Comfort or Contentment | 9-28-2025

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

Matthew 6:25–30

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.