 All right, amen. The first thing I want to say is I am sorry because of the fact that I know you're expecting pastor Anderson and so I Wanted to hear pastor. I'm sorry. Honest with you but please pray for him obviously he injured his back and I know he's in a lot of pain and I feel for him because last week man I was so sick last week and it got to a point where I literally went on Facebook and I just asked everyone to just pray for me because I was so sick and my throat was in so much pain and I do believe in the power of prayer for sure and so I'm not just saying pray for pastor Anderson You know because it's the Christian thing to do it's pray for him because you know prayer works and so I pray that his back is able to heal and That he would be able to make it to my church tomorrow, but you know it's probably not going to happen You know he was supposed to preach at my church tomorrow, but it's probably not going to happen And that's all I'm sure he's going to preach at both of our churches Sometime in the near future pastor Anderson that one's for you and so but I'm thankful to be here and I'm thankful for pastor Pazarnski and hold fast Baptist Church and We need more churches like hold fast Baptist Church because of the fact that it's in California and we need more churches in California and I really believe that this church here is doing a great work here by winning souls to Christ and Preaching God's word raising godly families and serving the Lord and I think it's making a great impact in the city And I want to talk to you a little bit today about a parable in Matthew chapter 13 that has a little bit to do with that Look down at your Bibles at verse 44 It says here again the kingdom of heaven is likened to treasure hid in a field Though which one a man hath found he highteth it and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and Buyeth that field and the time I serve in this evening is by the field By the field purchase the field I'm explaining what this parable is referring to here and just a bit and then we're going to give some application To this particular story It's actually one of my favorite parables because of the fact that when you read some of these parables What Jesus is doing here is that he's giving some carnal temporal Illustrations and examples in order to help us to really understanding grasp the importance of making an eternal investment And that's really what I want to do tonight I want to explain this parable and Lord willing at the end of this sermon You'll have a greater Respect or value for the eternal rather than the temporal and really if you think about it You know a lot of Christians what the reason it's hard for Christians to serve God The reason it's hard for Christians to win souls to just be a good Christian to serve the Lord It's because of the fact that they're too temporal minded But if they just realize how much how many rewards are set before us when we sacrifice really when we invest our lives into the eternal You know we would realize that obedience to God Will not only benefit the kingdom of God, but it actually benefits us in the temporal and in the long run as well So my goal tonight is to help you to be a little less temporal minded and more eternally Minded and so here in Matthew chapter 13 Read this great story, and it's only one verse, but there's so much packed into this one verse Basically, what's happening here? Of course Jesus Christ is trying to help people to grasp what the kingdom of heaven is like the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven and He explains that the kingdom of heaven as if there is a treasure in a particular field And I'm gonna extrapolate some things here that's not necessarily stated But you know we can we can theorize that this is what's taking place a man is walking by this field apparently And he probably sees a little something shining out of the ground maybe a pearl Silver gold some sort of treasure Kind of catches his attention He goes to it. He finds this hidden treasure in this particular field and obviously this treasure is of great price It's of great value. It's worth a lot of money. Okay. It's worth. It's very valuable And how do we know that well when he finds this treasure? He's like finder's keepers, you know, he really wants to keep this treasure But the problem is that the field doesn't belong to him. Okay, the real estate doesn't belong to him And he's thinking to himself I can't just take this treasure because obviously the field belongs to someone else Therefore what he does the logical thing that he does is that he takes all of his possessions Everything that he owns he goes and he sells everything that he has Okay, and you know, you can think about maybe his home his possessions all the money that he saved All the valuable things that we would esteem as being something that's important this side of eternity He just takes it all and he just uses it to buy that real estate goes to the guy And he says I'll purchase this field and I'll purchase it with all this money And you think of the guy who probably owns the field. He's right. I think it's not for sale But man, this is a lot of money you're willing to pay for this take it, right? And so you think of the man who owns the field in his mind. He's probably thinking this guy's making a bad deal It's a bad investment. He's purchasing this field here And he's paying for it way more than it actually costs But in the mind of the man who found the treasure he knows this is not a sacrifice This is an investment knowing full well that if you purchase the field He's gonna gain the treasure and ultimately have more in the long term than he does Sacrificing in the short term it's a wonderful story here And what this parable is trying to get across here is the fact that the kingdom of heaven the eternal Whether that is the rewards that we receive from Christ the honor and the glory that we'll get from Jesus and the millennial reign And the new heaven and the new earth all the things that we will possess one day in the eternal It's worth not our sacrifice. It's worth our investment this side of eternity And it doesn't mean that you have to have a crazy amount of money in the bank or You have to be a rich person to invest you just have to invest whatever you have Temporally in this life to gain that much the more in the eternal by the field is what the Bible is telling us here And what he's trying to get across here is this You know Don't be so caught up in the temporal and the finances of this world the riches of this world the fame of this world The possessions in the house the vehicles of this world that you're not willing to invest some of those things into the eternal So you can get the treasure the hidden treasure that's found in this world Okay, this is what the parable is referring to investing all that you have for the long-term reward now What's one of the reasons why people don't do this? Because the parable is pretty self-explanatory. It's basically Jesus saying hey, don't value money Don't value possessions obviously these are things that we need These are things that we need to live and to feed our families and to live in a house and to do all those things But don't exalt them to a position where that's all you think about That's what your focus is and you're no longer investing in the eternal and What he's trying to get across here is the fact that we need to be more eternally minded Set our affections on things above not on the things of this earth Seek he first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you Now let me just say this is what this is not teaching is that you just go broke for Christ, right? You just sell everything you have because you know Jesus is coming back tomorrow or something There's a lot of people that have done that, you know, I remember back in 2013 someone by the name of Harold camping Had said that Jesus Christ was kind of come back. I think it was like March 23rd 2013 and so there's a bunch of people that are selling their yachts their houses all their possessions He had all these billboards all over Los Angeles. I don't know if there's any billboards here at that time But in Los Angeles ton of billboards They was coming back on this day and I'm just thinking to myself this guy's making us look so bad, right? He's saying Jesus coming back on March 23rd, and of course March 23rd came March 24th came and nothing happened But you know what did happen to those people who invested they didn't invest it in sacrifice They just spent their possessions foolishly into a false prophet and a false prophecy of Jesus Christ And they pay the consequences for that. That's not what Jesus Christ is asking of us Okay, because obviously if you don't provide for your own you're worse than an infidel, right? God wants us to give what we can give and invest what we can invest Whether that's our resources our time our talents for the eternal So we see here. He takes this treasure He hides it in field He goes back home He sells all that he has to buy that field and of course it doesn't specifically say what happens But we know what happens. He buys the field soon as he buys it, you know, the papers are given over He goes he could care less about the rest of the field He could buy a bunch of fields with that with the treasure that he finds he goes and he digs up the treasure and He cashes in the check, right? Now, what's one of the reasons why people don't really really or don't really understand this particular principle that we see here in the Bible? Well, if I if I were to guess as to why based upon this parable, I would say because they haven't found treasure Because what motivated this guy to sell all that he had the fact that he found treasure and A lot of the times it's not that treasure for the Christians doesn't exist is because they're not looking for it Or they're looking for treasure in all the wrong places Right they're looking for fame and fortune and the temporal wealth of this world rather than looking for that the hidden Treasures of God and the eternal you see if you really Spent time meditating and thinking upon how valuable the rewards are the recompense of Jesus Christ in the eternal Investing in the eternal would make a lot of sense, right? So a lot of Christians don't do this because of the fact they haven't found treasure They're not looking in the ward of God for treasure. They're not looking for souls and treasure they're not looking into the eternal for that which is valuable and Will bless them in the long term. Let me say this is that anything worth having Requires a substantial amount of trade-offs, right? Anything worth having requires a substantial amount of trade-offs and you know obviously there's good trade-offs and there's bad trade-offs and In order for us to be successful in the Christian life We need to make calculated decisions to be successful this side of eternity for eternity in other words invest in the spiritual Invest in the eternal invest in the things of God the service of God in order to receive that great recompense one day now Go with me if you would to act chapter 10 act chapter time. I'm gonna go over a couple points tonight Regarding this particular subject now number one. Let me say this is that this doesn't apply to you or me But when you think about it, you know the the world the unsaved Even they have to pay a price to a certain extent, right? Now obviously we know that salvation has been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ It's been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ and anyone who believes on Jesus Christ will receive salvation The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the Dead that shall be saved right For with the heart man believe with them to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation The Bible says that whose service are called upon the name of the Lord shall be saved the Bible says for my grace Are you safe through faith in that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God not of works this any man should boast so over and over again The Bible emphasizes the fact that salvation is not something you have to pay for it's already been paid for by the death Burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ all we have to do is believe on Jesus Christ receive that free gift And it's ours forever, but let me say this is that the world does have to pay the price to find salvation though You say what do you mean by that? Well, you know the war the Bible teaches us that Every individual in this world has to respond to the light that God gives them right and even then obviously they can't be saved But what the Bible is teaching us here is the fact that when a person is unsaved You know, they're given a measure of light in their heart Referring to the laws of God written in their hearts that God wants them to respond to in order to situate them into a position Where a soul when they're sent to them give them the gospel and they could get saved now You're an act chapter 10. I'm going to read to you from John chapter 3 and verse 17 It says for God sent not ascended to the world to condemn the world But that the world through him might be saved he that believe it on him is not condemned But he that believe it not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And this is the condemnation the light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil For everyone that do with evil hated the light neither cometh to the light less his deeds should be reproofed But he that do with the truth listen to this Cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God You know every single one of you in here Someone gave you the gospel you heard the gospel online Someone got you saved, but you know at the end of the day You situated yourself by responding to the light that God gave you which is why God gave you more light Which is why God sent the soul winner or allowed you to hear gospel presentation and gave you understanding of that message You pay the price to look for the truth in other words, okay? And this is why you know when people bring up the subject of so are you trying to tell me that you know the African guy in the Congo and the jungles if they've never heard the name of Christ. They're gonna die and go to hell. Yes If they don't believe anybody there's no exception to that rule if a person dies without Christ They're going to hell There's no exception to that rule. Oh, how is that fair? I'll tell you how it's fair the Bible tells us that the laws of God are written in a person's heart and Even the African dude and the jungles of the Congo where there's all types of witchcraft and paganism if that person Seeks the Lord seeks the God of the Bible, which every human being has the capacity to do so Seeks the God of the Bible. God will make himself found You say are you trying to tell me that God would just like send like a missionary to him just to win that person to Christ absolutely Absolutely, God would send one missionary for one person if that one person is responding to the light that God gives him So there's no exception to that rule. It's like well, what if they just believe in God? Don't they do go to don't they go to heaven? No, they have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ but if this person is paying the price by seeking after God and Looking for the Lord and trying to get understanding of the God of the universe God will recompense that person by sending someone with the truth and the message so they can be saved So every person that has died and gone to hell Yeah, obviously there's certain individuals that have had a clear presentation of the gospel than others But at the end of the day every person who has gone to hell has gone there by their own choice my friends Because they have rejected the measure of light that was given to them at some point or another in their life Now let me give you an example this look at act chapter 10 and verse number 30 Talking about Cornelius here Cornelius was not a safe person But he he was a God-fearing man The Bible specifically says that he was a God-fearing man And you know he would do all these works to have acceptance with God But you know he wasn't saved because doing works doesn't save you But obviously he's doing this with the intention of wanting to please God or get God's attention And of course the result of that is that Peter came to him to give him the gospel and he eventually got saved Look at verse 30 and Cornelius said four days ago was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house and behold a man stood before me in bright clothing and said Cornelius Thy prayer is heard and thine alms are had and remembrance in the sight of God So he's fasting. He's doing these alms. He's feeding the poor and he's doing it because he's a God-fearing man And so God sends an angel to tell him and confirm that he's hearing this he's seeing this right Verse 32 send therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon whose surname is Peter He is lodged in the house of one Simon a tenor by the seaside who when he comes shall speak unto thee Immediately therefore I sent to thee and thou has well done that thou are come now Therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God? Then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons now the reason Peter is saying this is because Peter's a little bit. He's being a little bit of a racist here Okay, you know, he's not necessarily reaching the Gentiles because he only wants to reach Jews And so he had to have this vision from God where these unclean animals came down in his sheet and God told them Rise kill and eat and he's like no unclean animal has ever entered into my mouth And he had to do it three times in order to convey the message to Peter What God has consecrated calling out that holy in other words like I've commissioned you to go preach the gospel to these Gentiles And so go get the so-called unclean animal and give them the gospel And obviously the unclean animal in the story is Cornelius because Cornelius is not a Jew He's essentially a Gentile. Okay, and that's what he says. God is no respecter of persons. Well, of course not Peter You're respect for persons. Okay, God has never been a respecter of persons You're the one who has refused but of course Peter now is obeying and he says at verse 35 keeps key verse here but in every nation He that feareth him and worketh righteousness is saved. No is accepted with him What does that mean? You know a person who's in the Congo a person who's in the Amazon a Person who is in an area where there's no Bible believing church if they fear God and they seek to work righteousness because they're Responding to the light that God gives them God accepts that and will send a soul winner to go preach the gospel to them to get Them saved because God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance And he's willing to sacrifice Resources and people and churches to get the gospel message to that person if they're responding to the light that God gives them And so what we see here is that even the unsaved have to pay a price to find salvation, right? they have to respond to the light that God gives them and Seek the truth out and come to the light that their deeds might be reproved right that they're wrought in God The Bible tells us you don't have to turn there It tells us in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 11. Let us therefore labor Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest less any man fall after the same example of Unbelief of course conveying that same principle that the unsaved had to labor to find the truth Okay, and seek the truth now that in and of itself cannot get them saved And I think a great example of this aside from Cornelius is the Ethiopian eunuch, right? Ethiopian eunuch came to Jerusalem and he even got himself a copy of the book of Isaiah He came there he bought that copy and he's even trying to read the Bible He's trying to he's trying to understand what's going on there But obviously that's not going to get him saved because reading the Bible for the unsaved person can't get a person saved Okay, that person requires a regenerated believer to explain the gospel into them as noted by Acts chapter 8 Where Philip enjoins himself to the cherry explains the gospel and the Ethiopian eunuch gets saved But what we see is the Ethiopian eunuch Was willing to go to Jerusalem Was willing to pay the price to look for the truth Even paid the price to purchase the word of God the book of Isaiah I mean the the man traveled far and wide to find the truth, right and How did God respond to that he sent them? Philip the evangelist even to the point where he it's almost like he miraculously just transported him There in the presence of the Ethiopian eunuch so he can preach the gospel to him and get him saved You know I also think of for example The the the queen of Sheba The Bible talks about she came from from far and wide to hear the wisdom of Solomon and how she was willing to pay The price with a great train of spices and all these gifts for Solomon and Jesus said a greater than Solomon is here Right now. Thankfully, you know even when people respond to the light that God gives them the word is nigh The even in my mouth even the word of faith the Bible says, you know You don't have to go to Jerusalem to find Jesus in fact you will not find Jesus in Jerusalem, right? You know, where will you find them? You know when someone opens their mouth boldly and makes known the mysteries of the gospel, okay? Now turn with me if you would to Luke chapter 2 Luke chapter 2 if you would So let's talk about Christians now. We're talking about buying the field and now let's let's apply this to believers Pay the price by the field to live By dying itself Pay the price to live by dying to self by the field of living a Christian life Now obviously if living the Christian life was easy everyone would be doing it And when we talk about the Christian life, we're talking about all the basic principles and Disciplines that are attached to the Christian life. We're talking about church attendance. We're talking about Bible reading We're talking about so many we're talking about holy living. We're talking about living a life That's pleasing unto the Lord fulfilling your God given role in this life, you know, that's a lot of stuff to do But you know the Bible tells us by that field You know, that's such a big field. There's so much to have to pay and you know It's all going over with thorns and thistles and it's like, I don't know if I'm willing to invest that much to purchase This barren field. I mean it just doesn't look as nice as the well-watered planes of of Sodom It just doesn't look as nice as the well-watered planes of Egypt It just doesn't look as nice as the world looks unto me, you know I don't know if it's worth buying that field. What if I told you there's a million dollars in that field? What if I told you there were treasures beyond measure found in the field of living the Christian life? You'd purchase that wouldn't you? if you knew The eternal Recompense that you received is far greater than the so-called sacrifice that you would make to live the Christian life You'd purchase that field And the goal for us as Christians is to look beyond the field look beyond the thistles Look beyond the bushes look beyond the deadness and the bareness of that field and look for that treasure and Recognize purchasing this ugly field of living the Christian life Being in submission to my husband serve loving my wife as Christ loved the church Winning souls spending all day Sunday here at church Reigning the Word of God every single day cleaning up my life out of from all the sin that I've accumulated in this world You know if you understand that purchasing that field will give you a great treasure. Oh, you'd make that investment Live in the Christian life will no longer be a sacrifice You'd recognize this is an investment Because he's able to give abundantly above all that we can ask or think You see this is Christianity is not Buddhism Buddhism you live like a good life, and then you become a butterfly in the next life or something Obviously, we don't believe that but that's what I believe You know you live a decent life or whatever and you get to become like a caterpillar or something It's like they motivate people are saying hey you get to be a roach That sucks So you live all this you just live this life of sacrifice being like a vegan and just Being you know vegetarian and not even enjoying rich the things that God has given us richly to enjoy and Then you die and then you go to hell now according to their theology. It's you know reincarnation, right? You just become whatever, you know an animal or something a tiger a Dog or something you know or in India where you just become a cow What a great life? What a great investment to just live a moral life a life of sacrifice Just so I can become a cow in my next life and no one eats me because everyone's a vegan in India It's a total loss and obviously that doesn't happen and You know if you don't believe that just ask all the billions of Buddhists who are in hell today and Hindus who are in hell today Who thought that and now they realize you know, I'm not a cow They would actually prefer to be a cow Then what they're actually getting now Pay the price to live for Christ purchase that field And you know a lot of Christians I've noticed is that they look at the field of the Christian life and everything And it has to offer and they're just not satisfied with it because it lacks the luster of this world It lacks the prestige and all the glitz and the glamour. It lacks all the temporal gratifications that they're looking for but they're looking for it in the wrong places my friends The field is there purchase the field because there's treasures in that field Look at Luke 921. It says he straightly charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing Saying the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and the chief priests and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day And he said to them all if any man will come after me let him deny himself Take up his cross daily and follow me Now obviously they knew what that meant when he says take up your cross because he hadn't gone to the cross yet But they're obviously living under Roman rule where criminals are put to death via the crucifix, right? So when he's telling them deny yourself take up your crosses. He's basically some you need to die And you know what the greatest way To help you the greatest way to help me to really view how valuable that field is Is you just got to die sometimes and I don't mean physically don't go out there and do something bad to yourself I'm saying die to self Like yeah, but I want the possessions of this world and die to that desire. I Just want the fame and fortune and all the cars and the glitz and the glamour of this world Then why don't you die to self and not desire those things? He says there for whosoever shall save his life verse 24 Shall lose it But whosoever will lose his life for my sake the same shall save it You know if you really want to live Got to die But if you choose to live this side of eternity for self Then essentially you're gonna become a cast away because it goes on the same verse 25 But what is a man advantage if he gained the whole world and lose himself or be a cast away Now that applies to both believers and unbelievers You know you look at the rich men of this world, right? Who have gained the whole world, but then they lose themselves. They're not even saved to go to hell You think about those billionaires who went into that submarine a month ago or whatever it was billions of dollars Going just to go into a submarine and literally go down to the depths of hell in a split second You know, I'm sure every single one of those people who were in that submarine who died They would they would invest any amount of money from their bank accounts to just live one day outside of hell But you know this also applies to Christians because it says oh be a cast away because you know obviously Christians can't lose their salvation They can't lose the eternal gift that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but they can become a cast away That's why the Apostle Paul said that I keep under my body and bring it into subjection Let's find a means when I preach to others I myself should be a cast away See the goal of a Christian is not to just obviously we want we want to get saved and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ But even thereafter we want to stay the course and not be a cast away Keep serving God not backslide not go back to the world and keep an eternal perspective on life Not allow the temporal affections of this world to choke the word Where you become unfruitful? Because of the deceitfulness of riches the lust of other things entering in choke the word and you become unfruitful You know thank God for salvation, but folks let's move beyond that let us go on into perfection the Bible says and Live a life of eternal significance so that we don't become castaways Purchase the field of living the Christian life don't allow the deadness or the barrenness of that field To cause you to think it's not worth the investment to live the Christian life like oh, I'm in but you know All my friends are having all this fun and my friend has a buddy and you know Are my friend has a girlfriend and they're fornicating He seems to be having so much fun out in the world and nothing bad is happening to him. Yeah, but his time will come my friends You know the the field of virginity made seem a little barren, but I guarantee you this treasure's in there Amen, there's a godly marriage found in there There's godly children found in there There's there's so much found in that field don't allow the world to screw your perception of that field of marriage of That field of being a virgin and Bible says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless. I live yet Not I have a Christ love it than me and the life which I now live in in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Yeah, you know what? Purchasing that field of living a godly life. It's gonna cost you something for sure You know it's gonna require you cleaning up your life Which shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein the Bible says reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed into sin But alive into God through Jesus Christ our Lord let not sin therefore rain and your mortal bodies He should obey and the lust of neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness into sin But yield yourselves unto God and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God is he saying by that field It's worth it that way sin doesn't have dominion over your life clean up your life Oh, man, but that field it's gonna require for me to stop smoking cigarettes It's gonna require me to stop drinking and stop fornicating and stop covening and as it requires a lot of clean up Yeah, that field requires a lot of cleaner, but let me say this there's a treasure in that field and if you could just find that treasure and See the value of that treasure in that field of living a holy life You know your attitude is gonna be all this is worth the payment This is worth the investment. This is worth cleaning up my life This is worth repenting of my sin to please the Lord. This is worth living a holy life That's pleasing unto God because of this treasure that I will receive when the payment is made By that field why not? By the field We are told that Moses Chose to suffer the afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season that he esteemed the reproach of Christ's greater riches and That's what we need to do We need to esteem the reproach of the greater riches that are found in that field and stop looking at the bareness and how ugly that Field is folks. We're not necessarily doing this just for the field. We're doing it because we know there's a treasure That's within that field once we pay the price okay Go with me through it to Luke 14 Luke chapter 14 if you would Luke chapter 14 Now with that being said If you find that field And you know the stress you're in that field And you start making that investment Don't be double-minded Do not be a double-minded Christian. What is that a person who's just tossed to and fro? You're in church at one time, then you're not in church the other Like I'm gonna I'm gonna for God at one time and then you just back in the world the next week You tell Pastor Brzezarski, I'm gonna be your Sunday night, you know Wednesday night I'm gonna be faithful and then you're not You know, it's if you're gonna buy the field just buy it look at the Bible says in Luke 14 verse 27 It says in who's over does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple So apparently in order for you to be a follower of Jesus Christ You have to take up your cross For which of you intending to build the tower Siteth not down first and listen to this and counts it the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it He's like the logical thing to do is that when you are intending to build something You need to make sure you make a line item and see that you even have enough to finish Says less happily after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all The behold to begin to mock him Do you know why your family doesn't take you serious sometimes in the Christian life because you're so in and out of the Christian life Sometimes well what the family of believers need is Consistency not you preaching to them Not you condemning them and being a bad testimony to them and just ripping their face and getting on your mom and getting on your dad And getting on your brothers and sisters, you know it sometimes they actually need believe it or not I hate to say this was just like lifestyle evangelism sometimes in your household To be a good testimony Why because of the fact that a bad testimony is when you're in and out of church and in and out of the will of God And what happens you're basically showing that you're not able to build You know what people do they begin to mock You know how a lot of people say oh, this is just a phase they're going through This is just a phase. He's going through. He's all about Jesus right now It's just a phase, but you know and by the way people I remember a family my family used to say that of me when I first got saved and You know It obviously wasn't a face, you know here. I am today preaching God's word But that's not to say there wasn't instances when I didn't want to quit because obviously I didn't want to quit But I always thought about this passage. It's like I don't want my family to mock Me or Christianity or the Lord Jesus Christ because I'm not able to finish and obviously I'm not done yet I still have more decades until either the Lord returns or I go home to be with the Lord But the point that the passage is making here is that when you purchase that field follow through Follow through or purchasing the field don't get there's no refunds I think you purchase the field like I changed my mind. I need my money back or something like that It says there saying verse 30 saying this man began to build it was not able to finish I'm gonna skip the other verses here go with me if you would To a mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10. Hey by the field the message this evening is by the field It's not a sacrifice. It's an investment to live the Christian life. Let me say this is that by the field Regarding the the field that is white already that's all white already into harvest the soul winning field Purchase the field of preaching the gospel especially in Fresno Because you guys go soul winning in this heat God bless you guys in Southern, California You know we I don't think we'll even hit a hundred we might and If we hit a hundred we'll go soul winning whining a little bit, but you guys do this on a on a Weekly basis and I can see you know it may be hard for some people It's just like I don't know if it's worth going on the heat You know to just go preach the gospel and get rejected or get people who just don't want to listen Hey, I'm telling you there's a valuable treasure in that field Referring to that field of lost souls that need the gospel. There's one person out there that wants to listen There's one person out there that wants the gospel in that field Yeah, when you go and purchase that field you buy that field you go soul winning on that Saturday you go to that soul winning marathon There's gonna be that one person And you know what the Bible describes converts as the crowns of rejoicing my friends Look at first Thessalonians 2. I did with that have your turn to mark 10 Okay, go to first Thessalonians 2 instead I'm trying to see if you guys know your way around the Bible. I'm just kidding go to first Thessalonians 2 I'll read to you from mark 1028 says then Peter began to say and said low We have left all and follow thee and Jesus answered and said barely I say into you There's no man that has left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake in the Gospels, but he shall receive a hundred fold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with Persecutions keyword there and in the world to come eternal life. What is he saying? Hey, if you purchase that field of lost souls Not only are you gonna be recompensed in the eternal you will even get a recompense this side of eternity And that tells me God's a great boss He's not a cheapskate. Amen He pays his servants and his employees well Not only in the eternal but even in this life first Thessalonians 2 18 says Wherefore we would have come unto you even I Paul once and again, but Satan hindered us For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming for ye are our glory and Joy, I truly believe that at the judgment seat of Christ Part of the reward that we receive from Jesus Christ Aside from the actual distribution of authority that we get in the millennial reign is Believers that we get to essentially either rule over or rule with this is what's referred to as the crowns of rejoicing and if there's a field of Lost souls and if we told you there's 10 crowns waiting for you at this field That you will see in the resurrection Why not work that field purchase that field Put in the work Purchase and buy that field why to find those 10 crowns even if there's one crown. Amen. It's still worth it Now obviously, we don't know Whatever neighborhood we go to we don't know how many crowns are awaiting us, but we go and we sow and hope in faith Knowing that the gospel has power Knowing that the word of God has power and it doesn't return back void and we go looking for that treasure We go looking for that crown of rejoicing that lost soul who will come to Christ and we will know for all of eternity Buy that field buy that field Look at the time here Go to act chapter 20 if you would act chapter 20 act chapter 20 Sermon tonight is by the field I'm trying to exhort you and encourage you to no longer view your service for God as a sacrifice, but rather as an investment So when you wake up in the morning on Sunday morning, and you just get that feeling like I don't want to go to church Just realize go not because you're sacrificing your time, but because you're investing your time When you don't feel like going soul-warning Just view it as a field that has a crown that you're not sacrificing you're actually investing in Let me breeze over this point, but you know by the field of learning the Bible Pay the price to learn the word of God What I mean by that, you know the Bible tells us in Proverbs 23 verse 23 You don't have to turn there buy the truth and sell it not also wisdom and instruction and understanding, you know a You could either do one of two things when it comes to learning the Bible You could either read the word of God for yourself and Learn it through the ministry of the Holy Spirit Or you can learn it from some con artists out there through some devotional through some commentary With cubic zirconius Some fake gold out there that rubs off as soon as you put it on your neck You know man It's such a great truth and then you put on that necklace and then it's you know you're in this weather and then your your neck starts turning green Because the gold is wearing off because it's fake It's better to just pay the price to read the word of God yourself now it costs a lot more Learning the word of God for yourself costs way more That's because it's it's it's it the treasure is valuable To study to show that self-approved into God a workman the need is not to be ashamed Rightly dividing the word of truth the Bible tells us over and over again the word of God is likened to rubies and jewels and gold and silver and We as God's people are to just dig and dig into that field of the Bible and just keep digging and you're like Oh man, but this field is so dry. I'm reading through like numbers and it's or I'm reading the first and second chronicles It just seems so dry just reading all these names and all these stories. I don't get it. Yeah, but here's the thing though The longer you dig The longer you dig The more likely it is you will find treasures and I'm gonna tell you right now one of the most Satisfying things for me as a Christian is When you find those nuggets of gold in the word of God When you're under the ministry of the Holy Spirit you read the word of God you're like I Just learned this right now this is amazing and You're just like I've been digging. I mean folks. I've been saved. I just I July 22nd Was when I basically I got saved July 22nd 2007 So I've been saved for 16 years And I've been reading the word of God since then over and over and over again And you know what I find when I read God's word over the last 16 years There's still more treasures to find even 16 years later as I'm reading Genesis to Revelation as I'm reading through the historical books as I'm reading through the Psalms through the Poetical books through the major and minor prophets through the Gospels I'm still finding more treasure even to this day because there's enough treasure to go around my friends But you know what I've been in churches where they rather just Go to the commentary go to the devotional books Go to the unsaved of this world the natural man that receive it not the things of the Spirit of God To learn the word of God because they're not willing to put in the work themselves to buy that field by the field by the field I'm almost done By the field let me say this by the field of just getting into church This church right here is a valuable field It's very valuable field and you know it breaks my heart when people don't value church You know thank God for the internet we thank God for YouTube although I don't really thank God for it anymore because I can't seem to keep a channel there's just constantly being deleted over and over again and You know I Hate YouTube sometimes. I'll just be honest with you put all this work at the YouTube I'm like trying to purchase that field and then it's just like you know the Jews take it over and then they Rob me of my field basically You know, but thank God for social media. Thank God for social media YouTube or you know Rumble and all these social media platforms I thank God for them because of the fact that we've had a lot of people come to our church because of that a Lot of people say because of that We've had visitors in our church because of that who found us through social media people who have gone to our Friends churches because of our social media platform. So thank God for that But let me say this is that nothing will ever replace being in church Nothing will ever replace being in church. I mean thank God for the preaching of God's word in the internet But folks that's only one aspect and one factor of being in the local New Testament church Nothing beats being in a local New Testament church in that field. There's so much treasure in that Preaching is obviously one of the greatest treasures in church, but you know a fellowship is a great treasure to be had You know what singing the hymns with God's people is a great treasure to be had Going someone and getting trained and having that fellowship Exhorting one another daily is a great treasure to be had And you know many Christians are out there on internet land not willing to pay that price. Oh, it's too far It's like 30 minutes away or something But the church is so far. It's like an hour away. Oh Man, but it's an hour and a half away. What if I told you that there is a treasure chest filled with one billion dollars worth of Treasure an hour and a half away Well, you'd be there in a second She'll be like, let me scrounge up as much cast to get into this car and Head right off. What if I told you that there's a treasure chest Filled with millions of dollars that you can find and it's there every single week Every Sunday and then when you find that treasure Sunday morning, you know the the the man the man of God says Hey, if you come back tonight there's more treasure and Then you come back Sunday night and you're like by the way There's some rubies and pearls of great price on Wednesday night. Oh You'd be there every service You would invest all types of gas you would get yourself an electric car You would bike there if you had to you get a skateboard you get a moped you would get yourself to church just like that Why because now you know It's worth it One of the greatest challenges for a pastor. Let me say this one of the greatest challenges I'm sure for Pastor Bazarnsky is helping to communicate the value of being in church Helping our people to realize it's not a sacrifice you coming here and sitting here while I scream at you for one hour It's actually an investment It's not a sacrifice for you to be here and listen to God's word. It's an investment. You're accumulating treasure When you come here. I'm trying to shift your mind and your perspective on church attendance Look at the Bible says in Acts 20 verse 28 take heed therefore unto yourselves until all the flock over the witch The Holy Ghost has made you overseers verse 28 to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood the Bible says Luckily this church did this this treasure is free a man. All you have to do is just come and get it Get in your vehicle and come and get it Come here Sunday morning. You're already here. So stay for Sunday night You already made the drive to come all over here on Sunday morning Just watch you just stay a couple more hours and accumulate more treasure You like what it's not that easy though You know, we have to what do we got to do, you know, we have a barbecue to go to we have a birthday party We have I have to do something that I can't really think of what it is right now But it's something really important. Is it more important than gaining eternal treasures? Because I can guarantee you it's probably not and what I've learned is the more church you have The better Christian you'll be the better life gets The more eternally minded you become the more you're in church Go to Revelation chapter 3 if you would Revelation chapter 3 Hey by the field of having a good marriage By the field of raising Godly children and of course Pay the price necessary to truly fellowship with the Lord now what I mean by that You know a lot of Christians out there They want to live the Christian life, but there's one aspect of the Christian life. They just don't really like you know What that is suffering And they don't really view the they don't see the value in suffering for the name of Christ sometimes Whether it be through persecution Whether it be through just trials and tribulations that happen to us the difficulties of this world and then it'll realize that suffering in such a manner yields Great treasures in this life and in the life to come look at Revelation 3 and verse 14 It says unto the angel of the church of the lay of the sea and this Revelation 3 14 These things say to amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know that works that are neither cold nor hot I would that that were cold or hot so then because our lukewarm neither cold or hot I was spew the out of my mouth Because I'll say as I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and notice not that our wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked What's the solution verse 18 I? Counseled thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire Why that thou may as be rich And why Raymond that I may as be clothed and the shame of thy nakedness to not appear and anointing eyes with I self the time you see is basically saying, you know, you're so lukewarm You feel like you're increased with goods that you're rich. You don't need anything. You haven't really gone through anything hard You don't really realize the value in suffering and no one likes to suffer my friends We don't like suffering wouldn't like pain wouldn't like going through difficult times, but it's so necessary in the Christian life And God says there in order for you to get out of this this lukewarm mentality that you're in this lukewarm Condition spirit condition that you're in buy of me gold tried in the fire Go through some fire in your life Suffer persecution for righteousness sake Don't quit when you're going through a hard time When you're going through health problems your family's against you You're going through a difficult time. Don't clock out of the Christian life stick with it Purchase that gold tried in the fire And he says there in verse 19 as many as I love I rebuke and chase him be zealous therefore and repent listen to this Behold I stand at the door knock And if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him and we'll sup with him and he with me This is referring to fellowship He's saying I go to every church and I knock on that door to see if the congregation of that church is Willing to suffer for the name of Christ is willing to go through trials and difficulties and fire and tribulation Why well like as the apostle Paul said that I may know him and The power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death What's the message tonight by the field By the field I'm gonna finish with this illustration here Years ago, there's a man by the name of Mel Fisher and Mel Fisher was actually a treasure hunter and There is a ship a Spanish ship called nuestra senora de antocha. I hope I pronounced that correctly and This is a ship a vessel of a fleet of ships that sank in a hurricane in 1622 So it's saying it was on its way to Spain But it was filled with just an insurmountable amount of just treasures and gold a Lot of money, okay? And it ran into a hurricane Most of the people on that ship died and the treasure sank to the bottom of the ocean Well this man by the name of Mel Fisher. He was born in like 1920s. I believe it was found out about this treasure and This is a man who had a business in California a scuba diving business teaching people how to go scuba diving and he was very wealthy very successful businessman had a very lucrative business with that and He heard about this and he's so inspired by the Potential findings of this treasure That he actually ended up selling his business He sold his business that he invested so much into He sold his business sold this house and he moved his family to Florida and eventually to this area the keys in Order to invest his life into looking for this particular treasure Now when he researched it he looked at all the historical facts and he basically thought to himself Well, I basically have a good understanding of where this treasure is and he thought to himself It'll take about six weeks to find this treasure Will six weeks turn into 16 years? 16 years of investing hundreds of thousands of dollars Getting a ship Accumulating all these employees to go and look for this treasure Of this vessel that had sank in a hurricane in 1622 And let me say this this cost them a lot It actually cost them three members of his of his uh of his uh of his ship including his eldest son Who died uh scuba diving looking for this treasure Sold his business moved his family invested hundreds of thousands of dollars Lost close friends and family his own son Seeking for this treasure And then finally in 1985 He found it He found what they called the great pile That was worth four to five hundred million dollars And he ended up becoming very famous and popular and even if you look it up It's a it's a pretty amazing story from from just like a carnal perspective Because of the fact that the government once they found out that he had gotten this treasure There's just like oh, we that's actually ours, you know, this is theft, okay So we need to take all of it and and you know because you know the government is just that's what they do And they're like, oh you found it. Well, that's actually ours. You're stealing that from us Even though they didn't do anything to look for the treasure It's like it's in our borders So it's ours and he went to court with them and finally ended up going to the supreme court and he actually ended up winning And so not only was all the treasure the four to five hundred million dollars worth of treasure Which it was it was estimated to be four to five hundred million dollars back then Way more now obviously I mean Tens of thousands of gold coins But not only was the treasure his but so was the ship So he ended up owning all of those things And you know he had museums and everything he became a very successful man, of course he passed away was not saved But I you know, I thought to myself this is a great picture of what we as Christians should do This man Was willing to sell everything Was willing to lose lives Even the life of a son Was willing to invest not only resources and time But even 16 years worth of not finding anything And every day he would say this today's the day Today's the day Folks of Mel Fisher who's obviously burning in hell today Because he did not take any of that treasure with him Is willing to invest that much time energy manpower resources For a corruptible crown How much should we be willing to invest? To buy the field For an incorruptible crown That shall never perish Think about that Let's pray