Welcome Like Christ

What if a church felt like the safest place to land and the boldest place to change? We open Romans 15:7–13 and make the case that a Jesus-shaped welcome is both wide open and deeply honest, the kind of culture where anyone can walk in and everyone is called forward. The heartbeat is hope—real hope that doesn’t rise and fall with the week’s wins and losses, but holds steady because it’s anchored in Christ.

We talk candidly about church hurt and why so many people keep their distance, then chart a better way: hospitality with conviction. Welcoming is not approval of everything; it’s the doorway to encounter and repentance. We also press into why singing matters even for non-singers, how emotions help us experience truth, and why stories lodge the gospel in our memory. Along the way, we push back on thin “name it” theology, letting Scripture interpret Scripture so prayer becomes alignment with God’s will instead of a lever for our desires.

From fishing boats to classrooms to neighborhood tables, the mission stays the same: seek and save the lost, reflect light in dark places, and let people hear the Shepherd’s voice among us. And we end where Paul does—with joy. When Jesus becomes the treasure in the field, good gifts keep their place and a deeper gladness grows. If that vision stirs you, lean in with us: subscribe, share this episode with a friend who’s searching for a church home, and leave a review to help more people find a welcome that looks like Christ.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Prayer And Reading Romans 15
• 2:06 Hope In Christ Versus Circumstances
• 4:15 Church Hurt And Radical Welcome
• 9:35 Why We Sing: Passion And Presence
• 13:40 Welcoming Without Watering Down Repentance
• 16:02 Hearing The Shepherd’s Voice And Mission
• 19:05 Scripture Interprets Scripture, Not Slogans
• 24:32 Prayer, Desire, And God’s Will
• 27:12 Chosen To Bless The Nations
• 29:04 Everyday Callings, One Gospel Mission
• 31:30 Joy That Outlasts Circumstances
• 34:12 Treasure In The Field: Seeing Jesus As Worth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Good morning. Um now obviously I can't get this into the announcements because it was a surprise to me this morning, but thank you so much for the appreciation you guys show. Steven, you really went all out. Like I'm gonna have a hard time making it through without giggling. So if I'm staring at this side of the room more today, it's not because I think you need the message more, it's just because I'm trying to keep my brain from going crazy over here. False. Other than that, I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna jump in. So, Father, I thank you so much for your word, and I ask and I pray, God, that as I preach this morning, that it be your word. That it's not my opinion, God, but it is the powerful word of God that transforms us. Father, I pray that we leave here today uh different than when we came in, and by the power of your spirit, we are transformed from one degree of glory to the next. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so kicking off in verse 7. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God, Christ, the hope of Jews and Gentiles. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again it is said, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people, and again praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all of the peoples extol him. And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Now, obviously, that was a lot of reading, so there's a lot that we're gonna have to get into. And as all of you know, I am like really brief when I explain everything, right? We're gonna break it apart into three different natural breaks that Paul has in there to kind of fully understand what he's saying in all this. And the first is we're gonna just focus on verse 7. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God, Christ, the hope of Jews and Gentiles. Now we looked at a lot of this last week, right? Last week we talked about that hope that we can have and why uh those of us in Christ can have hope compared to those who are not in Christ. We can have that hope because our hope isn't anchored in the here and now. Our hope isn't anchored in our life circumstances that all of us know go up and down and up and down and up and down. Like sometimes you're on top of the world and you're crushing it. Other times it feels like life's beating you to the ground. And if we put our hope in that, man, you are going to be up and down your whole life. You're not gonna have any steadiness, but what uh our hope is, is in Christ. And remember, I told you guys last week that I was gonna try to get to verse 7, but we we just ran out of time in the message. But that's why in verse 7, Paul starts with, therefore. See, that's a very important word for us because what Paul is doing here is he's referring back to what he just said, right? Because of that hope we have in Christ, because we are in Christ and we know we can hold on to Jesus, because of all of that, therefore, welcome one another. Now, I've met a lot of people in my life who are very, very against the church. They don't necessarily have a problem with Jesus, they don't necessarily have a problem with understanding that there's a God and there's something greater than us, but they really, really, really don't like the church. And honestly, after you talk to them, we can understand why. Because honestly, what is a church? We're a group of sinners that gather together to worship Jesus. And what winds up happening sometimes is in that there is a lot of hurt. Most of the people I've talked to that have that kind of mindset, they usually have a traumatic story that goes along with that. In fact, there's an old saying, I don't remember who said it off the top of my head, but it's this people don't go to church because they've been before. And I'll tell you, if I were to like go around the room, I'm sure some of us in here have that traumatic story somewhere. We have that hurt that happened to us in a place that is supposed to not bring hurt. And if you look through the news, it's happening more and more and more, it seems. I mean, just last month there was whatever that pastor, pastor in quotation words, who was arrested here in Tampa.$20 million house has people working for him that he's not paying. We call that what? Slavery. And he's doing it what in the name of Jesus. I'm no different. I walked away from church and didn't come back for almost 10 years because of a. I am different in the fact that I don't have people working for me for free. Some of the people kind of threw that into that. But I walked away from the church and didn't come back for almost 10 years because of a very traumatic story that I lived through. And really, when it was time to come back, it was a fight. Like Debbie, God bless her soul. Debbie would literally argue with me every single Saturday night. You going with me tomorrow? No, no. Like at one point I told Debbie, I'd rather take spoons and dig out my eardrums than have to go sit and listen to someone try to preach. And when I finally did go, it wasn't even a church service that I went to. It was a play that the church was putting on. See, there's a lot of people out there that are in that same boat that understand, like, hey, I don't want to be a part of all of that. Yes, I want to believe in something greater than myself because I know this can't terminate on me, but I don't want to be involved with all this. Because sometimes, and we all know it, church can be a very, very nasty place. It can be very clickish, it can be very cold, it can be very all of those bad things that you can put into mind. And you know what? On the other hand, sometimes it can be the most beautiful thing in the world. And that's what Paul is starting right here, and that's what he's driving at. He's sitting here going, we should be the most welcoming place on the planet. Like if someone walks in this door, we should be like their biggest cheerleader. Why? Because we know the hope we have in Christ. We know the goodness of the Spirit. That's why when you get all the way into Hebrews, right? It's a it's a verse that I people want to talk about all the time with me, right? In Hebrews 6, where it says, those who have tasted of the it's not goodness. Heavenly what? Heavenly gifts or something like that. Heavenly gifts? Something like that. I didn't, this isn't in my notes, this just kind of hit me. So I'm trying to remember it off the top of my head. But see, and then they have walked away. It is impossible to restore them. And a lot of people try to use this verse and they'll like make theological arguments that aren't there. But what he's driving at here is the same thing. Like, I worked with Kayla a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about what the purpose of praise and singing is. Because if you guys really don't know a secret, like it's not my favorite part of a service. Why? Because I'm not a singer. Like, think about that. Like, if you are not a singer, why would you want to sing? Those of you that are like, I don't go fishing. Why don't you go fishing? Because you're not a fisherman. So you don't see the joy in that. You don't see the worship in that. And I sit here and I go, so I'm working with Kayla and I go, what is the purpose of it? Why do we do this? Is it just so we can look like every other church around because every other church around sings songs? Is it just so we can have something to do before the message? Is it just so we have something to do after the message? So it's not that weird, awkward silence like if I just walk off. Like, why do we do this? And honestly, Caleb, do you remember what the answer was?

SPEAKER_01: 9:16

Passionately.

SPEAKER_00: 9:18

That's it, right there. You are to be passionately leading others to experience an encounter with Christ. I get, and I get it because I say a lot of dumb things sometimes. And I'll be the first one in this room to rag on someone that has feelings. And I get it. Why do we have feelings though? Why do we have emotion? Because God submitted is a great answer, Caleb?

SPEAKER_01: 9:52

God has emotion.

SPEAKER_00: 9:53

Because God has emotion? We know that because Jesus felt compassion and Jesus felt anger. So we know because we're man in the image of God, we have emotions. But what is the purpose of emotions? And I'll give you a hint. Scientists have been studying this since they have recorded medical studies. Jenzi? No one knows. We do know. I thought you know. We don't know where they come from. They have no clue where your emotions come from. Like no part of your brain or anything like that. Here's what emotions are for them. Emotions help us experience life. One of the things me and Debbie talk about a lot, because if you don't know, Debbie is your typical Latina, very passionate about everything. Like things that us white people would not get excited for. Debbie is like, look at the silverware. And I'm like, it's a fork. Like Debbie experiences life, and I tell her all the time, Debbie experiences life much more than I do. Like a thousand times more than I am. Because of her emotional network. And Debbie has these incredible eyes. And sometimes I look at her and I'm kind of jealous of that because I sit here and I go, man, like I just wish I could experience life like that. But then other times I see her on these incredible lows. And in those moments, I'm like, oh thank you, Jesus, that I am the way that I am because I can kind of just hang out right here in the middle. No, I don't get these big highs, but I also don't get these devastating lows either. But see that emotion, God gave us that to experience. I was just watching a podcast last night, and they were saying this when you are preaching, make them do something. Make them laugh, make them cry. Because if you're boring, no one's gonna listen to what you're saying. In other words, you have the greatest information in the world. You could present it in the most logical way possible, which I really, really try my hardest to do. But if I'm not making you feel anything, you are never going to experience it. And as humans, you know what we live by? Experience. Think about it. You gather around a group of people, what do they start doing? They start talking, what are they doing in that talking? They're sharing, they're telling stories. It's what we've been doing since we were living in caves. Like when you go into, where is it, in Spain? And they have the cave paintings that are, you know, however old you want to believe the earth is. What were they doing on those cave paintings? They were just telling stories. You get a group of people together, and that's what we do. We tell stories. So why don't we do this? We do this to passionately lead people to encounter Christ. Because I really, really believe with everything I am, that if you encounter Jesus, everything else in your life melts away. Everything else in your life becomes secondary. All of a sudden you start seeing life through a different perspective. And that's why we should be the most welcoming place anyone has ever gone. It doesn't matter what they look like, it doesn't matter what they smell like, it doesn't matter what they dress like, it doesn't matter who they voted for, it doesn't matter what their skin color is, it doesn't matter what music they listen to, when they walk in this door, they should feel welcome. Why? Because Christ welcomed us. Because Jesus didn't go, hold on, you've got to get cleaned up first. Then you can become part of my family. Now, does welcoming mean accepting? Because I know this would be the question that would come off, right? So what you're saying is I have to be cool with everybody's lifestyle. Not at all. We are called to preach the gospel. We are called to preach repentance. That is what we are called to do. Now, do we have to be judgmental and do that? No, not at all. We do it in gentleness and in love, but I would be doing you a disservice if I were just to stand up here and go, hey, you're fine the way you are. Because that is not the message of Scripture. See, yes, Jesus meets us where we are, but he doesn't leave us there. He takes us on this road that we in the church call sanctification, which is just a fancy way of saying to look more like Jesus. In fact, if we just listen to what Jesus tells us in John 10, he says this to him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Here's what Jesus is showing right there. He's a great shepherd, is what he's talking about in John 10. And he goes, He called you by name. Just like when Jesus found Matthew or Peter, and he went, Hey, Peter, follow me. And Peter dropped his nets and followed him. Jesus did the same thing to each and every person who calls himself a Christian. He looked at you and he went, Hey, Joe, follow me. Hey, Tom, follow me. Hey, Stephen, dress as Dwight and follow me because I'm going to think that's funny. That's what he did, and that's where we see this. So he calls them by name and he leads them out, and when he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. When I walk in front of them, they follow after me. That's what living by faith is all about. It's sitting here going, Hey, I'm gonna go where Jesus is calling me to go, and I'm gonna do the things that Jesus is telling me to do. You wanna know why we do so much here? Because Jesus just goes, Hey, and do this, and do this too. And do this. Open a school, take people out fishing, record and release podcasts, have a church, call people to join in on that, share with the community, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the widows and the orphans. All of this isn't because I was sitting here and I went, Hey, you know what? I'm bored, and I just need something to do. Does anybody know what Peter's profession was? He was a fisherman. You think Peter stopped fishing when he started following Jesus?

SPEAKER_01: 17:06

No.

SPEAKER_00: 17:07

How do we know the answer to that is no?

SPEAKER_01: 17:09

Because they were on the boat fishing.

SPEAKER_00: 17:11

Because they were on the boat a lot. Like Peter didn't just go, okay, now I have to be this churchy person. Peter went, I'm going to follow Jesus and I'm gonna do the things that Jesus is telling me to do, but I'm still Peter. And I'm still gonna do the things I did because his sheep hear his voice and they follow him. Now let me ask you though, how are sheep to hear his voice if they don't feel welcome to come into his house? Anybody in here you ever heard talking to someone about church and they're like, oh, I can't go to church because I didn't immediately get struck by lightning? Like that I people have said stuff where I immediately catch on fire or whether I can't go in there. And it's like in those moments I never stopped and went, the funny thing is, me too. Because I'm just as sinful as you are, and yet Jesus still called me by name, and Jesus still went, hey, come with me, and I promise you, if you come with me, he's gonna do the same thing to you. And I sit here and I go, but if they're not welcome to come in here, how are they gonna hear that? Are you gonna tell me? Just so you know, you're called to in scripture. In 1 Peter, he says that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation set apart for his glory. You know what that means? Each and every one of us in this room are called to do exactly what I'm doing right now. Now it's gonna look different and it's gonna sound different, just like I don't look like or sound like every other pastor that is out there. But we are called to preach, and I'm not saying we lower the standard, we're not sitting here going, hey, this being more accepting of sin. But people should know us first by our welcoming, because we need to remember who we were before Jesus found us. Because I get it, some of you were like, Well, I was born and raised in church. Never the worst thing I've ever done is one time. My friends were like, I'm gonna say honest, it wasn't friends because you were homeschooled. So your imaginary friends were like sitting there going, Hey, I bet you won't say this four-letter word. That's the worst thing I ever did. And if that is your story, amen. Praise God. Well, what I want you to understand is you were still dead in your trespasses and sin before Jesus made you alive together with Christ. That's the story of all of us. We as the church should be open to all just as Jesus was open to us, because as Paul has already told us in Romans 5:8, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Again, I've already said this, but Jesus didn't wait for us to get it all together and then go, now you're worthy to be all my children. Think about it. You got kids in here? JT wasn't amazing, and then I went, okay, now I'm going to adopt you as my own. Like, God just went here. This is what you got. Work with what you got. And through a lot of different conversation and discipline and all of these different things, we take our kids and we shape and we mold them, correct? That is what the Bible is talking about right here. It's not get cleaned up and then come be a part of this. It's come be a part of this, and I'll clean you and mold you as we go. See, some of us we're gonna look pretty silly when we get to heaven. And we don't go to heaven, so let me correct this. Some of us are gonna look pretty silly on that new earth, right? Because you're gonna be walking along the streets of gold, it's gonna be amazing. You're gonna be right there by like the crystal sea. And that person that you looked at and went, there's no way they're gonna make it in here, is going to be walking right up next to you. And are you really gonna sit there on the new earth and go, how did you make it in here? Like some of us we're gonna be shocked, right? We're gonna be looking at him and going, I how? Because there isn't a sin greater than the cross of Christ. That's how. The same way I made it in. The same way each and every person who put their faith in Christ made it in. Because we haven't backwards. You don't get clean and then go take a shower. It's impossible unless you and some of you are like, nope, dude wife has this waterless shower system. I'm gonna tell you right now, I get it, and it might take some of the phone calls, but you ain't clean. You get in a shower and come out clean. And then Paul moves on to three verses between verses eight and twelve. And if you have your Bible, you can read through all of that. Because I'm just going to tell you what Paul is doing there. Ready? Paul starts this section with a promise that Jesus came to the circumcised. And what he's doing is he's using Scripture to prove Scripture true. In other words, like when he quotes Isaiah there, when he says, and again, um, and again, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles, and him will the Gentiles hold. What he's doing is he's saying it's 700 years before Jesus is even born. Isaiah's already told us this is what's going to happen, and now that it's happened, I want to show you where the Bible was true. And again, he didn't just use one or two verses to do that. When I prepare a sermon, I really try with everything I am to incorporate the entire counsel of God. Because if we don't, we run a really big risk of taking something small and making an incorrect theology about what the Bible is actually saying. And truth matters. Because I could take a verse like, I don't know, let's just pick one at random. John 14, 14 says this if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Now, beautiful verse, right? And if I was that kind of pastor, I could take that verse and go, what is it you desire? What is it you want? What are your wildest dreams? Because the Bible just promised you those are Jesus' own words. If you flip to John 14, 14, those are in red, which means Jesus is the one who actually said it. And what he just said verbatim was this anything you ask in my name, I will do. Because they turn it into this you dream too small for God. Ephesians 3 shows us that to the God that is able to do far more than I can imagine. So, yeah, you dream too small for God. But again, that's not what Jesus is talking about. And then they go, if you just have faith to name it and claim it, speak it into existence. Okay, running into a couple of problems here. Because if I could speak things into an existence, my life would look a lot different than what it does. My wife wouldn't even be my wife, right? Because I would have been back at 13 married on a yacht to someone that's not dead. Why? Because well, I control the power. So, got a problem there. Number three, what are my heart's desires? Jeremiah already tells me, right? My heart is wicked and deceitful above everything. So what am I gonna ask for? Wickedness and deceitful. Why? Because that's who I am. But yet if I just took this one verse and I went, hey, this is what it means. Anything you ask, what's gonna happen when you ask Jesus for the healing, or you ask Jesus for restoration in your marriage, or you ask Jesus for this, and it doesn't come. What happens to your belief then? You sit here and go, Oh, it must not be real. My faith wasn't good enough. I wasn't strong enough, I didn't pray enough, I didn't give enough, I didn't do X, Y, or Z, and that's why it didn't get fulfilled. Because I've placed a weight on you that you cannot bear to carry. But yet if I get to James 4, 3, it says this you ask and do not receive. Because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. Now, if I was a Bible critic, don't those two verses kind of contradict each other? Jesus says anything I ask in his name, he will do. And James goes, you don't get it because you ask for it wrongly. Because you asked for it for you. Because most of us, when we hear John 14, 14, that's the first thing that pops in our mind, right? Anything I ask, I you will do. All I gotta do is attach the magical words in Jesus' name, and that means Jesus will do it. That is us asking wrongly. That is us sitting here and going, hey, here's what I want. When Jesus prays, he goes, Hey, it's not about what I want. Father, not my will, but your will be done. That should be our prayer. Our prayer should never be just focused on our desire. Now, does that mean we don't pray for what we desire? No, we start every service with prayer requests, right? Should we pray for healing? Absolutely. Should we pray for restoration? Absolutely. Why? Because the Bible told us to. It just shouldn't be the desire of my heart. I shouldn't be sitting here going, what can I get from Jesus? What it means is that anything I need to glorify and make more of Jesus, Jesus will provide me with. And what Paul is doing here is the same thing. He's taking all of these different passages from the book of Psalms and Isaiah and Deuteronomy, and he's going, Hey, here's what I want to show you that God's word is true. We can believe in his word. Because, see, the Jews thought that the only reason God chose them is so that they would be the more powerful nation and they can rule over the earth. But that's not why I called you. I called you so that you could show the other nations of the earth what it means to be my people. The same is true for us now. Our mission is very simple. It's to seek and save what is lost, it's to be a city on a hill, it's to be a light in the darkness. That is the mission of the church. And so that more people will come to know Jesus. So whether we're here at service or you're working in the sharing center or in the school or in the outdoors or at the barbecue or wherever you are, whether you're over here and I'll tell you right now, I want more people to come record podcasts with me. Like I'll work around your timetable too. And if you're sitting here and you're like, oh, I can't do that, there's nothing I could add to that. I promise you, there's something you can add to it. Because you see life the only way anyone in this world does, through your own eyes. And we all see it differently. But what it means is, regardless of what I'm doing, the mission stays the same to seek and save what is lost. We see this from Genesis to Revelation. That is the entire point of the Bible is God's redemption of his creation. It's not a hey, here's how our marriage. Can be better. Here's how your finances can be better. It is literally God sitting here going, I will redeem my creation. And then Paul finishes it with this in verse 13. This is called a benediction, by the way. Just a fun word. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. I will tell you right now, that is my prayer as your pastor. That God just give you all joy and all peace. And most of us misunderstand that word joy. Does joy mean happiness? No. Because happiness goes up and down. Happiness is based on circumstance. The example I give the kids at school a lot is this. Because if I were to take my wallet out right now and put$1,000 in each one of your hands, you would be happy. But what happens when you spend that thousand dollars? Now you're sad. Because, see, our happiness, our sadness are based on circumstance. Joy, joy is this overarching thing in my life where I go, can't nothing will be dead. Joy is sitting here and going, regardless of my circumstances, I have found a secret to being content. Joy is sitting here going, it doesn't matter. Again, if you look through the book of Ecclesiastes, right? Vanity of vanities, all is vanities. Life is meaningless. When you read that, you're like, that is not a very Christian outlook on the world. And so you understand really what the writer of Ecclesiastes is talking about. That if this is all uh if this is it, this is all there is to it, it's meaningless. Because in a blink of an eye, you're gonna live your whole life and then you're gonna be gone. However, when I understand the eternal God, I can understand joy. I can understand peace. Because I know that this isn't it. Years and years and years ago, there was this pastor who wrote this book, Your Best Life Now. Think about this. If this is the best, oh Jesus. And I'm saying that not in vain, but in prayer. If this is the best, Jesus, you you your your word can't be sure. Because some of us, this is trying. I get it. Some of us have like an easy-going life, and everything just seems to fall in place for you. And praise God for that. For some of us, that's not how it goes, though. Some of us wake up with new pains every day, some of us have a hard time falling asleep at night. Some of us are like sitting here going, I don't know what tomorrow is gonna bring. Some of us are on that brink of breakdown. And if this is the best, why on earth would I want to put my hope in that? But what the Bible promises is that the God of peace. See, we look at Paul, who's writing this letter, who in his letter to Philippians, like we saw last week in Philippians 1.21, showed us that to live is Christ, to die is gained. In other words, there's nothing that can affect me in this life. Because if I have a breath in my lungs, I'm going to praise God. And if I die, I get to go be with him. So where's the downside here? Where's the loss for me? See, why can Paul look at the world this way? Because most of us don't. Most of us put our hope in our circumstances. And when things are going right, we're on top of the world. And when things aren't going right, we're like in our beds crying. I know all you guys in here are like, oh, yes, you do. But why can Paul look at it this way? Isn't that a trick question? Okay, then why? See, that's not that you're not paying attention.

SPEAKER_01: 34:35

Why Paul put what that Christ?

SPEAKER_00: 34:37

Because he knew there was Jesus was talking to him. Boom! Because he knew who Jesus was. He knew exactly who Jesus is. See, most of us don't have a clear understanding of who Christ is. Paul looks at his life this way because he knows, hey, greater is he living in me than he who is living in the world. Because Paul knows in Matthew 13, 44, when Jesus gave this parable, it says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered above. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. This would be like coming to Joe, for example. Job's out of motion, he's up in the heaven, there's nothing going to happen up there. All of a sudden, as he's running the park of the boat, motion head stops, he's mad, because now he's like, Great, here's another piece of equipment I have to fix. But when he gets out and he looks at that in this hole is the biggest like pirate chest full of gold. And he looks over and there's a for sale sign on the property. Now Joe knows he has billions and billions of dollars in this treasure chest. And he knows no one else knows it's out here. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been selling the property with it still here. So what he does is he calls his other buddy over and they cover up the hole and then they take a GPS mark of where it is. And then Joe goes home and he goes, Manny, we're selling everything. Everything. Because we're gonna buy this field. Manny drives out of there with them and she's like, You're kidding me, alright? This looks like garbage. Why on earth would we sell everything in our life to get this field? And Joe goes, trust me. So they do. They sell everything, everyone's crying, right? They're moving away. They buy this field out in Vanilla. Which if you've never been to Ben, it's out there and there's nothing around. Meh, that's right. But Joe is nice enough to go, hey, you guys know what? Like, why don't you guys all come out here? I want to show you guys something. We go out there and he like hands us all shovels, right? He's like, just start digging right here. Some of us are complaining, right? Because you're like, come out here, dig I wore my good clothes. Some of us wear the same clothes no matter what we do. So you're like, whatever, the bowl just start digging. And then all of a sudden, when you go throw that shovel on the ground here, clank, clank, clank. You're like, oh, I hit something. Go clean it off. And then you open it up, and it's just billions and billions and billions of dollars worth of gold. And he goes, Hey, whatever you can fit in your pockets, take with you. Would you then go? Oh, I see why you bought this field. That's the parable Jesus is getting into. He's sitting here going, What in this temporary life can compare to me? Because when this man found the kingdom of heaven, when he saw the glory that is in Jesus, everything else in his life he went and sold. Because he knew the field he was buying had a far greater treasure than anything he could have stacked up here. You want to know how to have joy in your life? See Jesus for the treasure he is. Understand that nothing can compare to Jesus. This is gonna sound like I'm ragging on my marriage, and I really am not. If you ask any of my kids, who will I love the most? Debbie. Not one of them will say them. They know Debbie is my world outside of Christ. And I say it like that for a reason. Because as good as my marriage is, it's still flawed. As much as I love my kids, and I mean, guys, they are a certain illustration almost every week. I absolutely adore my children. You know what though? They're still flawed. A 30-inch red fish on top water during the fall, as amazing as that fight is going to be, and it's gonna be amazing. As amazing as it's going to be to pull this fish up out of the water and have to use like two hands to hold this fish up, and the grin that will come on my face, knowing I'm about to send this picture to every single person I know because they had to go to work today, and I went out and caught this fish, and as good, well, we can't keep the 30-inch, so we're gonna drop it down to 27-inch, and as good as the meat on that fish is going to taste. As amazing as all that, and some of you are like, Man, he only said two sentences about his marriage and one sentence about his kids, and he's gone on about this fish for a while. Understand, I mean that, right? It still can't compare to Jesus, it still pales in comparison to Jesus. There's an old hymn, and I think it summed it up best. It starts with this line, and I'm not gonna sing it, I'm just reading. Okay, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. If you were a man in here, you should already know what I'm about to say, because we