What's Next

[0:00] Go with me to Matthew chapter 6 and we're going to read from verse 24 down to the end of the chapter and the title of the message is what's next. Let's look at what the Bible says. No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them are you not much better than they which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his statue and why take you thought for raiment consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothed the grass in the field which today is and tomorrow is cast in the oven shall he not much more clothe you oh ye of little faith therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or with all shall we be clothed for after all these things do the

[1:18] Gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you have need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof God again I ask you to bless these young people and bless these parents Lord I just ask you to grab a hold of those hearts of these young people right now and help them to focus on this passage of scripture in this message and know that this is your word talking to them and telling them what to do and I pray God you'd help them to see it and help them it to be real in their hearts and I'll give you all the praise and honor and glory for what you do in Jesus precious name amen well one stage of your life is now over and behind you you step out today into adult life the transition may be slow but you're still more responsible every day for your own decisions what you decide to do today will greatly affect the rest of your life your parents are probably a little scared just to be honest with you a little worried you're leaving home you're starting to make more decisions you might sneak off and sin and feel like you can because you're an adult now you might think you'll walk away from God of your the God of your parents and of your church you may be very proud of the fact that you can make more of your own decisions now I want to share with you some biblical things you need to consider my message will be blunt and in your face but I doubt you can deny that I will simply be saying exactly what this passage says you are an adult so live life right follow what your parents taught you the church this church your youth group and leaders those that have discipled you have tried to prepare you for this day more than that live out the life that God has put in you so as an adult sit still and listen to me think through what God has said this is it no more putting off those adult decisions it's your time now take your Bible to go and be to Matthew 6 24 just work your way through this passage with me Matthew 26 Matthew 6 24 number one you have to decide now number one you have to decide now verse before the Bible says no man can serve two masters for either you'll hate the one and love the other or else you'll hold the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and mammon you're stepping out into adult life you'll soon be making your own choices there'll be pressure put on you to try and walk in two worlds that's impossible you must choose who and what you will serve with your life you can choose money and material goods but you'll have to hate

[4:02] God to do that let me read the verse to make sure you see that the Bible says in verse 24 no man can serve two masters no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other hate the one love the other or else you'll hold on to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and mammon or money material things you have to choose you must choose who and what you will serve with your life you can choose money but you're on material goods but that means you hate God you'll have to hold on to your money and things more than anything else you'll have to despise God and the things of God when there are opportunities to choose you will choose your money your job your security over God you will think in terms of this world and what's important instead of what of that world and what's important but God is calling on you to choose him above all else God is calling on you to choose him above all else he wants you to realize that no matter how many people think they can balance God and money that they can't this choice may not seem clear to you but it's clear to God he says you can't choose the choice that he says you choose now how you you he says you will choose how you feel about him by this choice read the verse to me one more time he says you choose how you feel about him by this choice the bible says in Matthew chapter 6 in verse 24 no man no young person nobody graduating no adult no person can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he'll hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and mammon that's a pretty clear passage of scripture that's a pretty clear passage of scripture by the way Jesus isn't talking to preachers he isn't talking to missionaries this is a sermon on the mount he's talking to people and most of y'all are people amen he's talking to you he's talking to me and he said you must choose number two everything in this world will try to get you to think about the wrong things you're an adult now

[6:09] I so well remember when I graduated everybody was sad they were leaving home leaving the christian leaving their uh school I was so excited number one I was glad school was over glory to God four more years in college but I was glad school was over unlike you kids that just loved to study that wasn't me then I spent my whole life studying but I mean at those days I couldn't wait but everybody and everything is going to try to get you to choose and think about the wrong things that's what Jesus said look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25 he said I don't want you to think about your life look at what he said verse 25 therefore I say unto you Jesus talk it says take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment you should underline in verse 25 every one of you young people should underline take no thought for your life it doesn't say take a little thought for your life it doesn't say think more about Jesus than you do your life the word of God says take no thought for your life hey young people how about this one guess what that means in the original language it means take no thought for your life it means I don't want you thinking about your life he commanded them not to think about food drink clothing and housing he wanted to know that life was more than food and clothes the words are no thought not some thought actually what regular people think about was not he was not to even enter their minds regular people think about all those things he said I don't want y'all thinking about that he wanted people to know that he was first foremost the only one that deserved our attention not pastors people this is a sermon on the mount he's talking to a multitude a crowd regular people those that would listen to him and follow him would be totally different than those that chose to despise him remember that you will express your opinion about him but what you think about that's what the passage is saying you'll express your opinion about what you think about him but what you think about it's either him or money and material goods he was reminding them that God took care of the birds and those that love Jesus were much more important to God look at Matthew 6 26 behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them are you not much better than they the truth is that if you focus on you then you'll be limited to what you can do Jesus said you can focus on me or you focus on junk if you focus on me I got great things I can do you focus on you you're limited to what you can do and then he said and you can't make yourself taller you can't make yourself taller I could you can't verse 27 which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his statue the truth is that you can't make that big of a difference even in your own life God can however take care of you God can be responsible for God can be responsible for you and and you can be responsible for or you or you can be responsible for yourself God can be responsible or you can be responsible why would you even think about clothing he says look at verse 28 I'm just reading Bible Bible says in verse 28 and why take ye thought for arraignment why are y'all thinking about clothes every girl said obviously we think about clothes obviously shopping is important to us he said why are y'all thinking about clothes consider the lilies of the field for how they grow they toil not neither do they spend do you not see how God takes care of his own he takes care of plants and animals he can take care of you isn't it true that the reason you'll be thinking of you is that you don't trust him to do so right now you're standing at the very beginning of your life you're just about to launch out you're going to college I heard your big plans you got all

[10:11] these things you're going to do and he said to you well you're going to think about me or you're going to think about that other junk and he said if you think about that other junk it's because you don't really trust me he didn't say that well let's read Matthew 6 30 and see if he said that Matthew 6 30 he said wherefore if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow as cats in the oven shall he not much more clothe you shall he not much more clothe you oh ye of little faith he's okay so you're worried about the clothes because you don't trust me you're worried about the money because you don't trust me you're worried about all the stuff because you don't trust me is it the reason that you and all of those around you want to focus on you is because you don't really trust God could it be true that when you can't trust God you can trust money and material goods you do know that in the Bible it's a lot easier for us a poor guy to get saved it is for a rich guy it's like getting a camel through the eye of a needle you get a rich guy saved because his money is his God wouldn't that education that job that security you can get for yourself better serve you if you just put Jesus first verse 31 Jesus said take no thought he went from no thought why do you think to no thought again look at verse 31 therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed he said I started off saying to y'all you got to choose it's me or that other stuff then he said take no thought then he said why do you take thought now he said take no thought notice how the discussion moved don't lose focus wanting things is a form of idolatry covetousness which is idolatry Colossians chapter 3 you have to choose what and who you will serve third thing I want you to notice found in verse 32 look at verse 32 get the context of all these things the bible says in verse 32 for after all these things do the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that you have need of all these things that word gentile here is like the word pagan lost people they all want the same things put that in context we're not one of those who do not believe God when he says after all these things do the gentiles seek that's an insulting word that's a word for those that are godless in this context that's a word for the pagans and we're not pagans we know God you do not want to think like someone that is of this world and doesn't know God you don't want to think like that your heavenly father knows that you need all these things look at the verse behind my head here on the wall or in your bible

[13:06] Matthew 6 32 for after all these things do the gentiles seek but your heavenly father knows you have need of all these things he's not all these things all these things two times in the same verse you should put a circle around the word need God knows you need these things God is not asking you to not have these things he's saying that you are he's not saying that you're never to have them or whatever he's saying I want you just to not seek after those things he's making it clear I will provide those things I will provide those things verse 33 if you get your priorities right he'll provide those things verse 33 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you now if you got verse 32 and verse 33 in front of you right there in your bible there's three times all these things the gentiles and lost people they're looking for all these things God knows you need all these things and God says I'll provide all these things lost people lost people looking for these things you do need all these things but I'd rather provide these things than have you chase these things he wants to add them to a life that's dedicated to him and his causes he wants you to love him and hold on to him while you hate and despise the things that get this world's attention in all honesty he's calling on everybody in Matthew chapter 6 and saying everybody in the world wants all that stuff I just want some people to just want me everybody wants that I just want some to just want me yes you'll be different yes you'll be kind of weird yes you'll march to the beat of a different drummer I know what you need but I want you to want me I want you to want me he knows what you have need of he just wants you know he's God and he comes first he doesn't even want you to have to worry about tomorrow look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 34 the bible says take therefore no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof underline there's another one of those take no thoughts he said take no thought why do you take thought take no thought now he said I don't even want you thinking about tomorrow he said because I'll see to it that that stuff gets taken care of see he's the God of now his name is the great I am I am that I am guess who he was yesterday I am guess who he is today I am guess who he is tomorrow I am I am he gives daily bread he meets your needs as you need them he will take care of you today and tomorrow when he gets here he'll just take care of that too he said I am look at Matthew 6 33 again would you but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you so I'll give you the fourth thing here's the whole message what's next what's your next step what's your next step a long time ago I was 17 and I graduated from high school a long time ago and the verse that we're about to read has been my north star for whatever it amounts to 40 42 or 3 years it has been the verse I use to make every major decision in my life if you were to ask me what are you going to do about this I'd say I don't know let me think about it and then I would go to Matthew 6 33 I've been coming here a long time over the years I have signed my Bible and America for lots of young people you go to the there's certain churches that just got this custom where all the preachers signed their Bible my Bible signed W.L.

[16:59] the gardener Peru Matthew 6 33 I've signed my name to Bibles all over the place I've signed letters Matthew 6 33 this is the verse for me would you read it with me Matt come on teenagers listen to me you're graduating you're adults so act like it Matthew 6 33 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you decide now that every decision you will make will be made around this thought seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness I want to do what God wants me to do that should be how you think how many of you agree with that say amen I want to do what God wants me to do I will not think about anything without making sure he's the first and the last of my thoughts God first thing I think about last thing I think about where am I going to go to school God who am I going to marry God where am I going to live God what am I going to do God you say nobody thinks like that I know we're a different group of people aren't we we think of him but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness I will dedicate my life to whatever can be done to further his kingdom and his causes I will dedicate my life to whatever can be done to further his kingdom and his causes I will not be a part-time Christian I will not be a part-time

[18:30] Christian and a part-time servant of God I will not despise hate or hold on to things when I have God loving me because in his own words Jesus talking he said you're going to hold on to this world and love this world and hate me and despise me are you going to hold on to me and love me and hate this world and despise this world I will make it clear to myself my family and the world that God is everything in my life you do not have to be a missionary or full-time Christian worker did you hear me that's Austin Garter said that but you do have to put Jesus first if you're a Christian it's Christian Christ and it's Jesus first you do have to put Jesus first there is no room for part-time Christians anywhere in the scriptures you're about to make big decisions and soon it won't be what mama says and what daddy says it'll be what the Lord wants and or what you want and I hope you'll make your mind up I will serve Jesus I've had hundreds and hundreds of opportunities over my life like every other adult that has any age but I've had to make my mind up what's Jesus want what's Jesus want how can I best bring honor to his name how can I best glorify him whatever you do with your life you should be consumed with getting the gospel to the world you might say now come on you said we didn't have to be missionaries would you read Matthew 6 33 with me Matthew 6 33 says seek ye first the what kingdom of God that means the place where he rules seek where God is king make sure we build God's kingdom and his righteousness so I want to I want to seek first the things of God and what makes God big you should be consumed with that your life should be making a difference you should say no matter what

[20:44] I'm going to do with my life I know I'll seek him first every wife ought to be seeking him first every husband ought to be seeking him first you should say I will seek his kingdom I will seek his righteousness I will use my life to make a complete difference in the world by the grace of God you must decide that your life is not yours to live but his to be lived for his glory I challenge you to make this verse a guiding light in your life and all of your decisions if Jesus lets you live you're 17 or 18 years old you got 50 or 60 years to live 50 puts you at 68 67 60 puts you 78 70 70 you might live 70 or 80 years how you gonna make decisions you're gonna do like everybody else you're gonna let CNN make your decisions you're gonna let Fox News make your decisions you're gonna let whoever pays your paycheck make your decisions you're gonna let your wife make your decisions are you gonna let your parents make your decisions hey it's time to put on your big boy britches you just moved out of toddler school I give you a verse I give you a verse to anchor your life to would you read out loud with me Matthew 6 33 everybody together would you do that are you ready but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you one more time but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you I don't have time to go into all these things being added but he'll add the girl to you he'll add the guy to you he'll add the marriage to you he'll add every other thing this week a young man said you know you're pretty well off I said of course I am the son of a king the brother to Jesus hey man yeah how do you expect me to be poor amen you know God's been blessing me over and over I put him first I try to be a giver I try to do everything I think he wants me to do it he just keeps pouring it on that's what it says but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and two more things to say to you and I quit there's a guy named Keith Shoemaker he's one of the missionaries that we support

[23:09] Keith's about six foot seven and I knew Keith when he was single and I knew his wife Rebecca when she was single and I liked them both I thought man they'd be they'd make a good couple and Keith is already mad at me because any other good girl I saw I was always telling him about her he told me one day I don't need you to get me a woman I'm gonna seek God if he wants me to get married he'll give me a wife and I talked to and I'm gonna serve Jesus she surrendered to be a missionary she's on her way to Peru and neither one of them cared about getting married and then they met and fell in love and they've been married now for 200 years and got a bunch of kids and they're happy as they can be and I can tell you they've lived a life consumed with seeking him first and another young person in my ministry a good kid very smart very smart came out of a preacher's home but he decided he would seek first other things not because that's what his dad told him to do because that's what he told himself to do and so he told me one day he was he went in the ministry my buddy he went in the ministry was gonna be a missionary to England remember him very well but instead of seeking first God he told me one day he said I don't know if God's gonna take care of these things I need I've been wondering about that I hadn't found the wife he hadn't given me a wife and so I'm gonna get me a wife I said no no no don't get you a wife seek him first the next thing you know his life was off course and messed up and he never did accomplish what God had for his life I hope he's getting it right today seek him first he's a good God and he'll add things to you he'll bless you all these things shall be added decide now to put your life on the altar and a hundred percent at his disposal and you can trust him to work out things in your life Matthew 6 33 says but seek first seek first

[25:04] Austin Austin seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness Jesus's glory Jesus's righteousness I'll take care of everything else won't you let that be the deciding factor in your life why don't you decide that instead of living for any of the other stuff you'll put Jesus first it'll work from now to the day you're dead it'll work from now to the day you're laying in a bed dying of cancer if all you know is this man I put him first I seek him first it'll work in your business it'll work in the way you manage your money it'll work in the way you raise your kids seek him first you you you you you you you