Love Like Jesus - January 12, 2025

So in Mark chapter 6, the Bible says this in verse 34.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

They're in a desert place, but all of a sudden the people show up again.

Verse 34, and Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and he got mad at them and yelled at them and told them to leave.

Is that what it says?

No.

It says this, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep having no shepherd.

They're as sheep not having a shepherd.

And he began to teach them many things.

So Jesus, you could see, like, he's got this heart of compassion.

Like he loves people.

How many guys have heard the saying, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care?

And Jesus cares a whole lot.

Like he's making himself available, he's not like pushing them away, and he's loving them.

And the Bible says he's teaching them.

In verse 35, it says, And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him.

So he must have been ministering to them the whole time, right?

And said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far past.

So the disciples are coming to him.

And they and they say, Hey, hey, Jesus, send them away that they may go into the country roundabout and into the villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.

Like, okay, it's over.

Okay, ministry time's over.

How many of you guys ever been there before?

Ministry time's over.

I went to church, I checked it off the box, work is over, the clock, I checked out.

It's time for me to relax now.

Send the people, send the problems, send them away, send them to their room, send them somewhere else, but just not here.

And that's what the disciples are doing.

It's a punch-in, punch out mindset.

But Jesus doesn't have that mindset.

Look what he says to them.

He says in verse 37, Give ye them to eat.

And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy 200 pennyworth of bread and give them to eat?

So Jesus, instead of just sending them away, he says, No, I actually want to feed them.

I want you to feed them.

And you can imagine what they're thinking in their head, like, I thought we were done ministering.

Like, it's been all day.

And by the way, they say in verse 38, how many they said in verse 37, 200 penny worth of bread.

Like they're basically saying we don't have enough.

In verse 38, he says to them, How many loaves have ye?

Go and see.

You ever been there before where God puts you in a position where you're empty, you're broke, you're destitute, you don't really have the resources anymore?

And he's like, Actually, I still want you to hook people up.

I don't want you to quit.

I don't want you to back out.

I don't want you to fall out by the way.

I don't want you to push the problems away.

I actually want you to keep ministering.

I want you to keep leaning in.

You know how many people they quit right when the going's about to get good?

They quit their ministry, they quit their marriage, they quit their workouts, they quit everything all because they had a you know a punch-in-punch out mindset.

They had a destination mindset, not a not a journey with Jesus mindset.

And here Jesus is like, uh, actually, why don't you guys go and find out how much food we have?

Let's just take an inventory of how much how many res how much resources we have.

Because I get we have a lot of people here.

And he says, Go and see, go check it out.

And can you imagine what they're thinking?

Man, I thought we were done.

You ever had the boss man come along and say, Oh, and by the way, can you do this, this, and this before you go?

You're like, or the mom or the dad before you go and hang out with your friends and play video games, or you're gonna go uh to your friend's house or go to the sports, and they say, Oh, and by the way, can you do the dishes?

And uh, can you go help your grandma for this, or can you go uh clean the room and do this real quick?

And it's in that moment you're gonna find out what kind of character you have.

See, it's not when everything's going good and you're at your you have all the finances and all the emotional energy and relational energy.

It's when you've been ministering all day and all night.

Maybe it's been a week, maybe it's been a month, maybe it's been a year, maybe it's been a decade, maybe it's been 18 years, who knows?

I don't know.

But you're you're empty.

And you went to a desert place just to relax for margin and for time with Jesus, and all of a sudden now Jesus wants to do ministry again?

And now he's checking your Christianity.

Do you have a Sunday morning only at 10 a.m.

Christianity that's weekend visitation?

Or do you have a 365 days, a year 24-7 mentality of walking with Jesus, being a servant mentality?

And so he says, go see, and they go and they say, Okay, Jesus, we have five loaves and we have two fishes.

And they're like, What are they among so many?

That's all we got.

You ever been there before?

You're like scraping the bottom of the barrel, you're like, This is all I got.

And you look at the need, and you look at what you have, you look at the need, you look at what you have, and you're like, I got five loaves and two fishes.

How many of you guys have teenagers at home?

You're like they're like, Oh, we have nothing to eat at home.

Then you go in the pantry, you're like, what's all this?

And then you look at the fridge and you look at the freezer, you're like, what about this, this, this, this, and this?

And I think a lot of times we think we're empty when Jesus sees seeds of miracles.

And they have five loaves and two fishes, and the Bible says this in verse 39, and he commanded them, okay, boys.

Sit down, sit them all down by companies upon the grass.

Now, about this time I've been like, oh yeah, baby, come on, Jesus.

What are you gonna do?

I know he's done some things before, this is gonna be pretty cool.

And so they all sit down in companies on the grass, and in verse 40, they sat down in ranks by hundreds and fifties.

Notice how he's organizing them.

He's an organized God.

God likes things done decently and in order.

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed.

This is kind of why we pray before we eat too, as well.

We thank God for what we have.

He looks up to heaven, he blesses, and he breaks the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before them.

And the two fishes divided he among them all.

And they all, and they did all eat, and what does it say?

So everybody there, there's thousands of people there, and all Jesus had was five loaves and two fishes.

And sometimes, if you're gonna see a miracle, you need to prepare for a miracle.

You need to set people up in a position where it's like, let's watch what Jesus does here.

And he hooks them all up.

They all get fed, they all get blessed, and there's so much left over, verse 43 says this, and they took up the 12 baskets full of fragments and of the fishes.

And they and they that did eat of the loaves were how many?

5,000 men.

So we're even counting the women and the children.

It's almost like filling a whole stadium and feeding everybody off five loaves and two fishes.

How many of you guys have ever been there before?

Maybe at the it's the beginning of the year right now, and you're looking at your bank account, you're looking at your bills, and you're going, hmm, maybe you shouldn't have spent so much for Christmas.

And maybe you're a little stressed out, you're a little freaked out, you're like, what are what are what's this chunk change among so many needs?

And you get discouraged, you get downtrodden, you kind of start thinking, maybe I won't tithe, maybe I won't give to missions, maybe I'll, you know, do something else.

And you start getting into self-preservation mode.

And some people they just quit, they back out by the way, they stop.

And they're some people are like, you want me to keep serving after I just did experience Christmas, after I just had the best year of my life, and you just want me to just keep on serving.

And this is a big moment for you.

This is a big moment for many of you.

Where you're gonna find out, are you a fan or are you a follower?

Are you a spectator?

Are you a participator?

And we're gonna find out what kind of quality of a disciple you are.

And I was just kind of thinking through this a little bit about King Jesus and how he operates, how he's a servant, and I got to thinking about a lot of Christians.

You know, I have people that come to our church.

I've been doing this now for it'll be 15 years coming up in April, and before that I was an intern pastor, and before that I preached the gospel for many years.

Here's something I've learned in ministry and with people.

People come and people go.

I got people they'll sing my praises, all the best message ever, and then just give it a little bit, and then they're they're they're hating on me.

They're backstabbing me.

I got people they're serving in ministry and then they won't even say goodbye when they leave.

It's like what kind of Christian doesn't they leave a business and they quit or they leave a church and they never say, hey, thank you for the opportunity, thank you for letting me be here.

And by the way, this is what our family's gonna be doing.

Listen, I don't care if people come or people go.

I'd love for you to stay, but I like I'm not gonna lose a lot of sleep if you go somewhere else.

Why?

Because Jesus is my God.

Like he's always with me.

Sure, I want to see the church grow, but listen, God's the one who builds his church, right?

And after you've been at this for a little while, you start realizing there's different kinds of people.

There's people that, listen, they're only loyal to themselves.

Like you're here as long as this is good for you, but the moment this is not good for you, you're gone.

I'm glad that wasn't Jesus' mindset.

Otherwise, he would have stayed in heaven.

But he came out of heaven to sacrifice.

He said, Listen, I'm here as one that serves.

My question to you is, what are you here for today?

What kind of Christian are you today?

What kind of husband, what kind of wife, what kind of son, what kind of daughter are you?

Are you a consumer or a contributor?

Are you a fan or a follower?

Are you a taker or are you a giver?

Are you a guest or are you a part of the family?

Are you a selfish person or are you a servant to the Most High God?

Is it all about you or is it all about others?

Are you a victim or will you have a victory mindset?

Are you a spectator or are you a participator?

Is it all about me or is it all about others?

Are you an immature child or are you a responsible adult?

Are you a controller where everything has to be your way?

Or are you an influencer for the kingdom of God?

Are you only into the milk?

Feed me, feed me, feed me, or are you gonna dig deep and eat some meat?

Are you on the welfare program of Christianity where everybody has to contribute to you and provide for you and you do nothing but take, take, take?

Or are you gonna be a provider that says, I will work and I will hustle and I will give and I will contribute and I will be a blessing, and I will be loyal to my King of kings and my Lord of Lords, and I will sacrifice to a fault.

And even after the clock is over, I will still be a servant to the most high God.

Are you gonna be a flighty person or are you gonna be a grounded person?

Are you gonna be a shifty person, or are you gonna be a stable, steady person?

Are you gonna be a servant of the most high God?

See, there's different peoples that come to church, just like there's different people that came to Jesus.

Now, check this out.

Jesus had compassion on the multitude, yes?

He fed them all.

But let me tell you this: he didn't hang out with all of them all the time.

Why?

Because there are some people that only went there to get fed, to see the miracle.

They weren't there for the miracle maker, they were there for the miracle.

They weren't there for the relationship, they were there for what they could take from the relationship.

So, like a lot of people, oh, I want to get married.

No, listen, you like the idea of marriage, but you do not like marriage itself.

Because it's hard.

I want to have kids.

You like the idea of having children, but you but but the actual work of changing dirty diapers and taking them to school and being there with them when it's when the when they're crying and all the way through and through their childhood.

That's the work.

Everybody loves a great sermon, but not everybody loves to live the message.

Oh, sure, Pastor, I'll give.

Just make sure I get the accolades.

Okay, good.

So you want to have the fanfare of the pastor in the church when you're giving, but you won't do it for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

There's different types of Christians.

I've been at this for a little while.

And I've learned a few things.

I want to keep loving like Jesus even when people betray me.

Even when people talk crap about me.

Even when people serve in the ministry for one year, five years, ten years, twenty years, and then they're gone just like this, without even a word.

It's okay.

I'm not mad at you.

It's alright.

I've been at this a little while.

God gives, God takes away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord, right?

But when I look at Jesus, you know what I see?

I see somebody that's like, gets it.

Just faithful and consistent.

What's he doing?

Is he doing it to please the fans out there?

He has compassion on the multitude, but here's let me let me give you the secret here.

He's doing it to please his father.

That's why he's doing what he's doing.

See, if you lose your why, why you're doing what you're doing, you're gonna fall out by the way.

Why am I singing?

Why am I playing?

Why am I married?

Why do I have kids?

Why am I serving in this ministry?

Well, they're not saying anything to me, and nobody's doing this for me.

Okay, check this out.

Oh man, we're we're having a good time right now, aren't we?

I'm really, I'm really bringing it right now.

Listen.

If you're only in this church because you want friends, you're a taker.

You're a taker.

It's all about you.

I want friends, I want friends.

Listen, no, no, no.

Then all of a sudden, when all of a sudden people aren't coming up to you and saying, hi, how are you doing, greeting you and being kind to you and nice to you because it's all about you, you never learn to cross over from being a spectator to being a participator.

You've got to get in your mind the idea that, listen, if I want friends, I gotta be friendly.

I gotta go out of my way.

This is why some people that come only to Sunday morning church, listen, God bless you, I'm glad you're here.

But listen, you're not gonna grow only on Sunday morning.

It's like if I went to the gym one day a week, it's not enough.

Then I ate like like donuts and burritos every day.

And then we go, oh, you know, I've God just not for me.

No, God's with you, but you're stupid.

You're gonna blame God for everything because you're selfish and because you have a victim mindset and it's all about you, and it's it's not about others, and you don't understand this concept that you've got to go to to be more like Jesus.

You know, the other day I got some emails from uh from somebody who's been using my name.

And they're messaging people in our church, and uh in a fraudulent way, they're saying, This is Pastor Jason Brown, lead pastor of Victory Baptist Church.

And it's not my email address, and they're they're trying to extort people.

And they're saying, go buy uh, I had one of our assistants go, I said, message them back, find out what they want.

It says, hey, uh privately, discreetly, can you uh just can you do something for me?

And I said, message them back, find out what they want.

And it says, oh, can you go buy$2,000 worth of gift cards from these places and scratch off the back and then send it to us?

Now, now we're laughing because we understand there's a bunch of scammers and frauds and fakes out there.

But there's some people they won't, they won't, they don't have enough common sense and discernment to realize the world is a very mean and nasty place.

And the devil's out there and he's coming to kill and to steal and to destroy.

And he will hijack your name just like he tried to hijack Jesus' name.

That's what Satan does.

And there'll be people they'll they'll eventually blame the church because some con person used a fake name and used fraudulent activity.

All I'm saying is you've got to get to the place where you realize the devil's real and it can't be all about you.

You gotta grow in wisdom and you've got to grow in grace if you're gonna love like Jesus.

You really do.

And by the way, if you get that email, that's not me.

Okay?

And if you ever have a question if something's fraud or not, why don't you just call?

Call the person.

Hey, is this you?

Like, there's times that people text, and I'm like, I'm afraid to open this link.

I'm like, I'm not open that there's no telling what kind of wickedness is on the other side of this thing.

I just call them up.

Hey, did you send that?

No.

Delete.

Get away from me, Satan.

Not today, Satan.

Get off of me.

But you gotta have this wisdom where you realize Jesus sends us forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Jesus is out there.

You can't tell me out of that 5,000 men that there's not some wolves out there.

You can't tell me that there's not some haters and takers and people that are just gonna want to just get a little physical high for the moment and then they're gonna go talk crap about Jesus later.

Yes, there is.

There's absolutely that.

Just like there is in a church of a thousand people or a church of a hundred people or wherever you go.

And the same is true in this church and any other church, the same is true in a Christian school, in a Christian nation.

You're gonna have people like that.

This is why you've got to get to the spot where you make a decision for you.

Why am I here?

Can I eventually get to the place where I love like Jesus?

Well, if you're gonna love like Jesus, listen.

Don't get so busy with your business that you forget about God's business.

Some of you guys are here so focused on it's my ministry and what I get.

No, no, listen.

Last I checked, Jesus didn't say, hey, when you pray, pray for my kingdom to come and my will to be done.

He said, Lo, his kingdom, his will to be done.

Because there's gonna be some situations and people and problems in your life where you're gonna have to sacrifice way beyond what you had in your mind to sacrifice.

I mean, the job is over and now the customer wants more.

The job is done, and experience Christmas is over, and now we gotta clean up.

Hey, this ministry's done and this person's over, and now I gotta do more?

It's not a it's not I have to do more, it's I get to do more.

It's I get to be here, I get to serve, I get to be in the nursery, I get to be with the preschool, I get to be with the kids, I get to feed the lambs.

God chose me to be here.

I get to do this.

When you get that mindset, all of a sudden the clock doesn't matter anymore, money doesn't matter anymore.

Listen, I'm coming all the way.

And that's what Jesus is doing with these disciples.

He's training them, he's teaching them.

Because there's gonna be people in your life when you think it's time to rest, it's time for vacation, it's time for other things, and all of a sudden, bring, bring, bring.

Hey, can you help me?

I'm feeling suicidal.

Hey, can you help me?

My wife just left me.

Hey, can you help me?

My kids messed up on drugs.

Hey, can you help me?

My friend just murdered somebody.

Now we're gonna find out what kind of Christian you are.

You know how many times I've had to come off a vacation or come off from somewhere else, fly somewhere else?

Not because I wanted to, but because the ministry called it, because the the sheep need a shepherd.

They need a Christian, they need somebody to love them and help them and guide them and guard them.

And that's not just something you just check off a box.

And I'm not saying you don't ever create boundaries for your own time, but I am saying all of your time is his time.

All of it is his.

The house you have, listen, it's his.

The cars you have, it's his.

You don't think so?

Listen, he can burn it up just like this.

He can bring a flood just like this.

He can he can make your heart stop just like this.

Listen, everything you have is his.

The Bible says the earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof.

We're a vapor, friend.

We're a vapor.

And in this vapor, we're gonna find out what kind of vapor you are.

And it's easy to talk a good game.

But it's a whole nother to back it up when you're inconvenienced.

It's a whole nother when when when things are happening.

Now, what's cool about this story is you'll notice that even though the people were done, Jesus wasn't done.

Hey, just just because other people quit on church, quit on your pastor, quit on God, doesn't mean you quit.

Amen.

Just because it doesn't look like you have the resources, how many of you guys are tempted to quit when you don't have the resources?

When you when you prayed a prayer and now the money's not in the account, and all when you prayed the prayer and the physical health is not there, how many of you guys are tempted to quit?

All of us are.

But being tempted and actually doing it are two different things.

It's not a sin to be tempted, it's a sin to follow through on the temptation.

The devil's always tempting us.

But you've got to be able to say no, uh-uh.

My God's calling me deeper, my God's calling me further, my God wants me to minister, my God wants me to serve, I'm gonna do it.

Okay, Jason, how much resources you got?

Lord, all I got is this.

Alright?

Give it to me.

What?

I just gave all this.

Top soul winner, top giver.

Now you want me to give this?

Yep.

And it's easy to get to the spot where you're like, well, I'm doing everything.

You ever been there before?

Mama's daddy's out there, business owners out there, ministry leaders out there, I'm doing everything.

No, no, no.

You have to get back to the spot where you're not comparing yourself against other Christians.

You've got to get to the spot where it's just you.

In Jesus.

Lord, if this is what you want me to do, it's always been about you and I.

And it just needs to stay that way.

So God forgive me for comparing myself against others and kind of like metricing my success against them.

And help me, God, to just give you my best and to walk with you.

So whatever you want me to do, I'm going to do it.

And so in this situation, these disciples, they learned to take the little that they had, or rather, even the resources around them to be able to see a miracle take place.

Let me tell you this.

You know what's more valuable than money?

People.

People over profits.

Hey, question.

How good are you doing at taking care of your family?

How good are you doing at being awake and active and alive?

Like being present.

Like some of you guys, listen, you're on your phone all day long.

You think you're having a relationship.

You have a relationship with your stinking phone all day long.

Right?

And then when somebody says hi to you, you're like, Oh, great.

That's a great way to have a relationship.

We taught our kids when they were young.

Listen, when you're shaking somebody's hand, you look them in the eye and you shake their hand.

And you be respectful and you be present.

Nowadays we have a culture where nobody gets called on anything.

We have a bunch of weak, wimpy people that are just can't figure it out.

And I'll tell you why.

It's because it's all about themselves, it's all about their selfishness, it's all about what they want, it's all a victim mindset, it's all entitlement.

Well, people owe me this.

No, no, people don't owe you nothing.

You gotta get back to the spot where you're like, okay, I want to love like Jesus loves, and so these people don't owe me.

Listen, let me tell you something.

You don't owe me nothing.

You don't owe me nothing.

I owe you.

I owe you love, I owe you faith, I owe you hope, I owe you encouragement.

Even if you give me nothing back, I still owe it to you because my king commands it of me.

And I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for him.

You start getting that way, I'm telling you what, you unleash, unlock yourself from all the stuff around you.

Is anybody listening right now?

I don't know.

I don't know if anybody's listening.

I don't know.

You say, preacher, how do I how do I get to love like Jesus when I'm around a bunch of takers?

I'm around a bunch of vampires, I'm around a bunch of flighty people, I'm around a bunch of shifty people, I'm around a bunch of controllers, I'm about around a bunch of children, I'm around a bunch of me, me, me people, I'm around a bunch of spectators, I'm around a bunch of victims, I'm around uh uh I'm around people that it's all about them, I'm around selfish people, I'm around people that they should be family, but they act as guinness.

I'm around takers, I'm around fans, I'm around consumers.

Let me say this to you.

Don't be like them.

Don't be like them.

Stop taking your cues from losers.

Stop it.

Stop taking advice from losers, stop taking your counsel from losers, stop taking your your your ideas from stop following people they have broken relationship after broken relationship after broken relationship.

And I'm not saying, listen, all of us have broken relationships in our past, but if you habitually have carnage behind you and you don't know, you don't know how to have a long-term relationship and treat people, then it's you I'm preaching to you.

You gotta get to the spot where you learn how to suffer long and you learn how to forgive greatly, and you learn, you know what, you did me dirty, but I'm not gonna do you dirty.

You betrayed me, but I'm not gonna betray you.

You turned your back on me, but I'm not turning my back on you.

Why?

Because Jesus never turned his back on me.

And in church and in family, you're gonna have people, oh, we're gonna go do this and we're gonna go do this.

Ask yourself some questions before you start following people.

Are they losers?

Do they have a track record of good success in their life?

Because I'll tell you this: people with a good track record of spiritual success, they have a powerful network of relationships that they've learned how to cultivate over the series of a long period of time.

Not just one year, not just three years, not just five years, not just ten years, but a long track record.

But if you get with people that wimp out and quit when it gets tough and they walk away, guess what you're gonna become like?

You're gonna become like who you follow.

So choose who you follow wisely.

Because if your leaders and your icons and the people that you're following are full of sin and full of wickedness and full of shiftiness and they're out of shape and they don't care about their family, and they're talking smack and they're going here and they're going there, and you're following them, you're the next loser.

But you might be in here tonight or today, and you might say, you know what, I don't want that to be me.

I want to be different.

How many of y'all want to be different?

How many of y'all want to win?

How many of y'all want to see the power of God on your life?

Come on, I want that for me and I want that for you.

But if that's gonna be, we've got to understand the principles and the secrets of Jesus Christ.

And so write this down.

This is what I see on how to love like Jesus.

I mean, he stuck and stayed and made it pay and he went all the way.

Number one, see the need.

You gotta see the need.

People are hurting everywhere.

See the need, actually see it.

You ever hear people like you see them, but you don't see them.

Like, I see you physically, but there's a whole nother thing when I see you spiritually and emotionally and mentally.

Jesus looked at all these people and said, Man, these people are lost.

They need a shepherd, they need a leader.

He saw that, and that pulled compassion out of him.

Number two, share your heart of compassion.

Listen, you may not have money, you may not have everything, but listen, when I look at this story, Jesus didn't have the loaves and his fishes.

And the harmony of the gospels, it came from some little lad that hooked everybody up.

The disciples got with it, and they helped.

Hey, maybe you're out there, you don't got a lot of money.

Just because you don't have a lot of money doesn't mean you can't help out.

Right?

You could still show up with your time and and show up with your talents, and you could still be like loving people and praying for people and just being a blessing.

I see that with Jesus, he's sharing his heart of compassion, he's sharing wisdom.

Number three, how to love like Jesus.

Spiritually nurture with teaching.

Look to me like all these people, yes, he's gonna feed them physically, but what did he do in this situation before he fed them physically?

Looked to me like he was ministering to them spiritually.

Hey, what good is it if you get the the the bonus, the bread, the increase, the promotion, but you don't get the wisdom.

You don't get the understanding.

So when people, your family, others, your co-workers, people you're around, spend some time really walking them through things, teaching them, helping them to see things.

Number four, physically strengthen with your resources.

Sometimes you need to be able to take, hey, let me buy you a meal.

You know one of the best things you could do up here in this church today?

See the people around you?

Invite somebody to lunch.

Like, seriously.

Hey, I haven't talked to you.

I got I I'd love to hear your story.

I'd love to take you to lunch today.

That's how you start growing as a Christian.

You get beyond yourself and you start looking at others and say, hey, tell me about your story.

I'd love to take you to lunch.

Well, then I have to pay for it.

Yep.

We're gonna find out if you're gonna be only loyal to yourself and your family and your kingdom, or if you're gonna be loyal to Jesus and actually sacrifice to bless somebody else.

I gotta tell you, you can have all the money and you die lonely, you're still pretty broke.

Better for you to have the relationships that people are the true wealth.

And let me say this to you don't wait on me to invite you to lunch.

You invite me to lunch.

Right?

All I'm saying is it goes both ways.

You can't wait for somebody else to bless your day all the time.

Take the proactive position where it's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take somebody else out.

But if you do this every week, after 52 weeks, assuming you're a faithful, consistent Christian, you go to church every week, you can have 52 new friendships in the church, 52 new prayer partners, 52 more people that can pour into your life and you can pour into them.

Pretty simple, isn't it?

And so physically strengthen with your resources, and let me give you number five.

This is the last one.

Work together as a team.

Hey, could Jesus in this scenario, could he have just said, shabam, you know, and just put bread and fish in everybody's hands?

But he didn't do that, did he?

He took the little that somebody had and then they he broke it up and he organized everybody so they work together as a team.

Every single person in this church, you have something that you can contribute.

You have something as a follower of Christ where you can make a difference.

You could be the next awesome greeter, you could be the next awesome nursery worker, you could be the next awesome preschool teacher, you could be the next bus driver, you could be the next person that says, Hey, I don't got a whole lot, but I'm happy to give a few hours during the week.

I'm happy to make a contribution.

I'm happy to make a difference.

Now, check this out.

Those of you who go from just being a guest or a regular attender in church, and you start realizing, I want to work together as a team.

Here's what happens.

I know it's challenging because we're gonna see your faults.

We're gonna see your bad attitude, we're gonna see your issues.

But on the flip side, you're gonna see my bad attitude, you're gonna see my issues, you're gonna see my faults.

And this is why you don't ever get to grow and learn to love like Jesus until you engage deeper.

Because until you get vulnerable with your weaknesses, you will never have the power of Christ rest upon you, and you won't know what it feels like to have the grace and mercy and forgiveness of others pouring that into you in relationships.

This is why a lot of times people they become Sunday morning only Christians and they they walk out of ministry and they walk out of family and they walk out of church because they don't know how to look up here, they don't know how to talk, they don't know how to communicate.

It takes courage to communicate.

It takes grace to say, hey, I'm sorry, I wasn't communicating with you.

You know what the easy thing to do is when it gets tough?

Walk away.

Don't respond to a text, don't give a phone call back.

That's weak, that's wimpy, that's pathetic.

That's not a spiritual winner, it's not a coach, and it's not a leader.

A winner, a leader, a spiritually mature person, they pick up the phone when there's an issue and say, hey, let's talk about this.

Hey, let's have a sit-down discussion on how we can work through this.

Hey, I notice you did this here and this here, and I want to work together with this.

Here's what happens.

The more you lean in and you expose, yes, your own weaknesses, but you also contribute with your strengths, here's what you'll start realizing.

You get to do more with others than you could do by yourself.

Now, some of you look up here real quick.

You're used to providing all of your strength and you're happy there, but you feel like you're being taken advantage of.

But you're failing to realize you too have weaknesses that other people are putting up with.

You have a lot of weaknesses, and as long as you're looking at all your strengths and everything that you're doing, and you're not seeing your own crap, and you don't realize that stinks too, you have a false view and a false valuation of how good you are, and you have no idea of the appraisal of what other people are having to deal with working with you.

And I'm just saying, listen, we all have assets and liabilities in our personalities.

We all have some income and some expenses inside there.

And don't walk around like what you have don't stink sometimes because it does.

And just like at our house, when it when the trash starts stinking, what do we do?

Take it out.

And some of you guys, you got some stinky stuff in your life, and you're just sitting around stinking all day long, blaming everybody else.

It's good, huh?

Y'all haven't had truth like this in a while.

But you need it.

Otherwise, you walk around acting like your crap don't stink all day long.

Listen, all I'm saying is yes, continue to contribute and be a blessing, but also realize like there's other people in your life that have to deal with you.

And what's it like being on the other side?

Look up here.

What's it like being on the other side of you?

That's a good question.

Now I've got to tell you, I'm sure sometimes it's not nice.

And it's rude and it's crude and it's mean and it's all the other stuff.

But listen, let me say this to you.

If you hope to have deep, meaningful relationships for a long period of time and you want to see miracles take place in your life, we've all got to learn to love and to forgive like Jesus.

And what that means is this you won't get to love and forgive like Jesus as a spectator.

You won't get to love and forgive like Jesus as a guest in the church.

You won't get to love and forgive like Jesus as a taker all the time and as a consumer.

You won't get to love like Jesus as long as you're on the welfare of Christianity all day.

Here's how you start loving like Jesus.

You're not just a fan, you're a follower, you're a contributor, you're a provider.

You're somebody that says, I'll be responsible for the communication.

And if I mess up, I'm gonna go to that person and talk to them.

Hey, I'm sorry, that was my bad.

I should have called, I should have texted, I'm sorry I iced you, I'm sorry I ghosted you, hey, by the way, I said that wrong, I was off.

Will you forgive me?

It's amazing to me as a pastor.

The longer I've been doing this, everybody wants love and forgiveness from the pastor and from spiritual leaders.

But do you know how many Christians actually want to give love and forgiveness back to the pastor and to the and to the spiritual leaders?

It's almost like a one-way street.

It's ridiculous.

And all I'm saying is if we're gonna love like Jesus, we've got to learn how to work together as a team.

That's what I see here with this miracle.

Afterwards, they all had that testimony.

Man, look what God did.

And so today, how many of y'all got some areas you know you could work on to be better like Jesus?

Man, I see it, I look at my own appraisal, and I see so many areas I fall short.

In those areas, don't just sweep them under the rug.

A lot of Christians, a lot of homes, a lot of people like, well, that's just my personality.

Okay, so your personality's a punk?

Your personality's a jerk?

Like, you just expect everybody to put up with this and you can't change?

Is that what you're telling me?

Your God's not big enough to help you to change and to be to grow?

And it's like almost like we settle, well, people just have to put up with me.

No.

You need to start maturing and growing up a little bit.

Amen?

You need to start like wising up and realizing, you know, I need to love like Jesus, and I want I want it to be a blessing to be on the other side of me.

And if everybody in the whole family starts maturing like this, awesome things happen.

Because love and grace is flowing, communication is flowing.

Before you know it, it's a thriving, healthy culture.

But it does take straight truth, doesn't it?

It takes straight truth to handle some of this stuff.

So not every Sunday, guys, is gonna be rah, rah, rah.

Sometimes, what was the message about?

We took out the trash so that we could bless people.