More Than A Snack Shack - Pastor J. D. Howell 5-6-2026

Brother Nathaniel First King's chapter number nineteen and verse number seven,

and whoever's reading on Brother Jesse's behalf tonight Luke, chapter

number fifteen and verse number sixteen, Brother Caleb, Praise the Lord.

Are you glad you're in the House of the Lord

tonight during midweek service? Bear with me about another forty

five minutes and we'll get out of here. I love church,

though I could be here all night long, praise the

Lord before I got saved. I could be at a

party or a rodeo all night long. I'm glad to

be here tonight, Brother Nathaniel, First King's chapter number nineteen,

verse number seven. My brother, and the angew of the

Lord came again the second time and touched him and said,

arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee.

Arise and eat.

Look at your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor, did you

eat today? I know the people of Bethel Holness Church.

They had something good to eat today, There's no doubt

about it, Brother Caleb, Luke, chapter number fifteen and verse

number sixteen.

Brother and he would fain have filled is really with

the husk that the swan did eat? And no man

gave unto him.

That scripture is speaking of the prodigal son, all the

prodigal's extreme hunger. He got so hungry before he decided

to return home to the father's house. Let's stand for

the reading of our golden text tonight, Matthew, chapter number

five and verse number six. You'll notice these are words

in red. Look at your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor,

did you notice these are the words of Jesus. Now

respond to them with this old, silly person. All of

these words are the words of God. That's right. Whether

black or red, they are all the words of God.

Amen.

Matthew five and six. I will said, blessed or they

which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall

be filled. May we pray, Heavenly Father, we love them,

We praise you, We thank you for the opportunity to

be in your house.

Tonight.

We pray God that you would set a guard at

the ears of this thy people. Help them to hear

what the Spirit of God says into the church tonight.

Not of my words, but of your word. Lord. Your

word is the bread of life. Lord.

That's what they need, is the bread of life. I

pray that we would divide this bread and hand each

man and woman, boy and girl their portion. I pray

that you would anoint this thy servants, set a guard

at my mouth, and help me to say things you

would have me to say, nothing more less heavenly Father,

And may we hear and heed. May these sayings go

below the shoulders. May they saturate the spirit soul on mine.

We pray that we would depart this place joyfully and

not sorrowfully. In Jesus' name. In the church said, Amen,

look at your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor. Church is

more than a snack shack. Amen, I want to preach

a message the Holy Ghost titled more than a snackshack.

Amen.

Our golden text is found in a New Testament book

of the Holy Bible. Saint Matthew's Gospel is the first

book of the New Testament. The title bears the name

of its author, the tax collector turned disciple of Jesus.

Must have knew a little something about the temporal satisfaction

of person experiences while feasting on the things of this world.

For this man to have willingly betrayed his people, the

Jewish people, and have sold out to the Roman government

and worked for them by employment to seize upon that

opportunity to be considered a trader by his own people.

He must have felt that the things of this world

offer temporal satisfaction. My guess is he felt like all

the days of his life he would be satisfied financially

because of his act of betrayal against his kin's people.

And so there's no doubt that there was a period

of time where this man was feasting wondrously upon the

things of this world. But one day Jesus Christ came

to his tax collector's booth, and Jesus pointed at him

and charged him to follow him. And there was something

about Jesus that commanded this man's attention and demanded his affection.

And this man forsook all. He forsook that golden opportunity

given him by the Roman government. He walked away from

that tax collector's booth, and he was willing to walk

with Jesus. During the Ministry of Jesus, which lasted only

three and a half years, even though Jesus said, I

do not have a roof to lay my head under.

I have not been promised all of the meals that

I need. I am not at all barded with money.

I am not at all one that just has overflowing

barns full of grain. But follow me and I'll show

you something. I'll let you partake of satisfying bread. How

many of you are thankful for that satisfying bread? And

our golden texts the Bible said, Blessed are they that

hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

And so I suspect the moment that this man laid

his eyes upon Jesus, he knew that this man was

the bread of life. And this bread of life offered

a long lasting satisfaction to anyone who was willing.

To learn of him.

We remember the rock star that wrote the song I

can't get any satisfaction this evening. We're watching people in

the House of God that can say we are like

satisfied calfs of the stall. There's no doubt whatsoever in

my mind that the expressions on your faces are indicative

of fatted bellies. Spiritually, you're satisfied. I can tell that

you're not panting after some tainted water of this world,

or pining after some contaminated.

Bread of this world.

Sister Howell, took something out of our refrigerator today and

I asked her, I said, what is that?

She said, it's chicken and dumplings.

I said, must we depart from something so glorious and wonderful?

She said, well, if you like fuzzy and.

Slightly green chicken and dumplings, then there's no need for

us to get rid of it. And Sister how was

one that keeps a very clean house and keeps a

very clean refrigerator. But upon closer observation, she realized that

Pastor's favorite food needed to be turned out because it

was tainted or polluted or contaminated by an unfriendly bacteria.

You see this evening watching Brother Jesse and Sister Hannah's

little boys, and one of them little boys likes to

eat more than the other little boys. But I tell

you something about those little boys, or Brother Jesse's and

Sister Hannah's. Every one of them likes to eat. But

that little Martin White Howell, whenever Mama left to go

get them their little sister, he was unhappy about it.

He was not pleased at all to stay with popping

me me. He pitched a fip, and he let Papa

know that he wanted to get back on that black

explore and go with Daddy and Mama. He shook his

head violently in protest from Mom and Dad pulling out

of Papa's yard without him. And I looked at Martin

White Howell and I said, Martin, do you want something

to eat? And immediately it was like throwing a switch.

That little boy. His composure changed, his countenance changed, and

even though a warm tear was gliding down in big, cute,

little chubby cheeks, he knotted up and down. I like

something to eat, And I tell you, I took him

in there and I opened some of Mimi's cookbooks just

to see what his reaction would be. And in those

cookbooks his sister Heill had given some of my daughter

in laws. I found an old fashioned banana pudding. In

Martin's countenance lit up, and you could tell Martin was

excited about the idea of partaking of that banana pudding.

And then his big brother, Micah Howe, at the age

of seven, started thumbing through those cookbooks and showing Martin

all the foods that those pages represented, and all the

ingredients that were found on those pages, and how you

could put this and that together and the end result

would be something so scrumptuous and delicious.

But after a.

While, Martin White Howell got tired of looking at what

could be, and he'd rather partake of what needed to be.

Hey man.

And so from my brief observation of this little man,

I knew he has no problem whatsoever being blessed to

because of hunger. You look at that little man, you

can tell he is not malnourished at all. If you

look at our golden text, Matthew, chapter number five and

verse number six, the Bible said, blessed or they which

do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Notice the first part of that verse, blessed or they

which do hunger. Well, I wonder if Martin whit Howell

got that from Papa Jeremy David Howe. Because I like

to eat. Y'all know, I like to eat good food.

I don't like bad food. But every morning when I

wake up, I think.

About good food.

And I believe here tonight there's people in this building

that know the difference between good and bad food. There

are people in this world that do not know the

difference between a good or a bad entree over there

in Ukraine, there are people that have no idea that

they could go to something called the Golden Corral and

walk inside of there and belly up to a buffet

where they could choose.

Any and everything that they want to eat.

I could take you to Kenya and introduce you to

Pastor Caleb, and Pastor Caleb could tell you I've never

seen food like this before. I've never in my life

seen anything like this. And there's no doubt though, within

every being of humanity there has to be a sense

of hunger because God's rule mandates it to be sod,

and so goes it.

With a spiritual man.

There is a natural appetite and a spiritual appetite for

sustenance and provender.

Amen.

I believe that those boys of Brother Jesse's, that they

walk around with growling bellies. Oh, I heard a pack

of coats there for a minute and I noticed them

little boys were salivating, and I realized they wanted something

good to eat. And it wasn't long before Mimi did

better than Papa.

Papa was taunting.

Them with what we could offer them, but Mimi came

out of the kitchen with something that would satisfy. Can

I tell you, it's one thing to lay your eyes

on the buffets of the West. If you are in

a refuge g camp in Palestine, it's one thing to

lay your eyes upon the buffets that are readily available

in the West. Come on then, to just sit there

and just daydream about what could be or better times

or better days.

Amen.

So I believe those boys and brother Jesse's as they

walk around throughout the day, they recognize they have growling bellies.

And because they have growling bellies, they have growing bodies.

And the only reason they have growing bodies is because

Mama is doing.

Something more than Papa was doing.

Papa was entice and Papa was presenting them with an

opportunity to see what is available. But Mama and Mimi

will actually pull out the ingredients, put them in a

mixing bowl, can conjure up something and put the spread

on and come on and fill up the table.

And I feel like there's people in this building tonight.

You have growling bellies day and night for satisfaction. I

appreciate all of our visitors that are in the building tonight,

appreciate all of the people that have moved from other

states to come here to the Bethel Holiness Church, and

I feel like this must be a reason for.

Why you have come here.

I know this that there are some that seem to

be spiritually malnourished, while there are others that aren't not

so malnourished. But I know there's a hunger. How many

of you are thankful for the sense of hunger? Aren't

you thankful for the hunger pangs? I asked one of

our church members last night, who's been camping in the

hospital for some time now, who is now and I

see you?

I asked him. I said, what have you been eating?

She said, Pastor, I haven't been able to eat anything.

And she talked about things that have been offered to

her and brother rooting us. She said that she turned

her nose up to it because it was not appealing

or it was not appetizing, and to listen to her.

She went on to say, it just was not satisfying,

it was not nourishing. Come on, this sister knows what

it is to eat a girl. And there's a lot

of people in this building here tonight that could throw

up a hand and say I know what it is

to eat good, naturally and spiritually. If you've sit for

preaching her brother Nathaniel, Howell, you know what it is

to eat good spiritually. If you sit under the table

or at the table of Sister Irish.

Wootin, you know what it is to eat good and naturally.

And so you look at these kids or brother Jesse's,

and you can tell they are not malnourished, and they

are not starving to death, but they have growling bellies

seemingly incessantly. They are all ways ready to eat something.

I want you to know.

There's some kids in refugee camps tonight with pop bellies

that are growling bellies, but they.

Do not have growing bodies.

You know why those little children and those people in

those refugee camps and war torn countries are not experiencing

growth and development.

It's because of what they are eating.

As a bass fisherman of yesteryear, I remember going to

ponds where there was not plenty of marine life in

that body of water for those mighty majestic bass to

feed on them. I remember approaching that body of water

and looking at the shallow waters where the minos should

have lived, and I noticed there were no minnos, no shiners,

and no shad and I taught my boys to look

for the food sources. And sometimes I would say, you know,

this little pond right here is on the backside of

a subdivision, but for whatever reason, it is deprived of life.

And we would take a lure.

It did not matter the color, it didn't matter the selection,

it didn't matter the representation. As soon as that lure's

belly splash on the surface of the water, a skinny,

scrolling bassa would strike. And I told those boys as

they pulled up what should have been trophy bassa? I said,

if that bass had it been in a collusive Hatchie river,

would it have been an abundance of food for it

to have partook off on a daily or an hourly basis,

that bass would have raided weigh two to three pounds more.

I've seen what looked like a scrony bassa devower things.

That you would have never thought they would have devoured.

We filayed somehow and looked at the contents in their belly,

and we realized there's no doubt they had growling bellies,

but they didn't have growing bodies. And what was in

their belly, you wouldn't have believe that. I'm telling you plastic.

We've seen plastic bags, We've seen plastic lures. And even

though their bellies were filled to capacity, because there was

no brim or blue gill.

Or shiner or shatter inside.

Of that belly, there was no development or growth. And

I've noticed that to be the trend and a lot

of churches today. I'm not here to judge any pastor

of their ministry. I'm not here to judge any church

or their ministerial team. But I can tell you when

I walk around, I hear nothing but growling bellies, and

I see bery few growing bodies.

Don't you know that we are to be the bride

of Christ.

We are to be the body, and every one of

us is more than a stomach.

Come.

You see, sometimes people go to church hoping to hear

something given from the priest or the rabbi, or the

preacher or the evangelist or the teacher, and that person

walks out of that building with a growl and belly

and with a body that's refusing to grow because somebody

did not hand them a hand on the purpose. And

the Bible said that we are to rightly divide the

word of truth.

I'll tell you every honest.

Hearted father, he will count the sum of the people

that have bullied up to his traumper, and he.

Will look at that dinner table.

And if it be three in attendance, or if it

be twelve, he will divide it evenly without partiality, and

he will give everybody their portion for the daily bread.

And I want you to know that every minister and

every ministry had to be able to rightly divide the

world of truth. And somebody on a know with somebody

in that building his contemplating suicide. Somebody had to know

with somebody in that building's taking of giving up. Somebody

had to hear her for growl and belly, have the

drug at it. I tell you why the drug atic

his old George tonight. It's because he tried church.

That he did try Jesus, I tell you the church

will let you down. The church. We'll run out of

beder that in our father's house.

There is better enough to spare, and nobody's person with hugger. Amen,

pray for me here tonight as I try to preach,

and pray for my son and daughter in law as

they bring forth ano other growling baby. Amen, And this

time that growling baby there'll be a girl with a

growling belly.

You see, these babies are born into.

The world in one of the first things they searched

for is food. And woe hold be to the church,

and woe be to the minister, woe be to the

ministry teens who watch people come in when people go

out without plenty to eat. We talked a little while

ago about the prodigal son. Brother Caleb read our co

text found in the fifteenth chapter of Saint Luke's Gospel,

and Brother Caleb talked about this man being reduced.

Because of the sense of hunger.

And Sister Simmons, the Bible said, and he would fain

have filled his belly with a husker that the swine

did eat, but no man gave to him.

This is the sun of royal pedigree.

This is literally representing the Jewish people. This is representing

people they're supposed to be, the people of God. Come

on a prodigal somebody that once was his child, somebody

that once caught him daddy, somebody that once tasted of

the goodness of the Lord and went out there because

of the limelight and the luster, because of the glitter

and the glamour and ended up in a park country,

devouring everything it could consume. But whenever it got done,

the world left. That's restless spirit and penniless. And the

Bible said he lost his friends. There's no doubt the

family had been left behind, and there's nobody all concerned

about his belly.

He would have filled his belly.

And that's what the drug out of cr is doing tonight.

And the Church has forgot our obligation to tell them

we are here to help other people eat. Take of

the acronym hope. We are here to the help other

people eat. You know why their own drugs, and you

know why they're on alcohol. It ain't an excuse, but

it is one of their reasons. Their country crooners, they

win the Country Music Association of Art being honest and saying,

I'm trying to mask her the pain. I'm trying to

hide the hunger. Oh they were just hunger had thurst

out their righteousness. Think about what they're saying. There's a

tear in my beer because I lost him, my dear.

All I got is a quarter to call somebody who cares.

She left me last night and I'm lonely. That just

ain't no peace under the embers of the Neon Moon

that just stain't no rest is their brother Philip. For

those laying in the streets of Seattle, Washington, you and

I have been there before a few times, and we

have went down the streets that people say you should

not go down.

It's just the way, brother Philip, and our nature.

We put our own life on the line sometimes in

order to help somebody. Brother Nathaniel has been with me.

When I do that, I try to follow the leading

of the Lord. And I look at drunkards, and I'll

look at hormongers, and I look at harlots, and I

look at people that are nothing but skin and bones,

and they're and everything. Lucifer, that dictator will feed them.

It's no more nutritious as a lolly papa is to

a new baby.

If a doctor was to give a new baby.

An astro papa, the doctor would say, are you crazy?

Come on, I'm telling you. They are eating things, but

they are not.

Nutritious, even if they are delicious.

I'm telling you. The church needs to be more than

a snack shack.

It needs to be more or where people come to

the House of God on Easter, where they come to

the House of God for the cantata where they come

to the House of God for Christmas celebration. There needs

to be more than a snack shack where somebody comes

in with somebody hands in a spiritual hersy bar and

because of a burst of energy, they feel good the

next day on the child, but they feel religious for

a week that I want you to know.

You can't run off for a long time.

Ho the hoshy bar aymen, all the prodigals extreme hunger.

When I came into church thirty two years ago and

sat on the back pew that night, I had no

desire to be the pastor of a holiness church. I

had no desire to be the father of a tribe

of thirty and the grandfather thereof I had no desire

even for a wife. That night I was hungry, I said,

I was hungry, and I walked in the church to

see that they have that he bred in the house.

I want you to know there is bread in the

Father's house. It may not be in every church on

the corner, but it is in the Father's house.

My word, I feel all he goes said in this place, Sister.

Wootin, I hate to see a skinny bath.

Amen. I hate to see a skinny.

Fish because I know that fish is suffering in that environment.

And that's how Brother Philip and I feel, and Brother

Nathaniel and I feel when we venture in the.

Places and we see the prodigals in poor health.

Too many people are so bitter and worried about why

the prodigal left the house. And so many people are

so bitter and wondering why the prodigal squandered everything, and

they're so bitter wondering why he wasted all of his

living with harlots. But you know the real father, he

don't care as long as he comes home. He don't

want to know the reasons for why they did what

they did, but he wants to know the reason.

For why you're here. And the motivation was pure. My

belly is empty.

There is all kind of things inside of here, but

it's like nuts and boats and glass and barbie.

It's not nutritious.

I'm telling you here tonight, I'm expecting of and in

fox of people to show up. I have to built

the holess church in these last days and say I'm

seek I'm not having pretty eat.

The hunger.

The thirst says to how They're doing everything they can

to satisfy it. I've already mentioned it. The rock and

roll freak. He put it down the lyric. I just

can't get any satisfaction. Hell was, presley one of the

most restless souls that mankind has ever known and witnessed.

People shake their head and they say, how could the

self proclaim and the one that people work, the king?

How could he be in such poor help? How could

he be in such poor health? He was not only

in poor health physically, he was in poor health spiritually.

I know men do him whenever he was in his prime.

I had a preacher tell me as a young man.

He said, don't you go out in this world. He said,

I watched Elvis fight away behind the scenes, begging for

us to sing a gospel tune. He said, I was

with Elvis the night before he died. He said he

was restless and he was miserable. He said the only

time he ever felt whole was when we, as rock

and roll freaks, we're singing the old gospel hymns. I

want you to know, there's something about the songs of

this red back him north. They offer virtue, they offer

peace of mind, they offer sustenance. They offer provision, They

offer nourishment for every person that opens them up and

looks at them. You need more than filling your belly

with boo slade shoes.

You need the ruby red blood. Oh Jesus Christ, you're righteous. Amen.

So when the prodigal son came home, he's in poor help. Now,

Sister Rachel, you're a mother, and I believe you have

a mother's heart. Just let brother Nathaniel has a father's heart.

You tell me how you would feel if one of

them girls ever goes out to the far country and

they told you they're gonna live it up. And the

reports for the last few years have been they have

been living it up. They've had plenty of heat, they've

been successful. But when you see them coming out of

them spiritual refugee camps, and you see them coming out

of them tattered war zones because of them poor conditions,

you know that stomach is still growling, and you know

that body is not growing. Am I preaching up in

here tonight? Or shall we go to the house?

Amen.

I don't want to just hold you if you ain't

a feeling what God's given me for you here tonight?

I want to preach and be obedient to God regardless.

But I want you to know, because of poor conditions

people are in those states, they are experiencing a sense

of hunger the Bibles, my people perish for a lack

of knowledge. They are not preaching the word of God.

And that's what Jesus was saying. You've got a desire

for righteousness. You've got an appetite to drive an hour

to church. You got a desire to move from one

state to the next for your spiritual man. That's okay.

At the end of the day, you'll be blest because

of it. I said, I'd rather live with an Eskimode

and lovetid in Hour, Alaska and the dwell in the

city I've sought them up, or in the city.

Of New Yorker and live with the wicked up.

I'm telling you there is something about her living with

the righteous.

The summer said.

I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.

I'm telling you, you get a mom and dad, whether

coal mining or washboard. You get a mom and dad,

whether a banker or pauper. But you let them be

full of the word of God, and you let them

provide a wholesome environment at the house, and you won't

find all that their offspring talking to the drug dealer

for some temporal satisfaction. I'm telling you we don't look

for a moment of unrighteousness when we've got a lifetime

of righteousness. It takes a desperate person to beg for

steale bread. I'm gonna say it again, it takes a

desperate person to beg for steel bread. One of my

great family members that I love dearly, he told me

one time, he said, I'm gonna sit right here in

this church.

He said.

Mostly what I'm getting bones, he said, But I'm thankful

that I can pick the meat off the bones. I thought,

if your pastor getting that Bible, I ain't his judge.

But brother Philip just at the drop of a hat.

He didn't know he's gonna be asked to say something tonight.

And I got something good out of that. Brother Robecap

didn't know he was gonna say something tonight. I got

something good out of that. That's how it ought to be.

Church ought to be more than a snackshack. I'm telling

you our choirs ought to be able to do more

then give a concert they ought to be able to

put on a spread. I said, they ought to be

able to sing with the anointing. We need more than

a concert and cantata. We need a canteen. We need

somewhere where there is food.

Food. That's what the prodigal son was thinking. Food. Food.

Jesus himself said, blessed are they that hunger and thirst

at the righteousness? Blessed is that when it said, you

know what, I got more than a snack. Hey, when

I go to Zaxbs, I don't want that two piece snack.

When I go to Popeye's, I don't want that to

pieace snack.

Y'all.

Ask sister how as I walk in there, I say,

at a minimum a three piece meal. But most of

the time she knows if she orders three piece, it's

not gonna be enough.

I'm gonna want to four piece in there. There's no reason.

Whatsoever for you to say I'm tired of chewing on boats,

I'm tired of chewing on barbar I'm.

Tired of chewing on briars.

Y'all praying for me here tonight, you could count on

you old belly being filled where there's bread enough and

despair you go to the father's house. That stomach is

growling day and night. I can feel it, I can

hear it. I'm telling you in my spirit, there is

a hunger that cannot be satisfied. The things of this

world will never satisfy since the woop and their stomachs

will continue to growl no matter what they jest, no

matter what they consume, since to how it will not

nourish them.

You can fill your stomach with grass.

Did y'all know back during the Depression they had something

called grass soup. I'm old enough to have talked to

people and listened to people as they talked about surviving

the Great Depression. There's some of you kids in here.

You can't believe that we're from the nineteen hundreds. Well,

we go way beyond nineteen ninety nine, pow, We go

way on back to the fifties and sixties, in the seventies,

and we have heard those people talk about them uso years.

We've heard them talk about being famished in the famine.

We've heard them talk about victory guards. We've heard them

talk about fuel and food rations. We've heard them talk

about doing without. And I heard them say, you people

are way too picky. If you ever knew what it

was like to eat tangerine and orange and citrus pilings.

In my lifetime, I'm fifty years old. In my lifetime,

I remember watching old timers eat grass soup in my lifetime.

I remember watching poor people eat potato pillings in my lifetime,

I remember watching people fin the soup in order to survive.

I remember my great grandmother telling us she actually witnessed

one of the first vehicles of Henry Ford go buy

their little small Georgia town. She said, we didn't know

what that mechanical monster was. She said, as sharecroppers and

dirt farmers, we looked and it wasn't a horse. It

was a mechanical beast. And I've been right there to

where some of their water wells were. I was right

there where their gourds were. I've actually drank out of

gourge in my lifetime. As a four and five year old,

I made my keen people in South Georgia. Some of

them didn't even have plumbing in the house of my preaching. Now,

I'm telling you how old I am, and some of

you are older than I am. There's a couple in

here older than dirty. You kids believe that, don't you,

hey man, some of you believe some of these old

saints of God was old God's hand when he created

the universe.

Amen, old old But I.

Remember my Granddaddy saying all they got for Christmas was

a tangerine, and they said, we peeled the tangerine and

ate it after a Christmas dinner, which was just a

goose or something they had shot, and the whole.

Family split it.

And then the great Grandma, she told me she tended

the soup with water and she wouldn't eat. And then

my Papa Willard said that night before bed he'd eat

the tangerine or the orange pilling. I'm telling you, sister,

how And when he got older, Papa told me, he said, son,

because of the conditions that I was raised in, growing

up without and the incessant growl and belly, he said,

Papa doesn't know what it's like to ever feel fool.

And my papa grew to be a very large man

because he said, I do not know what it's like

to be satisfied having enough to eat, because we wit

salon without enough. And I'm telling you that's about how

I feel though in the spiritual things, of God. I

never feel feel to capacity. The more I eat, the

better it is. The more I consume, the more I want. Oh,

come on now, I thank God that we can be

like those well fatted Castle of the Star.

Amen.

I've seen food chunkies destroy their bodies, their health, and

their organs because they chose to fill up on sweets

or snack foods.

You know what.

I want to go to church where they have a

rodeo church. Listen, I love horses too. My son told

you wal the other night. He said he was eight

years old and his daddy bought him a five thousand

dollar horse. Well, notice to the church. That was before

I became a pastor.

Amen.

We ain't buying five thousand dollar horses anymore. We're buying

five hundred dollar horses.

Amen.

And everybody in this building knows a little bit about horses,

knows that ain't a lot of horse. That's one you

don't look in the mouth if you know anything about horses.

You know what I just said. Am I preaching in

here or not? I'm trying my best to get this

message across. I walked in there to that sister last night.

She's in I see you struggling to live. I said, well,

you're gonna come back to us, honey, or you're gonna

go see daddy. And she said, did you just say

what I thought you said? And I said, yeah, are

you gonna come back to us?

Honey? Are you gonna go see daddy?

You know, I have a way about me, is stirring

up to fight her in people, and sis, the hell

she come up out of that comatose type, you know, situation,

and she went to pleading the blood of Jesus and

the praying, and she just got into a fit.

If you would just praising her Lord and thanking God.

Did she not, sister? How?

And she did that twice before we left, And I said, honey,

you're gonna have to eat. You're gonna have to have

something to nerve, and you're gonna have to fight otherwise

we need to talk about heaven and we need to

talk about the end of life. And she asked me

a question a lot of people have asked me. Is

it a sin to sign a d n R? I said,

are you saying that do not resuscitate? She said, yes, sir,

That's what I'm saying. I'm talking about serious conversations and

she's watching and listening right now. And sister, how she said,

My daughter has told me not to sign it until

she gets here.

She said, but I'm not at all looking forward.

To somebody putting something on my chest and shocking me repeatedly.

I'll just go on home if it comes to that.

I said, it concerning me. I feel the same way

you have battled poor help for ten years.

And then I said, let me ask the question that

I want to put out there for people at your

funeral if God chooses to take you. I said, how

did you get in renal failure nine years ago?

She said, I did not take diabetes seriously.

I did not take my food choices and consumption seriously,

and I lost my kidneys.

And she said, my help spiral down from there old

that I.

Could dip my help back and listen, it doesn't matter

now what they feed her, she said, able to regain

her help. And I want you to know if you

end up the never satisfied belly up heel, you can

recide every sermon whoever heard preacher.

You can play in your mind.

Every spiritual buffet that every possiby, but there will not

be an opportunity for satisfaction. I'm telling you concerning your soul,

you need more than a snackle.

You need a meal.

She said, I'm here because of a poor diet, diabetes.

I didn't take it seriously. She chose to fill up

on sweets and snack foods, no matter what her body

was crying out, no matter what the doctor was saying.

And that's what we do. We know what our soul

man is telling us. Crack aunt answer, Budwiser and t answer.

Come on, heroin an answer pod answer. But that alter

is and so is that blood of Jesus. But I've

seen them pray and shed crocodile tears, and God spoke

to me and said, they're getting just enough to feel better,

but they're gonna go right back into that pig pen.

Let me ask you a question I asked a week ago.

Do you want to live again on the Father's porch

or do you want to live the rest of your

life in the pig pen. But even though you make

your choices, I still contest at the church ought to

be more than a snack shack in the church, said Amen.

Thirty minutes, Sermonetes thirty minutes, Sermonetes it's gotta be more

than rituals. It's gotta be more than ceremonialism. It's gotta

be more our brother Sam Severs, you go into that

jail and you start preaching to them guys. You know what, buddy,

You're gonna give them more than a two piece snack.

I guarantee you that. It was the last Wednesday night.

Him and I stood right there and talked about the

Lord till two o'clock in the morning, and I flipped

through his Bible.

He did it for me.

I looked page at the page, at the page, at

the page, at the page, at the page, at the

page notes.

I said, Man, this guy right here has been dick.

You dig into this buffet, buddy, you'll pass up candy bars.

I give it to you. Brother Jesse, you're about to

have a baby girl. Your favorite candy bar is a

hersheywood almonds ice cold. Now you know where he got

that from. Daddy right here. But it was about twenty

years ago. I experienced a serious health issue and sister Wooton,

you can't hardly give me five hundred dollars at any

given night to eat a Hershey bar.

You know why, because.

I want to experience the moments of little melodies coming

into the world. I want to spirits, experiencing moments seeing them,

little boys and girls and moms and dads get delivered

around these altars.

How to Ho'm sick or tired.

Of seeing spiritual food junkies destroy their spiritual health and

their spiritual organs they choose to eat all these sweets

and snacks in the church said Amen, I'll say this again,

there's more to a body than a stomach. The stomach

can be filled and the rest of the body can

feel it. You know, the rest of the body says,

you know what, mister stomach, You're filled, You've got plenty.

But we're starving. We're so deprived. And that's what happens.

You go and you hear little sermonette, you hear three

points and a cute little illustration and a cute little song,

and you feel good.

You got your energy bar right.

But there's something about that old fried chicken dinner, some

mashed potatoes, coach saw biscuit, real butter. So I'm preaching

now all you're gonna be hungry. McDonald's stock. I'd buy

it right now. Sneak out the back of the church

with your phoned Amen, buy some stock, because Bethel's about

to leave and flood Little Bell McDonald's.

We're hungry, Amen, We're hungry, ain't we?

I see fill them emotions with nuts and bolts and

barbed wire. They cry, say, boy, I'm glad to know

Jesus loves me. But when they walk out their sister,

how that energy burst, that hunger. That's what the prodigal

son was experiencing what we called a sugar rush, then

a sugar load. Listen, nibbling on a message every now

and then? Is it going to provide the nursement you

need to grow in grace and then the knowledge of

the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let me get Miss Janet,

heill in trouble whether the past there so I'm not

the only one in trouble, she said. Sometimes some of

these people listen, I think, just to be nosy, to

see who's gonna get in trouble with a prophet. And

you know what, you can live off a little nibble

levery now and then. I almost called a few names,

Sister Janet, of those you talked about. But there's something

about coming in here, sitting down in that pew am

I telling it right? Amen, that holy ghost energy, that

holy ghost and his brother Nathaniel singing, has brother Phillips

playing on them drums, has brother Jesse's tickling the ivories,

his brother Caleb's tooting his own horn. Has these saints

of God get unified, and they begin to praise the Lord. Amen,

y'all know Elijah had experienced a burst of energy. Right

in First Kings, chapter number nineteen and verse number seven,

the Bible said, out to such an event, the Angel

of the Lord came again the second time and touched

Elijah instead of rise and eat, because the journey is

too great for them. How many of you know the

journey of life is too great for a spiritual energy

bar every now and then.

Throw me a bar on Easter, Preacher, Okay.

I'll do that, But wouldn't it be better than having

a bar every now and then to have a buffet

on a weekly basis? Elijah, I know fire just fell

out of heaven. Elijah, I know you just had an outburst.

I know you just had a burst of energy, and

you feel like you're gonna run on for a long time.

And then before long he realizes that the Jezebel's threat.

He's running for his life, and you know what, the

Holy Ghost has shaken. And wake up, Elijah, wake up,

wake up. You need to be annoyinged again. You need

another burst of energy. Fires come down, yes, but you're

gonna need a fire to fault again, sister Howell. And

if he doesn't eat, if he doesn't eat, the Angel

of the Lord awakes. Close your eyes, prophet, that's what

preachers are. Prophets. Amen, hey, prophet, arise and eat, and

then it gives a reason for why the prophet, the

preacher that has continuity in connection with God better eat

again because the journey's too great. It was undeniable that

in his moment firefell, But it's also undeniable right now

that he's running for his very life from a woman queen.

And you know what's going to happen since the woot

And if he don't arise and eat, he's going to

contemplate filling his belly with the husk.

Of the world.

You know what's going to happen if you stop going

to this altar, young man and young woman. You know

what's going to happen if you stop taking the walk

One of these days they're going to pull out a syringe.

What was the offense? Tell me none of us know her.

She'd come to work high and hungover, and y'all lost

the great employee. And you said, I hate to do this,

like a loving parent to a child who's being disciplined.

This hurts me more than it hurts you. I can

tell you, knowing this man right here, when that woman

walked out, sister, how he probably thought, what's going on

in her life? It's so bad that she would risk

losing her job for a little high. Oh, the temporal fix,

the temple satisfaction. I feel it, s aster. How somebody

is this close just saying I'm sick and tired of

this world. I'm sick and tired of this God's size

hole and void? Would you feel me up? Lord, with

your goodness and your love. And if you don't arise

and eat, you will die. Notice the holy ghost in

the angel The Lord didn't say a rise and snack.

You think you all are waiting on to grand baby.

I'm trying not to get too big of a hurry

and run out that door. I'd love to be holding

her right now, but I want to give you something

to eat that will keep you here till Sunday. I

want to give you something to eat that'll keep you

from thinking Budweiser will be the answer come Monday. I

want to give you something to eat from this word

of God that will give you a permanent fix and

not a temporial fix.

A rise and eat, a rise and eat.

If you don't receive of this, you won't be able

to give to others. And that's what happened thirty two

years ago. I figured out that if I don't eat

from myself as daddy, my little boys and my little

girls are gonna go out there and they're gonna feed

in hogpins. The Bible said to the Liidjah the prophet,

he said, will arise and eat, and he arose, and

he did eat and drink, and he went in the

strength of that candy bar. No, and he arose, and

he did eat and drink, and he went in the

strength of that meat for forty days, forty nights until

horror the mount of God. He didn't consume a hershey

bar or an almond joy. He consumed meat. Well, I'm

gonna go to the Rodeo church. That's okay. Some of

my keen people go there. But I'm gonna tell you

something they have told me with honesty. There's something new

that doesn't satisfy about that, because they said, we all

know the real reason for why we're there is to

ride horses. Now, if there was ever an equine attic,

equine attict, it's this boy right here. But when I

found Jesus, I found something more satisfying than the wild

spirit of a mustang. I'll tell you, Before I found Jesus,

I could look at a wild mustang and cry, and

I could say, you are my spirit animal. But brother

broke at what you said tonight. There's misery in that restlessness.

And you know what the mustang. There's one just up

the road. He's been out here for a while now.

Every now and then I'll drive by and I'll say, Jeremy,

you old man, you you were no longer restless. Just

how you know what the wild is missing out on.

The restless is missing out on sweet feed in abundance

alfalfa flakes, apple treats.

Yeah, huh right, yeah, whoa.

You could keep that wild heart might have stall you

all you want to, And you flared them nostrils of

a morning I'm free to make my choices. But when

you're sifting through briars and you're you're eating grass soup, oh,

I feel the Holy ghost in this place. And he

rose sister whooting, and he ate of that meat. He

wasn't feeling famished anymore. He drank sister. How he wasn't

feeling parched anymore. You know what Elijah was saying, I'm

well nursed, I'm well so satisfied, and now I have

strength and endurance. I'm done preaching. We just stand tonight. Please,

brothers and sisters, friends and family. Only Jesus can satisfy

your soul. Only Jesus can take that broken heart and

make it whole. If I had to guess the night

I've preached the five people, Brother Philip, that have SATs

settled for grass soup, I'll tell you this, and Ukraine,

I have seen my interpreter at that time, Brother Vadem,

dig my chicken bone out of the trash, and take

his teeth and nibble that bone till its split, and

then eat the bonemorrow out of the bone. This missionary

threw away. And I'll tell you I'm a country boy

from the South. When I throw a bone away. There's

no sin you, there's no meat, there's no anything on it.

When he picked that up, he said, you Westerners are

so wasteful.

I come home.

It was Thanksgiving holiday, and my beautiful bride, she had

put that spread on from one end to the other,

Sister Simmons. We had six kids there and some family members,

and everybody prayed and they said grace, and everybody was

throwing up hands of gratitude, thankgiving to God. And when

they got done praying, I started thinking about that interpreter

pulling my chicken bone out of the trash. I started

weeping uncontrollably, walked out in French door, jumped that fence

where all them horses had lived that I had, some

had broke, many, I had rude. They wanted attention. I

had no to give, none to give. Went up in

the bayhead, if you would. The swamp found me a

high spot. Got up in that swamp on that high spot,

and I knelt down enough, cried uncontrollably, and I said, God,

I feel so guilty because I know the waste that

we're fixing to witness. And I tell you this, in

the world, there is no waste. There's only want. But

there's been times that I walked out of the House

of God after a good service and I thought it

was so rich, it was so sweet, it was so good,

it was so it was so plentiful.

There's no way we took it.

All that Brother told me, he said, I can never

come to the States again because he said, now that

I've witnessed the buffets that are in the States, he said,

I can't live in my country with peace of mind

because I understand we're not okay like our government has

told us we are.

We are starting. We are not the blessed we are without.

And sometimes Brother Jacob, we see people they pass by

and they realize, Oh, it could be so much better

for my daughter, it could be so much better for

my son, it could be so much better. Twenty years ago,

when I packed my bags and moved the little Bell,

God spoke to me and said, Jeremy, it's not about you,

it's about others.

I said, Lord, what do you mean.

He said, it's about your wife and your kids, and

it's about people that's gonna come to that church. And

he cautioned me, Brother Nathaniel. He said, when they're hungry,

feed them. And Brother Ethan. It's not my words, it

feeds them. It's his words. And I wonder if we

could bow our heads right now and close our eyes

at this altar, there is provision that will feel the

satisfied and also fell the longing.

It'll feel the saint in the center.

I've heard Sister wood And say repeatedly, I'm like a

holy ghost talk. I've been eating good at his table

for years, and I'm gonna keep eating good at his table.

I'm gonna say it again.

It'll satisfy the satisfied, and it'll satisfy.

Those that are longing.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness? It

doesn't say blessed are they that are thurston after a

cold beer? Now we know that usually ends up in

our baby boys wrapped around an oak tree at three

o'clock in the morning. I wonder, is there a restless

soul tonight and that needs to come to this altar

and pray. We want to pray with you. Anybody, young man,

young woman? Do you know what I'm talking about? Temporal satisfaction?

You go, you walk out of here, and you say,

I just am not satisfied. I need something more where

are you? You could have been attending this church for

fifteen years. I don't know you could be the one

I'm preaching to. Would you come? Anybody? Anybody calling you?

Calling you? Can't you hear the Blessed Savior calling you?

Just can't be satisfied. I've tried this, and I've tried that.

There's two? Is there a couple more? I'm not surprised.

I remember being that one that said, you know what,

I don't feel that I'm a bad guy. I don't

feel that I want to be a drug addict. I

don't feel that I want to be a drunkard. I

don't want to hurt nobody. But I'm miserable insight, I'm

not satisfied. There's got to be more than two. Is

there one more? As we tarry?

Is there one more? Preacher? I realize I'm so hungry? Blessed?

Are they that hunger and thirst?

Do you know every person in this building should probably

be around an altar right now saying I'm hungry for

another wave of glory. I'm hungry for another meal from heaven.

I'm hungry for another handful of purpose. I'm hungry. I

just can't get enough. Is there anybody else, all right,

everybody that will at your place of prayer, would you

kneel and just ask God to continue to supply all

your needs according to his riches and glory. I've never

seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. It's

not God's will to not that anybody go away hungry.

He will feed you to the full.

I feel the sweetness of God in this place, sweeter

also than honey and the honeycomb. Church should be more

than a snack shack. Praise the Lord. Growling bellies, but

do we have growing bodies? Oh God, help me, help

our family, help our church family, help me to growl