As a believer in, and follower of, Jesus Christ, you are not of this world. This world is a temporary place for you. You live here and do your best to take care of what you are given. However, you have to remember that this is not your eternal home.

Set your mind on the things above and store your treasure in heaven. You are here on a special assignment working in a foreign territory. Your home is in another kingdom. A heavenly kingdom. And that is where your citizenship lies.

You are a sojourner here, just passing through. So don’t get too comfortable or think you are going to retire here and live happily ever after in this world. No, this world is not your home. You have another assignment, and that is to fulfill the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ himself before he ascended into heaven: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me… Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:18-19).

So as a Christian, your number one priority should be making disciples while you are still alive, instead of focusing mainly on accumulating stuff in this temporal world that you will eventually have to leave behind when the time comes for you to go home.

Referenced Verses:
James 4:4
Genesis 3:1-24
2 Corinthians 4:4
Matthew 6:19-20
John 18:36
Colossians 3:2
John 3:16

 

Video Transcript
Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being here with us today. If this is your first time watching or listening, I encourage you to find the subscribe buttons or the bell icons and click on those so that you can be notified when we post new content. In addition, check us out on YouTube, social media on Instagram, as well, and find some of our old sermons or older messages.

Even though they’re – I say they’re old, they still apply to today. So, find them, listen to them, talk about them, share them with your friends, and engage in discussion. All of our past messages are there, and the reason we do that, we archive them all, is so that you can find them later and watch them again, talk about them with others. Because through repetition we internalize information and then begin to externalize it and live it out and share it with others, as well.

And, that is the whole point of Social Media Ministries. Our mission is to share the living Word of God through social media with as many people as possible. This is the living Word of God right here, the Bible. We’re sharing it, we’re sharing Jesus Christ, and we’re doing it through social media.

So, if you’re returning with us, we need your help. Click on the share icons, and help us because we want to do this through social media. Hopefully, you have some social media accounts you can help share this on. So, we thank you for doing that.

Today we have another great message. It is one that you may not have thought of before, but once you hear this, hopefully, you will start to reshape and reframe your mind to move away from this. We’re talking about being a friend of the world. Now, what is the world? Well, the world is where we live, it is what we do, where we are involved.

And, being a friend of the world, although you might think it’s good, we want to do everything we can to help Mother Nature or recycle and reduce, reuse, recycle and be earthly and not cut down any trees. Or, I’m going to be vegan and not harm any animals, not harm any living things. Well, vegetables are living, as well, so vegan, not harming living things – if you’re doing it for a health reason, great, but the activism doesn’t work there.

Anyway, different topic, we’re not going to get into that.

But, friendship with the world, although you might think that all of these things are great, it’s good within reason. Obviously, you don’t want to be going out littering because we have to live here. We need to take care of the place in which we live. God has entrusted it to us, but there is another caveat there is that this world was entrusted to us, but we got rid of that a long time ago when Satan took this earth from Adam and Eve.

Adam, or man, had domain over the world. Man ruled this earth. God had a heavenly Kingdom. This earthly kingdom was for man. Satan took that kingdom away. Now it is his. So, if we are friends with this world, we are essentially friends with Satan who is the ruler of this world – kind of shocking, kind of shocking. So, everything you do to help or preserve or do more for this planet, you’re really doing more to preserve Satan’s kingdom.

Okay, that doesn’t mean you should go out and trash the world. Because God put us here for a reason, and it’s not just to cause chaos and distress and trash everything like these rioters out in the streets. That’s wrong. We’re here for a reason – to bring more people to the heavenly Kingdom, out of this kingdom.

That doesn’t mean killing them. It means leading them to Christ and be fruitful and multiply. Be fruitful and multiply, not create more kids, but be fruitful and multiply by bringing others into our kingdom and encouraging them to do the same so that we have exponential growth of believing in Jesus Christ.

Now, let’s dig into some Scripture. So, if you have your Bible, please turn with me to James 4:4. James is a great book. I really, really like it. It’s one of my favorites. James 4:4, if you don’t have your Bible, don’t worry. I’m going to read you the Verse. You can also come back later. Look at the description below where all of the Verses will be referenced, and you can look them up for yourself and read them later.

So, here we go, James 4:4, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means an enmity against God? Therefore anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

Wow…pretty heavy. If you choose to be a friend of the world, you are choosing to be an enemy of God. Why? Because your Kingdom is not here, your Kingdom is somewhere else. Are you going to serve and be loyal to a kingdom that’s not your own? No, that’s disloyalty, that’s wrong. It’s, it’s going against something that you want or that you believe in that you are supposed to or are meant to do.

You don’t go serve another kingdom. You don’t serve the enemy. You don’t help the enemy. We serve Jesus Christ. His Kingdom is in Heaven. It’s a heavenly realm. It’s, it’s not here in this world, so we don’t want to serve the world or serve the leader of this world, which is Satan.

Now, you say, “Wait a minute. How do we know for sure that Satan is the ruler of this world?” Well, look at the world today and that should be pretty apparent. But, how do we know for sure?

Some factual evidence – so, Genesis Chapter 3, I encourage you to read that. That is the chapter where the fall of man is detailed, on how man was a ruler of the garden – everything in the garden is yours. You can even name all of the animals. God brought them all by and Adam assigned them names or mankind assigned names to each and every animal.

And, then he said, “Wait a minute. I see that everyone has a mate or a pair, but I’m by myself.” So, God said, “You’re right. It’s not good for man to be alone.” So, I’ll give him a helper, and that’s when God created woman or Eve from man, so wo-man from man. And, then we have a helper to go through this world with.

Now, they ruled the world. They were, the leaders. This – really they ruled the world, and Satan, who got booted out of Heaven for trying to cause mutiny and trying to take over that Kingdom, he got thrown out and sent down to earth. And, he said, “I need a kingdom, so I’m going to steal the kingdom from mankind.”

How does he do that? Well, he disguises himself as a serpent who is more crafty than any other creature and steals away their reign, and then takes control over the earth. So, read that – Genesis Chapter 3. There are also mentions in other books about what Satan was.

His name was Lucifer. He was a very trusted of God, and he caused a rebellion. So, there’s a the Book of Ezekial has some references to Lucifer, and he then later had his name changed to Satan, which means the adversary. So, he is averse to us. He stole away our kingdom, and he is now the ruler of this earth.

The Book of Job, Job Chapter 1, also asks – God says to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And, he says, “From roaming the earth to and fro throughout,” meaning it’s his domain because he came from there. He wasn’t in Heaven. He came from somewhere else. That’s where he’s from.

So let’s also go to 2 Corinthians 4:4 for another point on this, 2 Corinthians 4:4. So, if you have your Bibles, please turn with me there. It says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The god of this age, the god of this area, this realm, this vicinity – and it’s god with a lowercase “g,” so it’s not our God, Yahweh – the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. So, that would be Satan, the god of this age, the Devil, our adversary, Satan. So, he rules the world, and if we are to be a friend of this world, it is a friend of Satan. Or, you are pledging your allegiance, really, to Satan, the foreign kingdom, the ruler, the ruler – the evil ruler, Satan.

God wants you to not do that. You don’t need to be storing up things here and building your kingdom here. Our kingdom is in Heaven. We need to store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven, not earthly things.

The book of Matthew, Jesus’ words tell us this. Turn to Matthew Chapter 6, Verses 19 and 20. It says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” Why? Well, number one because it’s Satan’s kingdom, so why would we store stuff in an evil kingdom? We’re here on a special assignment. We’re here under a foreign rule. We’re behind enemy lines. We have a mission, a purpose, to lead others to Christ, and to do more.

Now, “Do not store up for yourself 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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Where do you want your heart? Do you want your heart with Satan in this world, or do you want your heart with Jesus Christ in Heaven? Pretty simple answer for me. So, if you store up earthly things, you’re a friend of the world. You are putting your stock in Satan’s rule, your trust in Satan’s rule. You are siding with the devil. God’s rule is in Heaven not on earth.

John Chapter 18, Verse 36, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders, but now my Kingdom is from another place.”

His Kingdom is not here. We, we Christians, believers, we are not of this world. We are from a different place. We are from a heavenly Kingdom. Our goal, our purpose, is to bring more people into that Kingdom. Don’t put anything with the earthly world here. Don’t become a friend of this world. This world is temporary.

Everything we have here is given to us from God for the purpose of completing our purpose, our mission, while we are here on earth. Our time here on earth is short. There’s a very popular coffee chain, life is short, stay awake for it. Well, life is short, stay awake, and do your purpose, fulfill your mission. We are here on a mission. We have a calling. Find out what your purpose and your calling is. Doing that is very difficult.

One way to find out, the best way to find out, is to communicate with God. Study His Word, right here, the Bible. Read this daily, meditate on it day and night, put it in your heart, in your mind, talk about it with others.

That’s another reason why I put all the references in the description below, so you can come back, you can read them, you can talk about them with other people, you can engage in conversation, you can post comments below, and we can engage in conversation – whatever works for you.

You are in a place here that is away from God. We are separated from God right now. Our goal through Jesus Christ is to get back to God. Becoming a Christian, believing in Jesus now, we are with God again, but we are still away. We are here again on a foreign assignment, we are living under a foreign rule, and if we are not careful, we will fall away.

But take heart. Remember no one can snatch us from God’s hand, not even Satan. So, what can we do to make sure that we are staying, living for God in a foreign place? Well, storing up heavenly treasures as Jesus said in the Book of Matthew. Also, if we go to Colossians 3:2 there is a great verse there that says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” So, we can set our minds on things above. That will help. Write that down.

So, what can we do? Store up heavenly treasures. What are heavenly treasures? Well, heavenly treasures is believing in Jesus, accepting and receiving the Holy Spirit, and having that joy and that hope within us. Heavenly treasures would also be investing in other people and doing the same, so we’re moving the spirit around. We’re sharing it with others. We are helping other people become more like Jesus. Sharing Jesus – that’s investing in heavenly treasures.

What next? Well, tithing of course. We’re commanded to do that, and there’s a great joke.

It’s this guy walking through Heaven with a saint or Jesus or someone, and he says, “Wow, this is a nice place.” “Yeah, this is a really good mansion, and here’s a nice one, and here’s a nice one.” And, then they come to this really just kind of like a shack, a shed, scrap lumber put together, and he says, “What’s this?” “Oh, this is your house.” “Wait a minute. What are all these nice big places?” He said, “Well, we did the best with the money you gave us.”

Obviously, that’s not how it works, but it’s kind of a neat little joke. God doesn’t need your money. The churches don’t need your money. Look how big they are. Look how much money they have. God has the whole – everything. He doesn’t need your money. Are you kidding me? He wants you to give your money. It’s not yours anyway. It’s His. He gave it to you. It’s a test.

What are you going to do with it? Are you going to do what He commands you to do with it? Are you going to hoard it all for yourselves and live in a world and store up earthly treasures and keep it here and be a subject of Satan’s rule? Or, are you going to take what God has given you and do what you’re supposed to do with it and be part of the heavenly Kingdom and the heavenly rule?

So, what can we do? Again, store up heavenly treasures. That means investing in other people and tithing with what – doing what you are supposed to do with the gifts and the talents that God has given you.

Also, set your minds on things above. Anytime you’re going through hardship or trouble, just remember you’ve got a better place to go to. Someday, you will be there, think about it, remember it all the time, pray, talk to God, read the Bible – there are a lot of different things. Side with Jesus. Always remember whose side you’re on.

Anytime something goes on, you think to yourself, am I being a friend of the world, or am I being a friend of Christ? Are my actions reflecting siding with the earth, this earthly kingdom, this worldly kingdom that is temporary, that will all go away, where I don’t even belong here? I’m on a foreign assignment, under foreign rule, serving another place. Which are you serving?

Yes, sometimes if you’re here for so long, you might fall away because you don’t remember. You forget where you came from. Never forget. Right here, this is so we don’t forget. Side with Jesus – He gave His life for you. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life.” Eternal life where? In this kingdom that isn’t ours? No, eternal life in Heaven, where our home is in our kingdom.

So, I hope you remember that. Don’t be a friend of the world. Do everything you can to be a friend of Jesus and to remember your Kingdom is somewhere else. We are not of this world. Therefore don’t be of this world.

Let’s pray:

Thank you, Lord, for such a great time today. Thank you for this message. Please hit home these points with everyone. Keep them strong in their faith. Help them to remember to read their Bibles, to pray daily, to store up heavenly treasures, and to set their minds on things above.

Keep us safe here on our foreign assignment in this world that isn’t ours, and help us to navigate safely and to be protected and to constantly walk with you by our sides.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I want to thank you again for spending your time here today. Share this with others if you can. Help other people realize that we are not of this world and that it is our job to bring more people into our heavenly Kingdom by sharing Jesus Christ.

Thank you. God bless.