Man, it is good to be with each and every single one of you.
I'm so glad you guys are hanging out with us today and I just
want to say this, I hope you know, God loves you, this church
loves you, and I love you in a big Happy Father's Day to all
you fellas out there. I know that there's an awful lot
of grills and blackstone's, steaks and burgers and back rubs
happening today. So I'm glad you made your time
to come to get some church on. I also want to just thank you so
much for all the encouraging emails and texts that I've been.
Over this sermon series. This sermon series kind of
caught me by surprise too. You know, preaching through a
book of the Bible is one thing preaching through a book of the
Bible, that's in the Old Testament is another thing.
Preaching through the Book of Ecclesiastes, is another thing
altogether, but I shouldn't be surprised.
The Bible tells us that all scripture is god-breathed, and
it's useful and that the word of God is living and active.
And so I shouldn't be surprised that it's taking up residence in
our lives and then it's doing a mighty work.
I want to tell you a couple things.
We got two more weeks of this sermon series this week and next
week. And then we're going to start a
3-week sermon series. The first week we're going to
talk about heaven the second week, we're going to talk about
hell. And the third week, we're going
to talk about the Judgment. Here's why this is important.
I feel like it'll be a good opportunity for us to kind of
just recalibrate for us to understand.
And not only what the full impact of what Jesus did on our
behalf that will stir our affections towards him and the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But it's also going to help us
to really To Think Through how we want to spend our lives in
light of the impact that they can have for the sake of
Eternity. And then after that, if you're
the kind of person who prays for people, I would just encourage
you guys. If you, if you're up for it to
just pray for Jerry and I, we're going to be starting a sermon
series. Excuse me, starting a sermon
series. It's going to be 12 weeks long.
It's probably I believe it's going to be the most important,
sermon series. We're going to do all year.
And but in order for to pull off this sermon series in a way that
is, Useful and palatable. I'm going to be spending a lot
of time in content creation over the next month and then we'll be
debuting it early. So that way you guys can be a
part of it, but I really believe that God could use this sermon
series to bring about big time. Change, not just in your life,
but in the life of the people that you care about your friends
and family and specifically the change I'm talking about is
healing and hope and it's feel a compulsion to go through that
sermons. Is I was nervous about it, but I
feel like I've worked my way through it.
And so, if you just want to be praying over the next month, I
won't be taking some extended time and study.
And hopefully when we get back together for that series, you'll
be like I'm glad we prayed for him because this would have been
a disaster. Okay.
That being said, what I want to do today is I want to jump into
Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and Ecclesiastes chapter 6.
If I were to put these two chapters of scripture into two
words, they would be worship and wealth worship.
And wealth will start off Ecclesiastes chapter 5 1 through
7, guard your steps. When you go to the house of God,
go near to listen, rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools,
who do not know that they do wrong.
Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be Hasty in your heart to
utter anything before God, God is in heaven, and you are on
earth. So let your Words Be Few, a
dream comes when there are many cares.
And many words, Mark the speech of a fool.
When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it.
He has no pleasure in fools fulfill your vow.
It is better not to make a vow then to make one and not Fulfill
it do not let your mouth lead you into sin and do not protest
to the temple messenger. My Vow was a mistake.
Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of
your hands? Much dreaming and many words are
meaningless. Therefore fear God.
Now, kind of a complicated text to let me, you know, if you go
to the grocery store, they put the Oreos at the bottom.
I'm going to do as much as I can to just put the cookies on the
bottom shelf, for everybody this weekend.
So here's a couple things out of this text that.
I like to easy takeaways. When you gather together
worship, when you gather together with people to worship
God be careful guard. Your steps means pay attention
to your lifestyle. Take a good look and evaluate
your lifestyle and take responsibility for the areas of
your life that are in Disobedience to God.
He says, listen is more listening, is more important
than the sacrifice of fools. He's saying, don't fake the
funk. Don't show up for church, trying
to act all spiritual and seem like you've got it all together
listening to God. Implies living in obedience to
God. It's hearing What God Says,
reading What God Says and then doing what God's word says.
He says when you don't, you're offering a sacrifice.
Fools what that means is you could show up for church and you
could sing the loudest in your row, raise your hand, the
highest in your section, pray, the longest at the steps, but if
you're not living in obedience to God, you're offering a
sacrifice of fools. He would much rather you instead
of offering a sacrifice of Fools and pretending to be incredibly
spiritual he'd much, rather you be real and obedient than
disobedient and fake. He doesn't want you to offer a
sacrifice of Fools and he says fools, don't even realize what
they're doing. They're too busy trying to be
spiritual than to do the spiritual work of obedience and
then he says, be careful with the promises that you make to
God. Quick show of hands.
How many of you have ever made a promise to God?
Oh yeah. Me too.
I'm not going to make you do this.
But if I were the kind of guy who were to ask you and how many
of you didn't keep it, I'm guessing I'm guessing there'd be
some hands up. Right.
He says don't do that. It's better for you.
Not to make a commitment to God, then to make a commitment to God
and not keep it. For some of us, the we we get
excited, we see something. We have this stirring in, our
heart, makes total sense, and we're going to start making
moves. But if you make a commitment to
God, you need to keep it. Don't just say meaningless
things. And you guys know this, because
in your own relationships, what does it do to your Earthly
relationships when you make a commitment to somebody and you
don't keep it Right and your marriage, you made a commitment
to them. What happens when you don't?
When it comes to your relationship.
God with you does this mean that God doesn't have grace?
And mercy, of course, he has grace and mercy.
He's just saying he would rather you just be honest.
Then try to pretend like you're completely sold out and
committed. When you're not, then Solomon
turns his attention to the accumulation and The Emptiness
of wealth. Now, it's my family hates on me.
They call it, fads I call it Seasons.
Okay. There are certain Seasons that I
go through, like, during the winter season.
My go-to snack is oftentimes, graham crackers and icing and
all man, I don't know if we just grew up super poor or what, but
like I that's like I talked about that and people like, what
like when you put them in the freezer on a paper plate, you
pull them out. Anyhow, I have Trip.
I have road trip food. How many you guys have?
Like a go to road trip snack. Yeah, mine is the trolley sour
gummy worms. Yeah.
Put them in my lip like Copenhagen or something, and I
just go until all, I just do it so I don't know where I picked
that up from my mom's family is from Missouri's.
That might explain some of it and Mountain Dew and if you
drink enough Mountain Dew and eat enough gummy worms, you get
heartburn, which keeps you awake because you can't fall asleep.
Top five all-time favorite. Snacks is peanut M&Ms. How many
of you would put? Peanut M&Ms and the top.
Oh yeah. Praise God.
For those and if you go to Sam's buying in bulk, you can get sick
now. My favorite article are my
favorite article. My favorite, my favorite
clothing piece to eat. I got to be honest with you,
it's Gotta Be, You know, my favorite sports snack, like if
I'm watching football, is spicy spicy Doritos.
With and this place is in Quincy.
How cool is this with the Red Cactus medium salsa?
If you know you know and if you don't know when you get done
with church you know where to go.
Okay. It is so stinking good.
Did you know that Doritos have been scientifically engineered
to leave you feeling empty? You never get full on a bag on a
well. How many of you've accidentally
in a bag of Doritos? Ha, ha ha.
Now, you know? Yeah, he's signing.
No, let me, let me walk you through this.
They have a powerful Savory flavor known as Umami.
Say you Mommy, that's a good word.
You want to keep that one? Like, that'll be my word for the
day. Mommy, I mean Savory, it means
Savory as well as. So the Savory flavor known as
you mommy as well as what food scientist.
Stephen, we literally calls long Hang Time flavors which
stimulate memories Which is probably why, when I get ready
to watch a football game, I automatically go.
I need some Doritos, the flavors are balanced so carefully that
no one flavor overpowers, any of the other flavors, because when
your body gets an overload of a particular flavor, it starts to
feel full, but it fits perfectly balanced.
Where one doesn't overpower the other.
You can just keep eating. Then the two primary acids in
the Dorito chip is designed to turn your saliva, glands into
waterfalls to wash the Dorito down.
Gets even further than to maximize the pleasure of the
calories coming from the Dorito, half of the calories, come from
fat, which is what allows you to take a bite and get a good
crunch. And then if you notice that the
Dorito almost dissolves or melts in your mouth, Yeah, some of you
are like I love this church because I love to read us, but
here's the deal. When the chip vanishes in your
mouth, it makes your brain think that the calories have
disappeared as well. So you can just keep eating.
It's the same science behind cotton candy.
The flight are the colors of the Dorito are the three colors that
consumers are the most attracted to And then they grind them.
So, finally that after it you take a bite and it starts to
dissolve. It turns into a powder that
fills every crevice and crack in your mouth, helping dentist to
get their third homes across the country, right?
Okay. And it leaves you defenseless
And you end up taking another bite.
Then you find yourself eating a full family size bag of spicy,
nacho Doritos, and a couple jars of salsa and it's halftime.
Doritos are designed to leave you feeling empty.
And so is wealth Ecclesiastes 5839.
If you see the poor oppressed in the district and Justice and
rights denied do not be surprised at such things.
For one official is I buy a Higher One and over them?
Both are others higher. Still, the increase from the
land is taken by all the king himself profits from the fields.
He's saying in, this Fallen World, don't be surprised when
greed remains unchecked. Everyone is going to try and get
into everybody else's pocket. He keeps saying remember the
phrase Under the Sun that everything under the sun is
meaningless. It's all lower story and people
who are only aware of the lower story and only operate and only
follow the lower story are going to be lacking in morals and in
Mercy He says don't be surprised and if you're going to be an
upper story person living in a lower Storey World, be careful
who you marry, who you date, who you do business with, because
the upper story values, and the lower Storey values compete with
one another, they're at war with one another.
They're not compatible with one another.
All of us, see the Brokenness in the systems around us and until
you, and I aim our lives at the upper story, it's only going to
get worse here and the lower Storey. 5 verse 10.
Whoever loves money, never has enough, whoever loves wealth is,
never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless and one sentence, he doubles down twice.
He says, loving money and loving wealth will not satisfy it will
leave you. Feeling empty, the more we have
the more we want. You, probably heard another
Pastor say this, every Pastor I've ever heard talks about
this, because it's true and they always make this clarification.
Money's not the problem. It's not money is not good or
bad, it can be used for good and it can be used for bad money's.
Not the problem. It's our affection for it.
Our worship of it are sacrifices for our addiction to it that
caused the problem. Money is a tool to be used, not
a God to be worshipped. Please ask he's 511 as Goods
increase. So do those who consume them and
what benefit are they to the owners except to Feast their
eyes on them? The more we have the more we end
up spending how many of you remember being in your 20s and
you're going if I only made X my life would be so much better and
then in your 30s, you found yourself making X and you
thought to yourself, fine. Made why my life would be so
much better and then you found yourself in your 40s.
Making why? And you thought, if only I made
easy, then my life would be so much better than you.
Find yourself making Z. and you're going, we are spending
all we're making no matter how much we make.
And it leaves you feeling empty. He says the more you have the
more people show up, wanting what you have, the nicer, the
house, the better, the security system, the message actually
says if you go home and read this verse in your message trans
I wouldn't call it translation but in the message it says the
more loot you get the more looters show up that there's
always people trying to put their hands in your pocket.
You know what he says the very best thing that you can do with
your stuff Look at it, use it. Enjoy it.
And point it to Heaven. That's what you do with your
stuff. Don't try to find your purpose,
your meaning, or significance in them, because it's not there.
The car you have the house, you have the property, the RV.
Don't make you cool. Or friendly.
Or attractive. If you.
Get a really nice car and you're a mean person.
Guess what? You're just a mean person with a
nice car cars, don't make you nice.
If you're an ugly person, You get a really nice house.
You're just an ugly person with a house.
It doesn't change who you are. Only Jesus can change people.
Stuff. Just magnifies people.
Jesus is the one who changes people and if you think by
getting the nice stuff that you'll end up getting people to
hang out with you, you'll be attracting the wrong people to
you, because they'll be just as shallow as you are.
Because if they weren't your friend before the car, if they
weren't your friend before the house.
What happens when you lose the car, what happens when you lose
the house? Because if you had to have it to
get them, You'll lose it when you don't.
Buy your stuff. Enjoy it.
Take pleasure in it but don't worship it.
Leverage it. Please ask these 512.
The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance permits them, no
sleep, a laborer sleeps, good at night, they go in the work.
They punch in. They punch out, they go home,
hang out with their family, not stressed just doing their thing.
But a wealthy person is always worried and wondering about how
do I handle my finances and what do I do with all of my wealth?
They're worried about, do I have enough.
Put aside the markets, the interest rates The geopolitical
factors. I knew a veterinarian, not my
dad who was in you shared with me.
Once he was in surgery on an animal, he had seen him BC on
and it had the ticker that showed the stock market.
He had played pretty heavily in the commodity market, and while
he was in surgery, he was losing tens of thousands of dollars.
By the minute, he couldn't get out of the surgery, to hedge the
market to make a call. And by the time the surgery was
over he'd lost hundreds. I read a story about John D
Rockefeller, his life was almost ruined by money at age, 53.
He was the world's only billionaire earning about a
million dollars a week, but he was a sick man who lived on milk
and crackers, and couldn't sleep because he was always worried
about his wealth, but then he started giving his money away
and his health changed dramatically and he lived to
celebrate his 98th, birthday. Saying, leverage your wealth,
don't worship it Ecclesiastes 513.
I've seen a grievous Evil Under the Sun, wealth hoarded to the
harm of its owners. Now, he's not saying don't save,
have an emergency fund, have a retirement account, try and
leave something behind for your kids.
He's not saying there's anything wrong with that.
He's saying there are people who are always saving for a rainy
day, but they never enjoy the sunshine.
When you may know people like that, it's never enough and
they're hoarding distance them from relationship and distance
them from making memories. And their hoarding comes from
one of two places, either greed, or a lack of faith in God's
provision. It's nothing, he says,
Ecclesiastes chapter 4 or 4 verse 14 for wealth, lost
through some Misfortune. So that when they have children,
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb and as everyone
comes so they depart they take nothing from their toil that
they can carry in their hands. This too is a grievous evil as
everyone comes. So they depart and what do they
gain? Since they toil for the wind all
their days. They eat and darkness with great
frustration Affliction and anger.
The more you have, the more you can lose.
You can have it one moment and you can lose it.
The next there are no U-Hauls in heaven.
You cannot take it with, you wealth can be an absolute Vapor,
you can try and hold on to it, but Slip through your fingers
and when it's gone, then what? If that was your God, if that
was what you worshipped, when it disappears.
Now, you have nothing and their lives are lived in anguish, and
affliction, and anger. You struggle to keep it from
slipping, through your fingers, only to find yourself, depressed
and struggling mentally, and emotionally with the loss of
your wealth, because your God died, your God disappeared.
That's why Jesus says, do not store Treasures on Earth where
moth and rust destroy and where thieves Break in and steal.
Instead start for yourself, Treasures in Heaven, where there
is no math, there is no rust and there are no Thieves for where
your treasure. Is there your heart will be
also, you can't live in the lower story.
And find everything you need here.
There's no meaning there's no significance.
And if you leave your treasure on Earth, it will be destroyed.
And if your treasure is here on Earth, that means your heart is
here on Earth too. Jesus saying take what you have
and aim it out of the lower story and in to the upper Story.
Look at what it says in verse 18.
This is what I have observed to be good.
That it is appropriate for a person to eat to drink and find
satisfaction in their toilsome labor Under the Sun during the
few days of life, God has given them for this is there why
moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions and the
ability to enjoy Them to accept their lot and be happy in their
toil. This is a gift of God, they
seldom reflect on the days of their life because God keeps
them occupied with gladness of heart.
This what he's saying? Get a job.
Earn a wage and use it to care for those around.
You enjoy its benefits and Advance the kingdom of God, take
the blessings that God has given you take the blessings that are
coming to you and use it to bless those around you.
And those who will come after you here Solomon is summarizing.
He's saying don't spend your life trying to acquire more.
Don't spend your life trying to hoard more.
Don't just spend your life enjoy.
Saying what you've been given these people don't spend their
time thinking about how to how short life is or about all the
challenges of the past are all the challenges ahead.
Instead, they just enjoy, what God has given them.
They're just thankful than look what happens here.
This is verse or chapter 6, I have seen another Evil Under the
Sun and it weighs heavily on mankind.
God gives some people wealth possessions and honor so that
they lack nothing, their hearts desire.
But God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them.
And strangers enjoy them. Instead, this is meaningless a
grievous evil. Who's Solomon talking about
here? I think he's talking about
himself. Here's a man who had absolutely
everything he could ever need and he found no satisfaction in
it. He called it meaningless.
Remember Solomon is the wealthiest man who ever lived
and he's saying it's meaningless, we know this to be
true, right? It's when you go to a developing
country and you find nothing but smiles and joy and then you come
back here to your life in comparative Paradise.
There's not a lot of joy. And not a lot of smiles.
Maybe Solomon wasn't just talking about himself.
Maybe there are some of us who are wealthy and we can't even
enjoy it. He's saying wealth does not
equal satisfaction enjoyment, purpose, meaning or
significance. Here's what I need you to hear
me. Say this is the tough part of
the message. This sermon is for us.
I know, I know, I know, I know. You are hoping it was for
somebody else. I sure wish.
So where is sewing? So today by the way, is there a
special text hotline that you know what Clayton's talking
about beforehand? So you don't have to come for
the ones, you don't want. Because so, and shows you the
definitely been here. Because we are always thinking
that the wealthy people are other people.
Right. I mean, some of us, we like to
show off our cars and we like to show off our houses and we like
to have our second homes and we like to have our RVs and we like
to have our recreational land and we like to have our cool
hobbies. And we like to take pictures on
really nice vacations and we like to be wealthy all the rest
of the time. Except for, when God calls us
wealthy, then we're like a boy, Not us.
So and so should a really hurt this?
Because for us wealth is always comparative as long as you and I
can identify somebody who has more than us, we are able to
rationalize that we are not the wealthy people.
There are some of you today as you were getting ready for
church, you walked into a house just for clothes called a closet
and it was full and you came out and you said this out loud.
I have nothing to do. Yeah.
There's some of you got out, you're going to leave church
today and you're going to pull into your house.
And before you pull into your house, you're going to press a
button and your car house door is going to go up and you're
going to park your car and its own house.
And we're not the wealthy ones. Remember the Bible was written
for all people for all time. For all geographic regions we
are the 1 percenters. And if a gathering of one
percenters can get together, and come to the conclusion that we
are, not the wealthy ones because of the zero point, one
percenters. Satan is so crafty that he can
get people that look just like you and me together and convince
us that we are not wealthy. He's coming to us from the
future with all the money you could ever want.
And he's saying It's meaningless Under the Sun, and if he sang,
It's meaningless. Then what are you?
And I supposed to do with our wealth.
I'll tell you. Don't keep it under the sun,
send it to heaven. When we take our wealth and we
send it towards heaven, we get to enjoy it twice.
We get to enjoy it here and we get to enjoy it again in heaven.
There's a guy here on our staff at our Church's name is Bill.
He worked at Western Illinois for many years as the chaplain,
and then eventually he came on staff here at our church.
As we were trying to expand the crossing inside.
He's been working and keeping track of all the people who are
getting baptized and this past weekend at Western Illinois,
correctional center. They passed 1000 baptisms and
that amazing. And if you are the kind of
person who invests your Wealth Beyond the Sun, and into
eternity, you were a participant in over 600 of those baptisms
through your giving. Now, You're just going to get to
see the video here on Earth that says, this past weekend, or this
past month. We had six baptisms.
And all of our campuses will probably be awesome to be super
cool. But, but but but but You'll get
to enjoy it again. Because those prisoners are
going to get transferred to other prisons and they're going
to start Bible studies in there. Other prison, they may never get
out and you meet him here, but they'll be there.
Now, the cool part is is, it'll take all of eternity for you to
hear all of the stories about how God took just that one area
of obedience and that one step of faith and used it in amazing
and miraculous ways. There is a couple who's a part
of our church and their contagiously generous like, you
can't talk Tomb, without them trying to do something there.
You always have to walk away and they ran into a couple who were
who had just moved here. And they had all they had was a
suitcase of clothes and so they help them.
Make sure they got a washer and dryer, and then they took them
Furniture shopping and then they were like, you know what, we're
going to take them out for a really nice meal.
So that way they can have, you know, like a nice date night.
And then they knew of this young, these young girls who
went through a really hard time and so they just made the
commitment that they're going to pay for their Camp.
Every All year. And so, for the last four years,
they been paying for them to go to camp.
But then the girls moved and so then they decided okay, well, I
guess we'll just drive to wherever they live now and we'll
pick him up and we'll buy him all the clothes they need and
all the sleeping bags they need, and they will drive them back up
to camp and we'll drop them off. And you know what, when they're
at Camp we're going to at least come and spend one night with
them and eat a meal with them. And so for four years, This
Woman's been doing that and she was doing it two weeks ago, a
high school camp. For four years.
And on Friday night, she sat down with her and had whatever
that we were eating on that Friday night, with all the kids
and then on Sunday, she gets the text message.
From that girl that says, will you baptize me?
And so on Sundays, she hopped back in her car and she drove
all the way back up to our camp and she got to see it here.
But she's going to get to see it again in heaven.
As that girl finds a Christian man and marries him and raises
are housed in a way that honors, the Lord and leads Bible
studies, its gets to enjoy it there.
You get to enjoy it twice. It's when you pay for kids
scholarship at camp and you get an opportunity to see them
except Jesus here, and then having no clue how God is going
to use them to mentor and disciple people in the future,
and they can trace their relationship to God.
When you get to heaven to back to you and your faithfulness and
your obedience, and you'll get to meet all the people who can
trace their faith back to that person.
We honor God, when we bless a young couple with a date night
to focus on strengthening their marriage.
We honor God, when we enjoy. Wealth and we use it to help
people have a getaway at our second home or borrow the RV for
a weekend. We enjoy it when We Gather
people together, we pay for the meal and we just go around the
table saying, let's celebrate the goodness of.
Our God hear me. We can either worship our wealth
or we can worship with it. and the decision makes all the
difference not just in the lower story, but in the upper story,
And I hope you'll make the right one.
We're moving to a time of decision.
There are let me just there's some people in this room and
Over time. Your wealth is kind of got a
hold on you and if you try to hold on to your wealth, that's
exactly what will happen is. It will it will hold on to you.
And then when you want to let go, it'll be incredibly hard.
And when the music stops on your life, you don't want to be
holding on to your wealth. You want to be holding on to
Jesus. That's where you want to be.
You want to hold on to him because he's the only one who
will never let you down. And there's some of you in here
today, you're going man, you know, it's a good thing.
I'm a rich person, because how much does it cost to start an
intimate? Personal relationship with
Jesus? I got bad news for you.
You can't afford it. Now, you can, there's some,
you're like, well that's kind of depressing because I'm poor.
What about me? Well, the good news is, it
doesn't matter how much you have because it's free. it's the free
gift of God's grace, that he gave to us to you and to me, And
every single week here at the Crossing, we talked about,
people starting an intimate personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. And I need you to hear me say
this, you can have it as well. You can start that relationship.
And I need you to know something everything I've ever wanted in
this life, and everything I've ever had has eventually let me
down. When I was about 10 years old,
maybe a little bit younger, I wanted a huffy 10-speed bike, I
don't want to brag. But I mean I mean I wanted it
and I hope you guys won't find me to wealthy, but I mean I
bought one and I bought it because I did a bunch of chores
around my house for $1 bills. And when I'd saved up $110, we
went to Jackson Fort Madison Iowa and I walked in there, like
a stripper with a bunch of singles, and I bought that Huffy
And all that thing did was get flat tires.
I wanted a four-wheeler and I eventually bought one because
all the cool kids when I was growing up at four-wheelers and
I didn't, I had a horse and four wheelers are faster than horses
and four wheelers don't poop. And I wanted one and that
thing's been rolled and beat up so many times that when you just
look at it you're like is everything okay Clayton like
your marriage? All right, it just looks like
nobody loves it. I wanted the Chevy Avalanche
came out and I thought that was, like, the coolest thing ever,
and I wanted one, and I'll be honest with you guys.
I bought it. I bought one.
And nobody ever was like, when I was at a stop sign, roll your
window down. Then I'll roll it down.
Can we be friends? Because you look so cool in that
car never happened. It just got horrible, gas
mileage. I wanted a hot tub.
And I bought one didn't fit in it.
I got it. Most of the water came out.
I couldn't get Jennifer to get in it with me ever because there
was no room. So, I had to get rid of it.
Listen. All of this is gonna sound dumb.
I just listed off all the things that 21 year old.
Clayton fought was like a home run, like you're killing it,
man. Those are all the things.
Like, if I was the guy who had an avalanche and a hot tub and a
four-wheeler look out, And they all.
Let me down. Hot tub, wasn't big enough.
Huffy got flat tires. The Avalanche got bad gas
mileage. There's only one thing that I've
ever laid my hands on that has never ever let me down.
There's only one thing that I've ever laid my hands on that just
keeps getting better and sweeter that every time I worship him,
he gets better. Every time I read my Bible, he
gets better. Every time I pray, he gets
better. There is only one thing that has
never, let me down. In fact, there's only one thing
that is not only not ever. Let me down, but continually
holds me. Up and that is Jesus Christ and
he will never fail. He will never let you down his
stock. Price is always up and to the
right and until you have a hold on him.
You'll never know. but those of you who know, You know.
So, you can go back to worshipping your stuff.
But your stuff will let you down.
But you can worship him with your stuff. there's some of you
in here today, The first thing you got to do is actually step
into that intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
That's where it's got to be. If your father in here, I'm
going to just tell you. If you've never start a
relationship with Jesus Christ, one of the best things you can
give your family is an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. The knowledge of where you will
spend eternity. The stats are in that this
family are this world needs Godly father's Godly husbands
and where you go, your family will follow.
And if you've never started that, there's gonna be somebody
over there by the bastard who did Love a chance to talk to you
about it. Hear me your wealth can buy you
sex but not a soul mate. It can buy you a house, not a
home. It could buy you clothes but not
character. It can buy you popularity but
not purpose. It can buy you a vehicle but not
values. It can buy you a boat but not
blessings. It's Father's Day weekend.
It can buy you a smoker but not salvation.
It can buy you a grill, but not Grace and can buy you Farmland,
but not fulfillment. There's only one thing that can
do that, and that's Jesus. And if you don't have him, you
don't have what it takes. To those of you who already have
a relationship with Jesus Christ, I'm just going to
encourage you to just get down on your knees and say God thank
you for everything you've done. Thank you for all the blessings
that you've given me and God help me to be a great Steward of
my wealth. The last thing, I'm encourage
you guys to do, if you want, is we're doing a kind of a refit
here at 48th Street for broadcast purposes, for the
other location. So we kind of changed up the
stage a bit, we're in the middle of getting new stairs and these
stairs, the ones we have for this weekend and they don't have
carpet on them yet. And if you guys have been around
here a long time, it's kind of like a thing we do here until we
covered up with carpet, we covered up with prayers and
there have been prayers that have been prayed and answered on
the steps of the past and these steps, we don't know how long
they're going to be here. But there's going to be people
who are going to come up and they're going to put their
elbows. These steps and they're going to
put their wrists on these steps and they're going to put their
heads on these steps and they're going to cry out to God and I
would love the foundation of their prayers to be your
prayers. And if you'd be willing to pray
for them or write down a prayer for them, we would there
Sharpies up here and we'd love for you guys to do that.
Would you stand with me? God, do a mighty work right now.
In this group of people bring about a change in every life got
another All kinds of confusion and frustration at times, but we
know that your power can supersede it all.
And so, I'm asking you to do that.
Work in us right now. Give us Clarity on how we're
supposed to respond, and then give us the courage to walk it
out and your name, I pray. Amen.