to know my savior. God will give us those kinds of opportunities when we live for him. So in verse 32, fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Not the scraps, the kingdom. God wants to bless us. Now I'm not talking here of the prosperity gospel of Kenneth Copeland and all those wackos. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about that God wants to provide. And you see, our vision gets changed when we put God first. What is important to us changes when we put God first. And I remember again in Bible school, our son was I don't know what he was at that time, around 8, 9, 10 years old. And some of the staff on campus, they had snowmobiles. And they would go out riding around their snowmobiles. And that was important to our son. He wanted us to get a snowmobile. And so I told him, well, I'm sorry, but we don't have the money for that. We don't need it. We can do other things. We would go for walks. We would go for sledding with a sled and down the hills and that. But snowmobile, no. We didn't need it. I wasn't going to forego other important things because of a snowmobile. He needed to understand that some people can have it, let them have it. But it's not a necessity of life. It's not a necessity. And so you have to judge what's important. And don't go crying to people, oh, I can't put groceries on the table because I got the snowmobile out here. That's foolishness. And so, fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, don't buy more, sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourself bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not. Where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupteth. So God's not telling us that we shouldn't look after our needs There's nothing wrong with having a bank account, but if your God is materialism, you need to sell it. You need to get rid of it. If you're holding on to that thing so tight and you've got so much obligation there that you cannot serve God the way that he wants you to, you need to sell it. You need to get out of there. You need to get your priorities right. And that's why he says in verse 34, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Jesus knows what he's talking about. If we put our treasure in the wrong place, if our priority is things, we can get them. Generally speaking, God gives us health. And we can work, and many times we can put in extra hours, we can work overtime, and we can make sure that we're gonna get those things that we want. We can do that. But what are we forfeiting just to do that? What are we losing out on just to do that? What are we teaching our children and others just to do that? Just to chase after things. And then what happens to those things after a while? You got to fix them. You got to spend more money. If you own a car, you're going to fix a car. If you own a house, you're going to fix a house. It's just the reality. It's just the fact. Those things are pits and they'll always take your money. And so we need those things, but we also need to learn how to and live within the means that we have so that those things aren't the priority, that they aren't the things that are the reason we get up in the morning. We need to prioritize our lives and we need to get our eyes checked by God to make sure that we're seeing things the way he does, so that we're not missing out on the blessing personally and the blessing of helping others to know him as well. There's a world around us. We've seen them this morning, running by, chasing after air, which we all breathe anyway. And they're chasing after things that are not going to help them. Who cares? And when they die, all that running they did, whatever money they raised, isn't going to count for anything in eternity. Nothing. helps absolutely nothing. Some of them may get their names in the paper because they collected more money than somebody else. Some of them will have bragging rights amongst their friends, but that's all they have. But those that know the Lord and are living for Him, we're not bragging about, yeah, I saw this many people get saved last week. That's useless. I remember as a younger Christian, someone gave me the Sword of the Lord magazine. They wanted me to read it. And so I got them, they gave them to me for a while, but I was put out by that magazine because they were always talking about this church had this many people, this church had this many people, and it was a competition. That's that Heil's philosophy. And it's a worthless philosophy. God knows, you see, the number of people that come forward if you have an altar call doesn't mean every one of them got saved. They may have tears pouring down their face. Doesn't mean they got saved. So that's not my responsibility to be boasting about this many people got saved. Yes, I need to be concerned about souls. I need to be seeking to win souls. But only God knows the heart. And I want to help people to know the truth. I want to make sure that I'm teaching them the truth so when they pray and ask for forgiveness and salvation, that they know what they're doing. But ultimately, that's God's business, what actually is going on in their heart. And so instead of boasting about that, let's just leave that in God's hand because that treasure is in heaven. I can't see it anyway. It's in heaven. It's what Jesus said. So we just need to serve him faithfully and leave that part in his hands. And Paul says, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. The Bible also tells us, even though that crown was there for Paul, the Bible says, when we get to heaven, we're gonna lay our crowns at Jesus' feet. So that crown, while it's there, it's there to give to Jesus. It's there to exalt him because he's the one that's worthy. And when we get to heaven, our focus will be on him, those of us that are saved. It's not going to be on us, it's going to be on him. And so we need to make sure that we listen to what God says, that we let him purify our thinking once we're saved, correct our thinking, adjust our thinking so that we are seeing things from his perspective more and more and less from what the world is telling us. And the world is busy telling us. All around us. They're advertising. They're luring us, trying to get us to have that latest gadget. And we need to listen to God and be careful that we're not missing out on real blessings because we've allowed the world to lie to us about temporal things. So again, if you're listening today and you're not saved, that's the place to start. It's a good thing that you're listening, but you need to do more than just listen. You need to act. You need to act according to what the Holy Spirit is telling you in your heart. And he wants you to know God's peace in your heart. That's what he's telling you. He wants you to know the forgiveness of sin and to know his peace. So listen to him and act upon what he's telling you. For those of us that are saved, we need to continue to ask God to clarify our vision. That we can see things the way he sees them. That we can put our priorities where he wants them to be. And so that we can be a better blessing. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. That's what God wants of every born again Christian. And that's what we need to learn to do in a better way. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful this morning for thy word, thankful for This challenge that we have here as we look around us and we can enjoy the flowers and we can see them grow and we can notice the colors that are there and we can appreciate that and we realize that those flowers grow whether we look after them or not. Yes, sometimes we can manipulate things, but we have a wonderful God who gives us these beautiful things to look at, but not to worship. And as we look at that, and as we look at the many things around us that our God supplies, we need to remind ourselves that this same God will look after us. And we need to give him his rightful place. We're thankful that we can learn that and we can grow in that here. We can see the importance of giving thee thy rightful place in our hearts and lives. And the blessing that there is when we surrender to thee. Thou knowest the heart of each one listening. Pray Thy will be accomplished in each person's life. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.