to be in the house of the Lord today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I am excited to be here with you all tonight. So, go ahead and take your seats as they're finishing up the giving tonight and uh change is going to be dismissed as they're preparing for our youth Sunday. We're excited about that. Just grateful and thankful for an opportunity to be in the house of the Lord. What It's just a choir. Amen. So, everybody else, y'all all knew that before I said it. So, now, hallelujah. To God be the glory. Grateful and thankful as I said. Now, listen, y'all going to have to laugh at my jokes just a little bit better than that. I mean, I'm trying to do, you know, I said, "Okay, God, we g, you know, here's what I want you to do. God helping me." You know, I mean, it's Wednesday. You know, y'all y'all y'all looking a little But, you know, I get it. It's Wednesday. You know, I felt like that before I got here, but you know, I had to hit the switch. You know, I had to turn something else on on the inside of me. I had to remind myself where I was coming to. Oh, glory to God. Eldress Odette asked me, "Well, pastor, how are you doing?" I said, "I'm tired, but I am strong in the Lord." Hallelujah. I'm allowed to be tired. Amen. But I am strong. Hallelujah. And I am encouraged today. Encouraged. Encouraged. Encouraged. Okay. So, whatever y'all supposed to do next, you can go ahead and do it. You can stand to your feet. I'mma read I'm going to read my opening text and we are going to dive right in. I want you all to know there is a grace to preach all the time. You know, I think I have a a sometime grace to preach, but I want you to know your pastor, Dr. P, we give him greetings. Hello, Dr. pool. We're grateful that you're logged on. He has a grace. I mean, you do you realize he prepares a word for us every Sunday, every Wednesday, then sometimes Saturday. Bless the men in there. And he doesn't miss a beat. Hallelujah. And then I'm like, and he have a life outside of preaching the gospel. So I'm like, man, I don't have no life right now. I don't have no life right now because I'm preaching I preach Sunday. I'm preaching today. I'm preaching Sunday again. I'm getting ready for the women's conference. I don't have a life right now. Y'all pray for your pastor. I'm in between I'm in between preparing for messages. Oh, glory to God. But I'm grateful. I could be doing a lot of other things, but here I am standing in the midst of you all with an opportunity to give the word of the Lord this evening. Amen. And so our text we're going to start with tonight, we are going to start with Matthew 6:1 19- 24. Thank you all for coming out tonight. You all look so beautiful and I'm grateful that you all are here tonight in the New King James version of the Bible. Hallelujah. And it says, "Lay, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal." Verse 20, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Verse 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also the light. Hallelujah. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. Next verse. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now, if you all would lift your voice like a trumpet and read that last sentence with me together with authority, you cannot serve God and mammon. So, Father, we thank you and appreciate you for another opportunity to stand in your presence. We pray that you would open our ears to hear what you're saying. Give us ears to hear, not just to hear it, but to also do it and apply it to our lives. We take authority over the enemy that would try to hinder this word from going forth. We render him inoperative and ineffective in the name of Jesus. I ask your anointing rest upon my life now that I would speak clearly with boldly with boldness and conviction on the topic that you have set before me tonight. And I'm persuaded, Father, that our lives will be changed by the power of the gospel. Change is inevitable. And we're trusting and adjusting you along the way in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. And amen. And you all may take your seats in the presence of our lifechanging king. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So here we are again. God has a word for us. He has a word for us. And I want our ears to be open to hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying. I want us to be able to recognize and hear God say something to us. to not just hear it as something to take into my eargate, but also asking the Lord, how do I apply this to my life? How do I apply this? Because that's the conundrum in the body of Christ. Today, I'm asking God to help me be a more effective teacher that we will be able to connect the dots between hearing and doing the word because it's in doing that we will be blessed. We can't just hear the word and not do it, right? Because the Bible says if we hear it and don't do it, we are deceiving ourselves. Hallelujah. So, I don't want to be deceived. I was deceived long enough before I knew the Lord. And I've known the Lord longer than I didn't know him, but that was a long time of being just, you know, kind of messed up in the head. And now that I'm saved, I have the ability to have clarity of mind and function. And it all hinges upon me not just hearing what the Bible says, but putting it into practice in my dayto-day living. Amen. To God be the glory. So we are here still in the series on the sermon on the mount. Our beloved Dr. Paul has been with us ministering and sharing with us in uh the book of Matthew. He started in Matthew chapter 5 with the biatitudes. We have been so blessed. Have you all been blessed as we have been looking at this sermon on the mount? I'm telling you. And I remember I remember years and years ago 2015 so it's been excuse me it's been some years ago that we were actually in Israel and we were actually where they where Jesus preached the sermon on the mount and I'll be honest with you deacon uh lease I thought about I said man would that we go back to Israel but we not going to Israel right now this is turbulent times this we going to stay right here in the United States of America and hallelujah not right now but I tell you what should the Lord tarry his return and things kind of smooth out to actually be where the sermon on the mount was actually being taught. It was something to behold and we were blessed to be able to be there and so Dr. P has been teaching to us on that wise from this subject matter and we're going to pick up I'm going to recap just a little bit. I'm going to take my time so that look we're going to be here at least an hour and a half maybe two hours tonight. I don't know sister Rosemary I feel like you know Doc P not here. He keep us here all night plus a Sunday, you know, an extra Tuesday. Uh, you know, so I'm going, you know, I'm going to add some stories and, you know, I'm going draw my time out a little bit, you know. I might just pause, not say anything. Just let my clock burn up a little bit, you know, because I we we going to be here today. What time is it right now? We not We not We not leaving. We not I'm not going to be home by 8 o'clock. Hallelujah. I'm not going to be home by 8 o'clock. Oh, glory to God. We going we going to be here a little while. Amen. Hallelujah. To God be the glory. So let us look at what he was talking to us about um the last couple weeks he talked to us about the two riches because our text we understand sermon on the mount how to measure your treasure. So we're continuing with that thought the sermon on the mount how to measure your treasure and today today we're going to look at two masters. Okay and let's back up a little bit. Let's back up a little bit. Let's look at Matthew 6:21 because again, the two riches, earthly and heavenly, and then the two hearts, good and evil. I know you all took copious notes. So, if you want to go back and look at that, then we're you go back and look at that. I'm going to launch and go over a little bit, but not that entire uh teaching that he did. All right. All right. So, first of all, when I saw this Matthew 6:21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Well, let's look at that in the passion translation. Let's look at that in the passion translation. It says, "For your heart will always." Do you see that word always? Whenever we see always in scripture, it is an absolute. And we have to understand always to be, you know, we say, we use absolutes, but they're not always true. We say things like, "Nobody likes me." Well, that's an absolute because nobody is everybody. And at least your mama love you. Amen. At least your mama love you and you got God there. So you know that's not that takes that takes the absolute out of that statement. But when we read an absolute, we have to take it for absolutely what it's trying to convey to us. So it says for your heart will what? Always pursue what you esteem as your treasure. Now that's speaking volumes to me. That's speaking volumes to me about my heart and what it will not sometimes do. Not not uh this day do it one way and no always your heart my heart will always pursue what I esteem as my treasure so that sometimes it's good to rewrite those scriptures to make it because if I read for your heart I'm not I'm not encapsulating me. I'm not putting me in that equation. I'm saying it's you, Eldress Trust. I'm saying it's you. It's your for your heart will always pursue what you perceive esteem as your treasure. We got to rewrite that to make it personal. Say, I got to make it personal. So, it would read, "For my heart will always pursue what I esteem as my treasure." Now, that makes us pause a little bit because it makes it personal. It makes me to pause, ponder, pay attention to what am I esteeming as my treasure. So Dr. P, he talked about these two hearts. These two hearts. We looked at the two riches. So I'm picking up at the two hearts. The first heart was the good heart, right? Because we your heart. Say your heart. That's why this was a good place, a good place to transition into what we're going to talk about tonight. Colossians 3:2. Let's look at that in the New King James Version of the Bible. Colossians 3:2 it says, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Now, I have to revisit this. Whenever I think of this particular passage, I have to revisit it for myself. I have to ask myself, is my mind set on things above? Is my is my the King James, is my affection on things above? I have to think of that in terms of and I had to remind myself of this just the other day. Just the other day, I had to ask I had to tell myself, self, you need to live with eternity in view. This is not our we do not belong here. We're aliens. We're just passing through. Hallelujah. We have an eternal residence waiting on us. Oh, glory to God. And if I would just set my mind on those things, I wouldn't get caught up, tied up, and tangled up on what is going on in earth on earth. I'm telling you what, this world is in messed up shape. In case you didn't know, just turn on the news. Who Who even watch y'all don't watch the news? Do you see? You don't. But here, let let me just tell you, it's just messed up. I'm just trying to figure out when they gonna put a happy story on the news. Can we just talk about buttercups and rainbows and butterflies and and good things? But if I set my mind on current events, I'm going to be disenouraged. I'm going to be discouraged. That's I made up a word. Disengraded. Discouraged and not encouraged. Disencouraged. That's a new word. Hallelujah. So, I've got to set my mind. I've got to intentionally make myself think about things that are above and not on the earth. The Passion translation. Let's look at Matthew 6:22. in the Passion translation because we're looking at these two hearts. We're recapping a little bit because I told you all we're going to be here. We not leaving at 88 8:00 p.m. tonight. Amen. Hallelujah. So now we have Matthew 6:22. The eyes of your spirit allow revelation light to enter into your being if your heart is unclouded. We need I want my heart to be unclouded so that I can receive all that God has for me. so that the light of God's life and his love can flow into my heart to affect all the crevices to affect all the broken places. I want my heart to be unclouded. Don't you? Yes. Hallelujah. And we have to read because this this is if this is conditional. So I have to turn this again making it personal turning it into a prayer into a declaration. I want my heart to be uncluttered. Father help me to here's what I want you to do. God, help me f so that my heart is not unclouded and I allow your light to flood in. I need the light of the Lord in my life. Hallelujah. Because if we have a good heart and if we're seeing things right, Amen. we'll be in we'll be in a good way because then we got the bad heart. Say the bad heart. Nobody wants a bad heart. And Dr. P and I were having a discussion. How many of you all uh talk about people, places, and things? And you may say something like, "Well, that person's heart isn't right." And so, I was having that discussion with one of my dear friends in Christ years ago, and if I recall it correctly, she said, "Well, you can't really determine whether someone's heart is right or not." So, I began to think about it, and I I pondered on it a little bit. Dr. P and I discussed it, but how many of you know we're known by our fruit? Hallelujah. You know, I'm not here to judge anybody, but I I I you know, I I can pick up on I can pick up what you're putting down if you just putting some things down before me that don't line up with scripture. If I don't see the joy of the Lord in your house, in your life on a continual basis, that makes me think something's going on in your heart. Say in my heart. Hallelujah. If I don't have peace in my if I don't if I'm not a convers person to conversate and we're talking about peace, that tells me something's going on in my heart. If I'm frustrated, disillusioned, hard to get along with 99.9% of the time something is going on in my heart. My heart's not right. But now we don't like it when people say things like, "Well, you know, see, your heart isn't right." See, then we get upset, you know, and you know, my little wiggle my little wiggle thing I do, you know, we get upset, we start to wiggle, but it's the truth. Don't we want truth? Yes. Don't you want someone to tell you? Don't we all want someone to tell us if we're a little odiferous? Don't we want somebody to tell us that listen if they listen, you don't even got to tell me that my breast stink. Just hand me a tic tac. Just hand me an altoid. I I should not be offended if you are offering me something that is going to help me. I should not be offended if you have discovered a truth about me. you're trying to help me and then well and she told me that my breast stink. Well, it did. And I realize sometimes we have situations going on. I get it. I promise I do. I get it. I've been serving God a few Sundays over last Tuesday and a couple weeks added on to that. And I I mean I realize I realize that sometimes depending on what I'm going if if my if my heart is bad, my hearing is off, things are just mixed up and I might hear it wrong. But somebody came to me. I mean, I had just now it's something when your breath stink right after you got when you first get to church. I mean, we just figuring we just brushed our teeth less than an hour ago and then I'm at church and somebody said, "Hey, praise the Lord. You need a mint." I was like, "Oh, okay." Then come to find out, well, that was the beginning of my dental journeys. We're not going to talk about that tonight. My teeth are in a much better place. But that's what was going on with that. But if if my heart is bad, then I'm not going to hear even when someone is trying to give me the truth. Matthew 6:23 in the Passion translation, it says, "But if your eyes are focused on money, the light cannot penetrate and darkness takes its place." How profound will How profound will be the darkness within you if the light of truth cannot enter? We don't have Oh, if it's said, how profound how profound will the darkness within you be? How profound will the darkness within you if the light of truth cannot enter? Listen, I need I need the light of truth. I needed to enter in. Amen. Am I the only one? I need I can't be so focused on money. I can't be focused on things that are not not kingdom minded so much that darkness that that the light can't penetrate. I need the light to penetrate my life. I need to find out what has been broken and twisted on the inside of me. So God, I'm like, listen, help me. That's why I spend time with the Lord every day. I want him to search me and try me and see if there's any hurtful way in me. Not reading my Bible trying to figure out what's wrong with you. Although as a pastor with insight for oversight, sometimes, not all the time, God will show me something about his people, but most of the time, he I want him to I need the word to deal with me. Hallelujah. So, if your eyes are focused on money, that's leading us into what we're going to talk about tonight. These two masters. These two masters. Let's go back to Matthew 6:24. And we're going to look at that in the New King James Version of the Bible. And as I was preparing for this, I almost I almost said, "Well, let me do let me do the offering tonight." And then I had a thought. I said, "Well, maybe we'll take two offerings tonight. Change is inevitable." Then I thought, well, no, I didn't think that's what we need to do, but that wouldn't be so bad if we did it because we are going to go into a teaching tonight on serving God and mammon. Okay? And it's reflected. So, I'm having this whole thought process in my mind coming up and driving uh uh driving uh getting off the freeway and thinking, man, why is it Lord? Because if if anybody has worked in church finance, I many of you may have not may not have but typically in the summer the giving is down. Typically in the summer giving is down. Why do we think that is so? People are traveling, vacationing, right? So our funds are maybe dispersed differently. Maybe we we are teachers who perhaps had you know uh you know how however your pay thing works out. So, you're working through the school year, but then the summer months you're you're not working. And so, typically in the summer months, the giving is down. In case you didn't know, now you know. Then also another time typically when giving is down is when the pastor is not at church. And that's not just at Destiny Christian Center where we are illuminating the pathway to purpose through the teaching of God's word where change is inevitable in 2025. We're talking this is a body of Christ issue. Say a body of Christ issue. Body of Christ. So it affects Christians. If it's a body of Christ issue, this is something that Christians deal with. So another time when offerings are typically lower is on a Wednesday. Say a Wednesday. Now why do we think that is so? Not as many people come out on Wednesdays. Is that is that somebody else? That's the main reason. Yes. Okay. But do we have that excuse now in 2025? No. Why? We have electronic giving. Oh, glory to God. Come on, give the Lord a hand right there. Come on. Hallelujah. We We don't have that. We re that that really should not be an issue. Now granted, we don't have the but I believe God people are standing in line to get in the Destiny Christian Center to hear the word of God. Every seat is filled in every service. Sunday morning worship, Wednesday night Bible study. Oh, glory to God. Every seat is filled on Wednesday night Bible study. Every seat is filled on Wednesday night Bible study. And we come with an expectation of signs, wonders, and miracles. No matter how we feel, cuz most of the time, and I'm telling you, I felt the same way. I f I was sleepy driving up here. I felt the same way. And I got me a nap, too. But I I said, "No, we got to flip this thing on. I can't stand up here." Hey, how y'all doing? Oh, I'm tired today. Oh, Lord have mercy. Oh, turn with me. Turn with me. What's the scripture? Let me see. Let me contact this. I just took me a nap. What that say? No one can serve two masters. You know, I got to come I got to bring the energy with it. I got to I got to I got to say like, you know, like I believe that Jesus is alive. I got to believe like the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in my mortal body giving me life. I expect a miracle. Oh, glory to God. I can run through truths and leap over a wall. And I can do that on a Wednesday night, too. Even when I'm feeling a little sleepy. Now, I guarantee you after I get done here, I'm'll be tired. Hallelujah. Cuz after all my energyy's been expended, Pastor Jim, I'm sleepy again. But I haven't forgotten what I'm talking about. So, this giving almost almost tapped you out, Elders Jones. I almost tapped you out and I'm still I don't know. Yeah, we got to ask God to help us with our giving because it because it says no one can serve two masters for either he will listen look at the wording. It does it it says hate. How many That's a strong word. Am I the only one to watch these TV programs when these little children These little children, they not even paying taxes. They don't even have they don't even have lip hair. They they you know, they I mean h how you how you going to say you hate me and slam the door on the house that I pay the mortgage at and act like I ain't never done nothing for you in all your live long nine years of your life and you just can't stand me. I'm telling you, I don't know. Oh, I be feeling like I could just reach through the TV screen and snap somebody's kid and say, "Listen, say you hate me one more time. It's going to go down hard and fast right here." So, this word hate is a strong word. It's a word. It's a word to get our attention. Either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. Another very strong word. Despise is a strong word. I dis Dr. Pool despises potato salad. That's a strong word. Then we have a fi our final statement. You cannot serve God and mammon. So again, you see why I'm starting to think about the giving. And then I already knew I already because whenever I promise you I've been serving the Lord for 38 years and I promise you, you want to silence the crowd off the top. Let's talk about money. In a close second, you mess with people's meals. Boy, you want to snatch the air out the room. You talk about money and you talk about chicken and eating too much of it. I promise you, 38 years across the board. Why is that? Why do I get quiet when we begin to talk about subjects such as money? Because this tells me no one can serve two masters. We're talking tonight about two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. Now, you need to think of this in terms of where your loyalty lies. You need to think of this in terms of who you going to hate and who you going to love because it says you cannot serve the two. And then it doesn't say, it says God and mammon. It doesn't say your family and mammon. It doesn't say your job and mammon. It doesn't say your hobby and mammon. We're talking about God Almighty. We're talking about the Savior, the one who set the stars in the sky. I did not get to see that stellar activity last night. I fell asleep, but that's okay. The stars in the sky, the full moon in the sky, the one that swamp and brings the sun out. The same God that makes it 117 degrees outside. That God, that's who we're talking about. That you cannot serve God and mammon. Now, that puts a different spin on this thing. the God who took time to form me on the inside of my mother's womb who I shared housing. Do you ever think about the concept of birth? How does this child being formed in this mother's how does a child number one not suffocate? How does a child, if you were to wrap us up and put us in a bubble with some liquid, we would we would suffocate. We would drown. I mean, and then in the dark, we would just have paranoia all. But we are formed in the depths of our mother's belly. See, that's the God we talking about. And that same God, that same God sees fit to get us, listen, to get us into the world through one of the most narrow passages known to man. Now, how in the world does an 8 lb, sometimes 10, 12 pound baby come out of that narrow passageway and survive? You know, I like watching them birthing videos. I'll be into it, too. I'm like, I I could do that. I really feel like I could do this. I really feel like I could birth. I mean, then you think, well, and then the baby gets stuck. How come the baby not suffocating in the Burkow? I mean, how is it? I mean, the woman the mama been in labor for 24 hours. The baby be in the been in B. You try holding your You try pinching your nose down for 24 hours. Nurse, we wouldn't be making it. That God, that's the God we're talking about. I need to we need to put this in perspective. How we going to serve that god or mammon or money that you can just throw into a fire and then just burn up and turned into ash and you don't know what it was. These two masters, two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. So what we're looking at is the impossibility of a divided loyalty. It's impossible for our loyalty to be divided. Say it's impossible for my loyalty to be divided. Now, I need you to say it one more time like you believe that. It's impossible. It's impossible for my loyalty my loyalty to be divided. Now, then that lays another question before me. That lays a question. Where does my loyalty lie? Where is my loyalty? Why do I make a distinction between my giving on Sunday? I'll give a $150, $300 on Sunday and on Wednesday a $5 offering. Just three a three-day difference. A three-day difference. Did my economic state plummet so much to where I gave a $300 offering on Sunday and on Wednesday all I have to offer God is $5. Now, we got to think about this. We got to because we can't serve two masters. We got to ask ourselves, where does my loyalty lie? And then we can't we, you know, as much as I'd like to, you know, well, Queen, how come you only gave $5? I know you got a good job, Lisa. Now, listen. You've been giving $10 for 25 years. I think it's time to up your commitment to your commitment and not to not to $11 either. Okay? We've been serving the Lord a little too long to give an $11 offering. But then it gets quiet. Then it gets quiet. See, but can't serve two masters. The same God that enabled me to give 300 on Sunday. I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded. If I have it, I should I I mean I should I mean maybe I can't give $300 on Wednesday, but I can show give 30. Say I got to ask myself to me say to her to her. Now I really think it should be to all of us to everybody. I mean can we give God more than a $10 offering on a Wednesday? I mean can we shouldn't we up our commitment to our commitment our level of love? Has God not been good to us? Has God has God's grace not covered and kept us? Dude, can't we not believe God to give more than a $10 offering on a Wednesday? I'm telling you what, I insult myself if I give a $10 offering. If I You best believe if I give a $10, that's all I got. I mean, I I done ran out of checks. My internet ain't working. And all I could scramble up and buy in the bottom of my purse is $1062. I'm digging down deep trying to because that's all I have. But I have more than 10. I uh I'm and and if I travel out of town, I I can say if you're not here, what I'm saying because we can't serve two masters, our loyalty is going to be divided. And if I if I were to pull this room right now, if I were to say, "Who in here loves the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength?" What's going to happen now? What if my love uh oh, you know where I'm going, Eldress? I said, "I love the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. And all I can show that love is with a $10 bill." I'm trying to I'm I'm really um Help me, Holy Ghost. Help me, Holy Ghost. This ministry, we have a we have we have we have cultivated a culture of giving. How in the world can less than a hundred people bring in close to $200,000 on a super Sunday, but on a Wednesday I can't bring no more than $5? See, we got to ask ourselves, wait a minute, where's my loyalty lie? Now, see, this is how I'm going to know. This is how I'm going to know that you picked up what I was putting down. Oh, glory to God. next Wednesday, that offering ought be at least be doubled because Lisa, if you hear what I'm saying to you and you gave $10 today and you picked up what I was putting down and you know you got $20 next week, you're at least going to start there and you're going to ask the Lord, you're going to hear the word of the Lord say, "So, here's what I want you to do. God helping me. God, help me to let the bottom of my giving be $20." And that's still kind of low. If you want to be honest, that's still kind of low. We got some good paying jobs in this under under the sound of my voice and the people that's hearing me that's looking at me that know how to operate Zale and and Vinmo and PayPal and all of that. We we we got some good paying jobs. I'm I'm I just believe. So if if you all hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying and don't hear it with the spirit of condemnation because there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We are in Christ Jesus. And I'm praying that the spirit of the Lord would convict us that we would up our commitment to our commitment and display where our loyalty lies because we can only have two. There's only two masters. There's only two masters. My loyalty can either lie with God or with mammon. You can't can't be with both. I can't be loyal to God and mammon. You cannot serve God and mammon. So that's telling us that my loyalty can't be with God and mammon. So my first point my first point. Oh, good. I'm burning up this clock. Oh, glory to God. I'm not Listen, I'm just hitting point number one. I got two more points and I'm going to get all my points out. And listen, tell you seven. Oh, yeah. We might get We might leave here at 9:00 tonight. Um, maybe not, but we won't get home at 8. I was like, man, church is over already. It's 8:05. What happened here? No one can serve two masters. So, who are the masters? God and mammon. So, we're looking at God. Is he is Jesus is Jesus really the Lord of my life? One of the things we ask in marriage counseling is Jesus Lord or do you just like him a lot? I think a lot of us just like him a lot. And I gota I got to repent. I'm just talking about me. I got father forgive me. I I you know help me because I love you Lord and I I'm grateful and I'm thankful but and I don't want to act like I like you. I love you. I'm submitted to your lordship. We understand lordship means what? Master. It means ruler. It means he's the boss. Amen. He's the He's the boss hog. Amen. Hey, boss. You know, you say, "Hey, boss is tired." Amen. Aren't you glad God isn't up there in heaven saying boss is tired? But he is the boss. God. God. No man can serve two masters. But what does the word say? We have to look up. Lift up our countenance. lift up our gaze, lift up our our uh vision and perspective and see God. We talked about that on Sunday. We t and we were we were tremendously blessed by the word of the Lord because we need to see with dove's eyes. Amen. We want to see it like God sees it. So, Exodus 20 verse one. Is this helping somebody tonight? Hallelujah. To God be the glory. Exodus 20 verse 1. And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall have no other gods before me." Is that statement not clear? But then we have to wait a minute. We have to wait a minute. Wait a minute. God, do I have other gods before you in my life? Do I worship money more than I worship you? Do I trust my job and the economic state more than I trust you? When this scripture clearly tells me, it's the number one ten commandments. You shall have no other gods before me. It's clear, right? We understand it. Amen. Shout hallelujah if you understand it. Hallelujah. Then turn with me to Matthew 22 because it goes on to say a similar thing. Matthew 22 verse 37 says Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord. Doesn't say you shall love money. It doesn't say you shall love your job. It doesn't say you should love your mate. It says you shall love the Lord your God with all. Again, there is an absolute there. It doesn't say that I should love the Lord God with some of my heart, right? Because then my loyalty will be divided. Then I'm really I'm going to be more loyal to one than the other. That's why it says you shall love the Lord your God with what? All your heart, with what? All your soul and with all your mind. With everything in me, we ought to love God. And again, if I were to pull the audience in and not just at Destiny Christian Center, any church, if I was a guest speaker, if I were to say, "Do you love God with all your heart mind?" And everybody, the whole congregation would erupt. Well, where's your loyalty? Where's your loyalty? If you love God with all, if I love him with all, it should it should be reflected in every area of my life. If I love God with all, it should be reflected in every area of my life. We got absolutes on the table. If I love the Lord God with all, then what? Every area of my life should be affected. Every area. Every area. This is the first and great commandment. We got to do we got to love God with all first. Say first. First. Then Matthew 6:33. It's in our Bibles. If you want to know how to live the Bible, basic instructions before leaving earth, the B I Ble E. You want to learn how to live and how to please God, ask him to help you see it in his holy script. We know this verse. It says, "But seek first the what? Seek second, third, and maybe 10th, 20th down after we've done everything else. Seek God first. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things shall be added to you. Now, this is a powerful statement. This is a powerful scripture because it's telling us what to do. Seek first. That's why we encourage you to read your Bible first. Now, may the Lord be with those who have to be at work at 6:00 am. Because if I had to be at work at 6:00 am, oh doggy, that means if I want if if if it's if it's in my heart to seek him first, I got to at least at least Robert, I got to get up at 4. I need an hour with the Lord and an hour to get ready. I mean, and if I just do it some things the night before, I maybe can get an hour and a half with the Lord and take me 30 minutes to get ready. That's why I got to be strategic where I live, where I work. If I just work four turns around the corner, I might be able to push the envelope a little bit more. See, I have to seek him first. First, but people struggle. Believers struggle with spending time with the Lord. But I'm believing God. I'm believing God that this is our year of change. I'm believing God that this is the year that the eyes of our understanding will be enlightened. I'm believing God that this is the year that when we set that before you, you won't hear it as condemnation. You will hear it as a charge. You will hear it as a word of comfort. You will hear it as a cause to rise up from your current state and ask the Lord to help you and show help you to see how to have victory in your day-to-day living. Daytoday victory starts with seeking first the kingdom. Daytoday vic day daytoday victory starts with daytoday spending time with God. And then if you do if you would do it every day, I promise if you would do even if you don't understand it, you're building faith in your fibers. You're you're building faith in your DNA, your dribboucleic acid, the inner being, your makeup, your workup when you spend time because see it all has to be changed out. Say it got to be changed out cuz I mean if any man be in Christ, he's new. Old things pass away. Now listen, my spirit man is automatically new. But my soul, my you know, I my soul girl needs work. But she can be worked out. But it starts with seeking first the kingdom daily. Amen. Daily. Say daily. Say daily. Say daily. The New Amplified translation of that same verse. I love this because it's showing us, it's prioritizing things for us. The New Amplified, but first and most importantly, it puts emphasis on first. In case you wouldn't understand what first meant, in case you just think first meant just so you could do it before you get into everything else, it says not just first, but also more importantly, and more importantly, do what? Seek, aim, strive after, aim, accountable, intentional maintenance. Strive after his kingdom, his righteousness, God's way of doing and being right. Not my way. Not like my way. Oh, me and elders, we like our way. All of you guys, you just are all such holy people. I'm grateful. I'm in the midst of holy people. Just holy people. Listen, I like my way. And when my way doesn't go my way, my cart is upset. But if I can if I can go another way and not let my cart be upset, oh, hallelujah. I'm growing up in the things of God. I'm learning how to not just be concerned about me, but to be concerned about his kingdom, his way of doing and being right. Hallelujah. With the attitude and character of God. Dove's eyes, God's perspective, the attitude and character of God. Then look at this promise. If I would seek God's aim, strive after his kingdom of righteousness and way of doing and being right, it says all the things. What things? All the other things that you want in life, the things, the things will be given. They don't have to be purchased. They don't have to be fought for. They don't have to be bargained for. It says all of the things will be given to you also. I remember reading this passage when I was uh newly saved and single. I said, "Oh, that includes a husband." Hallelujah. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I wanted to be married so bad. I just put it in every scripture. Every scripture promised to me. It said, "Oh, if I see God, all these things, a husband going to be added to me." Oh, glory. I I'm I That was me. That was me. And he answered my prayer. Hallelujah. But, you know, but that's what it's talking about. What are the things in your life that you want that you see? God doesn't want us to be stoic and run around here with no eyebrows, no eyelashes, you know, looking like somebody, you know, broke down, four flat tires, you know, just the worst. No, he wants us to enjoy the good life. But he wants us to seek him first and not seek after the things. I've got to seek him first. And not the things. So the two masters, God, he should be, he should be number one, numero uno. But then we got number two, mammon. Mammon, wealth, the personification of riches. It's comprehensive. It's a comprehensive word for all kinds of possessions, earnings, gains, uh material things. Uh when we again we were in Israel, he said, "Yes, here we are. We were some in some marketplace. Here we are and you can experience the god of commercialism. I was like what I first I had to I had to think a minute. I thought he was being spiritual. I was like oh this where everybody's spending their money. I mean there were some places that were not spiritual in Israel. They wanted to barter and they had a toite over here for for $50. Well a couple vendors down they had it for for 25. And if you say well look they was going to give it to me. I'll give you 10 for it. See that kind of stuff was h it was happening. See the god of commercialism, you know. Okay, y'all want a better picture? It was like the alley in LA at the garment district. There was a part in Israel where that whole section I felt like I, you know, I felt like I had to clutch my purse, you know, clutch my purse and my pearls at the same time cuz I ain't know if somebody's going to roll up on me and try to take my stuff. The God of commercialism, mammon. Surely surely our loyalty isn't divided between God and the God of materialism. Two masters. Now we have to understand when we have God and Mammon, when we have God and if if if it was just God, is there a choice to be made? There's never a choice. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that be wonderful? We had one pair of shoes. Some people like, "No." Well, you would get to church on time. If I only had one pair of shoes, if I only had one suit, if I had one outfit, boy, I already know what I'm wearing next week. I'm telling you what, I I'm telling the truth. I'm sitting here getting this message together and I had to figure out what I was going to wear tonight. I had to go through and see, let me wear that and all that. That didn't work out. So, it took me about five and a half, eight minutes trying to put my outfit together. Took away from my preparation time trying to figure out what I'm going to wear. See? See? See what? And I said, "Well, no, I did too. Wait a minute. Can I at least have two?" But see, now if I have two pair, see, now I got to make a choice. Have you ever felt like can you can we not just can you where do you want to go eat? Don't wouldn't you rather me just say we're going to this place to eat instead of saying where do you want to eat? Oh, that opens up a vast opportunity. A vast a vast I mean, you know, or even if you put well do you want, you know, Burger King or McDonald's? I don't want either one of those. Personally, if we talking burgers, we need to upgrade. We need to up our commitment to our commitment to beef. And we can't eat can't eat either one of those. But if I have a choice, see, I have a choice. Two things are before me. Two things. Anytime there's two or more, a choice has to be made. And we all must make the choice. Who will I serve? God or mammon? We all will make the choice. And I'm telling you, next Wednesday's offering, Sunday's offering ought to be more because it's going to reflect where my loyalty lies. Our giving reflects where our loyalty lies. Amen. And again, no condemnation or we just got to up our commitment sometimes. Oh, glory to God. We must make a choice. Now, no one can serve. The scripture says Matthew 6:24, no one can serve, hold on to that word, two masters. No one can serve two masters. So serve is the root word of servant. And another word for servant, another word for servant is a slave. Let's look at Matthew 6:24 in the CEV version of the Bible. Is this helping somebody tonight? The Bible says Matthew 6:24 in the CEV version. Look at this. You cannot be the slave of two masters. You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to the one than other. Now notice the change of the word. You cannot serve both God and money. So it started out you can't be the slave but then it ends up you cannot serve. So that tells us that we can inter interchange serve and enslave. Now you call somebody a slave. Wait a minute. Them fighting words. Slave is not a nice word in our vocabulary. It's not a happy word. It doesn't bring happy feelings. We went to the African-American Museum in Washington DC and it was a build. It was a beautiful edifice. Six stories. It was a beautiful edifice. But I'm telling you what, when when slavery is curated from the way we got here from the top to the bottom, I'm telling you what, you're not leaving out of there doing cartwheels and thinking about buttercups, rainbows, daisies, and butterflies because it doesn't it doesn't have a good connotation. You're thinking of servitude. You're thinking of you're thinking of being in bonds. You're thinking of being in chains. You're thinking of being, you know, being uh tortured and all of that. So, it's telling us you cannot be the slave of two masters. So that tells me either I'm going to be a slave of God or a slave of money. I said, "Oh my God." Because when we start talking about slavery, say slavery. And then we we So you cannot be the slave of two masters. Now again, master not necessarily a term that also brings forth warm and fuzzy terminology because it still gives us understanding of slavery. Slaves and masters. Masters and slaves. Not happy terms, not things that make us want to jump for joy. It carries a connotation of ownership. It's not warm and fuzzy. But say but in your Bible, Romans 1:1, New Living Translation. This began to minister to me because I began to think of slavery in another in another light. I began to think of servitude in another light. Romans 1:1. This letter is from Paul. What? A slave of Christ. A slave of Christ. chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his good news. Paul looked at it as a good thing to be a slave of Christ. Then you go on, stay in the New Living Translation and let's look at Romans 6:15. 6:15. We're talking about this word slave. It says, "Do don't you realize that you become the slave?" Romans 6:15. Well, then since that's not it. So, somebody fan for me. 16. We'll go to 16. That's what I wanted. See, that's what happens when you take notes after you took a nap and your contacts are dry and it's fuzzy. Don't you realize that you become the what? Slave of whatever you choose to obey. You can be a slave of slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Now again, now that word slave, that's not a good word again right there. Wait a minute. You mean to tell me if I don't get my tail up out of whoredom, then that means I'm a slave to being a You mean to tell me if I don't get my tail up out of a bar and drinking alcohol and being a drunkard? You mean to tell me I'm a slave to alcohol? Oh my god. You mean a slave? You mean to tell me if I don't get if I don't quit lying, cheating, cussing, and fussing, hanging out, and doing things that I should that should not be named among a Christian that I'm a slave to that? I'm a slave to that sin. Oh, God. May it never be. Because that kind of slavery leads to death. The way of the transgressor is hard. The wages of sin is death. And I believe this is a clarion call to the body of Christ to come out from among them and be separate. God has weanked on our ignorance long enough. Jesus is coming back. And I don't know about you, but as for me, I'm making sure that my life is right before God cuz I don't know, I might not make it into the next moment. And I don't want to stand before God and give an excuse as to why I let some sin keep me in bondage. No. May it never be. You become a slave of whatever you choose to obey. So whenever you ever think, I just can't help it and you know that I can't help it is a bad thing. You're a slave to it. You're a slave to it. Thank God. Verse 17. Once you were slaves to sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey his teaching we have given you. Now you are free from the slavery to sin and become slaves to righteous living. I am in bondage to righteous living. I'm telling you what my conscious want. I I told y'all one time I was in a little store and I had a little bitty thing and I could have just stuck it in my pocket when nobody I said that's no that's stealing. Oh no. I mean and the thought of putting this thing in my pocket and leaving out I was convicted because I'm a slave of righteousness. I'm a slave of righteousness. When I think about Kesha, when I think about man, you might be mad at me and I did something to hurt man. That that pricks my heart because if I did that means somehow somewhere sin leaked out into my life and it caused an offense. See, that's we there's so many ways you can look at offense. But that means something in me came out and it caused opportunity for an offense in you. See, I get before God with uh God. Uhuh. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't if they mad at me. Oh Lord Jesus, what do I do? How do I get this thing right? I can't have Kesha mad at me. How do I make it right, God? And then if you don't let me make it right, my cookies is crumbled. They're toasted. They're burnt. I feel some kind of way if I can't get it right. Cuz it tells me if I confess my sins, he's faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I'm a slave to righteous living. So when I do fall short, I go to God and I ask him to forgive me because I'm a slave to righteousness. I'm not a slave of sin. I'm a slave of righteousness. Oh, glory to God. 1 Corinthians 7:22, same New Living Translations. I need us to drive home because we can only serve. We got two choices. Two choices. God and mammon. Amen. Either I'm going to obey God and serve him or be a slave to God and righteousness or I'm going to I'm going to serve mammon. I'm going be a slave of sin and mammon and money and wealth. And think about how how I mean you could just throw money. People just in bad ways are drugged out. They throw money in. I'm like, "Hold up. Don't be throwing that money in the fireplace. Somebody need a bill paid." But it just burns up. There's no use for it. And remember 1 Corinthians 7:22. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. See, slavery in the Lord is different than slavery in in the in the world. Cuz really I really I feel like I'm I'm a slave, but but I'm free. I'm a free slave. Hallelujah. Cuz I'm free in in Christ Jesus. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. I am free in Jesus. Oh, glory to God. And if you are free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave. I'm a slave of Christ. I got to do right. I got to do I got to do right by God. I got to do right by my husband. I got to do right by my children. I have to because I'm a slave of righteousness. So when you look at this and you look at and search the scriptures and as I was preparing and looking at the meaning of this word servant and slave and how they're interchangeable, how it's talking about being a servant, being a bondervant, one who you laid your life down for, you did what they told you to do, whether you wanted them to wanted to do it or not. How many know we don't always want to come to church? I'm telling you what, we all could have stayed home tonight and got a little extra sleep. But just by you being here, you ought to shout under God with the voice of triumph because it's letting you know. It's letting the devil know. It's serving notice on every demonic force that's trying to lay hold of your life. I'm not a slave of sin. I'm a slave of righteousness. That's why I'm here tonight. Even though my flesh wants to be somewhere else cuz I'm a slave of God and I'm a slave of righteousness. Hallelujah. Now, think of this. This meaning of slavery and this meaning of servitude in terms of a slave cannot serve two masters. The loyalty will be divided. Now I need us again think of that in terms of let's think of that. I keep okay we not doing two offerings but I'm I'm coming back to it. Think of it in terms of our giving. Think of it in terms of our giving. Now there are some people sister Ruthie that are so disciplined and and they're such good stewards. They plan out their giving. They set aside. They save it up. They set it aside and they just they they're able to give larger amounts cuz they done divvied it up, put it in the envelope and they just ready to just pull out. What you need an extra $100? Bam. Here I got it. It ain't hurt me none. So sometimes you say $100? Wait a minute. Hold up. That was that was that that $100 was going to get gas. That $100 going to do a whole bunch this weekend. You want me to give it? Oh, but when we are slave to God and we when we learn how to have, hold, and handle money, a $100 is like, you know, hey, bring Benjamin. I'm ready. Hallelujah. So, number one, we have God. Number two, we have Mammon. Our third point for tonight. Hallelujah. And I still Oh, I still got like 20 minutes even though that clock says nine. Hallelujah. We got to choose one. Say, I got to choose one. Say, I got to choose one. I need us to We got We got to say it with I need us to get say it with authority. I got to choose one. Can't choose two. I got to choose one. Now, I don't know if you all noticed. See, you know, we have a pair of earrings, a pair of shoes. Now, if I came in here with one and one black sparkly shoe and a white sparkly shoe, y'all would wonder what what what happened on my way out the door. And now that I think about it, I kind of did on purpose. I got on one earring that's different than the other earring. I just I don't know. I said I'd do an experiment this with myself. I don't know. But but I had to choose one. You got to choose one. Got one pair. You can't wear two pair of shoes at the same time. You can't serve God and mammon at the same time. You can't you can't have a God on one foot and mammon on the other foot. They have to match. My loyalty cannot be divided. Choose one. We all must make a choice. So which will you choose? That's worth writing in your notes where right asking yourself which one am I going to choose? Because I can only choose one. So which one am I going to choose? Uhhuh. Yeah. That it's quiet because you're writing it down. I know that. And we're thinking about it. We're we're up and I believe right now what's happening in the spirit is all of you under the sound of my voice. You're up in your commitment to your commitment to God. And you realize, hey, hey, I know I I I do choose God, but my my commitment's a little, you know, a little a little loose. I'm going to firm up my trustes and I do choose God because serving God is better. I've experienced his goodness. I've experienced his grace and I've experienced his glory in my life. Serving God is better. So, okay. Okay. I'mma choose God. I choose God. I choose God. I choose God. I choose God. Joshua asked, "Choose said Joshua said, "Choose this day who you will serve. Choose this to today right here tonight in under the sound of my voice in this building. Choose this day who you will serve." Now, interestingly enough, prayerfully, none of us have chosen money over God. And we have to pause for a moment and really search our hearts because we all like nice things. We all like nice things. But again, it's not a sin that the nice things. It's not a nice It's not a sin to have nice things. The sin is when the nice things have you and when you look like low and little upon the people who don't have the nice things. See, that's when it's a problem. Now, I'm going to just read through this and bring out some points because we choose God. Amen. We have the choice before us and we're a body of believers. We're we we just choose God. Amen. We just choose God. But this is a simple eternal truth. Always true in every situation. You can't take orders from two people. Have you ever seen a child and one parent says mama say come over here and daddy say don't you go over there with your mom. You better get over here. And then they had the poor little child standing in the middle. Don't know what to do. Just sitting there. Please don't you know they feel like I'm going to get a whooping over here. I'm going to get a woman over here if I don't make a choice because the child's loyalty is divided because the child loves the mother and the child loves the father. Many times we love God and we love the money. But we listen, we need to choose God over the money every time. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now listen, Jesus did not say it was hard. He said it's impossible to serve God and money. It you cannot it cannot be done. maybe for a while, but at some point at some point you going to get tired and one you going to have to let go. That's why I believe you know in sometimes these adulterous situations I don't know why that even came up but you know after a while the the mistress got to go or the wife got to go the spouse is forced to choose because at some point at some point having two lovers man you you looking around you know you wondering you hoping don't nobody see you on social media on a cruise hugged up with somebody that ain't your spouse and then now it's all over the world and now you're a whole embarass emarassment. At one point, it might it might seem fun at first to have two, but at some point you don't have to let one of them go. You don't have to let something go. So, I got to let something go. I gota time comes when it's going to be it's going to be complicated. It's it's complicated. You got to ask yourself, who am I really serving? Ask yourself, who am I really serving? Then ask yourself this question. What dictates my actions? Why do I give only Why do I only give $5 on a Wednesday when I know I have more to give? Why? What dictates that? What's the act? What's the motivation behind that? Then another question, who has the final authority? Who has the final authority in my life? These are awesome questions. Will I do what gets me the most money or will I do what God says? We got to ask ourselves these questions. Now again, you know, sometimes the God choice ain't the always the financial, you know, the big financial one, but I remember years ago uh year, I mean, a long time ago when a a preacher was faced with a job opportunity and a prophet came in town and he said something to the effect of, "Sir, listen. What I see is a carrot being dangled in front of you. That's what I see. And I just believe in that carrot was a better a better opportunity, a greater financial opportunity that it looked good, it smelled good, it felt good, it would have helped the family. But he said that opportunity is a carrot. If you take it, it's going to lead you off the cliff because sometimes the because the the other opportunity wasn't as prestigious. It didn't have the acclaim. It didn't have the notoriety. So this man of God had to make a choice. He had to choose because he had to give him the answer. Have you ever been in a situation where they said, "We need an answer by the end of the day." If you need an answer by the end of the day, I need time to think. I can't get you might as well go and give it to the next person cuz I can't think that fast. I need to I need time because don't we need time to see perhaps? Perhaps. Is that a is there a carrot being dangled in my face? Is there a carrot? Is there some Is this lure? Is this a lure of a logical lie being presented to me? Am I about to if I take this carrot, am I going to be led off the edge of a cliff? Off the edge of a cliff. And everybody knows if you go off the edge of a cliff, you most of the times you don't recover from that. We don't recover from it. So, we got to ask ourselves, who am I serving? What dictates my actions? Who has the final authority? What will I do? What will I do? Uh will will I do what gets me the most money? Will I follow the carrot or will I do what God says? We're looking at this verse and we see that there are times when God's direction won't be most most rewarding. But many times, unfortunately, a lot of people take the carrot. They say, "I'mma take the carrot and take my choices. I'mma take my chances." I believe many, many women, many single women said, "I'mma marry this man and I'mma take my choice. I'mma take my chances." No, he they know he not saved. He don't look saved. He don't act saved. They found him. You know how I feel about single mingle injesusname.com. You know how I feel about that. That's where they found them. But they figured, well, I'm 48 going on 60. You done took years out your life. I'm 48 going on 60. And if if I don't take this single mingle jingle one right now, shoes, I'mma die. I'mma die. Uh uh just single. As if that is just like the worst thing ever. Listen, it's better to be by yourself than be with somebody who's going to be just mess up your life. Listen, money is supposed to be our servant, not our master. Money is supposed to use be to be beneficial to the kingdom. Yes, money answers all things, but it should be it should be used as a tool to benefit us, not to be a burden to us. It should be a tool instead of dictating our actions. We should tell money what to do. Instead, we should use money instead of letting it use us. Have you ever felt been in a situation where you were used? Nobody liked it. When you feel like, man, they got over on me. They stole from me. Nobody likes that feeling. Nobody likes that feeling. But that's what happens when we begin to choose God, choose money over God. We let money get the best of us. And I'm telling you, just just look around at all of these famous people that's just messed up in the head. They living high on the hog. They got everything that money could buy, but they just messed up in the head. They take pills to wake up. They take pills to go to sleep. They drink they drink uh alcohol to stay calm. They drink alcohol to get excited. That's no kind of way to live. That's because they they took the carrot. Say, "I'm not taking the carrot." See, I'm not taking the carrot. I'm not taking a carrot. Listen, Jesus did not say that you can't serve that Jesus did not say that you cannot serve God and have money. Again, he wants us. He He said, "Seek first the kingdom and all the things will be added to you." Listen, it's okay to have nice things. The nice things just what? They can't have me. This is making us think, have I chosen God over mama? Because I got it. My third point, I got to choose one. Listen, if we are if you are making if we are making every decision in life based on our finances, I need to know that I'm not serving God, but I'm serving money. If I am making every decision in life based on money, on on finances and my money, I need to realize I need to realize that I'm not serving God but serving money. You can't be in the mammon army and the God army at the same time. And I'm telling you, I believe this is a message. This is a message that's dealing with again Dr. Pool, the measure of our treasure. Where is my treasure? What is the measure of my treasure? What is important to me? And again, I like nice things. I don't like steak at Applebee's. It's not good steak. I mean, my steak has to cost a lot of money to, you know, like you should be able to cut a steak with a butter knife. You shouldn't need a steak knife with big teeth like your like a saw. You know, you should be able to do it with a butter knife and that you know that's okay. But listen, what is my measure? What is the pattern that I'm making my choices? Now, as I'm bringing this down, I pray that you all have been blessed tonight. And I pray that this is helping us. And this is how I know. This is how I know that our mantra verse this year, first of all, it lets me know that God wants to help us because that verse opens up. So here's what I want you to do. God helping you. God's going to help us. Body of Christ, whatever we need, all we got to do is say, "God, man, I repent. I'm guilty. Famine was my thing. God, I I wanted the money. I repent. I knew better. Forgive me. Help me." And guess what he's going to do? He's going to help you because you genuinely ask from a pure heart. Hallelujah. So, we looked at this, the two types of riches, the two types of hearts, the two types of masters. Think of this in terms uh again as we're looking at choose one and closing out for tonight. Go to John chapter 21. Many times when I'm preparing and studying uh a particular passage of scripture, a correlating one or enter into my thought pattern and I began to think of this particular passage where Jesus was there. He had appeared to back to the disciples after he had been resurrected. John 21:15 and they were there on the shore. Peter was feeling some kind of way. He had already denied the Lord. And now, you know, I mean, he he he's out of the water, but he's still just feeling some kind of way about this whole situation. He's upset with himself. He's kicking himself. He denied the Lord. And now here the Lord is in front of him, the one he denied. He's trying not to be shamed. He's trying not to have his tail between his legs. John 21:15. So, when they had eaten breakfast, can you imagine how Peter felt while they were sitting there eating breakfast? Jesus was oozing with grace, love, and compassion. And Peter was still just having a hard time wrapping his head around what what was what happened? What's happening? What is happening here? How can he still want to have dinner with me? How could he still want to have breakfast with me? Doesn't he know what I did? Of course, he know what he did. He told him he was going to do it. And he said, "No, I'm not going to do it." He said, "Yes, you are going to do it." So now it's all happened just as Jesus said. And that same gracious master is there in front of him having let me cook you. Let me serve you because the greatest leader is a servant. So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, listen to this, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." Now, you've heard us teach on this before, but it always bears repeating. Repetition is good because it's safe. We always have, "What do I love more? What do I love more? We have to ask ourselves that on a daily basis. If you've been if listen, if you feel like you just trying to bust the glass ceiling, who do I love more? It's okay to want to elevate and to be promoted because I believe that God, the Bible says, the Bible said that the Lord God is a son and shield. He gives grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. So, I believe promotions are in line for those who are walking uprightly before him. I believe God will give good things to those who are right walking on uprightly before him. He's surrounding the righteous with his favor as a shield. So promotions and favor and benefits surround the righteous. I just can't pursue them. They're just going to surround me if I would seek first God. If I would love him more. Because Peter was bothered. He was upset. And so much so he couldn't quite hear or understand the question because Jesus said, "Do you love me more?" Not just do you love me, but do you love me more? And that always causes me to just be still within myself because I have to ask myself, I have to ask, listen, me, I'm not talking to you. I have to ask myself daily, God, do I love you more than whatever is before me? Do I love you more than my frustration? Do I love you more than my pain? Do I love you more than my ministry? Do I love you more than my ministry? Do I love you more? Do I Yes, Lord. But notice Peter didn't say I love you more. He said, you know, I love you. So to go through this whole thing, but he was in the process of being restored. And we can't we can't resist the process of restoration. We just got to answer Jesus questions. He already know the answer. So just answer the question. Amen. Don't sit there and be all twitter pated and fist. You God, we ain't got to go through three times and you know I'm messed up right now. You know, I'm still upset about what Listen, okay, let's just just tell me what you want me to say because we've got to ask ourselves. Do you love me more? Our choices are based off of a priority system. Is God most important to me? Is he Is he Is Jesus Lord? Is he the priority? Is pleasing God my priority? Because if pleasing God is my priority, then what's giving $20 versus five on a Wednesday mean? Absolutely nothing. And especially if you have it now, please don't hear what I am not saying. If you don't have it, you can't give. But don't you be writing no checks for $20 and you know you got negative $20 in your bank account cuz I'm going to make you pay your $20 and a $12 service fee because you knew that check wasn't going to clear. That's not what I'm saying. But I just believe I'm amongst a body of believers who have hallelujah at least a$25 $30 Wednesday offer and anointing on their lives. Unless you're a child and you don't have a job and you let but if you're a child with a job then you can do it because the way to prosperity in the kingdom it begins with us giving. Hallelujah. Where are my priorities? And God is asking all of us today, do you love me more than money, wealth, and material gain? Because let's go back to our opening text. Matthew chapter 6 verse 24 and I close. Hallelujah. No one can serve two masters. For he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So God wants us to evaluate the measure of our treasure. He wants us to learn how to seek him and trust him to teach us how to have hold and handle money. We got to trust God. Some of us don't even we we never knew how to how to be steward over money. We never knew how to save money. But I just believe that this particular these last three messages in this sermon on the mount measuring our treasure is God wanting to elevate our mindset and motivation in giving. Amen. Hallelujah. Because where is our treasure? Our treasure is with God. Amen. Hallelujah. Come on, shout unto God with the voice of triumph. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. Let's stand to our feet. Hallelujah. I did it. Glory to God. It's 8:30. Hallelujah. I think we'll make it home by 9. Maybe 9:15 if we talk long. Hallelujah. Father, we thank you and appreciate you for tonight. I'm grateful for every person here with us at Destiny Christian Center. those who have logged on, our beloved Dr. P, Mother Carol, we thank you that they're listening and they're watching and tuning in. We make a declaration today that our loyalty lies with you. Our treasure is with you. We trust you and we're asking you to help us. We live in a commercialistic society and sometimes we get a little distracted. But we're asking you to help us to fix our focus on you. To focus in on you, fixing our eyes on Jesus. You said the steadfast mind you'd keep in perfect peace because their eyes are stayed on you. So we keep our eyes on you. We set our eyes on things above. We set our hearts on things above and not on things of earth and of the earth. And we know that as we do this, we're going to be blessed. We know that as we do this, you will be pleased. And we're setting ourselves up should you delay your return and coming back and further looking at this discussion of the benefits and the blessings of seeking first your kingdom. So now as we go from this place, I pray that you would seal this word in our heart saturated in our minds as we go over and meditate on it, muse, mull over, and mutter this particular text and what it means to us. And we'll know that it made a difference because we will live it out. We didn't just hear this word, but we will do what you're telling us and commanding us to do. And you're asking us to just evaluate the measure of our treasure as we go. cover and keep us in your perfect care. Thank you for the canopy of your protection over us and that we will all arrive home and the things that we left will be as they were in Jesus name. Amen. Amen and amen. Well, to God be the glory. Thank you all for being here tonight. Please make sure that you hug somebody, say hello, greet them, pray for them. Don't just run to your car. Amen.