The Life That Flourishes – Week 4 – Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness

I got it. The way you laugh tell

me not so.

I was preaching several years ago in another

church in Portland. I brought this up and

wanted the brother in the back. That's alright,

brother. We'll leave at noon and we'll come

back at dinner time and here to do

the rest of the sermon. So they can

sneak out. They know I can't hear them.

Right? But to Rob, correct. We were living

together. Matter of fact, I need to thank

him for 1 year we're taking Greek one.

I'm having a hard time with English, let

alone Greek.

And we had 6 guys in the house

living together, all going to Bible College. And

about halfway, because it's a whole year program

for Greek one, I was struggling.

And so, I told the rest of the

guy, I said, I'm out.

I couldn't have it was just too much.

And Rob and doctor Kennedy

and Neil Fleet would have said, no.

So together, we studied together and helped me

survive the second half.

Without them, I could not make it. Matter

of fact,

several of those guys were dating till I

called the girl, don't call us on Monday

because we're setting green, we're busy.

And Tuesday, don't call us on Tuesday because

that's when the class is because don't bother

to call us on Tuesday because we're grumpy

after that.

But thank Rob for allowing me to survive

Greek 1 and went on to Greek 2.

I like to read a lot of books,

and I kind of calculate

probably between 4 or 5000 book after high

school. I just read 2 or 3 book

a week, and I just love reading history

and stuff,

and biblical stuff,

and novels, and

like to hear about the the war, and

especially the the president,

the history, the biography. And one of them

is

Dwight Eisenhower.

That guy is fascinating. When you look at

his life in the world war 2, he's

a great hero. And then he went on

to be a president

twice. Can you imagine

that you think that his life is flourishing?

I mean, look at it. I bet if

you look in his graph, his library, he

had ton of letter that appreciate him. Lots

of article and video. I mean, he has

so many writing that just really

encourage him. You know, kind of like we

get the kudos note. It just make us

feel great when somebody encouraged. Well, he had

so much,

but here's what's interesting.

After he

finished his term as the president,

he began melancholy or depressed.

Why? Here's what's interesting.

They stopped writing about him.

Even though they had grads, had libraries loaded

with tons of letters that honor him.

The point is,

you'll never be satisfied if you search the

world

hunger.

And maybe, you're after that, I want that

one more praise, and then I'll be satisfied.

No, you won't. You look at Eisenhower's ton

of material that he got.

They're satisfied.

I grew up in the Wawawaw County in

Washington, and I remember in Washington, during the

middle of 'seventy, they

launched the lotto gambling.

And the very first person that won it's

in Walla Walla, I live in a little

town called Wayford, about a 1,000, in a

small country farm community,

and we found out a couple in Walla

Walla won the first $1,000,000.

They were doing fine, they had a regular

job.

Well, 3 years later, they report and ask

them, How are you doing? They said,

Terrible.

We wish we never had that $1,000,000.

You got people coming out of Woodwood claiming

their relative.

Right?

And everywhere he'd go out to dinner, and

say, well, you got a $1,000,000, you can

pay for the whole family. I mean, it

was just miserable, and he wished he never

had that. As a matter of fact, when

you study, multitude of people who win a

lot of money, really, a curse, not a

blessing.

Maybe you heard a couple of months ago,

in Portland, somebody won over 1

$1,000,000,000

I'm going to tell you right now, they

may think they're blessed,

they may think they are going to be

satisfied, I think there can be a lot

of headache in that situation.

Same thing with

trophy.

I joined Toastmaster for many years, and I

knew when I got in Bible College, and

and I'm going to start speaking, I thought,

okay, I need to develop my speaking,

and I want a lot of Toastmaster

speech content.

So much so that I can fill up

the whole wall. Well, I got rid of

all that stuff, I only keep a couple

because they won't satisfy. It's nice to have,

but going after all the trophy

will not satisfy you. Tom Braly won, what,

7 Super Bowl?

And he said, this is all? That's it?

Even the 7 rings, it still did not

satisfy him.

And so you look at all the situation.

It doesn't matter what kind of car you

got. It doesn't matter what kind of clothes

you got. It doesn't matter who you hang

out. Whatever you go after,

you will not be satisfied.

But

how can we be satisfied?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

Let's walk through Matthew, chapter 5. This is

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

from the new,

simple, international.

One day,

he saw the crowd

gathering. So Jesus went outside on a mountain

and sat down.

His disciple gathered around and he began to

teach them.

God blessed those who are poor, for they

reckon they need him,

for the kingdom of God is there.

God bless those who are

mournful, for they will be comfort.

God bless those who are humble, for they

will inherit the whole earth.

God bless those who are hunger and thirst

for justice, for they will be

God bless those who are full and merciful

that they will be shown mercy.

God bless those whose

heart

is pure, for they will see God.

God bless those who work for peace, for

they will be called children of God.

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing

what's right,

for there the kingdom of God is there.

God blessed those who were persecuted for doing

right.

We went that road, didn't we?

God blessed those when people curse you,

mock you, persecute you,

say all kind of evil things against you

because you are my disciple.

Be

happy about it.

Be very

glad.

Why?

Because a great

reward awaits for you in heaven.

And remember,

the ancient prophets were persecuted

the same way.

So, the key ingredient is to search and

find God. Now, some translations,

this one it said,

justification, but this one is talking about

righteousness.

I looked up on Google to find out,

what is American

hunger and thirst for? So the number one

food that we desire, anyone want to take

a guess, what do you think the number

one American food is?

Hamburger.

And number 2, cheeseburger. I thought pizza would

be up there. I'm right.

And number 4 was grilled cheese sandwich.

I think pizza is somewhere down below. I

would put pizza right on top. Right?

Now, thirst, what do you think the number

now, you guys should get this right. The

number 1 thirst that we

like to drink is what? Water.

Water.

Come on, water. Yeah. And coffee is number

2.

And I was wrong on number 3, it's

tea, and soda finally came up with number

4.

While I was preaching

and unable to watch him on the Internet,

you know, I'm one of those guys that

listen to about 1 or 2 1000 sermons

a year, till I get some idea.

And Rob has done such a great job

that I plan to,

I wouldn't use the word seal his sermon,

but here, how I get away with it,

I'm not going to seal his sermon, I

like to, you know, take this and this

and this. We call that research.

So I get away. So he has some

good stuff, so I'm going to repeat it

elsewhere, so if he'd allow me to do

that. But he talked about in his first

sermon about a treasure. So, oh, I brought

my own treasure to kind of go along

with Rob talking about. This is one of

my treasure, and you're curious, what in the

world is your treasure?

Well,

potato chip.

It is my treasure. It is indeed. Now

matter of fact, some of you have been

around long enough where they had a commercial.

I don't know what they still do, but

they said, you can't just eat 1. You

can't remember that?

So I'm gonna do something I've never done

before, folks.

I'm gonna try just eat one.

Okay?

No, you can't have it.

Now, that's satisfactory.

So my goal is to see if I

can go the rest of the ceremony without

taking one more.

Can I do it?

Question.

Raise your right hand if you're like me

addicted to potato chip. I'm just just curious.

Raise your left hand and you're not, you

don't care for potato chip.

Final question.

Raise both hand, you just realized you raised

before a blind guy.

That's what I thought.

We'll get back to that potato a little

later.

So

where do we go to get satisfied? Could

I mention all the other stuff? Driving a

brand new car, don't get in, having a

new clothes and trophy. Now, all that stuff

is not wrong, people.

Making money is not wrong. Because the scripture

said it's not the money that's wrong, it's

the love of the money. Okay? So everything

I share or eating potato chips is not

wrong.

Not in my book.

Many years ago, I decided I did something

that I heard a friend did what they

call the

Daniel 10 day diet, that it's just strictly

vegetable and water.

I did it because we heard another friend

who

did that before he got married and got

sick of the dog. I go, Come on.

Really? So my wife got all that stuff

and they did it for 10 days.

Here's what the weird part is. After the

last day, which would end right after church,

guess what food that I would crave it?

Yeah. I would tell Nan about this, and

she'd guess it, and she'd know why I

crave for the potato chip?

Because after 10 days, I would crave for

my body's salt.

Yeah.

And Cindy was laughing because right after church,

I'm out of here. Where are you going?

Never mind. I gotta go. Where are you

going? Going into the car and over. I

grabbed a bag a big bag, and I

ate the whole thing.

It was great.

My wife said, you're a fool.

I was happy. It took me 10 days

to get there.

Yeah.

But that still doesn't satisfy satisfy me. Right?

So the scripture said, those who hunger and

thirst now we're talking about real hunger, like

me for 10 days. That hunger just got

stronger and stronger every day.

And the thirst is a real strong thirst.

That's what the scripture is talking about. So

what is it? So if you look into

your note, one of the first things that

help us to really be satisfied,

number 1, we're satisfied by

church attendant.

Okay?

I'm going to say something that might

offend some of you.

Since COVID hit, they shut down the building,

and, man, what should we do? So we

got this internet set up, so we can

keep preaching, and Zoom, great idea.

The problem is,

we've got people so comfortable staying home, they

don't come to church.

Okay?

You, online,

if you can't come, I understand,

but you are able,

you need to come.

Watching

from the dead end is like watching the

fireplace on a video, and there's no warrant.

Okay?

Well, you're not going to be satisfied, so

I really challenge all of you who are

behind there. And, you know, it's so easy

to be a p j and drink your

I don't drink coffee, but you guys drink

coffee.

And just enjoy. And just but if you

can't, it's a great idea. But I encourage

all of you, because the fellowship is great.

And sometimes, we only go, oh, we'll just

go once and 1. No. Go every Sunday

because that's where you really get satisfied.

So I encourage you to do that because

Hebrew 1025 said, do not what? Direct

the assembly, the worship. Don't do that.

The second way they help you to get

that satisfactory, I mean, do you want your

life to really flourish?

It's

start going to a small group during the

week, or have 1 on 1 discipleship.

I was converted back in 1983. It was

my brother, Nick.

I was just 22, and I was going

to art school,

and I was just hungry, and the one

other thing I love

is to do some study.

This is the one I picked up in

the track. And a lot of this stuff

is here in the back if you got

a lot of track. I was, just learning

what they can. This one said, 52 simulated

Bible study. Basically,

one study a week. Forget it. I got

this thing done in 30 days.

Could I I did not know the Bible.

And then, later, the summer, because I would

go to the art school, but I want

to stay for the summer, trying to graduate

back in 'eighty 4. If I take some

more classes, I'll graduate in 'eighty 5, to

be an artist.

And then, I decided to have not 1,

not 2, but 3, 1 on 1

bible study with another person, just type of

channel.

Dave Adam, who was one of them, who

just graduated bible college, and I'd go there

once a week with him, and I remember

when Rich Carper, who was a preacher, came

in to Spokane, I'd spend time with him,

and Patrick Gilbert,

who teach a whole bunch of 1 on

1 with a single, and I was single

at the time. I love it. So I

encourage you to get into a small group

or find someone to disciple and to study,

because there's so much in there, because in

this scripture, it helped you to conquer some

of the crazy things going on in the

world.

And if you focus on God, it allows

you to

flourish.

The third thing is that you want to

do with your bible study

and prayer.

I found a statistic just a year ago.

It's bad

that only 3 to 5 percent

of the people at church

Sunday Bible and pray every day.

Let me put that into perspective. If there's

a 100 of you, only 5 of you

are doing it every

day. If there are 200, only 10.

So I encourage you to stick with it

because in Psalm

1, it talked about if you're

a tree planted by the water,

you're going to flourish and grow, and we

can do that.

My phone went off, and I want to

share you something that my brother shared with

me, that this is a cool tool,

and the guy who'd connect the word like,

he'd regret it. Do you realize how many

teenagers

stride

the button? If they don't get 20 likes,

then life is miserable for that day?

Not

satisfied.

And they're told,

well, the phone can be a curse if

they're searching for because they desire for

being noted,

the desire for somebody to care about me,

and God does. Now, in my hand is

a flyer I hope I got it up

right. It's North West College Bible, where Rob

and I went. Now, we're doing everything online,

so we got some more back there, and

I encourage you to pick this up, Take

the class. You can do it at home.

You can do it for free, or you

can audit for $15 and work your way

under lots of subjects. So every year, we

change it for subject. Right now, I'm recruiting

people to take the Bible College Classic because,

sometimes, I help teach, and

I'm trying to recruit your preacher to be

one of the teacher.

I even corner Larry to do it, I'm

too old, I don't know anything about Zoom.

Hire somebody.

No excuse.

That guy can teach, so let's put this

on here so other people can benefit from

Larry and Rob. So I'm twisting their arm

a little bit. Okay? Rob, then we'll talk

about it. Yes.

I said, no, we're going to sign the

dotted line and get your arm.

When you're my side, you can get away

with that stuff. Right?

The final thing you want to do that

helped you to be satisfied

is be involved

in the ministry.

Start serving.

In first

Corinthian 10:31, it said, whatever you do, do

it all for the glory of God.

Not everyone is called to be a preacher,

or worship,

but there are so many different

ministries,

and the goal here, guys,

is

whatever calling that you're in, give it all.

I've seen too many preachers wait until their

last night to do their sermon, and when

you guys come here, you know this.

Yeah.

And if you're teaching Sunday School, then you've

been an adequate time. Then, no matter what

you

do, give it all.

And when you do that, oh, that's satisfactory.

It's just

such rewarding

and so great. Now,

Paul,

in the Philippians, said,

rejoice again, I say rejoice, regardless of your

circumstances. Now, let me show you something.

When Paul said this,

you know what he was in?

He was chained, he was in jail,

and yet he said,

rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. Now, Rob talked

about that. The joy is not about circumstances,

it's about seeing the big picture. The joy

did not come regardless of the good or

bad because of what we have in Christ.

And so what's so good about Paul writing

this letter? See, he also wrote Roman 828,

which I first became a Christian. Didn't I

like that verse?

You know what it said? It said, God

causes all. Now, now I took Greek so

I can qualify the state. The word awe

mean

can you guess it?

Awe.

Is that hard or what? I got that

one. Woo hoo.

But then you look on, it says, god

caused all things to work out for what?

Yes. Is that true?

Yes. Sometimes, we challenge that because those who

are called according to His purpose, they love

Him, and and so I was challenged by

that because once I came out of the

water to the grave

you see, at age 16,

I were told from the doctor that I'm

going

blind. At 8:16, I had 40% hearing loss.

So I'm wearing hearing aid and I'm alluding

Now, the vision is fine. They told me

at 8:30, I'm going to go totally blind.

I have 3 brothers.

All 4 of us are going to be

blind and deaf.

And so, here I am at 8:22,

with the tunnel vision, started working way down,

and I'm supposed to understand, okay, God, how

are you going to cause this

to work out for the glory?

Well, if you look at Paul, because of

his chain,

you and I are blessed to read some

of his letter.

Aren't you glad that he was under this

circumstance? Because that situation, God cut it all

good that you and I, 2000 years later,

can benefit and reap the benefit from what

Paul wrote to us, to encourage us to

live our life, to make our life flourish

because of his word.

If it wasn't for this, we would not

have it.

So here's the question that I have to

ask God.

You see,

at age 15,

until I was

22, I was driving truck.

For real.

A truck, p truck,

bean truck. And later, I drove a county

truck, Caring Rock. I love what I'm doing

and and later, I learned how to use

the backhoe. I had so much fun doing

the backhoe.

I would have so much fun, the guy

took the key away, he could've worked right

through the brake. No, no, no, no, no.

It didn't matter. Let me play with my

toy.

Government job don't do that. Uh-uh.

But god took that away because my eyesight

got worse,

and I thought, okay. Now what? Now,

if my eyesight was fine, I could be

content staying in that hometown and have a

lifetime job, and get to play with all

the equipment, the toy, and work my way

up, but he closed that door.

What's good out of that? Well, it allowed

me to go to Spokane because I was

looking for a church, and I went to

art school. Now you might say, woah. Wait.

Wait. Why do you wanna go to art

school? You knew you're gonna go

blind. Well, here's why I decided to go

to it. It's my compassion. It's what I

love to do. And besides, doctor's not God,

they're just guessing.

And maybe my eyesight will come back or

maybe they might have something to heal or

maybe it won't be 30.

When I graduated from art school,

I was blessed.

Yes. He's back here.

Yes. Get the job that I get to

do.

Anybody recognize this?

View Master. I was a graphic artist for

a View Master company. See, my wife said

I go to work to play.

K. I get to paint, and that's what

I did for a while. And I get

the chance to do that for almost 16

years because I didn't go totally blind till

about 20 years ago, about 2,003,

2,004.

Then, when I came down to go through

work,

I had 5 years of school, and then,

all of a sudden, when I came down

here, the NCB invited me to check out

the school. People said, Oh, you should go

to Bible College. I said, No. Because I

had 5 years to call. I I want

to work. I still want to grow,

but I don't wanna go to bible college.

Now the job I took at the VMAs

is freelance, so I'm allowed to come and

go. And finally, we had a guy, a

bible director, came to our church and said,

you need to go. I thought, like, God

was tugging my heart. Yeah. I was arguing

with him. Kinda like Moses.

Go. I was Moses. God, I'm going blind.

I'm deaf. I can't speak. You want a

guy like Rob, not me.

Grab the Hawaiian kid. Leave me alone.

He would not leave me alone.

Leave me alone. I said, oh my god.

I'll grow up but only 1 year, and

I'm not going to be a preacher.

You see, you gotta understand, when I was

in high school, I was terrified of public

speaking. There's no way you can get me

up front.

You got the wrong man.

Well,

6 years later,

graduate 91,

I'm preaching.

Before that, I was in Bible college for

3 years, and they didn't do any sermon,

and I'd never gone to the camp, and

I got a call from people, hey, man,

when you want to come and speak. Now,

just before that,

I got a chance to do my very

first sermon.

It was a small country church somewhere in

Oregon, so I said, okay. And I did

my sermon. I went to the elder, hadn't

looked at it because, you know, I've never

done this before. I've been training. I've been

going Toastmaster, and I've been learning all this

stuff. And I wanna make sure it looked

good. He did. And so my friend and

I went down to the church, and they're

small congregation. The first two point, they were

falling asleep.

Lord, I told you I shouldn't be a

preacher.

Look at them. They're sleeping.

Man, point 3.

Point 3, I talk about me going blind.

It woke him up, and I shared with

him, no matter

what happened, God still can use a blind

guy and a deaf guy.

They took me out for lunch before I

came home, and I wanted to open them

and said, you

know,

if you did your whole sermon based on

0.3, I think you got a dynamic sermon,

young man.

I took note.

And a week later, they asked me to

come and speak at the

camp, the fireside, and guess what subject I

decided to talk about.

My story.

And when I did my story, right after

the Bible director, Myron Welch, said, you need

to take this down the road. I go,

b b b b b b b what?

I went there to sermon people, and he

want me to go on the road.

I know nothing about this.

Go.

So I'm thinking, on the road again.

Yeah, I'm the country man.

So I went to the preacher in Vancouver,

and then Charles Daly did a lot of

traveling. He got me set up, and we

got to church in Gretchen. I did my

first presentation, and I've been on it ever

since, since 1980. I started out called Handy

Capable Ministry. My wife said, you need to

change that title. So now we call it

living on a blind side ministry.

Isn't that cool?

Because I'm not at churches, but I'm at

camps, and school, and then club. Matter of

fact, one of the reasons why I'm here

is I'm going to camp right afterward.

Why?

A year ago, when my friend named Christie

Johnson called, and she said, Matt,

Camp Grove needs your help. They're short on

male counselor.

But what date? Well, the last week of

June.

Who rents the car? Nan.

So I went to my wife. Did that

date open? Yeah. What do you think? Well,

I think you should go for it, honey.

Okay.

I'm already committed going to camp in Washington,

and, you know, that's later in August. So

I called in, and I explained who I

was,

my background, and said, I'll take you. And

I said, I have one more question

before I committed.

I said, I'm totally blind. Are you okay

with that?

You know what she said?

No way.

We can't allow blind men on a campground

to mold down our tree.

You know that's not what it says. She

said absolutely. Come she had no idea what

she's getting into.

So I went, and here's what's interesting. When

I got there on Sunday afternoon, the only

person who knew me, Doug, he's the 1st

hillbilly Christian that I met 40 years ago.

Great guy. You guys probably know Doug. And

we've been and he's the only one I

know. Everybody else is all brand new, and

they saw me at the white cane, and

I know what's going on. They're going,

is he gonna be okay?

I mean, they're concerned. I'm probably the first

blind

commissioner or counselor on that premise.

After one day, it's, oh, no. He's fine.

See, my goal, not only to teach the

word of God and encourage people, is to

go through the whole week without hugging a

tree. That's a good week for me.

You guys ever hug a tree, they're rough,

and they're set for the

board?

We discussed that Nan and I did met

33 years ago, and they're at a camp

called Tapowingo,

and I did something to call,

well, not a prank, but I call it

tall tale.

I'll have Nan and Rob. Rob, remember

JB's missing?

Yeah.

Made Nangirl cry, but let her explain that.

So it was fun. I I find a

way to get in trouble when I go

at camp.

But I'm back here, and I loved spending

time, because a lot of these kids never

see blind people before.

And so, God allowed me to be in

camp, and then, I graduated,

and also, a couple later, become a certified

behavior consultant. You see what God's doing? He

took away the job I love to drive

and then he opened this door doing the

other thing God called what's good for me.

And not only that, in 91,

I was a drama director.

Some of you guys know Norman Fox? Yes.

I was part of his dad production in

Spokane in Portland. I was in that drama

production.

Love it. And in 91, I became a

drama director, and where I produced

production for kids and adults, Easter and Christmas.

I loved that.

We know that God causes all things to

turn out for good. Even though I'm blind

and hearing impaired,

look what God did with me.

I tried to say no, and then, Look

where I got. Do I miss driving? A

little bit.

I mean, I still think I can drive,

but nobody will give me a car key.

Can you believe that?

I'm still working. Kenneth Kelly's here, I met

him yesterday, he said, You can take my

truck. Yes!

But I'm still waiting for the keys.

And not only that,

in 2,030,004,

I went totally blind, and I had a

crossroad.

See, my hearing loss went 40% to 85.

I only have 15%

of hearing loss.

Thank God for a powerful hearing aid I

can hear. My wife still snored once

in a while. But if I take my

hearing aid out, I can't hear anything, I

love it!

She hears everything.

But the crossroad is, Can I still teach

Sunday School?

Can I still

preach?

Can I still do drama? Can I still

come into camp?

I didn't know, and guess what?

Yes! I'm still doing all that.

God's still using me.

Me. Now, I've got one more thing that

God allowed me to do, and this one,

you guys are going to have a hard

time believing, so I'm going to need some

help.

Michaela Brooks, are you in the house?

Is she here today?

Nan?

You see Michaela?

She's not here. Okay.

But I'm gonna get her later.

What You're not gonna believe that God gave

me a special thing. I'm using that to

give, you know, and whatever talent God just

used for God's glory, in one area

that I do at home,

when I'm not preaching or working or doing

chores around there, I run my own

Are you ready?

Table stall.

Yeah, I still have all my finger.

Oh, there they are.

But because you guys have a hard time

believing that I run the table saw, I

had the guy run the slide and go

ahead and run it. And these are some

of the samples that I made

through the table saw.

Are you seeing some of them?

And one of my favorite projects when the

COVID

2020 hit, I made a 9 foot tall

T Rack. You probably see me standing by

it, and I made a whole bunch. Now

the reason why I'm picking on Mikaela,

could I talk to

the husband,

Jace? He was at camp last month, and

he shared with me that

a little bit of background of her wife

she liked to sing. I go, Well, what

other things that she liked? Did she like

dogs and cats? Did you know she collected

bugs?

I go, really?

So I thought, well, I want to make

something for her.

Is she here? I'm here. Come on forward.

Is Maketa here? I'm here. Stand right here,

please. Okay.

I just got here.

Good.

And you bring your husband too? I did.

He's Okay. Now I don't know if you

saw, but I explained to people that

that do table saw. Now, I talked to

your husband. He he he shares something that

you like to do.

You like click bug. Why? I like

How long?

Since I was really little.

So

because I heard that, I went into my

shop, and I found this. I thought maybe

you can add it to your

bug collection. Okay. Are you ready for it?

I'm ready. Alright. Now I won't bite you.

What do you see? That's so cute. Take

it out and show it to people.

Wow. The caterpillar

is yours. Thank you for talking to the

thing. Yeah. All yours.

When I had a talk with her husband,

and before I got home, this image, it's

in my head, like, Cool. So when I

got it all done, see, nothing to leave

and shop till my wife said, yeah.

Yeah. There a couple

2 months ago, on perfect, I made one

that looked like an ugly pig head, on

perfect, with a horn and eye bug. I

mean, it's just ugly can get brought in,

and my daughter said,

burn it.

But I did.

But when she saw the bug critter, they

said, Oh, this is great. So I hope

Makeda

enjoyed that. I loved that. Let me close

with

a question and a story.

Are you

hungering and thirst for God?

How'd that work in your life?

Are you?

A couple,

mom and dad, are frustrated

because Joey came home for the second time,

they had a report card, all

f's.

They did everything. They took away his phone,

they took away the toy, they took away

the free time, they gave him more chores,

I mean, they did everything, but to kill

him, try to get the grade, what shall

we do? They were at their end. We

don't know.

So,

they decided to take him to the summer

school, the Catholic school. So they took him

on and dropped him off

and see any improvement.

At the end of the summer, they came

back and picked him up, and the teacher

said, your son was terrific.

All age.

What?

Yeah. And he said, this is the first

time in our history that we have any

kid that come in with all f end

up from being all a's.

And then dad go,

mhmm, grabbed his son, then went to the

hallway, and said, what did they do to

you?

And Joey said, Nothing, dad.

You see, when you drop me off and

I walk into the hallway and looked up,

they had a man nailed to the cross.

So I knew they knew business.

Is that what it's gonna take to motivate

you guys?

I hope not.

God loves you. That's why you die. He

wants you guys to be satisfied. You are

not going to be satisfied in the world

itself. See,

the world tells me

that I'm blind and deaf,

you won't have good life, you won't flourish.

I mean, Proverbs 21/21,

it said, Those who pursue, that's another word

for hunger, for thirst and rights,

after righteousness

and love,

you will find

life,

prosperity,

and honor.

Folks, I don't worry about being blind. See,

as I mentioned last month at the camp,

my blindness

and my deafness did not define me.

Okay?

God defined me as a chosen god.

I don't look for

extra help in the world because they're gonna

pull me. The Bible encourages me every time

I read. He tells me, oh, yeah. There's

some stuff that's tough.

I mean, do I have to forgive that

guy that kicked my dog? I want to

kill his cat.

No. You've got to learn to love other

people. Could God teach you? Because he made

it, he wanted to

be satisfying. It's only going to happen if

you find it through God.

If you're not a Christian

and

you finally realize you're no matter what you

try,

you're not satisfied.

Come to Christ. All you need to believe

that Jesus is the Lord,

and then you need to repent, and then

you need to do a u-turn and follow

his way,

and then

you need to confess to Jesus' Lord, and

then you need to quit driving and let

the Lord drive,

or you could let me drive and see

how far we get.

It's better that Jesus drives and guides you.

And then, we talked about in the community,

that you need to be baptized so you

can come out of the water grave, they

take away all of your sin from the

day you're born to

born again, and you got the Holy Spirit

to help you to grow. You see, guys,

it's all about attitude.

This morning, you woke up two way. Either

you say, Good morning, Lord!

Or, Good Lord, it's morning.

How did you wake up this morning?

I don't get up every morning and say,

man, I'm blind again. Where'd that wall come

from?

If you look closely, I've got so many

scars, I don't think Peter is going to

recognize me when I showed

up. But I don't. I'm so busy doing

woodworking, honoring and blessing people, doing Bible study,

going to camp,

and just enjoying life. And, see, I did

a sermon many years ago called, either circumstance

will make you better or bitter.

I chose to let it make me better.

I couldn't be bitter.

If I was, I wouldn't be here.

So I hope you hunger and thirst.

Now, before Rod come up, I got an

issue here.

Yeah.

My question is, what should I do with

this?

You thought I forgot it, didn't you?

Some of you didn't even pay attention to

my sermon, you were eyeballing that thing.

Oh, yes.

Who give me $2? There, $2, $4, $4,

$4, $4 back there, $6 over there laying

the red $6. Do I hear 8? 8?

Good. 10. 10 sold. Sold to Rob Kearney.

Brother, brother Rob.

I'll pay you later, Matt.

I've been checking the mail.

I

when I think of my my brother, Matt,

I think of the word

enthusiasm,

and the word

enthusiasm,

we'll go back to our Greek,

Matt, theos, god,

n within,

god within.

Are you enthusiastic

about life no matter what your circumstances are?

My brother is, and I hope you are

too. And if you don't know the enthusiasm

of having God within, then today could be

your day. Our elders are gonna be available

to pray,

with you if you have questions or

concerns that you'd like them to pray for.

In the back corner, in the left, I

see that, brother Peter Wolf is already there

to pray with you. So we hope that

today,

God will bring enthusiasm

for life to you. Let's stand together

as we have our closing song. Following the

closing song, we invite you to come across

to the gym for our welcome in, some

coffee and refreshments.

Be a time to meet Matt and Cindy,

say hello to them, so we hope you

can stick around for a while. God bless

you this week as you seek the enthusiasm

of the Lord. Kathy.