Open—Matt Richerzhagen
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The first line there says have an object. Lord should divide my heart with thee. Turn with me before we pray in John.
Chapter 2.
Was speaking to a brother last night about the young people and each one of us being kept in the path of faith. I think it's so important to understand the goodness of God.
First John chapter 2 verse.
15 That's a beautiful verse, but that's not it. Verse 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, the lust of the flesh is sensualism. And we understand how to make it through this scene by having a right perspective. The Lord Jesus said if we can see right, we can be right. And we understand that God is the giver of all good gifts.
Satan came to Eve and he said if you would eat of this fruit, you'd have the very best.
And what she didn't realize is if she took her eyes off that tree, she had the very best, because God gives us the very best.
By taking that fruit, they got kicked out of the garden. God created sensualism. He created pleasure for you. And it has a specific place. There's a boundary. A fire in the fireplace keeps you warm in the living room. It burns a house to the ground. God's not withholding stuff from you. There's a time and a place.
It's worth the wait. My dear, beloved young people. The loss of the flesh is is essentialism #2 The less of the eyes. It's materialism.
And we want to go through this world and we want to have nice things.
That's natural. That's not wrong, but that shouldn't be our focus. That's not why we're here. He wants us to own things without them owning us, so that we can own it with an open hand. Lord, if you want to give me more, that's great. And if you want to take it away, that's great too. Because if we hold what we have in a closed fist, if he's going to take it away, it's going to hurt.
Because he's way stronger than us. The lust of the eyes and materialism and the pride of life is egotism. I want to look good. It takes so much energy I want to look at. So what if two or three people thought you look good? Jesus said if you want to look good and people see you praying, you already have your reward. Who cares? Big deal.
Is that really that important to you? We need people to like us for us to be OK.
And we don't even like ourselves. Jesus said, you're mine, I died for you, you're mine. I cherish you, I want you. I'm, as our brother said, I'm coming for you. These things are natural things that the enemy of our souls puts before us. And he says, oh, you're going to have the very best. And I'll tell you, my dear, beloved children, young people, people that are my age, people that are older, the very best.
Is what God has and he gives us.
To those who receive it at His hand in His time, our God and our Father.
We thank thee for this opportunity to be together around thy word.
Lord, there is nothing, there is nothing that thou has not given us for our blessing, for Thy glory.
Lord, help us to see that which is not ours, at least not ours yet.
As worth waiting for.
And Lord, those boundaries, those are for our blessing that we might enjoy.
To the fullest extent what thou hast given us, without shame, without fear, without heartache.
Without regret, the bitterness of regret, Lord you, you have all the good things, You've made everything beautiful in its time. And we just pray for help that we might walk wholly devoted to Thee, that we might experience the paradise of God in our daily circumstance. As we seek Thy face, we bless thee and praise thee in Jesus mighty name, Amen.