[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Today we have Jamie Smithy, and he is a missionary to Chile. We're excited about the fact that he's going to go down and join a team of guys that we support and love.
[0:14] Jason, Jason, and Josh, and Jamie, the four J's, the jam team. And so anyway, he'll come and present his ministry for about three minutes to you.
[0:26] And then after that, our own Jeff Bush, who's the director of our mission and does so much hard work around here. He'll come and take five minutes after that. Well, certainly glad to be here and have the opportunity to be a part of the mission service.
[0:39] And thank you all for how well we've been treated and the meals and getting to know one another and spend some time together. After the services, we'll be around for a little while if you have any questions for us. Also, please stop by our table and pick up a prayer card and a bookmark to remember us by and continue to pray for us.
[0:54] We are excited. I don't think the last time I was up, I introduced my family. But I'll have Erica, I know, is here with us this morning. She can stand real quick. This is my wife, Erica. I was told, as you can see, and it's the truth, I married well above myself.
[1:07] And so Brother Gardner's amen-ing down here on the front row. And he may have been one of the people who reminded me of that. I won't tell that or short. And then we have three children, Morgan, Luke, and Meredith. And we are excited about being a part of the team and the connection here with vision and the help that we've received.
[1:23] And I think that was the three stooges, now will be the four horsemen. And so please continue to pray for us and the work that is going to be done there. But I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Mark, chapter number 14, as we look at just one thing here this morning real quick.
[1:37] This chapter is the story of the lady who brought the alabaster box full of ointment of spikenard. It's very precious. And she'd break it, as the Bible tells us, in verse number 3, and she poured it on the head of Jesus.
[1:49] And in verse number 4, it says there were those that were there who had indignation in their heart. And it said, why was the waste of this ointment made? And then in verse number 8, I want you to look right there real quick where it says, in verse number 8, it says, She hath done what she could.
[2:03] She has come aforehand to anoint my body to the very end. And I want you to circle that word aforehand and look at that with me. And then I want you to turn to Luke, chapter number 24.
[2:15] And I want you to see why that word was there. It's very interesting as we look at Luke 24. This lady had one opportunity to give what was most valuable to her, to the Lord Jesus, before he went to the cross to die for her sins, the sins of the world, our sins, the sins of the people in Chile.
[2:32] And as she came that day, she gave what was most valuable to her. There were people who questioned it. They didn't understand it. But look in Luke, chapter number 23, verse number 54.
[2:43] And we'll read through verses 3 and chapter 24. It says, And that day was the preparation the Sabbath drew on. And the women also which came with him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sepulcher and how his body was laid.
[2:55] And they returned and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Verse number 1 of chapter 24. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they come into the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them.
[3:09] And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. This lady had enough discernment to realize and to understand that the day was going to come to go and to anoint the body of Jesus.
[3:25] And it wasn't going to be there. The others had not faith enough to believe that the Lord was going to arise on that day. And the Lord said, A forehand she has come to anoint my body to the bearing.
[3:35] While she had opportunity, she has done what she could. And see, we only have one life. My life is the most valuable thing that I have to offer the Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:47] And I only have one opportunity to give it to fulfilling God's purpose, which is to go to Chile to take the gospel and to help reach those people that they can continue to take the gospel into all the world.
[3:58] And I want to tell you, we'll miss that if we don't have enough understanding to realize that there is coming a time, whether by death, whether by disability, or whether by the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we're not going to be able to do what we can do today.
[4:13] And I'd encourage you that you would pray to give what you're going to give. There's a saying that's funny. Do your giving while you're living. Where you're knowing where it's going. And there's another saying, there's only one life we have.
[4:27] And this life will soon pass. Only what's done for Christ will last. Thank you. What is a blessing being here at Vision Baptist Church. We are very thankful. God has been very good to my family and I.
[4:39] And we thank the Lord for the opportunity to be back once again here at our home church. When you run to the New Testament in your mind, that's where God begins to do a work between us, between the Gentiles.
[4:51] And God begins to do the work and God always uses the church. And when we run to the Old Testament, we see over and over that God speaks about the church and to the church. And when God wanted to rescue, God wanted to save the Gentiles, He went to the church.
[5:05] And God wanted to look for faithful men, He went to the church. And we see Philip and we see Stephen and we see Paul and we see Barnabas and Silas and Judas. We see all these men.
[5:15] God runs to the church. And we have the privilege. Vision Baptist Missions is a ministry under the umbrella of Vision Baptist Church. And as I get to travel and go different areas, many times I talk about Vision Baptist Church and the blessing it is.
[5:30] And as Paul talked in 1 Corinthians chapter number 8 about the people of Macedonia, using it as an example. So I have the opportunity to use Vision Baptist Church as an example of what God is doing by raising men here.
[5:43] And what God is doing through our giving and through our going and through our loving, through our praying and through our help. And I hope that you would realize Vision Baptist Church, we're not just a church. We're actually the backbone of Vision Baptist Missions.
[5:56] And without Vision Baptist Church, Vision Baptist Missions has no reason of existence. Because our authority is placed right underneath here. You know, truly as Christians, as the children of God, when we come to the missions conference, this is kind of business meeting for us.
[6:11] This is when once a year we come together and we grab our faith promise cards and we say, Alright, here it is, it's time to vote again. And by your giving, we vote. Are we going to stop giving to our missionaries by you and me deciding not to give?
[6:23] Or are we going to continue giving the same amount by filling out what we did last year? Or are we going to up our faith? Are we going to give more? And in this business meeting, this is a crucial business meeting that will have effect over all the whole year of what we do.
[6:39] And I hope this morning as my wife and I, we make our decision under prayer, God, what would you have us do this year at Vision Baptist Church in our missions giving? I hope that you'll take time to pray as well.
[6:50] And I hope you'll take time to think about this as well. There was a young man when my wife and I, when we first got married, we used to read a lot of missionary biographies. We got married in 2000.
[7:01] We left from Bible college. And while we were on the road, we spent a year and a half on deputation traveling. I had a little bitty 1991 Saturn. It was awesome because I could reach the other side of the door.
[7:11] My wife couldn't get away. And I was just like wonderful to both of us. Man, we loved every moment of it. We traveled around and we went to the churches. And so I wasn't the smartest cookie in the box. And so my wife helped me quite a bit.
[7:23] In fact, she helped me with everything. And so my wife used to read a lot of missionary biographies to me. And those things used to get in my head and get in my heart. And God began to do some work in my life and began to help me pray and to think and to desire and to dream about different things.
[7:37] One of those missionaries was a man by the name of C.T. Studd. C.T. Studd was a man over in England. And he was a great young man. And his dad was a millionaire.
[7:47] He was a multi-millionaire. At this time in the 1800s, there was not a lot of millionaires, obviously. And this man, he had his life set. I mean, he could have had absolutely anything. Upon his graduation, he looked and his dad said, Son, what do you want?
[8:02] You name it and it's all yours. So C.T. Studd looked and he said, Well, Dad, you know what I would like? I would like a trip around the world. Pretty cool desire there. So Dad said, Not a problem, son.
[8:12] Here's the money. Have a good time. And so he started his trip and he went all around. When he got over to North Africa, he began to see the people that were without Christ. He saw the Muslims that were stooped in religion that had no opportunity of hearing the gospel.
[8:27] He continued his travel. And when he arrived back, his dad said, So what do you think? C.T. Studd looked at him and he said, Dad, there are millions and millions of people without even an opportunity to hear the gospel.
[8:39] I'm going to give my life and I'm going to be a missionary. So C.T. Studd, he had these millions. His dad gave him his inheritance. He began to give away to Hudson Taylor and to William Carey, to many people and contemporaries of his time.
[8:51] He gave away the money, George Mueller. He set off and he took off. And he arrived over into Egypt. He began to learn the language. Within months, he got spinal meningitis. And he died.
[9:02] 24, 25 year old man. And what a waste of his life. He gave away millions. And at the end, he died as a young man. And people looked around and they said, What a waste of life. But when they asked why he gave his fortune, and he gave absolutely everything he had, he said, If Jesus Christ be God, and he died for me, then no sacrifice that I can give, can ever be compared to what he did for me on the cross.
[9:28] This morning I tell you, dear friend, nothing that we can give, giving our children so that they can go, or giving our time so that we can be here, or giving of our goods so that the gospel can be progressed and go forward.
[9:40] Nothing can be compared to what he did for us. And so I hope as you begin to pray, and you begin to thank God, what would it be this year? Let's all of us, even if you don't think I can give a lot, let's all of us pray, let's all of us participate, let's all of us have an opportunity.
[9:54] This morning our last missionary before our main speaker in a little bit, that I'll introduce in just a second, is Jason Richel. Come on, where are you, Jason? Jason's a missionary to Burkina Faso. He is a fantastic young man.
[10:05] Really, I am honored to know him. He's going to marry a beautiful young lady. Charity, would you stand up? She is going to, he finally found the love of his life. Charity is her name. And they will get married sometime in two or three years from now.
[10:19] And go off to the mission field after he takes 10 years on support. There in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse number 7. I talked before over here about the toy car. And how in Burkina Faso they have a lot of money.
[10:32] So the kids can't afford the toys that we often enjoy in America. So one thing to do is they'll make toys out of anything. What I'm holding here is a little toy car made out of garbage. Talked before about how it's kind of a reminder of our life.
[10:43] How God, he looked at our life and he saw nothing. There was garbage. There were people who were dead in their sins. Who were going to hell. And out of his love. And out of his grace. And out of his mercy.
[10:55] God took that piece of garbage. Saved it. Cleaned it. And made it into something he could use. Tonight I want to look at, what does this piece of garbage do with this life? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter number 4.
[11:07] Verse number 7. It says, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
[11:19] You know, one reason this car is so cool is the fact that it is nothing. It is just a piece of garbage that someone made something good out of. Now, if this was made out of gold, Pastor probably would have stolen it from me a long time ago. We wouldn't brag about how awesome it was, how awesome the guy made it.
[11:32] We would brag about what it was made out of. Or if it was just a regular plastic, regular car, we wouldn't be anything special about it. But what is special about this car is the fact that it is nothing that somebody made something out of.
[11:44] And in this verse it says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels. You know, our lives are nothing. As a Christian, we are nothing. We are just sinners. What is special about us is not our bodies, not our talents.
[11:56] It is the treasure that is put inside of us. It is the gospel that is in our life. That's why it says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
[12:11] When the gospel is powerful, and the gospel changes a life completely, and the gospel does a great work, we can't stand around and say, That was me that did that. We say, That was God.
[12:21] And all the glory, and all the power that comes from the gospel changing lives, and the gospel transforming countries, and the gospel training men, is not because of us. All the glory, and all the power, goes to God.
[12:34] You know, you heard so much about this mission conference, about how we need to serve God, and we need to give to God, and we need to do things for God. And you might be sitting here thinking, I can't do that. I'm nothing special. I'm not as funny as Brother Malley.
[12:46] I'm not as good speaker as Pastor Gardner. I just can't serve God. You know what the Holy Spirit says? He says, Good. It's not you that's doing the work. It's me inside of you. It's that treasure inside of me, that shines forth and changes lives.
[12:59] You say, Why are you going to Burkina Fossil? Why do you want to go there? Because there are lies over there, that we want to see the gospel saved, and we want to see the gospel changed, and from what was once a piece of garbage, to a man that God can use.
[13:12] We want to see Burkina Bay men, raised up, we want to see the gospel inside of them, shine forth, so they can reach their own country, with the gospel. We have been truly blessed this week. If you've not been here, you should go online and listen.
[13:25] Brother John O'Malley has been a blessing, and a gift from God to our church this week. I have tremendously enjoyed him. What a friend, a man of God, and I know if you'll listen this morning, God will speak to you. Our brother O'Malley. Thank you, preacher.
[13:36] I have found in life, that if you continue on a path, you will find other people, who walk the same path you do. God will bring you along those ways.
[13:46] I'm grateful, that God brought us along our paths. I sat with your pastor this week, and there are many, many values we share, and hold dear in truths and principles, and it's been my pleasure to be here.
[13:59] Matthew chapter 16, if you'll stand with me for the reading of God's word. If you're physically able, if you're not, please don't feel compelled to stand. Matthew chapter 16, I'm going to begin reading in verse number 13.
[14:11] If you find your place, I'll begin reading. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, and Am, and they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, and others, Jeremiah's, or one of the prophets.
[14:31] He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
[14:46] And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
[15:02] Then charged He his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how they must go into Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
[15:17] And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
[15:33] Dear Father, I thank you for the privilege to stand here today and read your word in the hearing of your people. I thank you for a faithful, accurate, and trustworthy copy of the word of God in which we can have great confidence knowing we've heard from you today.
[15:46] Father, I pray this day that you'll fill me with your spirit, fill your people with your spirit, and teach our hearts. For this I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Christ was not having an identity crisis by beginning in this passage asking his disciples, Whom do men say that I am?
[16:04] Well, he knew who he was. I found that when Christ is asking questions, he's not asking because he lacks information. He is omniscient. He knows everything.
[16:15] So if he's asking questions, it's not like, Oh, I'm stumped. No. He's asking questions because he specifically wants his hearers to think through a situation.
[16:27] And so he says, Whom do men say that I am? Well, they had their ear to the ground. They heard what the community said. And they said, Well, they figured out, Well, he's got to be John the Baptist, maybe one of the prophets, something like that. But he is somebody different.
[16:39] And then Christ turns it around and says to his disciples, Okay, who do you say I am? Oh, Peter. Of all the times Peter could get it, he got it this time. Nailed it. And I know Peter takes a rap for a lot of things, but, you know, a lot of times he's like us.
[16:54] He just blurted out something. And he blurted out the right stuff. And he got it from heaven. And the Bible says that Peter responded, Thou art the Christ. This is huge.
[17:04] This is kind of unfolding some of the word there. It's the idea of saying, the word Christ is the anointed one. So when we talk about Peter identifies him as a Jew, Peter is looking, This is the Messiah.
[17:19] This is the one for whom we've been waiting. All of humanity has waited for this moment. And Peter looks at the political situation. He looks at the spiritual, identifies Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[17:31] He looks at the political situation and says, Whew! Roman domination is over. We will no longer be oppressed. We'll be a free people. The Messiah is here. He's thrilled.
[17:43] Christ says, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. He says, You're Peter. But upon this rock, referring to himself, I will build my church.
[17:54] That's a game changer for all humanity. Because Christ now introduces the organism through which he will work, and it will be the church of the living God, and everything that he will do from this point forward will flow through the church.
[18:10] When Brother Jeff was up talking earlier about how Vision Baptist Missions has nothing without the core of Vision Baptist Church, there is no other way to operate but the local church.
[18:21] This is what Christ has chosen. And it's not a Christian school. It is not a college. It's not a radio station. It's not a TV station. All of those things must stem from the authority of the local church.
[18:32] And when we realize Christ is saying, Peter, I'm starting now. And he lays down the groundwork of what it was going to be like. Bind it on earth, it's bound in heaven.
[18:42] Loose it on earth, it's loosed from heaven. Heaven's authority will rest in this organism called The church of the living God, of which we are a part this morning in this place.
[18:54] So Peter is there, and he's heard this. Nailed it that day. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Well, Christ said, now look, there's a kind of a, bring in the inner circle here.
[19:05] Peter, I don't need you to talk about this right now. I've given you the big picture, but keep this under your hat. Well, that's a hard thing to keep under your hat because there's the timing of God.
[19:16] And there's going to be a moment of crucifixion that's coming. And he's telling him, he said, look, I'm going to go to Jerusalem. And I'm going to suffer things of the chief priests and the scribes. And then I'm going to be killed.
[19:27] And then I'm going to rise again. Peter hears this. And I think he responds just like we would. He says, be it far from thee, Lord. This shall not be unto thee.
[19:39] What is he saying? Not on my watch. Not going to let that happen. Can you imagine? David, come help me if you would. It's David, right? Edward. Edward. Well, you too. Come bring David with you.
[19:50] Stand up. Oh, you are. Okay. So, Edward, can you imagine you be Peter and I'll be Christ? Grab me by the lapels and tell me, no, this won't happen.
[20:04] It's kind of funny, isn't it? Did you get the picture? Good. I hate for you to lose that opportunity. It'll never happen again. It's important to understand this.
[20:17] Just as silly as it is for Edward to grab me by the lapels as if he could tell me what to do. The creature is telling the Creator, you may talk about this plan you've got, but I'm just going to stop your plan.
[20:33] How futile. How silly things, if you will. Christ says in response to Peter, and you know, I am in no place to defend the Lord. But boy, this sounds harsh.
[20:44] I mean, I want to defend the Lord because it says, wow, get thee behind me, Satan. Satan. Wow. Pulled out the Satan card. I mean, that's serious business.
[20:55] Saying, get behind me, Satan. And then he says, thou art an offense unto... An offense to Jesus? Well, that's about as strong as you can get, isn't it?
[21:06] He's saying to him, I'm calling you Satan. Now, this is the same guy, just a few verses above, within the same time context. Not maybe immediate by minutes, but at least by days.
[21:20] And he says to him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And now he says, get thee behind me, Satan. Now art an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
[21:37] Savor. It's a food word. I like food words. Yeah, there's my... It's John, the other Irishman here. God bless you. We have a bond right here, I feel it. It's right over a plate of pork.
[21:50] It's a food word. It's walking into your mother's house, if she's a good cook. Walking into your mother's house on Thanksgiving Day, and the turkey is baking, and the apple pies are done, and the aromas fill the house, and what happens?
[22:04] Or maybe, if your mom's not a good cook, maybe you've had this experience. It's driving in front of a Krispy Kreme when the red light is on. And you walk in, and the aroma hits you.
[22:16] It's a spiritual experience. Your mouth begins to water. We call that savoring. You're enjoying it before you enjoy it. Christ says to Peter, there are two things in life you can savor.
[22:30] My things or man's things. Notice what the verse says. Thou savorest not the things that are of God, but those that are of men. So now what he's saying to him is, you are savoring what you want.
[22:44] But what was God's will? God's will was crystal clear. His son, Christ the Messiah, would come. He would come, and he would suffer many things by the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
[22:56] He would be crucified. He would die. He would be buried. He would rise again. The whole plan of God has been this from the very beginning. And Peter says, I don't want that will.
[23:09] I don't want that plan. I don't want what you want. But what did God want? To redeem all of man to himself. So Peter says, that whole redemptive plan of God thing, I don't want that to happen.
[23:24] I just got you here. Roman domination is over. The Messiah has come in my lifetime. This is all that I want. And Peter, Peter now hears, just get behind me, Satan.
[23:36] You're an offense unto me. Thou savors not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man. I ask you this morning, what do you savor? Do you savor the things of God?
[23:46] Do you savor the things of man? Peter was, I think in his heart his motive was right. He just didn't want anything bad to happen to Christ. I think his heart was right.
[23:58] But when it came down to it, his will interfered with the redemptive plan of God. And all Satan has done from Genesis 3 and verse 15 on has been to thwart the very redemptive plan of God.
[24:12] And now Satan is at work trying to detour this once again. And the truth is, Peter simply just said, I don't want you to die. But in that he reveals that there are things that God has that I can savor.
[24:25] And there are things that man has that I can savor. And the question is, are we savoring the things that are of God? Notice with me in the text, if you would please. Matthew chapter 16.
[24:36] After Christ has told him, you are an offense unto me, get thee behind me. Then Christ uses this as a teaching opportunity in verse 24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[24:52] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited? He shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
[25:04] Christ then takes this wonderful teaching opportunity where Peter has blown it. And now says, those are the things that are of man. And then gives him three things that we can savor.
[25:17] And those are the things of God. I don't know about you this morning. But I want to savor what he savers. I want to value what he values. I don't want to have that Simon Peter moment where my heart is right.
[25:30] But I blow it by saying, oh well, I'm not on my watch. And God has to say, you're savoring the wrong things. So what does God savor? Let me give you the three things that he savors.
[25:41] Number one, it's found in that first verse that I read. Edward, come help me again, would you? I want to, if I may, illustrate the things that God savers. Did you grow up here in the U.S. or in the Philippines?
[25:54] Here. Around this area? No. Where? D.C. Okay. I don't know if you learned this game or not. Growing up, I grew up in South Florida. We played a game called Mercy.
[26:05] Are you familiar with that game? So when we played it, our goal was, we would do it with our hands. Is that how you did it? Help me now. We would, oh sorry, do I need to do that?
[26:15] Okay. Yeah, sorry. I just, I should. Yeah, okay, I got you. And then what we would do is, look at this stance you've taken with me. Okay, whatever, I'm ready for you.
[26:26] And so, so we would play this game. And the point was, is to get our sibling or friend or whoever it was, that we would get them to cry out mercy. Usually, we would go for blood, but we're in church, I'm not going to do that.
[26:40] But, but we definitely want to make our sibling cry. Or, at least hit the ground and beg like a little girl for it. Okay? So, so, this is, you ready?
[26:54] Let's do it. Let's, come on, come on. You called me an angry beast and we're in the game of mercy? It's time for you to reevaluate, buddy. All right, come on, go.
[27:04] Give me the best you got. Go. Start. Oh, you have. Okay, sorry. You ready? You ready? Yeah, yeah, I was just getting warmed up. Okay, good, go. You should see his knuckles, they've turned white and that's pretty much saying something.
[27:18] So, when we think about mercy. Did I hurt you? I really didn't want to. I'm good. Go sit down. What does he value?
[27:30] If any man will come after me and deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That's what he values.
[27:41] He values, number one, surrender. If I had been fair to Edward, I would have said, would you come play a game of mercy with me? To which you would have replied, no.
[27:53] Pick on somebody your own size, guy. You know, it's that idea of saying, it's, it's, it was unfair. I mean, because even if he started to win, I would have sat on him.
[28:05] I mean, it's just that simple. So when Peter said, I want this, God said, that's man's things. Here's what I want. I'm after people who will surrender.
[28:17] This is what I value. I value those who will come after me. And to deny themselves and take up a cross and then get behind me and follow me.
[28:29] That's what I value. And on a day like today, when we talk about the salvation of men and we talk about investing in missions and we talk about our promised offering, realize this, we are talking about the redemptive plan of God.
[28:43] And when we want to know what does God value, he values when we just simply say, whatever you want, God. I'm not playing mercy with you. I've been in the ministry almost 30 years and I've seen people fight God.
[28:56] And they'll go their whole life fighting God. I've shaken hands at the door with people who would say, God wanted me to be a missionary years ago. And I said, no.
[29:07] And I've been miserable ever since. God wanted me to be involved in this and I didn't and I missed it. I'm going to tell you something today, church. What we have to do is put ourselves in the place of saying, I want to savor your stuff.
[29:21] And the first thing he savers is surrender. Here, let me give you the second one. The next verse, if you would. These are the three things that God savers that were given to us within the context of Peter savoring the things that are of man.
[29:34] Now we look at the next verse and it says, for whosoever will lose, sorry, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. You say, that sounds like opposite world there.
[29:47] How do you save and lose and lose and keep and how does that happen? Well, with God's system or God's economy, it's completely different. Number one, God values surrender.
[29:58] Number two, God values saving. Saving not like this world talks about saving. This world talks about saving and it says, work as hard as you can. Ernest, well maybe, where's Angel?
[30:11] Did he bail on me? Angel, tell him what you want to do when you grow up. Sleep. He wants to test mattresses. I told him it's fine as long as he has God check that off on the servant list.
[30:26] So the world says, work as hard as you can, make as much as you can, keep as much as you can for yourself, look out for number one. Isn't that the world's idea, the world's philosophy? How does God say it?
[30:36] God says, you want to keep? Give it away. You want to lose it? Try to keep it. You ever try to find that? Have you ever found that out? Try to say, I'm going to save for myself.
[30:48] I'm going to keep this. And all of a sudden, it's gone. But then in God's economy, it works this way. I'm just going to give this away. And all of a sudden, it comes back and you give it away again. And it comes back.
[30:58] If you're going to mark anything down, mark this down. Number one, you will never save by keeping and you will never lose by giving. You will never save by keeping and you will never lose by giving.
[31:10] Why? Because that's how God values things. I'm willing to just give it all away. So one, God values when I surrender. Number two, God values when I save by giving.
[31:23] And number three, look at this. Verse number 27, 6. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
[31:34] Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? So you got this very, very rich person. They said when Steve Jobs died, he had $7 billion in the bank.
[31:46] That's a lot of money. I mean, I helped. I did everything I could. But that's a lot of money. And you can't take it with you. If you read his biography, you realize that at the end of his life, it appears that he died and went to hell.
[32:01] Steve, could you not have bought your soul? Couldn't you have taken the money and give it to God and say, here, could I buy a spot in heaven?
[32:14] The Bible says, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? You want to know what God values? Surrender, saving, and souls. You say, well, what could a man give in exchange for his soul?
[32:26] If you took all of Steve Jobs' money, all of Bill Gates' money, all of the money of the Prince of Brunei, all of the money of the wealthiest people in Mexico and in the world, and in Russia, these guys who are mega billionaires, and you say, put all that money together and will Christ accept that as a payment for a man's soul?
[32:47] No. Why? Because the payment was made through Jesus Christ. It is his blood that was shed, that redeems mankind. So when Peter said, I want to stop that plan, God said, get thee behind me, Satan.
[33:00] You're savoring the wrong things. Here's what I savor. I savor the souls of men. I savor saving. And I savor surrender. So when we get ourselves to the place that we're looking at the promised offering for today, here's how I can designate and represent what I value.
[33:20] These are the things that God savers. All wrapped up in one. He values when I surrender and say, whatever you want. He values saving by giving it away.
[33:34] He values the souls of men. Dear Father, I thank you for these moments together this morning. And I pray, God, that you will work deep within the hearts of men, that on this very day, that we will begin to be a people who value what you value.
[33:49] For this I pray in Jesus' name. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.