Focus And Set Your Heart On Things Above Not On Earthly Things

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What we are talking about today is “Things Above.” Now, what do you say — “What do you mean, things above, like the clouds?” No, no, no — things above even that. We have things here on Earth — earthly things — and then we have things above, which are heavenly things.

And so, the purpose of this message today is to help you understand — “Where are you focusing your time and energy?”

“Are you focusing on earthly things or are you focusing on heavenly things?” You need to be focusing more on heavenly things. Of course, we live in this world, we need to focus on earthly things.

After all, social media, preaching to you right now, this is an earthly thing, but it is for a heavenly purpose we’re trying to reach you with the Living Word of God. Something heavenly, we’re teaching you about heavenly things, pen and paper, a computer, or a cell phone — earthly things, but you can use them as tools to build the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth.

That’s the focus — that’s the mentality.

You can use earthly things as a tool to further the Heavenly Kingdom, but if you’re focusing on these earthly things and that’s it, they’re your goal, they’re your end — that’s where the problem begins.

Let’s dive into it. We want you to forget about the world and the things of the world. Let’s go to John.

John 17:16, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” That was John 17:17. We’re going to go to 17:16 now, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” Those are the words of Jesus, he is saying that his followers are not of this world, even as he is not of this world. We are in this world but not of this world.

You must focus on God and the things above, not on these earthly things. Let’s go to Colossians 3:2. (Colossians 3 verse 2), “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” You need to focus on things above, on the Godly things, on things that God wants you to focus on, not of the things of this world.

We had a message last week called “Let Your Joy Come From The Lord.” You can check it out in a card up here, similar to this topic. If you have your joy coming from the things of this earth, you are going to be disappointed.

If you have your joy coming from God, you will be satisfied and joyful, so focus on the things above, not on the things of this world and especially not on the things below.

All right, let’s keep going. The Bible is filled with scriptures telling you to set your heart on things above, 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

All right, this is a heavy verse — don’t love the world or anything in the world — nothing here. Now you say, “Wait a minute, I love my car.” Uh-uh, don’t love your car. “Wait a minute, I love my dog.”

All right, maybe because you want to care for your dog, but no. “Well, wait a minute, I love my spouse, I love my son or my daughter.” Okay, that’s good. After all, Jesus loves us and we are in the world, but remember John 17:16, “We are not of the world.”

So if you’re loving them, they are not of the world. You’re not loving the world or anything in the world, you’re loving a spirit — a being that is inside an earthly body, part of the body of Christ, a believer who is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven — not a citizen of this Earth.

So do not love the world or anything in the world because if you do, the love of God is not in you. What does that mean?

Does that mean God doesn’t love you? No — it means the love of the Father is not in you, meaning you are not able to pour out the love of the Father on others around you. Why?

Because you’re so focused on the things of this world. Let’s say you love your car — you love your car so much. You have a kid, your son is out playing basketball with his friend, and what happens? The ball gets away — boom — dents your hood.

Son — oh, wait a minute — you just got all mad at your child, who you should love more than your car, for an accident against your car. They didn’t intentionally do that.

You have no right to be mad at them. Sure, you can be upset that it happened, but it wasn’t their fault. Now your little five-year-old is crying, because he thinks you don’t love him — because you love your car more than him.

The love of the Father did not come through you in that instance. Who came through you?
Satan — the enemy — things below. Remember, you need to focus on things above.

Don’t love your car or the things of this world more than a spiritual being inside the body of your child — a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember, if you do, the love of the Father is not in you. What is in you? This world. What is controlling you? Things of this world. Who rules this world? Satan.

Do you want to be controlled by Satan? I hope the answer is no. So if you love the things in this world, the love of God is not in you. If you love any material thing, the love of God is not in you.

This doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you. I — I want to reiterate that again — God still loves you, and He is wanting you to change.

The Holy Spirit is interceding for you. Jesus is interceding for you. Other Christians are interceding for you — praying that you see the light, that the love of the Father would be in you, that you would love God more than your things.

If you love these things, it means that you do not love God. And you say, “Wait a minute, I love God, but I love my car. I love God, but I love my video games. I love God, but you haven’t seen my boat. I love that thing.”

You know what? You can’t have two masters. You say, “Yeah, you can.” Can’t serve God and money. That boat — money got you the boat. You work to get money to buy the boat. Where are your priorities?

“Do you love God more than you love your things?” “Is God the first priority in your life?”
He better be. Focus on things above — not on these earthly things.

Now I’m not saying you can’t have nice things. God wants to bless you, and he wants to give you nice things, but you need to use those things to build the kingdom.

You got a nice car? Great. What are you doing with that car? Are you showing it off — boasting in your arrogance and pride — or are you using it to go volunteer, to do things for God? To maybe give people rides? When people comment on your car, you say:
“Yes, I have a nice car. The Lord blessed me. Has He blessed you? How can I help you become blessed? How can I introduce you to the Lord on a deeper level? Come over to my house. Let’s read the Bible.”
What are you doing? “Hey, I’m going to send you a link to Spencer Social Media Ministries.”
“Hey, I’m going to invite you to my church — the local church. I’ll pick you up in my car. You can ride in my car.”
“Hey, that’s a nice boat. What are you doing with your boat? Boasting, bragging about your nice boat — or are you doing Bible studies on your boat in the water?” Bible study on the boat? — Jesus did.
Are you taking people who wouldn’t be able to have that boat out in that boat and showing them what it’s like? Are you helping them live a more Godly life? Are you showing them that, as a Christian — a devout follower of Christ — it’s okay to live blessed? God wants to bless you, and He wants you to help other people as well.
You can’t love something else — some worldly thing. You have to love God. Let’s go to Matthew 6:19–20.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,” ‘But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.’”
You need to be focusing on what? — Things above, not on earthly things. You need to love God, not earthly things. Why? You can’t love both. Go to Matthew 6:24 — a few verses down.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Or both God and your things, or both God and your boat, or both God and your football game, or God and whatever. You can’t serve both. One has to be the priority. James 4:4. Let’s go there.

James 4:4 says, “Friendship with the world means enmity against God. Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

We have an entire sermon on this. That’s how important this is. Check it out be in a card up here, otherwise, go to our website and type in “Friend Of The World.”

You can’t be a friend of the world, because if you do, you’re an enemy of God. You can’t love the things in this world, because if you do, the love of the Father is not in you. And then what? — You don’t love God.
God still loves you, and He wants you to love Him — not the things in this world. You have to forget about worldly things. They all come from God anyway.
God will bless you with worldly things — with earthly things — to use as tools to build His Kingdom. How? — On Earth as it is in Heaven.
So forget about it. You’re just taking care of it anyway. You’re a steward. We have a sermon on that, too — it’s called “Be A Good Steward.” Check it out. All this stuff here on Earth comes from God.

The sooner you realize that God gives you everything and you focus on Him and forget about all this — and realize that everything you have is a blessing from God — you will be much happier. You want more stuff? Ask God.

We have a sermon on that — “Ask God” — and you will receive, as long as you’re asking for things in accordance with His will. Because guess what? He wants to bless you. He really does.

You’re a steward, and He wants you to be a good steward. We have that sermon. Check it out. Type in “Steward” on our website. Let’s go to Matthew 6:33.

Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

All right, so let’s break that down. If you seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, all these things will be given to you as well. So if you’re seeking earthly things, you might get them.

Why? Because Satan will probably give them to you, because he controls this world. He has dominion over this world. Yes, God is in control, but Satan has somewhat of a free rein. He’s on a leash — but he’s on a loose leash.
All right, so if you love the things in this world and you’re not really on fire for Christ — that includes anyone, whether you’re Christian or not.
Several preachers and ministers out there are probably following Satan more than they’re following God.
All right, there are a lot of ministers out there with multiple wives, a lot of ministers with a bunch of children out of wedlock, a lot of ministers that are just money-hungry, a lot of televangelists that are really just businesses.
Who is giving them their success? Probably Satan. Why? — Because if Satan was threatened by them, he wouldn’t be giving them success. He would be trying to keep them down.
But he knows that they’re not effective — that they’re not leading people in the right direction — so he’s going to give them everything and everything and everything they can, because then, they will keep leading people astray, and they’re not a threat.
Think about that. Make sure your doctrine is sound. The point is here — God wants to bless you. And if your motives are pure, and you’re a good steward, and you’re using the things here as a tool to build His Kingdom — on Earth as it is in Heaven — you will be blessed. You will use these things wisely.
“Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” But if you’re seeking these things first, what’s going to happen? You will get these things, but you will not get His Kingdom and His righteousness. Why?

Because you’re seeking earthly things. Who rules the Earth? Satan. If you’re seeking earthly things, what you’re seeking is Satan.
Are you really? Well, no — it could be a jump in logic right there. But if you’re not seeking God — who are you seeking? There’s no one on the fence.
You’re either with us or you’re against us. Those who are not against us are for us. So that means if you don’t know, you could be either way. But if you’re seeking the opposite of what God wants you to seek — you’re definitely not with Him.

“Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Have patience. God will bless you. But if you start seeking these earthly things, you’re going down the wrong path — because guess what?

You’re turning from God. Satan is going to try to keep you to turn from God, and he’s going to keep you going down that wrong path. He will start giving you things.

You’ll be like, “Wow, this Earth is great! This world is great! I love all this stuff! I love this life! I’m living my best life!”
No — you should never be living your best life. You should be living God’s best life for you — following His plan, not your own. What — what should you be seeking then? His Kingdom and His righteousness.
Remember Solomon asked God for Godly things. What happened? God said, “Not only will I give you wisdom — the godly thing you asked for — and knowledge so that you can rule well, I’m going to give you everything else: victory over your enemies, wealth beyond all wealth, riches.” “Not only am I going to give it to you — I’m going to bless your kingdom.”

And what happened? Solomon had silver as plentiful as the stones in the street. Do you understand this? Go out in your yard. How many rocks will you find in an hour? Can you fill a five-gallon bucket in an hour?

Imagine — what if you have rocks around your house, landscaped? Imagine if it was all pieces of silver? Solomon made silver as plentiful as the stones in the street. Can you imagine?

So God said, “You sought Me first. I will bless you. I will bless your people around you. I will bless your family. I will bless your entire kingdom. I will bless you so much, people will travel from far away so that they too can be blessed.”

“Seek first His Kingdom — you will be blessed.” Let’s go to 2 Chronicles 1:11-12.

2 Chronicles 1:11–12 — “God said to Solomon, Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern My people over whom I have made you king,”

“Therefore, wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions, and honor such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”

None. He was the richest and wisest king ever — and ever will be — because he sought God first. Let’s go to 1 Kings 10:27.

1 Kings 10:27 — “The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.”
As common as stones — right there, biblical evidence for the claims we just made.
And cedar — that would be like whatever kind of wood you want: walnut, teak, this great expensive wood — as plentiful as regular old wood, like ash, maple, oak, whatever.
He had a wealthy and rich kingdom because God blessed him. And what did he do with it?
He didn’t say, “Thank you, God, for all these blessings. You gave me wisdom, you gave me wealth. I’m hoarding it in my palace.”
No. He made it as plentiful as stones in the street, meaning he shared it — meaning what? It flowed to him and then through him. As we’ve said before, you’re a funnel, you’re a vessel.
God wants to funnel resources and wealth and information and knowledge and gifts into you, and He wants you to funnel them out — or to flow through you to those around you.
And if you let it flow through you and not to you, God will always give you more. Your cup will run over.
Why? Because there’s enough to distribute. Trust in God. When you do this, it will be much easier to let things come and go in your life because you know there’s always going to be more.

So, focus on the things above and remember that if you seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, more will be given to you here on Earth. Why? Because He knows your heart is for Him.

He knows that if He gives you more, you’re not going to be attached to the more — you’re going to be attached to using the more to build His Kingdom.
If God gave you $10,000 today, what would you do with it? Put it in your bank account? Would you say, “Hey, excellent! I can fully fund my Roth IRA now. I just need another $8,000 to fund my spouse. Come on, God, let’s get this finished!”
Or would you say, “Wow, a $10,000 blessing! Well, thousands going to my church, I’m going to give a tenth to some other ministry, I’m going to buy everybody something else!”
You know, like — what would you do? Are you going to use it for yourself and hoard it, building bigger barns, or are you going to share it with others?
I’m not saying you have to share everything you have, but portions of what God gives you must be used to build the Kingdom.
Why? Because it shows that your heart is for God — that you know that you are a steward of everything here. It shows God and it shows others that you are focused on the things above, not simply on the things of this world.
Let’s pray,
Thank you so much for this message today. Thank you for inspiring us to focus on the things above.
Continue to remind us that we need to focus on Your Kingdom and Your righteousness and building Your Kingdom here on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Lord, we are at war every single day. We are at war against the forces of evil in this realm, on this Earth.

Help each and every person remember — remember that they are at war, that they are in the middle of a battle, that they can only win with You.

We are not more powerful than this world, and we are not of this world, but if You are in us, then we can overcome this world.

Give them that desire to use the things of this world as tools to build Your Kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Have a great week, and God bless.