All righty. So, you know, Pastor Shelly, who I’d like to throw under the bus completely, run over a couple of few times. A few weeks ago, she was preaching a wonderful sermon. Preached right past the sermon she assigned to me right over it. Just no, you know, gives everybody these nice pretty sermons. And then she goes, “And you’re going to do this. 01:25:48 If you want to start turning to Luke 12, it’ll be primarily out of there.” Um, but who knows? It can go everywhere. You know how that goes. Uh, no, I won’t be preaching out of uh verse 7. Okay? Only scholars will know what I’m talking about at this moment as you search. So, Pastor Shelley has put together this uh series on the kingdom way. I don’t know if that’s going to go up there or not. It might. And uh this one is ser sermon number nine, I believe. Yes. The kingdom 01:26:22 way. The danger of a full barn and an empty soul. Wouldn’t you like to have that assignment? Don’t you feel special? [laughter] Okay. And uh she said the subject or the subtopic was why decisions must change. Well, guess what? If you come to church, something about you has to change. Yes. Okay. So, that goes without saying. And she also wrote she has these great things. She It’s possessions without purpose lead to emptiness choose eternity over greed. Now, I got to tell you, I don’t know if that was AI saying 01:27:05 that or PSI, Pastor Shelly intelligence, you know, but it could have been could have been AI. I don’t know. Pastor Shel, was that AI or is that just you? All right. So, you can download a new app called PSI. Pastor Shellyley intelligence, you are going to be so smart after this. Yes. Okay. So, are you all ready? >> Amen. So, I understand that uh choir starting at 1:30 the te that’s when it starts. So, that I’ll be there. We’ll be doing this until 1:30. Amen. Amen. Amen. Uh let’s Oh, let’s just 01:27:46 start where it belongs. Uh, John Hilly, are you here? >> Where are you at? He’s Oh, there you are. I thought I could see you, but I can’t from here. Oh, there. I can see you now. Ah, the Father says, “Don’t make excuses for my word, and I won’t make excuses for you, says the Lord. Because you bring my word with an anointing and a power that is needed in these last days, says God. and it will prick the hearts and change the minds of those who I have intended it to go to. So don’t worry, father says 01:28:27 if it doesn’t go and spread out all over the world because it’s designed to go to certain hearts for a certain time and this is that time says God. So the Lord reiterates to you don’t make excuses for me and my word and I won’t make excuses for you. son. Okay. Now, in closing, [laughter] is does anybody else want a word? Okay. I’m just praising the Lord. I don’t know if my friends from U Mercy and Grace are still here. Thomas, I don’t know if they’ve left by now, but uh yes, they 01:29:12 have. Who knows? Yeah, they’ve had to leave. They are actually ministering at SEC down here at the Jamestown prison. Uh you saw Thomas get, you know, prayer and stuff and great men and women of God in that ministry. And I just wanted to give them honor um and just honor them for like the work they do because they go to places that most people would never set foot into. Amen. So there’s a tension between the temporal and the eternal. The kingdom of God has real issues [laughter] because the kingdom of God is eternal 01:29:49 and everything else that you have ever known, have ever been exposed to here on the earth is temporal. That makes it a real issue. the kingdom of God. Here we are speaking this series that sweet Shellyley has given us about the kingdom of God and it’s so it seems so far out there at times and yet so close here at times. But if you try to apprehend it just in your natural mind, you completely miss the kingdom of God. It makes no sense at all because you try to bring it into context of what you know and taste and 01:30:35 smell and see here and meanwhile it goes so much here and so much beyond here. Amen. >> So it’s really impossible for us to wrap our minds fully around this. It also takes boldness to preach the kingdom of God. because it’s at odds, listen to this, with everything we think or everything we think we believe. It’s completely at odds with that. If it was all just lining up perfect with our natural life, it’d be so easy. Then the kingdom could fit into your life rather than us having to fit into 01:31:27 kingdom life. Okay. Okay. Fear will keep you fully from leaning into the kingdom of God. Fear will. So, we’re going to go to Luke 12. It’s interesting. It says uh Luke 12:1. I’m going to just read this. It says, “In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, what kind of party was going on there?” Like there’s a bunch of people just flocking in thousands. Okay. And there at that point, God Jesus here on the earth says and turns to his 01:32:20 disciples first. So these scriptures I’m about to read to you as we move on through this chapter are not designed necessarily for the multitudes but for disciples. See, I believe the kingdom of God is designed for disciples. There’s a difference. Did you know there’s a difference between disciples and everybody else? I started asking the Lord about this. It came in a funny way. I was driving my granddaughter to school the other morning and I asked her how she was doing and in school and she’s very driven. Uh she 01:33:10 tells me she’s got like a 4.5 or some crazy number like that average. I don’t know how you even do that. I told her I had a 4.5 in high school also, but I had to add up all four years. [laughter] I did. I told her that. She still thinks I’m weird. And uh but I thought she’s driven that way and she’s also very much an athlete. So here as a freshman, she’s playing on varsity soccer teams. But what drives her also is that every morning she gets up like at 6:00 in the morning and goes and works out. 01:33:44 And you’re asking what does this have to do with disciplehip? Everything. Yes. You know, many are called, few are chosen. Oh, I want to say many are called and few choose. >> So, you have a person that’s driven, you know, the person that’s gets out on the field for you. football players, uh, soccer players, even though soccer is a communist sport. [sighs] Baseball is the only godly sport. We all know that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. >> Yeah. All right. Okay. I like making enemies. It’s okay with me. 01:34:38 But the deal is this. Everybody can go to the game. Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Everybody’s invited to go to the high school who’s a high school student. But very few are driven, lean into, have purpose in mind, will discipline themselves to actually play the sport that’s on the field. And everybody can show up for the football game, for the baseball game, for the soccer game, and go, “Oh, very good. Very good. Someone go get me a hot dog. I do my English thing. [sighs and gasps] It’s closest I ever got to English. 01:35:26 Trees everywhere here. It’s weird. Anyway, it’s just like church. Everyone’s called into church. God loves everybody in the world. You are all invited into this place. But who will discipline themselves? Who will answer the call and lean into and press into what disciplehip is is a whole another story. >> And disciplehip is not just a disciplehip program which we gladly do and put on for people who would like that. That could be the beginnings of it possibly for some people. Do you know 01:36:11 there’s some people in a disciplehip program that are not disciples, man. Okay. So, just like the kids that go to high school, we’re like all the kids that go to church. But are we there watching the show? Or are we one of those that go, I will press into that thing. [snorts] >> I will get up early. I will lean into you, God. And dang it, God. When it hurts, I’ll be there with you. I’ll find you early in the morning, I’ll find you late. And if everyone else thinks I’m 01:37:01 wasting my time, I will waste my time with you. >> [sighs] >> Okay, let’s read the Bible. So, here we have Jesus and he calls his disciples. Much of the kingdom message we preach like it’s to everybody. But if you actually go into like the biatitudes, you see that Jesus called his disciples. There were a lot of people around listening. I’ll prove it to you. This scripture will these scriptures will prove it to you. So he calls his disciples and he’s talking about some pretty serious stuff. 01:37:51 He’s talking about the leaven of the Pharisees. He’s talking about not counting the hairs on your head. God’s got him counted. For some of us, we’re an easy count. He’s talking about confessing him before men. What? He’s talking about if you deny me before men, you’ll be denied before the angels. What? I thought God loved everybody. He does. But there’s a serious component of God. And now, you know, he gets into crazy stuff in this thing about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. 01:38:40 And then some guy in the back, some guy in the back row. I was going to actually ask uh Jaya or uh Gadiel to do this. Uh especially since his sister’s here, but I don’t see him here. Is he there? Oh, Gabrielle. Yes. Imagine Jesus up here. It’s hard to imagine him with me here. I get that. Imagine he’s preaching these serious things and all of a sudden Gadielle jumps up and says, “Hey teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” >> What the? >> Do it loud, Gabrielle. 01:39:24 >> Rabbi. >> Yes. >> Tell my brother >> and my sister. >> Yes. the inheritance with me. >> Amen. Amen. Thank you. Gabby, listen. You I started asking Lord, why would you give me these scriptures to preach? I realized that Pastor Shelley said to start at pastor at chapter third, you know, verse 13, but or a little further 16. But I’m like, this is the context. He’s speaking to his disciples and some yaya in the back. is worried about his inheritance. >> The God of life, 01:40:11 the anointed one, you know, finished raising people from the dead and healing the sick. And Gadielle is talking about his inheritance and not his God inheritance. He wants the cash that Liz is taking to Greece. We should take an offering right now for No. [laughter] >> Look, I have to make this a little funny >> or else she’ll cry all the way home today. [clears throat] And now he goes on to speak. But he said to him, “Man, who made you judge? Who made me judge or an arbiter 01:41:08 arbitrator over you?” This is the context. Jesus just answered this. Yaya in the back. This is why you shouldn’t sit in the back. And then he says, he says to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness.” Holy macro. Jesus wasn’t kidding around. We’re going to talk about this some, but do you know that in the Bible covetousness is idolatry? >> So the yaya in the back is practicing idolatry. because he’s stuck on his stuff or the desire to covetousness to get 01:42:07 poor Liz’s stuff rather than focused on the kingdom that the Lord’s about to display. And then he goes on and he said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” That’s so against the way we think naturally. Cuz you and I both know that when we’re not in a God mind, we think about the stuff we have. And some of the stuff we have could be people we have. Some of the stuff we have can be possessions we have. Some of 01:42:56 the stuff we have can be possessions we have. But life doesn’t consist of that. This is Jesus talking. You don’t need a Greek interpreter to interpret this. you need to open our eyes and go, “Oh, life is more than this stuff.” Then he spoke a parable to them, saying the listen, [snorts] even his disciples had a hard time with parables. We know that from other examples in the Bible. [clears throat] So, I’m sitting here with you. I’m standing. You’re sitting. You can stand 01:43:43 if you want. Probably should leave anyway. Um, yes, that’s a good thing. [laughter] But you’re sitting here and even if you’re a disciple of Christ, you may be having a hard time hearing this message that’s about to go forth from Jesus because we have to have ears to hear his way. because we’re so locked into holding on to our stuff. And he says, “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentiful.” I don’t want you to get stuck on rich man. This doesn’t apply to just rich people. 01:44:35 Where your heart is is where your treasure is. >> It’s easy to go, “Oh, yeah, it’s those rich people. Yeah, they’re the ones Jesus is talking to now.” And he says, “The rich man yielded.” Uh, and then it goes on, it says, “And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops?” Listen how many times this guy is talking about his stuff. So he said, “I will do this. I will pull down my barns and I will build greater 01:45:24 and there I will store all my crops and my goods. This is a kingdom parable. It’s designed for disciples. [snorts] So he said, “I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ca, take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Lay. But God said to him, “Fool.” By the way, when you read fool in the Bible, unfortunately, it’s speaking to a rebel. 01:46:21 It’s uh it is the sin of witchcraft. It’s like covetousness. You’re hearing how covetousness and idolatry he’s talking about this covetousness stuff still. This night your soul will require of you be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasures for himself and is not rich toward God. Thank you, Pastor Shelley. Have I told you how much I love you lately in the Lord? Of course, I’m not guilty of this. All of you are. Right. 01:47:22 >> Come on now. Right, Josh? You should be on your knees repenting right now. You too, Mike Flores, sinner. Oh, there’s so much weirdness here. I don’t even know where to begin. You know, sometimes we try to um cover this fool thing, this foolishness thing. And by the way, that foolishness is pride. It’s self-reliance. It’s greed. It’s worry. It’s fear. And we try to cover it sometimes with this coat that we call stewardship. Oo, now I just dug into the heart of everybody. Do you know that stewardship 01:48:21 is wonderful? That it’s godly? That it’s good? Yes. And do you know that you can cover it and fake everybody out? Because your stewardship is actually a coat that you put on to cover the fact that we are greedy that we’re trying to gain stuff to ourselves, whether it’s position or stuff. And we go, it’s stewardship. I’m taking care of the stuff that God gave me. And he’s like, “Take care of it, but would you let go and let me? I told you this wasn’t going to be 01:49:10 easy.” And I’m like, “Really, God? Really? I needed this. Now I know why Pastor Stevie when he preaches he carries a rag with him. I started carrying one. I brought one back from North Carolina for that reason. But man. Okay. Ephesians 5:5. Another beautiful scripture. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idoltor has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. We see in Colossians so that you you theologians will know Colossians 3:5 and Galatians 5:20 all 01:50:08 are kind of sister scriptures to the one I just read which pull together this idolatry with covetousness. That’s what these scriptures that’s what Luke’s all about. It’s this covetousness issue that even disciples have to deal with holding on to my stuff, my things. Psalms 10:3 in the amplified says, “For the wicked man boasts. He sings the praises of his own heart’s desire, and the one greedy for gain curses and spurns.” Yes. Renounces and despises the Lord. Do you know that that translates 01:50:51 directly into idolatry? So what is idolatry? [snorts] It’s the extreme extreme admiration, love or reverence for something. It becomes the focus of your intimacy, your worship and your heart. My stuff can become become that focus very easily. very easily. I I want to apologize to the um to the visitors here. This is full contact church here and it’s Pastor Shel’s fault. I personally would have not picked these scriptures to preach on or this chapter or probably not even the kingdom. 01:51:47 [laughter] But apparently a few people in here need this. Not the visitors. You guys, you don’t get that. I’m going to talk to the visitors. If some of you don’t know Jesus, I want to let you know Jesus absolutely loves you. Like his like his love is so great toward us. He cares for your life. He cares for every aspect of your life. And I know he’s calling you. He’s saying like, “Hey, just believe in me. Come into my house. My house is wide open to you. Come on in. We have no problems. My 01:52:19 problems with those other people next to you, those disciples of word of life fellowship who inadvertently or intentionally have set up covetousness and idolatry in their heart because they’re holding on so hard to the stuff they possess. So visitors, be warm and filled. Eat, drink, and be merry. Come over. There are nice people over in fellowship. We’ll all be eating. The protein will come up. You know, you’ll feel good. There’s nice people over there. We’re having great time over 01:53:04 there. God loves you. He just doesn’t like everybody. Okay. So like I mentioned it uh this this thing can become the focus of our intimacy. I did say our worship and of our heart. Greed and idolatry go together. The question is who provides for me? It’s so easy to go, “Oh, God does.” That’s [laughter] easy. Come on. I’ve done it. You’ve done it. God, he’s my provider. But when we start holding on to our stuff, afraid that we’re going to lose it, or if we run into some hard times, 01:54:10 now who’s our provider? I heard Pastor Shelley in her last message, which was a pretty decent message, by the way. You, if you haven’t heard it, you should listen. It’s a lot better than this thing, but she talked about how God provided for her and her family when they were at the rock bottom at times. That is God. >> But you may find yourself at the rock bottom of something other than your finances. Is God still your provider? Okay, let’s [snorts] go back. So, who provides for me? Is it my 01:54:59 abilities? Is it my government? Is it my savings? Or is it my God? Who really provides for me? It’s easy to say God’s my provider. The question, the only question is, will we let God be our provider or do we get in the way of that? And I’m not saying abandon your stewardship. I’m not I’m not saying check your head at the door and forget to be a good steward of the stuff that God gives to you. But if you set your heart on those things, if that’s where your uh resiliency with walking with God lies, 01:55:43 if that’s where your confidence is, then God’s not your provider. Okay. Are we almost done, pastor? We’re getting close, I hope. Okay. All right. Well, I’ll read a few more notes that I made for everybody, but not me. You know that mammon thing? It’s a funny Christian word. It brings out our gut intimacy, our emotion where we set our hearts on. It really brings it out. So everybody says, “I want to be like Jesus.” Right? >> You want to be like Jesus, huh? Jesus 01:56:34 had nothing. He didn’t have a home. He didn’t have a whole bunch of stuff. Maybe that’s why he had 12 disciples. They carried his luggage. I don’t know. Few nice ladies helped care for his life. We spend our entire life trying to gather up things that will absolutely perish. And if they don’t perish, you will. I remembered I uh was listening to this uh it was a sermon by Pastor Miller, Bishop Miller, and he said, you know, he was talking about the end times, which we’re in. You 01:57:28 know, we’re in the end times or in the last days. You know that, right? He said a very interesting thing. And he said, “I can guarantee for you either this is the last days because Jesus is coming back or you’re going to him.” We forget, you know, that was so to me it was so profound because we all look because our church here believes in life. >> Yes. Life more abundantly. We believe, believe it or not, for visitors, sorry, that there will be a people who will be alive and remain when Jesus returns and 01:58:01 that they will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. And like Corinthians tells us, this corruption will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality. That’s crazy >> and glorious and true. >> Thank you, Pastor Selene. and true. If you’ve never heard that, it’s absolutely true. But it’s interesting Bishop Miller’s take on that. He’s like, “This is that time for you one way or the other. We want to exempt ourselves from that. We want to gather up stuff. 01:58:45 We want to make our life so wonderful and great and comfortable around us. We want to have a lot of things, a lot of security. And how does the end of these scriptures, how does it, where did he leave us there? One way or another, you’re going to the Lord or he’s coming to you. Now, that’s a hard thing to preach in a church. What was Bishop Miller thinking? But it’s true. And I’m going to tell you, it’ll change your mind about how you serve God. If you keep that in your mind, 01:59:24 you won’t be so afraid of death. And you’ll look with even more hope and confidence of our God returning. But either way, it’s a win-win situation for us. >> And we won’t be so dependent on the stuff we have and the things we’ve gathered. Those things will mean nothing when Jesus returns. Those things will mean nothing if you go to be with him. Zero. God, I died and went to heaven. Let me show you my bank account. Great. Check your bank account at the door. You don’t have need of it here. God, 02:00:17 I’ve been awaiting your coming. I’ve been trying to hasten your coming. I’m looking forward to you. And I’m gathering myself with people who are believing likeminded that you will return to this earth. And here you’ll be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Here you’ll rule and reign. I’ve been looking for you. Good. When I arrive, you don’t need your bank account. You don’t need the stuff that you’re gathering. Oh, it’s okay to gather it now. It’s okay to be a good steward. 02:00:51 It’s okay to be oh generous >> because when there’s covetousness, when there’s that holding on, we can never be generous. Okay, I think we’re almost done here, Pastor Shel. I just skipped to the end. Yeah, trusting God is not an emotion that comes and goes. Do I trust in this world and lose my soul? Losing my soul is not losing my salvation. It is losing the privilege and promise of living in God’s provision and God’s intimacy. I am a son of God. I am promised his provision in every area of my life. 02:01:55 And his provision is absolutely not limited to financial provision. His provision is in every area of my life where I thought I could not achieve, could not [clears throat] hear him, could not be led by him. Every area he provides. The kingdom of God is not defined by what we retain but by what we release. Is our faith limited to our funds or are our funds limited by our faith?