Huckleberry Everything

0:00 Welcome to week one of a series of messages we're calling Huck Yeah. This is it. It starts right here. You know, we have to do a series like this every once in a while to, like, ventilate the religious spirit that hovers over the waters, kind of freshen things up a little bit, make sure we're not taking ourselves too seriously. But it really is interesting when you think about how, when God does a work in a local context, location matters. context matters. I really do believe the flavor of what God's doing does change from place to place regarding the specific location where he's doing it. You see this when Jesus wrote the seven letters to the seven churches. He writes to Ephesus. He writes to Pergamum. He writes to Laodicea. What's interesting when you read the letters is you see how much specifics to the context informed how he addressed them and what he intended to do there and what his spirit was seeking to try and unleash. I mean, if you literally look at him, you go, oh, wow, he's talking about this architectural feature that was in Pergamum. He's talking about these hot springs and he's talking about these cold springs that were in Laodicea to Philadelphia, a church that was situated right alongside a major trade route. He talks about setting before them a significant an open door of opportunity, right?

1:24 What do you think that means? It means that a lot of churches are going to say, hey, we want to go and reach the world. But to Philadelphia, he said, do you guys realize the world's coming right to you? Do you realize there's this great opportunity that you have just by walking out your door to see the world coming right here to this area? And so we have this rocky mountain region that God has called us to. And when we talk and think about the beautiful thing that is the wild mountain huckleberry. We happen to live right here on this Rocky Mountain Divide where they grow. In fact, I brought a map to show you every location where you can pick a mountain huckleberry where they have grown or do grow in the United States and in Canada. And it really does just follow the Rocky Mountains. Not so much for Nevada.

2:11 Wouldn't go huckleberry picking. It's huck no in Vegas. But really, it's incredible to think about how they follow the mountains. and there's such a parallel to the life of faith. I've preached so many times about how meals are significant in the Bible. We had a whole series of messages called The Table, but did you know how important mountains are to the Bible? In fact, one person said, if you take away every mountain and every meal from Scripture, there's almost nothing left in the Bible. Almost every major moment takes place either at a mountain or at a meal. And so there's significance to location and places. And the angels and demons know this. Ephesians 6 talks about the hierarchy of the demonic world. And there are indeed hosts that are assigned to specific locations. But don't worry, because there are angels assigned to guard over different areas too.

3:07 And like Billy Graham used to say, it's always important to remember, there's two good ones for every bad one. There's more of the good angels than there are the bad ones. and greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. But there are specific, unique complexities to different locations. And we should be aware of what God wants to do, yes, but where he wants to do it and how that impacts what he wants to do. You know, I got full body chills when I first found out about the significance of the continental divide on the watershed, right? Because we came here to start this church in obedience to God 20 some years ago, or it'll be 20 years in January, rather. We agreed to come before that mark. And as we stepped out in faith to start this church, we would go and speak and get travel. And we would get asked almost everywhere we went, we would get asked this question, why Montana? Why did God have you start the church in Montana? And I never knew how to answer, because I didn't know why God did what he did until I was standing on the top of the Continental Divide, and someone explained to me the first time that when water hits that ridge, depending on which side of the mountain it lands on, it depends on whether it can go to the Atlantic or to the Pacific. And as we broadcast through this ministry every single week, reaching every single one of the states and the countries around the world, I realized that God wanted his rain to fall down and to go in that watershed from sea to shining sea all across this country. And we all get to participate in the sending out of his word as it falls down like rain.

4:42 All I'm trying to get you to see is there is a spiritual impact that we should have our antenna opened up to when it comes to where God is doing, what he's doing. And God has called us to be a part of this work that he's doing here in these mountains. As every single place that we have on that map, not only does God's words go out to, and we're seeing groups come in for movement conference, But we're also, every single one of our churches that we're connected in with here is in that region, which is amazing. Now, we're open to planting churches where there are no huckleberries, to be clear. If God was like, sorry, we can't go. You can't have the gospel. There's no huckleberries, right? But what we are saying is that flavor of it. And there is so much to be learned from the natural world. Almost all of Jesus's best sermons are about birds and about weeds and about wheat, right? There's so much to be learned and gleaned from the wonders of creation.

5:40 And as I read the Bible, on day three of creation, God, out of all the different things he made, he chose to also make this little mysterious berry that is now the state fruit of Montana. Did you know that? It's called a huckleberry. And God, on that Genesis day, called it good. And I say he did a real good job making that huckleberry. And one of my favorite things is when friends come to town, taking them out on hikes and trying to get them. Because when you travel and do music or ministry for traveling around the world, doing that as you go, you end up seeing a lot of airports, and you see a lot of hotel rooms, and then you see a lot of stages in the inside of venues and nothing against that. But I just got a conviction that God sends people here not just to bless us, but when they come to minister here, that we've come to bless them and make sure they get to experience some of the beauty of this part of the world.

6:33 And so I'm always telling them, you can book your travel to where you land, speak, land, sing, go, but you're wrong. You're doing it wrong if you do it that way. Because I think you've got to open your heart up to what God has in this area. And there's some ministry that we get to be a part of whenever God sends some gifted saints to come and bless us. And it's always so funny, because they'll say to me, I had a great day, went around, saw some stuff, did this, whatever. They'll always go, though, what's the deal with the huckleberry? What's the deal? It's like a cult. Like, what's going on here? There's huckleberries everywhere. And then they'll say, we went to eat, and there's huckleberries in everything, right? So my title of my message today, Huckleberry Everything. That's the title of this message. Huckleberry Everything. And what we're going to discover is that just like that noble berry has been crammed into every nook and cranny edible that you can think of.

7:29 I mean, literally, someone added up, and I counted, I lost track over 100 of all the different edible things, concoctions that can contain a huckleberry. Like the usual suspects, of course, ice cream and pie. You've never lived, if you've never had a huckleberry cheesecake, you know. But how about like ribs with huckleberry barbecue sauce? OK. How about onions that have been reduced with huckleberries that are now added to a burger? All right, say less, right? It's like, I mean, you got Huckleberry Soda, Huckleberry Taffy, Huckleberry Fudge, Huckleberry Bear Claws. I mean, there's literally, here's what I've discovered. There's almost nothing that can't be improved with a few Huckleberries. Just thrown in for good measure, right? Huckleberry Pancakes? What are we talking about? Huckleberry French Toast? Get out of town. I mean, Huckleberry Lemonade? Okay. My mom one time said, I bought some Huckleberry Wine. And I was like, probably a hard pass on that. But Huckleberry Everything.

8:23 2 Peter 1, what we're going to discover is that like the huckleberry, which improves everything it touches, there is a blessing of God that doesn't just want to save your soul so you can go to heaven one day, but wants to impact every single area of your life as you follow Jesus. Huckleberry, everything. 2 Peter 1, Peter says, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. And I do speak that blessing over each of you today. I pray his grace and peace would not just be in your life, but multiplied upon you as you know God, as you know his son, Jesus, our Lord. And then he says, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these, you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

9:36 And we thank God for his word. I love this because Peter doesn't say you've been given some things you'll need for this Christian life and the rest you're going to have to figure out on your own. He says, as has been given to us all things. And the church said, all things. All things have been given to us. All things necessary pertaining to life and godliness. Exceedingly great and precious promises. God has given to you every single thing you need to thrive in the abundant life that he has called for you to live in this world. To overcome the corruption, to escape the corruption that is in the world, the lusts that are pulling at us. God has given you exactly what you need, everything you need pertaining to life and godliness, huckleberry, everything.

10:28 My friend Andy Stanley likes to put it this way, following Jesus won't just make your life better, but will make you better at life. Now, when we say better, right, we mean actually better, not just better, like whatever you define as the thing you need from God today. But there is not a single area of your life that it will not impact. Not just making your life better, but making you better at life. If you will apply the exceedingly great and precious promises God has given you to the situations that you're up against. The mistake a lot of us make is, you know, we sort of have our quiet time, then close our Bible, and then go our way to our day. Or show up at church to give God the prayer, and then go our way, and we leave the worship in the church. We leave our worship where we had our quiet time at our special little spot where we got a little cozy blanket and our little journal and our little tea we drank.

11:23 OK, well, thank you, God. We'll see you. Same time tomorrow. See you there. Off we go. And we leave our worship. Nothing wrong with having that. Praise God for that. Nothing wrong with having a great epic worship moment to come to, an amazing conference or a spiritual high to come to. Praise God for all of that. The mistake we would make is to think that now we're going to go our own way and we'll come back to worship when we return to those moments. When God wants the worship to be in the going, the worship to be in the working, the worship to be in the standing, where everywhere we go, where everything we do continues to be an act of worship, where we have all we need to apply the promises to overcome in this world. To not just have a better life, but to be better at life. And listen to me, just like the huckleberry pear is great with a steak and is great in a bacon wrapped, there's nothing you can shove a huckleberry in that's not better for it. I'm convinced of it. Similarly, the spiritual life, this divine nature that God wants for us to have our eyes open to see that is put into us by His Spirit at salvation, that we have the very Spirit of God. There's nothing in your life that you can't apply that to. There is not one trial. There's not one situation. There's not one temptation, one, no matter how painful, no matter how beautiful, and come back.

12:41 Next week, we'll talk about hard things and how to apply this to the difficult things in our lives. I know God will use it in great ways, but we have what we need. We've been given everything we need. You have to believe that. I mean, I just picked out three examples, just three examples. Number one, the Holy Spirit's life inside of you will make you better at work tomorrow. It'll make you better at work tomorrow. Proverbs 22, 29. Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before unknown men. What is he saying? He's saying there's a qualitative difference upon someone in the eyes of those around them when they choose to approach their job as worship and not simply as the grudgery of work, as the drudgery of work, as that ball and chain. Oh, I got it. Oh, working for the weekend. Like, come on.

13:33 Like, as though like work is supposed to be some punishment and you just got to get through it so you can get on your jet ski on Saturday? Like, what's a terrible way to live your life? What if instead you believe that God created work and work is good and God created you uniquely and he has it in his mind, a way for him to be glorified through you unleashing his greatness at work? We need to stop letting culture tell us how things are framed. Work is not some punishment, it is a privilege. It is a joy of being alive. And in heaven, we will work. His servants shall serve him, it says, of those in heaven. We're going to have the delight and the duty of giving honor to God through how we work in heaven so we can choose to view our work as worship and do what we do unto God, not to men. And if we do that, let me tell you something, people will take notice. If you choose to, and we're not making it weird, okay? You know, like drawing a Christian fish on the table, like before we start serving the meal at the restaurant, like get out of here.

14:32 You know what I'm saying? but we're choosing to say, God, I want to approach this like I'm looking unto you. I want to believe that you're watching and honored by how I do this. I'm going to show up early. I'm going to be there ready. I'm going to have, you know what I'm saying? Like, if you just do what you're told and stay the time you're meant to stay and don't cut corners, it will separate you from the vast amount of people in this world. If there's a spirit inside of you, it's just, you see it in Joseph. And everywhere he goes, he's being promoted because he's just got that different spirit in him. You see it in Daniel. You see it in Esther. You see just there's something different about God's people that makes those around them want to promote them. Do you see a man who works, excels with what he does? He's going to end up standing before kings because the word's going to get out. This cat is different. So it'll change how you work. It'll also change how you approach your home life. Psalm 128, blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.

15:26 What's going to happen? His wife's going to end up being this fruitful vine. Ooh, yeah. You're going to get to enjoy the fruit of that vine. Why? Because you'll nourish and take care of that vine. That's why they call the one who takes care of the vine the husbandman. And you'll nourish and take care and cultivate the greatness out of your wife and be able to enjoy the fruit of that. How about your kids? Your kids will be, verse 3, like olive plants all around the table. Olive plants are all about legacy and continued lasting impact. There are olive trees that are thousands of years old, still on the earth to this day. Your kids and your kids' kids' kids, there's gonna be lasting legacy and anointing that's gonna be released through a different way you're approaching life. And as God's gonna use how you show up to parent, how you show up in your marriage bed, there can be blessing upon it. Even when you have beef in this world, even when you get into conflict, you can apply the exceedingly great and precious promises, Huckleberry, everything in life.

16:27 Look at Proverbs 16. when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. It's gonna change how you approach conflict. You're not gonna be rushing to gossip, quick to assume the worst about people, backbiting and criticizing. There's gonna be a way that you're gonna choose to live at peace with all men, so much as lies within you. You're gonna believe the best. You're gonna seek to work things out. You're gonna go to your brother. You're gonna talk things openly. You're not going to hold on to and carry resentments. It's going to cause there to be peace that follows after you. Goodness and mercy everywhere you go. It changes things. Huckleberry, everything. I'm not just going to give you one hour on Sunday, God. I want to give you my whole life, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There's not an area of your life that this won't impact. Now, what we're going to do in the weeks of the series is we're going to look at different ways.

17:26 The actual botany of this sweet little berry that they say, by the way, is a cousin of the blueberry and a cousin of the cranberry. What a weird little concoction. So that's why you kind of get blueberry vibes, but it's got that little tangy tartness. That's the cranberry kicking in, honey, right? But what does it exactly taste like? I found one description of what the huckleberry tastes like. Osta Bowen says, for those who have tasted mountain huckleberries, no description is needed. And for those who have not, description is impossible. How do you describe the colors in yesterday's sunset, the smell of today's breeze, or the taste of a waterfall? Wow. I guess the point is you have to taste it for yourself. And I love that there's just such a mystery to this sweet little berry. And so over the course of the weeks of this series, we'll be learning to apply lessons to our life of following Jesus that we can from this berry that we are surrounded by in the Rocky Mountains.

18:25 Now, my favorite thing to tell friends when we're on a hike and we come across Huckleberries and we're talking about it and just kind of riffing about life and our hearts and following Jesus and all the different things, that if we could have the sermon on a hike, I would love to have it with each of you one by one. But for the sake of time all across the church, it's probably not possible. We'll all take a hike in heaven though, deal? But so this is my next best thing. It's us just kind of here on a hike, like chatting like we would on the mountains. I would tell you this. If you're looking at a patch of huckleberries and you see all these little bushes all over the place, and the more you look, the more you'll see, right? I would tell you this, it's only one plant. You're looking at all these different bushes, but it's only one plant. Literally, they are what's called a clonal colony. That's how they work. And so you might have one plant, one huckleberry plant that stretches on for a whole acre or even up to a whole mile.

19:21 and it could literally just be one plant that you're seeing that started with one tiny, hardly can even see it seed that sprouted out, that turned into one huckleberry plant, then what it does is it shoots this tube out underground and that tube then shoots creepers up. Could be 50 feet away, could be 100 feet away, could be 1,000 yards away, but it's the same plant. Not similar plant, get the DNA. We're talking the exact same plant. And what that always makes me think of is what it's like to be a part of the body of Christ. Because what does Ephesians say? There is one body. There is one spirit. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling, there is only one Lord, only one faith, only one baptism, one God and Father above all who is through all and in you all. Welcome to the body of Christ. It is to have the divine nature of Jesus Christ come in. I might have shot up over here.

20:15 You might have shot up over there. You might be called over here. But guess what? If we're alive in Christ, we got one Holy Ghost. There's one cross Jesus died on. There's one resurrection. There's one. He's coming again for one bride. There's not the Baptist section heaven. And there's the Pentecostal section heaven. There's a Catholic section. There's just either you. Someone put it this way. Either you a saint or you ain't, right? Either you're in or you're not. You've come to Christ or not. You're in the ark or you're not. This is what it means to be a part of the family of God, the people of God. We shoot up and we can't claim our own life. We can't claim our own entrance. It's only because of that divine nature that Jesus put in us. In Huckleberry terminology, it's mother-daughter, OK? So the original is a mother. Some of you sourdough people are like, ooh, this is my language. This is my, right? You can always tell the sourdough people. The security's got to keep their eyes on them sourdough people, right?

21:09 A little too passionate for my likes. I'm just kidding. But so the mother is the original plant. And every other creeper that shows up is actually just a daughter. is actually a daughter, but it's the same thing. It's like Jenga Fett in the Star Wars. It's just all them clone troopers are all the exact, it's the exact same. And that's Christ. When Christ comes into your life, every one of us have his divine life in us. We have a different place where we're to stand and to be fruitful, but we can't claim our own identity. Oh, this is me. This is how I like things. We died. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, appears, we'll appear with him in glory. It's not, I'm not, I told you on Good Friday. hey, the Good Friday mistake we make is to say, that's the day when Jesus died. Nope, I died too. I died to sin. I died to my own rights. I died to control. That's the day I died, and I was buried with Christ in baptism. And when I came out of them waters, I came out in resurrection power.

22:06 I'm not just dead, I'm also alive in Christ Jesus. You prick me, you're going to find some DNA that belongs to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's my new life. That's my new identity. I died to this world. I died to my own nature. I died to hell. I died to my old father, the devil, who I was under his sway. I'm alive in Christ. This is my story. It's only one plant. And the reason it's almost impossible to grow your own huckleberry plant at home is because a lot of people who would try would actually be trying to transplant the wrong thing. Because what you see as a huckleberry bush, you think, oh, if I just cut this off or if I just dig out for a while. I could get this thing. I could bring this home. Huckleberries don't have a root ball. Almost any other tree or plant below it is that root ball. And you know, if you want to transplant that plant, like I bought trees from the nursery, they were 10 feet tall when I bought another 40 feet tall.

23:01 They had a root ball. It was wrapped up in a brown bag. And we got that root ball with soil down there. We got some nutrients on it. We got some water on it. And now it's fine. It grew up to its first 10 feet somewhere else. Now it's a Lusco, right? Right? And that's because we got there. Huckleberries don't have root balls, OK? So when you try and get what you get out of the ground and bring it, that'd be like just snipping off one branch on my tree and trying to take it somewhere else and just stick it in the ground. I'm like, why won't you grow, right? It just becomes a dead stick. Welcome to the family of God. Only connected to the actual rhizome, in huckleberry terminology, the umbilical cord underground, which is what connects mom to all the daughters, can there be life? So outside of that specific context, there can be no life. There can be no fruit. You can't grab that branch. Now I'm going to grow my own. Not only would it not be unless you lived on the side of a mountain possible, because they tend to love high elevation, just like God's best work. We'll talk about that more in the series. But disconnected from the source of life, there can be no sustained fruit. John 15, Jesus speaking, I am the vine, you are the branches.

24:13 He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do? If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and huckleberry everything. It's going to be done for you. You get one. You get one. You get the Holy Ghost. You get God's call. You get blessed. It's not like a select few are called. You're called. You're called. God's got a plan for you. God knows your name. God sees you. You have inheritance. You have a future. You're not an orphan. You're a part of the family. You're a royal priesthood. You're a chosen generation. Huckleberry, everything. This is what it is to be adopted into the family of God. If Jesus has it, you have it. You have the same standing before God as Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. That's ridiculous.

25:05 Yeah, this is true. OK, by this, my father, verse 8, is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples. But disconnect yourself from that source. Disconnect yourself from that parent plant. There's no vitality. We can do nothing on our own. All right, so some lessons we're going to start pulling away from this. The divine life, this huckleberry life of following Jesus God has for you, it can't be forced. Number one, jot it down. It can't be forced. As a parent, we have to think about this way with our kids. Our kids can't be forced to believe in Jesus. We can just model it for them, right? Someone said it to me once. I was early in my ministry. Someone said, you can't make me believe. And I said, bro, I wouldn't even try. All I can do is tell you what God's done in my life and tell you what scripture says.

26:00 But you have to make your own choice. Did you know that Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts? He doesn't kick the door down. He doesn't go seal Team 6. Like it or not, you're getting saved. Come into the baptism water. We need to get him down a little longer. Come on. It would work if you could try. And by the way, when the church has historically done that, it's been some of our least fine hours in church history, right? No one can be forced. There's a mystery to it. The Bible says that you can only come to God as the Father draws you. But when the Father draws you, you have to choose to open the door and invite him in. And then even like, you know, year to year, what's the yield gonna be like? What was the snowpack like? The weather, was it a drought? It's like, there's so many factors involved. And season to season, there is a mystery to following Jesus. There's an ebb and a flow to following Jesus.

26:53 There's a sense in which his ways are not our ways. And following him, it can't be predicted. It can't be controlled. It can't be contained. It's going to be weirder and harder than you ever thought. And yet it's going to be greater than you ever could have imagined. Because I cannot see and ear cannot hear. Neither can it even enter into the heart of a man, the things that God has prepared for those who follow him and love him. Huckleberry, everything, right? And so you're going to follow Jesus. And it can't be forced. It's not like you put the ATM code in and you put the card in and this comes out. And with baking cookies, you can say, well, if I do 350 for 12 minutes, it's going to be great. But with kids and with people, there's a lot of factors there. And we have to prayerfully, carefully watch what God does and trust that God knows best. C.S. Lewis put it well when he said that God, like Aslan, is not a tame lion.

27:50 You know how he's the lion of the tribe of Judah? Well, C.S. Lewis, in the metaphor of Aslan, says he's not a tame lion. He's not safe. right? Beaver says, who said anything about safe? But Aslan is good, I tell you. He's the king of these parts. So it is with King Jesus. Not safe, for sure. Not with that wild look in his eyes. Not the Jesus who is turning over tables and making a whip. Not Jesus who comes from outside of the normal religious system and people never know what to expect or what he's going to do. Jesus is not safe, but he is good. And he's the king of these parts. And just like the mystery of the mountain huckleberry. So there's going to be a mystery to what God's going to do in your life. But as you follow him, you will bear his fruit. And you will be his disciples. I mean, how radical is Jesus just walking up to Matthew at the tax collectors booth and being like, hey, what are you doing?

28:44 Just taking taxes. Cool, follow me. Like now? Yeah, now or never. It's going to be on his terms, not yours, is what I'm trying to see. Leave your nets. Come follow him. You mean now? Right? And either we follow Jesus into the wild beyonder of what he has for us, or we miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime. But he will not be forced. He's not gonna come back tomorrow. When he knocks, we open, or we miss out. When he says, let's do it, speak up, say something, try that, go, do it. We either follow those impulses, but he's not gonna be, he's not gonna, when you say, well, can you call back next Tuesday? I gotta get a couple of ducks in a row. No, no, we either follow and go, or what did Mordecai say to Esther? God will raise someone else. God will give the opportunity to someone else. It can't be forced. It also can't be faked, okay? So you can't fake your way into being a huckleberry plant, right?

29:40 You think about the sorting, right? There's a lot of different parables that use different language, but there's a sorting at the end of the age, right? Sheep from goat, fish from other things caught into the fisherman's net, right? License plate, boot, right? There's also the wedding story where at the end of the age, heaven is compared to a wedding. Almost always, Jesus used the language of the wedding to describe the festal joy. In our day, it's true, but in that day, it was the day of the year if you got invited to someone's wedding, okay? I mean, in many parts of the world, they won't even eat meat except for a couple days out of the year when they're going to get access to meat. I mean, it's a big deal. So in that day, to have someone invite you to a wedding, which was a multiple day long affair, it's like, oh, this is the greatest day ever. We're going to all get to hang out and dance and there's joy to it. So Jesus always compared the kingdom of God to a wedding. Huck, yeah. Come on. There's a joy to it. There's a silliness to it. There's a beauty to it. Grandma's, you know, cutting a rug with the ring bearer. We all know calories don't count at weddings, right? I was at a wedding recently. It was like 1030 at night and someone's like, well, now we're having chicken and waffles. I'm like, I'm an adult. I can't eat chicken and waffles.

30:59 But I did. It's a wedding. What do you hate? The happy couple? Eat the food. You know, it's like, okay, great, right? There's a joy to the wedding. Okay, listen, listen. At the end of the wedding feast, the Bible says that the host is going to walk around and there are going to be some people who weren't actually meant to be there. They could have had the opportunity, but they did not take it. Here's what it says. I'll explain it in a second. Matthew 22. The king came in to see the guests. He noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. Okay. Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, tie him up hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now again, this is one of those sobering parts of scripture where you're like, what are we to make of that? Well, the greater context of this parable is Jesus says, God invites the whole world to come. He does not want anybody to be tied up. He wants everybody at the feast. There's room for you, okay? But some people were like, meh, I'm busy. I've got another wedding to go to. I don't, I don't, I don't. And so everyone who got invited said no. And so you know what he did? He, the king said, well, get people in here. Go to every homeless shelter.

32:18 Go to every bum in a ditch. Go to every single beggar and say, you're welcome. You're welcome. Just walk, go walk around Walmart at three in the morning. Go to Waffle House. Clear the place out. everyone's coming to my wedding, okay? And at the door, they were all handed the proper attire, okay? Because no one coming in as a beggar is gonna have the right clothes. They don't have a tuxedo. Gucci's clothes. Where are they gonna get the right clothes for the king's wedding? Come on, somebody. So the king's offering them all clothes. So here's what Spurgeon says. Spurgeon says, why does God always end his stories with his house is full of beggars, full of joy, wearing clothes that he gave them? Here's why. If you come in as a connoisseur of the Michelin-rated restaurant, and food comes out from the kitchen, Spurgeon says. He says, you might go, I've had the better food at Balthazar and Soho, right? Like, you might be judging the food. You're like, oh, no, I'm not even hungry.

33:10 I just ate, or I'm going to eat after this. My chef's going to whip something up, right? He says, but the beggar? Spurgeon said, the beggar? Every meal that comes out of the door, it's like, can you believe we get to eat this? That's the biggest turkey I've ever seen in my life. And listen, God only welcomes beggars at his feast. That is to say that we go, I can't believe I get a beer. I can't believe you died for me. I can't believe you're willing to have me. The story ends, and all there are is beggars wearing clothes they didn't buy, eating food they don't deserve, and they're freaking out over, like, can you believe we get to have, they're bringing out huckleberry cheesecake, y'all. They're like, they can't believe, huckleberry soda's on the menu. I've never had that before. Heaven help us to always stay beggars in our own mind, that we don't deserve anything and God's given us everything, right? But there's a guy not wearing clothes. Now, what did I tell you?

34:05 They were offered clothes at the door. So this guy thinks I can be here, but wear what I want to wear. I can be here, but have declined the graciousness of my host who offered to clothe me in what I should be wearing here to honor him at this occasion. that he dictated because the host gets to dictate the dress code. And by the way, when you get told here's the dress code, don't be that guy showing him flip-flops. Honor the people who are inviting you into their special day. Dress up. Show with what you're wearing. I honor you in this moment here, OK? So this guy, not wearing the clothes, is basically saying, I can come on my own terms. Translation, God at the cross took his own son and let him be slaughtered so you could wear his righteousness. and any of us saying, I should be allowed to go to heaven however I want is showing up at the feast, not wearing what was provided for us, which is the only thing, which is why the man was bound hand and foot.

35:02 Now, listen to me. What that means is you don't have to go to hell, but you can. It's completely up to you. You'll have to practically crawl over the cross of Jesus Christ to get there. But if you're willing to have it your own way, you will have it your own way. There's only two people in the end. Those who say to God, thy will be done and those who on the way to hell, God says, that I will be done. This is what you chose. This is what you wanted, not what I wanted for you. But it can't be fake. Salvation can't be faked. And then thirdly, it can't be a feature. Have you noticed every musician is like doing features now? It used to be by a record and the artists, that's just all their songs. Now it's like every third song, it's like, oh, now Post Malone's on this track. Like they're all like all these features, like a little bit of that artist just to draw in a little bit more of that. Oh, just to entice you. Oh, it's not just brand new. like, we've got jelly roll now. You like that? He's a little feature of this. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine.

35:52 Listen, what am I trying to say? I'm trying to say Jesus isn't willing to be a feature on your production. He's not willing just to be a little bit on what is the rest of your creative liberty and control of your life. What God told me to tell you is you can't have just a little bit of Jesus. It's either all of him on his terms or nothing at all. As he put it, you've got to come to me turning your back on your old life. You've got to come to me saying, though none go with me, still I will follow. I'm willing to make every other love in my life look like hatred. I love you that much. I love you that supremely. Honey, you've got to deny yourself, pick up your cross if you're willing to follow Jesus. This is what scripture says. He's not going to be a feature of your life, a part of your life, a little bit of your life. He wants all of you. He died for all of you. He purchased all of you. Matthew 10, 37.

36:45 and he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. You got to come to Christ fully. And we have to resurrender our lives to him every day because little bits of it creep back into our own control. And we fall back into that selfish pattern so easily. All right. It also can't be a flex. You can't add Jesus onto your life hoping to get the power that he will work through you without the beauty of the relationship with him. That's wanting the outcome without the whole point, which is actually just following Jesus. There was these guys, the seven sons of Sceva in the book of Acts. It's the 19th chapter. They were seeing Paul ministering. Now, look what all this guy's doing. Now, Paul wasn't doing them to get a reputation. Paul wasn't serving God so people would know about Paul.

37:39 Paul was just serving God. But as that happened, the stories were being told about what Paul did, and they wanted to do it too. So they began, without knowing Jesus themselves, to go into situations like Paul did and try and do ministry in Paul's name. And so in one day, there was a demon-possessed person, and these seven sons of a man named Sceva came in and said, we cast you out in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches. They literally said that. Probably the worst sermon that's ever been preached, right? Not Jesus Christ our Lord, right? Because listen, there's no such thing a secondhand faith. It's got to be your own. You can borrow a truck. You can't borrow faith. You've got to have your own. But they were like, we tell Paul's Savior to you go, must go. They wanted everyone to, like, there's big flex. Look at what we're doing for God too, right? They wanted the attention and the notoriety that would come from it, but they didn't have the genuine article of their own faith.

38:35 And notice the demon answered, verse 15. The evil spirit answered them, verse 15, Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you? But who are you? The demons are like, and you are? There's no actual power in your walk with God without your walk with God. And look what happened to the sons of Sceva, verse 16. Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. This is what's going to happen to you if you're trying to use God as a flex instead of just walking with Jesus, right? So you can't walk with God to level up your aura or do some spirit maxing, right? It just is either a genuine overflow of your relationship with God or there's no staying power in it. All right, you get what I'm saying.

39:28 Can't be forced, can't be fake, can't be a feature, can't be a flex. What can it be? The only thing it can be is found, found. Now, the cool thing about the Bible once again and again and again, describing our relationship with God as finding him, finding treasure, right? That's what Matthew 13 says. The kingdom of heaven is like what? Treasure hidden in a field and a man found it. A man found it. You don't get to be a hero for finding, right? You found treasure. What happened? Found it. Like, what happened? I found God. I don't know what to tell you other than I found him. I know him now. How? I found him, right? So you have to find it. A huckleberry, you don't deserve a huckleberry. You don't earn a huckleberry. You're just walking down the path, and there it is. God put it right there in your path, because he is not far from any one of us.

40:23 God's waiting to be wanted, hoping to be found. He's put himself right in your path, in your life. And if you're honest, don't you sense him calling you? Don't you sense him? Haven't you always, even in the quiet of the midnight hour, sensed him, sensed his love when you watch the sunset? Don't you notice him there? Isn't he calling out to you? Don't you feel like life's meant to be more than just paycheck to paycheck and becoming a little bit of famous if you can? Or whatever else the world tells you that's the goal of this life, right? Don't you sense there being more hope and more purpose? Yes, God's waiting to be found by you. And if you find him, then what are you to do? You're to go full send. You find him, and then you must go after him full send. I'm saying, huck, yeah. I'm saying we're going over the berm. I'm saying we crack the Red Bull and we just, we do this thing. I'm saying we huck it off that cliff. I'm saying we sell all we have. Matthew 13, the guy did. Matthew 13, 44.

41:15 The kingdom of heaven like a treasure hid in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. Then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. What that means is he's saying my entire life now for the knowledge of following Jesus. And once you find it and go full send, you fasten your seatbelts. We close here. You fasten your seatbelts. Why? When Jesus said to stay connected to the vine is to be able to bear fruit, he repeated the word abide. Abide. Abide. Remain in me. And I in you. Let my word remain in you. Let my spirit remain in you. Right? You can't disconnect a branch from the huckleberry rhizome umbilical cord and then come back periodically to get its life force, to get its essence. You have to stay put. We have to remain with Jesus. I close with an illustration from my own life that's not great. Last night, I hit a significant milestone, day 733 in my streak on Duolingo.

42:18 And I am horrified and embarrassed as I take inventory before you now in my own mind at how little Italian I know. I've been taking Italian on Duolingo for 733 days. And you know how much Italian I know? Piccolo. though. That means little, right? I do know that. But I'm actually... I think about how much Italian I would know if I lived in Italy the last 700 days. You drop somebody in Tuscany for 730 days, they're coming away fluent. Why? The difference is saturation. For some of us, we've been walking with God so long, but we're just not seeing what He wants to do in us. And I would ask you, have you maintained your streak, but not been walking with the Savior. God wants you to be immersed in his love, immersed in his spirit, to abide in the vine, to walk with him.

43:12 Not just, you know, every day I did my little thing. I checked that box, right? Because my problem on Duolingo is I skip the stuff I don't like. And it makes it easy. I'll say, can't speak out loud right now. Sometimes I push it, not because I can't, but because I don't want to, right? I skip the hard stuff. And some of us follow Jesus like that. We follow him. but as soon as he tells us to do something we don't like, we just skip to the next thing. OK, yeah, skip to the next thing. We can just skip the YouTube channel or we can find someone else to mentor. We can just immediately change channels the moment it gets hard. So the question here, there, or wherever else is, will you just walk with Jesus to know the love of God, to comprehend with all the saints, how long it is, how wide it is, how deep it is, how high it is, to be filled with the fullness of God and walk with him, applying his great and precious promises everywhere you go.

44:05 To live with the awareness that he's always in you, wanting to flow through you. And where it's not huckleberry some things, but it's huckleberry everything. And in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, may we remember that Christ gave his whole life for us on the cross. And this whole created universe is giving God praise day in and day out. and only in our little hearts and lives is there the space, the question mark of who will be glorified, who will be exalted, who will be lifted high in our hearts. And so Lord, for us in our house, may it be that we wanna live for Jesus, not for us. I pray that for myself.

44:48 If you needed this message today to surrender some nook, some cranny, walking with Jesus, you even just now realize there's parts of your life that you're just keeping back from God using, could I just ask you to raise up a hand in the secrecy of this moment? Just ask for God to take it all. Take it all. Take your life. Go all in again on His terms. He's not safe, but He's good. And so we're saying with our hands raised, God, I surrender everything to You in my heart. Take my anxieties, take my fear, take my future, take my education, take how I approach work and relationship, opportunity and service. God, just I want you to have it all, all for you.

45:33 Not the Jesus Paul knows, the Jesus I know. You can put your hands down. I want to now invite anybody who's here today and you've not stepped into life in Christ. You're not wearing that wedding garment that Jesus died to put on you, the righteousness of God. You're trying to come to him based on what you've done or how good you've been or the things you've accomplished. but you need to come and say like a beggar, I don't belong here. I don't deserve this, but I'm willing to accept what Jesus did for me on the cross. If that's you I'm describing, maybe you sense Jesus knocking on the door of your heart right now. I remember the first time that happened for me and I opened that door and gave my life to God. Let me tell you something. It made my life better and it made me better at life. God's willing to come into your heart, but you got to invite him in. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. I'm going ask the church family to pray it with us. But if you're ready to make Jesus the Lord of your life, I want you to say this to God.

46:27 Mean it in your heart. He'll hear you. Dear God, I'm sorry for my sins. I thank you for your love. Thank you for Jesus, his death and resurrection. I turn from my sins, and I turn to you in faith. I offer my whole life to you. Thank you for your life in me. Amen.