We are going to move quickly through the book of James.
We're going to do 3 verses. Keep thinking I'm going to going
to bounce through it. And I keep running into my
difference between being the head pastor and the visiting
pastor is the head pastor. The visiting pastor can skip
over things because the head pastor can teach it later.
The the head pastor does it has to go, oh, I should probably
talk about that and I should probably talk about that.
So it's so we're going to be in James verses 9 through 11 and
we're but if you want us, if you want to turn to Matthew chapter
6 verses 25 through 30 and I'm actually reading it in the new
King James. Therefore I say to you, do not
worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink,
nor about your body what you will put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap,
nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not more value than they?
Which of you by worrying, can add 1 cubit to his stature?
So why do you worry about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even
Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Now if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is,
and tomorrow was thrown into the oven, will he not much more
clothe you? Oh, you of little faith.
So Lord, I just lift up everybody here, Lord and I just
that you'd be here with us, Lord that you'd be speaking to us
Lord, that you'd be showing us Your fullness and your your
desire to care for your children.
And Lord, the the desire you have for us to just be content
in you because Lord, you have all of our needs met.
And Lord that you'd be with us here today.
You speak to me or that you speak to me and I pray all this
in Jesus name, Amen. So verse 9 in James says, Let
the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his
humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will
pass away. For the sun rises, and with it
scorching heat, and Withers the grass.
It flowers, its flowers falls, and its beauty perishes.
So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his
pursuit. So it starts off with Let the
lowly be lifted up, exalted, and and that exaltation is to be
lifted up in power, in the rank, in the office, into dignity or
excellent excellence. And that's, you know, glory and
loneliness, which is to boast or show off or talk big about my
poorness or about my lack of power.
What did what? And it's what does that look
like? That obviously something we
don't, especially as a culture, even even think is a is
something is to glory in my in my in my lack in my in my
poorness, in my in my lack of power.
But if you look at Acts 540 and 41, this is Peter and John and
and it's a really good just them modeling what that looks like
and why we are to be that way. Verse 40 it says And when they
called, called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them
not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
And then they left the apostles the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for
the name of Jesus. Now it says just for the name,
but it's for the name of Jesus. Peter and John praised and
boasted that they were they were able to suffer in Christ's name.
They they boasted in their weakness, they didn't have the
power to withstand the council. And this is not not unlike what
James has already stated about count it all joy.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various
trials because it gives you the opportunity to lean on Jesus.
And James continues in his method of just saying stuff.
And you just make statements, do this, do that.
And this is one of those, right? If you don't have money, if
you're broke and poor having nothing, you have everything you
need in Christ. Do we believe that Jesus said it
like this in Matthew 5? Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for there's the Kingdom of heaven.
And we've talked about that. When we recognize our position
in Christ, we can glory in our weakness.
My weakness magnifies his strength.
The old, the old dead guys always talk about, talked about
it like an exchanged life, which is when you really read the
Bible and study what Jesus said. He knew what he was talking
about. And when you trust him, suddenly
the world has nothing. They have no, they have no hold
over you. It is.
Paul explains it in Corinthians to the Corinthians, like this in
2nd Corinthians 12 verses 9 and 10.
But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power
is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the
more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may
rest upon me for the sake of Christ, for for the sake of
Christ. Then I may I am content with
weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
And, and I will tell you as as Americans and I pick on
Americans, but I, but it's the western world in general.
I live in America, so I get a pick on Americans.
We get our minds wrapped around the idea that stuff can bring us
happiness and the getting our mind, getting our minds wrapped
around the truth of scripture, which is weakness is strength
because we let him do the work at that point when I don't have
when I don't have whether that's I don't have the I can't just
write a check this probably 10 years ago, there was a
missionary from Bangladesh came to Calvary Chapel on a Wednesday
night and he was he was telling us stories about guys that were
radically there was radical miracles going on, people's
lives being saved. There was just this revival
going on and he's telling the stories and somebody in the back
there was a question and answer and somebody in the back asked
the question, why? Why do we not hear about this
this kind of revival in America? Why do we not hear about these
miracles in America and that's a hard question for a traveling
evangelist to tell you from from Bangladesh looking at America
and he's he just very nicely and without judgment.
It's reliance on God when a, when somebody gives their life
to the Lord in Bangladesh and when they get, when they, when
they say the prayer, they're, they're fine when they go and
get baptized, when they, when they go and get baptized, it's,
it's official. And they lose, they lose their
house, their business, they, their, their community.
If their wife and kids are not believers, they lose their wife
and kids. So when they get saved, they
lose everything for Christ, right?
And they are relying on Jesus at that point.
And that isn't that is not the picture of how an American gets
saved right when we get saved because we come from a Christian
culture. It might be a post Christian
culture today, but our expectation is that that I will,
my life will go better. It's it's smoother walking this
road than that road. And I will I'm here to tell you
that that it's smoother in Christ, but it's not smoother in
the world sense, right? You get you get all the it's
literally you just stepped out of the foxhole, right?
You were in a foxhole and then day you gave your life to Jesus.
You, you stood up and said you, you stood up against the world
and said I'm with the other side and the other side now takes
notice and and you start getting those attacks.
But those attacks are completely shielded from you if you stay,
if you're not worried about the things the world is worried
about, if that makes sense. So when you can do that, you you
can, you can boast in your weakness because you understand
that he is your strength. And the, when you look at money,
especially in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, there was
a, there was a, it, it still lays true in the Old Testament.
It's the same, same God all the way through.
Money is a burden, not a blessing.
And that doesn't mean that money can't bless because money can
bless. But when we have money, it comes
with responsibility to use it correctly.
And and that doesn't mean that doesn't mean that God doesn't
want to let us have nice things, right?
Just like a dad, a dad wants his kids to have nice things, right?
So it's, it's not a matter of living in poverty, but it's a
matter of where does, where does that stuff?
What does it hold in your life? Great possessions can create a
barrier between me and Jesus. It's that conversation fan I
have on a regular basis about having an open hand with
everything. My kids, my wife, my my, my
stuff, right that years ago I had AI have a 1994-F-250 and I
love my truck. I got it when I got it.
It was my pride and joy. It's beautiful.
It's older now, so it's not as beautiful as it was then, but I
did a motorcycle route. I did a motorcycle.
I was following motorcycles up to a men's retreat and I love my
truck and rode the motors or following them all up there,
parked my truck. Everybody parked their
motorcycles and we were going to leave and they started the one
of the bikes fell over, hit a gold wing who landed on my truck
and gouged the side of it and did.
And it was one of those, one of those moments that I had to
decide is my truck more important than my relationship
with this guy? And it wasn't right.
I, I, my heart was right at that moment.
And God took care of that right? And so there's still that dent
in my truck. Fast forward to 2009 many years
later and if you ever see my truck there is a there is a
dense scratch that starts right after the cab and goes to right
before the tail light on the bed and it goes down the body line
and it is. I had two kids at two young
adults high school, just out of high school age kids and they
were helping me move my my silliness because I left 2 high
school kids at my house with a Kubota tractor and my truck.
My bad. And I got back and they looked
like they had shot my dog. We have something to tell.
I'm like, what? What?
I mean, my dog's here, he's alive.
I'm not. I mean, there's everybody.
Nothing's burned down. We're OK.
And they walk me over my truck. And once again, I had an
opportunity to decide what was more important relationship with
these guys and and we did have a conversation, but I wasn't angry
with them, Right? Mistakes happen and like I've
told you, I've had many years of that kind of I've done that kind
of stupid. So I don't I don't God has has
given me that training, but he made sure that truck was never
something that I had. Mean, I really like my truck and
it is something that with the wrong heart I could have because
it was a gift, right? It's it's, it was the story of
my truck. It was a truck worth about
$14,000 when I bought it. And the guy selling it to me had
just got it and trade in from his parents and didn't know what
it was worth. And he quoted me $7000 to buy
it. And I went to the bank and I
didn't know, I didn't know anything about diesels.
It happens to be a power that you guys don't care about this,
but just bear with me. It's a powerstroke and it's the
second-half of the year. That's the powerstroke, which
makes it worth that much money. And I went to the bank and they
were going to be the next day to give me the loan.
And I called him and said, hey, they got to go through.
They got to go through the council's credit union.
He goes, they'll give you the money.
He says you're not going to have a hard time.
But he, he was, he stuck. I mean, that was the handshake
deal he made with me. It wasn't closed yet and he
still sold it to me for that. And so it, it was a gift from
God that I could have put on a pedestal and said, don't touch
my truck, right? This is my truck, you know, and,
and he gave me opportunities to check my heart.
So it's not that God doesn't want to give us nice things
because that was really truly the desire.
That truck was something that was on my bucket list for years
before that. And he gave it to me and then
gave me opportunities to give it back to him and checking my
heart. So that's that.
Don't let things become a barrier between you and the
Lord. Remember what those things are.
And there is a story in the in Mark all about that Mark 1017
through 31 or it's actually a skip around a little bit.
But anyway, 7 starting in verse 17.
And he was sitting out, sorry, setting out on his journey, and
a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good?
No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments.
Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not
bear false witness, do not be afraid, honor your father and
mother. And he said to him, teacher, all
these I have kept from my youth. Now, on a side note, everybody
picks on this guy and says that he was prideful or he just was
lying about his outward holiness.
And I don't think that's the case.
I think this guy was truly a, a, a good Jewish man of Israel of
that time. He followed these rules to the
bet, you know, to his knowledge. And I, I say some of the hardest
people to reach are people that are good, right?
I got AI got a friend in in the tri-cities who does 55 miles an
hour. He follows all the rules.
He is a good man and he is lost. And trying to get him to see his
lostness is hard because he's a way better guy than I am, right?
I mean, he's because he just follows all the rules.
He is a good person. He's just lost and going to hell
because that isn't what gets us there.
So don't mock this guy as far as his he is doing all the right
things, but Jesus with no filter gives him, gives him what he
needs. And verse 21 Jesus looked at
him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing, go sell all
that you have and give it to the poor.
You will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.
Now this is not saying you need to sell or I need to sell
everything and give it away to the poor.
It is Jesus knew what was holding this man back, right?
It's that conversation with my we'll go back to my trucks and
say I'm using that. It's that moment that if my
truck became something that I, that I held up and it was, I, I
wanted my truck more than I wanted my relationship with the
Lord that was between, you know, I, it was my idol, It was my
thing. I, I love my truck, my precious.
Then I got to get rid of my truck and, and God will give you
opportunities and trust me, he will give you opportunities to
make sure that there's nothing between you and him and this,
this young man. And this is this is this is that
sad moment when he gives you those opportunities.
Verse 22, disheartened by the saying he went away sorrowful
for he had great possessions. So his possessions were more
important to him than his eternal life.
Is there anything in our lives that are more important than our
relationship with the Lord? And it doesn't have to be, It
doesn't have to be material and stuff.
Is there, is there anybody, is there anything that is more
important than my relationship with the Lord, my life?
I, I have, I have lots of those kind of stories.
There was a point where God asked me to quit chewing.
I chewed Copenhagen when I first got saved.
And it was not something I was convicted about.
I, I chewed in church. I had, I was, I was fine.
And God kind of walks you through things.
And one day he, I was, I was supposed to get involved in the
high school ministry. And he said, you need to, you
need to quit chewing. And of which that wasn't God.
He wouldn't ask me to do that because I can't do it right.
It's, I mean, at that point in my life, I was 3032 years old
and I had probably tried to quit chewing 10/12 times.
I mean, I had, I'd given it my best numerous times and it
couldn't be done. I, I had done all I could do and
we went round and round and, and I mean, I'd like to say I, you
know, 2 weeks later I quit. But that isn't, it was a six
month process and I came to a line.
And guys, if you come to this line, make the right choice.
I came to a line. I was either going to quit
chewing or I was walking away because all we talked about.
That was that was the only thing when I sat down to to pray, when
I sat down to read my Bible was that it was a line and he said
you either quit or go. And it wasn't him kicking me out
in that sense. It was either I was a guy who
chewed or I was a guy who followed the Lord.
Now, I did not have it in me to quit.
I put it down on a Sunday. And then I, I cheated and, you
know, and guys at work chewed. So I'd have one or two, but I
mean, I chewed like a can and a half a day.
So one or two was just enough to irritate me more than anything
else. And but I wasn't telling my wife
I was quitting because I didn't, if God failed, I didn't want to
blow it back. It's just, it's a true fact.
And on Wednesday I came home and I was angry.
Now I would the wife and kids were not home yet.
I got home and me and God had it out like I was mad because I
knew exactly how I felt was exactly how I knew I would feel.
I had done this and I couldn't do it and I knew I couldn't do
it. And then we got to a point where
God said, I know now you know, and he took it away.
I'm not guys. It was so 6th grade to 32 years
old. I chewed, I quit spitting when I
was in the eighth grade. So I mean, I was as as hooked on
it as you get. And on that Wednesday night, I'm
not a crap. I mean nothing.
I, I could care. You could, I have no desire for
Copenhagen at all. And that isn't because suddenly
I got strong, it's because I gave up.
But but that isn't as much as that give up isn't something
that you just go, I'll just give up.
It's you have to come to the end of yourself and understand you
can't and truly understand you really want to, but you can't.
And then God, God will do awesome things, right?
And that's, but that's that if he asks you for something, are
you willing to give him anything he asks?
And then the the thing with stuff, when you look at our, we
want, we want our bodies to be comfortable.
And the problem with our bodies being comfortable is we lose
rest in the spirit when our bodies are comfortable.
So we have a flesh and a spirit and and we want to numb our
flesh with all of the fun, right?
We want, I mean, whether that's whether that's, you know, whirly
stuff, alcohol and drugs and and numbing it that way.
But it could be ice cream and and YouTube binging YouTube or
Netflix, right? We just want to turn our brain
off and veg. Well, that is spiritually
depleting and as we as we add things to our lives to to make
us more comfortable, our, our spirit is struggling in that.
And, and the, as I was going through this and trying to like
picture something that we can apply to that single men and
women are on fire for Jesus around the world today.
And they are on the mission fields in if you, if you look at
mission fields around the world, you will find a large percentage
of missionaries are single young men and women.
And in two to five years, a fraction of them will be on the
field. What happened to them?
What changed? And what changed is stuff,
right? They got relationships, they got
married, they got kids, they got jobs, they got houses, they got
cars and so on. So when you go to that, when you
go to James and you look at the the rich man like mourning that
he's rich. You know, as Americans, guys, we
are a busy country, are we not? And busyness is is the enemy to
time with the Lord. He doesn't yell.
I always say I always tell people that he's not the Lord is
willing to wait, you know, with Isaiah or Elijah, Sorry, Elijah,
you know, he wasn't in the storm, He wasn't in the wind, He
wasn't in the fire. He was in the still small voice.
He wants that quiet time with us.
And as we add things, you know, as I'm good example going into
an outage and it's it's there's a there's a prayer time that
goes with that. But I will tell you that I have
to be seriously prayed up and and bested coming into outage
because when I get to outage and and me and the Lord have had
lots of conversations that this is how this work.
There is a window of time that I'm praying, but I'm I am all
I've got is what I'm doing at work.
I mean, I'm in I'm at war is the best way to put it right is he's
there with me, but my, my time is focused on what I do because
it takes all of my mental capacity to do it.
And when our life gets that kind of busy, I mean, if I ran at
that level for much longer than the, the 60 to 70 days that
outage takes, I would, I would crash badly.
It is A and it really isn't even 60 to 70 days.
It's about the 1st 30 days or that kind of ridiculous and then
you kind of coast out of it. But we have people that live
that life all the time. They're just busy, busy, busy,
busy, busy, busy, busy. And in that they're losing their
relationship with the Lord and they don't even see it
happening. But Jesus, like he warned this
guy, right? He, you know, sell everything.
It's between me and you here in America.
We can, we can be broke, but true poorness is rare for us,
right? I mean, we broke is something,
but poor is, you know, destitute.
And that does happen in America, but it isn't our norm.
So when you take us as a full culture, this next thing that
Jesus says to his disciples is really for us, which is.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult
it will be for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of
God. And the disciples were amazed at
his words. But Jesus said again, children,
how difficult is it to enter the Kingdom of God?
It is easier for a camel to go to the eye of a needle than for
a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, who
then can be saved? And then Jesus said, Jesus
looked at them and said with man it is impossible, what with God
for all things but for but not with God, for all things are
possible with God. So when you, when you read that
and you read commentaries on it, they, they have come up with
this. So when they close the gate at
Jerusalem, then there was this little gate.
And if you got a camel and you took everything off of it and
then it could crawl through the gate.
And that was the eye of the needle.
And no, because what that sounds like it's if I work really hard,
what Jesus is saying, if I work really hard and I do it just
right, then a rich man can go to heaven.
And that's not what he said. He said it's impossible for a
rich man to go to heaven except by the grace of God, right?
But it's also impossible for a poor man to go to heaven except
by the grace of God. The what is the same in that is
that the poor man doesn't have the distractions the rich man
does. But that doesn't mean that the
poor man doesn't get his eyes on things that are distracting.
You know, I if I told the Ugandan that a rich that an
American couldn't go to heaven, he would because we were rich,
he would be shocked because all Americans go to heaven.
Maybe you guys know different, right?
And but that's their their way of thinking.
And what did when we look at when we look at Jesus and just
his his ministry on earth and and his ministry through the the
Old Testament in the New Testament and what he says about
how we are supposed to interact with him and how we were
supposed to see this world. Matthew 419 says follow me and I
will make you fishers of men. And that was to Peter while he
was on a boat working with work working as a fisherman, him and
his brother and they left and followed Jesus.
And then you have 820 Matthew 822 Follow me and leave the dead
to bury their own dead. Don't worry about your family.
Don't put them between me and you.
Follow me. Matthew 1624.
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. Don't put yourself and your own
comforts between me and you. Follow me.
And then the one he just did Mark 1021.
Then Jesus looking at him loved him and said to him, you lack
one thing, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor
and you will have treasures in heaven and come and follow me.
So as we, as we go through this, are we following Jesus and, and
willing to take what he, what he gives us and, and pour it out,
or are we wanting to be comfortable and comfortable is
something guys is, is it's comfortable.
You know, the, the, I mean, I think everybody's probably heard
the story about how you can, how you can boil, boil the frog
alive is put it in a, in a cold pot of water and turn on the
turn on the burner and it'll just slowly warm up until he's
boiled alive, right? But he's he's comfortable and
he's comfortable until he's not. And that's, that is that when we
want to be comfortable instead? Jesus, contentment isn't being
comfortable. It's being content in what we're
doing. There's nothing in life that's
worth doing if you can think about everything you've ever
done and learned hasn't been comfortable.
Do you remember spelling when you were in elementary school?
Was that comfortable to learn how to spell?
I still, I'm still learning now, but or learning to run, learning
to walk anything that anything's worthwhile wasn't comfortable.
But are you in content in learning it?
Are you content in your walk with the Lord?
If we follow his, if we follow Jesus and his teachings, our
life will be blessed because we have our focus on the right
thing. And as I've said numerous times,
God wants to give us good things.
There is, I'm not, I'm not standing up here.
That's saying, hey, you guys need to go out and sell
everything you have, give it to the poor and live in tents at
the edge of the city. That's not, that's not the God
we serve. It's not the God, it's not that,
it's not what Jesus was saying here, but if that stuff, but if
if your stuff has a hold of you in such a way that that if God
asked you to do that, you couldn't do it, You need to have
that conversation. Is is my stuff have me or do I
have my stuff? Because if we're following
Jesus, the byproduct is that we're going to have a blessed
life, not the prime product. And that's really, it sounds
funny, but it's about, it's about, it's about perspective,
right? If I'm following Jesus so that I
can get, then I'm, I'm following him for the wrong reasons.
Now, if I'm following Jesus because of what he gave, then
I'm going to get all kinds of stuff, right?
I have, I shared with you that when I got saved, I had
everything that I thought I needed and I wasn't happy and I
didn't know what that was. And what it was obviously was
that I didn't have Jesus. And then once I had Jesus, even
if he stripped everything away and we when I went through that,
even if he stripped everything away, he was still enough.
And we argue at that point and it's, it's definitely not
something I recommend to if you can avoid testing the testing
that it's don't. It was, it was not the funnest
moment in my life, but it is, it is a moment in my life that I
can look back on and say, I know that I know that Jesus loves me
and Jesus takes care of me and and that he is enough in all
situations. And where is our treasure,
right? What are we?
What are we here to do? Matthew 619 through 21 says, do
not lay up for yourself treasures on earth or moths,
moth and rust destroy and where the thieves break in and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break
in and steal. For wherever your treasure is,
your heart will be there, Be there also.
And that comes down to for years, we used to leave Uncle
Pat and Aunt Sherry and used to just say, well, we'll see you
here there in the air. And that's, that's more
important, right? I have a family on earth.
But it is, is it more important that I, that I take care of
their physical needs or that I can say that to them that that's
the convert that I can say that to him and with complete
confidence. No, When I, when I leave my, my
friends and my family and I and all my friends and my family are
not, I'm, I'm not there. I don't get to say.
I don't get to say I'll see you here there in the air.
I can, I can say I can see you here or there, but I don't know
where they're going to be. Is that your, is that your drive
in life? Right?
You're your coworkers and it's, it's not about, like I said,
when we're, we're having those hard conversations, it's not
about being right. It's about leading them to the
truth. And, and that's where we lay up
our treasure is in heaven because that's where we get to
spend eternity. Who do we get to spend it with?
And it's my stuff between that conversation, right?
Am I not willing to have a conversation at work because I'm
worried about my job and, and having those, being willing to
have those conversations in in there?
I mean, so like as a boss at Energy Northwest, there are
lines I can't cross as a boss, but there are ways I can treat
people. You know, there is, there is a,
a manner about how I treat people that is directly focused
on the Lord. And there are things that I do
on purpose that point to him. And and whenever we're looking
at stuff, our perspective should be that things distract doesn't
mean we can't have them, but it has to be that we understand
that they are distracting. It's it's when you look at our
lives, what will make us happy and what, what what our children
would say is ice cream and doughnuts right now if if you
let your children be happy every day, diabetes is not happy,
right? If they eat ice cream and Donuts
every day, they're going to be overweight, they're going to
have diabetes and they're going to die young.
That's being comfortable. They got what they wanted is
God. God is not willing for us to be
comfortable. Now your, your child at the same
time, if you feed them, if you feed them a balanced meal and
they have steak and potatoes and vegetables or chicken, potato,
whatever, you're at the end of the meal, they're going to be
satisfied. They're going to be content,
right? Their stomach will be full.
Are we those people? One way to one way to look at
how we treat the world and how the, how this looks.
And if you knew, I mean, as far as check your heart, if you knew
you had 12 to 16 hours of your life on earth and it would be
over. So you actually knew, like you,
like God came down and said, I can't give you an exact moment,
but 12 to 16 hours from now, you won't be here anymore.
What would you do? You know, what would the, what
would the rest of your life look like?
And, and The funny thing is, Jesus gave us this picture of
exactly what we should do. John 13 three to five, says
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his
hands and that his that he had come from God and was going back
to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer
garments, taking a towel, tied it around his waist, and then he
poured out water into a basin and began to wash the disciples
feet to wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus goes on to tell him in verse 14 and 15, if then your
Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to
wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example
that you also do just as I have done to you.
So what does that have to do with our stuff and lowly being
exalted and the rich being humbled?
It's. Jesus left us here to serve
others, right? The day I got saved, the day I
got saved, I didn't leave planet earth because I'm able to serve
others while I'm here. I'm not able to worship the Lord
better because I'll do that better in heaven.
I mean, I talked about this last week.
I'm not able to read the Bible better because I'll know more in
heaven. I'm not able to pray better.
I'm not even able to fellowship with you guys better, but I am
able to serve others and end witness to what Jesus has done.
And we may get to be rich, we may get to be poor, we may get
to be comfortable, or we may get to suffer.
In all the world's systems, we're spending our time and
efforts on others. In all of those places.
When we focus on our needs, we lose sights of others needs and,
and, and how I can focus on others needs is that I know
without a shadow of a doubt God will take care of me and I know
he will. I can pour out all I have been
given. I So if you picture this cup, I
was going to get a picture and put a put a stool up here, but
then I was just going to make a mess.
So you got to you got to use your your mind's eye and
picture. If I set this cup up here and I
filled it all the way to the top so you guys could actually see
the water. You know how if you fill a cup
all the way up, the the surface tension will let it.
How do I get more water in the cup?
It's completely full. How do I get more in it poured
out. So if you're filled with if
you're filled with the spirit and this and you can look around
the world and you can walk into churches and and it may happen
here or you know a lot. You are full.
You have you, you know your word, you, you are you're prayed
up, you're all the things, but you're stagnant.
You're not pouring out. He can't pour anymore into that
cup is as big as that cup is, unless I let water come out of
it. It's just, it's just a cup full
of I mean, I might be full of spirit, but that's it.
I'm not, I'm not using what he gave me for those that I'm
supposed to give it to. We, if we ever think money will
cure or comfort us and our problem, and we'll fix that,
right, That, that, well, that's what I just need that that'll,
that'll make me feel better. Now, what makes you feel better
is taking care of other people. But the, the big thing is when
we think money is a thing, we risk our heart.
We risk A hardness that can turn you away.
And without getting into all the theology of it, there's never a
time that you want to say, I tied a knot and I'm holding on
and I'm good, right? You're growing in Christ or
you're sliding back down. Matthew 623 through 24 says, and
this is just having your perspective wrong and thinking
it, it is it all about us and not about others.
It says, but if your eye is bad, your whole body is bad or your
whole body will be full of darkness.
Sorry, if then the light in you is darkness, how great is that
darkness? When we look at things as more
important than people, our heart has A hardness that needs to be
softened. Verse 24 No one can serve 2
masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or
he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon or God and money walking quiet
walking with Christ following him has everything to do with
motive understanding why we are following him.
I mean, and I I pick on us. I mean you guys got to know when
I'm going through this. This is beats me up as I go
through it because I I continually ask the Lord Lord,
do I have anything? Is there, is there anything that
I am putting between us that, that, you know, is there
something that I am not willing to give you if you asked?
And there are there are hard conversations when we're doing
that right, because they're, I mean, there are things for me.
It's for me. It's people.
A lot of times that I am, I'm, I'm trying to, to protect them,
trying to like they're going to be it's and the disciples, you,
you see him over and over again that they just didn't get what,
what the Lord was giving them right.
They always they were, they were, you know, there's the John
and James asking if they can sit at the right hand of Jesus
because they're going to, they're going to be in his in
his Kingdom here on earth. And they missed it.
And then the disciples walking on the road, he looked at him
and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, not a
disciple at this point because he's like, So what were you guys
talking about? And they didn't want to say
because what they've been talking about is who was going
to be the greatest? Which one of us is the best?
And the washing the feet, the, the remembering where our
comfort comes from is because the Kingdom of God is an upside
down Kingdom. And in reality, our way of
thinking is upside down because you got to know that heaven, and
this is something that if you can focus on this heaven is
real. We're ghosty.
This is the, this is the airy side, right?
Because this is God's real and he made us so which one's more
real, right? God, God's Kingdom is more real
than we are. And so Jesus is at the top of
God's Kingdom, and where's he at?
He's at the bottom, right? He rules from the bottom.
And where are we trying to get all the time?
We're trying to get to the top. And if Jesus is at the bottom
and I'm trying to get to the top, which way am I pointed?
Right. I'm going the wrong direction.
I'm going the opposite direction of Christ trying trying to be
lifted up instead of being willing to be brought low, right
being being willing to serve others at any cost, being
willing at at all points to say Lord, not me.
What? What do you want?
When you look at one of my one of the dead guys out there,
being humble is not thinking that, not thinking less of
yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
And that CS Lewis said that. But it's really that being
humble is not walking around moping and saying I'm no good or
it's, it's just I don't matter. He matters and he really does.
You know, it's that that tool analogy I've used that is, you
know, we're a tool to be used. Does the hammer brag about the
statue? Does the chisel say, look what I
did? It's the chisel and the hammer.
Understand that the that the artist that is swinging them is
doing amazing things and they're in awe.
I mean, if you, if you think of a chisel and a hammer in
Michelangelo's hand, if they were, if they were animate
objects that that actually had a spirit and could, could think,
would they not have been amazed on what the maker was doing?
Wow, what are you? What are you doing with me?
This is amazing. I can't believe we're turning
that into that. Are we amazed with what the Lord
is is doing in our lives? Are we, are we, are we, are we
resting enough in Him that he can do that stuff?
And that we are, our position is in Christ, right with the day
you gave your life to Jesus. That is your position.
You are in Christ and he is using you.
You're a child of God. And so I, as I, as I went
through this, I didn't want to end up saying that we all need
to be poor because that isn't, it's that we need to not worry
about it. That's our, that's the, and it
doesn't mean, I mean you guys all I'm sure at some point.
So I have friends that have guns and I have friends that have
golf clubs and I have friends that have bows and arrows and I
have friends that that do all kinds of different hobbies.
And the one I picked years back was watches.
And they're ridiculous. Don't go down that road.
It can get ridiculous, but, and I'm not as ridiculous as it
could get, but there are some watches that I would love to
have. And you know, if I win the
lottery, that might happen. But but but it but if at any
point the Lord said those are between me and you, that'd be a
really neat cheap sale of watches because at that point I
can't keep them anymore. If they're between, if there's
something that I am saying, well, I'd, I'd do that as
opposed to this, right? It's that priorities thing.
And, and that goes for guns or cars or motorcycles or whatever
your, your thing is, if it's between you and make sure that
you've checked that, that it doesn't have you.
But at the same time, I mean, I'm just trying to be balanced
on this. God wants us serving others.
He wants us taking care of others.
He wants us taking care of one another.
And God, you're his children and He wants to take care of you and
He wants to love you and He wants to bless you, right?
But don't get your focus on all that He's going to give you.
You worry about what you're supposed to do.
You take care of the people. Got to worry about what He's
going to do, right? There is absolutely nothing when
God says it is better to give than to receive.
And I have I've tested that to a, to a fault, not on purpose,
but when we were in Uganda and living there, guys, I will tell
you that there is no, there is no way that I blessed people in
Uganda more than I was blessed by being able to pour into their
lives. I will tell you that that there
is no way you guys could bless me as much as being able to pour
into your lives blesses me, right?
It is way better to give than to receive at every level, whether
that's whether that's financially, physically serving,
whatever The thing is, you know, I mean, I would say so what's
more fun parents? What's more fun your your
children finding the perfect gift for you.
You know, my daughters, let's say they go and find me a watch
that's a watch I really want they bring that or that I find
them the perfect gift. I would much rather give my
grandchildren gifts than ever get one right.
I mean, I would sell watches to give my grandchildren gifts
because it's it's a lot of fun to find that perfect gift right
and watch them watch them light up.
That's how God treats us. But if what we're worried about
is the is the gift I'm going to get, we're missing the
opportunities of the gifts that we're to be giving.
And, and that's where that blessing comes from.
B When we get our eyes on money as a solution instead of a
complication, we lose, we lose sight, right?
We lose sight of what God wants for us.
Being anxious for nothing or being content is what the Lord
wants for us. And how do you be anxious for
nothing? When I'm taking care of other
people, when I'm watching over them, he just takes care of me,
right? He just I mean, the most freeing
moment in my life was when we moved to Uganda and I was
completely financially he was respond.
He was suddenly financially responsible for me.
I would have said he was before, but I could go to work, right.
You know, I'd go to work when I'm when I was in Uganda.
I am not allowed to work in Uganda.
You get a you're it's a volunteer visa.
So it's not even a work visa. So I can't go to Uganda and then
come up with a way to make money.
It's when you're there, you are 100% supported and it's just OK,
Lord, you said do this. So here we go.
And it at no point were we like rolling in money in that sense.
But I didn't have to worry about it.
Now I did worry about and brought I did, I did take the
responsibility of how when money came in, how we spent it, you
know, on on all sides in that right.
I had to I had to take into responsibility.
OK, so ministry, what's the best use for this?
You know, are we building churches with it or are we
buying Bibles with, you know, that as as time, you know, lots
of prayer and stuff, but also that was caring for my wife at
the time that we we would go do things that were caring for our
relationship. Long story.
But anyway, that was, you know, whether that was going getting
away every every two months or something and getting out of the
village, but praying about that stuff.
And no one, I mean, God wants to take care of us in all the ways,
but he not not for us to worry about what that looks like.
Does that all make sense? And when we, when we actually
trust him with that he is, he is above and beyond what we could
ever imagine. First Titus 6/6 through 10.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world and we can take, take, we
cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing with these, we'll be
contentment. But those who desire to be rich
fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and
harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and
destruction. For the love of money is the
root of all kinds of evil. It is through the craving that
some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves
with many pangs. The love of money the IT is.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation.
And that's that focus. Are we focused on the Lord and
take it, guys. I, I know some very rich people
that love the Lord with all their heart.
And I know some poor people that don't and are really worried
about getting rich, right? And it's, it's not, it's where's
your focus? And that's really over and over
again, where's your focus? Where's your focus?
What we're supposed to focus on is caring for people and God
will take care of the rest, right?
He'll take care of, you know, like I said at my job, guys,
Emma, we've talked about, you know, no grade point average.
I, I went out to energy Northwest as a laborer.
And, and when I first went out there, I was, it was kind of fun
because I was a boss at, at Watts and I went to energy
Northwest in 2009 to see what a nuclear outage was like.
And I'm a laborer. And if you guys didn't know all
the union, this is my joke with them.
All the unions got together and when they got to the stuff that
they didn't want to do, the laborer said, we'll do that.
So that's that's what laborers do.
So by definition, they're the lowest group, right, Because
they're just a support craft. So when I go out to Energy
Northwest as a support craft, I came back after about a week, I
looked at my wife and I said, I figured out what a union laborer
does. What?
It's a janitor because I was just cleaning bathrooms and
cleaning, cleaning lunch rooms and stuff.
And then I ended up tending, but then it was you're just taking
care of carpenters and giving them scaffold stuff.
And but the fun thing was, is that I literally went out there
and turned my brain off because they didn't think I knew
anything. I was, I was expected to be as
smart as a box of rocks. And so that's what I did.
I just went out there, turned my brain off and went to work and
and then 2015 rolled around and I went back out there again.
And they may have known a little more about me at that point, but
I was AI was a foreman. And then the next time I was a
general foreman. And then the next time I was
like an assistant to the general foreman.
And then I went out this last time and I went way backwards.
I went as in 2022, I went from being the field work supervisor
at Watts going through COVID and all their contracts were at
Hanford. So if I stayed, I was getting
the shot. And so there was an outage at
Energy Northwest, a little two week outage.
So I went out to that because they were going to follow
whatever OSHA said. And I was pretty confident by
the time I got to the Supreme Court, OSHA was going to say no,
but or the Supreme Court was going to say no.
So we were. So I went there with a but it
was basically it was a 2 week job and we'll see what happens.
And two weeks came and went and the one of the one of the old
bosses, they were going to lay me off and one of the old bosses
said, no, we're not doing that. And he say my, but not because I
was defending myself, not because I was where I was not
trying to find a way to stay. I just this was the the next
open door. So I stayed and then I probably
without without any manipulation on my part and just showing up
and doing the job. I made it through two or three
more layoffs and then I was the only guy there, me and me and
two other guys. And, and then, and then the
general foreman got a better job and they put me in that
position. And then we went through that
outage as the, as the general foreman.
And then coming into the next one, they made me a supervisor.
And that was every one of those. I could give you the exact what,
what and how those happened and none of them were me saying you
should make me this, I should do this.
If and if they wanted me today, it would be a massive pay cut.
But if I lost my job and I went back, I just cleaned toilets
because that's I don't deserve where I'm at.
I don't deserve what I have. God has given me everything to
this point. Now is my job is my job
mentally. Do I do I have to show up and do
what he what he asked me to do? Absolutely, but it isn't because
I'm worthy. That makes sense.
It's and that is our walk with the Lord.
Do the next thing and let him worry about the results and and
he guys, it is it is a ride worth getting on right?
It's he's amazing with that, that that ability to just rest
in him. We'll close with this With
Christ, everything will never be enough.
Oh sorry. Without Christ, everything will
never be enough. With Christ, nothing will always
be enough. God wants to take care of us.
He wants to give us give his children good things like a good
parent wants to, but being content in Christ is more
important than being comfortable in the world.
And so, so rest in that contentment and that, hey, Lord,
I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do.
I'm going to, I'm going to follow you.
I'm going to listen to you and I'm going to let you worry about
the results. I'm going to let you worry about
where we're going to end up. I'm going to just take care of
people. I'm going to take care of what
you put in front of me. And Lord, I just thank you for
everybody here. I thank you for this time.
I thank you for these people. I thank you for the church that
you've given us, the body that we get to hang out with.
Lord, I thank you for all that you've done.
I thank you for all that you're doing.
That you would go before us this week, Lord, that we would have
conversations with people, Lord, that we would have opportunities
to pour into, into our coworkers lives, into our family's lives,
into our friends lives in the, in the grocery store clerks.
Lord, that you would give us those opportunities that you
would make them obvious that we, we would just be be servants of
you, Lord, and serving our community and our, our area,
Lord, and we just love on people.
But Lord, that you would give us that power through your Holy
Spirit, that you'd fill us up for us to pour out and pray all
this in Jesus name, Amen.