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Since 2000 Every Man Ministries has been activating men worldwide to live out their truest identity in Christ through its discipleship resources, live events, and steaming platform.
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The Secret Life: Focusing on the Eternal 0:00 Welcome to the men's global livestream. If you have a Bible, I want you to hold 1 spot, and that's in Matthew chapter 6. If you are joining us for the very first time, we're in a series called The Secret Life, and the0:12 big idea of this series is that every 1 of us has a secret life known only to God. And that life can be something that you hide out of0:23 fear or you pursue out of faith. Those are your only 2 options, and each option has different consequences. Right? 1 secret0:35 life is invisible to men, known to God, that's hidden out of fear, and that life will be exposed and judged ultimately by God. And then there's this other0:47 life, the 1 that we're really emphasizing in this series, and that's invisible to man, but visible to God intentionally. Okay? And0:59 that's the life that we're talking about and that's the life that God wants to reward and to bless. And so in part 1, we just laid a foundation by focusing kind of on what the Bible1:10 says about our secret lives. In part 2, we talked about Jesus's call to a secret life of generosity and giving. And then in part 3, we talked about Jesus's call to1:22 a private and powerful life of prayer. And then in part 4, we talked about the secret life that we can pursue intentionally of fasting and spiritual1:34 disciplines, another call of Jesus. And now in part 5, we're gonna look at in Matthew 6, Jesus's call to a secret focus on God and the eternal1:47 in the midst of a battle with the material world. Now, to get you thinking in the right direction for today's session, I just want you to think about someone where you heard something2:00 about a person, didn't talk to him personally, you just heard from a source something about him that maybe was negative or sketchy. And then based on what you2:11 heard, you believed what you heard. And you treated that person every time you encountered them in a certain way, and maybe not in the best2:23 way, based on what you heard and what you believed. Now, what if what you heard and what you believed was not true at2:35 all? Your your source was polluted for some reason. The person who told you something about that person, alright, they had something going on that made them tell you something that was2:46 not true. Was that fair to the person that they were talking about? Well, of course not. Right? You were operating on2:58 wrong information. It wasn't true, but you behaved out of that belief. You know, as men of God, as believers, we can believe things about God and behave, listen,3:10 out of a wrong understanding and a wrong view of him based on our beliefs. And you know what happens? It's the same thing that would happen in that relationship3:22 that I talked about before, where if you were believing something wrong about a person and then you treated them based on that belief, based on mistruths, and you treated them negatively, or you3:34 just missed out on that person and who they really are. You missed out on their care. You missed out on their concern. You missed out on their presence. You missed out on their power to affect your life. You know, the3:46 the same thing happens in our relationship with God if we don't have the right view of God. We're operating on mistruth. Now, how does that relate to what3:58 we're talking about in The Secret Life? Why is that important? Because your heart, okay, your thoughts, your will, your emotions, the hidden part of you, all right, it can4:09 be pulled away from relationship with God. It can be pulled away from focusing on eternal things in the supernatural by4:21 fear and by concern over the material. Right? Concern over provision. A preoccupation with things can replace4:33 our focus on God and the eternal. And how does that work out relationally with God? Right? Well, Jesus is going to tell us because God knows what you have need of. He4:45 knows your situation. He knows your circumstances, but sometimes the material concerns that we have, the preoccupation we have with stuff or things, that can cloud4:57 our view of God, which affects our relationship with God. It's all a matter of our focus within. Jesus5:09 talks about this, but we're going to start off and just kind of build a basis as we have done in this series. Just again reinforcing these inner processes, but this time we're going to5:21 talk about our focus on the eternal. And we're gonna start off in second Corinthians chapter 4 verses 16 to 18. Listen in to the Bible talk about the heart5:33 and our focus. Alright? Says this, quote, we do not lose heart, Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed5:45 day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is5:57 seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. So you have coach Paul the Apostle talking to a6:08 group of believers, and he's talking about the power of circumstances and how our circumstances can take over our hearts. In fact, he's writing to a group of people whose hearts potentially could be6:20 overtaken, and their eternal focus and relationship with God could be affected. It could be pulled away because of what's going on,6:32 their light and momentary troubles. Okay? And it's how we're going into light and momentary troubles, circumstances that may not have6:45 unrolled the way we thought they might. Right? And we gotta have an anchor. All right? Because Paul is talking about the power of circumstances to impact how we think, the battle6:57 for focus, and then he's talking about, well, what is a victorious focus in the midst of change and challenge in our circumstances?7:09 So I want us to focus on, 3 words. Right? And it's so we fix our eyes. It's right there on your downloaded notes. Why don't you circle that? I wanna unpack that and then7:21 just see what the outcomes are. Right? That phrase to fix our eyes, you know what that means? It means to focus your thoughts. When the Bible talks about the7:33 eyes, okay? It's talking about your inside, your inner person, like Paul talks about in Ephesians 1. I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened. So these are interchangeable terms when Paul7:45 says don't lose heart and fix your eyes. He's talking about the same thing. Right? He's talking about your internal focus, your thoughts, your will, your emotions, and7:57 not drifting that focus off the eternal. Okay? And so, that's what fix our eyes means. And so as we look at the Apostle Paul and what8:09 he's talking about, the man of God or the believer, he's like, so we, man of God, believer, all right, this is how we're set up internally so we don't8:21 drift. Okay? And the first thing he talks about is unseen renewal happening in God's man. He's talking about unseen renewal happening. He8:33 says, We don't lose heart, though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we, through our focus internally on the eternal, are being renewed day8:44 by day. Okay? I don't know about you, but in the midst of change and challenge in my life, maybe some of you are going through transition. Maybe some of you are going through financial material8:57 battles. Okay? God's saying it's possible that you can have day by day, if your focus is on the eternal, unseen renewal happening in9:09 you. Okay? Secondly, there is unseen eternal glory accruing. There's unseen renewal happening, and there's unseen eternal glory accruing for9:21 God's man, for him. Right? This is the x-ray of the heart. In the midst of change and challenge, God's man, because of his focus on the eternal, can be having renewal happening, and he can9:33 have eternal glory piling up through his focus in the midst of change and challenge. God's tracking our focus in the midst9:45 of change and challenge. Right? He says, For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. Hold on. Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah.9:57 Woah. Kenny, are you saying that God's word says that my circumstantial hiccups, my bumps in the road, my interruptions in my10:09 circumstances, my dashing of my plans, and how I manage my heart and mind and focus in the middle of that is the10:21 inception of a stockpile of eternal glory. Yes. So a lot of us, probably10:33 9.9 out of 10 of us, we have some unresolved problems going on in our lives. Things aren't rolling out the way we expected. There's delays. There's difficulties. There's tests. There's trials. There's tribulations.10:43 There's these light and momentary afflictions that are happening on Earth. That's why they're momentary. They're not eternal. This too will pass. But it's our heart in the midst of that, and10:55 our focus on the eternal in the midst of that, that actually can convert this interruption, this delay, this difficulty,11:07 this this financial hiccup, it could convert that into an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs k. That's by11:19 comparison. That's bigger and better and way more meaningful than actually the circumstance that's happening. And it all hinges on your perspective. It11:31 all hinges on your focus. It all hinges on your attitude. So just an encouragement for all of us, including myself, who were all going through changes and challenges. We're11:43 all going through, plans not going exactly as we as we thought they would relationships exactly as they thought we would. Man, here's a chance to deposit some eternal glory into11:55 your account. Wow. Okay? And so then this is all wrapped up. Okay? There's unseen renewal happening in the midst of change and challenge and circumstances. There's unseen eternal glory12:07 through having an eternal focus in the midst of that, that that's accruing. Okay? We're actually banking treasure in heaven through our changes and challenges that are going on and our12:19 attitude in the myth, and it's an unseen mental focus anchoring it all. Alright? Write that down. What's causing all of that to happen is12:31 this hidden focus within us. In the midst of the circumstances swirling around us, we have this mental focus anchoring the renewal12:44 and the treasures in heaven going ahead of us. All right? Paul says, so we fix our eyes. Again, that's a mental focus. We fix our eyes. We fix our12:56 thoughts, our will, and emotions. Not on what is seen, not on what's happening, okay, but on what is unseen. That God's at work, that God loves me, that God's able, that God's doing13:07 something in this, in me and through me, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Okay? So Paul is talking about13:19 the power of an eternal mindset. The power of God in your life is your ability to fly into things that you didn't plan,13:31 to fly into unwelcome circumstances, to to fly into some dashed hopes and not be taken off13:43 God's plan. But it all depends on how you fix your eyes of your heart. And so if you don't want to lose heart, you gotta fix your13:55 eyes. What does that mean? You gotta set your mind on eternity, the things that are unseen. What does that look like? Set your mind on God. Set your mind on his purposes. Set your mind on his14:06 abilities and capacities, not in the absence of adversity, okay, but in the presence of adversity. Listen to what it says in Hebrews 12 1 and 2. We see14:18 Jesus model doing this very thing. It says this, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance. The14:30 race marked out for us, fixing our eyes again on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross,14:42 scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. What is that saying? It's saying very simply that by focusing on the14:54 joy of eternal relationship with God and eternal relationship with us, Jesus found the ability to endure15:05 crucifixion. Okay. That's power. Alright. Very not very many of us. In fact, we'd be willing to dip 0.00000001 percent of everybody that I'm talked15:17 to will ever have to endure martyrdom. Okay. But in the first century, particularly with Jesus, how did Jesus15:29 find the capacity and the ability to endure what he knew was coming, endure it when it was happening, and endure it when he experienced it15:41 at the greatest depths of pain. It was a mindset. It was an eternal perspective for the joy set before him, which was, I'm going to get back into relationship with my heavenly Father15:54 and the Holy Spirit, and I'm gonna have relationship with everybody who believes in me. Okay. That's stronger than crucifixion.16:07 Wow. So when we see that in Jesus, this this is Jesus. Jesus, upon belief in his person16:19 and his work for you on the cross, comes into your life. Right? This is Jesus. Jesus is in me. Listen, this is increasingly you.16:31 The Holy Spirit inside of you wants to make you more like Jesus. Well, what does it mean to be like Jesus in this world that we live in? It means having an eternal mindset that brings16:43 us joy in the midst of not so great things and circumstances, and we're able to endure those circumstances because of our transcendent and eternal16:55 focus on the inside. So that's what we're gonna talk about for the balance of our time. We're gonna look at Jesus's call to secretly focus on the17:07 eternal versus what? The material. So we're in that Matthew 6 pack is where he says, do this in secret, do this in secret. Your father will who sees in secret will reward you with respect to generosity17:19 and giving, praying, fasting, spiritual disciplines. And now he goes into this, do this in secret too. Alright? And the context is the battle with17:31 the material or finances or worldly wealth, call it what you want, provision, money, your bank account, the material. Okay? And we're gonna look17:43 at Jesus continuing this discussion in Matthew 6, and we're gonna look at 3 calls that he makes. Alright? And the first call is we gotta get our heads right when it comes to the eternal versus the17:55 material. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 6 19 to 21. He says, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in18:07 and steal. But circle that, Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. Key line. For18:18 where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. Jesus is teaching us how to think about18:30 material wealth, material things, stuff, toys, possessions, all of those things. And what he's saying is place less of a value18:43 on things, stuff, bank accounts, homes, doesn't mean that we don't work to enjoy those things. He's saying, place less of a value on them and18:54 raise the value. Alright. Treasure eternal things more than material things. Because whatever you invest your heart19:06 in, your thoughts, your will, or emotions, you're gonna move toward what you're investing in on the inside. If you're thinking about material things a lot, you'll invest in material19:18 things a lot. You're thinking about God a lot, you'll invest in eternal things a lot. That's what Jesus is saying. So what is he pointing out? Right? He's pointing out the fact19:30 that there is, write this down, unseen energy. Okay? Mentally, practically, that's going up, that's committed, okay, to the19:42 eternal at the expense of the material. Okay? And we wanna make sure that the material up here doesn't sit first and19:54 dominate the eternal. Right? That energy that you have, that perspective. Right? We we see this this emphasis, okay, of20:06 the the eternal and the heart in Matthew 12 as well. So this is a repeated theme and I'm gonna make the connection between what Jesus just did, right, for where your20:18 treasure is there your heart will also be. He talks about kind of this theme again, but he's using an analogy of fruit trees. Okay? Listen to Jesus talk and listen for the connection to the20:30 heart. Jesus says this. Make a tree good and its fruit will be good. Or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad. For a tree is recognized by its20:41 fruit. You brood of vipers. How can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good20:53 man brings out good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings out evil things out of the evil stored up in him. So you see21:04 that there is this inside out dynamic. K. What's inside comes outside. K. And you see that there's also this storing up, this pouring21:16 into what's inside of a person and whatever is being poured into us. And we're expending energy to pour in either truth or lies, eternal or21:28 material. We have thoughts that we're pouring into, our will we're pouring into, emotions that we're pouring into this. This is all happening. We're filling up the heart with something. Okay? And whatever we fill up21:40 the heart with, alright, and it takes energy to fill up your heart, takes mental energy, takes physical energy, It's all going into the heart that comes out. Alright. What's21:52 inside always comes out. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up where In him. So there's22:03 energy that is being committed mentally and practically that is creating a condition of the heart. Alright? And we what we22:15 want is our energy to be paired with the eternal. Alright? An eternal perspective, eternal relationship. Right? A22:27 modeling of what Jesus did. Right? Who who modeled focus internally that got him through the changes and challenge of crucifixion. That same Jesus is in us.22:39 How are we gonna go through changes and challenges in our own life? Especially as it relates to this big issue of the material? Right? So we just have to get our head right.22:51 And a lot of times, we just we drift. Our thinking gets polluted. Right? And we gotta get back, and the way we do it is by going to the red letters. Right?23:02 Jesus says, Get your head right. Think about this. Right? Treasures on Earth are not as valuable, and they don't last as long as treasures in heaven. Store up for23:14 yourselves treasures in heaven. They're eternal. They last. How do I start doing that? Start committing energy. Your unseen secret energy that no 1 else sees but you and God. Alright. Your thought life, your23:26 will, your emotions. Anchor yourself. Alright. Anchor your mental focus and you'll be renewed and you'll accrue eternal glory. Alright. That's the first call. Alright. SoShow more In this video 0:00 The Secret Life: Focusing on the Eternal23:27 Undivided Loyalty and Trust in God45:40 Living in the Freedom of God's PromisesComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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