"People Suck; Love Them Anyway"
Spiritual Eyes
Even when you feel low, you can still go Even when you feel slow, you can still go Even when there's no hope, you can still go I never ran so to know, man, I still go Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo What's going on, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages As we always say, it's your hostess with the most of us, it's PKR, Pastor Keenan, Riley Back with another episode of You Guess That People Suck That's right, but you gotta love them anyways And man, that is so difficult to do on some days of the week, mostly days and end in Y Nonetheless, we have to do it, as Jesus would say, we have to do it So, thanks, Jesus A guy that I struggle to love the most, he's setting beside of me No, I'm just playing, he's alright most of the time He's setting beside of me, it's Nicky Nick, Nick, how you doing, man, what's going on? What's happening, don't go into all the life Do you really want me to tell you how it's going? Do not derail the first three minutes of the show and take it over But how's life outside of life? You know, as Joel Osteen says, I'm living my best life today With a smile on my face, griting my teeth, just rolling with it And if we all had 40 million of Ferrari, we could say that as well Well, we're living my best life today out here in front of you And yeah, there you go, so we pray no matter where you are India, Bangladesh, or you know, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, maybe, who knows? We pray that you are blessed and highly favored, we pray that the week has been good for you And man, I tell you what, it feels kind of crazy just to do two episodes in a row Maybe we're back at this thing and know what we're doing, we don't, we never will There's not even any visual for this episode I was gonna say, we just throw gum at the wall and hope it's six, man, that's what we do So today, in this moment in time, man, we're talking about what we talked about today During service, which was literally to go trays or to go boxes And, hey man, I've got it to go box right now, sitting looking at me with a couple of cream-filled donuts Fantastic, God makes great things in this world, I feel like sometimes And yeah, man, so I'm looking at these wonderful cream-filled donuts But to go boxes, you know, we talked today about how we can walk in with nothing Or we can walk in with just a little something And if we offer it into God's hands, how much more he can multiply that and give it The crazy part is that we referenced in what we said today was the Probably one of the most popular Bible stories that there is out there When I say Jesus feeding the 5,000 or Jesus in the fish or Jesus in the fish and bread Most people, whether you are- Jesus, Captain, do you? Yeah, man, that sounds amazing too Four-piece fish, man, no fries, no nothing else, just the fish Anyways, but when we referenced that, you don't really have to be a Bible scholar I feel like you don't have to be in church for 20 years You don't, I feel like you could even be an atheist and know this story And it's, you know, it talks about taking the five loaves and the two fish And literally like going crazy with this and multiplying and feeding a crowd Where the Bible says it was 5,000 plus women and children You know, as we gave the reference today, like just think about if every man had a wife And if every wife had a child, now that's 15,000 people running around Now is that the case could be more, could be less, we're not for sure But it's kind of crazy- Definitely more than 5,000 Definitely, yeah, definitely more than 5k And to think about how 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish Can literally feed, let's just say 5,000 plus people Is beyond amazing And again, it's a great story, it's a popular story But as we kind of dove into today We talk about how the principles that come from that story Is probably the hardest to implement as Christians And to follow as Christians And one of the very first things we talked about Was looking at what we have In the physical, money, house, car, whatever Time, job, education, whatever the case may be Like we always look at what we have in the physical And I don't think there's nothing wrong, Nick, you may speak differently I don't think there's nothing wrong with desiring more and wanting more I think there's nothing wrong, I think you need to be appreciative It can become obsessive though, I think Yeah, I think you can be appreciative of what you have and still desire more But yes, the unsafe side of it is to say It's obsessive You know, I'm always going to want more, need more, desire more That's whenever it becomes a little bit on the crazy side of things But you know, the principle that we talked about That a lot of people struggle with is looking at what they have And then thinking that they don't have anything to give Now whether that's in the church reference, whether that again Is it your job or in a relationship or financially or whatever It's kind of crazy to think that we oftentimes look at what we don't have We talk about an attitude of gratitude, right? We talk about being thankful, we talk about being grateful We talk about these things and it's not just in the Christian world It's everywhere You hear it all the time, especially like in motivational podcast and things like that Be grateful, be thankful, you know, pick one thing and be thankful for it today And that's going to set your mindset And I don't know, I know, I harp on you a lot about negativity And we call it negativity and things like that But it's like, you know, I feel like that there are still a lot more negative people Out there in the world than you, I mean for sure You know, but it's like why do we, why do you think we gravitate or we focus on the deficiency Or what we don't have or things like that versus, you know Being thankful or grateful and saying, hey, man You know, like we talked about today, we got that car, we got that house We got that, we got those, like it may not be the best It may not be this, it may not be this, but hey, guess what? God's still blessed, he's still worked, he's still covered, he still came through He's still good Um, but you know, oftentimes in myself, I get into this road, I think you do I think we all do, like we get into it where it's like, man Um, we step back and go, you know, why can't we get this or why can't we have this or Yeah, this would be nice, you know, and it's like we're always, yeah We always focus on the what we don't have, why is that? Yeah, I mean, I really do think, I mean, again, I can't speak on how it was, you know, 100 years ago, 500 years ago, whatever I hope you can't I know, yeah, I won't, I won't, I won't even try But, I mean, like, you know, if you think modern day, especially in America, you know, again I'm not exactly sure how it is in your culture, I know we have people from India and other countries Listening, but I know here in America, you know, Bangladesh, Bangladesh, all over the place Um, but I do know that we, you know, here in America, we have The best new brightest stuff shoved in our face every single day Um, you know, we're, we're looking, you know, we're driving down the road And it usually comes from China Yeah, it does, it does, it does do that, not for long if Project 2025 takes place But we won't get into that, but again, you know, we look at, we got all this stuff shoved in our face every single day, you know, on TV, commercials And I mean, I'm going to talk, I'm in marketing, you know, I understand that, you know, you're trying to get the new product out there You're trying to make the most money, you're trying to be competitive, you're trying to do this, do that, whatever But, you know, again, I think that's why we struggle so much with it is that we always, you know, we're shown this picture of this happy family driving this 2025 vehicle You know, they're, they're happy, you know, they're, they're, they're families happier than you, safer than you You know, all these sorts of things is what these commercials tell us Um, you know, we look at the new iPhone when it comes out, you know, it has exactly the same features as last year But it's got this one new feature that's going to make you stand out from everybody else, you know It's got all these different things that we talk about and this stuff is just constantly fed to us through social media Through television, radio, if anybody listens to that, I think some people do still Uh, you know, we have all kinds of people, you know, out there just being, you know, shown stuff, 24/7, 365 And then we, um, also fall prey to something called, um, that there's two different versions of it, I'm going to get a little psychological for a minute, so step back Uh, you know, it's called upward and downward social comparison Um, you know, where we are, you know, upward comparison, we're looking at someone who has more than us and, you know, comparing ourselves to that And wondering, you know, what we're doing, why we're not doing better, all these sorts of things And downward social comparison, and I may have these back, but I'm going to speak on it the way I am anyway Downward social comparison is when you look at somebody who has less than you and you feel superior to them So, you know, you're looking at someone who has less than you or did worse than you and you're feeling superior to them But then you're looking up at people who did better than you and you're feeling inferior to them Um, and that's this constant cycle that we are in and you know, we're always going to try and keep up with the Joneses We're always wanting to be the best, have the most, look the best, you know, be the brightest, have the newest, all these sorts of things And, you know, I think I've had this conversation before is that, you know, these things that we buy, these things that we want, these things that we desire It's not because we need them, it's not because we even want them It's because we want other people to look at us with them Right We want, you know, we want to be, you know, we look at that person driving that new Range Rover down the road We're like, man, it'd be nice I bet, you know, they'd be so nice to drive one of those because everybody would look at me and be like, wow You know, it's not because we're looking at that person and saying, wow, we're thinking that if we get it People would look at us and say, wow, and it's just this wild thing that was actually smoking me on a radio one day So people do so listen to the radio 94, listen, this is crazy, 94% of people have access to a radio in the world That's amazing to me, 94% So, yeah, go ahead, man, go ahead with you, yeah But yeah, I just wanted to throw that out there Random fact, yeah, right But yeah, I think, you know, that's a big reason, you know, we struggle in this society so much with comparison You know, we think we have to look a certain way Talk a certain way, behave a certain way, and shoot those are things that the Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious people of today Still shove in Christian's faces, you know, you have to look a certain way, be a certain way, all these sorts of things And our culture is just so dissatisfied with being ourselves, with being authentic, with giving what we have, and being who we are, and being content And I do think a big chunk of that is because we are, we have stuff shoved in our face every day And that voice in our head, that discontent in our minds, that's saying, you know, you would be better if you had this You'd be cooler if you had this, you'd be, you know, whatever, you know, if you had this, did this, look like this, all these sorts of things You know, we, you know, it's such a, it's such a prevalent thing throughout our society, you know, it's not just cars It's, you know, we have teenage girls who are looking at models thinking, oh, if I look like that, I'd be more loved Or we have these teenage boys who are looking at that, you know, I've, man, if I had that car, I'd get more chicks So, you know, all these sorts of things that we're looking at, where we're getting told lies because we see it in movies We see it in TV shows, we see it in marketing, we see it all over the place because we can't get off our phones We can't stay off the internet, and, you know, we have our friends, you know, our new friend gets something because their parents are better off They get a brand new car instead of, you know, when they turn 16, they're getting a brand new vehicle When you turn 16, you're getting this old beater piece of junk car, and you're like, man, you know, he's getting, he has so many more friends People are, oh, wow, look at your truck, look at your truck, look at this, and I'm, nobody's looking at my car, nobody's looking at paying attention to me Yeah, and we want people to pay attention to me, we want that, and so we try, we go into debt, thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt To get that next vehicle to go on that vacation, to get the likes, to get the reaction, to get the affection Because we don't have that inner piece that comes from Jesus Yeah, you know, we don't have that contentment that comes from Jesus I'm pretty sure that we've said this time and time again that, you know, comparison is the quickest stealer thief of joy that there is And if you start comparing the life you have to the life that you want or the life that somebody else has, man, you're going to be pretty down and depressed Pretty quick, and you're going to start striving to get things and live a lifestyle that, that is not really meant or accommodated or suited for you And, and with these, with the disciples at this point in time, just to kind of set the stage for a second You know, Jesus is sailing in and he's dropping anchor and the Bible says he sees this crowd, that is a huge mass of crowd And says that he has compassion for him and he starts preaching to him and teaching him and healing people And so, you know, revival's breaking out, good things are happening and then all of a sudden, you know, the sun starts going down The Bible is very clear that they are in a desolate place where there's not a lot of things at and, and that There's still a dollars in earlier Ah, somewhere I guarantee it, man, and there's a, there's probably a door-dash person that is like waiting at the bit To drop some off, yeah, to drop something off, so But, you know, the, the disciples start reminding Jesus, hey, man, it's starting to get late Like, we need to shoot these people all out and get them going home So they can stop by the markets, get something to eat, so on and so forth And Jesus has this answer, he looks at them and he says, you are going to feed them And, and their response is what we just talked about But all we have is five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish, that's what we have That we have five loaves of bread, that's all we have But, yeah, and it's like, you think about it And, and it's like when, when God speaks to us about something and says, I need you to do Or I need you to go or I want you to be a part or I want you to this And it's like, our mentality is not thank you, Lord, for, for choosing me Or thank you, Lord, for allowing me Or thank you, Lord, for just letting me be a part of this process It goes back to, oh, Lord, I don't have, you know, the street smarts or I don't have the words Or I'm not a very good prayer warrior or I'm not this or I'm not that And all I have is, and if we're honest, like, that is a, it's a humanistic type response that we have That, that it combats, it combats failing in another words It's like we're putting terms on our failing before we even fail You know, it's, it's, Lord, you can call me to do this, but let me tell you Before, before I even get started, this is, this is how bad it's gonna be because this is all I have Um, and, and I feel like it's just, that's naturally where our mind goes We, we, we try to disqualify ourselves even though God is calling us And he'll, and he will help us to get to the point, does that mean we'll fail, we'll fall short? Absolutely But he will help us get to the point where we need to be But, you know, we start out the conversation with what we don't have With the butt, with the butt, yeah, pretty much, I mean with the butt And, um, you know, just to read it to you really quick, uh, with what we posted today Or with what the, one of the preaching points that we talked today is, is, but all I have Which is the quote, but all I have is not a reason to save It's a reason to give It's shifting the responsibility from your hands to God's hands And, you know, I mean, in our hands, we can multiply, we can, um Business people do it every day Yeah, they do, and, and to a, to a certain degree, an extent Is it ethically done right? We, we won't go into question about that But it can be done to a certain extent With God, whenever we put the responsibility in God's hands, when we say, all right, God, here's my life Here's my heart, here's my, here's my mind, here's my, you know, here's my money, here's my job Here's my, whatever my relationships, you know Whatever the case is, at that moment in time, we're putting it into the hands Of the creator, and, and the creator of all of this, of, you know, of everything You see, touch, taste, feel, smell, whatever, like, you know, God had a hand in this somewhere along the way Um, and think about that, you know, we gave the, we gave the example today of fast food Of, of trusting somebody behind the scenes To make your burger, make your fries, and shoot it out the window at you And you pay for that food and that service, okay And if it's not right, if it's not right, you're like, well, you know, you get mad, you get frustrated And you want this and that and the other And it's like, we treat God the same way, we treat God like a fast food restaurant We roll through, we talk to the box, we tell him what we want, need, we expect to pull up the window too And what we prayed for should be just giving to us out the window And, exactly how we ordered it Yeah, exactly, and it's like, yeah, and we look in the bag and it's like, whoa, bro I didn't want this, I didn't need this, I didn't want this, and this is what I've got And, you know, it's like, then we want to get lost in the sauce and go in And start, like, fighting with God about, hey, I didn't pray like this, I didn't want this, I didn't need this And, you know, and it's like, we're looking and going, wait a minute Like, if we're going to trust 19-20 year old kids to make a hamburger And fries and throw it out the window at us How much more should we trust the maker and creator of heaven With our prayers and with our deficiencies or what we lack in Yeah, exactly, you know, when we pray for something, you know, and it's I don't want to say the majority of the time, but a lot of times we pray for something And it comes out completely the opposite of what we ask for, what we ordered, whatever you want to say that Going on with that example there, but, you know, we oftentimes do pray for things And, you know, we expect, I think, you know, when we, I think the problem is that We come to God praying with an expectation of how it's supposed to go You know, it's just like, you know, I'm going to pray to God And he's going to provide it this exact way You know, my timetable this way, you know, because he's a good God If he loved me, he would do it this way, you know, he would do it this way He knows what's best for me, he knows what's best for me And then I, you know, he would know that I know what's best for me So he's going to do it this way But then, you know, we get, as you said, lost in the sauce You know, we get our bag, we open it up, our prayers answered But in a completely different way than we thought You know, and it gets us confused, it gets us anxious, it gets us frustrated, it gets us You know, all these sorts of things, we sit there and we say things like, you know, How could you do this to me, God, this is your fault, you screwed me over, you did this, that, and the other, you know, what are you doing? You know, and we forget that faith that made us pray in the first place You know, that faith and that belief that God can handle our problems and can answer our prayers But we think that we know better You know, and there's so many different times that, you know, I think that we could go back to the Bible and look at You know, and I think back to, I may have even referenced this last week But we go back into the Bible to, you know, when they were wondering, the Israelites were wondering in the wilderness And they, you know, the Israelites were going to overthrow Aaron and Moses Because they thought they knew better, you know, like, we were better in Egypt We're going to take a bunch of people, we're going to go back to Egypt where, you know, we had this, this, this and that You know, but, you know, and Moses and Aaron were trying to follow God's plan And because the Israelites, you know, looked, they saw with their eyes instead of their heart That was what put them in that situation in the first place Absolutely, they went out to this land, they saw the giants, they saw these, you know, creatures and these people That were going to, you know, they thought with their eyes looked like they could destroy all of them And so they came back and reported with fear based on what they saw Yeah, instead of what God spoke And then we had Joshua and Caleb who had the faith to believe that no matter what they saw, God was going to take care of them Yeah, and we get so guilty of that, you know, we all base everything on what we can see The outcomes that we can see in our minds where we always say it all the time, you know, we have to put pen to paper to make it make sense You know, we do a financial plan, say we can't afford this, we can't do that I can't afford to tithe this month, you know, we got this expense going out, this is going out You know, we put everything down where we can see it and make sense of it Yeah But, you know, again, God doesn't work on that timetable, the God doesn't work on that realm over that plane of reality You know, God sees things, you know, we have to think of God as this entity that can step outside of our timeline And see, you know, what happened hundreds of thousands of years ago as well as hundreds of thousands of years from now You know, he can see everything as it's happening He knows that if you make this decision, you're going to split off into this path And then he's going to have to redirect you to get back onto this path He knows that if you make this decision, this is what's going to happen You know, all these roots and branches that are possible out there, God sees every single one of them He knows what would happen and what could happen Yeah And we limit God to what we can see in front of us Yeah We limit God to what we can see, you know, God, if this happens, if you answer my prayer this way, this is what's going to happen If I do this, this is what's going to happen You know, again, we're limiting God, we're limiting it in immense eternal Alpha Omega, you know, entity to what we can understand with our minds You know, I talked about what the youth on Wednesday night about how, you know, how God made the sun Supposedly stand still in the sky for Joshua and the warriors as they were fighting But you know, we know back then Science or back then the people thought that the sun revolved around the earth Uh, that was kind of how science and history said, you know, the people thought that the sun revolved around the earth But we found out, you know, with science that the earth revolves around the sun So when it says that the sun stopped moving, we have to think that the earth stopped moving Yeah And if you think about that, you know, modern science says that if the earth were to ever stop moving Because of the direction and speed we're moving everybody would just fly off and smash into the wall Uh, but again, God was able to, you know, control what we understand He was able to take what we understand and throw it out the window because he's God He created science, he created these things But again, we limit God to what we can see to what we can understand We try to use science to explain God Yeah Uh, you know, we were trying to explain all these things in these ways and that we can understand But God operates outside of that realm of understanding We want things done this way, but God says if you just let me do it my way It'll be better for you in the long run and it will help other people in the process Yeah, we I mean, we try to make it make sense And that's that's where we truly get into trouble that is that we try to Rationalize everything through what we see And um, and and again, we say this all the time here for wishing like if it makes sense It doesn't take faith if if you you know, the difference I thought a really good point today was was that there is a difference between giving and sacrifice You know giving you won't miss but sacrifice hurts when you give And and that that is like where we have to stop rationalizing what we see What makes sense to us in our minds, you know, that the disciples are looking out Over this huge crowd and they're going how is five lones of bread and two fish going to feed this many people Because they're seeing but they're not seeing, you know, they're seeing with physical eyes But not spiritualized because you know, Jesus at this point man was like I can't imagine And I said this today. I feel like I can't imagine like watching Jesus He'll deliver set free preach teach all of that good stuff and watch these demons being cast out and all these people being healed And then imagine looking at Jesus and going there's not enough food here You know He'll deliver them and something free, but you can't feed them and and I'm thinking to myself like where You know, where where are we like these are people who roll with Jesus and they were still struggling with Seeing yes, yes, and it's like so where where are we at in 2024 today right now That we can't physically see You know, Jesus in body just rolling through and and causing revival after revival But we have to depend upon where the word of god we have to depend upon preachers and teachers We have to depend upon leaders and you know, just different areas man to be fed with this with this word of god to be able to Experience movements like that and and you know for them to set at that moment and go man I don't know how we're gonna feed these people and he's like you're gonna feed them, but give me what you've got And so it's like you're gonna feed them, but give me what you got and it's like well, Jesus You're not making sense right now. I'm gonna feed them, but I'm giving you what I got So how am I gonna feed them and it comes by giving him what you've got so therefore he can multiply it and The second part of the principle that that we talked about a lot today Is something that again all of us every single one of us struggle with I get it I understand But watch it said the bible says that that he took the bread and fish that he turned towards heaven He looked towards heaven and he said thank you god He gave thanks for what he did have he gave thanks for what he received So listen it says complaining will leave you just as broke angry frustrated hungry sick and defeated as when you started That's the that's the principle like you know complaining is not going to fix anything whatsoever It's not and and we I feel like we as people not just christians, but as people man Massive complaining massive complainers about everything it doesn't matter what it is It's like it's too hot here. It is. Yeah, and it's like we It's like this world was not formed to fulfill your comfort Okay, it's like you can't if we had a thermostat on this world We we would not have the plants. We I mean we wouldn't be here Uh, let's be honest I mean, I mean like, you know if we had a dial and when it rained and when the sun came out and you know There's people who love winter people who love summer there's people who love fall there's people who love spring and it's like there's a reason While there's four seasons. There's a reason why there's different temperatures and climates There's a reason why there's snow and rain. There's a reason why like there's a reason for all of this And for us to like set back and be like, well, I hate this and I don't like this or I don't want to be a part of this Or I'm not this and I'm not that I tell people all the time like God has such a sense of humor That literally the thing that you look at god and you're like, I will not do that like I And then God's like, oh, yes, you will, you know, he's like just for a pure fun Um, you know, it doesn't matter like I always said to myself. I'm like, man I'm like, I I ain't gonna go work in Louisville. Why would I work in Louisville? Louisville's just a A major I say a major city in Kentucky, but I'm like, you know, I'll never be doing that and what does the lord do? Hey, you got a job interview. It's up in Louisville. Guess what now? I guess where I'm driving every day five days a week, you know, because I'm like for his glory Yeah, right like, you know, it's like I'm thinking to myself over here going You know, why would you ever tell god? No, because god will literally turn it around where you have to You know, never be a millionaire. I just want to Never do anything with that money, you know, blah blah blah so on it But anyways, like thanks like things like that where i'm like we spend so much time complaining We we spend so much time complaining and and we talked about this even before we got on air with You know, just with people staying in their own lane and worrying about themselves and and it's like if you spent half the time Working on yourself working on working on your dreams and aspirations as what you did trying to find out dirt and gossip and whatever about somebody else It's like how much better would you be? You know, how much better would you feel? How much how much how much further along would you be in life? if that was the case And and so I found it like to be a good principle that jesus looked towards the sky And he and he thanked god for what he did have And for us like looking around today like do we have millionaires and do we have? You know people that are well off like, uh, you know inside of this church. It's like absolutely not man We got people who are pretty decent, but we don't have people that are like just you know killing it in life or nothing like that And it's like but here's the message you don't gave them today in that and that I think we can all get behind It's like we all have things we can be thankful for We all have things we can be thankful for like you can just start down the list and be like man What's one thing I'm thankful for today? I got up this morning got the breath of life in me today being able to get up out of bed That's a fantastic deal because you know what like we take so much for granted That's the crazy part to me is that we take so much for granted because we get up out of bed every morning And it's like oh man, my back hurts a little bit my shoulders hurt whatever, you know, we're like, oh, I gotta get up and go to work Did you know there's somebody in this world that cannot get out of bed? They are bedridden like they cannot get out of bed without assistance They cannot get out of bed without something and here we are Fussing about getting out of bed, you know what I mean? I'm thinking about that guy that was in the iron lung like up until a couple months ago when he died Yeah, like like think about that like he did nothing but lay in a box all day long every single day And here we are we we complain we complain about being able to get out of bed Oh man, you know, I gotta go to work today, you know, hey guess what man, you got a job You know what I'm saying? Oh man, I tell you what gotta go gotta go do this this afternoon like hey You've got the ability to be able to go and do it like here's the thing about it, man It's like when Jesus turns towards heaven and he goes, thank you lord That should always be our heart posture. I suck at it sometimes. I know you do too I know there's a lot of people your wife was down here pointing at both of us when we said that we were complaining I know it's like pointing to me and you at the same time It was so funny yesterday because I told her we were texting back and forth about something and I said I said I sent her the point the slide that I was going to do and I said I'm going to preach about this tomorrow and she said do you need me to preach it and you listen and I said I'll go back and I'll listen twice. Okay, and and she's like I had you know, I get it and you know We were laughing about it, but yeah, I mean like we all suck at it like we all complain about something it's too hot It's too cold. It's whatever we complain about food We complain about people like we complain we're complainers But but with the right heart position, we're not going to get it right all the time But with the right heart position, I feel like we could do a lot better job at it You know, thank you lord for man for a meal today You know what I'm saying like thank you lord like hey do I need to be eating these donuts right now, Nick? Probably not, but you know what thank you lord for at least because I guarantee there's somebody in this world right now That's going god. I would love a donut I would love anything right now like I like I would love anything to eat right now And it's like now I get to look and go hey man. Thank you lord. I got something to eat Thank you lord. I got a bottle of water. Thank you lord We're able to do a podcast. Thank you lord that we have the health to be able to do this You know, it's like you if you get so Small on the gratitude list of like where you're just like man, you know what? I'm thankful y'all can't see it because uh, we don't have uh Visual today, so I'll complain about but it's fine I'm holding a baby wipe in my hand right now Uh because I'm eating chocolate filled cream food or chocolate covered cream filled donuts I want to say thank you lord for a for a baby wipe because Paper towels aren't enough people but you're right paper towels are not enough But if I didn't have that what would I be doing? I'd be over here like rote like my hands would be sticky and everything else along Like here's the deal. Here's what i'm trying to say. I'm not i'm not trying to make fun of it or light of it But like if we get down to the simplest forms of gratitude You know being thankful for the simplest things Um, I heard a preacher say one time and like like like we like we've just become so ungrateful It's not that god hasn't it's not that god hasn't become any less good. Yeah, we've become ungrateful We we expect we expect like I expect to leave this church and make it home this afternoon I expect that I've become ungrateful in that aspect because you know what? God doesn't have to allow me to make it home God doesn't have to allow me to go to work. God doesn't have to allow me to wake up God doesn't have to allow me to do anything You know and and and we become ungrateful to such an extent that when we do have a little We're like we're looking at the lord going. I need some more You know and he's like you're you're not giving what you have Well, if I have if I give it then I don't have any that work could give what I know exactly And that's the that is the that i'm glad you said that that is the the the fight That we have but between ourselves our flesh and our faith on a daily basis of if I had more I would give more and jesus says give what you have and i'll give you more and it's just it's this Uh tug of war back and forth between faith and between flesh every single day going well It doesn't make sense and you take faith and so on and so forth And it's a battle will be fighting to the end of time and I think um, you know as this message was kind of reminding me of uh I was reading a book a kregro shell And in this book, I made a post about it a couple of weeks ago, but you know, he's you know I was the post I made was talking about how we're very fearful. You know how we we as christians are constantly living in fear You know fear of all kinds of different things and one of the biggest ones that it hit me And this is the one that kind of prompted me to write it was that How how fearful we're afraid of living on 90% of our income so we don't give 10% to god Um, and that that was one thing that just really really hit me because you know, we we think you know living on 90 Percent of your income how many people like the fact that people struggle to live on 90 percent of their income, right? You know just the the idea that we're so afraid, you know because we we've gone into debt. We've gone into this We've done this to whatever Uh, but you know, we're we're so afraid of not being able to survive on 90 Percent of our income that we won't even give 10% to god. Yeah, um, you know, and I think we we It's it's it's hard because I'm trying to think of exactly where to go with it, but you just We as human beings are so prompt to complain because you know, we don't want to give until we have more Um, but you know, we're already not using what we have Well, uh, you know as the bible says, you know, we have to be faithful over a little before god blesses us with more Um, and you know, we're constantly you know, we're being unfaithful with the little that we have or what you know We could what we would consider you know going back to you and what you said about being thankful for everything You know, I mean the fact that you know, we we have decent jobs that pay decently well, you know compared to you know Some people who are out here, you know, I mean we you could go on facebook right now and find a single mother or a single father Who is barely making ends meet because you know, they're they've got three kids And they're trying to work a job at mcdonald's and work a job at burger king work job Taco bell all in the same week because they can't make ends meet they can't make rent because of how crazy it is right now Yeah, um, you know, and then you know, like you it's just it's so crazy to get Um, I don't want to say let me take a step back You know, those those people right now are struggling so much more than I am But I have the forgive me, but I have the balls to complain Yeah, about how bad my life is or how I should have more or I need more Um, when i'm not even willing to you know, get on facebook and help this guy out, right, you know, because I have plenty You know, I mean we have plenty and you know, it may not be millions It may not be enough to be you know debt free quite yet, but you know, we have the belief in faith that god will get us there Right, um, but you know, we we get so we have so much and we are so Ungrateful in it and I've even been bad, you know, I made myself a goal this year to try to do a gratitude journal every day And I have fallen way far behind on that. Oh, yeah Um, but I mean because it's it's just so important to take time each day and I mean, I know I've said a lot here But I what I really want to hit on is just to take time each day to list out, you know, three things You know, I was making a goal to make five things make three things that you're thankful for each day I mean, I listened to a pastor once when I was a kid Um, and it stuck with me even then, you know, he was talking about how to how we should be grateful for for simple stupid things Yeah, you know, like god. I'm thankful that I've got toilet paper. God. I'm thankful. I've got sheets Got I'm thankful. I've got a toothpaste Yeah, I'm thankful that I've got a cup to hold my toothbrush in I know like just these things that we take for granted every single day You know, forget the big things forget making at home every day forget having a job forget having a car forget having a family Just the the simple things of like you said getting out of bed every morning Yeah, you know, just to just to say, you know, I can get out of bed and walk across the floor I'm not in immense debilitating pain every day, right, you know, like I my kids They may be sick, but they don't have cancer. Yeah, you know, like I I mean you just that's so many so many so many things You know that we we struggle with every day we complain about and I mean, I know I hate god knows I hate it when someone says well somebody's got it worse than you Like I hate hearing that I do because I know how hard it is firsthand You know, I will be firsthand on his testimony here that you know, I sit here and complain all the time because I'm like, you know I know and I know how grateful I should be you know, I'm like, you know, I'm thankful that I have a job But you know, it's not it's that I don't even know how to say it If it's just this ingrained psychological thing in me that you know, it's like this discontentment that has rooted itself in my heart That's so hard to tear out and a brute because it's you know, god I know I'm so thankful for the house that I have I'm so thankful for the cars So thankful for two healthy kids and a wife and so thankful for you know, this church So thankful for this that and the other and I'm like, but man if I just had a little bit No, yeah, and it's just like, you know, yeah, I'm very thankful for these things god. I'm thankful I have them You know, I tell you every day I'm thankful for them. You know, I'm not just thankful for him or however You said ungrateful for him, but like I just just it's just so that that human Selfish flesh desire to have a little bit more to have it a little bit better than the next person I have it a little bit better than I did yesterday and it is such a hard thing to tear out and fight And I catch myself doing it every single day, you know, where I I try to make it a point of every time I pray The first thing I that comes out of my mouth or thanks, you know, thank you god for this day Thank you for what you're giving me. Thank you for what you've done Thank you for this that this that this that you know, I try to make sure when I come to god that my heart is a heart of gratitude My position is that of gratitude before I ever ask for anything else Um, but then you you notice how much time you spend saying thank you versus how much time you spend saying please Yeah, you know, and it's it should be the opposite Um, you know, and again, I think you know, just the being intentional about You know staying away from these these social media trying to to get yourself to where you're you know You're not sending spending so much time looking at other people's stuff thinking about other people's stuff You know where you're not you know doom scrolling marketplace all the time where you're not Sitting here scrolling through different websites looking at different cars that you can't afford You know, and I'm speaking to myself, you know, but I mean when you're not removing yourself from those situations And making sure that you're spending more time being grateful than you are asking for things You know, and you mean because we we have you know as as crazy as this sounds, you know, I mean I know that I tithe I know I give my 10 percent, but I could afford to give more And I think that that is something that everybody, you know, and I think you you said it several weeks ago you that we should be asking god to give us opportunities to give You know where you said, you know, god lay my needs on someone's heart, but then also lay their needs on my heart Right, you know, and I think we need to get better about and it's scary. It's difficult because like I said, you know We as Americans we as human beings we're scared to live on 90 percent of our paycheck Well, what about 80? What about 70? Yeah, you know, and we have everything that we need and because you know We're living on 80 percent of our paycheck. We still have more than 90 percent of the world Yeah, and I think that that's what I was trying to say with all that big story there But you know, it's just that we we really need to be more more grateful and look at things with spiritual eyes I really like that terminology there, you know, because we are so guilty oftentimes with looking at things with a physical eyes Like the Israelites did like that that poor widow who was about to make her last meal again, you know About like the disciples looking at things with physical eyes saying, you know, I don't have enough or this isn't enough like Moses Or I'm a stutterer. I can't do this. I don't have the skills necessary Um, and we're limiting God so much. Yeah, and we're being so ungrateful and selfish in the same exact time Yeah, I agree with that a thousand percent I mean, it's just you know that that hard placement makes such a big difference and I know we talk so much about hard placement But it's like, you know, if if we are Again, if if we're coming in here and trying to rationalize everything with our own eyes and with our own thought process and and things like that It's like like like next day. We are truly limiting a limitless God and and it's not that we're putting cuffs on him And it's not that we're saying that he can't do it It's just that we're not accepting that he can do it, you know, it's that's what it boils down to And so when Jesus was like, yo, give it to me and and let me do my thing with it And then he he looks up. He thanks God and then he breaks the bread into pieces And the bible says that that the the disciples, right? He gives the bread back to the disciples the disciples did absolutely I want you to catch that like that was so crazy to me. The disciples did absolutely nothing They they didn't pray. They did a lot. I know right like literally like the same people who had such a problem And and and was asking a question and wanted them to go home and all of this good stuff He's like you're gonna feed them. I just need you to give me what you've got Okay, and and so then he takes care of it and he gives it back to the disciples And they're just like they're just handing this bread out and handing this fish out and they're like I don't know where all this is coming from but we're just gonna keep giving and we're just gonna keep giving it and the bible says And I don't like the whole point of me to calling this to go boxes today Was talking about the 12 the 12 baskets that they had to take home like the 12 baskets of extra And so that's where the to go boxes came from, but I don't even think I'm gonna hit on that I don't even think I've been hit on that part like it's crazy Here we go exactly here's the here's the rest of the story as paul harvey would say Um, and and so they just keep on giving till the bible says that that the 5,000 plus the women plus the children Were fed and that there was extra that there was 12 baskets that they took away from this now It it blows my mind that at that moment in time that that they would see something like this take place And happen and go wait a minute. So so you know, I'm one of these people that I like to dissect everything I like to sit back and I'm like, oh, I'm like, all right. Let's check this out. So okay So I gave what I had to jesus. Jesus. Thank god then he handed it back to me And then as I was giving it out, it just was more more more more more more more more more So in my mind process, I'm thinking everything like lord, I'm giving you everything like lord Let me let me bring my car up here and give it to you. Yeah, here's these donuts for fun Yeah, like lord like I want you to multiply everything, you know, like like I'm gonna give it all to you That's the rational way of thinking Spiritually not not physically physically will tell you hang on hang on remember safe safe safe safe safe safe safe safe Spiritually says give it give it give it man give it you don't think you have it But but as I said today, man, we we truly don't know how much we have because we never give it all to him To begin with and and if we would give it all to him then he would Supply our needs and then he would even go past our needs but we never give it all to him We we stay in that gray area of I'll give a little bit lord But I don't know if I can trust you with it all you know and I I think if there's anything I think that it hits a large majority of christians today and we're not out there to throw stones because like I said I'm there next there a lot of people are there man and and we're not here to throw stones We're here to say we see you and we hear you and we're with you Uh in that area and and that we all like all of christianity has to do a better job Of of of not rationalizing with our eyes but understanding with our spirit and with our heart and saying man I tell you what if he can do it once he can do it again Um, I'm going to talk about just really quick before we go just the the bucket situation today Um, if you got anything else to add nick before we before we talk about that for a second go ahead Um, so you know the bucket situation. I I'm always a what do you call that like whenever like a illustration? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm an illustrator I I love people here in the word of god, but I want people to see the word of god in action too Maybe they understand it better that way We got three tithe buckets here on the stage And so today we emptied one out We put a little bit of money in one and we put the rest of the money in the other And had three people standing up here holding a bucket now The thing about it is is that I asked the question and I was setting people up You know, I always like to set people up, but I asked the question Who has the most to give? Who has the most to give out of this the person with nothing the person with a little or person with a lot? Well, of course, you know people were pointing back and forth and they were like, oh, you know The person with the little, you know, like he's he's got the most to give and the most to get out of this and then so on and so forth And and and the point I was wanting to make to people was this no matter if you have a thousand dollars Two dollars or no dollars. It doesn't matter As long as you're giving what you have Then that's all you can give you know what i'm saying like that's all you can give so it doesn't matter Some people might have to make bigger sacrifices than others some but it comes out of that What do you have to give now the coolest part to me was whenever the holy spirit was like make them change buckets Make them change buckets make them change buckets and so we would change buckets the first person who didn't have anything I would switch over and the person who had the big money We would push it back to the first and that's the way God's grace works, right? You start with nothing you give it to God God then blesses you with more than enough Well, what do you do with that more than enough? You give it you keep on giving and so then the next bucket you get is not going to be as full because guess what you've given a lot And then the next bucket you give there may not be anything in it because why because now you've given you've poured out All that God's given you well, guess what's going to happen that next bucket that comes around It's going to supply your every need again and then bam bam bam and it's like I want people to get that and to understand that that you know this relationship with Jesus man It's crazy sometimes and and it's confusing and it's uh, like I don't know man It's like riding it's like riding on a jet ski in the middle of a hurricane Um, yeah, I mean if you may not have a jet ski Just hold on just hold on just hold on the waves are tall the storm is crazy And you don't know you're like how am I getting through this in a jet ski? And you know the crazy part is is that is that he's done far more with way less Um, and and for us to really trust In this relationship with him. I mean that's that's all nick I think that he truly wants is our trust because because if he has our trust then he has everything um And I think that's very um I think that's very evident in even physical relationships. I'll say that if you have somebody's trust They'll let you do anything, you know what I'm saying like, you know, like if if I trust you, I'm like, man I'll give you the keys. I'll give you the I'll give you the information. I'll give I'll let you watch my kids I'll let you watch my kids anyways, uh, you know, uh, like, you know, like, like, you know, if you have that trust factor It's like your whole life is open And I think that's what more than anything like Jesus wants the trust factor with you Like he just wants you to trust him because if you trust him Then you're gonna trust him with everything. I trust you man. All right. Cool. What do you trust me? Oh, may I try like I said, man, you will watch my kids. You won't give you won't sit me You won't come over to my house. You want to eat with me You want to like you won't go do something together. Oh, you need my car for a few. Okay, like, you know So there's a trust factor that's built up there and then everything else becomes available And and I feel like it's the same way with Jesus like he's just reaching down and just wanting to know Will you trust me? Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, it doesn't make sense. Yeah, will you trust me? Will you trust me and then like if your answer is yes Then your answer has to be yes for everything. Not just yet, man I trust you with uh, I trust you with my one my relationship, but my job, um You know like whenever the answer is yes, and you go full-blown trust with somebody It's everything and it needs to be that way with Jesus too. Yeah, and I think one last things I want to hit on is um backtracking what you said just a tad but you know to the point where some people I think you said it this way is that Some people have to sacrifice more than others. Yeah, um, and I think we we had this discussion several weeks ago I don't think we've ever actually verbalized it on here, but we talked about how sometimes God requires us uh to sacrifice more to cover for others. Yeah, um, you know I think it goes back to even the complaining that we talk about you know, sometimes we can complain about Uh, not having enough teachers not having enough volunteers not having enough Tiders not having enough this that or the other. I mean we get into that mode of complaining But we have the means to fill that need. Yeah, uh, you know, like I you know I may not like teaching every week, but I have to teach every week until someone else comes along to cover for me Yeah, um, you know, I don't like having to give more money than everybody else in the congregation But you know I have the means to do so so I need to do that until someone covers for me Right, um, you know, and so sometimes you have to sacrifice more sometimes you have to give more You know when you have that when you have the ability to teach when you have the ability to do sound when you have the ability to sing When you have the ability to give financially when you have the ability to do all these things You know, but you're like, oh, you're sitting around all day complaining that nobody else is helping you out You know, God just God wants you to worry about you. You know, are you being obedient? Are you covering forever? Are you giving as much as you could? Are you serving as much as you could? You know, you're there are you there is a lack of right now that you can feel completely And eventually someone you know, God will send someone along to reward your faithfulness And to reward your obedience to cover for you And you know, it's it's one of those things where you know, you you only have to sacrifice for a time You know, it's like one of those things where it's just like, okay, I'm having to sacrifice I can give but I'm also having to sacrifice a little extra because I'm having to cover for the other people that aren't here right now I want to see the kingdom of God move forward. I want to see these kids taught. I want to see You know worship led. I want to see all these sorts of things I have the skills talents abilities money extra whatever to cover for that until God sends more people through these doors to do that Right, you know, we can't get a gun to people's heads and say you're gonna teach today or you're gonna give more to this week Or you're gonna do that you know, we can't do that. We're responsible for us and what we can do And what you know, it's we're responsible for being responsible with what God has given us Yeah, with being you know, sometimes that that requires us going above and beyond what other people do Sometimes that requires us to go above and beyond what we want to do or what feels comfortable to us Um, but again, you know, that goes back to trusting God You know, do you trust God to take care of you even though he's asking you to give more than everybody else You know, are you trusting God to take care of you even though you have to serve more than everybody else? Yeah, you know, and we we need to get back to that mind how sorry mindset and mentality of Mentality that's why we should make that. Yeah, but you know that mindset and mentality of you know, I'm I'm here to do What God has asked me to do. I don't need to worry about everybody else. I don't need to be worried I don't need to be worried about who's not here this week because they're doing this I don't need to be worrying about who's not giving even though they could I don't need to be worried about any of that What I need to do is what is what God wants me to do and I need to take care of his church his people And I need to be responsible with what he has given me so that eventually he will reward me for that And you know, he will send people he will send situations that will help out Because you know, and I sometimes that's put that extra work in but if I don't trust God that he's gonna take care of me While I'm putting that extra work in, you know, then I don't trust him at all. Yeah, yeah, absolutely And you know, if you go back and read that story As much as what you want to I think one thing you will never find in there is complaining And and or worry about, you know, the disciples going to Jesus And and they said, you know, this is but all we have But you never find or see a situation in there where it was like, well, these people should have brought more or these people should have done more or Hey, Jesus. What about these people? You know, instead they just said people didn't think that they're gonna be out here all day Exactly. Yeah, and so it was like, you know, hey, you know, it's like this is what we have and then I'm gonna give it to you So therefore it can become what we need and so let's drive that home one more time today, man Which is just just do you worry about you, you know, and like Nick said what God has called you to do what God What if fulfill your calling your purpose and and you know, and in the process of that I promise you God will work out and deal with other people like that's just the way it is It's the way it's always been so, you know, just just do that instead. So we love you so much We thank you so much. Thank you for being a part of this and until we see you again, we love you and be blessed Even when you feel low you can still go Even when you feel slow you can still go Even when there's no hope you can still go. I never ran so to know man. I still go As always, this is p.k.r And for my sidekick Nick we say thank you very much for hitting that download button on people suck level many ways Be sure to tell a friend tell a family member to hit that download button as well and as always we say thank you be blessed Even when you feel low you can still go Even when you feel slow you can still go Even when there's no hope you can still go I never ran so to know man. I still go Go Go Go Go (upbeat music) (upbeat music)