I'm going to be reading from the 17th chapter of Luke. I'll start with the 31st verse. As you all pray, I'm just reading this. Yesterday we got a bad cold and he's not feeling well today. Father come tonight that we just have him do the preaching, but it worked out that he's not here, so I just ask that every one of you pray for us. The Bible speaks about, Jesus tells the parable about the unprofitable servant. When he had done all the things that he was commanded to do, what could he say? That he was an unprofitable servant. And all that we do is our duty to do. And I stand before you tonight as an unprofitable servant. But yet, my desire is that I be obedient to the Lord. See, they were not unprofitable because they were disobedient. They were obedient and still yet unprofitable. I don't understand why the Lord would want to die for me or any of us. But I sure am glad that he did. It says in the 31st verse, I don't know how long we'll be able to preach, but it says, And that day he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, that night there shall be two men in one bed, and the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together, and the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field, and the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? Just a Bible question, isn't it? Here he's talking about of the one being taken and the one left, over and over and over again. And they asked Him, where to, where, where? To which Jesus gave the answer. He said unto them, whosoever, or wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. We can't help but read that verse, as our mothers already testified tonight, about those that have gone on. But read that verse and not think about Isaiah in the 40th chapter. In the 31st verse it says, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run, but not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. We find out here, when the disciples ask the Lord, Where? Where shall these people be taken? Jesus replies, wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. I don't know, as we was preaching last night and we was talking about some things, I don't know where where the Lord will take His children when He comes back for them. I don't know where He's at right now, but I'm thankful that where the body of Christ is, the eagles will be gathered together. I think about that as her mother mentioned my grandfather and so many others that have went on. know exactly where they're at as far as in this universe, if they're just beyond this universe or wherever, but I'm thankful in knowing that each and every one of us has that same promise, that we can be gathered together where the body of Christ is, that we can be one of those angels that it says here, that we can mount up with wings as eagles. I've never been around too many places. The bald eagle comes through here on its journey south. I've seen it there on the farm in the old walnut tree in the wintertime when there's no leaves on it and it's an impressive sight. I can remember one particular time that it was in the tree and it was on a gray overcast sky. I can remember, I think my father told me, and we went out there and we looked, and for some reason the tree looked a lot closer that day than I knew it was, and it was because the bird that was there, it was so big, and its head was so pure white. But you know, I guess Eagle is a bird of prey in some places. You go to Alaska and you'll find him being kind of like what buzzards are around here. That you'll find them when the salmon run, when the bear has You know, when they just have them laying all over the store, that there'll be a great feast there. And you know the eagles will be there, because the carcass is there. Well, I'm thankful that I'm going to be on the side of any devil. When the Lord calls his children home, that they'll be with Christ Jesus. Wherever that's at, it don't matter to me. As it were, I've seen some nature programs on the television about the golden eagle. Can you build on the side of a rock? We've got the bald eagles around here and other places. They'll build on a tree. That old golden eagle will build on the cliff of a rock. Have you seen stories? And what I would relate it to, if you ain't never seen one, is once again them old buzzards. You can see them all the day, and it looks like they're not getting anywhere. They're just going around in circles, around and around. The world might be looking at Darryl Hensley, and thinking he ain't getting nowhere. He's just going around in circles, just like that old eagle. The current of the wind has taken him higher and higher, and that's my desire. The longer I live on this earth, the closer I want to be to my Savior. I want His Spirit to be underneath my wings. I want to gather When you see me in my grave, I want to be able to live the life for you. Though you might look at me, I want you to know that I was an unprofitable servant. But I want you to know as well that we're the liars. The eagles are gathered together I'm looking forward to the day When I can gather around that body Sitting on that throne The Bible speaks about a sea of glass And there'll be those praising Him for thousands and thousands of years Well I'm thankful that I'm a little horse tonight I'm glad there'll be no ponies around the throne of God There'll not be one of us a little horse There'll not be a one of us that can't lift up a perfect voice to our risen Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords. But yet the world don't see it as that. I couldn't understand, you know, if you go out west, or you go on the East Coast, I can remember living there close to the Chesapeake Bay, and the eagle was a majestic bird. It was a bird that I can remember on one farm in Harper County, not too far from the Susquehanna. We went and there was such a, you could see it from the road, it was an old dead, I believe it was a a sycamore tree, and it was dead. And the nest for these eagles was just so huge, I just couldn't fathom why it was so big. And then I seen it land on its nest. A really impressive bird. You can see them. I can remember fishing along the Susquehanna and you see them swoop down and they bring up the big old fish. A beautiful bird. But it gets off to the Indians in Canada and Alaska. In Washington, they look at them as a bird that eats dead flesh. You know, unfortunately today, when you think, when the world thinks about Christians, churchgoing folks, at one time I think they thought of them maybe as the bird that went on the East Coast. Something to be looked at. We are the cause of so many, the way they live. The world just looks at them as that which hangs around. The old dead flesh of this world ain't nothing but a scavenger. Well I'm thankful that us are born again, that we don't have to go to the world. We don't have to search the shoreline, but the Lord, that He is our bread, He is our water. And I'm thankful that each and every one of us can rejoice in knowing that He will provide for us, though the storm clouds may blow. It's all right. It's just wind under our wings to give us lift on our way home. I'm thankful that the Lord has blessed me one more time to be able to be in the house of God. I'd ask each and every one of you to pray for our community. The Lord has placed us here for a purpose. We've got a reason to rejoice that when we gather around the body of Christ that there There will be eagles there, that will have our friends and loved ones there. If we are vigilant today, a break for the wonderful news of the gospel, and tell the world that there is one that still yet saves. There is one that still yet is worth leaving all for. We hear about what we read. about the man being on the housetop and having no need nor no time to go down in his house and get those things that are in his house. Why? Because they're of no importance when we ask people what's important in life. But some of us are foolish, though they might not answer you or tell you the possessions here in this life. But listen. Are not those things that are within your house or in your pocket that the Bible speaks about when we're in our bed? That the coming of the Lord will be a search, and I say get your clothes on. But one will be taken and the other left. Well, I'm thankful that the important things in life are not those things that can be left. think about. Others would say family. That what's important is my wife and my children. And I reckon they are. But even those things are not the most important. The most important thing that we have in life is that which we can take with us in our hands or place it on our back. But it's that which we can possess in our hearts. My littlest boy, Levi. He's a collector of all stuff. Just the other day, he was at the squeeze shoot. And we've been cutting out ear tags. And just the back of an ear tag. There was there laying there. And Levi picked it up. And he asked if he could keep it. Like it was something. Uh, that he couldn't have. I said, I don't care. It's just the back of an ear tag, honey. And so he went. And one wasn't enough. He took another and another. And of course, he took a lecture of things there ain't no telling. Oh, I might be in his pocket, but I was thinking about that. You know, he thought he had something. Oh, and he had a little ear tag in his pocket. That was cut out, because it weren't no good anymore. He ain't much different in the world. They have stuff in their pockets, and they think it's something. But I don't care. If you're weighted down with ten pounds of gold, he won't buy you a square inch of halo. But where the eagles are, glory to God, there will I'll learn Christ Jesus, and I'll be able, that one day, I'll be able, as it were to see the sun, Christ Jesus, his face shining and glistening, off the feathers of all them eagles, and I'll say it's a good man, what a good one man. Well, I guess. I don't know if there's people out there shooting eagles in Light Cleve County. But I know some fellers that are in Hawkeye City. They'll shoot it out a tree. Oh, why? Just to see if they can hit it. Oh, because it is surrounded here and there. I guess they do as much good as they do bad. Maybe not. Maybe some of them ought to be pinned down. That's what the world thinks about God's children. And sometimes you feel like you're all alone. You know, sycamore tree, along the highway. And the world's taking shots at you. But I'm glad there's coming a day where I can go to a land that I'll not be the oddball. I'll not be the ugly duckling. I won't be the speckled bird, glory to God, that I'll be one among the many, that'll gather around, and they'll say there, there's old Errol, that unprofitable Welcome in, glory to God. I'm glad to see you made it. That's my desire. Everyone here tonight knows the name. That's you, I look to God. Say God, might you draw me a little closer. Might I, might I feel the wind, or the current underneath my wings? Might I search out the piles of gold, just like that old eagle? And when I find it, that I might follow it all the way to heaven? Have you found it? Can you say that where the body is, you'll be gathered there? Keep them over with you when you find yourself. Checking to see what you had in your pockets. The other night, I believe I, like I said, had all those, I don't know how many he had in his pockets, but there was quite a few of them. All the ends of the ear tags on them was he tags, and he had them in his pocket. And I somewhat understood how he was, because I was that same way. But I was in the bedroom, and I was reading the Bible, and I heard Rob Levi crying. I heard things going in the trash can there, and he was throwing something away. And Michelle, I said, honey, what's the matter? She said, oh, he had them old beer tags in his pockets, and he wanted to take them to church, and they're dirty. And I said, well, honey, just because you don't take them to church don't mean you have to throw them away. because I was a lot like Levi when I was a kid. Sometimes I can remember I had a little plastic man. I don't even remember where I got him. I had a plastic man. Of course I took care of my toys a whole lot better than Levi did. I had him in school. I don't know what grade I was in. It was just there, maybe second grade or whatever. And a guy grabbed that old toy and you know how them plastic things have paint on them. He drug his head across the desk like it was an eraser and put a big old flat on his head. And you know I don't know why that little man, that little figurine messed with me, but you know I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I was getting ready to hit him. And he said, he said, what are you going to cry or something silly like that? And he had all them G.I. Joes or whatever. I just had this... I can remember him. He had a tan... He was in a tan overhaul suit and he had a red baseball cap. Looked like some farmer, you know. He had all these big ol' fancy G.I. Joes. He didn't realize... Not to make it sound worse than it was, but I mean... That was the only little figurine I had. You know... We see people in this world. holding on to different things. You might think that was silly. But they're holding on to all kinds of things that just be taken away. I know a man, old just loves his boat, loves his fancy new pickup truck. And you know, you wouldn't have to take neither one of them away for him to give them up. Him just lose his job, not be able to make the payments on the boat or the truck. or put that $3 fuel in it to ride around the lake in it, and he'd be wanting to just get shit out of them. You know, that's the way it'll be when one's taken and the other's left. That one's left, you see, he'll be able to, whether he be in the field, hoeing corn, or sitting in an air-conditioned tractor, he'll be able to keep all that stuff. But you know what? He'll want to just get shit out of it if he could. Let's get some song to sing that we ain't preached very long tonight, but long enough to say what we said. As the disciples ask a very important question, where, Lord, where will they be taken to? Where soever the body is, Further will the eagles be gathered together. Will you be in that number? Will you be able to mount up on wings as an eagle? Oh, the world might look at Christians and think they're just going around in circles, not realizing that they're going higher and higher and closer to the Lord. See, that's just the way life is. The Bible says it's appointed unto man once to die and after this to judgment. Those that have been born again, the longer they live, the higher they soar. Those that have rejected the ways of Christ, the harder they run from God, the closer they are to hell. So may you be an eagle among All those eagles gathered around the body of Christ, for you will be as the decaying flesh in this earth, rotting and never yet passing away. I'm thankful that the Lord has promised His children, even though we would do all that He'd ask, And even though we are unprofitable servants and that we have no reason of glory in anything that we've done, but still yet that we can raise our face to heaven and thank the Lord that He is our personal Savior. Not just a Savior, but our personal Savior that will lead us and guide us and provide the wind underneath our wings in which we can soar to greater heights than we ever thought we could.