How to Shine
March 9, 2026
Take your Bibles, if you would, this morning, and turn to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter number six in God’s Word this morning. Matthew chapter number six.
It’s a great chapter in the Bible. I’m reminded of my dad’s—I mentioned him earlier—but my dad’s favorite verse. It’s on a tombstone, but that’s verse number 33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things, physical things, monetary things, shall be added unto you.” Really, the last part of the chapter talks a lot about finances and monetary things. We’re going to look at just a short portion of this chapter, and really we’re going to focus on one phrase. It’s a phrase we’ve focused on before.
But you were sleeping or missing the last time we focused on it. I’m teasing with you. But I just felt led most of the week, I would say, to this truth of the Word of God. Matthew chapter number six. We’re going to start in verse—well, as soon as I said that, you won’t listen to me, you know. So I like it. You’re listening right now. Amen. That’s a good thing.
By the way, the title is “How to Shine.” How to shine. I’ve seen one of our ladies who was working here in the auditorium, doing a wonderful job, and she said, “I’m sweating.” And I said, “Now, you know, ladies, they don’t sweat. I’ve always heard they glisten,” you know. And so, how to shine, how to shine here just a little bit.
Verse number 19, Matthew 6, verse number 19. Would you please stand if you are able as we read the Word of God together? Matthew 6 and verse number 19. And the Bible there says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.” I am not—I clarify this—I am not old. Thank you. I appreciate that. But I’m getting there.
I was telling my wife recently, I don’t want to get caught up in laying treasures down here as I get older. I always want to have the mindset: My treasure is in heaven. Someone yesterday, I preached a funeral for someone who did something for someone. They said, “I don’t want my treasures here. I want my treasures up in heaven.” A wise person.
He says right there, he says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt.” I used to preach saying that moths got your clothes, you know, and all that. How many of your grandparents’ houses smelled like mothballs? Come on now. Yeah. And then rust—I used to say your cars—but now they’re made out of plastic, so we’re going to do…
But he’s saying there, where moths nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal.
By the way, we don’t have maybe as many thieves—thieves. Steves? Is that it? Thieves, how about that, you know? We don’t, but you know, man, goodness, when I read that just a second ago, I thought, there are scams everywhere. Don’t open that email. Don’t talk to that person. There are scams everywhere. I think of an elderly man, a good man, but a con artist—and I don’t say that lightly; the police told us that—but a con artist said she wanted to marry him and all the rest of that, and she took him from being a homeowner having some money to living in his car in a Walmart parking lot years ago. There’s a whole lot of scams going on in our day and time. He said, don’t get caught up too much down here because there are thieves everywhere. That is what he is saying there. Let’s keep going. I’m getting off on this. It’s only… 10:16, so we’ve got plenty of time now, right? Amen. Come on now. That’s what the clock says.
Then verse number 21, he says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We think, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be.” But God says, “No, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Now, notice the context here. Now we’re getting to where we want to go. Verse number 22, he says, “The light of the body is the eye.” Jesus said that twice: once in His early ministry, Brother Bill, and then once in His later ministry. It’s also in Luke 11. He said it twice. “The light of the body is the eye.” “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?” “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. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Now let me just draw a little conclusion here, then we’ll pray and get into it. I think here he is really speaking of keeping your eyes single, or focused, on Jesus. Notice the comparison there, verse number 24: God and Mammon. You’re either going to have your eyes on this or this, if you will. In Luke 11, when he says the same statement, he’s talking to the Pharisees later on in his ministry. He was talking to them about how there is not going to be any sign to you besides the sign of Jonah. That’s where he talked about the Queen of Sheba, you know, came to visit the site. And he said, “Better one than Solomon is here.” And the Pharisees didn’t want to accept Jesus. Right after he made that statement over in Luke 11, He goes to eat with the Pharisee but doesn’t wash his hands. And for them, you know, before eating, oh, you know. Jesus said, “You’re not going to accept me as I am, and I’m not going to do all your little bitty things to make you accept me. I am who I am.” I think really the focus is keeping your eyes single on Jesus. What does the Bible say over there in Luke—or excuse me, Hebrews 12? “Looking unto whom? Jesus, the author and finisher of the faith.” And just for a bit, though, we’re going to really focus. I want you to get the context there, but we’re going to focus on that statement: “The light of the body is the eye.”
Would you pray and ask the Lord to use that truth to speak to you? He’s already convicted me over the truth, honestly, and I need it. But would you ask the Lord to speak to you about that truth right there, make it real to you: the light of the body is the eye? Let’s pray together, would you please? Father, Lord, we come to you. Lord, you know, I’ve got nothing for nobody apart from Your Word and Your Spirit, Lord. Father, so I pray that You help me to rightly divide Your Word, Lord, and then send Your Spirit controlling my words. And Father, send Your Spirit applying Your words to the hearts of the people here. Lord, we’ll brag on You for it. Father, forgive me if I want to pat myself on the back for all that. Lord, all the glory, all the credit belongs to You. That’s the truth, Lord. So would You bless? And we’ll be careful to praise You for it. It’s in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
The light of the body is the eye. Think about that. The light of the body is the eye. Let me just say it a couple different ways. The light that comes into your body comes through your eyes. I can tell what type of things you’ve been looking at by how dark or how light your body is. I don’t have to see necessarily where your mind’s eye is going; I’ll know that by how light or how dark your body is because the light of the body is the eye.
It’s impossible to have a body full of light—now listen to this, this is important—it’s impossible to have a body full of light when you’ve been looking at darkness all the time. If the Word of God is true, that’s impossible. It’s impossible to have a body full of light unless your eyes are looking into Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. I’ve already mentioned, I really think a very strict interpretation will be keeping your eyes single on Jesus. Remember that verse: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind…” Your mind’s eye here, his mind is stayed on Thee. That’s amazing, perfect peace. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.
Now, here I want to just clarify a little bit if your eye—whether it be physical or, for the most part, we’re talking about mentally, our eye and spiritual eye—if your eye is on Jesus, let me just say a couple of things. You know, some of the things you’re going to be seeing through Jesus or in Jesus: you can be seeing forgiveness. I thought somebody would say amen for sure. I don’t know about you, but I need that.
If your eye is on Jesus, you’re going to see mercy. “The mercy of the Lord endureth forever.” If your eye is truly on Jesus, you’re not going to see condemnation. If you are in Christ, there is no condemnation. If your eye is on Jesus, you know what you’re going to find? You’re going to find love.
I call it my hippie song. My wife and my daughter, they know. My hippie song is—it’s some of the Gaither people, you know—and I pull it up on YouTube, everyone’s mine. It’s just an old, I don’t know, is it '60s, whatever? It’s a gospel song, but it’s just simply, “I Am Loved.” And everyone’s so… If I’ve not got my eyes on Jesus, I’m letting my flesh or whatever, you know, just kind of feed on myself. I’ll listen to the song: “I’m Loved.”
If you have your eyes on Jesus, you may see him on the cross looking down at you saying, “I love you. That’s why I’m here on the cross.” If you have your eyes on Jesus, you’re going to see Jesus saying, “Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” You’re not going to see condemnation. You’re not going to see someone trying to beat you down. When you fall flat on your face, you’re not going to find somebody trying to kick you when you’re down. There’s going to be someone there to forgive you and love you, if you’re a born-again Christian, to love you, unconditional love, and ready to pick you up.
Are your eyes on Jesus Christ? He said, “I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth in me shall never thirst.” That’s John 6:35. Our eyes on Jesus is so very, very important. You see, where your eyes are looking is crucial.
Look over in Genesis chapter number three, if you would, please. This is where the problems for mankind really started at. Well, it was, yes, with the devil before, but look where mankind took of it. I’m talking about Eve, and then Adam, who was with her, took it. How many of you think it’s all Eve’s fault? You bunch of wimpy guys, you’re not brave enough. How many think it’s all Adam’s fault? Those women are brave. One man that raised his hand saying it was Eve’s fault made up for it. They’re making up for it. They know what’s going on there, you know.
But look what he says. I want you to see this: when mankind fell, and I want you to see how what happened. This is where cancer started. This is where death started. This is where heartbreak started. This is where gossip started. This is where… All the bad—that’s where it started at right here in mankind. Now, hear Genesis 3, verse number 6: “And when the woman saw…” What’s the next word? That’s where it started right there: the eyes. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” By the way, the answer is both of them to blame.
Remember a little bit later on over there, Achan—remember Achan that fell and he took all that Babylonian garment and went to the next battle over there at that little bit of town Ai, and they lost? What was it? If I remember right, 36 people got—36 of God’s children, Israelites, got killed. And then eventually Achan, he wouldn’t confess. He said, “Well, I confess.” No, he confessed after God pointed out, “You’re the one.” God gave him all that time to get right and repent, and he never would do it. But how did that thing go? Sir, I’ll read for you. It’s Joshua 7, verse number 21. This is what Achan says when he confessed, once God pointed out he’s the one right there: “Indeed I have taken that Babylonian garment.” Let me read it for you. Achan says, “And when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment…” When he saw.
Remember Peter over there? Jesus came walking on the water, then in the ship, in the midst of the storm. They thought it was a ghost, and Jesus said, “No, it’s me.” And Peter said, “Can I come to you on the water?” And Jesus said, “Come on.” Come on, need somebody stepping out on faith. What happened? Peter was walking on water. That’s a pretty good deal. I mean, just walking on water. I can’t even float, much less walk on water. Everybody says, “Relax and you can float.” I say, “How can I relax when I’m drowning?” you know? That’s true.
Peter’s doing that. He’s walking on water and coming to Jesus. And you know the story: Boom. And he went down. Let me tell you what happened. Let me read it for you. It’s in Matthew 14:30: “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid.”
I’m telling you, friend, maybe just the quickest way to see it: the light of the body is the eyes. What are you looking at? Lamentations 3:51, and it says, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart.” You’re not going to have a heart full of light if you’re looking at the wrong thing. I’m trying to tell you, Jesus said it twice. It’s so very important. The light of the body is the eyes. That’s the key.
Now, I’m going to take that and I’m going to go from preaching to meddling just a minute here, all right? Y’all wait me out here? Can y’all handle this in 2026? You know, sometimes we can be a little bit wimpy Christians. Can y’all handle a little preaching here for a minute? It’s all their fault if I step on your toes. It’s all their fault.
Hey, let me say something, men. You sometimes—man, well, I want a sweet, loving, kind wife. Listen, you’re not going to get that if all you’re doing is snapping at her and trying to belittle her and put her down. Listen, you say, “Why do I do that? Why do I always snap at my wife?” Because you’ve got your eyes on all the bad things in your wife instead of your eyes on Jesus. Jesus said, “Hey, love your wife as I love the church.” And praise the Lord, He loves me when I’m flawed.
Now let’s go to the other side for just a second here. Ladies, you say, “I want a husband who will compliment me, be kind to me, be loving to me.” Listen, when you’re over there belittling him, trying to control him and manipulate him, and trying to dictate everything in his life, listen, you’re not going to get that because you’ve got your eyes on all the bad things. You don’t trust him because of that. Get your eyes on the Lord. And the Lord said, “Hey, I’m to submit myself to my own husband as unto the Lord.” It’s so vital where your eyes are looking. So vital.
I love young people that are just happy and excited about life. Sometimes when you get old, you’ve seen enough bad, you’re not as excited about life. And I love it when young people are excited about life. Can I say this, young people? In our day and time, with phones and the internet and news, you can see every single bad thing around the world in a matter of seconds. And if you spend your life looking at all the bad—and yes, on the phone, even the bad at your school and everywhere else, bad in your parents—after a while, you’re not going to have that light inside of you. I love to see young people have light inside of them. I’m just saying, and by the way, the light of the world is Jesus, and Jesus doesn’t want us… You know the Bible talks about being simple concerning evil? You know that? That is in the book of Romans: “Simple concerning evil.” I don’t have to know the dirt on so-and-so across the street. I don’t have to know the dirt on brother-so-and-so, sister-so-and-so. I don’t have to know all their dirt. If I’m focused on all the dirt, I’m not going to have a body full of light.
I think about old Brother Donnie—not Brother Donnie here. I wouldn’t say, “Oh, Brother Donnie,” because he’s too big, amen. Now, the church in Alabama, and I had to go to Brother Donnie about a situation in the church. I wasn’t pastor; I was a youth pastor, whatnot, but I had to deal with the situation. I went to Brother Donnie and said, “Hey, Brother Donnie, I can’t remember the details, but I still remember this.” By the way, Brother Donnie, can I describe him a little bit to you? He was happy, joyful. He taught a boys’ Sunday school class, and he called it “God’s Army Class,” and he would—he would teach his class typically; he would have army fatigues on. Man, he was just energetic, happy, loved everybody, you know, loved everybody. He had changed coming to church, just a happy-go-lucky guy, enjoying life kind of guy, excited about the things of God. So I had to go to Brother Donnie. I said, “Brother Donnie, hey, such and such, we need to…” whatever it was, I can’t remember. And Brother Donnie told me this: He said, “Pastor, I had no idea. Pastor, I feel like I’m always the last one that knows about this stuff going on.” I said, “Brother Donnie, never change. That’s why you have such joy in your life.” Because the one that’s trying to snoop and find out the dirt and what so-and-so said and all the rest of that crazy junk—the Bible says the light of the body is the eyes—and they’re not going to have a body full of light trying to find out all the dirt on everybody. Amen.
Our eyes—it is so crucial where our eyes are looking at. So very, very important. Can I say this? Nobody likes to be around somebody negative. Anybody like to be around negative people? Boy, I’m like, well, okay, maybe if I’m over there, you know, stuck in my thumb, I’m like, “Misery loves company” every once in a while. But for the most part, I don’t want to be around somebody just down, down, down, down, you know. Every once in a while, you feel like the walk-a-mole, you know, you try to be positive when they’re boom. You know, sometimes in relationships, we don’t have any light to bring to the relationship because we look at all the dark. Come on now. Isn’t it a good thing if you could bring some light to a relationship? It’s a good thing. How do you do that? Why don’t you look at it? Get your eyes on Jesus. He’s the light of the world.
Interesting. Look back over there in Matthew 6, would you please? Look back over there real quickly here. We’re done with the hard part for a little bit. Y’all can say amen. You can relax. We’re good now. Don’t go to sleep, though, maybe, you know. Look in verse number 22. I want you to kind of see the comparisons between 22 and 23. Verse 22, he says, “The light of the body is the eye.” Verse number 23, he says, “But if thine eye be evil…” So he’s kind of comparing light versus evil. Verse number 22, he says, “If thine eye be single,” that’s focused. Really, in particular, a very direct interpretation will be Jesus. Look unto Jesus. Now in verse number 23, he says that, “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Back up to 22: “If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Verse 23: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?”
Now here’s the thing I’m kind of getting that is very interesting. The comparison here is singular focus on Jesus, light, or it’s focused on darkness and evil. Then in verse number 24, he uses the term very directly there in verse 24: “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,” or God and money. And the comparison: God and light, Jesus in light and single, and down here it’s focused on money per se and the things—the darkness down here. And then it reminds me, and he uses evil. He keeps using the word evil there, and it reminds me the love of money is the root of all what? Evil.
I have someone on my prayer list, and I pray this for them just about every day. I pray, “Lord, help them.” And I don’t know, but if I’m going to pray for them, I want to pray the best I can for them. Very direct sometimes. Sometimes we pray so vague we’ll never know if God answers or not. But I pray this for them and say, “Lord, help them to stop chasing money and start chasing You.” It’s so important. But it’s a matter of where our eyes are. Have I got my eyes on the Lord, chasing the Lord, or not?
You know, the war—I’m talking about over Iran. I’m glad; I think it’s very necessary. They’ve been saying for decades they want to wipe us and Israel off the face of the earth. It’s just truthful, whether you like it or not. They’ve been saying that if they had the military capacity to do it, I feel sure they would do it. And those who studied it out said, “Oh, sure, they would do it.” And so we have to take care of it. And I’ll be honest with you, I got caught up for just a bit there when it started, man. You know, I got that blood up, you know, and I wanted to find out what was going on. And I knew where every one of those 200 bombs dropped the first minute of the war, you know what I’m saying? I knew the exact coordinates of every one of those. Okay, I’m being facetious here, all right. But man, I was into it for a while. I mean, I’m talking about, you know, any chance I had a break, I was checking on it: Who got hit this time? Was it Israel? The United States? And all the rest of that, you know? And I’m not saying that’s bad, but a couple days into it, I thought, “Wow, I’m kind of turning, if you will, a little dark.” And it was beginning to dominate my thoughts. I thought, “Man, I don’t want to be that. I want to have some joy. I want to have some laughter. I want to enjoy life.” And I said, “You know what? I need to get off of the war a little bit.” Because the Bible truth is: The light of the body is the eyes. Now, get back and check a little bit here and there, but I’m just saying when something just has your eyes dominated on it, be careful because you cannot have a body full of light if you’re looking at dark things. It’s not going to happen.
Now, let’s talk about another thing here. And we’re going to get going to get baptized here in a minute. Amen. They don’t want to get baptized at 1 o’clock. Amen. They want to get baptized before that. By the way, I will apologize earlier: the heater wasn’t on when I came in this morning. The baptistry heater wasn’t on. But it’s on now. So the longer we wait, the warmer it will be. So, you know, they’re like, “Preach on, preach!” Amen, you know. It’s on right now.
But if we just let our eyes go wherever they want to go to, they’re going to go to the wrong place. If you just kind of put it in neutral and let them coast, because we have a flesh, we have that sin nature—that, yes, we have a choice, but we have that inherent nature we call it—all for them. And look, friend, you know, that’s why bad news sells. That’s why they’re always telling you how bad the world’s going to fall apart because they’re trying to keep you in their, you know, fear factor, the next, what’s the next, next, next, next thing, whatever may be.
And in my mind, if I just let it go wherever it’s going to go to, that’s bad. Here’s another reason why that is: because Satan—what does the Bible say? He’s not just a lion, but he’s a what? A roaring lion? There’s a lot there when the lions roar and they kind of dominate their pride. And that’s a very interesting word for a lion. And the devil’s a roaring lion. But a roaring lion, man, it gets your attention. I’m out in the middle of the woods, I hear a roar, I’m going to be like, “Whoa, man, what’s going on?” Satan’s always trying to get your eyes and your mind on him and what he’s doing. He’s very good at trying to get your attention. He’s a roaring lion. We live in a sin-cursed world. Peter, when he saw the wind—when we go through a storm, we all want to see all the bad things in the storm. No, no, that’s the devil. It’s amazing. Some are much, much better than I am, but during the middle of the storm, they have light. How did they do that? Because they work very hard at keeping their eyes on Jesus, even in the storm. I have a lot to grow in that area. But the light of the body is the eyes. It’s so crucial where I’m keeping my eyes, and if I let them just go in neutral, they’re going to go to the things they ought not be looking at.
You know, this is honest truth—I don’t have this in my notes, but it just popped into my mind, and it’s so true—but I’ve been out witnessing with someone. They’re listening; it looks like they’re going to get saved, and I’m in their living room opening the Bible, sharing the Gospel with them, and that box over there is on. You don’t talk about it? And I’m not saying it’s all bad, but a lot of times I call it Hollywood’s pipeline, you know, pumping their stuff in there. And when I’ll be there, and I have my Bible out, and the religious thing, it looks like they’re going to get saved, and you know what my crazy eyes will do? You would never do this, I know. You’re better than me. My eyes keep going to that stinking TV over there. And I’m like, “Paul, come on. They’re listening. That’s what you live for. They’re about to get saved here.” And I got—it’s like, you know, you want to kind of slap yourself: Quit looking over there, you know, whatever it may be on the TV. I’m just saying the wrong things will demand your attention.
This is an interesting quote. I don’t have it in my notes, but it’s been years since I heard of it, but I think it’s a good quote: Great things never demand your attention; little things do. By the way, I don’t want to spend my life dealing with all the urgent things. I want to spend my life dealing with important things. But the devil will do the best he can to attract your eyes and get your eyes—it’s amazing how he gets your eyes on all the junk of the world: this new song by this artist, and you know what he said or she said, and all the rest. You know, you kind of got to live where you’re at somewhat, but if my eyes are just focused on all the junk and the scrolling… You know, I was playing pickleball one time with a man, and he said, “My wrist is messed up,” and he had a brace. So, what’s going on? You got a brace on your arm? And he said, “Honestly, I think it was on his iPad or something or tablet, whatever those things are.” You know, I can’t keep them all straight. But he said, “I think I just spent so many hours,” he said, “literally, I messed my wrist up just hours and hours.”
I’m not saying there’s nothing funny. I like to watch a good funny video. My daughter will save the funny ones for me, and she said, “Dad, you want to see some funny videos?” I’m like, “Man, I’m all in on that right there.” But if you’re not careful, you’re just—in your mind—the light of the body is the eyes. It’s just crucial.
And look, if I don’t have my eyes single-focused on Jesus Christ, He said, “Look, if you’ve got it on darkness, your whole body is going to be full of darkness.” And you must work at it. Hey, praise the Lord, you’re in church, hearing the Word of God pumped in you a little bit, you know. And that stinking preacher up there, he’ll get loud when you’re falling asleep, and, you know, he’ll say, “Hey, look up here,” and all the rest of them. And I know he’s a jerk sometimes. I understand all that, you know. But it’s trying to get some light in there. Jesus is the living Word. This is the written Word. And “at the entrance of the word bringeth light.” And it’s so important, praise the Lord, you’re in church. Hey, it’s vital that you get alone every day and get in the Word and spend some time alone with Jesus Christ, and you’re spending time with Him. Then you can go out into this world of darkness. By the way, this old world needs light right now. And when you have been walking with the light of the world, you go out into the world and you have light to offer them. But it’s all about you have to work at keeping your eyes on the light and on His Word.
Praise the Lord, you’re here Sunday morning, and many of you are here Sunday night when he’s not being here and being Sunday’s going, and you’re just trying to get light into you. That’s why he says, talking about when Jesus is coming back, and so much the more—talking about church, it’s over in Hebrews 10: “And as ye see the day approaching, so much the more…” So many in our day and time try to do away with church. And he said, “No, no, as it gets closer to Jesus coming back, you’re going to need it more and more because it’s going to get darker,” but working at getting light in your life. By the way, the devil will fight your time alone with the Lord. He’ll fight that.
I was in Bible College, and there was a guy—I’ll say his name because it’s a great illustration, but it makes him look good, and it truly is good—his name was James Scott. James Scott was a shorter guy, a good guy. He grew up in a children’s home in Florida. And James Scott would say this: He said, “I have made a deal in my life. I’m not going to spend time with anyone else, and I’m not going to talk—I’m just not going to spend time with anyone else until I’ve been with the Lord in the morning first.” We were roommates, him and a couple of guys in Bible College. And I saw one morning James—he’s made a character—but one morning he slipped up, like all of us slip up, and he slept in. And I thought, “All right, we’re going to see.” Because, I mean, he’s either going to miss his 8 o’clock class, or he’s going to spend time with the Lord. And he always said, “I will not spend time with anyone else until I get alone with God.” So I said, “All right, we’re going to watch this one here. I’ll skip class to watch that one.” I don’t think I did. But you know what? James Scott said, “No, I’ll just have to miss that class.” Because the principle for my life is: I’m going to be alone with the Lord before I’m with anybody else. I don’t know; I haven’t talked to him or checked on him in years and years. I say years; probably seven years. But that’s been in the dark ages when I was in Bible College. And for years and years and years, he’s pastored the same church, and that’s saying something—the same church, I would say 20-something years the last time I checked. Pretty good for him, pretty amazing. But he was working at keeping his eyes on the Light of the World. The light of the body is the eyes.
Here’s the good thing, the promise there. Look back over there, Matthew 6. Would you look back there, Matthew 6? In verse number 22, there’s a promise here. Notice what he says. Matthew 6:22, he says, “The light of the body is the eye.” They’re speaking of Jesus very directly. “If therefore thine eye be single,” looking at the Lord, “thy whole body shall be full of light.” That’s a promise. That goes in line with Isaiah 26:3: “That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” If I keep my eyes on the Light of the World, my body shall be full of light. Wow. I need that sometimes. That’s the promise from God’s Word. Wow, what a wonderful, wonderful thing. By the way, people like happy people, people full of light. We just like it.
Wives, you know what your husband likes? A happy wife. Some people were decorating in here for the Valentine banquet a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about it, you know, how the women, they like the atmosphere and all that. They just love all that. About us men, we’re like, “We want good food for a good price.” Come on now. It could be in an ugly old place as long as it’s good food. It’s got to be clean now, but good food, a good price, we’re good, amen. So one of the ladies decorating, she says, “Well, the men really don’t care anyway. They just want good food, good price,” you know. And I said, “Well, yeah, somewhat, but we do care because we know our wives are concerned about the atmosphere, and we want our wives to be happy.” And the man, the husband of that lady was there, and he said, “Boom, that’s it right there.” We want our wives—typically in a decent marriage, the husband wants his wife to be happy. And we’ll go to the other side. Men, she doesn’t want a grouchy husband. Ladies, all right, you can get your hankies out and just wave it on that, you know. Come on now. Did you wake up grouchy? “No, I let him sleep in this morning,” you know. We like happy people. I like happy. I like to be around happy people. The light of the body is the eyes. So, so crucial.
You know, I’ve been—I don’t know why, I hear lately—I’ve been doing this a little bit. I’ve been watching people as I drive. It’s interesting. Every lady in the world in the morning time, she’s putting her makeup on when she’s driving. Come on now. You get in their cars. We’ve been—Sarah’s been looking for cars, and so we were test driving a car the other day, and I got in. It’s a lady’s car, and we were test driving, and I got in the car. The center console is like a makeup station—just, I mean, you know, they had more makeup there than Walmart has. They were just all over. I’m like, “Wow.”
And then they say—they say the state of Tennessee is a hands-free state. No, it ain’t. I’ve been watching. I saw one the other day, Brother Ted—I don’t know why, I’ve just been watching people drive here lately. They had their phone—must not be a car that connects—they had their phone up to their mouth, and boy, they were just preaching away, man. I’m like, they got one hand on the phone, the other one, they’re pointing the whole time, you know. Man, it looked like a good sermon, I’ll be honest with you. Not that many of them look happy. It’s kind of a little bit disappointing. I’m not going to be a happy person if my eyes… The light of the body is the eyes.
It’s just Jesus, early and later on in His ministry. Hey, have you looked to Jesus for salvation?
There was this man called Spurgeon. We often call him the Prince of Preachers. He’s one of the most famous preachers ever. And he was wanting to get saved, but he didn’t quite get it, you know. And he went to church service. The pastor couldn’t make it; it was in a snowstorm. And a deacon just stepped up, and he preached on this reference: “Look to Jesus and live.” And they say, you know what? He just kept saying, “Look, look, look, look to Jesus.” And Spurgeon said, “I just needed someone just keep kind of pounding: Look to Jesus.” And I realized it wasn’t my good works; it was Jesus. And he looked to Jesus to save him; he got saved. He is maybe one of the most famous preachers, probably the most read preacher for sure.
The light of the body is the eyes. If your eye is single, looking to Jesus… Years ago, one of our treasurers—I think it was John Coles, one of our treasurers—he said, you know, he said the bank people, when I go in there and put the deposit and whatnot, he said the bank people said this, and he told me about it. I was just rejoicing. He said the bank person said, “I know your people from your church when they come in because they’re always happy.” I don’t know, praise the Lord, I love that. John Rice used to say the best billboard Jesus has is a smiling Christian. But I’m not going to be smiling if I bless my eyes. The light of the body is the eyes.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. I’ll be honest with you, my friend, I’ve already been convicted. My mind can get on this problem, this situation, all the rest of that. I have to work at it. I have to work at it. The light of the body—I’ve got to get my mind on Jesus, my heart on Jesus, because the light of the body is the eyes. Maybe you’re there this morning and say, “Preacher, God spoke to my heart, too. God spoke to my heart about that truth there, the light of the body.” I’m going to work at this saying. God spoke to me. I’m just recognizing that God spoke to me about this truth somewhere in my life: the light of the body’s eyes. If that’s you this morning, you slipped your hand up, just slip it up. “Preacher, God spoke to my heart about this thing. I’m going to work at this saying, the light of the body’s eyes.” Oh, that’s so good. That’s so good. Thank you so very, very much. I think about it. Sometimes I’ll tell a spouse, “I write down ten good things about your spouse so throughout the day you can read those,” just trying to get their eyes on the good thing about their spouse. Our eyes are so crucial, so vital.
Maybe you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, I need to get my eyes on Jesus for my salvation. I’ve never been saved before. I’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I know He is my only way to heaven, and I want to get my eyes on Jesus.” God spoke to my heart about that right there. I’ve been looking to my good works and all that I can do. I want to trust fully in Jesus to get me to heaven. If that’s you this morning, never have, but you need to trust fully in Jesus, I’m going to ask right where you are, right there in your heart, would you call to Him right now? It may be something along this line: “Dear Jesus, I’m not going to look at how good I am or how bad I am and all that to get me to heaven. Jesus, I’m looking to You. Would You pay for all of my sins? Would You come into my heart? Would You save me, Jesus?” Thank You.
Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. You say, “Preacher, I never have, but I just called on Jesus to be my Savior. I just got my eyes on Jesus to save me. I just trusted Him.” If that’s you with heads bowed and eyes closed, you just trusted in Jesus. If that’s you, just lift your hand up. Anybody like that? I just trusted in Jesus to be my Savior. Anybody like that? Anybody? I don’t see any hands.
Hey, Christians, let’s spend some time with Him right now. Let’s get our eyes directly on Him right now. Let’s stand, please. Let’s all stand if you would, please. We’re going to have a word of prayer, and let’s spend some time. If He’s tugging at your heart, you raised your hand, whatever it may be, spend some time with Him. Spend some time on an old-fashioned altar—that’s a great place—or however He leads you to do it. But let’s spend some time with the Lord Jesus, getting our eyes—all those problems—cast all your cares upon Him. Get your eyes on Him, looking unto Jesus. “The light of the body is the eyes.”
Father, thank You for Your Word. Lord, help me, help us to keep our eyes focused on You. Well, thank You, Lord, for what You do. It’s in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. As our instruments play, would you come and spend some time with the Lord? Draw nigh unto Him. Get your eyes on Him. This whole world will grab for your attention. Problems grab for your attention. It’s amazing. Satan has so many tools, about a million different tools in our day and time to draw your eyes. So I want to keep my eyes on Jesus. You’ve got to work at it. It’s not going to happen just by accident.
I’m not trying to rush you, but I’m going to head back and get ready to baptize. Brother Adam is going to lead us in a song at this time. Some of these songs are going to help to get your eyes on the Lord. And so think about the words. So come lead us in a song, and we’ll baptize in just a minute. By the way, praise the Lord, we’re having a baptism. That’s encouraging. Praise the Lord for it. You can be seated. Brother Adam, get you stand back in a second here later, but we’re going to go back and get ready to baptize at this time.
Original File: 2026-03-09 - Pastor Paul Chisgar -＂How To Shine＂ Sunday AM 03⧸08⧸2026