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[0:00] Matthew chapter, let's go to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. This is a very familiar passage. We take a few minutes here. This is a passage that I really believe talks about the idea of trusting God.

[0:18] I think so many times, church, it is easy for us to get to a place where we have to make sure that everything's going to end up and turn out the way that it should.

[0:30] And a lot of times, if we're not careful, we end up trying to control things that only God can control. And here in this passage, it speaks of the heart of man.

[0:44] And if you look there with me in verse 21, chapter 6 of Matthew, verse 21, it says, For where your treasure is, there will your heart...

[0:55] What does it say? Be also. So, church, if we want to know where our heart's going to be tomorrow, then we need to examine where our treasure is today. Think about that.

[1:07] If we want to know where our heart's going to be a week from now, then we need to know where our thoughts are today. Where we invest our time today. Where we are going with our thoughts.

[1:19] What drives us? What gets us up? What do we treasure? What is your treasure? That is where your heart, if it's not there already, will be there soon.

[1:30] And it's interesting because right before that verse in chapter 6, verse 21, we have two very familiar verses. It says in verse 19, it says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

[1:49] But lay up for yourselves treasures... Where does it say? In heaven. Where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

[2:02] Church, it's interesting because in verse 19, it's telling us where not to put our treasure. Is that right? Verse 20, it tells us where to put our treasure. Church is telling us what we should live for.

[2:13] Is that correct? It is telling you where to put your attention. It's telling you where to put your thoughts. It's telling you where to invest your life. And it's saying to invest your life on earth, in earthly things that are here today and gone tomorrow, is not wise.

[2:33] It's not wise. Church, we're supposed to invest in eternity. We're supposed to live for the things above, as it says in Colossians chapter 3. We're supposed to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

[2:54] That's a safe place. If you go with me to Mexico, you would not be wise to leave your phone in your car, nor would you be wise to leave your computer or anything else with a battery, because they have people who can have this, I don't know what they call it, but some sort of a machine or a device, and they walk down past cars in the parking lots.

[3:17] And what they'll do is they have this device, and it tells them where the battery is. So if there's any battery in the car, they know exactly where to break the window, and they've got your backpack out, and they're gone within 10 seconds.

[3:29] And so it's not wise to leave your phone or your batteries or anything electronic in your car. You say, well, why would I do that in Mexico? I'm almost asking to lose my stuff.

[3:42] Well, church, same thing happens when we live for this earth. Amen. When we decide that we are going to invest our life and our time and energy in things that are passing, things that one day will not exist, we are, in essence, being unwise.

[4:00] Does that make sense? Down further in the chapter, verse 24, it tells us, 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.

[4:21] You cannot serve God and mammon. That despises a strong word, right? So the idea is we cannot think that we can serve the things of this world and live for the things of this world, and yet somehow live for God and have a passion for God and Jesus be our first love.

[4:42] We can't do it. It's not possible. We must decide. Amen. Verse 25 says, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life.

[4:53] You know what this verse is saying, church? It says, What are you so worried about? Amen. What are you so worried about? Look what it says.

[5:05] Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than Raymond?

[5:19] Is this life that we live not more than food and drink and clothes? Because that's what life seems to be so many times. We just go through the motions, don't we?

[5:30] We eat. We look forward to the next thing. What am I going to put on? And some of us take longer to do that than others. And we just kind of go through life.

[5:44] But is not life more than that? Look what it says. Verse 26. Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns.

[5:57] They don't do anything, it says. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they? Do you realize how good your heavenly Father is?

[6:13] Do you realize, church, how good He is? Do you understand how kind He is? Do you understand how loving He is? Do we understand how much He cares for us?

[6:30] He is our heavenly Father. And He careth for us. It says here, we must understand that we have a Father in heaven who's looking down.

[6:45] And we'll get down to the passage here in a minute. I don't want to read it. Say it and then I have to read it after that. I'm getting ahead of myself. Look, it says now in verse 27, which of you by taking thought can add a cubit into His stature.

[6:58] You know what you can do? You can jump up and down. You can hang from something all night long. And you're still not going to get any taller. You're still going to be the same height.

[7:10] Isn't that what happens? I've had some people that say, you know, little boys, right? They say, I'm going to do this, so I'm going to be a little bit taller. But you know what? He's still the same height. You know, we try to do things that are actually not in our control.

[7:24] We get worried about stuff. We try to meddle in things that actually don't have anything to do with us. Stuff for the Father. You with me?

[7:35] It's stuff for the Father in heaven. Look, it says here, And why take ye thought for raiment? Verse 28. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil, not neither do they spin.

[7:48] And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. In all his glory, can you imagine how much money he had?

[8:02] How beautiful everything was? And yet it says that God, God is always better than man. Amen.

[8:13] Man, with his best effort in trying to do things right, in trying to make things turn out good, does not compare with what our Heavenly Father does.

[8:26] Amen. I'm just going to say amen myself. You want to amen, you can amen. I'm going to amen myself. Look what it says in verse 29.

[8:41] Verse 30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, look what it says, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you?

[8:55] O ye of little faith. What is the passage screaming out?

[9:07] Most passages, if you'll really study it, it's screaming something out. And this passage is screaming something out. It's saying, where's your faith? Isn't that right?

[9:17] It's saying, we must trust in Him. He is trustworthy. He is a good Father. He is going before us.

[9:29] And just as an earthly father sees the needs of his child and tries to go before him and have clothes on his back and shoes on his feet and food in his belly, can I tell you, your Heavenly Father cares for you.

[9:43] He loves you so much. When's the last time you thought about that? Verse 31. Therefore, take no thought, saying, what shall we eat?

[9:57] Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? You know, the next verse is interesting because there is a distinction or should be a distinction between those that are not followers of Christ and those that are followers of Christ.

[10:19] Do you know one of the distinctions that you can see in this passage? Trust. Amen. Trust. You see, the Gentiles, it says in verse 32, after all these things do the Gentiles seek.

[10:39] Gentiles meaning those who are not Christian, right? Those who have not been saved. For your Heavenly Father, look what it says, knoweth, knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

[11:00] church, I think sometimes we get distracted. And when we get distracted, the gospel suffers because of that.

[11:16] When we don't keep the main thing the main thing, it's because we have quit trusting. is that not what it says?

[11:28] We're about to get to verse 33 and everybody knows verse 33. We're almost there. Is it not true, church, that one of the things that you should see in the life of a believer is trust in their Heavenly Father.

[11:49] Trust that their Heavenly Father knows best. Trust that their Heavenly Father goes before them. Trust that their Heavenly Father will provide for them. Trust that their Heavenly Father loves them.

[12:01] And look what it says. It says in verse 33, but seek ye first. It says don't seek all this other stuff. Don't get distracted.

[12:14] But seek ye first. Not second. Not third. Not fourth. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

[12:30] I remember the verse in English. I'm good. Church, are we seeking Him His kingdom and His righteousness first?

[12:51] First. First. Because I think it's very easy when you don't have things in order.

[13:03] It just all gets jumbled up. We get distracted. We get down. We don't spend time right.

[13:14] We don't spend money right. We don't invest in the right things. Amen. And then it says in verse 34, take therefore no thought for the morrow.

[13:29] For the morrow. So take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Do you know we've got enough that we have to trust God with today?

[13:42] Why are we so worried about tomorrow? We got stuff going on today. And we need to be concerned about how am I believing and trusting God today for what He has for my life?

[13:57] Why are we all concerned about tomorrow? So we're concerned about tomorrow and we're trying to figure out what kind of clothes we're going to wear and all these temporal things. And we end up not trusting Him today.

[14:09] Nor will we trust Him tomorrow. So we must keep things in order. And in putting them in order we must say first, seek ye first the kingdom of God.

[14:23] Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. See the Gentiles take everything into their own hands. But that's only because they don't have a heavenly Father.

[14:35] We have a heavenly Father. We don't have to take it into our own hands, church. We don't have to worry about it. We don't have to be consumed with something. We don't have to get distracted with so many things like the world does.

[14:50] We don't have to have our heart going this way and going that way. Church, we can keep our focus and our heart, our mind stayed on Christ Jesus. And you know what?

[15:02] Everything else falls into place. It falls into place. You look and you say, well, my son's got shoes.

[15:13] Praise Jesus. Amen. Unless you forget them. So I want to say this to you, church.

[15:28] I already see vision as a church that loves missions. That loves the Lord. And it's evident by how you treat and how you act around missionaries and how you treat people in this community and how people come around here and feel loved.

[15:53] But may we never, may we never, may we never get distracted because when you do, may I say it this way, there are consequences. There are consequences when the gospel is not most important.

[16:09] There's consequences in family. There's consequences in the church. There's consequences in your life when you don't seek first the kingdom of God.

[16:23] So may we lay treasures up in heaven. May we make sure that that's what makes us tick. that's what moves us.

[16:36] That is our passion. That is our passion. For what is your passion? What makes you tick? What gets you up in the morning?

[16:50] Christian, are you distracted? Are you worried? Are you trying to control something to make sure it turns out good? Maybe you need to realize you have a heavenly father who loves you.

[17:09] And he knows all the needs. He knows all things. And he's going before you. So may we, may we act and live out who we are in Christ.

[17:23] May we be children of God. Children of God who have a good heavenly father. May we trust him and may it not be said of us, O ye of little faith.

[17:38] O ye of little faith. We could pray this evening. Father, we we thank you for your word. We thank you for the power that it brings to our lives.

[17:57] For it is powerful. And Lord, it has changed lives. But Lord, I pray now that you would also allow us to examine our hearts for a few moments.

[18:17] To see, do we really trust you? Do we really take advantage of our heavenly father and respond to you knowing who you are?

[18:38] Lord, help us live in victory to experience all you have for us in our Christian life. Not worry. Not running around crazy trying to figure things out.

[18:52] but being still and knowing that you are God. Knowing that you are still on the throne. Knowing that you are going before us.

[19:04]  And you are our heavenly. Father, we ask these things in your holy precious name. Amen.