All right, I'll say that again. Open your Bible to John chapter six. I'm gonna read my text for a little while, but I appreciate your pastor and I hope you do as well if you're a member of this church. If I understand my Bible correctly, a pastor is a gift from God. How many of you are glad he gave you salvation? Well, then he would put the gift of a pastor in that category. And again, I don't think you ought to puff him up and make him proud and all of that kind of stuff. He's still a human being, but he's a very special human being. And even to you, he ought to be more special because God put him here in your backyard to work with you And Ephesians 5 says his job is the perfecting of the saints. Somebody asked one time, said, what's the most monotonous thing in the ministry? I said, it's the monotony. That's really what it is. You never finish. It is the perfecting of the saints. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could preach one message, people would get it right. That's it. Close the door, just go serve Jesus. But they come back Wednesday night and they come back Sunday night and they come back, you know, they just keep coming back because we're all in that process of perfecting. Your pastor's in the same boat. He's going to the word of God. God works in his heart on a weekly, daily basis, an hourly basis and says, let me fix some things in you so you can go to the pulpit and fix some things in my people. And that's tough because it never ends. There's no day when a pastor goes home and says, that's it, I'm finished. No, there's always something else to do in the lives that God's given you to minister to. I appreciate what he said about being smart. I are not real smart. I spent probably as much time in junior high school in the hall as I did in the classroom. And I was a cut up and I would love to joke around and was a smart aleck. And I wasn't belligerent or mean, I just was goofy. And as a result, I was in the hall quite a while. I had an English, or not an English teacher, an American history teacher, who his name, I know I won't tell you his name because this is taped. It goes all over the world now. You could be held accountable for stuff. But I remember his face and I remember his name and several occasions I walked into the room and put my books on the table and turned and looked at him and he said, Mr. Sal, out in the hall. I just developed that reputation. So I could have been smart. That's what I'm trying to say. I could have been. What you heard tonight is what I could have been had I been permitted to stay in class. I'm glad God uses all kinds of folks. You know, you have, somebody said this was my mentor when I was a young preacher. And I just want you to know that as you get older in the ministry, you still need mentors. One of the fears I have is I'm getting to the place now where I don't have many mentors left. I don't know how you deal with that when you come to the place when you're the oldest guy on the block. That terrifies me. One of my mentors in the last five or 10 years has been Dr. Mickey Carter down in Haines City, Florida. Passes a tremendous church down there. He was one of the early, NASCAR drivers before they called it NASCAR. He was a champion. They had great things for him. As a matter of fact, he owned his own garage and had several cars and was winning races all over Florida and was moving ahead. And when he got saved, he knew that he could not continue the vocation that he had chosen. And his reasoning was this. He said, every race I raced was on Sunday. And God wanted me to be in church on Sunday, so I had to let my vocation go. That's an interesting thought. But he told me one day, he said, you know, when I got ready, I had all these cars, I had a brand new garage I just built. We were working there, building the cars, keeping them running. And he said, I asked the Lord, he said, what in the world am I supposed to do? And he said, you got this chucklehead working down there, renting one of the areas of your garage to work. He said, it's a new kind of racing, you know. And he said, why don't you just offer it to that guy? So he said, I went down one day, he was always trying to get me help him work on his engine. He said, I spent hours and hours of time for free working on his engines, trying to make him do what he wanted him to do. And he said, I walked up to him and I said, listen, he said, you want this garage, you buy it, you can have everything I got, just buy it. And the guy looked at him and he said, okay. He said, I thought that we'd get into an argument. His name was Don Garlitz. Big Daddy Don was the early grandfather, I suppose, of drag racing and what it became, but he sold out. But he talks about that, and he's not, you know, Brother Carter would never tell you he's very intelligent, but he is a man of faith. You know, if you've got a lot of faith, it'll make you appear to me much more intelligent than you are. But I was thinking about a story when you said that, so I want to tell this story and then I'll get into my text and sometime tomorrow morning we'll finish this message. Years ago, they bought a youth camp for the young people in their church out in the backside of nowhere. Of course, now everything is Disney. Okay, and it's Disney wherever you go down in that part of the country. But they bought a youth camp. And when they bought the youth camp, they got a good deal on it. They went out and they put up some cabins and they put up a place where they could take the kids and meet. And they built a little kitchen area. They began to put together what would be their youth camp. And one day he got a call from the people as they were getting out there, getting ready for their youth camp. And they said, we just realized there's no water. That's something you wouldn't think you would overlook, but somehow he had overlooked the fact that there was no water on the property. And so he said, I called a well driller and he was supposed to meet me out at the property. And he said, I asked the fellas, how much money have we got in the camp fund? And he said, I knew, you know, he said, I had a thousand dollars, I think something along that line. And that was all I had. And so he went out and began to meet with this well driller and the guy began to look around. He said, well, he said, what do you want me to do? He said, I need water here next week. We got youth camp and I got to have water. And he said, I want you to dig me one of those artesian wells. And the fellow looked at him and he said, well, you understand, you just don't dig an artesian well. He said, you dig a well, and if you're very, very, very, very, very fortunate, you get an artesian well, which is a pressurized flow of water. And he said, that doesn't just happen. He said, I'll dig you a well. He said, where do you want me to dig it? He said, I want you to dig it right over there, because that's where we want the water to come. And he said, well, he said, there'd probably be better spots over there. He said, no, I wanted to dig it right over there, because that's where we need the water to be. And he said, well, he said, normally we have to dig so many feet to get to water. And that costs, I don't know what, $10, $15, $20 a foot. And he did the math. And Brother Carter said, no, it can't be that deep. He said, well, that's about how far we have to go to get good water. He said, nope. He said, I only got this much money, so you can only dig that deep. And so the fellow said, so let me understand this. You want artesian well water, and I have to put it right there instead of where I should be putting it, and I can only go so feet. He said, you got it. We're on the same page. And he got back in his car and headed back to the church and just said, well, the Lord will have to work it out. And about an hour and a half later, he got a call from a well driller. And the well driller said, Dr. Carter, I need you to come back out to the property. And he said, do we have a problem? He said, sorta. He said, I went down, I think he was within a foot of what Brother Carter had told him he had money to put into the project at the spot where he told him to drill, but it wasn't really the best spot. And the fellow said, I have hit an artesian well. in the spot where you told me. Now you say, what'd you say that for? I'm saying God can use dumb people too. Amen. I'm glad that he's got some smart folks around. I really am. Cause some of us need some help. Amen. Matter of fact, we need two or three people like that to help us sometimes, but I'm glad God can use just somebody who says, I don't even know what an artesian well is, but somebody said, that's the best kind. That's what I want. I want it right there. And I want it down so many feet and God can take care of that. You see, it's where you put your faith. It's not where you put your brain. It's where you put your faith that'll determine what your life is really all about. John chapter six is a story that everybody knows. I'm just gonna read the passage and then spend just a little while with you tonight. The Bible says, beginning in verse number five, when Jesus then lifted up his eyes, he saw a great company come unto him. He saith unto Philip, when shall we buy bread that these may eat? This he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. I'm glad when you and I are baffled, God knows what's going on. He's not caught off guard at all. And he says, you know, where are we gonna get the food? And this he said to prove him. And verse seven, Philip answered him, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little. Somebody said, well, how much is 200 penny worth? It doesn't really matter. If it would feed that many people, it's a lot. Okay? 200 penny worth wasn't enough. And one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, he seems to be the sane one of the brothers that were fishermen, saith unto him, there is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes. But what are they among so many? Jesus said, make them in, sit down. Now there was much grass in the place so the men sat down and number about 5,000. Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. We all know this story quite well. If you've been in church any at all, if you were in Sunday school class, I mean, if you just are a new Christian, maybe been saved four or five months, you probably know this story. As a matter of fact, we've given it a title, a designation. This is called the story of the? five loaves and two fishes, and the little boy gave his lunch to Jesus, that kind of thing. And we tend to look at the champion of the story as the little lad that brings his five loaves and his two fishes to Jesus. And Jesus then takes what he brought and gives them to the multitude. Now, I don't want to rock your boat tonight. It's just a different perspective, but I don't believe that. I don't believe that's what the story is exactly about. You say, why? Well, it's an unusual thing. It is not like very many of the stories because it's found in all four of the Gospels. Not all of the stories that we're familiar with occur in each one of the Gospels. The four Gospels, very simply, somebody said, well there's disagreements in the Gospels, and how do you explain that? Very easily, easy to explain. The four Gospels were written by four different individuals, and those individuals were told to write what God showed to them. You say, well that means they should all agree. No, no, no. We could take your pastor tonight, Brother Reagan, and stand him right dead center in the middle of this room. And then I could put one individual in that corner, and one individual in that corner, one individual in this corner, and one individual in this corner, and I could say to them, write for me exactly what you see. Do not deviate, do not lie. You write only what you see, and I'd have four different accounts of the same individual. And they might not agree, but they're all about the same. They like, you know, people that are smart like that sometimes, I say smart with perhaps not too favorable a connotation because these are lost people. They just think they're smart. And their smartness is only to somehow trip you up in your walk with the Lord. And they say, well, you explain to me all them stories in the Bible that don't agree with each other. Well, let me help you a little bit, okay? God's smarter than you are, okay? I don't have any problem with the Gospels, but those accounts don't always match, and the stories are not always told, and sometimes they're not in the same order. Somebody here might start and say, well, he's got on certain color shoes, and somebody in the back might say, well, his tie is this color, and you'd say, well, wait a minute, shoes are down here. But you say, why are they out of order? Because they're different individuals that have been told to write honestly and exactly what the Spirit of God's showing to them. But they're in different places and they're seeing it different. Same person, just seeing a different aspect of that individual. This story occurs in all of the Gospels. That makes it a very unusual story. It is a wonderful story. It's one of those with a great and happy ending. We love to hear stories with great and happy endings. I've always wondered about those. We talked about those hogs that ran down the hillside and committed suicide, you know, and had the demons in them and all that stuff. And, you know, I understand it was a joyous time for the fellow he cast the demons out of, but I got to figure what it did to the local economy. You know, I mean, all the ham and eggs or all the bacon and eggs you can eat probably went out of the window for a while. It had an adverse effect, but this story has a very good ending. We like it. We like we get excited about it We say wow we like it because it shows the power of God and it's a wonderful story It's one we like to tell the kids we can animate it and we can tell it to kids and they get excited It's just one of those wonderful stories. Not that any are not wonderful, but it's even more so But I don't think it's about a little boy I Don't think it has anything to do with a little boy Why would you say that? Because of the four accounts we're given, the little boy is only mentioned in one of them. Let's hear where we're reading. Little boy is not mentioned. I mean, you've got the 5,000 and you've got the loaves and you've got the fishes and you've got the baskets, but you don't have the little boy mentioned in all of the other passages. Now, if he was the key figure, Wouldn't it stand to reason that he would appear in all four of the stories? So if we use, and I do have some intellect, so if we use our intellect, we have to begin to say, okay, what is the common factor here? Well, there are several. We're told in all of them that there are 5,000. That's a great need. So the need is common to all. There are some hungry people. There are some people that are out of necessity going to have to be fed. And there was a great need presented in all four of those gospels. You know, there's a great need in this world. It's pretty obvious to everybody. You came from places that I would not even know where you lived if you gave me the address. I told your preacher last night, I have discovered, I think I said this from the pulpit maybe, I've determined why they call it eight mile, nine mile, 10 mile road. That's how far the traffic backs up. So don't ever go to 12 Mile Road if you want to get anywhere on time. That's not going to happen. But you could tell me where you live and I wouldn't have any clue what that is or where that is or anything about it. It wouldn't register in my mind. It wouldn't have any impact at all because I don't know anything about this town. But I know something about where you live. There's a great need. You probably have somebody that lives just a door or two down, maybe you prayed for, maybe wept over, maybe witnessed to, maybe cared about. Maybe you've got somebody around the area that's gone through a tragedy and you've become aware of the tragedy that's there and it's given you a broke. There's a great need all around us. You take a trip to a mall and just sit down with a cup of coffee and just watch faces for a while. And if you don't come away with anything else, weird people, strange looks, all kind of things you'll see, but the underlying fact that you'll walk away with is there's no joy, there's no happiness. I've told my people for years, if you want to do the strangest thing in the world, you want a weird feeling, take your King James Bible down to the local mall tomorrow morning and walk in the door with it in Baptist position. That's the ready position. And just walk through the mall with a smile on your face. And you will have people curse you. They will have people call you weirdo. They'll get security because this is more dangerous than an AK-47. They will label you in a world that doesn't like bigotry and prejudice. They will label you. They will accuse you. And you say, why? Because you're just happy in the Lord. What does that tell you? That tells you we live in a place where there's a great need. You know, if there are 5,000 men, and I'm assuming probably better than, well, probably 4,000 of them were married, if not more. So that would make 9,000, and if they had two or three kids, you know, you work this thing up, there's probably well over maybe 15,000, 20,000 people. That's a great need. And the Lord, just in a nonchalant manner, says, hey, where can we go get a burger for these guys? Sometimes you look at the disciples and sometimes we look at them like, you know, they had no faith at all. Yeah, but put yourself in that position. Where do we get food to feed 15,000 people? What do you want that by noon? I drove back home the other night, and I went through Dundee, and I was a little hungry, and I stopped. I thought, I'm just going to grab me a burger, and I pulled into Burger King. That's a good place you want a burger. I pulled into Burger King, and as I pulled around the back, there were three charter buses sitting there. And I immediately, see, I am pretty smart. I immediately deduced, ain't going to be no food here. So I did the smart thing. I thought, I just pulled right on around, turned right, went down to McDonald's. As I was pulling into McDonald's, I looked inside and there were like 85 kids lined up in McDonald's. So I went around, I pulled out of the parking lot, I went down to Taco Bell. Every place in that town had 100 kids in it. So what did you do? I went home with my great need. That's what I did. There was no way that need was going to be satisfied in Dundee for at least about an hour. And the Lord says to the disciples, what do you think we got here today? 15, maybe 20,000. That's a good crowd for out here on these hillsides. You know, they've come a long way. I'm glad. Boy, that's encouraging. These people want to hear the word of God and they've left their homes and come. Where can we get them all a burger? You know, they were right with him till he talked about satisfying the need. And then they immediately got financially observant. fishermen out-of-work fishermen ain't gonna happen and almost in a rebuke they say Lord 500 penny worth not sufficient to feed all that everybody can have a little we can't just we couldn't even give them crumbs and so that's found in all the stories the fact that the Lord takes the loaves and the fishes and breaks them and all is found there. What do you think the story's about? Can I tell you what I think it's about? I think it's about the three phases of a Christian life. And I think the key focal point, stay with me now, is the basket. The baskets are found in all four accounts. The baskets play a vital role in what is accomplished. And the baskets are just absolutely absurd. They don't fit the story. You know, I've found when I study my Bible, I look for what doesn't fit. Because as a rule, the Lord kind of says, watch this, I'm gonna show you something. And I'll tell you what doesn't fit. In a crowd of 15,000 people that are slowly starving to death on a Galilean hillside, How in the world do you explain 12 empty baskets? Who goes into the desert with an empty basket? Doesn't fit. I can only imagine somewhere in a home that morning, dad's up going, let's go, let's go, come on. And wife's putting on that makeup. She got over there in Jerusalem and that Jerusalem look or whatever it is. And come on woman, hurry up. And the kids are outside and now they've been in the mud puddle and they got their shoes. You know how many of you go to Sunday school on Sunday morning? That's the way that it works. And they finally get out here and now they're ready to leave. And they say, okay, are we all right? And the wife's, oh, I almost forgot. and she has to go back in the house. And then she comes out of the house carrying a basket. Now, wasn't the husband? Because husbands would never question that on a Sunday morning when you're on your way to church, just leave it alone. So I'm assuming it was one of the children. Mommy, carefully, because the children know mommy as well. Why are you taking a basket? Shut up! There's nothing in it, mommy. It's an empty basket. But there are not just one story like that, but 12 baskets show up in this story out of nowhere. They apparently do not belong to the disciples. And so I wanna talk to you this evening just a little while on the Three aspects, the three phases, the three stages of a Christian life. You know, you look at that and who would notice a basket? But I believe that's an effective Christian. I don't think an effective Christian is flamboyant. I don't think he's the guy that runs out onto the street and speaks like Shakespeare. I think he's just kind of the guy that works down, he's the third booth down in the plant. He's always on time, and he does a good job. He doesn't yell and scream. He doesn't, you know, I've seen guys that you walk into a place, and I pulled into a garage not long ago, and the guy was inside. I thought he was having an epileptic seizure. He's doing this, you know. I thought, what is, and he had a set of headphones or iPod phones, and he's just going nuts over something I couldn't even hear. And you talk about funny. Now, that's funny. Thought he had gotten in an ant bed or something because he was just getting it. But I don't think what we have in Christ is made to be served with flamboyance. I don't think it's, I don't think we razzle dazzle people into getting saved. I like what the preacher said, we're just carrying water. Our job's just to give them the gospel. And now I think we should do it with some exuberance. I think that, you know, there are too many depressed Christians. And depressed Christians depress a lot of people. Our whole testimony, if we're not careful, becomes one of, you know, oh, I'd love to go to the game, but, you know, I've got to be in church on Sunday. And, you know, I could even go in the afternoon, but we go back to church on Sunday night. You know, and I'll just be tired. And, you know, we've got something going on this Saturday, got to go to Solon. And I just don't think I could go to the game, you know, because I'm just always going to church. You want to go with me? I doubt it very seriously. I think there needs to be some excitement and some exuberance. I mean, we have found the pearl of great price. We have the water of life. We have redemption in Christ. We have forgiveness of our sins. We have a home in heaven. We have a life worth living. We ought to at least be excited. Somebody says, hey, I got tickets to the game. Oh, that's too bad. That means you can't go with me. Where are you going? I'm going to church, man. I wouldn't waste my time going to the game. The truth of the matter is, we're pretty depressing a lot at times, but I think somewhere in this passage, this woman and this other woman and maybe a man or two, I don't know, for no apparent reason at all, and I'm not sure they know, show up in the wilderness with a basket. I think the story is about a basket. Because it's the part that doesn't fit. It's where your focus will be drawn if you're looking at this thing and saying, wait a minute, that goes, yeah, that goes, that's normal, that's normal, yeah, it's normal that there are people wouldn't be hungry because it's normal. It's just not normal that there would be 12 empty baskets. But there they are, somebody brought them. It wasn't the lad. You don't need 12 baskets to carry five loaves and two fishes. So I'm assuming it was a number of people that somehow brought the basket. I think those baskets represent the entire process. You see on one side you had a great need. On the other side, you see the Lord Jesus Christ who represents the only means by which that need could ever be supplied. This is one of those situations where this is going to take a miracle. That's what the disciples said when they said 500 penny worth is not sufficient to set that everyone may have a little. It's just not going to happen. Ah, that means there's a miracle necessary. And so at one end of this, we have the Lord Jesus Christ who can do exceedingly abundant above all that we think or ask. And you have some people that are in desperate need of seeing God. The question is, how do you get this to hear? You say, well, Jesus took the five. Jesus can take anything. You understand He didn't need five loaves and two fishes? He could have just said, how about chicken? All right, chicken? Chicken. He has that power, does he not? We tend to mystify the five loaves and two fishes. He could have used anything. He could have taken the dirt of the ground and rubbed it together and turned it into prime rib. We don't want to magnify the idea that it was five. I'm thankful the little boy was willing to give it. I think there's a lesson to be learned there in sacrifice for the Lord. I think I'm not taking away any of that, but it is not necessary. But the basket, how do you get from the one who can supply to the one who has the need what he has to offer? Now see, we know the story, so we are at an advantage. Because we immediately, when we say five loaves and two fishes, we don't have the obstacle that the disciples had, which is called reality. See, reality doesn't bother us because we know how the story ends, everybody eats. Those disciples get it as they progress through the story. You know, the Lord takes the five loaves, two fishes and breaks it and puts it into the basket. And can you imagine if you had five loaves and two fishes and you broke them up and put an equal share in each of 12 baskets, how much would be in there? We have this idea that he just kept breaking and it just kept growing and growing. No, I think he took five loaves, two fishes, divided equally into 12 equal parts and gave these guys a basket and said, go feed them. And then he said this, don't let them take a little. I want them to eat till they're full. And he's got them set down in companies. So I think there's 12 groups or gatherings of people. You take 15,000, divide them into 12, you come up with the numbers. Here's the scientist. But I happen to know just from common, everyday, ordinary, hillbilly discernment, it ain't enough. It ain't enough. I'm telling you, it ain't gonna do it. So the Lord blesses and breaks, puts it into the baskets, and off go the disciples. You can imagine how excited they were. Hallelujah, I can meet the need. Ain't no way that hasn't changed. If 500 penny worth is not sufficient, then what do you think about what they have in the bottom of that basket? And here they go with fear and trepidation. And you know how it is. The first guy in line is always 45 pounds overweight. And you know this guy is going to inhale. So I'm thinking Peter, great man of faith that he was, Comes up and looks at the guy. Are you kidding me? He says, all right, pal, look around. A lot of people here. You could be out here four days and you're not going to starve to death. See, you know what you're laughing at? That's the way we are. That's our great faith. Amen. I have great faith when it comes to me getting something. So he holds it over, then the guy reaches in and he gets him a little handful and does this. Peter goes, and by the time he turns, the Lord's standing there. The Lord goes, much as he wants. So he goes, you got to have a little more. So he takes out another handful. Not enough, yeah. Look, take all you can eat, okay? And so, I got to believe the big heavyset guy just dumps the basket in his lap. He's eating one twelfth of five loaves and two fishes. I'm sure he could have handled, if a little boy could handle five loaves and two fishes, the big guy could probably handle all you got and more. So he dumps it in his lap and hands back to this disciple an empty basket. What do you think? And he says, Lord, I just don't know what we're gonna, and he, oh, there's a little more in there. And so he goes to the next person. And you understand, I don't think the baskets were ever full. I just think there was always exactly enough. See, I've served the Lord these many years, and I've known he's not a God of extravagance. But he's always been there with enough. Now, You gotta realize even this reluctant disciple at some point gets it. Okay, it may take four or five people. And now at once he's getting a little bit lighter in his step. He's beginning to see the joy of the Lord. Because he now has tapped into a reality that says it doesn't matter how much is in the basket, God's going to meet the need. It's not about the loaves and the fishes, it's about what God's gonna do with this basket. and there's always enough in the basket. And so if there's enough for this fella, then there'll be enough for this fella, and then there'll be enough for this fella, and then there'll be. Now you gotta remember, by the time they get to the back of the group, I think there's a revival broke out on the back three rows. What do you think? This big heavyset fella up here still munching on the little bit he dumped in his lap. wondering, I don't know what the rest of these people are eating. And all at once, he hears this resounding scream from the back of the eye going, Hallelujah! There's enough for everybody! There's plenty for everybody! There's more than enough! As a matter of fact, the twelve baskets finally come back, and now they're full. You know, when you serve the Lord, you very rarely start out with a full basket. You listen to me now, you'll always end up with a full basket. You serve the Lord with what He's given you, what little bit you have, and I promise you in the name of the Lord, you'll come through life with more than you ever imagined you could have. You'd say, listen, I never had enough when I started here. I didn't think it would work there. We've all got our stories. We could tell stories tonight and sit and cry and commiserate. We've all got our stories, but the end of the stories is always us with a full basket and a bewildered look on our face, scratching our head going, never saw it on this wise. That's the miraculous. That's the way it works with a miracle. People don't get it. If you could get it, it wouldn't be miraculous. Somebody asked me, you believe God created? Yeah. Why do you believe that? Because that's the only thing that's miraculous. I mean, I could see bones and I could see, you know, that guy kind of lost his ear and his nose got a little longer. I could see that. You know, I've got an imagination. But boy, when God just, there he was. That's the miracle. Every time the Lord performs a miracle, there's somebody always scratching their head going, how did that happen? And all at once we work our way through all these people, and we got 12 baskets. You know what I think the Christian life is all about? Being a basket. I have met some basket cases, yes sir. I am a basket case. But you know, unless something has eluded me, I find that there are only three phrases that a basket can exist in. A basket can exist as an empty basket. A basket can exist as a full basket. We have those mentioned there. And the only thing that would exist in another realm would be a basket that needed repair. And so I believe Christians exist on those three levels. And so when I preach, I realize there's always three kind of people listening to me preach. There's some people there who are just empty. They're just empty. They're willing. They want to serve the Lord. They want to do something. They want to come closer. They want to be lifted up. They're trying their best. They're fighting about, but there just is not anything there. I try to preach to those people. You say, what do you try to do? I try to ask the Lord to break some of those loaves and fishes and just give them some of those handfuls on purpose. Put a little bit in that basket because I realize that even as a preacher sometimes you're just nothing more than an empty basket. My wife is driven home quite often on Sunday nights. Now as I get older, I still love to, I'm kind of an exuberant kind of guy. Okay, I just like preaching. I like preaching with all of me. But, boy, after Sunday school and Sunday morning and talking to people, I shake hands. The doctor told me the other day, he said, you're a very healthy man. He said, probably because you shake so many hands in a week's time. It's not unusual for me to have a little kid come up, you know, see you, preacher. You know, and right behind him is another kid, I shake hands sometimes almost an hour after a Sunday morning service. You know, you do that and you go find some time to grab a bite to eat, you come back, you talk on the phone, whatever it is you have to do, you prepare, you get ready for Sunday night. You know, at the end of the night, you're just worn out. I know what it is to be an empty basket. I know what it is to walk in and stand in a pulpit and I've got notes, but I haven't got anything. There have been probably a dozen times in the last couple years where on a bench on a Sunday morning sitting right here with a choir singing behind me and a crowd out there, I said, Lord, I have nothing. I have nothing. And nothing came. And I headed for the pulpit with an empty basket. And they've been a couple times Now, I don't recommend this. Where I open my Bible to my notes, and I took my notes and I put them underneath my Bible, and I looked across the page, and here was a verse. And I preached. You say, well, you know an empty basket can be filled easily by the Lord? So there's no sadness tonight if you're an empty basket, if you'll allow the Lord to fill that basket. There are people that have been through horrendous things and horrendous times in their life. I don't understand all those things. I'm not a real compassionate. You know what makes you compassionate? Experience. I mentioned I preached just a few months ago with a kidney stone. You know how many times people have said, please pray for me. I'm dealing with kidney stones. And I thought, man up, man. Come on. It's a kidney stone. You got two. One doesn't work, the other one will kick in. That's just my demeanor. But I'm going to tell you something. When I hear somebody say I'm dealing with kidney stones now, something is different in here. You understand, God takes us through some times to help us all along the way, and we can gain some compassion along that. God can always fill an empty basket, and sometimes when we're empty, he's ready to teach us some things that'll help us. I dealt with cancer years ago, and I'm a cancer survivor. I remember they asked me to come and pray at one of the, I don't know if it's United Way, one of those big groups, those big charitable groups, one of the gals in our church came and said, I've got you in, they want you to come pray, you can pray through the plan of salvation, one of those kind of things, and so I did, and I was ready to come out of the stands, and when I did, they introduced me as a cancer survivor. That's the first time it ever dawned on me. that I was what those people represent. It to me was, I had it, and praise the Lord, it was over, it was gone, it was done, and let's go on. I'd never recognized that, but you know God can do things in your life on a moment's notice that can change your life forever and put you and suit you just for the need that is there before you. You may be facing the big guy in the front row. Don't worry, God can fill that basket. It may be just a little kid on the end of the row. God can give you exactly what you need for every moment. There's nothing wrong with being in an empty basket. As a matter of fact, empty basket is good. Empty basket is good. Full basket is good. You know what an empty basket needs? It needs to be filled. There are times in our Christian life we need to be filled. And then there is the full basket, and I'll tell you what a full basket needs. It needs to be empty. You know, Americans have lived full lives. So full that we are almost arrogant in our approach to life. I would encourage you at some point in your life, take a trip to a mission field and see how most of the world live. And it'll help you a little bit to realize how full we are. But I see people that, man, they'll stand and talk at the door for an hour and a half on Sunday night. I go, hey, let me show you this verse. You ever see this? And you look at this verse over here, and look at that. And you go back here, and you look at this. And you put those things together, and it's Sunday night. I'm going, yeah, I never noticed that before. You say, you're not very spiritual. I'm tired. And this guy's just got all this stuff. He's, oh, man, look at this. And it's all good. I'm all for that. But somewhere you need to empty that stuff out and do something for the Lord. I'm thinking, where are you on visitation? When do you do anything for the Lord? When's the last time you passed out a gospel tract? Somebody said, well, you know, I just really love the Lord, love this church. If you love this church, why haven't you brought some lost sinner into church? You know, a lot of people think because they drop a check in the plate every week, they've done their duty. He said, go out in the highways and byways, compel them to come in. I'd hate to think you've been a member of a church for five years, 10 years, hadn't ever brought anybody in. Boy, it got quiet. Almost Episcopal sounding in here. Amen. You say, well, you know, they're hard to find. Well, okay, they're hard to find, but one in five years? You know, if you went fishing five years, I think you probably, if you fell out in a boat, would catch a fish in five years. Why is it we contend ourselves to come, we just get filled up and filled up and filled up and filled up and filled up? You know who I've had the most trouble with in my ministry? Christians that are just full of themselves. Amen? I say amen because I didn't hear it coming from you. And I feed off the crowd, so I help myself. Somebody says, well, pastor, you know, we just don't feel like we're getting fed anymore. I said, that's really sad. You used to get fed and preaching the same sermon. Well, the Lord's leading us. Well, the Lord didn't lead me. Well, you know, I want my family to be fed. Hey, bring a spoon. Well, you know, the preacher just, hey, you sat there, you just sat there like you were just a mummy in the pew, and didn't you notice the guy halfway across the aisle just having a big time, going, ha, woo, hallelujah, amen. I said, switch seats, amen. Maybe the good stuff's on the other side. I said, better yet, bring a spoon when you come. Not getting fed. You're just full of yourself. You know, the apostle said over there, he said, when for the time you ought to be teachers. You got enough time in, but you need somebody to teach you the ABCs again, the first principles. Why? Because you just got so full, you never empty thing out. And when you don't empty things out, it just begins to get rancid, sour, bitter. You know what a sour, rancid, bitter Christian is? Somebody just never puts anything out. Just soaks it up. Soaks it up. Soaks it up. I've gone to camp meetings before. This was a couple years ago. I preached in two or three camp meetings, and it was an interesting thing because the same family came, shook my hand at all three camp meetings. And I said, it's a wonderful thing. I'm glad you're here. What do you do for a living? Oh, well, put the Lord first. Do you? Who do you visit? Who do you tell about the, well, you know, this is what I get my family under good. I appreciate that. I understand that, but I'll tell you what you got. We've got Christian groupies. We follow our all stars, you know, Hey, I'm going to go. Did you hear who's preaching? Did you hear who sang and that's all go. Hey, when, why don't you take what you got that basket that's just so full and take it out there where people have, if the basket that's full, doesn't get to the people in need, it's worthless. It's worthless. I'll guarantee you tonight I'm preaching to some folks that are just empty baskets. You've been through some tough times. The devil's knocked the wind out of your sails. It was a struggle to even get to church tonight. Let me tell you something tonight. That's okay. Because in a moment's notice God can fill an empty basket. Very often he'll turn the faucets on and those tears will begin to flow and before you know it your heart is just so full you can't stop. You just get so excited about the things of God, you gotta go tell somebody. Some of you may go home tonight, you came in here an empty basket, you may go home tonight, pick up the phone and call somebody and say, I just need to tell somebody about how good God is and what a wonderful thing it is to be saved. You see, God can do that in an instant. So an empty basket's not a problem. A full basket, that's a problem. Especially if it hasn't been emptied in a long, long time. I'll tell you what you might need to do. You say, well, I need to just go out there. No, maybe you don't need to go out there because the food may be rancid by now. Maybe you just need to come down here and empty all that mess and say, God, let's start all over again here. All that junk now that was good when it went in, but now there's some bitterness in there and there's some anger, frustration, and oh, I just need to get rid of all that stuff. You know a full basket is made to be empty. So if you can't empty it out there where the need is, maybe you could just empty it here where God can take care of it. And then there's one other basket, and I think very often as a pastor, that's where you spend a lot of time, and that's baskets that need to be mended. It's just a normal wear and tear. You say, well, you know, I don't want to be in a messed up basket. I don't want to be a basket that's torn up. And listen, that's what happens through use. As a matter of fact, if there isn't a little bit of weathering and wear on you tonight, then you make me wonder. I think you ought to have some good stories. Don't get me wrong. I think there ought to be some exciting stories about how to get saved. I took a fellow years ago. That's always one of my favorite stories. He'd just been saved a couple of weeks. I took him and never forget, as long as I live, it was the most unusual visit I think I ever had. He was the vice president of Champion Spark Plugs, which was headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. And he said, 54, 55 years old, got saved, and he said, can I go with you calling? I told folks I was going calling, had somebody to pray. He said, can I go with you? I said, sure. So I picked him up. I mean, this guy's spiffy. He doesn't wear a suit, doesn't cost $300, $400, and this is 25 years ago. He got in the car, we rode out there, and we went to see one of our church members that knew too much, and God didn't speak to them anymore. So they had to, you know, anyway, we sat down and we talked for a little while, and I would talk to this fellow, and I said, you know, we need to get you back in church, we wanna see the Lord work in your life. Well, you know, I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this. And it was obviously one of those visits that was going absolutely nowhere. And I said, you know what, I'm glad you let us come and talk to you. And I said, I'd like to have a word of prayer with you, and I felt a tug on my sleeve. And it was this baby Christian. He said, could I say something? I said, sure. And I mean, he was just a kind of docile, peaceful little guy. But I watched his finger come up. And it got about four inches longer than it was. And he said, let me tell you something. He said, I make more money in a week than you make in a year. That'll get your attention. He said, I've been places people don't get to go. I've seen things people don't get to see. He said, I've done very, very well in life. And he said, I got saved two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I got saved, and I never been so blankety blank happy in my whole life. This guy's sitting on the couch going, you can fill in the blankety blank, because there was a lot to fill them in, I'm telling you. We didn't pray. You know, we got up and we walked out and we got in the car and he said, preacher, I am so sorry. He said, just, he said, I've cussed my whole life. He said, I should never have let, I said, well, brother, I wish I could have said it just the way you said it. and have the ability to say it, but that's what needed to be said. That's what he needed. He got the message, I'll guarantee you that. You know, every once in a while you get weathered a little bit and get worn out and sometimes you just need the Lord to reach down and fix some things. I don't think there's anybody that's ever content with a Christian life. You know that passage in Ephesians 4, I talked about the pastor a little while ago. His job is the perfecting of the saints. That tells me that there is a path of perfection for the saints. We ought to be better today than we were when we first got saved. If you've been saved five or six years and there haven't been any victories in your life, there haven't been any changes in your life, something's wrong with your Christianity. I didn't say you weren't saved. I said something's wrong with your Christianity. Christianity is how you live your life. You don't become a Christian in the sense that you and I think. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. It wasn't because they just got saved there. It's because the way they lived their lives, some changes were made in there. We become more Christian as we walk this pathway of being saved. You and I need to be better today than we were. I'm not saying that we've come to the place where we are perfect because it is perfecting all the way down the road and there will always be something that needs some work. But maybe you'd say, preacher, you know, there's just some struggles in my life and some sad, maybe you just need to come and say, Lord, I'm willing, I want to, I'm able, I'm just broken. God, I need you to mend me. I've seen some Christians go through some really, really tough times in their Christian life. And at times I've watched some of those Christians and I've thought to myself, Lord, please don't ever do that to me. I couldn't stand what you've done in their life to be done in mine. I couldn't handle it. I've preached funerals of children in caskets this big. I've tried to console people. I helped a fellow bury his two parents. One casket here, one casket there. Both of them died lost. I don't know how to do that. But I've watched God take some of those baskets that were just broken, in my estimation, beyond the point of repair, and fix them, and fill them, and use them to meet that need. You understand, it's all about getting what the Lord can do to those that are in need. and in between in the process. Yeah, there's a little boy, five loaves, two fishes, but I think the important thing is they're baskets, because we're just basket cases. You're either a full basket tonight that needs to be emptied, or you're an empty basket that needs to be filled, or you're a broken basket that needs to be repaired. And I got good news for you. God specializes in all three. Would you bow your head tonight just for a couple of minutes?