Secret Serving Part 2

Run with endurance the race that is looking to Jesus, founder and perfecter of our words of Jesus penetrate us to our very core normal divisions is recorded in Matthew chapter 6 if you want to run wife's race ablaze with light stay with us from the Moody Church in Chicago. This is with Dr. when teaching make it across. Will be teaching us for Matthew 623 today. Here Jesus spoke of our lives is being filled with darkness unless we let in the light of God Dave it's absolutely true. It's possible also for person to be blind… Your virtual light. I remember in the church that I attended when I was a boy there was a blind man and he loved to get his testimony and say that the first person I shall see some day is Jesus Christ.

Isn't that beautiful, the Bible wants us to be filled with light. Let me ask you a question. Has this series of messages been a blessing to you. This is the last opportunity.

You will have that we are making this offer for these messages to be yours for a gift of any amount and by the way the title is sharing secrets with God for a gift of any amount. These messages can be yours so you can listen to them again and again you go to RTW offer.com RTW offer.com or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let's take out time to listen to God's word and be inspired to have those secrets with God.

Jesus is saying that your body is really the light of the body is the eye. If you are I is single. If your eye is clear is the translation says here your whole body is going to be flooded with light.

But if I is is a bad guy. That's what it talks about its is then your body your soul.

All of this can be flooded with darkness. If you can flood something with dark now what is it that what is Christ mean by a good eye. He says the lie is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your body will be filled with light. You know the good ideas really great text means it is a generous I he still talking about money you still talking about investments he's talking about people who have an eye toward toward generosity who can who can rejoice with others, and who can generously give of their time and their money in their faithfulness in their efforts and they do so with gladness because freely they have received freely. They give God loves that kind of spontaneity. That's why he loves a cheerful giver. It's it's someone who gives because he loves to give out now that's a good eye the good I the Bible says in the book of Romans. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil cleaved to that which is good at good I is someone who has a ring of truth and honesty and openness and transparency.

What about the bad. I the bad I is stinginess. It is stinginess and if your eye is stingy if that glass using the analogy is is glass that has been what shall we say, smeared if it is glass that is colored and therefore the light is diffused then Jesus Christ said your whole body.

The real you is filled with is filled with darkness.

Of course there are other things sell.

Also, other than stinginess but but to since stinginess is the primary meaning have ever lived with someone who is really really miserly and stingy. Have you lived with someone like that some of you, perhaps married somebody like that and so you know right well that you had to live with them in their something about they begrudge the success of everyone else. There always thinking about their own needs, whether or not they have deep needs are not whether or not their situation is as bad as they make it out to be. The point is there always, always be grudging generosity. It's it's a darkness in their whole eye is filled with darkness and so is their souls. There are other ways also that we can be filled with darkness and that is if our eye is filled with prejudice and jealousy and anger, and moral impurity and and all of these things the window of the soul is therefore cut off from the light. And Jesus said to make sure that your rub your your heart is right and your eye is right. Remember, if it's symbolic. I mean, it's not.

I'm either blind people and then there they've never seen the light and yet their souls are pure and open and filled with light. But Jesus is saying that your eye the way in which you view things determines actually the amount of light in your body. My wife and I have been to Mount Blanc which is really on the border of the Switzerland and France. As I recall, one of the tallest mountains in the in all of Europe I remember correctly, and it's gorgeous beautiful hill and you can ski there for miles and miles and miles probably no trees.

As I remember on so you can probably even make it all the way down. But there's a friend of mine who says that he's been there many times and there's a house, a beautiful house. One of those nice mountain homes facing Mount Blanc with all although whole array of windows, but the shutters are always closed nephew like mountains and if you like beauty and wonder why do they keep these shutters closed John. That's the way some lines are here is God in all of his beauty in all of his light in all of his brilliance who can come into our lives who can cleanse us from sin can deliver us from anger and stinginess and on Miami's early small thinking, the spirit and who can take all that end and he can flood us with a light but often times are shutters are closed and we are determined that no one shall ever open there. We are there in her own dark, dank soul and I urge you today. Just open your life to God.

Just open it to God just simply say Lord I II want to open my life to you. I want you to show me what you see. Yes, Laura. You got the files show me so that we can deal with all of the things that promote the dark dishonesty, the deceit, the lack of joy they the lack of spiritual freedom that the lack of generosity deal with me now you'll notice that Jesus says if the light which is in you is darkness numbers. If your eyes just closed to the light. How great is that darkness, how great it is now if the first test that we've taken is the test of our affections. The second test is the test of our attitude. The test of our attitude and it has to do with or not we are full of light were full of darkness. Let me give you 1/3 test that Jesus gives us and that is the test of our actions are actions. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

Note is that Jesus is still thinking about money.

Still thinking about and what he saying is, is that when it comes to serving if were going to serve the things of this world and Mammon are money and there is representative of all the things of this world ever going to do that.

Jesus said, just understand that you can't serve God to the world passes away, and all of its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever and the Scripture is very clear that says he who loves the world is an enemy of God.

You just can't do it and and you and I are hearts are so deceitful and they have thought of so many different ways that we think we can pull it off. Actually when you look at this in the Greek text. It is much more much stronger than than the English translations.

What really means is that no man can be a slave to two owners to owners.

You know that you can dance to two different tunes simultaneously. That is, if you're into dancing.

I don't think that you can do that you can't take orders from two different military officers simultaneously and we can't serve God.

On the one hand, and we can't serve money. On the other hand, think that we are pulling it off. If we think that we are pulling out off because were serving both we are actually not serving the hot actually not serving. So what Jesus is saying is this look slaves in the Old Testament times in the New Testament times those slaves did not have many rights. The owner could do as he wished with his time of discretion in his free time but the slaves couldn't. They had to just to do whatever the master told them they were sometimes misused to be sure, but but they had the responsibility of somehow eking out an existence with that kind of a lifestyle and Jesus is saying that just as slavery in those times could be harsh and cruel and demanding the serving serving money could be the very same way and often times it is and he says you cannot serve God and money. Simultaneously, I'd like to help us get a handle on this by by making a couple of observations here from the text that Jesus has given us. First of all, slavery is not an option.

Slavery is not an option of choosing our master is choosing our master is you'll notice that we are either slaves of God and that is a privilege. By the way, Paul says I am a bondslave of Jesus Christ I am obedient to God and that is the path of freedom. That is the path of fulfillment that the path of of the sensing that you're doing something that is going to survive life. But then there's also another path and that is serving ourselves serving ourselves and and both are slavery. Here's a man who thinks to himself that he is not a slave but but he has outbursts of anger that he cannot possibly control the things that just overwhelm him. He is consumed by jealousies that he cannot bring under control. In fact, he takes those jealousies and he actually magnifies them and any things that he is in charge of his life and he is just as much a slave as those who were slaves in the Roman Empire because when you serve yourself. That is the worst kind of slavery worst kind of slavery. So slavery is not an option. The question is who. Slavery going to be Bible is very clear that either we are serving our lusts and our desires and our worldly pursuits and those drive us and throttle us and leave us where we are rails were serve God choose your master.

Secondly, obviously we can only have one master and not to know.

Sometimes in our individual life.

We may slip and we began to serve the worldly master we may fall into sin and serve the devil or serve ourselves but those who are committed to Jesus Christ. They bounce back. They come to God in confession. They admitted their needed they are broken in his presence.

They are grieved because they have grieved God but there's no way that you can continue doing that and at the same time be serving both God and the devil. It simply cannot done. Remember that race that I told you about the Greeks used to have work to horses used to run together and you stood with 1 foot on one horse and the other foot. On the other horse and the horses galloped together in a duet and that was very good because when they began to separate you had a decision to make that a decision to make.

The Bible says that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. In all of his ways is unstable at work because he's dishonest because he's double minded.

In any can't concentrate on God. He is only himself to think about is unstable in his home. He is unstable and unpredictable at church.

You can't depend upon him is is is going to be in a place he's going to have a certain ministry.

You can't be sure that he's going to be there because a double minded man has instability in all these different ways.

And Jesus said, choose you this day, what the words of Joshua whom you will serve, because you cannot serve both can't do it. So the bottom line of what Jesus is asking us to do interactions and we talked about the fact that there's the test of the affections.

Who do we love. Where do we put up our treasures and that of course is something that can be done secretly. Indeed, secretly, and there's secret getting and there's secretly taking care of people. There is also the test of our attitude. If we have a generous spirit will look for opportunities to give to be involved looking for opportunities to sacrifice the third test is also the test of our actions will be will be looking for opportunities to obey God, to obey God. God sometimes leads us to situations in which we have sermon illustrations that come to us. Just when we need them. Last night my wife and I were with some other pastors and their wives. We get together every few months to eat together into think about things and and oftentimes just enjoy fellowship but a pastor there was telling me that that his church was not to giving the way they should be giving and so he called a day of repentance.

He said we were being disobedient to God and he said as a result of of getting rid of that darkness, that that dark that dark spirit. The shutters closed in the Windows.

He said God has done a new work among us is done, a new work among us and the whole point of this message has to be emphasized the fact that God looks at the heart and says to us again and again, give me thine heart. Give me all who you are and I will take care of the rest. But you have to come in on a state you can't dispel the darkness, unless you come and open your life to me, unless you're willing to face the music is at work unless you're willing to say yes I'll make this right and this right and I'll do whatever you ask me to do if it means going back to people whom I've wronged. If it means making those things right.

I will do all that. Why so that I may have only one master and serve him with single-mindedness and purity and devotion and commitment member. The children of Israel in Egypt, the difficulty they had God brought them out of Egypt brought them out of Egypt, but they he could not get Egypt out of their hearts they kept saying we want to go back.

We want to go back.

We want to go back. God says today what you come to me and just let me change your heart.

We sang about that. A moment ago did change my heart, Lord, to make it ever. Thine take it and and all of the aspects of my life Lord I want to give it to you want to give it to you. God give me that heart check and other some of you who might be here today who never received Christ as Savior and even accepting him as Savior sometimes spoken of in the Bible is that having been given the light and you remember the words of the song and can it be one of the stanza says long my imprisoned spirit lay in nature's night and in the dungeon and then it says nine I Ralph diffuse this quickening array. The dungeon opened and filled with light, that there Charles Wesley is describing his conversion, when God came into his life and changed him and took his dark soul and granted him the gift of light.

Bottom line, test your heart today. Affections its attitudes, its actions, give God everything that he points out to you join me as we pray. Just before we pray.

I hope that you have seen the reasonableness the reasonableness of what Jesus is asking because it's the best investment.

It makes the most sense and brings the most happiness as we've emphasized people who will look for happiness are really looking for holiness and they don't know what whatever God is. Talk to you about today would you just give it to him father. Today we say with Robert Robinson come, thou fount of every blessing to my heart to sing thy praise. Streams of mercy, never ceasing coal for songs of loudest praise. We asked today father that hearts that have been out of tune with you for whatever reason may be brought today in line with your holy will. Lord, we do we do desire to walk with you with integrity and purity.

We do desire Lord that all of the double mindedness that we struggle with would be set aside reveal yourself to us, Lord, because that is our great need and we asked Lord that through your word and through your spirit that that shall be done in Jesus name on what my friend, this is Pastor Luther, you know, I grew up in a Christian home early in life.

I received Jesus Christ as my Savior and one of the dangers is that these truths can become very familiar to familiar, and we forget how beautiful it is and how miraculous it is that we come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And certainly Wesley emphasized that when he talked about our lives being like a dungeon and then suddenly you have light shining.

If you received Christ as Savior. You know, this series of messages and titles sharing secrets with God really does, I believe, enable us to walk with God and today is the last day that we are making these resources available to you. That is, this series of messages so that you can listen to them repeatedly and share them with your friends. Here's what you do you go to RTW offer.com for gift of any amount.

By the way these messages can be yours. Go to RTW offer.com or if you prefer you can call us at 1-888-218-9337 sharing secrets with God.

It's time again for another chance for you to ask Pastor Luther a question you may have about the Bible or the Christian life. Dr. Luther we have a question today from Glenn who lives in Illinois many years ago I left a very successful job to open my own business. Unfortunately due to 9/11 and other reasons why business failed after five years I lost our family savings and returned to the corporate workplace. My wife has never forgiven me for being so irresponsible. I've lived with this guilt and shame for years, every day I'm depressed over it.

My question is if we make a decision based on what we feel is God's will, but it brings negative consequences.

Does that mean the decision was out of God's will. Will Glenn, I'm so thankful for your question, but I need to confess that it is not an easy question to answer because all of us have made decisions that we thought that these decisions were God's will and yet they turned out very negative now just having read your question and listen to it. I need to say that I'm not so sure that you are out of God's will and beginning that business maybe God wanted to teach you some lessons as a result of its failure that you could not have learned if you had just been a complete success. I always say that failure often times is a much better teacher than success, but now back to your wife.

She needs to lay down that bitterness. I pity you. If she continually reminds you of the mistake that you made once it's dealt with between you and her. Once the confession has been made.

Yes, it was an unwise decision. She needs to put all of that behind her and if she doesn't, she needs to be reminded of what God does when we send as he constantly remind us and say what you know that was sure a silly decision. I quote forgive you, but I'm going to continue to throw it up in your face no God doesn't do that. And the Bible says that we should forgive even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Your wife needs to get on her knees and she needs to receive God's forgiveness for her attitude. Then she needs to come to you and get your forgiveness to because both of you are believers, both of you can move on from here and you don't need to let the past destroy your future final word. I know Amanda very close friend of mine who had $800,000 that he lost as the result of a company making unwise decisions. I met with him recently.

His life is full of joy and he says that he learn things. As a result of this experience that he could've never learned in any other way. He isn't angry at those who made bad decisions he sees it all as part of God's plan and he's decided to move on and you and your wife need to do the same. Thank you Dr. Luther for those words of counsel if you'd like to hear your question answered. Go to our website@rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor Luther or call us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 over 2000 years ago Jesus was born in a small country in the Middle East. That birth became the turning point tween BC and A.D. next time I'm running to win when Luther begins the Christmas series on the baby changed the world.

Taken from the gospel of our first teaching will focus on the fact that he redeems the world running to win is all about helping you understand God's roadmap for your race of life. Thanks for listening today for Dr. Erwin lutes are this is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church