Eyes Up | Dream Disciple Series

And amen, good morning, good morning, church. How are you guys this morning? Oh, that was real, real weak. I'm just gonna say eight o'clock was way more with it than you guys already. So let's try it again. Good morning, church, how are you guys? Don't you love do-overs? You just got a do-over, so you're welcome. Hey, I'm excited to be here with you this morning as we kick off a brand new series called Dream Disciple. Everybody say Dream Disciple. So Dream Disciple, this series is all about us growing in our relationship with Jesus and becoming more and more like him. And here's the reality. If we want to become more like him, then guess what? We need to live how he lived, amen? And so when you study the gospels and you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you look at the life of Jesus, you'll see five common postures, if you will, that are just prevalent in his life. And so for instance, Jesus lived with his eyes up. He was kingdom-focused. Jesus lived with his knees down, spiritually dependent in a posture of prayer, in constant conversation with his father. Jesus, even though he was the word-made flesh, he lived with his Bible open,

fully relying on the written word of God to lead, guide, and direct his life. If you remember in the garden, or when he was in the wilderness, when he was tempted by Satan, he answered every one of those temptations with this answer, for it is written. It is written. It is written in the word of God. And so we know that Jesus understood the word and knew the word. Jesus was plugged in, relationally invested, and connected in authentic community with other people. He had his disciples, and he had his friends, and he had the family and people all around him. Jesus was the epitome of living sent out on mission. Everywhere he went, every moment of every day, Jesus was on mission. So we're gonna be looking at each one of these postures over the next several weeks. And as we look at these postures, here's what I want you to hear me say, is it's not about doing, say doing. It's not about doing. Here's what it's about. It's about becoming. Did you catch that? If all you do is check the box and go, yep, read my Bible today. Yep, prayed today.

Then that's all it'll ever become is just you checking a bunch of boxes and doing a bunch of things and activities. But here's what we want. We want you to press into those things and let those things get inside of you, right? We want you to read the word so that the word gets in you. We want you to pray to God so that you're spiritually dependent and in constant conversation with God the Father. We want to do the things that Jesus did so that we can become just like Him, amen? So the one we're gonna be looking at this morning is eyes up. Everybody say eyes up. Eyes up, kingdom focused. And can I just say to you, if there's ever been a time that we needed to have our eyes up and be kingdom focused, it's right now in their current situation in America, amen? We need to be disciples who live with our eyes up, focused on not the things of this world, but on the kingdom of God. Would you pray with me? Father, I thank you for the worship that we've already experienced in this place. God, here's what we know to be true. God, your kingdom is greater than anything else, than any kingdom here on earth. God, you rule and reign above it all, as we just sang.

And so Father, what I'm asking for right now in this moment, in this place, is that you would pour out your spirit in your presence here at New Beginnings, and that you would rule and reign in this room. God, would you speak to us through your word? Would you speak to us through your spirit? Would you transform hearts and lives today? And we'll give you all the praise and all the glory and all that God's people said, amen. So we're talking about eyes up, living kingdom focused. Here's where we're gonna start out this morning. We're gonna hop around a little bit in scripture, but we're gonna start in Matthew chapter six. And so if you'll go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter six, that's where we're gonna be starting. And as you make your way there, I'm gonna share with you a little bit of context for those of you who may not have read this portion of scripture, what's happening here in Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six is known as what's part of the sermon on the cross. It's also part of the sermon on the mount. Matthew chapter five, six, and seven are the totality of the sermon on the mount. And in the sermon on the mount, Jesus is preaching and teaching his disciples and a large crowd of people about kingdom life

and what it looks like to be a part of the kingdom and live in the kingdom of God. within his kingdom. And so we're gonna start in Matthew chapter six. And so in Matthew chapter six, And we're gonna start with a little bit of context we're gonna be all the way down in verse 30, for those of you who may not have read this portion and so if you're there, say the Bible is true. of scripture, but we're gonna start with a little bit of context Here's what Matthew chapter six says, for those of you who may not have read this portion starting in verse 30, this is Jesus himself talking. He says, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? O you of little faith, therefore do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things. You might wanna underline all these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So Jesus in these verses right here, he's basically saying to his disciples and the people that are gathered there, hey, look up and remember who you are and who your father is.

In other words, if you belong to me and my kingdom, you don't need to be consumed with all these things. That's why I said underline that part there. Here's what I would write out beside all these things. You don't need to be concerned with or consumed with all the worries of this world. I know after yesterday, there's a lot of people that are worried and we have every right to be when we look at the condition of our country. We are broken and we are desperate and we need the kingdom of God to invade our kingdom, amen? Verse 32, look what Jesus says. He says, the Gentiles, the pagans, if you will, the idol worshipers, he says, those who don't belong to my kingdom, they seek after all these things and they are consumed with anxiety and fear and worry and depression. Their eyes are looking all around and they're running after all these worldly things. And then I love the next word, he says, but you, or he just says, but, some translators say, but you. He says, not you. You see, an eyes up disciple doesn't seek all these things. They seek one thing. The very first thing that an eyes up disciple does is this, if you're taking notes, is we seek the king and his kingdom. Look what Jesus says in verse 33, he says,

but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Verse 33 is the centerpiece, if you will, of the Sermon on the Mount. So look at chapter five, all of chapter five, Jesus says a lot of things. All of chapter six, he says a lot more. And then all of chapter seven. And Matthew 6.33 is the pinnacle, it is the centerpiece of the greatest sermon ever preached. It's the centerpiece of the Sermon on the Mount. So what, he says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So what does it mean to seek something? Have you ever thought about that? Here's what seeking is. Seeking is active pursuit. It is actively pursuing something. How many of you remember, some of you younger people will definitely remember this, but how many of you when you were younger played a game of hide and seek? So everybody in this room better get your hands up. You're lying if you're not getting your hand up. So probably everyone in this room at some point in time has played hide and seek. Even if you're an adult right now, you still play with your kids or your grandkids. If you're the one seeking, what do you do? Do you just sit there and wait on everyone to come to you?

Is that how you play the game? Yes or no? Okay, fine. Finally, somebody's talking back to me. That's not how you play hide and seek. If you're the one seeking, you're counting, you're letting everybody else hide, and then the moment you hit 10 or 20, whatever you're counting to, what do you do? You go and you actively pursue those who are hiding. You go and you look for them. You do everything you can to go and find them. See, if you're seeking something, you're actively pursuing it and here's what I know, when you seek something, it will cause you to prioritize things differently in your life. It will cause you to reprioritize your time, your energy, your efforts towards that specific thing that you are seeking. I remember several years ago, 15 years ago now to be exact, my son Brock turned 15 today. 15 years ago, not long after my wife had Brock, ladies you'll understand this, she had been carrying that big baby boy for nine months and she's now done with that part of it and she was ready to start eating healthy, exercising, losing weight and getting fit. She wanted to lose that baby weight and she started going after, she started doing P90X,

how many of y'all remember P90X? Like a mad woman, like 90 days and then another 90 days and then she did this other crazy workout called Insanity. How many of y'all remember Insanity? It was insane. I was like, girl, you done lost your mind and then she got bored with the P90X, she got bored with Insanity and then one day we're sitting there and she says, hey, do you think I could run a half marathon or a marathon? And I looked at her and I was like, you're not a runner but yes, you can do anything you want to do, you've proven it to me. And she said, I think I want to run. I want to run a half marathon, I'm gonna do it. And she said, do you think I could do it? I said, yeah, but here's the deal. If you're serious about this, if you're serious about seeking and pursuing this half marathon, then it's gonna require something of you. You're gonna have to reprioritize some things in your life. She said, like what? I said, like eating a certain way. Like you're gonna have to drink lots of water and stay hydrated. You're gonna have to get the right kind of shoes. You're gonna have to run and train every day, six, seven days a week. You're gonna need to find you some other people

to run with you early in the morning, hold yourself accountable. You're gonna have to go to bed early because she's a hard worker. You're gonna have to go to bed early because she's a late night person. Like you're gonna have to go to bed way before midnight. You have to get to bed early. You're gonna have to prioritize some things in your life. You're gonna have to have different perspective when it comes to things. You're gonna have to go to bed early, eat healthy, drink lots of water. You're gonna have to get, so when I said all these things, I was like, there's no way she's gonna do this. And oh, ye of little faith, did she do it? She started going to bed early. She started eating healthy. She started doing all these things. She would get up and run at 5 a.m. in the morning, six days a week. And I would just drive in the truck on Saturdays beside her and hand her some water. I was like, I'm not running. I've ran my entire life. I'm not running anymore, I'm driving. And so I would hand her some water. And it was just crazy to see her seeking, pursuing, running after this thing.

You see her seeking to run this half marathon required her to reprioritize every area of her life. And guess what? Seeking the kingdom of God will require us to do the same. That's why Jesus says, seek second, seek last, seek maybe third or fourth down on the list. Is that what he said? No, he said what? Seek. Oh, you better say like you mean it. He said what? Seek. First. Seek. First. I need to hear you in the back. Seek. First. Seek first. The kingdom of God. He's saying, I want you to take this thing seriously. I want you to actively pursue my kingdom and my righteousness. And I want it to be the first and foremost priority in your life. So you may have to reprioritize some things. You may have to move some things around. You may have to change some things that you're currently seeking and pursuing. Listen to me, church family.

Jesus will not settle for second place in our lives. Did you catch that? He will not settle for second place. He's either first or he's nothing. We must seek him and his ways over everything else. Because listen, what we seek shapes who we become. You might wanna write that one down. When I say write those things down, it's what I've done all week long. Like I need to remember. that, what we seek, what we pursue, what we chase, what we run, it shapes who we become. So let me ask you this, what are you seeking? Think about it for a moment, close your eyes, remove the distractions, like really ask yourself, what am I seeking, what am I actively pursuing in my life? Is it money, is it your career, is it your retirement and comfort, is it your investment portfolio, is it power, is it position, is it relationships? Listen, whatever it is, whatever it is, guess what? That's what has first place in your life, that's what you're seeking. And what you seek shapes who you become. And guess what, as disciples, we want to become more and more like Jesus, so we need to seek him. We need to pursue him at all costs. Listen to what Jeremiah 29, 13, 14 says, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.

He says, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. It's relentless pursuit, it's 100% pursuit. He says, when you seek me, you'll find me, but only when you seek me with all that you are, not half of you, all of you. He says, seek me with all of your heart and I will be found by you. I love how Jesus described the kingdom in Matthew 13. Matthew 13, 44, listen to this. It says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and then he covered it up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and he buys that field. Jesus said, the kingdom is like a priceless treasure that was buried, it was hidden in a field and then this man stumbled across it. He dug it up, he moved all the dirt out of the way and when he discovered it, when he found it and he realized what he found, it says that in his joy, he went back and he sold and he got rid of everything he had so that he could buy that one field because the thing he found was greater than everything else in his life. That's Jesus himself saying, this is what the kingdom of God is like. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It is a priceless treasure and the person that finds it will gladly give up everything else.

They'll gladly get rid of everything else. You see, this treasure in this man's life changed everything about everything for him. It changed his perspective, it changed his priorities. He was willing to give up everything for this one thing. Not sadly, not begrudgingly, it says, joyfully. He realized what he had found. So let me ask you something. Has your salvation and the treasure of Jesus changed you? Does your life look like the man who found this treasure, in other words? Like when you saw and you realized who Jesus is and what he's done for you and you grabbed ahold of him, did you gladly get rid of other things? Did you gladly reprioritize everything in your life so you could seek him with all of your heart so that you could run after him with everything that you have? Or was it like, eh, that's cool, I guess. I mean, God, I'll go to church on Sunday. I might even go to Life Group every now and then. But don't ask me to do anything else. That's not how this man lived. This dude lived with reckless abandon. He's like, everything I have pales in comparison to this one thing. Are you seeking the king and his kingdom or are you still trying to build your own kingdom? I know if I'm stepping on some toes right now, mine have already been stomped off this week.

Listen to what Martin Lloyd-Briggs said. Martin Lloyd-Jones says about this seeking. He says, seek not an experience, but seek him. Seek to know him. Seek to realize his presence. Seek to love him. Seek to die to yourself and everything else that you may live entirely in him and for him and give yourself entirely to him. That's what seeking the king and the kingdom looks like. It's all about him. Nothing else matters. See, at Eyes Up Disciple, we must seek the king of the kingdom over everything else. And then the second thing we do as Eyes Up Disciple is this. We set our minds on things above. Everybody say set. We set our minds on things above. Listen to what Paul says in Colossians chapter three, verse one and two. He says, if then you have been raised with Christ, in other words, if you've been made new, if you've been given a new life, if you've been born again, if you've received the radical gift of salvation, which is that priceless treasure, by the way. He says, if you have been raised with Christ, seek things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. And then he says this, set your minds on things

that are above, not on things on the earth. See, Paul knows a thing or two. He knows how quickly we can be distracted and deceived. Paul understands the battlefield of our minds, if you will. He knows this, he knows this. He knows if we don't change how we think, there will be no change in how we live. Here's a crazy thing to me about salvation. I was thinking about this this week. The moment you discover the treasure and you embrace it and you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you say, God, you are the sovereign ruler over the universe and over every area of my life. The moment you say that, the scripture tells us, he removes your heart of stone and he gives you a heart of flesh. So the moment of salvation, it says that you receive a new heart that begins to beat for him. But you know what you don't receive? A new mind. Think about that. You still have the same dumb old mind. Sorry if you're offended by that. Talking to myself. You still have the same old stinking thinking, the same mind that you had before salvation. That's why Paul says, if then, you have been raised with Christ, if you belong to the king and his kingdom,

then set your mind on things above, not on things below. It's all about our mindset. It's about changing our mind, changing our perspective, changing the way we think, changing what we focus on. I was thinking back this week to my time in college and I ran track at Texas State and I've told this story a little bit before, but I had a sprint coach named Coach G and I can still hear her strong Russian accent in my ear to this day. There were many days I would go out to practice or I would go to a track meet and I would be distracted and my mind would be in a million different places and she would say to me, your mind is everywhere except the one place it needs to be. She would look at me and she'd say, I need you to focus. Focus. Get your mind right. And I believe that's what Paul's saying right here in this passage. Don't be distracted by all the things down here. Get your mind right. Set your mind on things above. Focus on the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Look what Paul says in Romans 12 verse two. He says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What's Paul saying here in Romans chapter 12? He's saying, get your mind out of the things of the world. He says, do not let the things of the world conform you and transform you, he says, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Here's what Paul's saying. He's saying, you need a new operating system up here. He's saying, every single day you need to renew your mind. You need to remind yourself of who you are and who you belong to, that you don't belong to this worldly kingdom, you belong to the king of kings and his kingdom. See, Paul's telling us, we've got to change our mindset, we've got. to change our thinking. It's like your iPhones. You know when you set it on your charger at night or it notifies you that it's time for an update? Most of you are looking at me like, what is he talking about? Because it does it on its own now. Like the moment you plug it in or you charge it and you put it on your docking station to charge at night, while you're snoring and snoozing and having sweet dreams, it is uploading and updating a new operating system so that the next day you get up and go, it's already updated. Paul's saying you and I as disciples, as believers, we need to download or upload, if you will, a new operating system on a daily basis.

You know how you and I as disciples do that? Knees down, Bible open. Knees down, Bible open. That's the number one way you and I will be transformed, that we will transform and renew our mind. Those are two of the postures that we will talk about in the coming weeks. But we need to renew our minds and set our minds on things above. And guess what? This is not a one-time event. Transforming and renewing your mind is not a one-time event. It is a lifetime journey of growing closer and closer to the Lord. And the closer and closer you get to Him, the more and more you'll start to look like Him. See, if we're gonna truly live with our eyes up, guess what it requires? A new mindset. We have to have a heavenly mindset for earthly action. Listen, Paul's not saying, I want you to sit around and think all day about how you're gonna live someday when you get up there. That's not what he's saying at all. He's saying, I want you to take a good look at heaven's perspective on everything in your life so that you'll know how to live here on earth. See, changing your mind and focusing it on things above is about uploading heaven's operating system here so that you'll know how to live down here

so that heaven will come to earth in and through you in the way that you think, the way that you act and the way that you treat people. Listen what Matthew Henry says about renewing our mind. He says, those who live in the spirit set their minds on spiritual things and make heaven their end and holiness their way. Did you catch that? Those who live in and by the spirit, they set their minds on heavenly or spiritual things and they make heaven their end and holiness their way. In other words, Matthew Henry's saying, you gotta keep your eyes up and stay focused on things above. The third thing an eyes up disciple does is this. We run with our eyes on the prize. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 9, 24, 25. Paul says this talking to the church at Corinth. He says, do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. You see, every athlete exercises self-control in all things but they do it to receive a perishable wreath and we do it to receive an imperishable one. Paul is using this athletic imagery as he's talking to the believers in Corinth and as he does, he's speaking their language. See, the people of Corinth, they understood athletics and races and things like that because they would host what's called,

it's called the Ithman Games every two years in Corinth. Very, very similar to our current day or modern day Olympics. And the church at Corinth would host these races and the athletes and the people that lived there in that region, they would train seven days a week, every single week, month after month for 11 to 12 months out of the year, all in preparation for this race day. And Paul's looking at this and he's comparing with the believers there in Corinth, he's comparing the Christian life to this race that they're familiar with. And he's saying, listen, all of these runners, don't you know that every runner runs in a race but only one gets the prize? So Paul's basically saying this to them, if you're gonna run, run to win, right? Some of you men should be like, amen to that, right? If you're competitive in here. Paul's like, don't waste your time just going out there having fun. This isn't upward. We're not giving out stars and not everybody's a winner. There's only gonna be one first place, okay? I can say that, some of y'all are offended by that, I know. That's what's wrong with our culture right now, right? We're making them soft, okay? There is a winner and there is a loser. Paul says, if you're gonna run this thing,

run with everything that you have and run to win. Keep your eyes on the prize. I can remember my time in ministry with my father-in-law. He served as the executive pastor at a church I was at for 33 years and I had the joy and the privilege of working with him for seven years. And I can remember time after time, whether it was at work or at home, whatever it was that I was dealing with. If it was just ministry, just it was tough and messy and it was just complicated and I was frustrated and I would look at him and go, man, what's the point of all this? It's not making a difference. And every time I was ready to throw in the towel and give up and quit and walk away, he would look at me with his kind words and he would say, Daniel, here's what I want you to do. I want you to keep your eyes on the prize. Don't get distracted. Don't worry about all this small stuff. Don't worry about some of these worldly things. Keep your eyes on the prize. Paul goes on as he's talking to the church in Corinth, he says, these athletes, these runners, the ones that are running in this race every two years, he says, they'll put themselves through it day in and day out, blood, sweat, and tears. And he basically says, and for what? He's like, they're putting themselves through this

a lot like my wife did when she ran that half marathon day in and day out, blood, sweat, tears, going to bed early, or going to bed early so she could get up early, hitting the pavement at five in the morning when everybody else is still sleeping. Paul's looking at these people going, have you lost your ever-loving mind? You're doing all of that for a perishable wreath that would wither and fade. You see, the winner of the race there in Corinth, they wouldn't get some really cool trophy made out of gold or some big gold medal like my wife got when she ran that race. They would literally get a crown or a wreath to put on their heads made out of leaves. And in two days' time, those leaves would begin to do what? They would wither and die. I mean, this sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? I mean, even an upward star is better than that, right? Because at least you can iron it onto your shirt and keep it for a little while. I mean, who in their right mind would almost kill themselves chasing after something that is temporary and that will not last? Who would do that? Who would do such a thing? It's absurd, isn't it? And yet we do it all the time.

Remember earlier when I asked you to ask yourself, what are you seeking? What are you chasing? What are you pursuing? Think about the people you know and the things they're chasing after, exhausting their lives for temporary and fleeting things that will not last. For temporary and fleeting things that will not last. And Paul reminds us right at the end of that. He says, not us. That's not who we are. That's not what we do. We aim higher. We strive from an eternal perspective. We keep our eyes on the prize. We seek an imperishable crown. That's why in Philippians 3.14, Paul says this. He says, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Here's what Paul understood. Paul understood who Jesus was and what Jesus has done. Paul had discovered the greater treasure. Paul had set his mind on things above, not on things below. And Paul had his eyes on the prize and he was willing to run after it with everything that he had. He was willing to exhaust his life running after Jesus who is the prize by the way. What about you?

I want you to close your eyes for a moment as we get ready to wrap this thing up. Just to remove all the distractions. This is gut check time right here. Speaking to athletes in the room, they understand what I'm saying. It's gut check. It means it's time to get real. It's time to be brutally honest with yourself. I know I've asked it a couple of times in a couple of different ways, but I'm gonna ask it again. What are you seeking? What are you pursuing in this life? If Paul was in this room, he'd say, what are you running after? Why are you killing yourself, exhausting your life for a temporary crown made out of leaves that will only wither and die and fade away? Here's what I know. Here's the reality. There's some of you in this room, like you're running, but you're running in circles. You're chasing after all these things, all the temporary things of this world. It creates so much stress and anxiety and fear and worry. And you're running after these things, thinking that in these things, you'll find life and you get to those things and you realize that's not it. And so you start chasing the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and it never satisfies. It's never enough. It only leaves you more broken, more exhausted, more tired, more anxious, more fearful. Paul would say it will not last. Some of you are running after this thing called religion. You think if I just run harder, if I just run faster, if I just behave better, if I

just do more things, then maybe God will love me and accept me. There's a story in John chapter three of a guy that was very similar to that. John chapter three, there's a powerful conversation between Jesus and this man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was one of the religious elites of that day and age. He was the one that would teach all the other Pharisees and Sadducees in the region. This dude was at the top of the food chain, if you will, when it comes to religious leaders. And he had heard about Jesus. He'd seen Jesus perform miracles. I'm sure he was, I can only imagine, maybe he was standing close by that day that John the Baptist shouted out and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I'm sure he heard Jesus himself say, the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is near. The kingdom of God is now. So Habakkuk was so drawn to Jesus. He was curious about Jesus. He wanted to get to know Jesus. He wanted to get close to Jesus. And so he invited Jesus to a private meeting under the cover of darkness so that no one in the community and none of his buddies in the religious sector would see him meeting with Jewish carpenter rabbi named Jesus. And he has this conversation with Jesus and he basically says, what do I need to do? He says, surely you must be from God or you wouldn't be able to do all these things you've been doing. You wouldn't be able to perform these miracles that I've seen and that I've heard about. So what do I need to do? And Jesus answers him in John chapter three. He says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. And this blows Nicodemus' mind.

He can't see it. He can't understand it. He doesn't know what Jesus is talking about. He says, how in the world can a grown man enter back into his mother's womb and be born for a second time? And Jesus says, oh, you got it all wrong. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but I'm talking about water and spirit. Unless you are born by the spirit, you will never see the kingdom of God. You won't see it. You can't see it. Nicodemus, man, it's one of the saddest stories to me. It was that close. He was sitting there talking to the sovereign king of the universe, looking him in the eye, and he could not see it. He was blinded by worldly things. He was blinded by religion. He was blinded by all the things he was pursuing in this life, and he just couldn't see it for what it was. I have a feeling in a room this size, there may be some of you that are just like Nicodemus. You can't see it. You don't understand it. Scripture tells us that salvation is foolishness to those who are perishing, meaning it just, it doesn't make sense. See, you need the Spirit of God to invade your heart and invade your life and give you fresh new eyes that can actually see. See, you can't seek the kingdom of God.

You can't set your mind on things above. You can't run and keep your eyes on the prize if you've never been born again. So nothing I said today matters unless you're born again. With every head bowed and all the eyes closed, all of our eyes closed, I wanna ask you something. If what I said about Nicodemus resonated with you, if you're like, man, I've been seeking, I've been running, I've been pursuing, I've been chasing all the things of this world, I've been chasing religion, I've been running after religion all my life, and I still feel just as far and just as broken as I was when I was born. I still feel just as broken as I was when I was born. I still feel just as far and just as broken and just as lost as when I began running. If that's you, then here's what I want you to do. Today can be the day of your salvation. Today can be the day that Jesus removes your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh. Today can be the day that the scales fall from your eyes and you're finally able to look up and see the kingdom of God. Today can be the day that Jesus begins to rule and reign in over every area of your life from this day forward. Today can be the day that you're made new. Today can be the day, in Jesus's words, that you are born again, but you have to invite him in. You have to receive what Christ has done for you on the cross of Calvary.

You have to believe that he came and lived a life you could never live, that he died the death that you deserve, and somehow when he stretched out his arms on that cross and said, it is finished, that it counted for you. That's the only way. Jesus said in John, he said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the kingdom. No one comes to the father except through me. So let me ask you one more time. If you're here today and you're broken and you're tired and you're lost and you're exhausted, what are you waiting for? Just like the man that discovered the treasure in the field, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If that's you, all I want you to do right now in this moment is simply cry out to him. It's not the words you say, it's how you say it. It's a condition of your heart. If you're desperate and you want Jesus to invite you to invade your heart, invade your life, make you brand new, then simply tell him, Jesus, please forgive me of my sin. Come into my life, be my Lord, be my savior. I'm tired of running. I wanna run. I don't wanna run anymore. I wanna run to you.

I don't wanna run from you. I don't wanna chase the things of this world. I wanna seek you and your kingdom first. I wanna set my mind on things above, not on things below. I wanna fix my eyes on the prize and I wanna run after you with everything that I have for the rest of my life. If that's you and you prayed that prayer, then here in a moment when our decision encouragers find their places and we start to worship and we stand to worship, I want you to come find one of those decision encouragers or come find me up here on the front row because we want to pray with you and we want to celebrate with you because today is your spiritual birthday. Today is the day that you've been born again and we wanna know and we wanna celebrate it. For the rest of us, as we stand and get ready to worship, here's what I wanna ask you. Here's my challenge for us today. As we get ready to go out of this place, get your eyes up. Seek his kingdom and his righteousness first and foremost in every area of your life. Set your mind on things above, not on things below. on things below and put your eyes on the prize and run this race with everything you have, amen? Amen, let's stand and let's worship in response to the word we heard this morning.