Maintain Your Priorities

(adapted from Southeast Christian Church’s series: “Living a Life of Integrity”)
SERIES: “WORDS OF WISDOM FOR KINGDOM LIVING”

TEXT: MATTHEW 6:19-24

TITLE: “MAINTAIN YOUR PRIORITIES”

INTRODUCTION: A. A husband and wife were attending a county fair where, for twenty dollars a
person, a man was giving rides in an old airplane. The couple wanted to go up but they
thought twenty dollars a person was too expensive so they tried to negotiate a lower
price. “We’ll pay you twenty dollars for both of us,” they said to the pilot. “After all,
we’ll both have to squeeze into that tiny cockpit that was built for only one person.”
The pilot refused to lower his fare, but he made a counter offer. He suggested, “Pay
me the full price of twenty dollars each, and I’ll take you up. If you don’t say one word
during the flight, I’ll give you all your money back.” The couple agreed and got into
the plane.
Up they went and the pilot proceeded to perform every trick he knew, looping and
whirling and flying upside down and lots more. Finally, when the plane had landed,
the pilot said to the husband, “Congratulations! Here’s your money back; you didn’t
say a single word.” To which the man replied, "Nope, but you almost got me when my
wife fell out.”

B. When we think of sin and temptation typically the first two areas that come to
mind are the temptations of lust and pride.
1. While those are really deadly there is another that may have wrought more damage
for both men and women in our culture (and even in this room).
--It’s not as obvious and blatant, in some ways it is easier to hide and, in our
affluent culture, it has become more acceptable.

2. I’m speaking of materialism.
--It’s very similar to greed or envy, both of which are areas we are commanded in
both the Old and New Testament. to avoid

3. This message is not about tithing, or about how much our church needs your
money.
--This is a message about what Jesus said our material possessions can do to us if
not handled properly.

4. I read an interesting statistic a few months ago that said that researchers have
determined that the average American