Unorchestrated Empty Baskets Luke 6:20-28

Thanks for choosing this podcast by New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.

I hope you enjoy the podcast, enjoy the music, enjoy the sermon, and grow into New Heights

in Jesus.

God bless you today.

There's something in my bag here.

Oh Lord my God, you are good, my friend.

Oh Lord my God, you are good, my friend.

I'm speaking all with you, I find my peace.

I'm speaking all with you, I live and move and breathe.

I'm speaking all with you, I find my peace.

Oh Lord my God, you are good, my everything.

Oh Lord my God, you are good, my life.

I'm speaking all with you, I find my peace.

I'm speaking all with you, I live and move and breathe.

I'm speaking all with you, I find my peace.

Alright, alright, alright.

Good morning, good morning, good morning.

We are in just the right place this morning to reach New Heights in Jesus.

Missing a couple of folks, and at the same time we're blessed to be together.

Just a real quick couple of announcements, because we got a lot going on in the very

near future, and it's all pretty exciting stuff.

One of those things is tonight from 6 to 8, down the hall, a lot of fun.

Alright, and so it has been promoted.

So we will almost certainly have visitors, and I hope that you all will turn out, bring

games, or run, or be prepared to volunteer if not, and we'll hook you up with a way

to serve, and we're going to do games down the hall.

I've claimed the God's Kids Gatecrasher Hallway for Midnight Snowball Fight, which

is a repeat from last year, which we had a lot of fun with that.

It's a, we call it Blacklight Snowball Fight with the kids, where they throw white snowballs

at white guys, and pretty cool.

And then Sherry and I sort of invented a new one last night, which we're now calling

Midnight Drive, and so we're doing, if possible, we're going to use the hallway on the other

side of the preschool, if somebody hadn't already claimed it to do.

Midnight Drive, the kids will drive a small remote control car for an obstacle course,

and how far they make it will determine how much candy they get, and it's a light up car,

so it's going to be kind of cool.

So hopefully you got some fun things you can bring and do, and I heard somebody was designing

a dice game, and some cool stuff.

We're going to do some fun stuff tonight with the kids, and let them earn candy, and you

are going to see people, and my guess is you are going to see people you've never seen

before, because as I said, we invited a lot of folks, and a lot of folks come.

And those who are watching on Facebook right now are going to go and they're going to text

their friends, and they're going to send out information about it, and they're going to

tell everybody about it, and who knows what might happen, but it's going to be a fun time

for the kids, which is the most important thing, and to glorify God, which I suppose

is even more important than that it's a fun time for the kids, right?

So that's going to go on tonight.

And then coming very rapidly, next Sunday, Pastor Jerry East and his wife, Janie, I'm

sorry, his wife Janie, my wife, she's B-Street, will be here with us.

And so on Sunday morning he'll be bringing the message, super excited about that.

And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we will have church.

We're going to come together as a body of believers and be the church, Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, and out of this world praise band doing the music, Brother Jerry will be preaching.

And then on Tuesday night specifically we'll be splitting up kids and men in here and ladies

in the cafeteria, and so that's going to be kind of a neat thing that we've never done

before, and so that's pretty exciting.

And then Monday and Wednesday we'll be here and the kids will be dismissed just like Sunday

morning worship.

So Aaron, I need you to make arrangements for that if you haven't already done that.

We'll make sure we have that all covered.

All right?

And so that's going to be a fun and exciting time also for us to also get the word out so

we don't know who might come.

Some people might not be able to come on Sunday because they're in their own church, but they

might go, hey, I want to go here Pastor Jerry at Eastover at New Heights on Monday and Tuesday

and Wednesday or Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, whatever.

So you invite your friends, family, anybody, anybody, literally that you can think of,

invite them to come.

It's definitely a unique experience to be able to do that four days in a row.

And I certainly don't get Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday evening.

That's very cool.

I'm super excited about that.

All right?

And so that's just the beginning because we've got the Grand Prix kickoff next Sunday.

So we're going to race Matchbox cars down the track.

And then after that, schedule some workshops and help kids.

The kits for the Grand Prix cars do cost $6.

So that's $6 per child that's going to be needed.

And they make their own car from scratch.

They set the weight to a very specific amount.

And they can make it out to be anything.

You can make it out to look like any car or vehicle that you want it to look like,

or you can make it something crazy or whatever.

It can be very artistic.

And it will be contest for artistic as well as for racing cars.

Okay?

So there's going to be a lot going on there.

And that's all coming.

And then actually already, the Grand Prix itself will be the end of November,

followed immediately by the parade in December,

followed immediately by Christmas and Christmas activities.

Don't forget the second Sunday in November.

I skipped over, but don't you do that.

We'll be here.

We're going to have potluck at the church.

You can bring your food to church with you and set it up in a crock pot.

How are you going to do that?

And then we'll bring it all together at the church.

You need to gather with, we'll have some games at each table.

Brother Ron's going to make sure there's going to be some little card games and things at each table.

And then we'll have some starter questions for discussion or for biblical discussion.

If you want to sit there and it gets quiet,

you just pick up the paper and say, hey, what do you think about this?

And get talking with somebody.

And that's called fellowship.

Okay?

It's not one version of fellowship, but it is a very important one.

Lots going on.

Those events are all on our website.

They're all in your bulletin.

I just said them all.

You probably knew about them all already.

So you're up here going, well, why are you still talking about this?

But the people that are listening out there didn't necessarily know about it.

Okay?

I have another one.

Hey, we have another one.

For those of you that donated candy,

there is a popcorn tin down here that does not have your name on it,

but it belongs to you.

Everyone that donated candy.

We have six families donating candy so far.

It's not over until 6 p.m. tonight.

So if you want to win that fancy basket of goodies or the jar of M&Ms,

you can bring candy until 6 o'clock tonight.

And what does each of those M&Ms in that jar represent, Alicia?

One pound of, each 10 M&Ms represents one pound of candy.

So we have 297 pounds of candy.

297 pounds of candy.

Okay.

So cool.

But don't forget, we can always use more.

And then we need candy on,

we have an open individually wrapped candy for the parade in December.

So any extra candy will just cushion back.

It will help us be ready for that.

Okay?

Because we throw candy at the parade.

Okay?

All right.

We're going to pray together.

We're going to not touch the phone.

Okey-dokey.

He's going to crawl right on by.

Okay.

All right.

Good job, person.

Okay.

And we're going to pray together,

and then we're going to jump back into worship.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you so much for just,

for being our God, for being our provider,

you are our creator God.

You are our healer.

You are our leader.

You are our owner.

You are our Father.

And we have to praise you for all that you do and all that you are.

Lord, we should do it all the time.

We confess to you that a lot of times we get wrapped up

with what's going on around us, our thoughts, our preferences, our aches,

and we forget.

Or we just don't even think about it.

We praise you.

You are an awesome God, a great giver of many blessings,

and we should praise you always.

We ask your forgiveness.

For when we have not praised you,

we let ourselves get worked up about things going on in our lives.

We know that sometimes that's temptations and distractions.

Those times it's tribulations.

And we should cry out to you in pure joy,

even in the worst of times.

In our flesh it isn't easy.

And so we ask you, Lord, to forgive us,

so we know that through Jesus Christ, your Son,

that's been paid for,

that you know that we are about pleasure.

And we do make mistakes.

There's no guilt feelings, just conviction,

just a desire to do better.

We thank you, Lord, for giving us this place,

for the events that are planned,

for the efforts that go in,

for those who come early today and prepare games,

those who run games,

and those who are out there right now,

even now as we speak,

doing promotions to let people know about the events that can come.

We're so thankful, Lord, for a body of believers and also volunteers

who want to participate in the Kingdom of Vance

and in loving others and serving others

and in reaching new heights in Jesus.

We ask you, Lord, to watch over our services.

We know that you're here already with us

and show up faithfully every Sunday.

And the truth is you're here even when we're not.

You're present in us for those of us who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Maybe there's somebody in the room who hasn't,

or somebody online who's watching who hasn't,

or somebody who listens to this podcast who hasn't.

And I pray, Lord, before we're through,

that you would have your way with them,

that you would call them unto yourself,

and let their salvation be genuine and true.

They would be born again, living for you from that moment,

maybe this moment, forward always.

And know that you came that we may have life and have it more abundantly,

and then ultimately to spend eternity with you.

To spend and pay for, we ask you, Lord, to help us know it every moment

and every just as well.

Let us praise you now, Lord.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. I'm going to ask you to stand up with us.

This is a fun, energetic song, so you can dance to it.

Dance?

Here it is.

I'll give you all my worship I'll give you all my praise

I'll give you all my worship I'll give you all my praise

I'll give you all my worship I'll give you all my praise

You alone are worthy of my praise

I will serve you every day

I will lead you right to your throne I will trust you

I will give you all my worship I'll give you all my praise

I will worship you in everything I do

I'll give you all my worship I'll give you all my praise

I'll give you all my worship I'll give you all my praise

You alone are worthy of my praise

There is an endless song echoed in my soul

I hear the music ring As all the joys may become

I am calling on You, the young, I hear

How can I keep from chanting Your name?

I'm dying for the King And it breaks my heart once again

I will lift my eyes in the morning light So I know my day will live

When I'm awake with You I'll bring Your peace through

And take my song again

How can I keep from singing Your name?

I'm dying for the King And it breaks my heart once again

I'll bring Your peace through And take my song again

I'll bring Your peace through I can sing in the twilight

I can sing when I'm in I can sing when I leave myself

And fall down again I can sing when You make me out

I can sing when You're there I can sing when You bring me home

When I call to You in prayer I can sing with the love breath

I can sing for love And I'll sing when You're there

And take my song again

How can I keep from chanting Your name?

How can I love when I sing in the twilight

When You're there I can sing when You're there

How can I keep from chanting Your name?

How can I love when I sing and it breaks my heart?

I can sing when I'm in I can sing when I leave myself

Alright, you can have a seat. Thank you so much.

I'm all healthy and all good and whatever, but my allergies have been acting up the last few days.

My voice almost broke during that song, so I'm like, whoo!

I must be singing now if your voice is almost breaking. You must be actually singing praises to the Lord.

There's one picture in that song that we passed by where it shows the statue of what is supposed to represent Jesus.

Okay, thank you very much.

It represents Jesus out in the middle of nowhere up on a cliff.

And somebody worked really hard, probably took Him up there in pieces, I imagine, to put Him up there.

And He's standing out there like this on that cliff. It's one of the pictures in that song that we just went through.

And I thought, I've seen a few places on mountains.

In fact, one time we walked to the top of the mountain at Estate Park, Colorado, and Amalia walked to the top of the mountain,

a two and a half mile walk, and she was only three years old.

And it was uphill the whole way. And my dad bribed her with Mentos to get her to the top.

He said, if you walk another hundred yards, you can have another Mentos.

And kept giving her Mentos all the way to the top of the hill.

And we got up there, and guess what was up there?

The very top of the mountain. There's no road that goes up there, whatever.

There was three crosses at the top of the mountain.

And we went, it was kind of like the top of the mountain was here, and the crosses were up here on a little cliff.

And Sherry and I and Alicia was with us, walked up there to see those three crosses.

And I thought, man, the effort, the work to put in to do that.

And why do you think people are doing that?

Why do you think people are going to the strangest places, the furthest away, the hardest to get to,

and they're putting a cross or a statue of Jesus?

I think they're doing it because to them, Jesus is the most important thing.

And when they got there, they saw the majesty of God. He's amazing.

The creation of God is amazing.

And they thought, I'm going to put up a cross, I'm going to put up a statue of Jesus here.

So when people come and see this amazing creation of God, they'll see something about Jesus.

It's awesome.

But better still might be to represent Jesus every day.

So if people see something about Jesus in us, that would probably be better still, right?

All right. So maybe you've been reading your Bible and hearing something from the Lord.

You saw something this week and you came ready to share it.

What do you got?

Twenty-eight.

I'll see you in my video games.

In Monopoly, some of us are younger, some of us are older.

You can shout out later, let me know, or shout them out now.

What's your game piece for Monopoly?

Dog, always, always pick the dog.

Horse.

The horse.

Street fighter, who's your guy?

Right here, I'm going.

New kid, I'm going to turn you in.

It doesn't matter, I lose when I play them all, so it doesn't matter who it is.

I'll go newer on the other kids here in a second.

Okay, fine, Fortnite.

I don't know the characters, just shout them out.

Another good place, Fortnite.

Okay, good enough.

Don't know Fortnite, but good job.

So the idea is, let's think of this though.

You know, when we grab a character, you're like, this is what I'm good at, this is what I'm best at, this is what I do.

But either someone older than you or more wiser than you, or God Himself is going to say,

Yeah, you're good at that character, but this is the character you need to be.

This is the character I think you need to be.

It's like, that'd be so hard for me for Monopoly not to have the dog, because I always have to have the dog.

When I do it, I'm serious, I'm like really like kitty-shabada, I'm like, brr brr brr.

I have so much fun with it.

I don't care, I'll still go to that, even at Fortnite, play with the dog.

So if I had the hat, my heart's broken.

I want my dog.

So I just felt like what God's saying though today to me is that you don't get to be the character you want.

You have to trust the character I'm making you.

The second thing is, I just kind of want to relate to a lot of people.

You know, I've said it before, I had a dad that wasn't really there for me.

He provided it for me.

I had a great dad, but not a godly dad.

I've dealt with so much false hope, false truth, false love, feelings I didn't understand,

people that weren't there, neglected, abandoned, all kind of stuff.

But regardless, all that, and you know, we see it even today, you know, I call it my Christian rant.

I get out of my Christian box and start talking about this, this, and that.

But the world can't stop ranting.

The world can't stop achieving.

The world can't stop getting it all, like they're just constantly, they're all in the motion, they can't.

But us, and this is something I call this, I call this secondary.

Remember I said secondary means second.

I didn't say throw it up.

There are people that have been hurt really bad.

They've been hurt by others.

People have died in wars.

I mean, they're suffering, there's like no other.

You can't fix people, you can't change people.

People are willing to walk on others, and you know, you just don't know why they walk on you.

I mean, there's just so much suffering.

I call that secondary.

Means that our primary, and I'll be real quick, is primary.

I don't know if anybody knows what primaries are, so I thought I'd explain myself real quick.

One is prime.

No two numbers multiplied can make one.

Three is prime.

One times three, yes, but that doesn't really count.

One times everything is like the same number.

Those are prime numbers.

Six, no, because two times three makes six.

And then you take the primary colors.

If kids know this, does anybody know what blue makes?

Give it a shot.

What is it?

Speak it out quick.

All right, green and yellow.

All right, what is orange?

Red plus yellow.

There you go, good job.

So those are called secondary colors.

They're made of different colors.

You got it.

Very good.

Good job.

And so that's what I'm saying.

Nothing makes red.

Nothing makes yellow.

Nothing makes those colors.

I don't want to use any of the other stuff, but those colors are prime.

And so those are secondary.

Everything is secondary.

What we've been through, the mess, is all secondary.

But prime, it is something I thought about.

You help me.

You see, if you can bring it down to the prime.

But I really think about Jesus.

His primary focus, people say, is the cross.

I believe that.

But I believe that his primary focus was to be obedient and faithful to be our sacrifice.

We're going to say that God's primary is the rewards we have in heaven and the rewards we get today.

But no, I say what primary is the foundation that Jesus started.

He's the foundation.

Whatever He did, He never stopped being who He was.

And that foundation is laid.

And no matter what buildings or stores you build, even today, our forefathers, that's why they can't take away the Ten Commandments.

They can't take away the amendments.

They can't take it away.

But the foundation is set and it's never going to be taken away.

Our forefathers, people in war, people local spilled their blood for all that stuff.

It's founded in that.

And the other thing I'm going to say is I like to call it this.

You can call it tannery.

I like the tannery.

And I can say primary righteousness.

But I want to say primary attitude.

It's our attitude.

Christ's attitude is that even though He was God, He chose to humble Himself to do what He had to do.

To be who He said He was.

And so what I'm saying is we all have secondary feelings.

I'm talking to myself too.

But it doesn't change the primary.

And I really think if we would focus more on the primary or secondary, you know, God's work, God's working on us,

no one can figure this out.

Tonight we've got all the fun.

Everybody's going to have to help us.

What am I going to do?

Throw a thousand pieces of candy at people?

Here, take the candy.

Get out of here.

We can't handle it.

We need each other.

You know?

And so I'm saying today where's your primary and where's your secondary?

And no matter what, your primary is always going to be better.

And here's a quick story I want to say.

We're talking generosity.

Let's share this Tuesday Bible stuff.

Please come if not, get encouraged from Tuesday Bible stuff.

So let's tell each other what we've been learning.

But we're talking generosity.

About what could we do?

What talents do we have?

And I love this.

This cry came from the 1900s just the way we've spoken.

I don't know who was talking, but I heard this from a Kentucky pastor.

I was looking for some radio stations.

And something that would speak the gospel.

And this is just what it was.

My journey, I heard this pastor preach this message about generosity.

And he said this.

There was a guy that was through revival.

He was going down the country asking people, hey, do you want to go to revival?

And he went to a farmer and he said, hey, you want to go to revival?

I'm a farmer.

What am I supposed to do?

Leave my fields?

And he says, listen, and I know it won't happen today.

It could, but it's probably 1900s.

Because it's like, sir, I'll do a good job.

Trust me.

I'll do a good job for a couple hours when you go to revival.

So the farmer went.

The farmer comes back with a smile on his face.

He's like, I just got saved.

I gave my life to Jesus.

He's like, thank you so much for tending my crops.

And so that to me is what generosity is.

To me, whatever your gift, your talent, if you could do something for God to do it, just do it.

You don't have to figure it all out.

You don't have to get it all picked out.

But do it for God.

You're not doing it because somehow you'll get a favor.

You'll get a hand five.

You're like, no, because God is generous.

God gave.

God loves us.

Let's go out and do it for Him.

I don't expect nothing from you at all.

Honestly, nothing anymore.

I have everything I need in Christ Jesus.

And so do you.

Amen.

Good work.

Anybody else?

So I was going to try to share the video, but I can't find a version that's edited out.

It's the cuss words.

OK.

But there's a video I found.

It's from Will Smith, the one who did it.

And I talked about this a little bit in the Bible study of the youth group.

But it's about fault and responsibility.

And essentially he says that it might not be your fault if you grow up with an abusive father.

But it's your responsibility to deal with it.

It's your responsibility to grow up and to deal with it.

And however you deal with it, it's your responsibility.

It might not be your fault, but it's your responsibility.

And when I was thinking about that, I was like, you know, it's our responsibility to take care of ourselves,

to take care of our family, and to do the things we have to do.

And it might not be our fault if stuff happens.

Like if bad things happen to you, it's not necessarily your fault.

However, it is your responsibility to deal with it.

And even if it is your fault and you do something and it turns out bad and it's not what you wanted,

it's still your responsibility to deal with it.

So just because bad things happen and just because stuff comes up

doesn't mean that it's not your responsibility to figure out how to overcome it.

That's a good word.

In fact, I've thought a number of times over the years, I might not use those exact words,

but I think he did a good job and you did a good job of explaining it.

Responsibility for what happens to us when somebody else does it or we do it doesn't matter

because it feels a little bit like death.

For example, somebody cheats you on your job and you lie up getting fired from the job, right?

And it feels a little bit like dying.

And I think responsibility is always supposed to be a reminder

that ultimately we have a responsibility before God.

And so the earth always will contain that.

You are not a victim.

The truth is even what's been done to you has not truly been done to you, right?

You are owned by God.

So persecutions and tribulations toward us are really toward God.

People will treat each other and hurt each other if they do

because they don't respect God for who He is.

And so we have to realize that if you can transfer some of that,

the pain if you will or the suffering that goes along with it,

transfer that a little bit to God, which we talked about that a few weeks ago,

giving it to God for any morning if necessary, morning, noon, and night,

and saying, God, I'm giving you this and giving you this and doing what you want with it.

In the meantime, take responsibility as God's representative to deal with it.

It feels a little bit less like death.

And we are alive.

And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you are alive and you can do it.

Amazing standard we can do to deal with whatever happens.

All right, who else?

Any others?

Brother Tony, where's the fire?

Yeah, come on.

Brother, this entire room belongs to you.

Okay.

In Ephesians, it says, maybe some of it's prophets, some of it's evangelists,

some of it's apostles, and I'm in that order because I just remembered orders.

Some of it's pastors and teachers for the equipment of the saints,

for the work of the service.

Let me explain where I'm going with this.

In somebody's infinite wisdom, it designated October as Pastor Appreciation Month.

And also, in somebody's infinite wisdom, they appointed me to present this.

So you get what you get.

Anyway, there's a saying, and I've used it, and the saying is,

the only opinion that matters is God's.

Now, a pastor, think about a pastor, a pastor teacher, which we have in Dan Stevenson,

his calling, his job is to instruct us through sound doctrine, through God's Word,

what God's opinion is, which is God's Word, in our lives that matters to us.

Our life matters.

His life matters.

So that's part of his job, calling.

I've known Dan for not 30 years, but close to it.

I don't know the exact number of years.

But in them years, I've known Dan in a new members class that didn't say a whole lot,

but I've watched him grow, not only physically, which isn't up, it's just been old,

but seeing him grow in the Lord.

And what he was way back then was somebody I just got to know, became a friend,

in those close to 30 years, has also become my pastor.

We don't agree on everything.

I don't see things through his eyes, thank goodness,

and he doesn't see things through my eyes, thank goodness.

But God's put us together for a reason.

We don't know fully what that is.

But it is Pastor's Appreciation Month.

It is Pastor Appreciation Day because it's the last day of the month.

And by his infinite wisdom, they decided to wait until the last day.

But anyway, you can at any time show, say how you appreciate your pastor.

I appreciate Dan, is just what I explained.

Seeing him grow, knowing him for years, and seeing his growth,

seeing how he disciplined himself, and his commitment to the Lord is growing and growing and growing.

That's what I can appreciate.

So, I'm going to say this, I'm going to say this, because it's kind of funny,

because when I was asked by text message, if I could do this,

and I said my famous words, it's sure.

Because they wanted somebody to present you with something,

and didn't want it to be, shouldn't be a member of a family.

I want anybody who is related to Dan Stevens, by blood or marriage, I want you to stand.

Blood, marriage.

There's some who don't want to stand, but they're standing.

I want you to look.

Now, yeah, Stevenson Klan is a big part of our church.

You can sit down.

But this man who has dedicated, has disciplined himself,

has dedicated his life to commit himself to the Lord, has also brought up this family.

And he didn't bring it up, brought them up in the church,

but what I'm saying is, there weren't this many of them when New Heights started.

There wasn't this many of them when I first met Dan.

In fact, there's only three.

So I want you to appreciate that, that he's brought his family along with him.

And they're a part of this church, and they do many things in the church.

And that's to be appreciated too.

So, present the...

On behalf of New Heights Fellowship Church,

in honor of Dan Stevens' during Pastor Appreciation Month on the last day,

we present this to you.

And thank you for your commitment and dedication.

Thank you for your service.

Applause

Praise God.

Thank you very much.

Pastor Appreciation Day is now Halloween,

which I'm sure the kids will be very disappointed with,

but I kinda like it.

We're gonna pray in a moment and go to the Tithes Conference.

Do you have something?

Yeah, I have something.

I have a song that I felt like I should share.

It's a pop worship song feel, and it kind of was like,

came on in the car yesterday, and you know,

anything you could think of.

I was, you know, struggling with,

exhausted, you know, we're really,

the world didn't really matter,

and it just kind of reminded me that when things like that happen,

you just have to keep the world as far from you as you can,

and keep God as close as you can.

I know.

How do you feel?

I know they say that the space between

can make it stronger than we've ever seen.

They might be right, but I disagree,

cause I've never felt stronger than when you're with me.

Sometimes I wonder why you even care,

cause even when I leave you're always there with me.

And like a candle makes a brighter place,

this mark you made on me can't be erased.

I wanna be so far gone in you,

so far nothing else will ever do.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I stood alone and I fell down,

your hands were there to pick me off the ground.

Sometimes I cry cause I can't believe,

your love is big enough to cover me.

Sometimes I've wondered if you even care,

but when I feel far away you meet me there.

And like a candle makes a brighter place,

this mark you made on me can't be erased.

I wanna be so far gone in you,

so far nothing else will ever do.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you,

so far nothing else will ever do.

I wanna be so far gone in you,

I wanna be lost, I wanna be lost in you.

By your shipping night, I wanna be lost in you.

Underneath your sky, I wanna be lost in you.

By your shipping night, I wanna be so far gone in the light.

Today, I wanna be so far gone in you,

so far nothing else will ever do.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

I wanna be so far gone in you, in you.

Your loving, like radiant diamond, bursting inside of me.

He cannot contain, the love that I feel.

Bursting inside of me, he cannot contain.

Your love will surely come find us, like blazing wildfires, singing your name.

God of love, see the light.

I have surrendered to your design.

May this suffering stretch across the sky.

These hallelujahs be multiplied.

Your loving, like radiant diamond, bursting inside of me.

He cannot contain, your love will surely come find us, like blazing wildfires, singing your name.

God of love, see the light.

I have surrendered to your design.

May this suffering stretch across the sky.

These hallelujahs be multiplied.

Your loving, like radiant diamond, bursting inside of me.

God of mercy, see the love of mine.

I have surrendered to your design.

May this suffering stretch across the sky.

These hallelujahs be multiplied.

These hallelujahs be multiplied.

What is the origin of the light?

It comes and nested on the floor.

But it stands without the street, and now it's safe to have one more.

I didn't judge the dead and the saved, but it's time to turn the page.

To understand the fondest right way, and so I'm now just singing, what if this people prayed?

The sun was raised, the ground was seeked and sated, and took itself away.

And what would happen if we prayed for those beloved to leave the way?

If we became the fallen prey and unfortunately lied and prayed.

What is the life that he pursued?

He came from a heart of fallen truth, wanting to kill the man who dreams us.

What if he overlapped too?

What if this people prayed?

And those who bare his head went on to take their place.

And those who bare their own face said that they weren't here.

If I was dead when he left the fallen sin, if I was to leave the tree.

If my people know by my name, I can tell those who themselves have prayed.

If my people know by my name, I can tell those who themselves have prayed.

If this people prayed, and those who bare their head went on to take their place.

And those who bare their own face said that they weren't here.

If I was dead when he left the fallen sin, if only we once prayed.

What if this people prayed?

Even though I walk on the valley of the shadow of death,

And your perfect blood is casting out the air.

You give a kind heart in the middle of this strongest night.

I know one time back I'll know you are near.

You should know me, for I have this blessing.

Who then shall I fear?

Oh no, you'll never let go, you'll never let go, never let go of me.

And if you pray that I may pull the plug that will come,

Of glory and light in the outlaw's long hair.

And there will be a man to be troubled, but until that day comes,

If you know you're clear on the earth, and I will fear no evil.

For I have this blessing, and if my God is with me,

Who then shall I fear?

Oh no, you'll never let go, you'll never let go, never let go of me.

And if you pray that I may pull the plug that will come,

Of glory and light in the outlaw's long hair.

And there will be a man to be troubled, but until that day comes,

If you know you're clear on the earth, and I will fear no evil.

Oh no, you'll never let go, you'll never let go, never let go of me.

Oh no, you'll never let go, through the fall and through the storm.

Oh no, you'll never let go, in every high and every low.

You'll never let go, you'll never let go of me.

There's a place where mercy reigns and never dies.

There's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide.

Where all the love I've ever had never found, is like a flood and slowing down.

At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life, I leave all of you, I leave all of you.

Where your love ran red and my sin washed white, I owe all to you, I owe all to you Jesus.

There's a place where sin and shame are part of this truth.

They are washed as peace with God rivers.

Where all the love I've ever had never found, is like a flood and slowing down.

At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life, I leave all of you, I leave all of you.

Where your love ran red and my sin washed white, I owe all to you, I owe all to you.

Here I am, here I am, here I am.

At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life, I leave all of you, I leave all of you.

Where your love ran red and my sin washed white, I owe all to you, I owe all to you.

At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life, I leave all of you, I leave all of you.

Where your love ran red and my sin washed white, I owe all to you, I owe all to you.

I owe all of you.

It occurs in my Christian walk that fairly often I am hurting.

I think you've probably been there, right? I mean you've experienced something that you hadn't anticipated.

Maybe you lost a loved one, you lost a job, you had a relationship break up, you had somebody who turned out to be a betrayer rather than somebody you thought you could trust.

I mean the list just goes on and I'm hurting.

Just being transparent, it usually takes me a little while, sometimes it's minutes, sometimes it's hours, and sometimes it's days before I go to Scripture with my hurt.

I hope it would be shorter but sometimes it is longer than it should be and I go to Scripture with my hurt.

And then it occurs fairly often that when I go to Scripture, Scripture hurts me.

You think, well you go to Scripture and it's healing, people are like, oh the sweet words of Scripture, everything I read in the Bible is so healing.

If that is your experience with the Bible, well good for you. That has not been my experience with the Bible.

Now it does occasionally, I will find solace there in comforting words about peace and about how God is taking care of me even though I'm in the midst of trials and difficulties and like that.

Occasionally I am comforted but often I find that the Lord corrects me or even will chastise me through what I read and I realize that I am sort of like causing my problem, if that makes any sense.

So today I'm warning you in advance, maybe brace yourself, this Scripture hurts.

It hurt me when I studied it and I had a vision in my head toward the end of what I was studying.

I began to write the actual sermon that when I was in seventh grade there was a young man who was in seventh grade with me and we had a disagreement.

It was pretty bad. In fact he had cracked on me in front of the class, in front of the math class which was the only class in which I felt comfortable.

I was really, because I was pretty good at math and he cracked on me in front of the class and then I said something to him and then he shoved me into a wall and it got physical.

And then he walked away before it was resolved. So we went to the library and I went back into the back of the library and I met him in the stacks where they had the books standing up and the teacher couldn't see and other students were around and we were in hushed tones having it out.

And ultimately it came to blows and I punched him in the face and I split his lip and his lip was bleeding really bad and when I punched him I split my hand on his teeth.

And so my hand was split open between the first knock on the second and it hurt really bad and I'm going, okay now my hand is bleeding, I'm surely going to get in trouble.

And he went to the bathroom and he cleaned himself up and I went to the bathroom and I cleaned myself up and we basically that was it.

We put it behind us. Neither one of us got in trouble for the fight.

But when I hit him I thought I was going to hurt him and actually I was hurt. And then it was all over.

About 10-15 years ago, he grew up, he became a police officer and about 10-15 years ago he took his own life after having seen some very tragic things on the job.

And on that day I submit to you my hand hurt. You know what I'm saying? Because I realized that we really had never made real peace between us and who knows if I, obviously as a Christian I should have done that.

So that's what this text was like. I went to the text, I'm going, let's just look at this, it'll be fun, it's going to be interesting, right?

And then it cut me to the quick. I trust it will do you by the time we are through and I hope you will go with me to the end.

If you've got to go to the bathroom, go now. Because the most dangerous thing that we could do in this scripture is to only get 60% of the way through.

In fact I was thinking about that since morning. I thought, oh no, we Facebook this and we podcast this and whatever.

And someone may only go part way through this message and they may get the cut without the healing and it could be very, very dangerous.

This is a dangerous passage of scripture if you only get part of the story.

Now, initially you're not going to think that as we start to read it. It's going to be, hey this is kind of cool.

Last week we read the Beatitudes, you remember? In here we read the Beatitudes and we talked about them in light of the kind of church we go.

And we talked about how they are the values of the culture of the kingdom. Kingdom culture laid out in the Beatitudes.

Well the Beatitudes are elsewhere in your Bible as well. You can find them in Luke chapter 6.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

And we're going to go there. So grab your Bibles if you would and go with me to Luke chapter 6.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

Amen. This is God's word. We now turn it over to him to make sense of it.

I guarantee you, you will see at least two things in this passage of scripture that you have never noticed before.

One of them comes from here and one of them comes from another. And that just blew my mind.

Like, whoa, wait a minute, that's very interesting. And it was part of being cut to the quick.

Verse 20. 6.20. Book of Luke.

Big gathering of people. And Jesus is about to speak and it says,

And turning his, that's Jesus, gaze on his disciples he began to say.

So we had a similar thing last week in the Beatitudes, you remember?

Jesus had the disciples around him and then he had a big crowd of people.

So as he was teaching, he was teaching through the disciples. There's symbolism there, but it's an actual literal geographical situation.

He was teaching through the disciples to a huge crowd of people.

And he began to say, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Now you remember we talked about being poor in spirit.

And this word poor here is very similar to the one we looked at last week in Matthew 5.

And it's talking about not being able to help yourself. Lacking.

Lacking in strength to do what needs to be done. Or lacking in finance. Or lacking in food. Or whatever.

So he says, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

And someone might say, well it seems like he could be saying the same thing.

If you're poor, the other one said poor in spirit, you'll remember?

Those of you who were in here last week.

Blessed are the poor versus blessed are the poor in spirit is two totally different things.

Obviously the poor in spirit are poor, but they're unable to help themselves in their spirit and they know they need God.

This said blessed are the poor. And someone might want to make that out to be about that.

But you're going to see later in the text that that's not the case.

He's literally talking about being poor. Not having enough.

Not being able to help yourself get out of a difficult situation because you don't have enough.

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is that person, place, or thing in which God reigns.

And so God is going to reign in the poor according to this verse.

Simple. Read more into it if you want to, but be careful.

Because he's going to explain a little bit in a little bit.

Verse 21. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Remember last week we had the phrase hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And someone would try to make this beatitude about hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

And saying well that hungering could be talking about the same as the other, but I submit to you it's not.

And we'll see why in a minute. How we know that.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

So if you hunger, if you lack, God is going to ensure, God is going to make it so that you are satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

So again, if you're sad, broken, hurting over something that has happened, you shall laugh.

God is going to make it so. He's going to make sure that it's so.

And again, you could make it about mourning like they talked about before and again spiritualize it and whatever.

But I submit to you, he's literally talking about weeping.

He's talking about being sad.

He's talking about encountering adversity and difficulty and struggling under it.

Verse 22. Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you.

We understand being hated.

Ostracizing means kicking you out or not including you.

And cast insults at you and spurn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man.

So when they do those things to us because we are standing up for Jesus or for Jesus' sake,

because they are actually against Jesus themselves and we are Jesus' representative or any human could serve in that capacity,

they would be evil. They would insult.

They would ostracize people just because they want to hurt God and we are available.

And if you experience that, he says, blessed are you.

Verse 23, he says, so much blessed are you that you should be glad in that day and leap for joy.

Remember that commercial, Toyota, where they leap up in the air and click their heels together?

We should leap for joy.

For behold, your reward is great in heaven.

So God is saying, if you are the subject of insults, if you are ostracized, if men hate you for the sake of Jesus.

So if they are doing it because they want to strike against God or they are doing that because you are representing God

or whatever, if they do that, then you will have great reward in heaven.

Pretty straightforward.

For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.

You understand?

Okay, 24.

Now we are going to get the other one.

This is how we know that those things are about those things.

Since now we are not over-spiritualizing, he is going to explain it to us.

He said, but woe to you who are rich.

For you are receiving your comfort in full.

So that is the opposite of the first one.

He said, blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

We said, well if you are poor, then you are going to receive the kingdom of God.

So says God.

But woe to you who are rich.

This is the alternative of blessing.

It literally means like bad stuff to you.

It would probably be the easiest way to say it.

Bad stuff to you who are rich.

For you are receiving your comfort in full.

Now right there, let me just step aside for a second.

Go with me to a parable that isn't a parable.

A story that Jesus told about Lazarus and the rich man.

Lazarus was sick, diseased.

He was sat at the gates of the rich man's property.

And every day the rich man would walk by him and see Lazarus sitting there suffering.

And the rich man didn't take care of Lazarus.

And he didn't reward Lazarus.

He didn't bless Lazarus.

He wasn't generous toward Lazarus.

Then they both die.

Lazarus and the rich man.

And they go.

Lazarus goes to heaven.

Beyond what we'd call the pearly gates.

He's in heaven.

The rich man goes to hell.

He's burning in torment.

And he says to the angel who guards the gates,

or anyway without getting into great detail there,

he says, please let Lazarus come there.

Just dip his hand in the cool water.

Stick his finger in my mouth and cool my tongue for just a second.

It's very intimate.

He's going to get down on his knees in front of a diseased man

who dips his finger in the cool water and puts it on his tongue just for a second

to have just that little bit of relief.

And of course, he's not.

He can't do it.

There's a huge rift between here and there.

Those that are there cannot come over here.

Those that are in heaven cannot come over here to hell.

And those over here cannot go over there to heaven.

It's done. It's sealed permanently.

A huge rift between us.

He can't do it.

I say, okay, then send him back to talk to my brother so they won't come to this place.

Right?

And the angel says, even if one rose from the dead,

if they won't listen to Moses and the scriptures,

they won't listen to one even if he should raise from the dead.

Talking about Jesus.

Remember that parable that's not a parable?

How do we know it's not a parable?

Because all the parables don't have names in them.

The only ones, the stories have names.

The parables don't.

There was a farmer.

There was a rich man.

Right?

But Lazarus is named.

So the poor guy is named.

It's not a parable. It's a story.

These are actual guys.

A rich guy had a diseased man named Lazarus.

And Lazarus is in heaven right now.

And we'll go there one day if you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you'll meet Lazarus.

But you'll never meet that rich guy who wasn't generous,

who didn't take care of Lazarus, and who received his reward when?

On earth.

Woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

When the rich guy speaks up, that's what he's told.

He said, Lazarus is receiving his comfort now.

You received your comfort while you were on earth.

So very practically, very simply said, if you are wealthy,

whether you believe you are wealthy or you are okay financially,

you are wealthy, you have plenty of money, Jesus said, woe to you.

That hurts.

Because I'm going to be pretty transparent as I look around this room.

I think we're all doing, on this scale, we're all doing okay.

Like, well, I don't always have enough money to pay my bills.

But if you've got a cell phone and a vehicle for transportation

and a roof over your head, you are wealthy by this standard.

You are certainly not poor by this standard, right?

Which is poor, lacking, not able to help yourself.

But you are able to help yourself.

So you are not poor by this standard.

You are rich.

And Jesus himself said, but woe to you who are rich,

for you are receiving your comfort in full.

25. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you shall be hungry.

See, he's talking about literal poverty, literal hunger.

Right?

And he says, if you are hungry, now you shall be satisfied then.

Then now he says, woe to you who are well fed now, for you shall be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

And just an aside real quick from that, I submit to you,

you better take the things of Jesus very seriously.

You don't have and cannot hold your eternal soul in your hands.

But God can.

You need to take the things of Jesus very seriously.

He says, woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

You say, well, we laugh, we laugh about jokes, we laugh about things we see on the internet,

we laugh at parties, whatever like that.

But this is very significant.

He says, woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

God will make it so.

26. Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.

Be careful if people talk good about you,

because when people talk good about you, what they say better be true.

You better be good in Jesus Christ or otherwise it's a problem.

Remember Herod sitting on his throne and they're all like,

the wisdom of Herod, oh my goodness, what he just said,

those are the very words of God coming out of him.

They all praised him, the very words of God coming out of him.

And what did he say?

Nothing.

He didn't correct them.

He didn't rebuke them.

He let them say it.

And what happened to him?

Within a few months worms ate him from the inside out.

Be very careful, Jesus, of woe to you when men speak well of you,

for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.

27. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,

pray for those who mistreat you, and we'll stop there.

That's our text for the day.

First thing I need you to see out of this text that jumped right out at me

is that you better get some empty baskets.

You better get some suffering.

You better get some missing pieces or some hurting,

or you're going to miss the ultimate filling of God.

What was promised?

Nothing less, be poor, or he says, if you're poor, yours is the kingdom of God.

And then he says, woe to you rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

You're getting most of your comfort now, but you're going to go to heaven and live as a pauper.

But if you're rich, you're getting your comfort in full.

And Lazarus was rich and spent his time in hell for an eternity because he was rich.

So you could say it simply, you want the kingdom of God?

Get poor.

But that's a problem because God is actually the one in charge.

And so we talk about getting empty baskets or getting lack

so that we can receive these blessings that God has promised here.

And if we don't get them, then a lot of times there's a promise in the Bible,

and if you do what you're supposed to do, you get the promise, right?

Or there's a promise God will do a certain thing, and there's no negative side to it.

So you say, well, if you don't do it, for example, Romans 8, right?

God will work together all things for the good for him who loves the Lord and is called according to his purpose.

So if you love the Lord and are called according to his purpose,

it's a promise that God will work all things together for your good.

And if you don't love the Lord and aren't called according to his purpose, you lose the promise.

Follow?

But this is not that.

If you are not poor, you lose the promise of the kingdom of God.

But more so, you then get the woe that Jesus promised as an alternative.

You follow?

He says, woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

This is not a situation where you can go, well, I'm not poor,

I have the promise, but I'll be okay.

I've got other promises.

It's not like that.

This is a promise negative, a promise bad, a promise of bad to you if you are rich in this lifetime.

Except we cannot orchestrate the baskets in question because who set up the parameters of our living?

Who determined how much?

If you would try and say, well, I want to be poor, I'm going to be poor,

you tried to give everything you had away, first of all, you'd have to make 100% sure that you do it in a way that God wants you to do it,

which is hard to do.

Secondly, you would have to make 100% sure that you were prepared for all the blessings God's going to pour out in you

so that you could then use those things to bless others and make sure that you continue to be impoverished or poor without hope and without sustenance.

In order to really get there, you're almost going to have to wound yourself.

You're almost going to have to lack in health because you always have the ability to go out, make money or invest or do something to bless other people.

You always have that ability.

So as long as you have the physical ability to do things on behalf of others, you're rich compared to this poorness that he's talking about, a poor lacking in ability to do.

So we've got a problem, don't we?

The Bible says, be poor, inherit the kingdom of God, be rich, getting all of your blessing in this lifetime.

That's the problem.

Well, here is the biblical method, standard blessing that Jesus is actually teaching about.

Let me say to you, number one, you've always got baskets.

Everybody's got baskets.

You've always got baskets.

Now, here's the cool thing.

This is something I never noticed before.

I hope it's something you never noticed before, but if not, you can just kind of go, yeah, I knew that.

It'll be OK.

You're familiar with Jesus feeding the 4,000 and Jesus feeding the 5,000.

If you're not, I'm going to briefly tell you the story.

Jesus gets together 4,000 people there, the men plus women and children, right?

Another time he gets together is 5,000.

There are two different incidents.

Don't let anybody ever tell you it's the same.

They just have the number change, whatever.

The parables are told, or the stories, no, not parables, the stories are told back to back.

One incident 4,000, one incident 5,000, in the same gospel, the same disciple recorded the incident of the 4,000 and the incident of the 5,000.

Here's what I thought was possible.

It's possible that Matthew records a teaching to the 5,000 and Luke reports a teaching to the 4,000 or vice versa.

And that's what we're doing, right?

Matthew 5 was maybe the 5,000.

That was a sermon on the Mount.

It's supposed to be the biggest ever speech he ever gave, whatever.

5,000 men plus women and children.

And then there's another time this says he's on a low plane.

Maybe he's at a low plane.

He's teaching the 4,000 plus their women and children.

Maybe that's what that's like.

But we don't actually know that for a fact.

But the bottom line is two different incidents.

Once he feeds 4,000 men with their women and children, so who knows how many people.

And once he feeds 5,000 men with their women and children, so who knows exactly the total number of people.

But the interesting part of the story is they start with next to nothing.

Everybody there is hungry.

Right?

Well, let's read what that says.

Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now for you shall be satisfied.

Okay?

So that could be.

Go right along with this message.

So now I'm going to give you an object lesson, he says.

I'm going to show you what I'm actually talking about.

Now that's where he teaches like the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed grows up, becomes a great big plant, gives shelter to many.

Like the smallest of seeds grows up.

He talks about the kingdom of God and how it expands, how it multiplies, how it magnifies, how it does incredible amazing things all over the scripture.

But now he's going to show it and he feeds 4,000 people with a couple of fish and a couple, you know, a little bit of loaves or whatever.

Or 5,000 people here with a little bit of food.

And he multiplies it.

And he gives it, breaks it, prays over it, gives it to disciples.

They pass it out to everybody.

Here we go.

Hang on.

What can we learn from that?

Well, Jesus is an amazing provider.

The poor will receive the kingdom of God.

We can learn these things from that.

But there's more.

Because after they're done and they feed everybody, what do they do?

In the case of the 4,000, what's the very next thing they do after they feed everybody?

No, not rhetorical.

Let's do it together.

What's the next thing they do?

After they feed the 4,000, pick up the leftovers.

Does anybody remember how many leftovers?

Seven huge baskets full of leftovers.

Hang on.

Where did the baskets come from?

4,000 people there, men, women, children.

They're all there.

All of a sudden, Jesus is feeding everybody.

They have on hand seven empty baskets to pick up seven full basketfuls of leftovers after Jesus feeds them.

I submit to you while it looks like on the surface that parable is about how Jesus provides, how miraculous Jesus is,

how awesome He is as the King of Heaven and He was there in creation.

He can do all these things.

The miracles speak of Him.

He's talking about how He's Lord and He'll be Savior and He's the Messiah and He'll be sacrificed.

And all of that may be in there, but actually it was meant to teach them you must have some empty baskets.

And the truth is you do have some empty baskets and we'll get to that in a moment.

You have to have some empty baskets.

Parable, or not parable, the story of the feeding of the 5,000, right?

They feed the 5,000, skip to the end of the story.

They pick up the leftovers.

Anybody remember how many?

12 overflowing baskets full.

Where are the baskets coming from?

They had empty baskets.

They're out in the wilderness listening to the teaching of Jesus.

These are not the kind of baskets you can turn over and sit on.

So they weren't using them for seats.

And they probably brought stuff in the baskets initially to eat on the journey coming up there, right?

And then they stayed and were taught for a long time.

And now the baskets are empty.

And somebody just put this, I don't want to do this basket right now.

Just put it over there, right?

And the next thing you know, your empty basket is being filled with all these leftovers after everybody has eaten from Jesus.

You have to have empty baskets.

You have to.

The beauty of it is life produces empty baskets.

Since the fall in the Garden of Eden, since man walked away from God, since God turned away from the way that God would have him to live,

man has always been producing empty baskets.

Were there baskets in the Garden of Eden before the fall?

I'm going to say probably not.

No, most likely not.

You know why?

They tended the trees.

That's all they did.

They didn't tend the trees like, oh, we're going to take a basket.

What do we need a basket for?

Just eat right off the tree, right?

It's fresh.

It's the basket.

Why would you have baskets?

They didn't use them as seats.

By the way, sitting on a basket when you got a bare butt would be terrible.

That would be horrible, right?

You wouldn't want to do that.

They sat on the soft grass in the garden or whatever.

They didn't have to do that.

They didn't need baskets.

They were harvesting.

But now they go out into creation and God says, now the ground is going to yield up

thorns.

You're going to have to work hard.

You're going to have to hoe it.

You're going to have to do all this kind of stuff.

And you're going to need baskets because when the plants yield, you have to put the plants

in the baskets and the fruit in the baskets, whether it be vegetable or whatever, take

it back, store it in a lot.

Then it's going to get winter.

It's going to get nasty.

Rainy season over there, snowy season in other parts of the world.

You've got to save your harvest.

And then next spring you take the seeds from your previous harvest and you replant.

It's not like the Garden of Eden where it takes care of all that for you.

You're going to have to do all of that.

Every since the fall, man has been creating empty baskets.

Now they're not only empty baskets in the way of food, but they're also empty baskets

in the way of money, in the way of comfort, pain, suffering, endurance and fatigue, in

the way of broken relationships, in the way of self-esteem issues, health problems.

People have diseases and are dying.

That happened after the fall.

Nobody had diseases and dying before the fall.

All of these empty baskets are being created constantly by life.

So you have empty baskets that you didn't necessarily have to go, I'm going to buy an

empty basket today.

Here's the great beauty of these empty baskets.

God creates the empty baskets, but he creates them just the right size.

I've lost a couple of loved ones, but the truth is I've not lost somebody.

I've lost a brother in Christ a couple of times.

I lost Judy who was living in our house for the longest time.

I really love that woman, but I've not lost my wife, not lost my kids.

Other people have lost close loved ones to them, especially during COVID.

We've had a lot of loss.

There's an empty basket there, but you don't pick the empty basket.

God picks the size of the empty basket and then God, according to this, is going to fill

up the empty basket.

He says, blessed are you when you weep now, for you shall laugh.

The more size in your basket, the more bits of bread and blessing from God you can put

in your basket.

So the empty baskets are being created by life and by sin and by the failure of creation

that happened after the fall.

And then people are spending their lives working to fill them up, but you can't do that either.

So you can't create the baskets.

You cannot make sure that you have empty baskets for God to fill up.

And you cannot fill the baskets yourself.

If nothing else, that would be covered under blessed are you who are poor, right?

Because if you could fill the basket, then you are not without capabilities.

You're not poor, you're rich, and you're getting all the comfort you need now.

This is the problem that I have with counseling for mourning or people saying,

well, I don't have enough money to buy this.

Well, I'll just get him a job.

Get him a job.

Get him a job.

Right?

And all of the solutions that we come up to to empty baskets are shadows at best of the

great thing that God wants for us.

God is not trying to make you rich, and He's not trying to make you poor.

But the fact is that if you are poor, if the situation develops you are poor,

then you have a promise here to receive the Kingdom of God.

And if you are rich, you have a promise here that you are already receiving your comfort,

and you will receive woe.

It's almost like we're caught between a rock and a hard place.

I can't make my own baskets, but I want to be filled up from God.

And okay, I've made my own baskets, now I'm not allowed to fill them.

God has to do it, and God won't seem to do it.

I can't get Him to do what I want Him to do.

It's like we're trapped.

He further warns in this text, don't let others determine the state of your baskets.

Oh my goodness.

Welcome to 2021.

For sure there is out there someone who will tell you that everything that's wrong with you,

everything that's wrong with your life, they will tell you what you need,

what you spend your money on, what you need to spend your money on in order to solve your problems.

They will tell you how to feel better.

Everybody is an armchair wise man in 2021.

Just get on social media and post something about one of your problems and see how many people chime up.

Or just post something and say, I need prayers.

See how many people pop on there and say, praying, praying, praying, little prayer hands.

Yep, me, I'm in, yep, okay, got that.

I don't know if they pray or not, but I've seen people get on there and ask for prayer

and have a hundred people tell them they're praying.

Now nobody out of those hundred people actually steps up to do anything about the situation

that they're in.

Nobody shows up at their house to lay hands on it.

And they don't want that necessarily because they want to fill their baskets themselves.

They want to feel like they're being prayed for so their baskets get taken care of on their own

without actually having God take care of it.

But nobody shows up at their house and puts their hand on their shoulder and prays for them

or anoints their forehead with oil.

They won't go to church on Sunday, but they'll get on Facebook and ask for prayer

and have a hundred and twenty people tell them they're praying for them.

But some of those people won't be going to church either on Sunday.

They won't be worshiping God.

They're not praying, they're not reading their Bibles.

They're not letting God fill up the baskets.

We're looking for all of these solutions on how we're going to fill up the baskets.

And then he says, Jesus says it this way, he says,

Woe to you when all men speak evil of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.

Woe to you when they speak well of you.

Basically, he's saying you can't let them determine the state of your baskets.

You follow?

If somebody comes up and says, you know, you're a beautiful person and you're doing a great job.

I love the way you do this.

I love the way you do that and whatever.

And then because they say that, you feel good about yourself?

You've got a problem.

But if you go to Jesus and you say, Lord, I need to know who I really am.

I need to know what I'm supposed to be doing.

I need the comfort that I'm supposed to receive.

I need the chastisement that I'm supposed to receive.

I need to be directed and encouraged to go in the right direction and so on.

And Jesus does it.

Now you don't have a problem.

Now, if Jesus sends somebody to encourage you,

I'm going to be transparent.

I've been going through a spiritual warfare for the last two weeks myself.

And then I had about two weeks of peace.

Before that, I had about three weeks of spiritual warfare.

And I was greatly encouraged by what the church did this morning,

especially by the words of Brother Tony.

It greatly encourages me.

But here is the fact.

I can't orchestrate that basket.

I can't fill that basket myself.

And I better be darn well sure that if the Lord is going to use Brother Tony

or our church to fill the basket, that's how He's going to do that.

I better be darn well sure.

I take that back to the Lord.

And I don't feel better because someone made me feel better.

And don't go to the Lord to make sure that the things that were said about me

are true and created by God.

You can't orchestrate your baskets.

You can't find the right baskets.

The size would not be chosen by you.

You can't empty your baskets.

And you can't fill your baskets.

Paul says in Galatians 5, it says,

Do not fulfill the desires of the flesh, the lust of the flesh.

The things that you want, you can't do that for you.

If you're shopping the internet thinking about,

I need to buy this and that will make me feel better,

or, oh, I love that, or I love this thing, I'm collecting these, I'm going to buy this.

If everybody knows that you're the person to buy X for,

then you're probably filling some kind of basket with X.

And it's time to stop and think about where do the baskets come from?

They come from life.

They're empty because life is like that.

You're not going to always have somebody to encourage you.

You're not going to always have somebody to lift you up.

You may be poor.

You may struggle financially.

You may weep for sorrow, for broken hearts over relationships or jobs or lost loved ones.

The person that you thought you could trust betrayed you.

You're going to have empty baskets.

Don't let those empty baskets be created by what others say about you

or be filled by what others say about you.

Life will do it all by itself.

And because of the way God has orchestrated life,

He will make sure that the basket is just the right size.

It's filled at just the right time.

It's empty for just the right time to drive you to do what you're supposed to do and so on.

This is what people think is actually going on.

1 John chapter 2 verse 16, it says this, it says,

1 John 2:16

For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

So everybody that lives has lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and a pride of life.

And when it talks about pride of life, it talks about being able to fix the problems,

sustain yourself, you don't need God, you're not poor in spirit basically, you're okay.

And I know what I'm doing.

And that is, all of those things, lust of the flesh, which means your body wants it,

lust of the eyes means your mind, your eyes want it, pride of life means you're okay.

All of that, those things are, wait for it, not of the Father.

They're empty baskets, but they are not of God,

which means they are provoked by other people, and they are provoked by us.

They are baskets that we choose.

We see them as empty. We think it's wrong.

Remember when I said I go to scripture sometimes, and I'm hurting,

and I go and I'm looking for a solution, and I get hurt more?

Sometimes it's because I think I'm hurting, my basket is empty,

and it's a basket I chose for myself, or a basket I made empty,

I dumped out the stuff that was in it, and said, well that's not good enough,

that's not counterpoints to blessings basically, I can do that, yeah,

but I know I'm actually bad in this way, and all of that,

and ultimately I made the basket empty, and then I'm taking the basket to try to get it filled,

and if I'm going to get it filled, I've got to get it filled with not God stuff,

because it's not a basket from God.

But there's one more verse.

Right after 16 it says, those things are not of the Father, but of the world.

They are worldly baskets. They are the worldly creators of baskets.

The next thing he says, and the world passes away,

and the lust of the world passes away,

but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

So the baskets that we are all worried about getting filled,

all concerned, regret, mourning, worry, all depression,

all these things that we're flossing about basically,

most of them come from the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,

they are not of the Father, and they will pass away.

Because the world does so, and the lusts of the world do so,

lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life, all passes away.

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Do you want to go on?

I know I'm giving you something difficult as we move to our conclusion.

I'm giving you something difficult to embrace.

Let me begin the conclusion by telling you about God's baskets.

Because this will be the solution that we need.

The world creates all kinds of baskets, as I said, comfort, pain, suffering, endurance, fatigue,

broken relationships, self-esteem, poverty.

All these issues that arise are constantly going on.

God's got some produce, and you could say you have a basket

labeled for every kind of produce that God wants to make for you and in you.

And they are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, kindness,

meekness, and self-control.

These things are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

They won't feed you like an apple off a tree, but they will sustain you like fuel for eternity.

In your hunger, decide, I may be hungry, but I will still be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

I will not covet what other men have.

I will be satisfied with what God decides to give them.

I will be satisfied with what God decides to give me.

God has given me the capability to produce physical things in this lifetime,

to work or to manage details or whatever, and I will not engage in producing those things outside the will of the Lord,

because if I do, I will simply become rich, receiving my blessings in this lifetime, and none in eternity.

Against these things that I have just named, there is no law, Paul says,

and everyone stops there.

But he actually goes on to say,

and they, these people that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

You hear it now?

This is what Christians have done at the moment of being saved.

The empty baskets that the world wants to tell you you have,

that the world wants to propose the solutions for you to fill,

that you want to choose for yourself,

the ones that you would select off the back shelf and pull forward,

that you would carry around with you, waiting for God to fill up those baskets,

those baskets that are driven by the lusts and the affections of this world,

which will die with the world when God creates the new heaven and new earth,

they will be gone, or will die for you when you die and go to heaven,

and I submit to you, if you die and go to hell, they will never die.

They will be with you for eternity.

But if you die and go to heaven, they will die, they will be burnt off, those baskets,

that you chose for yourself, that others tried to inflict upon you, and so on.

We, who are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

So get some empty baskets for crying out loud,

but don't get them from the world, don't get them from TV, don't get them from social media,

don't get them from some kind of book you read, don't get them from your family,

don't get them from anywhere except from God.

Say, okay God, I'm suffering, I'm hurting, what am I going to do about it?

And if God says to you, what are you going to do about your suffering and hurting?

Well, I want you to suffer and hurt, then suffer and hurt.

And when God decides to fill up that basket, you're going to rejoice,

and you're going to weep the whole time, and then laugh all the way to the eternal bank.

If your brother or sister in Christ who passed away is in heaven with God now,

when you dance with them in heaven, when you sing songs and laugh with them in heaven,

the weeping that you went through on this earth will pale, and eventually,

it says God will wipe away every tear, it'll be gone.

Which is why Paul also says that we mourn not as those who have no hope.

But some do, and it's because they have a basket that they've chosen for themselves.

And God's not filling it up, which comes as no great surprise to me as I look at this text.

So get some empty baskets now, or miss the ultimate filling.

But get your empty baskets from God, not from the world,

but for the consumption of resources gone by the wayside.

Paul will say it this way in Galatians 6.9, he says,

Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, wait for it,

we shall reap if we faint not.

When do the baskets fill up?

When the reaper reaps.

When the workers go into the field to harvest the fruit.

That's when the baskets fill up.

I get it, you've got some baskets, you've got them from God.

You're mourning over the loss of a loved one, but you're trying to do it in a godly way.

You're giving and generous with your wealth so as not to be hoarding riches or whatever,

trying to be generous, whatever, if you're like,

but I feel like I'm not doing enough.

Well, maybe you're not. You figure it out. Ask God, let him lead you, whatever.

Get your empty baskets from God, and in time, God will fill them up.

Get them from the world, and they will cling to you like leeches until the day you rot in hell.

Jesus Christ died on the cross.

Can we really bemoan the suffering that we go through

compared to the price that was paid for our eternal salvation?

They walked through the fields, and the disciples picked grains,

just grains off the wheat to eat them because they were all hungry.

Jesus said, I have nowhere to lay my head down on a bed.

The Son of Man has no place to call home.

Can we really complain? Should we really grow weary?

Should we really get all that frustrated when we lack?

Or should we measure our lack by God's standards and say,

Okay, God, I lack. This lack.

Is this an empty basket that I'm supposed to have that you're going to fill up?

It's no rule, is it? It's not easy.

Get your empty baskets from God. How do you even do that?

This is said about rules. A rule versus a principle.

A principle comes from the inside of a person.

It doesn't really speak all that well in language a lot of times

because the things that you feel inside are hard to put in words.

A rule is on the outside. It's simple. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it.

It's a restriction. A person just says, I'll obey it.

But a principle, on the other hand, is a way to exercise your mental and moral powers

and all that you are to be what you're supposed to be by that principle.

Dr. Frank Crane said it this way. He said,

A principle supports us by the armpits over life's passes,

and a principle makes us sure-footed.

Listen to me. Life creates empty baskets.

Whether or not you take those empty baskets on yourself,

whether or not you get hung up by them,

whether or not you listen to what other people tell you you need

outside the kingdom, etc., that's up to you.

You can make a rule and say, I'll never take a basket that doesn't belong to God.

But I submit to you, you're going to spend a lot of time trying to figure out

what basket doesn't belong to God or not.

I mean, it's not your fault that so-and-so dies.

It's not your fault that something broke down.

It's not your fault that so-and-so said what would hurt you the deepest or whatever.

And then suddenly the basket is on you.

And you go back to the Lord and work through it and figure out,

is this a basket that God has given me?

Does it make me a loving person?

Will it build joy in me?

Will it help me have peace ultimately?

Ultimately, does it breed patience?

Ultimately, do I become more gentle?

Ultimately, do I become more kind?

Ultimately, do I become more meek?

Ultimately, does it build faith in me?

Ultimately, does it help me learn self-control?

And if that basket has those purposes,

then it's just sitting waiting for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to be piled in.

And if that basket has any purpose other than that,

chuck it, burn it, get it as far away from you as you possibly can

because it's no basket of the Lord if it's not made for fruit of the Lord.

That's the principle.

On the Milan Cathedral, the door on the right says,

that which pleases lasts for a moment.

The door on the left says,

that which causes trouble lasts for a moment.

And the door in the middle says,

nothing is important except that which is eternal.

And that's the standard.

These fruits, they are eternal.

They are what we will experience in heaven.

They are what we must embrace now.

How do I know that every day Jesus wants you to be turning away

from the baskets that you've chosen for yourself,

from the baskets that other people have heaped on you?

Because Jesus said these words,

and they are the final words that I'll say in the sermon today as well.

He said, and He said to them all,

if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,

take up his cross, and follow Me.

Take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Let him deny himself.

So you've got some baskets that you chose for yourself.

It's time to deny them, to say,

these are not the things that God wants for me.

And instead, choose those baskets that God does want for you.

What will breed those fruits?

What will grow them?

What will nurture them?

What will unleash them in your life?

Those are the baskets that wait for it,

have to be empty before God so He can fill them up.

And you say, well, I would learn self-control by this activity.

If I just cut that out, I would learn self-control.

And you try to cut it out, and you don't.

And you try again, and you don't.

You try again, and you don't.

After years, you're still trying.

You haven't cut it out.

In the process, you just might be learning self-discipline.

And that basket might be that basket for that harvest of self-discipline

that you are learning, that you're slowly filling,

or that one day God will fill completely.

Do not embrace the things of this life

over the things of the Kingdom of God.

Let your baskets be empty before God so that He can fill them up.

You might be here today, and you might say,

I only just now am able to trust God to handle taking care of my baskets.

The truth is, it might not be in those words,

but if you have not fully trusted God with your life,

then you've not been saved before now.

That's the reality.

If you've continued to make decisions that do not honor God,

that do not put God first, that do not walk the course of the Kingdom of God,

if that's how you've been living your life,

then you're probably not a follower of Jesus,

because that's not the road that Jesus is on.

And now Jesus is saying to you, come follow me.

Come follow me.

And I'm asking you, will you?

And it will look like life will continue to create baskets for you,

and you're going to say, well, that's not my basket.

That's not the basket that God wants for me.

That's not my basket.

That's not the basket God wants for me.

Oh, here's one that will breed love in me.

Here's one that I can love others.

I can learn to love others.

Yep, that's my basket.

And I don't know.

I guess there could be more than nine that God wants to pour into you,

but that much I know for sure there are at least those nine.

Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior

and earn us for the first time ever today

and begin to live your life for the Lord?

Maybe you say, I have.

I have been living my life for the Lord.

I have tried to be a follower of Jesus,

but I also realized that I've collected a bunch of baskets,

other things that I'm concerned about,

other things that I'm waiting to be filled up,

other things that are not truly of God.

And if you're waiting for money, if you're waiting for sustenance,

if you're waiting for relationships, if you're waiting for health,

if you're waiting for to get over something bad that happened,

none of those baskets are from God.

None of them.

They're just not.

And you need to give them over or get rid of them

and get on with the baskets that are from God.

And I'm asking you to do that.

I'm asking you to burn them, chuck them,

throw them as far from yourself as you can

and only collect the baskets that are from God.

You can't orchestrate this.

And sometimes it's going to be tricky because it moves.

It's not as simple as, oh, this works.

Sometimes you're going to go, I think this is a basket from God.

You might start filling it for a while, and you might go, wait a minute.

It turns out this is not a basket from God, and you've got to chuck it.

And you're hard labor.

Don't send good money after bad.

Don't send good work after bad work.

It's like I had a relationship.

It turns out this guy was a dirt bag or this girl was a dirt bag.

Or it turns out that I had a job and I thought it was everything,

and then it turns out it really wasn't.

Or whatever.

Chuck it as soon as you figure it out.

It doesn't matter how much work you've put into it.

Get rid of it if it's not for God, if it's not of God,

if it's not going to collect the fruit from God.

Maybe you're here today and you say, I need this to be my church home.

Or I need to be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Or I need to repent of a specific sin.

Then you do that as we play this song, so close out our service.

But as you do that, you don't sing.

Don't even do it.

Just say, God, in my heart, I want to be yours.

And make the decision that you're making today,

and then make that decision public in front of everybody.

Why do you think Jesus says that he is ashamed of me in front of men,

I'll be ashamed of him in front of my Father?

Because that's the pride of life.

Right?

That's you saying, I don't need Jesus to do, I don't need anybody to do anything.

It's the pride of life.

And that dies.

Jesus can't bring you in to heaven if you aren't willing to claim him.

He won't.

He'll let you go where you're saying you want to go, separate from him.

So whatever decision God is calling on your heart to make today,

you make that decision.

And you don't back down, and you say it boldly,

and then you let it affect everything in your life.

Start looking at the baskets that don't belong there anyway,

and chucking them, and looking at the baskets that do,

and saying, God, I will wait on you to fill them when you are ready.

And I will not grow weary, and I will work and reap in due time.

I ask the praise team to come forward and lead us in this song.

And in a moment, as soon as they're ready, we'll ask everyone to stand up,

if they're comfortable with you, so sing with us.

But if you're making a decision today, then you don't sing.

You just come to me, come down front, not to me, but to Jesus.

Or you just let me know right where you are.

Hey, that's me, and I've got to speak up.

And then as soon as we're done singing, I'll call on you, okay?

All right, we're ready.

We're going to sing this song, and we'll sing this song as I close in on him.

And then you make the decision that God is calling on you.

We fall down, we lay our ground at the feet of Jesus.

We bring ourselves mercy and love at the feet of Jesus.

And we cry, Holy, Holy, Holy.

He is the Lamb.

We fall down, we lay our ground at the feet of Jesus.

Let the prayer this love is the mercy and love.

The King is offering to God, it wasn't accepted.

He brought His basket full of His fruit.

You say, here it is, Lord.

God looked with disdain on His offering.

God's exodus.

God's move.

God's taking to your heart today.

No good phrase speaking out.

One more verse.

Come on.

We fall down, we lay our ground at the feet of Jesus.

Let the prayer this love is the mercy and love at the feet of Jesus.

And we cry, Holy, Holy, Holy.

He is the Lamb.

Holy, Holy, Holy. He is the Lamb.

I don't know about what we could write in entire theology about empty baskets.

That's how meaningful it was to you.

I hope it was meaningful to you.

But I want you to think for a second about how, from Cain and Abel,

everywhere through, what happened in the book of Judges?

Well, every man did what he felt was right.

Their baskets, their fruit. Not God's.

You could go all the way through the entire scripture and see that theme.

And have you ever, has anyone ever thought about where the baskets came from at the feet of the 4,000 or the 5,000?

Ever thought about why they bothered to pick up all those leftovers?

They could eat leftover bread for a month, right?

It won't even last that long, right?

But it was a great statement.

God wants to fill His baskets, your baskets that are His baskets, up to overflowing.

And He does go on to talk about it in the measure that you give in that same passage in Luke.

That's where it says, in the measure that you give, sow what we've given unto you.

We love others.

And in the process of loving others, some baskets are going to be created.

They're going to be painful baskets. They're going to be hurtful baskets.

They're going to be lacking baskets.

Things that we don't know what to do about baskets.

You've got to turn them over to God.

And if they're God's baskets, then they'll stay in your life.

And He'll fill them up in due time.

And if they're somebody else's baskets, then get rid of those baskets.

You can't get rid of them as fast as you can, because all they're going to weigh you down.

We live for God.

And as God's people, we have crucified the loss of the flesh and the affections of the world.

Looks like there's a lot of good things that we can do.

But they are.

They're restraining us.

They are the things that hold back the great things that God wants to do.

We're going to close in prayer at this time.

Is there anyone who needed to speak up and say,

Hey, I need to tell you that I feel like God was saying this in my heart from right where you are.

And you bowled.

Going once.

Going twice.

All right. We're going to close in prayer.

Last, Brother Reverend, Reverend RJ Sho to pray for us in closing.

Would you do that, please?

Do you have a father who will think for this time together?

Thank you for everyone that's here.

God, I pray that we just continue to grow and seek your will.

Lord, I pray for everyone here that we may follow you and learn from you and grow as Christians and see your kingdom grow.

And pray for the church mission tonight that it goes well and that most it glorifies you.

Pray that the kids have fun and that they realize that we're doing this not only to have fun, but to give you glory.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen. Thank you so much.

Go to your therefore and be the church.

Thanks for listening.

I hope you've grown today.

And if you seek the Lord, he will always work with you and help you grow and reach new heights in Jesus.

Just a couple of quick events I want to mention upcoming to you.

This particular podcast was from the day of the Hall of a Lot of Fun.

You heard about that.

Well, as a podcast coming up online, the Hall of a Lot of Fun has come and gone.

And it was a wonderful thing.

We had lots of kids come out and play games and win candy.

Quite a few church volunteers and even a few community volunteers come out and run games for us.

And it just was just a blessing and I think a great honor and glory to God.

Midnight snowball fight was a huge hit.

Kids love throwing the snowballs and the glow in the dark and the black light and seeing that like effect.

And then also midnight drive, which was driving a glow in the dark and headlight empowered race car through an obstacle course.

And a dim room.

And they were really liking that and a lot of the other games that were really cool.

And so that went by and I pray that out of that, God has been glorified and honored.

But there's always a lot of cool things going on at New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.

And you can usually see about them on our website at churchtoledo.com.

I'll get that out.

But real quick, I'll mention to you upcoming this coming weekend beginning on Sunday, the 7th, I think is the right date.

And that pastor Jerry East from Mississippi will be with us and he will be preaching the beginnings of our sort of revival.

And we're going to do church together, worshiping God, praising Him and looking to reach New Heights in Jesus Sunday through Wednesday.

And so we'll be back Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night.

We'll try to podcast those services for you, for those of you who can only get them on podcast.

But maybe you're in the Toledo area and you'd like to come out and join us for one of those services or all of those services.

We're going to have some theme nights in there and so just some good stuff with that going on.

There will be some light refreshments before the service in case you need to put your dinner off until after.

And the kids will go out as they normally do and have a lesson.

And then on Tuesday night, Tuesday night of the revival, we'll split down men in one area and ladies in another and children in another.

And so we're going to have a great time focusing on God and reaching New Heights in Jesus.

Also coming up on that same Sunday is the Grand Prix kickoff.

And so kids come out and race matchbox cars down the track and then see some examples of what might be made as we go into the Grand Prix season.

We've got about a month until our Grand Prix, a few workshops coming up and things like that.

Throughout all of it, we'll continue to worship God and put him first.

Throughout all of it, we'll continue to be the church as he's ordained for us to do.

Check us out on our website. You can give there. You can find ways to serve there.

You can look at what it takes to be a non-resident member there.

Of course, I would encourage you to find a local church near you that you can be part of and give and serve and be part of the kingdom.

But the information about being a non-resident member of New Heights is also on our website.

And so you can take a look at that if you will.

Also teach you maybe something about if you don't already have a good understanding of some about what it means to be a church member and to be part of the King of God at work in a local church.

Then join us whenever you can. Certainly join us in prayer.

Certainly join us in advancing the Kingdom of God wherever you may live and I hope reaching New Heights in Jesus.

Check out the website churchtoledo.com.

Dial in for many more podcasts and we're going to just keep right on until Jesus comes again.

Thanks again. God bless you today.