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Hello and welcome to the
Middletown Baptist Church podcast,

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where we are proclaiming the
truth to the world.

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In this podcast series, we're
going to be looking into biblical

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words that have great
significance to our faith.

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The name of this series is
called the Word of the Week, where

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once a week we will dive
deeper into these words that we are

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familiar with in scripture.

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So come along with me.

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Let's study the Word of the week.

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Pastor Josh here with another
word of the Week.

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This week, we are going to
conclude our study looking at discipleship.

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I hope that this has been a
great study for you.

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I know it has been for me.

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It's taught me how, number
one, I can be a disciple of Jesus

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Christ, but number two, how I
can point other people to be disciples

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of Jesus Christ as well.

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Last week, we looked at the
idea of time and really looking at

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the concept of investing our
time into other people.

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For us to point people to
Jesus Christ, it takes time, it takes

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effort, it takes sacrifice.

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And so for us as believers, we
must understand the importance of

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what it means to follow the
director of directive of Christ in

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Matthew chapter 28 that says
for us to make disciples.

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That's called the Great Commission.

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And so one last thing I wanted
to talk about in the concept of discipleship

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is the idea of our treasure.

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Where is our treasure?

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What are we valuing in our life?

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In Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus
is teaching his followers here about

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what it means to lay up
treasures in heaven.

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Matthew 6, verse 19, it says,
Lay not up for yourselves treasures

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upon earth where moth and rust
doth corrupt and where thieves break

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through and steal.

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So he says, don't focus on
laying up treasures here on this

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earth.

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Why?

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Because the treasures that we
accumulate here on this earth are

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going to pass away.

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They're not eternal.

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The.

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The moth and rust will corrupt it.

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Thieves can steal it.

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And you know what the truth of
the matter is, is that every material

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thing that we have here on
this earth can be taken away from

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us.

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It can be destroyed.

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It can be stolen.

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But then what Jesus says in
verse number 20 is in contrast to

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laying up treasures here in
this earth.

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It says, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven.

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So he says, focus on the
eternal things.

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Focus on the things that will
last forever, where neither moth

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nor rust doth corrupt and
where thieves don't.

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Do not break through nor steal.

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And so what is he essentially
saying here?

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He's saying this.

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The things that you invest
into the kingdom of God, the things

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that you invest into the
things of God in accordance to his

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word, those things will last forever.

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No one can take that away from you.

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No one can take away your salvation.

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No one can take away the
blessings that we find in following

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Christ and then ultimately
leading people to that same path.

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And so what we can see here is
that what we treasure in our hearts,

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that will be where we place
value in every other area of our

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lives.

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Verse number 21 says this, for
where your treasure is, there will

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your heart be also.

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And so he says, what you
treasure in this world is where your

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heart is going to follow.

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And where your heart follows
is where your actions are going to

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follow.

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And so if we truly value the
truth of Jesus Christ, if we truly

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value his call for us to be
disciples, that is where we're going

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to set our hearts to.

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We are going to set our hearts
to following Christ with everything

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that we have.

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We, we know that all
throughout the New Testament, Jesus

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reminds us that to love him
means to obey Him.

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And so if we treasure him and
we treasure that relationship that

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we have with him, we will
strive with all of our hearts to

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love him and to obey him and
to point other people to that process

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as well.

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And so I love this passage
here in Matthew, chapter six, because

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he talks about this idea of
storing up treasures in eternity.

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And, and I think of another
passage of Scripture that specifically

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speaks to the same concept,
and that's in the book of Colossians.

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Colossians, chapter three,
verse one.

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It says, if ye then be risen
with Christ, and so you're identified

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with Christ, you are a
believer in Jesus Christ.

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You're following him.

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He says, seek those things
which are above where Christ sitteth

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on the right hand of God.

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So again, the same directive
here to set our minds and our hearts

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on the things which are above
the eternal things.

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There he says, seek those things.

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Verse 2.

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Set your affection or your
minds and your hearts on things above,

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not on things on the earth.

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And so here in this case, what
is he saying?

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He says, don't set your
affections, don't set your heart,

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don't set your love, don't set
your minds to the things that are

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here and now that are going to
waste away.

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Set your mind and your heart
and your affections on the things

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of God.

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And what we can tell in
Scripture is this.

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We know that though we are
using things here in this earth as

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tools to bring people to
Christ, the only thing that's going

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to last forever are the things
that God has called us to do in our

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spiritual walk, and that is
to, number one, love him with all

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of our Heart, soul, mind and strength.

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And, and to love our neighbor
as ourself.

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And if we love our neighbors,
we will tell them the truth about

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who Jesus Christ is.

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And so ultimately, that's the
concept of that treasure.

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Where are we going to set our treasures?

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In the things of God.

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Now, this could talk about
multiple different things, right?

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It could talk about spiritual service.

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It could talk about sacrifice.

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It could talk about even
material finances that God has given

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us to invest our treasure into
the things of God.

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And so where we.

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Where our heart is, is where
everything else is going to follow.

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And so the Bible teaches us as
Christians, our heart should be set

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with Christ.

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Our heart should be set with
his plan, his work, his eternal purpose.

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And so when we do that,
everything else will follow.

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All of our treasure will
follow in that direction.

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And so if you could think
about it this way, where is our time?

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Where is our.

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Our talent, the.

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The talents that God has given us?

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And where is our treasure?

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If our.

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If our treasure is set in the
things of God, then we're obeying

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Him.

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If our.

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If our time is set in the
things of God, we're obeying Him.

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If our.

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If.

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If our hearts and our minds
and everything about us is set as

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Romans chapter 12 says, As a
living sacrifice, wholly acceptable

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unto God, which is our
reasonable service.

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If, if we are completely given
over to Christ, we're going to see

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things working through us, and
we're going to see people coming

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to Christ, and we're going to
see his plan being played out in

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our life.

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And that obedience brings us blessing.

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That obedience brings us reward.

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That obedience brings us joy.

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That obedience brings us the
confidence that our Savior loves

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us and that he is sustaining
us and that he is strengthening us.

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And so to be a disciple means
to have our heart set on Christ.

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It means to have our heart set
in His Word.

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It means to have our heart set
in the things that he has called

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us to do.

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So it's enjoying that sacrifice.

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It's enjoying that service.

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It's enjoying that love.

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And so what I can tell you
here today, when it comes to this

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concept of discipleship, it's
not about just following a.

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A set of rules.

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It's not just about following
a set of curriculums or books.

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It's ultimately following Christ.

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It's ultimately giving
ourselves over to him and then allowing

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that to be our motivation for
our love, allowing that to be the

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motivation for our service,
allowing that to be the motivation

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of our message to those that
need Jesus Christ.

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And then teaching them right
in discipleship comes teaching and

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we teach through different avenues.

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We teach in the classroom, we
teach from different areas of service.

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We even teach, by the way,
that we live our lives by example.

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And I would argue that
teaching by example is the greatest

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action of teaching, right?

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Because we can say one thing,
but doing something else is.

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Is what we would consider
hypocrisy, right?

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So if I tell someone, hey,
follow Jesus this way, and then I

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in no way show any dedication
to what I have just said, my message

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is not going to be heard.

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It's not going to resonate.

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But the message that is
aligned with our action will resonate.

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So it's walking the walk, not
just talking the talk.

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And so, as we conclude the
study in discipleship, I just want

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you to think about that
passage there in Matthew, chapter

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six.

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Where is our treasure?

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Where are we investing?

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You know, a lot's to be a lot.

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There's a lot to be said about investments.

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And in our world today,
obviously there are good investments

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and there are bad investments.

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There are investments that can
have great return.

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There's investments that maybe
can come back on us.

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And, you know, it could be
seen in a loss.

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But at the end of the day,
what we invest into the kingdom of

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God will never return void.

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It will never, never return to
us as a loss.

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Every investment that we make
for the cause of the Gospel, every

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investment that we make for
the cause of the truth of God will

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return to us in dividend form
in a great way for.

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For not just the next 20, 30,
40, 50 years, but for eternity.

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The Bible says that there's
eternal reward with following him

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and serving him.

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And so just wanted to share
that here today as a brief study

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in one of the aspects of discipleship.

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And so this series has been a
series that has challenged me in

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the concept of following Christ.

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Remember what Jesus said?

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He said, if.

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If you want to be my disciple,
follow me, follow my word, continue,

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abide in my word.

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Even in John 15, we're
reminded of the fact that we are,

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we are not divine.

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He is divine.

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Jesus is divine.

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We are the branches.

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Without him we can do nothing.

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There is no fruit, There is no success.

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There is no victory outside of
a relationship with Christ.

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And so that's what we point
people to.

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We don't point people to a
system or a program.

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We point people to Christ.

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And as we point people to
Christ, they're able to find that

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forgiveness, they're able to
find that satisfaction, they're able

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to find that hope.

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And then hopefully, as second
Timothy two, two says, that they

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can pass that on to other
people around them so that they can

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pass it on to other people and
that can continue as God has planned.

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And so I hope that this has
been a great study for you.

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I encourage you to share this
with somebody else and also too just

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to continue on with our series
here with the Word of the Week here

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on the Middletown Baptist
Church podcast.

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Well, God bless you.

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Hope you have a wonderful rest
of your week.

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We will come back and talk to
you soon.

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Hey, I really appreciate that
you listened to the Word of the Week

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podcast.

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If you have any questions
about the podcast or about our church,

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Middletown Baptist Church, you
can find more information about us

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on Facebook or or YouTube or
you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org

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you can contact me directly at
Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org

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stay tuned for future Word of
the Week episodes where we dive deeper

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into words that impact our
life according to scripture.

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Thank you so much.

246
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God bless.

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We'll talk to you soon.