Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the distinction between what Gentiles seek—material things—and what believers should seek, which is the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. He shares his personal testimony of transformation through God's grace, highlighting the importance of having a single focus on God rather than being distracted by worldly desires. Beach encourages the congregation to evaluate their priorities and to seek God above all else, especially in light of the resurrection of Jesus, which empowers believers to live for Him. He challenges everyone to reflect on what they truly value and to align their lives with God's will.

Called this morning to preach. Simply because of the. Just the intensity of how the Lord is moving in my heart. I find it difficult. So I ask you to bear along and be patient, please. I thank the Lord for his presence this morning and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And for his faithfulness and opening up our hearts to see something more of his glory, something more of his majesty, something more of his loveliness. And truly he is to be desired more than silver and gold, isn't he? Yea, than much fine gold, sweet also than the honey and the honeycomb. I'd like to before I go into the word, I'd like to, if I may, just take the liberty just to to give a brief testimony. And I want to, again, be vulnerable and. Share. A little bit about what the Lord is doing in my heart, if I may. I consider it to be one of the greatest gifts. Apart from salvation itself. And that is. The gift of continuously. Sensing. The power of God's word, the power of God's Holy Spirit and the power of grace. Taking an earthly, weak, finite man and enabling him to both see and be changed, see the Lord Jesus Christ and continuously be changed in order to bear on the inside the likeness and image of my God and Savior. I think that's quite amazing. I'm not sure, brothers and sisters, what you value most, but I would strongly encourage you to pray that God will so incline your heart. So incline your heart. So that you would find the thing that you value more than anything else. Is the continued work of God's grace in your life, changing you, transforming you, affecting your actions, affecting your behavior. Affecting your words, if your Christianity doesn't affect your words, if it doesn't affect your behavior, if it doesn't affect the way you talk to people, if it doesn't affect. The priorities in your life, then it is invalid. It has lost its saltiness. The testimony that I'd like to share is briefly the testimony of my journey. And I'm going to make this brief. But the journey, the pilgrimage, the walk that the Lord has called me to, and I think that I'd like to turn to Matthew, chapter 7, I'm sorry, chapter 6, verse number 32. This very wonderfully captures the journey, my testimony. Verse 32, chapter 6, the book of Matthew. For all these things. OK, that's the first word we want to look at here. Things. For all these things do the Gentiles. Now, when Jesus is talking about the Gentiles, who's he referring to? To make it very simple, Jesus is referring to all people. Irrespective of their nationality. Who do not know God. Thank you, that's exactly correct. Unbelievers. Now, please listen carefully as I feel that I want to bear my testimony out this morning. For all these things. Do the Gentiles seek. OK, now we want to connect what. Brothers and sisters, I'm asking God to give us hearts that are transparent before him this morning. OK. Because I'm trusting this is your testimony too. Now listen carefully, OK. For all these things. Seek. OK, that's the second word. Matthew, chapter 6, verse 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. OK. Now, verse 33. But you, but you, now who's he talking to? The believers, exactly, the believers. But you seek. So. Now, look what we've got here, we've got unbelievers seeking and we've got believers seeking. So we've got a common denominator here, right? We've got a common denominator, Gentiles and believers. So we've got a common denominator, Jesus is identifying something that is common in both the Gentile and the believer. They both are seeking. But this is what's important, young people listen, please listen. Listen carefully. I'm going to write the word here, watch. Object. Seeking. Listen, the very presence of seeking presupposes, what it means is that we're looking for something, right? You wouldn't seek if you weren't looking for something. So, what we're going to discover here is the Gentiles and the believers both are seeking. But the object that they're seeking is set on is different. The Gentiles are seeking, what? Things. Okay. Now, what are these things? Well, if we read the context, we can make a little list here of the things that Gentiles are seeking after. What's one of the things that the Gentiles are seeking after? Come on, just go ahead and call it out. Oh, clothes. Excellent. I want to ask a question before I go on. Was Jesus talking here to a certain elite group of Christians? Or was He talking to all Christians here? Was He talking to the ministry here? Those called to ministry, pastors and evangelists and teachers, was He talking to them or was He talking to the body? Okay, I believe that's true. I don't believe there's any evidence in this text that would suggest that Jesus was setting out a certain group of people. They would be the seekers of God. But not us. Okay, very good. Clothes. Now, what else are we looking at? Money. Norman held up a hundred dollar bill. I don't know where he gets this. A hundred dollar bill. Now, he held up a dollar, wasn't it a dollar? Yeah, it wasn't a hundred dollar bill. Okay, very good. Now, listen now, beloved, listen closely. This is my testimony. I'm bringing you my testimony. I'm testifying to you this morning. And we're going to dovetail this in to what this day is supposed to represent. Resurrection Sunday. But before we do that, listen carefully. Now, listen, listen. I'm asking a question. Has everybody prayed, Oh God, I want Your Word to speak to me. I want You to change me. I want to hear Your voice through this Word today, Lord. Okay? Okay, so what we're doing is we're looking at the things that Gentiles are what? Seeking after. So, let's connect this. The things that Gentiles are seeking after have an object. And their object is seen in these. Clothes, money, anything else. Position. See, while the text doesn't actually say position, however, if you do a study of all of the words that Jesus spoke prior to verse 33 in chapter 6, you'll find what you'll be able to do is do what we call a tree. See? Basically, if Jesus mentions pride, we can draw a tree. Now, even though Jesus might not mention the things that grow out of pride, it would be safe to conclude that if Jesus mentions pride, what else would be part of the package? Anyone? Eyes, right, eyes. Lust. Pride of life. Now, what's the pride of life? Let's take these terms and really make them count. Remember, Jesus is risen from the dead. What does it mean? Does it mean that we sing songs about Jesus risen from the dead and we get happy? Not at all. Not at all. Here's what it means. Listen. What does pride of life mean? Yes. The boasting of what He has or does. Now, I think that is starting to touch something. What do you think? The boasting of what He has or does. So, when Jesus talks about pride, with that comes the boasting of what one has or what one does. Now, with that comes position, doesn't it? Position. Power. Power. Now, remember, what category does this fall under? Things. And who seeks after things? Okay, should this stuff be in the house of God? Excuse me? Are we unclear on this? I mean, what's today? What day is today? Now, apart from that, what day is today? Sunday. I mean, listen, we seem pretty confident about that, right? Today is Sunday, March 31st. Okay? What building are we in? High school. Everybody said that. But now when I asked, should these things be in the house of God? There is a little bit of reluctance there. Well, I'm not sure. What aren't we sure about? Wow. Why are we more sure about the fact that this is Sunday, March 31st, and that we're in the high school auditorium? Why are we more sure about that? Shouldn't we be more sure about the word of God? Shouldn't we be able to affirm more with intensity about the things of God than Sunday, Monday? Maybe it's not Sunday. Maybe the calendars are wrong. What if Congress tells us next week that they found a flaw in the calendars that today is really Saturday? But you know what? That could happen. But you know what can't happen? You know what can't happen? What can't happen is one day we find out it wasn't true, the word of God. We know that the word of God is true. Are we persuaded of these things? Okay. Okay, so we've got clothes. We've got money. We've got position. Anything else we want to put in there? Okay, let's put home. I thought I heard someone say home. And then Ben said bed. Let's put another word there. What would a seed word be that would capture the thought of pleasures? Pleasures is what I was after. Because, I mean, who would want to be entertained if it wasn't pleasurable, right? That's like this right here. All we have to do is erase pride and put pleasure. And then with that comes what? Entertainment. And then what else? Comfort zone. You know, I want to serve the Lord, but it's within my comfort zone. I want to stay comfortable. Okay, very good. These answers are good. Okay, so pleasure. Okay. So, I'm wondering here. Let's turn our page to the right, which means we're going to go backwards. Okay? All right, look. We turn the page to the right, and we go backwards. Isn't that correct? Yeah. All right. Okay. Now, listen. This is my testimony. This is my testimony. I love my testimony. Now, go to Matthew 6. Watch this now. Watch this. Matthew 6, verse 24. What's that say? No man can serve two lords. Lords is another translation, right? No man can serve two lords, or two masters. Uh-oh. What do we have here? We have Gentiles and believers. Now, let me ask a question. Who do you think are unbelievers? Or rather, what do you think unbelievers are serving? Things? Or are they over here in this category, which we haven't even looked at yet? See, this is, yeah, of course, things. See, this is, you put the word together. You put it all together. Yes. Okay. Right, right. We can't serve both. Right. That's right. Okay. So, who, let me get this out here. I'll make it easier. So, when Jesus said you cannot serve two masters, tell me, which master are the Gentiles serving? See, the God of this world. You cannot serve two masters. Clothes, money, position, home, pleasure, seeking after the object of my affection. Okay, now watch this. For either he will hate the one and love the other. Love. Now, we heard a little bit about love this morning, didn't we, from Colette? Now, when Jesus is saying you're going to hate one and love the other, He's not talking about an affectionate love. He's talking about a love that affects what? His decisions. The will. So, what Jesus is saying here is you will either love, you will either hate one and love the other. So, we're either going to be setting our will and seeking after the things that Gentiles seek after, or we are seeking after and setting our will toward what believers seek after, which is what we'll look at in a few moments. Okay, now, let's go up a little bit. Let's go up. Verse 22. No, I'm sorry. Let's finish verse 24, okay? No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve both God and mammon. Okay, now, let's go up a little bit. Verse 22. Let's read that. The light of the body is what? The light of the body is the eye. The light of the body is the eye. Now, let me ask you a question. What does the eye do? Okay, what is Jesus saying here? What is Jesus saying here? The light of the body is the eye. The light of the body is determined by what I am seeing. The light of the body is the eye. Now watch. If your eye be what? Single. Well, what's another word for that? Focused. Excellent. How about this? The absence of duplicity or folds. The absence of... James said what? Double desired. What Jesus is after here is this. If your eye, if your focus, if your vision, if what you're seeing is one thing, your body is full of light. Is that what it says? Your whole body shall be full of light. How many here want your body to be full of light? Hallelujah. But now watch. Now, this is all the same truth here. Watch this now. But if thine eye be evil... Now, what's an evil eye? If thy eye be single or focused, one thing am I after. That's it. Double desired. Very simple. Now, we can support that from many teachings and truth in the New Testament. We can support that conclusion, Danielle, so that would be proper to conclude that. So we're looking at singleness versus what? Dividedness. Double mindedness. Double desiredness. Okay? Well, I tell you, Jesus is the master teacher, isn't he? He never wasted words. He never played. He was love incarnate, but he always spoke the truth. That's what I love about Jesus so much. Okay, so now, if thine eye be evil... Now, let me ask you a question. Look, look. Gentiles seek things. Believers seek what? But you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Okay, now, what would be a single eye? Tell me what would be a single eye. What would be an example of a single focused eye in the context of what Jesus is talking about? Be anxious for nothing. Jesus actually said that five times in this portion of Scripture. Five times. For what? Take no thought for things. So an evil eye... Listen. Do we believe the Word of God or not? An evil eye is an eye that is not focused. It is looking at two different things. It's trying to serve both God and mammon. An evil eye is after both the things of God and the things of the world. Now, what happens to that kind of a person? What happens to that kind of a person? What's it say? Verse 23. But if thine eye be evil, that's 100% correct, Michael, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. Darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Wow. Now, listen. Listen. Let's go up three more verses. Three up. Go up to verse 19. All the same truth here. The Master Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, is teaching us now. He's just unlocking the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Now watch what Jesus said. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Here we go. For where your treasure is, that word treasure means valuable. The thing that you hold valuable, the thing that you treasure. Because your eye will be focused on the thing that you treasure. Your eye will be focused on the thing that's valuable to you. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Okay. Now, back to chapter 6, verse 33. Gentiles seek after what? Things. But sons seek after. But seek ye first. But seek you. You. You. You. As opposed to the Gentiles. You. Seek first. Number one priority. First. Order of importance. That's what the word means. Number one. The most important thing. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now watch this. Watch this. Seek first the kingdom of God. Now watch. Gentiles seek things. Believers seek God's kingdom and His righteousness. Okay. And what about these things? What does God say? And all these things. Now, what did Jesus mean when He said, All these things? The things that what? The Gentiles seek after. All these things that the Gentiles seek after. Your Heavenly Father knows what you have need of. Now listen. And He also knows what you don't have need of. And let me tell you something about you and me. We don't. We don't know what we have need of and what we don't have need of. And if we take this thing into our own understanding, which the entire church world is doing right now, we'll end up just the way the church world is in total destruction and array. Denying the Lord. Spiritually sterile. Why? Because we know best that. Don't we? We know best. We know best that. See? All these things shall be added to you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. Okay, brothers and sisters, my testimony in a nutshell. I've been walking with the Lord now since 1978, May. 24 years coming up to 25 years. And what I have seen the Lord Jesus through His Word, through grace, through the Holy Spirit, and through His disciplined Gentile training in my life personally, what I have seen God do is take a man who, like Michael said, by nature is inclined to act like a Gentile, to seek for things. And I have seen God transform a heart and continuously transform a heart and enable me to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness to the point where by grace alone, through faith, by the Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, I can say, Lord, today, I only want Your heart. Nothing else matters. I only want to know You. Nothing else matters. Lord, You are the treasure that my eye is after. The Lord said to me five months ago, beloved, as I was praying, we had a need. The Lord said, Son, would you like me to give you this? I said, no, Lord. I want You. He gave it to me anyway. I didn't want it. I didn't need it. See, I don't need anything but God. And then my Father knows what else I have need of. He'll provide. He'll provide. God is all that we have need of this morning. Let's turn our Bibles just for a short time. Luke 24. Listen carefully. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulcher bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereof, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. And as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seeks He the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spoke to you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified. And the third day, raise again. And they remembered His words. Listen. And returned from the sepulcher and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest. He's risen, isn't He? But what does that mean? What does it mean that He's risen? What does it mean that He's risen from the dead for you and I? He's risen. He's risen. The Bible says in Romans, He was delivered to death for our sins. And He was raised for our justification. But He's risen. So what does that mean? Because He's risen, He lives. And He enables us as believers to be free from the things, listen, that those who do not know Him are a slave to. He frees us from seeking after things so that we can, in our heart, be totally free to be after Him alone. Does that mean we don't work? Of course not. Does that mean we don't hold jobs? Of course not. But what are you after? What are you seeking? But He's risen If we truly believe that He is risen, brothers and sisters, it will radically change our life. It will free us. It will free us from everything and empower us to live for Him, by Him, and unto Him. You tell me, brothers and sisters, as we are ready to close, you tell me what good it does for anyone, you, me, or anyone else, to sing about the fact that He's been raised from the dead. To join in with the customs of this nation and say with our mouth, we believe Christ is risen from the dead. And yet, we act like Gentiles. We seek like Gentiles. Our life revolves around things. Clothes, money, positions, home, pleasures, the object of our will, the object of our passion. Things. You see, we must be careful that we don't simply join together with the nations of the world and celebrate when in fact, Christ is not looking for a people who simply profess we believe Christ is raised from the dead. He's looking for a people who in fact are risen together with Him from the dead and are living testimonies that He is risen from the dead. You know, I'm really glad that I'm not after your money because that frees me to talk about it. Everyone here knows this ministry doesn't ask for money. What are you after? What are you spending your money for? What do you want? I want to challenge you as we close. Please accept this challenge. Get a piece of paper out and be honest before God. Write down on the piece of paper the things that you're after. Now don't deceive yourself in pretending that you're after what you say. Let what you do, not what you say, be the true indicator of what you're really after. Write it down on a piece of paper and listen. Here, look up real quick. You tell me what it looks like. What are you spending your time, your heart's time, what are you doing? See how the Lord wants to go so very deeply into our heart and rescue us from following the world's ways. So, He's risen, yes. But how's it affecting us? What's it doing? Let's ask the Lord to speak to our hearts and to minister His truth into our hearts this morning. Some of you may know that at the present time I am pursuing a possible career as a law enforcement officer. I've told some. Carrie and a few others know. I had an opportunity to take a civil service test in a few weeks. And I'm applying for the state park ranger position. And I'm quite excited about it. And I think being a ranger would be quite interesting, challenging, and enjoyable. But did you know that I'm after God? Brian is a realtor, right? You after God, Brian? See that? Mike's an entrepreneur. What are you after, Mike? God. So you see, brothers and sisters, God can give you a heart of a son. You're after Him alone, but you're functioning in the world. You're living in the world. But because He's risen, you're not of the world. And your life goes by a different trajectory. In answer to your question, yes. I will carry a gun. I have to go if I am hired to hunt five months of police academy. Five months. I won't know until the fall or winter, though, of this year. It's a long process. So please be praying. We will continue. Life Ministries will continue to provide a place for saints to come. The Word of God will continue to be preached. And we're believing in God to continue to build up His people, His church, so that He can entrust us with His glory in this end hour that we live in. So please be praying about that, that the Lord will have His way regarding those plans, okay? Anybody have a testimony? We do want to get out. We want to leave in a few minutes. But anyone want to have a testimony about anything the Lord might be saying to you or doing in your heart? Anyone at all?