Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. I’m Bobby Bosler, and I’m speaking to you today from Fairmont, West Virginia. That’s right, Fairmont, West Virginia. If you’ve been following our story at all, you’ll know in the last podcast that I recorded, we talked about a big step forward that God was leading us to, and that was to take the Senior Pastorate of Fellowship Baptist Church in Fairmont, West Virginia. Well, since that time, we wrapped up our last two wars. We had a great time, great finish, honestly, in Amboy, Illinois. It was wonderful to see the things the Lord had done. We were very encouraged. I was very burdened that we finished strong. Then we went home to Wisconsin, where we packed up all of our belongings, said our goodbyes, handed off a number of responsibilities and jumped in the vehicles and drove 10 hours from Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, down here to Fairmont, West Virginia. And you know, as we were packing up, there was a thought that came to me, and that’s actually going to kind of lead into a little bit of what we’re going to talk about here on the podcast today. One of the things we had done that we honestly just hadn’t done for 15 years or so is we put all of our possessions in one place. As we were kind of trying to prepare for the move, we knew we were going to need some kind of a moving truck or trailer or something like this. And personally, I have an aversion to Penske trucks because I almost got killed by one. It’s kind of a joke, kind of not on a Pennsylvania turnpike. But anyway, years ago, but we had a friend, Andrew Forster, who let us use his 16 foot by, I think it’s six foot enclosed equipment trailer. It’s got a nice fold down door on the back and a swing out door on the side. And I don’t know, I would say it’s probably about six, seven foot tall. And so we asked him if we could use it. He let us use it at no cost. It was a real blessing. And as, as we were packing, Honestly, I wasn’t sure how much stuff we had. We had our things in just a few different locations. There was actually a smaller equipment trailer that belongs to Minutemen that we had some of our stuff stored in. We had some stuff stored in the basement of the storage complex. The Minutemen owns, we had some stuff in a few other places and of course in the trailer and then in my office in the church. And so we honestly just weren’t sure how much stuff we had. So we got all of our stuff out of the red trailer. We got all of our stuff out of the office, which just was a box or two. I got our stuff out of the trailer. And honestly, we had a whole lot more than we thought we would have. That 16 by six foot trailer was probably filled from the front to the back about chest high the whole way back, maybe a little bit taller in some places. But, you know, on that Monday night, as we’d gotten finally everything packed up and we’d hooked up the trailer, we had it all right there. I remember thinking, wow, we have a lot of stuff. But then I also remember thinking, I don’t think we have anywhere near as much stuff as most people do. And so as we packed up and were driving down, I was just keenly aware of the fact that literally everything we own was being pulled behind me in a 16 by 6 foot box trailer. If that thing popped off the hitch, we would have nothing but the clothes on our backs because it was all in there. And I remember just thinking, you know, I’m so glad that my treasures aren’t in that trailer. I’m so glad that if, even if, let’s say that trailer did pop off the back and fly off the side of the road and get completely destroyed, it’s not where most of our treasures have been. I just, again, as we were preparing for that travel, I just was contemplating on the whole concept of treasures, a whole concept of possessions. And just so happened there, I found myself turning to Matthew chapter six and verse 19. Jesus says this, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Again, as I was looking at that black equipment trailer, I was just keenly aware of the fact of how quickly those things could go up in a puff of smoke, how easily somebody could perhaps pull up and hook up to it and drive off with all of our stuff. I was just keenly aware of how temporary our possessions were. And, you know, I know a lot of people that, again, I don’t, not personally been a part of a lot of people moving, but who have lots and lots and lots of stuff. And I was just so thankful over these years as we’ve traveled, of course, living in a trailer has made it necessary to consolidate and to have fewer things, but I’m so glad I’ve sent my treasures ahead of time up to heaven. You young people, your treasures are the things that you value in life. Your treasures really do have to do with your focus. And can I say this? Beware of having more investments on earth than you do in heaven. He says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You know, young people, if you live for the things that you possess, if you live for the money that you make, ifyou live for status, ifyou live for relationships, ifyou live for your cell phone, for your bike, for your car, if you live for your bank account or your comfort, can I tell you, your heart will be there. In other words, your heart will be more in your job. Your heart will be more in your car. Your focus will be on those things. You know, I see a lot of people that clearly have different focuses than the word of God wants them to have. Again, this is later on in the passage. It’s not necessarily what I’m focusing on here today, but he says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. You know, God’s expectation for us is to focus or seek or place our affections. on heavenly things, on heavenly realities, and not live for earthly enjoyment or earthly possessions. One writer said this, people’s choices and actions are shaped by the things they cherish most. You know how I can tell what your treasures are? By the decisions and actions and priorities that you make in your life. You know, again, if you just kind of do a little inventory of what you spend your time on and what you spend your life on, that’ll tell you what your focus is. Maybe your focus is good grades and you know what? You ought to get good grades, young people. But you know what? Can I say there are eternal treasures that Jesus really wants us to focus on. Maybe your treasures are your Legos, maybe for the younger of you listening. I say this because I have a 13-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy, okay, and they love Legos. And it can sometimes, literally, after we got here, the boys, one of the days we were here, spent all afternoon in their bedroom playing with their Legos. Again, it’s their focus. We’re working on that, okay? They’ll grow. They’ll get it figured out. But you know, your focus, it really does determine your choices. It determines your actions. And if you look at your choices and your actions and just take a look at what they’re focused on, that will determine where your treasures are. I’ll tell you, for the last 14 years, our family has chosen to place the priority on being in itinerant ministry, traveling from place to place, preaching the gospel to teenagers. It has been our focus. Literally, I could have had a much better income if I had gone into graphic design or web design or something like that. Again, I enjoy those things, but that’s not where my treasure is. I could have sought all kinds of other things in my life, but for those 14 years, what God told us to focus on was traveling and preaching the gospel, and we got an opportunity to put our heart into that. listen we have earthly treasures i’ve got a nice laptop i’ve got an ipad i’ve got an iphone i’m very thankful for these things and as much as i really enjoy them you know what it’s not what i live for young people do you live to get that phone or that ipad does it consume you does it determine the choices that you make or don’t make again i could go on and on about this um but yeah i want us to actually continue reading here in this text because there was a couple of verses here that honestly I didn’t quite understand until I studied it out a little more and I think it’ll be an encouragement to you. Verse 22 right after what he just said where he said for where your treasure is there will your heart be also he says the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. I did a lot of studying on this when I was looking at it, reading it, meditating on it. Let me just read you some of what I had written about this. Just like the eye affects the whole body by the light it lets in, so do your affections affect your whole life. If you can see clearly, you can live properly. If you see dimly, everything is out of whack. If you have double vision, it just throws off your entire perspective. So don’t live with double vision. Live for God and not for things. The only result of living for things will be darkness and resentment. He said, if your eye is single, your body will be full of light. Listen, it’s about what you focus on. It’s what comes in. The eye is the gateway that affects the soul. And young people, can I say, what are your eyes focusing on? Are your eyes focused on both the things of heaven and the things of earth? Are you living with a divided focus where, you know, I really want to do right. And if you’re listening to this podcast, you probably want to be totally surrendered to God and totally dependent on his power to reach the world with the gospel, right? But maybe in addition to that, your eye or your focus isn’t single. It’s divided. Yes, you want to be surrendered to Christ, but you really, really, really want to get married too. Ooh, things just took a turn, didn’t they? You know, listen, I think that God wants many people, many people, probably more than are married, to get married. But young people, can I just challenge you? You live with a divided focus, you’ll have a dark soul. If you live for the things of God and for your own pleasure, for the things that are really, really important to you. Can I tell you, there will be darkness in your soul and you’ll live with a divided focus. Again, here in this text, he’s saying, listen, don’t, don’t treasure things here. don’t live for possessions or experiences or titles or statuses or experiences or relationships here live for heaven what what does that mean well whatever it is it needs to be a single focus not a divided focus but in verse number 24 i think he cuts to the chase he says no man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Can I urge you, young people, as you listen to this, check your own heart. How many masters am I serving? How do you know that? what are your treasures what is your eye your soul focusing on is it focusing on one thing is it single are you focusing on your heavenly master his will for you his plan for you his leading for you today or are you just doing your own thing maybe you’re here and you don’t serve the right master you serve one master it’s just not the right one maybe you’re listening as I think is probably the case for many more you’ve got divided loyalties you’ve got divided priorities you want jesus and a really good paying job you want jesus and the nicest car in the neighborhood you want jesus and that particular guy or that particular girl you know the only way you’re going to have that that soul full of light the only way you are going to have a secure investment the only way you can have a heart that’s satisfied with your service and to your master is if you take all the possibilities of what you could treasure of what you could focus on of what you could serve as your master and bring it down to one and one only. Jesus, you know what that’s going to take? Surrender. You’ve got to surrender those other treasures and focus on what God wants you to focus on. You’ve got to surrender those other focuses and focus on what God wants you to focus on. You’ve got to surrender those other masters and surrender to the only master who ought to be ruling your life have you been living with divided loyalties if so well you’re living with insecure investments won’t take much for those things to fly off the back of your truck and turn into a million toothpicks you’re living with a dark soul and you’re probably frustrated because no man can serve two masters young people i don’t know how god has spoken to you here today through this podcast but i trust as you hear this thing you’ll do some serious self-reflection and self-evaluation and you’ll ask god god do i have a divided focus do i have earthly treasures am i cherishing the wrong thing and do i have divided masters and god if this is the case i come to you and i present myself romans 12 right as a living sacrifice to you and to you alone to do with as you see fit listen that is an offering a presentation that is pleasing to god it’s acceptable unto god as a young people you know what we’re passionate about here we’re passionate about total surrender to god and i’ll tell you that kind of a single focus life it needs it requires the the enablement of God too, because the world is very alluring. Possessions, they draw our hearts, and you’re going to need God. That’s why we encourage you to not only totally surrender to God, but totally depend upon him to turn the world upside down for Christ. Thanks so much for listening.