"Who's Your Intended Audience?"

Scripture: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." -Matthew 6:1, NIV

One of the greatest novelties on American television today is the commercial. Commercials usually promote a certain product using a particular scheme. At the end of the day, when the thirty second commercial has ran its course, we often know who was the intended audience. In the case of a commercial promoting the recent Disney movie entitled "The Tooth Fairy" starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, it's understood that the intended audience are children 13 years old and under. In the case of a commercial promoting the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship, the intended audience is males ages 18 through 45. In the case of a commercial promoting the show entitled "The View", the intended audience is women of all ages. Within the Kingdom of God, we ought to be commercials for God with our target group being everyone. However, today's text wants you to examine who's your intended audience.

Our devotional setting for today is found in the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel account according to Matthew. Within this particular chapter, Jesus was continuing His preaching series on the Mount that began one chapter earlier in Chapter 5. As He continues to preach on the Mount in Chapter 6, Jesus deals with subjects such as giving to the needy (verses 1 - 4), prayer (verses 5 - 15), fasting (verses 16 - 18), treasures in Heaven (verses 19 - 24), and to stop worrying about things (verses 25 - 34). Our main scripture for today is located in the first subject dealing with giving to the needy. As we examine the opening verse of this chapter, Jesus wants you and I to examine our intended audience. How do I know?

I know because the text begins, "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them." Ladies and gentlemen, as we do the "right things" as far as not giving to the needy, but blessing someone with some money in their clutch moments, or providing food to a friend's family, or buying someone's lunch, do not mess up your blessing because you want men to see you! When it comes to being blessed, men CANNOT bless you! God can use men to bless you! Man can appreciate you, but in the same breath, man can disappoint you! As you continue to bless the people of God or just people in general, just watch your intended audience!

The reason why you want to watch your intended audience and do your "acts of righteousness" before men to be seen, because Jesus says, "If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven". Do you realize the greatest blessings come from your Heavenly Father? No one can wake you up, but He can! No one can provide you extra time to pay a bill, but He can! No one can send you food in your barren state, but He can! No one can heal you, but He can! If you are do things to be validated by men, well that's your reward. God allows us to understand that what we do in secret, He will bless us openly! About two or three years ago, it was my Pastor's Pastoral Anniversary. We were hanging out and I had a ring that was bought for me and he loved it! He kept hinting at me that he wanted this particular ring. After praying about it, the Lord allowed me to release the ring to him. I placed it in his hand as my wife and I were leaving the church and the expression on his face was golden. Months after that, the blessings of God flowed within my home! The point I am making is that my intended audience for the ring was God, not everyone in the church. He blessed me like God can only bless you! Ladies and gentlemen, work as unto God, not man, not woman, not child, not husband/wife, not mother/father, not pastor/deacon/bishop/trustee, not anyone, but Him!

In closing, the art of the commercial is a thing of beauty. It targets an intended audience. As you work in the Kingdom of God, establish your intended audience! Allow it to be your Heavenly Father! With Him as your intended audience, He'll buy your product and make you rich! In the future, examine yourself before you do something for someone and ask yourself, "whose my intended audience?"