SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that the goal of Jesus coming wasn't just a salvation of souls, but he wants to take over the earth.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to bring a divine order, a kingdom order over all of the earth in every realm.
SPEAKER_01: He wants the media.
SPEAKER_01: He wants athletic teams.
SPEAKER_01: He wants your business.
SPEAKER_01: He wants your family.
SPEAKER_01: It starts with him getting your soul.
SPEAKER_01: But men and women, it doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that Jesus had a magnificent obsession?
SPEAKER_01: He preached on the kingdom of God over a hundred times.
SPEAKER_01: He taught his disciples to preach on the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: He taught us in Matthew 5 and 6 to pray, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus was obsessed with this idea that he came with the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So when we've talked about here at the road, our desire and our passion to be a part of building a kingdom revolution in the Rockies, and people ask me, what is that?
SPEAKER_01: My answer is always the same.
SPEAKER_01: Go to the Gospels.
SPEAKER_01: Go to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
SPEAKER_01: That's a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_01: The greatest army, the greatest group of leaders, the greatest band of men and women the world has ever known.
SPEAKER_01: 120 men, women, and children up in that upper room, touched by the Holy Spirit, rocked the world under a dictatorship.
SPEAKER_01: If you think we have problems in Washington, can you imagine planting churches all over the United States or all over the world under Nero, Domitian, and some of the most desperate, evil, bloodthirsty dictators the world has ever known, and they did it, and they did it to such a degree that by the fourth century Constantine had to make Christianity legal because it was taking over everything.
SPEAKER_01: He kind of had that concept, I think, if you can't beat them, join them.
SPEAKER_01: And so he did.
SPEAKER_01: And so the Spirit of God in 300 years just took over the known world at that time in the Middle East and then over into Spain and the tribal areas of Europe and then jumped across the way into Great Britain and those tribes in there.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, churches are getting planted everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: It's happening today, folks.
SPEAKER_01: There is a kingdom revolution in China right now.
SPEAKER_01: You don't hear about it unless you read certain periodicals, but it's amazing what God's doing in China.
SPEAKER_01: There's a kingdom revolution in Indonesia.
SPEAKER_01: There's a kingdom revolution in Malaysia.
SPEAKER_01: There's a kingdom revolution in Latin America.
SPEAKER_01: Time magazine did an article a few years ago.
SPEAKER_01: All the new companies, all the new entrepreneurs that are coming up in Latin America because they've gotten saved and they figured out the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And when you get saved and you really become obsessed with the kingdom, you realize all this potential that's within you.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And if you get obsessed with the kingdom, you're going to get obsessed with your potential.
SPEAKER_01: Because God put it there and you're created in the image of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And he came in power and authority.
SPEAKER_01: And so we start to discover the image of God in our life.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens when we really get obsessed by the kingdom is we become fired up for the king and for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And suddenly circumstances actually become not obstacles, but opportunities, not something that's done to you, but something that's done for you, so you can make an impact and you can be changed.
SPEAKER_01: I like what Brian said about marriage.
SPEAKER_01: It's W-R-K.
SPEAKER_01: It's work, right?
SPEAKER_01: It is.
SPEAKER_01: Well, your purpose on this earth is not primarily your own happiness.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, your purpose here on the earth is to be more and more like Christ, to be more sanctified, and that's why you marry that one.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna sanctify you.
SPEAKER_01: And they if they're not sanctifying you right now, then somebody's not living, man.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you you're always attracted to your opposite.
SPEAKER_01: And so you get in that relationship, and the very thing that attracted you to that other person is the very thing that you start to hate, right?
SPEAKER_01: So so you have to have a renewal of your mind and your focus on what your marriage is about.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_01: So it's for it's for any of us.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: Today, Jesus in his sermon is talking about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And we've been through about eight weeks where for four weeks leading up to Christmas, I did a set of messages.
SPEAKER_01: And then as we talked about Prepare 2020, we did a set of messages and we had our special meetings at the beginning of the year.
SPEAKER_01: We're going back to Matthew now.
SPEAKER_01: And so the rubric over all of this is a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_01: That's our desire.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody remember this.
SPEAKER_01: The vision of the road is to bring a kingdom of God revolution to the Rocky Mountain region.
SPEAKER_01: That's our vision.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is empowering people to change the world.
SPEAKER_01: You can't have a kingdom of God revolution unless you get empowered.
SPEAKER_01: And you have to make a decision at some point in your journey that you're gonna keep growing, that you're gonna keep learning, that you're gonna stay on the cutting edge of learning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna talk about that at AIM on Tuesday morning.
SPEAKER_01: That's our men's, what we used to call morning fire.
SPEAKER_01: We call it AIM, all in men, 6 a.m., the godly hour of 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: We have a great breakfast.
SPEAKER_01: Matt Wilcox and caters it, fantastic breakfast.
SPEAKER_01: You come in there, it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
SPEAKER_01: We're almost up to 70 guys coming.
SPEAKER_01: So this Tuesday, I'm gonna talk about breakthrough.
SPEAKER_01: How do you get a breakthrough in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me tell you this: if we don't keep growing, I don't care what age you are, man or woman, if you settle, if you just settle for the way it's been, then what's gonna happen is you're gonna be just like that mayhem Allstate commercial where he says, I'm a tailgator, tailgating on my way to a tailgate.
SPEAKER_01: And remember the guy in front of him keeps looking, and I can't go any faster.
SPEAKER_01: And bam, he hits the car in front of him.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to have a fresh vision.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to have fresh focus in your life, not always looking back to the good old days or looking back to the person who betrayed you or always blaming your parents for something that happened in your life.
SPEAKER_01: It's your life to live, right?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is challenging us with the kingdom of God all the way through the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: But let me give you a definition.
SPEAKER_01: You might have forgotten this.
SPEAKER_01: I've done it before.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give a definition of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say this: the kingdom of God's not a democracy.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it great to know that in 2020, Jesus is not up for re-election?
SPEAKER_01: You know, he's still on the throne, he's still the king, and if you don't like him, then you're gonna have to deal with that, but he's still the king.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so he rules over a kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the definition of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not real smart, I'm from Georgia, but I figured it out.
SPEAKER_01: Kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So it means the king's domain.
SPEAKER_01: That's what a kingdom is, the king's domain.
SPEAKER_01: A kingdom is the governing influence of a king over his territory.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know that the earth is his territory?
SPEAKER_01: Now Satan has control over vast parts of it.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus admitted that when he was talking to Satan during his 40 days of fasting and prayer and temptation.
SPEAKER_01: But how many of you know that the goal of Jesus' coming wasn't just the salvation of souls, but he wants to take over the earth.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to bring a divine order, a kingdom order over all of the earth in every realm.
SPEAKER_01: He wants the media, he wants athletic teams, he wants your business, he wants your family.
SPEAKER_01: It starts with him getting your soul.
SPEAKER_01: But men and women, it doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_01: As a young believer in college, I became obsessed with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But as a missionary, I became obsessed with the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: As I discovered a whole land that had no understanding of Jesus in Asia.
SPEAKER_01: So a kingdom is the governing influence of a king over his territory, impacting it with his mind, his will, his purpose, and his intention.
SPEAKER_01: Producing citizens.
SPEAKER_01: Producing a citizenry of people who express his culture and reflect his nature.
SPEAKER_01: We reflect his nature, but we express his culture.
SPEAKER_01: So the problem in America today is there's not enough kingdom citizens expressing his nature and reflecting his culture.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we did that, we would rock this world.
SPEAKER_01: We would rock this world.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to Matthew 6.
SPEAKER_01: This is where we we ended two months ago.
SPEAKER_01: And from now on, we're going to move through here in 2020, through Matthew, Kingdom of God Revolution.
SPEAKER_01: We're at Matthew 6, 19.
SPEAKER_01: So turn to Matthew 6, 19.
SPEAKER_01: And let me encourage you if you haven't gotten our journal.
SPEAKER_01: In the journal is a place for you to take notes every Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: It's all right there in your notes.
SPEAKER_01: And if you follow the journal, you'll read through the whole Bible in a year.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see the verses at the top.
SPEAKER_01: Jay Enman set this up really good.
SPEAKER_01: So you can go through the whole Bible in a year and take notes and do your own personal journal.
SPEAKER_01: And then you got 2020, and you can put it right there in the bookshelf like I've done with my journals, and we'll give you one for 2021.
SPEAKER_01: And unless the Lord comes back, and then we won't.
SPEAKER_01: But outside of that, you'll get another one for 2021 with our theme.
SPEAKER_01: Our theme in 2020 is partnership with the Holy Spirit, partnership with God.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, I want to read all these verses because they're all related.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm calling this the magnificent obsession.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_01: Now the lamp of the body is the eye.
SPEAKER_01: If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
SPEAKER_01: But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?
SPEAKER_01: No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will love one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot serve God and mammon, mammon being money.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to now say, he's going to talk about worrying four times here.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
SPEAKER_01: Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns.
SPEAKER_01: Yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_01: Are you not of more value than they?
SPEAKER_01: So he's speaking here of your value, how much value he places on each one of you.
SPEAKER_01: Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubic to a stature?
SPEAKER_01: Let me just say, anybody who's a chronic worrier, it's me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm only five foot seven.
SPEAKER_01: So I totally agree with this.
SPEAKER_01: It has not helped my stature whatsoever.
SPEAKER_01: So why do you worry about clothing?
SPEAKER_01: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
SPEAKER_01: They neither toil nor spin.
SPEAKER_01: And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like the grass of the field.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have been up hiking and seen the wildflowers?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in Colorado.
SPEAKER_01: Just unbelievable, beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: God did that.
SPEAKER_01: God does that.
SPEAKER_01: He's reminding you of Colorado.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the wildflowers.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: Now if God clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?
SPEAKER_01: That's the part you should circle, underline, or highlight.
SPEAKER_01: Little faith.
SPEAKER_01: That's our problem.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
SPEAKER_01: For after all, these things the Gentiles seek.
SPEAKER_01: For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
SPEAKER_01: So he knows that those are important.
SPEAKER_01: But for, and this is the point, but seek first.
SPEAKER_01: So all of this is under this rubric of seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And then all these things shall be added to you.
SPEAKER_01: Everything we've read, all that'll be added to you.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
SPEAKER_01: Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk about three things.
SPEAKER_01: I see three things in this passage about an obsession with the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: When we get obsessed by the kingdom, here's the first thing.
SPEAKER_01: When we get obsessed by the kingdom, it changes your priorities.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it changes your priorities.
SPEAKER_01: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 21 is really important.
SPEAKER_01: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: Our treasures are what we think about.
SPEAKER_01: Put it down this way that your treasures are what you think about, dream about, and put your time, energy, and money into.
SPEAKER_01: That's your treasure.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what you say your treasures are, if you just look at your checkbook, you know what your treasures are.
SPEAKER_01: If you look at your phone and see your calendar and the meetings you have, it tells you a little bit about what your treasures are.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever seen someone who's falling in love with another person?
SPEAKER_01: Everything changes.
SPEAKER_01: They get so obsessed by that person.
SPEAKER_01: It's super, it's super weird, you know, to be around them.
SPEAKER_01: Because they want to know where that other person is.
SPEAKER_01: They're always texting, they're always getting together, and they're getting ready to go to the couples conference, you know, and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: Because they now have, right, they have a new treasure.
SPEAKER_01: When I bought my lab puppy, I started spending a lot of time with my that was my, you know, my treasure.
SPEAKER_01: My heart was there.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you that have commiserated with me about your dogs, um, it's not always a happy time because they they do things in the house that they're not supposed to do and all that.
SPEAKER_01: But what happens is your your heart follows your treasure.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, look, I I want I want to change your priorities by you understanding that much of what you put your time, energy, and money into is gonna go away.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's gonna be destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: If it's of this earth, if most of your treasure is is focused on this earth, and that's and that's where your heart is, where it could be, it could rust, it could be destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: How many were around in the 2008 meltdown?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: You that were in jobs and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it affected people even to this day.
SPEAKER_01: Even in where we are now, some 12 years later, some people are still digging themselves out of that situation, right?
SPEAKER_01: So if if that was the main place, and I'm not saying, and he's not saying you can't have treasure having anything to do with mammon, we're gonna get to that.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, though, that the focus of your priorities, the challenge is to make the kingdom your priority.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's three things.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, there's only three things that last for eternity, only three things that last forever: God's word, men's souls, and God.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: So the challenge as us as a people who believe in the king, love the king, or surrender to the king and his kingdom, is to make our treasure in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And as you saw in the understanding of the whole aspect of what his sermon is, it actually has an impact on what you worry about.
SPEAKER_01: They say you're worried about these things, you're worried about these treasures that you have, and I say to you, I'll take care of that.
SPEAKER_01: I value you.
SPEAKER_01: I created you for a purpose.
SPEAKER_01: I gave you unique gifts.
SPEAKER_01: I'll take care of your finances, I'll work that out.
SPEAKER_01: Will you not seek my kingdom and my righteousness first?
SPEAKER_01: If you'll make that your number one priority, I'll do mighty things.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do exciting things in your life.
SPEAKER_01: You'll be set free from worry.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus said, This is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of the craziest verses in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, This is when Peter asked him, after he had had a conversation with a rich young ruler, he said, What about us?
SPEAKER_01: Rich young ruler, he says to him, Sell everything you have and come and follow me.
SPEAKER_01: And he's sad, and then Jesus says, Well, with God, with man this is impossible, with God, all things are possible.
SPEAKER_01: Makes that statement, then Peter goes, Well, wait, we've left everything.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus makes one of the most astounding statements in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And it really impacted my wife and I when we were struggling about the mission field and going on the mission field when we were in our early twenties.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or fathers or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospel, and we can insert there the kingdom, who shall, listen to this, who shall not receive a hundredfold now, in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that crazy?
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that as we give up and we go after the kingdom, he's gonna give us a hundredfold return, even in physical things.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's a mystery.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand all that, but I'll tell you this, give you a little example.
SPEAKER_01: So when I when I went to college, I got a full right scholarship for for gymnastics.
SPEAKER_01: But my parents had saved$7,500 for me in a college account.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, that's what you do when you only have two kids.
SPEAKER_01: Um and so they said, You this is your money, you can have it, um, do whatever you want with it.
SPEAKER_01: So I invested it.
SPEAKER_01: So did some research and invested it in like seven different uh companies that were in stocks and stuff when I came back from the mission field.
SPEAKER_01: So that would be some that'd be 14 years later, and praise God for Jimmy Carter being president because interest rates were you know at 20%.
SPEAKER_01: So that's good.
SPEAKER_01: If you're an investor, that's bad if you're trying to buy a house.
SPEAKER_01: But that$7,500 had become$92,000.
SPEAKER_01: That got me through grad school and the startup of Mountain Springs when I started that out.
SPEAKER_01: Um that cool so God does crazy things when you are committed and obsessed with his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And most believers, in my opinion, they're not obsessed with the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: They're in the kingdom and they've got fire insurance and they like that, and they like maybe the way I speak, so they come to hear me, or they like the worship that Brian does, they come and they like the fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: That's all great.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: But if you at some point in your journey, if you don't get obsessed with the kingdom by hanging out with us, I'm definitely doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Because I want to get you fired up for the king and for the kingdom because it works.
SPEAKER_01: I'm really pragmatic.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: From Oklahoma, but if it doesn't work, I don't do it.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom works, gang.
SPEAKER_01: And God's probably not going to send 99% of you out to Africa with a pith helmet, you know, uh uh uh darting around for spears from naked natives.
SPEAKER_01: That's probably not gonna happen to you.
SPEAKER_01: So get that out of your mind.
SPEAKER_01: Get Jesus as your focus.
SPEAKER_01: You get Jesus as your focus.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna say and guide you in things that are gonna be so exciting.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great adventure.
SPEAKER_01: I could have named this the great adventure.
SPEAKER_01: It's the magnificent obsession.
SPEAKER_01: That's first.
SPEAKER_01: Number two.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, really important.
SPEAKER_01: The magnificent obsession changes your vision.
SPEAKER_01: The magnificent obsession changes your priorities first.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, it changes your vision.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, the lamp of your body is the eye.
SPEAKER_01: If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
SPEAKER_01: But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
SPEAKER_01: So it's very interesting.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just do a little experiment.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody stand up.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, everybody stand up.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I want you to look around and find something that is red.
SPEAKER_01: Look around, see if you see anything red.
SPEAKER_01: Look around, see something red.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, everybody sit down.
SPEAKER_01: That was all the time you get.
SPEAKER_01: Close your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, how many can tell me what they saw that was green?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, a few of you.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01: Here's my point.
SPEAKER_01: Jot this down.
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna talk about it at AIM on Tuesday morning, too.
SPEAKER_01: You find what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: You find what you're looking for, and usually you miss what you're not looking for, right?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus says, seek and you shall knock and the door shall be.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So it's a kingdom principle that you find what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_01: Most of you are looking at your own life, and here's what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm never good at math.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm never good at finance.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'll never be able to have that kind of a job.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that guy's so much smarter than me.
SPEAKER_01: And what you're doing is you are finding everything wrong with yourself because that's what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: But if you start having a fresh vision, a kingdom vision of what God can do through you, I'm smart, I'm intelligent, I can make a difference.
SPEAKER_01: All things are possible through Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna partner with the Holy Spirit, I'm gonna make an impact in my job, I'm gonna get that promotion, I'm gonna uh have relationships that are positive and good and wholesome, you'll find them.
SPEAKER_01: You'll find them.
SPEAKER_01: You absolutely will find them.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens in the church, you know, and I get around pastors, they talk to me and we're talking about different things, and they're talking about all the problems in their church.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, seriously, it's like, ah! I say, yeah, you're finding what you're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: You don't believe in your people, you're not empowering your people.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know what they're looking for sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: I have no idea what most pastors are looking for in their churches.
SPEAKER_01: But anything we do, and in my case, it's being a pastor, man, I just see geniuses all over this room.
SPEAKER_01: I always do.
SPEAKER_01: And it makes me prepare my messages well because you guys are smart, you're not dumb.
SPEAKER_01: And I believe in that.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in you.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in every one of you in this room that you should be successful, effective, powerful, and full of joy.
SPEAKER_01: Because the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in partnering with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: That's Romans 14, 17.
SPEAKER_01: Rememorize it.
SPEAKER_01: Say it to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I want righteousness, peace, and joy this year.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to just be, I don't want to live my life just for food.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to just live my life for, you know, money.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to just live my life for promotion.
SPEAKER_01: I'm living my life with righteousness, peace, and joy.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what they're finding, you know, in all the research that's out there, Harvard, Yale, all these places in positive psychology, they're finding that people who are full of, they don't say righteousness, peace, and joy, but they say people that are full of happiness, that are secure in who they are, are successful.
SPEAKER_01: And they were successful before they were successful.
SPEAKER_01: They were already successful because they loved, they love God, they love their life, they know who they are, and then they doors open for them.
SPEAKER_01: Because they find what they're looking for.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting this word I here in um in our passage, verse 22 and 23, I has the idea of healthy or unhealthy.
SPEAKER_01: Healthy or unhealthy.
SPEAKER_01: The reason that's so important is because when you make the kingdom your focus, when you start putting your faith in the king and in his kingdom, you start making healthy choices.
SPEAKER_01: You start doing healthy things.
SPEAKER_01: So I say to young people, you don't want to have sex before marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Bad idea.
SPEAKER_01: You want to get a you want to get a girl pregnant or you want to get a guy that you know you don't even like, and you have a one-night stand with him, and he's the dad of your kid, and the guy's an idiot?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, is that what you want?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, let's think practically here, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so the reality is, is don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: And it's in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing if we follow the word how clear your conscience is most of the time.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to walk in joy, righteousness, peace, if you want to see success most of the time in your life, then make healthy decisions.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is what's fun.
SPEAKER_01: Liz and I, we go through the Proverbs every morning according to the day of the month and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And it's all, you know what, you know what Proverbs is?
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs is life coaching from God.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody, how many would you like to have Jesus as your life coach?
SPEAKER_01: You're at the right church.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we go verse by verse through scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It's not my opinion, it's right there.
SPEAKER_01: And so Proverbs is skill in living, it's God's life coaching of you.
SPEAKER_01: You start following Proverbs, then you know right from wrong.
SPEAKER_01: You know health from unhealth.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Proverbs is over 50% about finances, it's also about over 50% about being prudent and working hard.
SPEAKER_01: All the things that you're trying to inculcate into your children and your grandchildren is all in Proverbs.
SPEAKER_01: Because it just makes kingdom sense.
SPEAKER_01: It's just kingdom sense and it's healthy, and so that's what he's talking about is health.
SPEAKER_01: So, thirdly, and lastly, the magnificent obsession changes your master.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it changes your master, it changes your priorities, changes your vision, and then thirdly, it changes who's the master over your life.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life.
SPEAKER_01: And excuse me, verse 24, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot serve God and mammon or money.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what's interesting: the word serve here means enslaved to.
SPEAKER_01: So either you possess your money or your money possesses you.
SPEAKER_01: And when you get a new master, when you start following Scripture and you start following the kingdom route to success and effectiveness, it sets you free.
SPEAKER_01: Remember this.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom way is always freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Say that again.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom way is always freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, the world's way is always enslavement.
SPEAKER_01: Say it again.
SPEAKER_01: The world's ways are always enslavement.
SPEAKER_01: If you watch TV for any amount of time and you look at the commercials that come up about all the pharmaceuticals, I mean, you seriously think that if you if you turned your ankle slightly going up a step, you need a drug.
SPEAKER_01: You need a drug for that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and it shows all these happy people, and they're also happy, a lot of butterflies in it, usually, and they're playing with their kids, and they're riding their bikes, and they're jogging.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know anybody who's on a ton of pharmaceuticals that's living like that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So, so I'm not against pharmaceuticals.
SPEAKER_01: There's a place for them.
SPEAKER_01: I'm really, I'm not.
SPEAKER_01: But most of the time I am.
SPEAKER_01: Um because the problem usually is we're not following kingdom laws, and that's why you're sick.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things you gotta do is you just gotta start eating right.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta think healthy, you gotta start having a vision.
SPEAKER_01: I wanna get younger even as I get older.
SPEAKER_01: I want to get younger even as I get older.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be stronger 10 years from now than I am right now.
SPEAKER_01: That means I gotta work out, that means I gotta listen to podcasts that talk about health and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: If you just settle, if you just settle, you know where you're gonna look like your dad, man.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna look like your mom.
SPEAKER_01: And sorry if there's extended families here in the room and everything, but I mean, and and I'm just saying, we've got so much more knowledge, right?
SPEAKER_01: There's more information that you can get your hands on in the next hour just on your phone that would have taken us years to get access to through libraries and other things back in the day.
SPEAKER_01: So it's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: So it's really up to you.
SPEAKER_01: It's up to you how much you want to grow.
SPEAKER_01: And getting a new master really helps because money is a big issue.
SPEAKER_01: Solomon said this.
SPEAKER_01: Write this down.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know this verse, you need to know it, man.
SPEAKER_01: Ecclesiastes 10.19.
SPEAKER_01: Write down Ecclesiastes 10.19.
SPEAKER_01: Money is the answer to everything.
SPEAKER_01: Solomon, the wisest man in the world, said that.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's not going to be your New King James version, but that's like living Bible, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: But it's that meaning is the same.
SPEAKER_01: I've looked it up, I've checked it out.
SPEAKER_01: It's true, right?
SPEAKER_01: You think of two things you think a lot about.
SPEAKER_01: I won't name the first, but the second one is money.
SPEAKER_01: And um the fastest growing TV programs, the fast most best-selling books all deal with money.
SPEAKER_01: All your your major uh radio stations, usually outside of some of the conservative talk show guys, is all about money.
SPEAKER_01: I have a stock market app on my phone.
SPEAKER_01: I I know hour to hour, if I wanted to check it, exactly what's happening on the stock market because it matters to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not obsessed with it, but I kind of want to know.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why he talks about all in this last verse worry, worry, worry, worry, worry, because that's where we worry, right?
SPEAKER_01: We worry about finances.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna challenge you.
SPEAKER_01: Challenge you guys.
SPEAKER_01: And many of you already get this, because I I know how many tithe in this room, but I figured it out at 22.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are 72 and you haven't figured it out.
SPEAKER_01: And I feel sorry for you.
SPEAKER_01: But if you can figure out that God's use of money from Malachi 3 really does work, that if I'll give away 10%, then here's the key, then my money will quit possessing me and I'll start possessing my money.
SPEAKER_01: That's freedom.
SPEAKER_01: I say that again.
SPEAKER_01: God's kingdom always leads to freedom.
SPEAKER_01: Let's say it together.
SPEAKER_01: God's kingdom always leads to freedom.
SPEAKER_01: The world's system always leads to enslavement.
SPEAKER_01: Say it again.
SPEAKER_01: God, that world's system always leads to enslavement.
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
SPEAKER_01: They want you to be enslaved.
SPEAKER_01: They want you to be a slave to their system, they want you to be a slave to the banks, they want you to be slave to loans.
SPEAKER_01: They got you.
SPEAKER_01: They got us.
SPEAKER_01: Let's in the next few years break that.
SPEAKER_01: So, right after the school, the worship school, we're starting a financial peace university.
SPEAKER_01: And all of the pastors are gonna be there.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna all attend it.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna encourage you to all attend it.
SPEAKER_01: I want everybody in this church to go through Financial Peace University, Dave Ramsey stuff.
SPEAKER_01: It will set you free.
SPEAKER_01: So the master that really matters is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Surrender to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Have you surrendered to Jesus today?
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.