Wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart will be.

God wants your heart. Therefore, He demands your money.

Jesus gives us these simple instructions concerning money and possessions: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Matthew 6:19-20)

He commands us not to store up money here on Earth, but instead to invest that money into heaven—into the Kingdom of God. Why is it so important to put your money into the Kingdom? Jesus explains: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).

It is impossible to overlook the importance of that verse. Wherever your treasure is, that determines where your heart will be. Your money leads; your heart follows. Knowing this, Jesus commands us to put our money into eternal things. Why? So that our heart will be into eternal things.

For example, say you invest money into a company's stock. Previously, you didn't really care about that company, and you didn't bother to read news articles about them. Now, however, you're scouring the newspaper for any articles that even remotely relate to that company, you check their stock price daily, and you religiously read their earnings reports. What caused such a change? Your money went into the company and with it your heart.

This principle—where your money goes, your heart follows—is illustrated very well in Mark 10:17-22, which records the story of a rich young man who came to Jesus asking how to be saved. He had done everything right and followed all the laws and commandments, but, according to Jesus, there was "one thing" he lacked: "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The man had great wealth, but really his wealth had him—it owned and controlled him. Jesus wanted the man's heart, and so Jesus demanded his money. Jesus knew that the man could never follow Him if his heart was more attached to his possessions than to God.

The man's face fell, and he went away sad because his heart was too attached to his possessions. His money was invested in his own possessions, and therefore his heart was invested in his own possessions. However, Jesus wanted to break that bondage, so he commanded the man to give away all of his possessions to others. By giving his money to help the poor and the needy, Jesus knew that the man's heart would be transformed into serving others, and in so doing he would come identify with and follow Christ.

Do you want your heart to be full of love for others? Give to them, and bless them with your money. Then your heart will follow.

If you want a heart for God, invest your money in building the Kingdom of God. Then your heart will follow. If you want a heart for the poor and the needy of the world, use your money to fight global poverty and hunger. Then your heart will follow. If you want a heart for global missions, support missionaries in Africa, Asia, and the rest of the world. Then your heart will follow. Wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart will be.

[Weekly Wisdom - ChristNotes.org]

C.J. Mahaney - The Cup

Go!

Make History from Acts1v8 on Vimeo

R.C. Sproul - The Curse Motif of the Atonement

Paul Washer - Fallen, Fallen, Fallen! Sermon Jam

Paul Washer Testimony

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.
(Jeremiah 29:11-13 KJV)

Little Ones

"Do children go to heaven when they die?" Many people have a problem with Christians claiming that Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life. All who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior are condemned to hell. What about people who have never heard the name of Jesus? What about children who are not old enough to understand sin and repentance and the need of a Savior? I was reading a passage from the Old Testament earlier today when I gained some insight to these questions. The passage is Deuteronomy 1:35-39. Moses is delivering a farewell sermon to Israel as his life is coming to an end. He retells how the LORD sent them from Horeb, appointed judges for the people, and commanded the Israelites to take possession of the promised land. Twelve men, one man from each tribe, went up into the hill country and to the Valley of Eschol to spy out the land. The men returned and gave this report, "The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there." Moses assures them that the LORD will go before them and give them victory but the people did not believe, despite all that they've seen from the exodus out of Egypt. Therefore, the LORD was angered and He swore,

"Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the LORD!"(Deuteronomy 1:35-36 ESV)

Moses continues,
"Even with me the LORD was angry on your account and said, 'You also shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.'"(Deuteronomy 1:37-39 ESV)

And as for your little ones, they shall go into the promised land. Why are they exempt from the judgment against an evil generation? Simply put, they are innocent. They have no knowledge of good or evil. Everyone else does, and so they are judged according to their knowledge. Do children go to heaven when they die? Yes. Innocent children who have no knowledge of good or evil cannot be judged for what they do not know. What about the person who has never heard the name of Jesus? Do they go to heaven? As with the child, we ask, "Are you innocent? Do you have knowledge of good or evil?" Because we now have knowledge of good or evil, God will judge us accordingly.

"Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. "(Romans 2:4-16 ESV)

Without Christ, we walk on extremely unstable ground. Even if you are inclined to do righteous deeds, do you boast in them, or does it flow from your heart to obey and honor God? And if you claim to obey and honor God, how is it that you can reject Christ? Jesus says, "If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God."(John 8:42)

The closer you are to God, the more you realize that even your most righteous deeds are but filthy rags, and the more Jesus Christ becomes infinitely valuable. I fear for those who must give an account to God according to their righteous deeds apart from Christ. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I pray this day that you will see the need for the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

Ten Indictments - A Historical 21st Century Message

Preached Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at the Revival Conference in Atlanta,Georgia. Paul Washer delivers a urgent appeal to the Christians and Churches in North America that many have been believing a false gospel and have false assurance of their salvation. He lists 10 indictments against the modern Church system in America. This is a historical urgent message, tell others and spread the message. We need a reformation and revival of a biblical standard!
- Greg Gordon (Revival Conference Organizer)

[http://www.tenindictments.com/]

Holiness Upon the Throne

The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble;... He is holy... He is holy... for the LORD our God is holy. (Psalm 99:1,3,5,9)

"The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble," writes the psalmist. Why?
"He is holy," answers the first stanza.
"He is holy," answers the second stanza.
"For the LORD our God is holy," answers the third stanza.
Put the two statements together, "The LORD reigns... the LORD our God is holy," and what do you get? You get holiness upon the throne.

To believe that God is on the throne, working out His own holy and perfect and acceptable will, maintaining and asserting the eternal law of righteousness -- is there not enough in that to fill the hearts of sinful men with "godly fear"? Is there not enough in that to make us "tremble"?

We are constantly deploring our lack of the sense of sin. Is that because we have obscured God's holiness? Sometimes I wonder whether the very emphasis we have laid on the tenderness and gentleness and patience of God's fatherly love has made it easy for me to sin. We have made God's forgiveness so cheap that sin has come to appear a light and trivial matter.

If that is so, let us this day remind ourselves of the holiness of God; let us lift up our eyes to the shining peaks of His "awful purity." Let us remind ourselves that this Holy God is on the throne -- and that He is on the throne to maintain purity and righteousness. The Will that rules is a holy will. The Power that governs is a holy power.

All who sin bring themselves into collision with the sovereign will and power of the universe. No wonder our Lord said, "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." (Matthew 21:44, KJV)

-- John Daniel Jones

Death... Gain or Loss?

For the one who stores treasures on Earth, death is loss, but for the one who stores treasures in Heaven, death becomes gain.

In his longest sermon, known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20).

Jesus commands us not to store up earthly treasures. Why? Because they're bad? No. Because they won't last!

Jesus makes absolutely clear that all earthly treasures will not last. Either they will leave you while you live, or you will leave them when you die. There are no exceptions.

Jesus tells us not to store up earthly treasures, but amazingly he instead says that we can—indeed, should—store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. It's an amazing concept that we can use our earthly (temporary) treasures in such a way as to assure ourselves heavenly (eternal) treasures.

How can you store up for yourself treasures in heaven? By investing in eternal causes instead of temporary ones—by giving to the poor instead of hording up money for yourself (see 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, and Luke 12:33). By putting your treasures into eternal causes you secure for yourself treasures that can never be lost.

Proverbs 23:5 says, Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. Next time you buy something you really care about, imagine it sprouting wings and flying off. That will help you keep an eternal perspective, remembering that every earthly treasure is temporary.

When you die, you will lose every treasure that you have stored up on Earth, but when you die, you will also receive every treasure that you have stored up in heaven. In that way, death is a loss for the one who stores up treasures on Earth, but death is a gain for the one who stores up treasures in Heaven.

[Weekly Wisdom - ChristNotes.org]