Sell Out To Buy In | Pastor Paul McGee

Amen. God bless you today.

So good to see all the faces that are here, Amen, in this

holiday season, Amen. And you've made time.

You've carved out time in your life for the real reason, Amen,

that we're gathered here today. We're so thankful for you to be

here. Amen To any guests we have most

of you that I see out there, I think we see from time to time.

Amen. And that's good too.

Amen. That is good too.

And so we're thankful today to have you.

Amen with us. We're going to be turning to the

Gospel of Matthew this morning. The Gospel of Matthew chapter

#13 I hate to disappoint, but if you came for like a typical

Christmas sermon that happened 2 weeks ago, OK, that happened.

I was early, I didn't get the memo, but that happened a couple

weeks ago. Amen.

So if, if that's your fair, I advise you to go on Facebook or

YouTube, go back a couple weeks and you'll hear about the

perfect Christmas gift and such. But this morning I'm going to, I

want to read from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, just a

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

couple of verses of Scripture, starting with verse #44 today,

Amen. The Bible says again, The

Kingdom of heaven is likened to a treasure hid in a field, which

when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof

goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man

seeking goodly pearls, when he had found one Pearl of great

price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Amen. With the help of the Lord, today

I want to speak to us simply this sell out to buy in, sell

out to buy in, Amen. Let's ask the Lord to help us

today. Father, I thank you God for Lord

your Spirit, God that we have already felt in this place, I

pray God you would help us in the next little while.

God that our lives and our hearts can be challenged and

perhaps changed by the word of the Lord.

I pray God, those that have come in, Lord God seeking Lord Jesus

for her something others, God that May God just be here

because it's the regular fair Lord of what takes place.

Lord, each God is able to be ministered to.

Lord by the Holy Ghost and by your spirit, we will not fail.

Lord to thank you for what you accomplished and do here today.

In Jesus name we pray Amen, Amen, Amen.

You may be seated this morning in Jesus name, the Gospel of

Matthew. It's primarily written to a

Jewish audience. And so in doing that the Jews

had a a custom of theirs that they avoided at much cost to, to

pronounce the divine name of the Lord.

It it was not something that they would typically do.

And so that's one of the reasons why Matthew and his writing the

Gospel, whenever he refers to what we read a lot about in the

Gospels, in the Bible over all, for that matter, whenever he's

referring to the Kingdom of God, he refers to it as the Kingdom

of heaven. Both of these terms, Kingdom of

God, Kingdom of heaven, are used, often interchangeable in

the Scriptures. And in Matthew 13, Jesus is

addressing to begin with quite a large crowd.

The Bible says that he even stepped into a boat and it

pushed off just a little bit from shore to be able to address

the multitudes that had come to hear what he was teaching.

He was teaching by parables using several different stories

that different people in the crowd might be able to relate

to. He was using examples of a

farming and fishing and, and sowing seed and, and all these

different types of examples that people might be able to relate

to and similes, if you will, like we read the Kingdom of God

is like type of scenarios trying to make the Kingdom of heaven

relatable to the crowd, the Kingdom of God relatable to his

diverse audience, where one simile or one story or parable

might be able to relate with one better than the other.

They might be able to catch something exactly what the

Kingdom of heaven or God was about better through one story

than another story. And so he's not just using these

various parables and similes just so that they might be able

to relate to it. But indeed, the Kingdom of

heaven and the Kingdom of God is, is so vast and so

multifaceted, if you will. There's so many different layers

to it. And that that he's using these

different venues to try to explain all the different facets

and angles of the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God.

It's just too much really to convey in one setting is just so

vast. And so although he understood

that one similar one parable may fail, perhaps by using several,

they could have a fuller or a complete picture really what the

Kingdom of heaven was all about. And so in Matthew chapter 13,

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

there are five additional the Kingdom of heaven is like

statements in addition to the two that I read in my text to

you today. But the awesome thing about

parables is this is that parables just tip typically have

one point. They just really have really one

focus, one driving point that they're trying to get across.

And so it's Christ is giving all these likenesses to the Kingdom

of heaven. He's driving home a point or an

idea each time he shares. 1:00 We, we have in the Scripture

talking about how the Kingdom of God is like leaven that's hidden

a few measures of flower and it's so it's impact and power so

pervasive that it impacts the complete lump and which it was

put. We have that type of concept.

We, we have the concept that the Kingdom of heaven is like a

mustard seed that's planted in the ground.

But when that grows and the power and the impact of that

comes to fruition, that it is a tree larger than most of that

day that even the birds of the air come and invest on its

branches. And so Christ is relating to

those that he is speaking to that the Kingdom of heaven or

the Kingdom of God. It, it, it's impactful, it's

powerful. He, he, he speaks in other

places as, as it is a good seed that's sown in the ground and

someone comes and sows tares in the night hour.

And then there's a separation of tares from the wheat.

He speaks of another time of it being like the Kingdom of heaven

is like a dragnet that's bringing in a variety of fish.

And even in that moment, there's a separation between that which

is good, which is just debris, and that, that and that which is

debris. And so he's talking to us about

how the Kingdom of God is very distinct or that there's

separation in the Kingdom. But when he talks to us as he

did in our text, and he tells us about a man that discovers a

treasure that's hidden in a field.

And he tells us about a man that is a merchant, that this is his

life of being a searcher for pearls, and goodly pearls at

that, and finding a Pearl of great prize.

God is relaying a facet or layer to the Kingdom, to us, that the

Kingdom of heaven is a treasured Kingdom.

The Kingdom of heaven is a valuable, valuable Kingdom, but

there is only one Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

It's the domain, if we were to further define the Kingdom of

God, it's it's the domain where God's authority and his will is

acknowledged. Jesus Christ in his earthly

ministry, He walked even among the Pharisees, those who were

perfect as it seemed in keeping the law, and he would speak to

them and say the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

And he was relaying in reality that I'm Christ Jesus, I'm God

manifest in the flesh. I'm present right now walking

among you here for these few years.

So the Kingdom of God is present among you.

The Book of Revelation speaks of that Christ Jesus as being the

Lord of Lords and the King of kings.

In essence, Jesus wanted them to know that the Kingdom had come

because where the king is, the Kingdom is.

Hey man, he was relaying to them, I am among you.

And we have in Scripture right about 33 1/2 years of Jesus's

life, that king and that Kingdom remained among the people and in

certain ways, to a degree hidden to a large segment of society

because they didn't expect him to be as he was.

They didn't expect him or his Kingdom to come as it came.

The Bible says in Proverbs that it's the glory of God to conceal

a thing. And Jesus came down among us,

existed among the people. Some caught a glimpse of it,

some recognized it, others did not.

Some had the discovery of it and then tried to ignore what they

were discovering. But Christ is his, his, His, his

opportunity, His spoke as his desire was that he would reveal

himself, the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of God himself, to

everyone. But not everyone was willing to

accept him. As a matter of fact, before

Christ ever came, there was a forerunner, John the Baptist,

you know him. He came with a message from the

wilderness. What was his message?

Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Jesus comes along in his ministry.

He speaks the same things in Mark 115 saying the time is

fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe

the gospel. He would speak even to

Nicodemus, a disciple that came to him by night, and Nicodemus

would have conversation with him.

And Jesus's response to Nicodemus concerning this

Kingdom experience in verse 3 would be verily, verily I say

unto you, except the man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom

of God. He would further define in verse

5, except he be born of the water and of the Spirit.

He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God because at every step of

salvation, at every step of salvation to experience the king

and the Kingdom, it's built, if you will, on the platform of

surrender, Whenever you repent to God and you're hollering out

to God and in that moment of repentance, you are submitting

your will to God and all of those things are happening and

you're yielding your will to his will.

It's an act of surrender when you go to a watery grave of

baptism and you allow another person to submerge you under

that water. And the name of Jesus is a vote,

vote over you. You are submitting if you will,

in waters of baptism when the Spirit of the Holy Ghost comes

upon you and you begin to speak in a tongue that you were not

taught and you did not learn. And you surrender.

That unruly member called your tongue your in your mouth and it

begins to speak in a heavily language.

In that moment there is a proper place of surrender that happens

in your life. To experience the King and the

Kingdom is predicated absolutely upon surrender.

And so the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, he says, hidden

in a field, in a Pearl, or if you will, of great price.

And the fact that's revealed in this little parabolic saying is

this, it illustrates this, that once the treasure or the Pearl

is discovered, it was impossible for these two men to ignore.

Once they come across it, once they saw it, once they handled

it, once they experienced it, it was impossible for them to

ignore. Amen.

And their response to what they discovered illustrates to you

and I once again, the valuableness, right?

The pricelessness, if you will, of that treasure I've, I've seen

in my life. And they come of all sorts.

We, we have them today. Some of them are professional,

some of them are amateur. There's there's people that are

treasure hunters. They come with all types of in

all types of all types of different hats.

There there are some that are hobbyists.

If you've ever been to a beach in, in America, you've probably

come across a treasure hunter. They're all geared up with

headphones on their head and they got their little metal

detector in their little basket of, you know, and they're going

through and beep, beep, beep, beep.

They're hearing in their ears and they're trying to find, you

know, some ring that somebody lost on the beach or some rare

coin that, you know, from Spain, you know, that floated over, you

know, on here. They're, they're searching,

they're looking. Then then you have people that

make it almost a profession. You you have archaeologist and

and and you have historians that they built careers around the

fact trying to discover lost or buried things that have been

from the past that that may be some type of value or even

provide valuable insight to our air.

And then there are actually professional explorers.

I mean, sign me up for that, right?

Professional explorers that. But they devote their lives to

seeking out different things, ancient artifacts or shipwrecks.

Just here recently. I'm a nerd.

So here recently, just you didn't know that, but I was

watching a documentary on the discovery of a ship called

Endurance. It was Sir Ernest Shackleton

ship that he had sailed on in Antarctica with a crew and it

had sunk in 1915. It was one of the greatest

undiscovered shipwrecks in America because in the

Antarctic, it's not just underwater, but it's under

layers and thickness of ice that freeze during those winter

months. And it's, it's in the one of the

most remote places of the Earth, harshest environment.

And so there's a team of scientists and historians and

engineers. They, they got all the best

equipment and latest technology. They, they were there for

months, several days and weeks and in challenging weather and

temperatures in hopes of just finding this lost ship.

And so they conducted this with great care.

They, they, they went to the point that was in the journals

of Shackleton where the last place the ship was.

And so they went there and they begin, they got the image of the

bottom of the ocean and they made a grid over top of it on

their screen. And they would search in one

little box like each day. And they were running out of

time because winter was coming, inclement weather was coming.

If they didn't get out of there, they were going to join

Shackleman, his ship probably more than likely.

But they asked for a few more days from the captain and in

those few more days, finally on on March the 5th of 2022, they

discovered about 10,000 deep in that ocean floor that's covered

by ice. Amen Endurance, that ship that

for years have been undiscovered.

And whenever that happened, I'm watching this documentary

whenever that happened, there's people high fiving each other.

There's people that have no relation that are hugging each

other. Tears are going down faces

because they they had they had recovered, they had discovered

some something that some of them was a lifelong pursuit is some

of them. It was the highest honor that

their life had ever been a part of to make this discovery.

But then there's others, people who make extraordinary,

unexpected discoveries. 1947 And you may have seen pictures of it

before, but nonetheless, there was a Bedouin shepherd.

He discovered the oldest known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible,

the Dead Sea Scrolls. The story says he was searching

for a stray goat, and he tossed a rock in The Cave.

And he heard echoed back what sounded like shattered pottery.

And when he went to investigate it, it was the Dead Sea Scrolls

that was inside of the shattered pottery.

He went that day looking for a goat.

But he found some of the oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible

in 1974 in China. Many of you perhaps have seen

before what's known as the Terracotta Army warriors, that

in the ground, life-size in China, there were farmers who

were digging a whale and in the process of digging a well, they

discovered these life-size army members.

They were buried with the emperor.

Some 2000 years earlier they had discovered this.

They were on a journey looking for history.

They were just trying to find water.

In 1989, a man purchased in Pennsylvania at a flea market a

$4.00 painting. He kind of liked it.

What a good fine. My wife would have been right

there with him. What a good fine, a $4.00

painting. But upon further examination

when he began to mess with the frame, he discovered one of the

original copies of the Declaration of Independence

hidden behind the canvas and that ended up then being an

auction for $2,000,000. He went just trying to find a

good fine, but he found a priceless fine.

In 2008, another unexpected discovery took place when a

woman was cleaning her great aunt's house in the state of

Tennessee. She found while she was cleaning

a stock certificate for Coca-Cola.

That turned out to be quite significant because it was a

piece of the company's earliest of shares.

Needless to say, that family never wanted for anything again.

She was just cleaning a house, but she found a treasure.

What are you saying this morning, Brother McGee?

I'm saying this. These two people in our parables

today, one was looking for the treasure they found and the

other just happened to come across it.

But it doesn't matter if you're looking for it or your life

intersects it the same, the reaction is the same.

You are overjoyed. You are overwhelmed by the

discovery. Can I say this morning, you

might be here today on purpose. You might be searching for

something today on purpose, but somebody else might be here

today. That is just Christmas time and

I'm just going to church. But I'm here to tell you this

morning you can find a discovery of the Kingdom.

You can find the discovery of the Kingdom of God here.

And whether you're looking for it or you just come across it

today, you can't. You can.

You can experience joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Someone say thank you. You know what's powerful to me?

The man that found the treasure in the field after he found the

treasure. Life was about the treasure.

After he found the treasure, he didn't keep on walking.

He didn't forsake that spot and never go back.

It was about the treasure when that merchant man found that one

Pearl. The search for goodly pearls was

over after he had found the treasure.

Someone say yes, Isaiah the prophet said.

I am fond of them that sought me not.

I'm fond of them that sought me. Not folks.

We have biblical examples. Brother Trout, a woman going to

a well in Samaria. She wasn't looking for the

Kingdom of heaven that day. She's just going to the well to

draw water. But while there, she came upon

the treasure. She wasn't seeking him, but she

found him so on his road to Damascus, having letters to

apprehend those who spoke the name of Jesus and imprisoned

them on his way to Damascus. He wasn't looking for the

Kingdom, but a bright light sign and a voice from heaven spoke,

and a spirit of revelation, enlightenment happened, and he

found him. No intention.

The best way I know to say it, folks, though you may not be

looking for him, he's looking for you.

I don't have the time. I know what's going.

I have the time today. But I've shared with you this

before. The multitude of stories that we

have had with prison people get transferred into a certain

institute right before we come, maybe going to be there 2 weeks

and they're gone. They don't even understand what

just happened. But in that two week frame of

time, Princess Within happened. They heard the gospel, they got

the Holy Ghost. They weren't looking for the

Kingdom. Whenever, whenever we were in

Hawaii and we were doing prison conference over there, did it on

Memorial Day, it was likelihood that we wasn't even going to get

in there with sister Reinhart was kind of keeping that under

her, under her hand. She's thinking all these people

spent money to get to Hawaii for a prison conference and here we

might not be getting in there, but we got in there that day.

We had three prison conferences that basically happened

simultaneously at the same time. And the reason being is that

there was one group of girls who were really awaiting their

sentencing. They were doing some

construction right at that moment where they were typically

held. So all of them had to be moved

to the prison. That was the group my wife and I

got to lead in the prison. Those that were just waiting for

their sentencing, they would only be there for a little

while. And they were only there because

of what was happening in the facility they were typically in.

But in essence, they were just people walking through a field

that's came upon a treasure. They were looking for it, but

they found it. But I'm convinced today, I don't

know what you come looking for today or what journey you're on

or you're not on, but you're able to find him here today.

But it's just as important, then, of those who are seeking

the the the evangelist in Acts 8 Bible says there's a Ethiopian

eunuch in his chariot reading the Scriptures.

He's on a search, he's reading from the prophet Isaiah that

speaks about in the Lord's humiliation.

He wasn't sure what this was all talking about, the man speaking

this of himself or another. Philip draws an eye to him,

asked him to understand this. Thou what thou readest.

No and Philip begin to preach Jesus that eunuch was searching

and he discovered the great Pearl.

He ended up being baptized. There was a change.

So just important if you're not looking, you can find it or if

you are, there's hope today you can find it.

I was trying to converse with burn sister Mason.

I I won't get this exactly right, but I was at pops Tony

Frederick's dad's funeral yesterday.

They were there as well and and Evangelist Bruce Shepherd was

there and he had opportunity to speak at that funeral because

the relationship he had with pops.

But the Long story short is this Pops had started going to

brother Frederick's church, got baptized in Jesus name.

Evangelist Shepherd was there on the particular time of revival

and preaching services and brother Shepherd's very animated

preacher and he was preaching about on the verse ask and ye

shall receive, seek and ye shall find knock and the door shall be

opened unto you. He says, that's all I was

preaching. He says, and while I was

preaching some there in the back was Pop.

And he said Pop stood up with his Bible and his finger down on

a verse and he he he stood up. But then he started walking

toward the altar while I was preaching.

He said it had Brother Tony Frederick, he said on pins and

needle. He thought, oh, here he pops

probably wondering what that word means.

He'd come up here to ask me right here in the middle of

church. He said, But Pop walked up that

middle aisle with his finger on that verse.

And I don't remember if it was the verse that brother brother a

shepherd was preaching on or another verse, but he basically

came to the altar, laid that Bible down with his finger on

the verse. And he was talking to God.

And he said, God, you said if I asked, you said if I saw it that

I could have this. And he said, he sat down on that

altar and he started rubbing his legs and then he started rubbing

his arms. And then he threw his hands up

and he began to speak in other tongues as the spirit.

Why? He was on a journey.

Find something, someone say man. So it doesn't matter if the

result is from a moment or a lifetime search.

The reaction is the same. Joy, but also selling out.

When we talk about buying or selling in today's world, we're

thinking about exchange of money, right?

Check Apple Pay, Vimo, Cash App, PayPal, blah blah blah blah,

whatever. Vimo vimo.

I don't know what they are. You know how much I do digital?

I still write a check to my water department and deliver it

by hand, thank you very much. But oddly enough, those are sat

in here that knew her probably when.

Where are you? About ready to go.

But oddly enough, my Grandma McGee understood these things.

Somebody's wondering right now, because you'd have to know my

sweet grandma. She called batteries.

Batteries and a mattress and mattress.

Yeah, she's a special person. But my mom would take her at

least once a week to go do her grocery shopping, buy the things

that she needed for her house. Grandma would never say, Sue,

let's go shopping or we went shopping.

Grandma would always say, we're going to we're going to go do my

trading. Right.

Hands down, Jamie, you know it. That's what it wasn't shopping

who was going to do her trading for her, even if money was

involved. It was trading.

She's going to go do her trading.

But in essence, that is the situation and feel here of the

parable. It's not as though there is an

exchange of money, but the buying and the selling was a

trading, a bartering, an exchanging of something for

something or a response of giving something to something

because of what it was. In our modern minds, we

envisioned that, that the man in the field in the merchant man,

we envision when it says that they showed all that they had,

that they showed, and they then acquired money for the purpose

of taking that money and then go buying the Pearl or go buy, if

you will, the field that was in. But there was a Jewish law in

that day and the ordinance, My best way to explain it to you is

by a common phrase that you have heard used probably in your life

side. This is not the way.

It was, you know, said in the Jewish law.

Please trust me with that. But it was basically this

finders keepers. What that meant was this.

When the man discovered the treasure, it was his.

When he experienced the treasure, it was his.

The man who found the great Pearl, it was his.

That that's all there was to, huh?

And if these things indeed describe what the Kingdom of God

or Kingdom of Heaven is like, makes perfect sense, because you

can't buy the Kingdom of God. You can't buy it.

You can't purchase it. Assignment.

The sorcerer in Acts chapter #8 he's seen the lane on of hands

and some speaking in other tongues, receiving the Holy

Ghost. And he offered them what money

and what do they both say? He said your money perish with

you. Or they're saying you can't buy

this. What they tell him though, then

repent. This is not an acquisition.

Amen. That happens by money, but by

surrender. So when we look at buying and

selling, particularly in these parables, we're not talking

about necessarily exchange of money.

We're just talking about an exchange.

They sold all, if you will, or they surrendered all because of

what they have discovered. They understood that anything

else they had, they would never need again.

After discovering what they you understand, it became a real

process. Now, he says.

I found this treasure. I don't need XYZABC.

All of that can just go because I found the treasure.

The man now that found the Pearl of great price, he's been a

merchant on the search for a long time.

I don't have to look for another goodly Pearl.

No, no, I can shell out everything.

And because I'm devoted to what I've.

Someone say, hey man, I found, I found this notice in the there's

never a price that's associated with either.

There's no price on the treasure in the field.

There's no price, if you will, that's on the Pearl.

There's no price on the Kingdom of heaven for that.

For that matter, let me say it like this.

The value that it is at is the value that it is for anyone that

would really come to terms with what they discovered.

For both, it was we're going to sell or surrender everything

because the sum total of my goods, the sum total of what my

life has accumulated to this moment of time can't even be

compared. Here's what we must know, Sister

Ray, this man sowed all and exchanged that for the treasure.

The Scripture does not say for our purposes, it did not say.

He had to borrow more money in order to meet the amount.

Doesn't say that he stole from such and such in order to meet

the amount, but it illustrates when he had gave everything he

had, all that he had was sufficient for the exchange.

Honey, you walked to this place. The Kingdom isn't on a shelf you

can't reach. The Kingdom doesn't have a value

on it. All of you that all that you

have surrendered to. It will not be a good exchange

for what you will inherit, for what you will experience, for

how you will live from that day forward.

Someone say man because think the assets of a merchant is

quite different probably than the assets of this man that's

just going through a field that matter when it speaks of a man

and I'm trying to be mindful here and I need to run.

I really do literal maybe and figuratively.

Hey man, I know I do literally man.

Nonetheless, a man, a man, it's a general.

It's a general word in the Greek a man.

It could be a man, it could be a woman, but it says, there's a

notion there that kind of denotes that it's a man, that

denotes the weakness of man, the frailty of a man, the

imperfection of a man. He finds a treasure.

And then you have this merchant man, no doubt that has a better

standing, if you will, in life. But both of them, it was just

complete surrender, all that they have and their sell out was

in essence, if you want to call it that, for their buy in.

It was their commitment, it was, it was their consecration, Their

selling out was their consecration to what they had

found. He didn't require more or less

than the other. Amen.

The Kingdom requires our all, Amen.

Jesus said it, pass. He said, but seek ye first the

Kingdom of God and all his righteousness, and all these

other things will be added unto you.

The multitude have been sent away at this point.

The disciples are the only ones that are there.

So when he tells them the parable about the treasure and

about the good lead, the great Pearl, he's talking

predominantly just to his disciples.

And they knew what he was Speaking of because he had

implored them somewhere along the journey.

He called them when they were at the boats and he said leave it.

He called them when the wet Nets were still between the fingers

on their hand. And he said, just drop them and

tell them, hey, he called them when Johns and Jane were right

next to Daddy's elbow. Zebedee.

Amen. And they left their father and

they came and followed him. They understood what it was like

to surrender all for the discovery of the treasure.

Amen. Maybe some of them, I don't know

if they're part of the the human fabric.

There might have been some of them that along the way begin to

quibble one with the other. Peter might have boasted a

little bit while I left my boat, you know.

Of course, every boat, you know, got to have a female name.

I don't know what his was. There's only I left Lucy.

I left my boat. I left my Nets, I left this.

Matthew might argue. I had a receipt of customs, a

table. I left that I don't know.

James and John, Daddy, we left him.

But the equalizer for them all is that they surrendered all

Paul said. He said whatsoever things were

game to me, he said I those things, I counted loss for

Christ. He said all all the things prior

to the discovery. He said now I surrender those

loss for Christ. Amen.

Because he understood that he was in an exchange, He was in a

trade, he had sold out for Christ.

Someone say, man, I'll skip forward today.

I don't want to wear you out. I want you to come back tonight.

But Jesus said in Matthew 1626, he said, for what is a man

profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own

soul? Or what shall a man give?

Someone say give in exchange for his soul?

This came back to me actually just this morning or very late

last night, probably over 10 years ago.

I woke up early one morning, 5 O clock and there's verse and some

something else that a writer, go figure, had made a statement of

was just going through my mind. Henry David Thoreau, some of you

may have read some of his works or at least you've been exposed

to him in school. He he made a statement years and

years ago. He said the price of anything is

the amount of life you exchange for it.

And so over the years, I've I've witnessed people give mere

meanness of their life to things that eventually squandered

years, isolated moments, even sometimes demanding a lifetime.

We might ask, how in the world can this happen?

Is it a skewed idea of values? Or were they willing to pay a

price for things they valued? I believe in many instances that

the exchange didn't happen all at once.

I believe a lot of times it seldom does.

I think sometimes we're put on a payment plan we don't realize we

signed up for. And so through their life,

they're making periodic installments just kind of

haphazardly. It's almost like they got your

bank account and they take it out every month.

And you just go on with life, barely even noticing that that

occurred or happened, only to be able to conclude at the end of a

lifetime that you have poured and exchanged so much for

something that you thought that you wanted or needed.

But imagine the horrible realization to come at the end

of life. And realize you've invested in

something that could never truly benefit you again.

Scripture, of course, predates Mr. Thoreau's statement when it

says what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose

his soul? And then inquire, Or what shall

a man give in exchange for his soul?

And what always captured me on that morning 10 or so years ago

was this. The question isn't what shall a

man receive in exchange for his soul, because in this setting

the scripture, the exchange had already happened and the man is

just wanting to get back his soul.

So The thing is then after you've lost your soul, what do

you have to give? What do you have to give what

I'm saying today these people of the scripture understood that

the exchange of all of what they had and who they are was a good

and proper exchange for everything that the Kingdom had

to offer them. If you understand with me this

morning, what I want us to leave here thinking about is this.

And it seems like, man, that I hate it around this time of year

when you hear people that have died and there's deaths.

And I know it's inevitable it's going to happen.

But the thing that I asked of us this morning is this is that

when you're there on your bed, right?

And when the struggles with breath coming into your body is

happening in that moment, what will you have spent a lifetime

to attain? What will you have spent a

lifetime to? There is a treasure, there is a

Kingdom, and I, I believe as Jesus walked this earth and as

his Spirit is here today, the Kingdom and God is here today.

It is among us. And Sir, our ma'am, whether

you're searching for or whether you just happened to be

intersecting it today, please respond to the discovery of the

Kingdom. Please respond to maybe that

spirit you're feeling right now. If our eyes could be closed, our

heads be bowed. Please respond to that spirit

that you have may felt in this service thus far today.

Hey, man. You feel that drawing or you

just feel something? Yeah.

I don't know what's going on. I just feel like crying or

Brother McGee. I don't know what's going on,

man. I just don't know.

I don't know. I can't even begin to describe

how I'm feeling right now. Sir.

Ma'am, you, you just need to sell out to that you.

You need to surrender to that you can uplift hands, you can

open your mouth, whatever the situation may be, you can begin

to submit your life and submit your will to whatever God would

want to desire for you today. Because I guarantee you, all of

you, all of you is exactly what he desires.

All of you is exactly what you what He desires your total sell

out, Amen. It is in essence, a buy in.

There's no money exchanged, but there is an exchange, Amen.

You for him, you for him, you for him.

He wants you today, He desires you today, Hallelujah.

He wants to call you, Amen. His children, He wants to care

for you, He wants to love you. He wants to help you.

He wants to encourage you when you're despondent.

He wants to point you in the right direction when you're

directionless. He wants to be your God.

The Kingdom's come to you this morning.

God has come to you today. Hallelujah.

Will you sell out to him, Amen. And pie into this most precious

gift, this most precious experience, this most precious

Amen discovery. If you're looking for him today,

look no further. If you've been looking, look no

further. You're where you need to be

today. You're where you need to be

today. This altar is open.

As many of us that will, as many of us that will participate.

Can we come into these altars? Whether you stand, whether you

kneel, can we come into these altars?

I don't care who you are, as many that would be willing.

Can we gather in today and say, Lord, oh, I surrender it all to

you, God. I surrender God with joy.

Hallelujah. The Kingdom of God is not meat

and drink, but righteousness. Hallelujah, joy and peace and

the Holy Ghost. And I found the Lord.

I found everything. Come on, Sir.

Come on, ma'am. He'll meet you where you are.

He'll meet you where you are.