We encourage the church to continue to pray for pastor's family, but they are having a good time. I think they were at Yellowstone yesterday, and then they worked their way back this way, and he'll be back in the pulpit next Sunday. But today, we're excited to have, and those of you who don't know, Brother Hudson is pastor's uncle, and he's now the staff evangelist out of Moraine Heights Baptist Church, where he pastored for lot for 42 years and then so yeah so uh but but but you can preach for certain we're excited to hear from you well it's good to be in god's house on god's day with god's word in our hand of god's spirit in our heart amen and i'm just glad to be here I'm as happy as a coon in a cornfield with the hound dogs tied. Amen. And I'd rather be here than anywhere else I know right now, because I think this is where God wants me. And I'm glad that you're here. Music's been a blessing this morning. Amen. Enjoyed that. Old Sam Cathey said, if that don't ring your bell, your clapper's missing. So my clapper's clanging this morning. I liked it. Amen. I enjoyed the Sunday school lesson. It's just good to be in God's house. Amen. Well, if you don't like church, you need to get right with God. I tell you, you get to heaven, we're going to do this all the time, amen? So you might as well get with the program. But it is good to be here. Good to have my dear friend, Brother Alan Poe here. He's running around with me. That makes me look a little better, amen? I don't know if it's his good looks rubbing off on me or I just look better compared to him. So I'll let you worry about that, amen? But it's good to have him here, and I'm glad your preacher's getting away for a little while. That's good. I don't know who told him to go or how that all worked out or whatever. I don't know. Don't care. But I know it's good that he gets away, and thank you for seeing to that. See, that's good. Jesus told the disciples one day, let's come apart for a while, and Vance Avner said, if you don't come apart, you will come apart. Amen? And so these are good times. It's never a waste of time to sit down and sharpen the axe a little bit, amen, and get your breath, and then it makes the work down the road even more productive. But it's good to be here, and you all, a lot of you look real familiar. Some of you, I think, are new since the last time I was here, so that's encouraging. There may be some visitors here today, so don't be discouraged with the preaching today. Next week, Brother Travis will preach, so don't you come back next week okay you know so if you don't like my preaching that's okay I'm going to be gone after today but you come back next week and you will hear some good preaching I can promise you that and absolutely you sure will take your Bible if you if you will and find Matthew 10 if you would Matthew chapter number ten and then uh... not far away another really easy one to find luke twelve kind of find matthew ten and then run over and put a finger uh... at luke twelve and uh... wanna read Just a couple of verses, this is a little different kind of a sermon. But I felt led to bring a few thoughts from these passages. But Luke, or Matthew, Matthew 10 and verse number 29, Matthew 10 and 29, have you found that? The Bible says, Jesus speaking here, are not two sparrows sold for a farthing. That was like the smallest little coin they had. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Feared he not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Look at Luke 12 and verse number 6 if you would. Luke chapter number 12. and verse number 6. And Jesus is speaking here, but you notice this is on another occasion and the arithmetic changes a little bit. It's interesting. Look at Luke 12 and verse 6. Jesus said, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And not one of them is forgotten before God, but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that we have it, Lord, preserved and inspired and infallible. And in our language, we thank you for that. Lord, I pray that we now rightly divide it. And God, I'd rather, Lord, sit down and Lord, let another preacher here stand up and preach than to say something wrong or in any way, Lord, to say something not right. Lord, help me to say just what I should and nothing more, nothing less. And Lord, I pray that you'd help me to be a blessing. And Lord, I pray that, Lord, I don't know the situation that each one is in in their life. I know none of us have ever been at this spot in the journey before, and Lord, I pray that we would leave here, Lord, more determined that next step would be in your will, Lord, being more like you, loving you more, Lord, loving the things you love, hating the things you hate. God, I pray that when the invitation comes, we'd see you do what, Lord, we know we can't, and Lord, that we would see you work. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for this church and her history, and Lord, members in the past, we heard of a couple this morning, and Lord, that looked down from heaven this morning, and I pray, God, that as we meet again, God, that if there'd be one here lost, that they would be saved. Lord, do bless Brother Travis and his dear family. God, I pray you'd put angels on the front fenders and protect them as they travel. And Lord, if you give us next week, may next Sunday be a great, great day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The Bible speaks here of sparrows. Did you notice that? Isn't that interesting? Jesus talked about sparrows. In Bible times, sparrows were a type of food. I grant you you're not going to get much out of one of them, but you would out of a sparrow You'd get you a little bite to eat kind of like a chicken nugget or something you know what I mean? You know you get you a little bite, and I don't know how necessarily they they fixed it, but But they ate the eight sparrows it was it was a Weak whale and grouse and turkey and they they ate sparrow, but it was a food that was only eaten by the very poor It was poor folks' food. It was not known at all to be eaten by people that had any money. of sparrows and how they were bought and sold, he, and I don't know, I can't prove it, don't ask me for a Bible verse, but he might have remembered as a young boy seeing his mother Mary go into the meat market perhaps and buy sparrows. We need to remember something, that Jesus was raised poor. I think sometimes we forget that. You remember in Luke 2, you're real close there in Luke. Back up, rewind there to Luke chapter number 2. And the Bible says in verse number 22, eight days were accomplished for a certain child, And after purification, verse 22, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem, verse 23, as is written in the law of the Lord every male. Look at verse 23, and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now, Leviticus said that you bring a lamb, but if the family was very poor, when they brought the young child to the temple, if they were very poor and could not afford a lamb, then they could bring a turtle dove or pigeons. And when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus at eight days old to the temple, they weren't bringing a lamb. They were bringing the turtle doves or the two pigeons because it was a poor family. That doesn't mean that they were wrong. that the, it just means that they were poor. They didn't have a lot of money. And when Mary would have gone then as, and you end it wonderfully, the Bible says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Amen? He left the throne of glory, but he came and was raised in a poor family. I've got a sermon I'll preach, I won't preach it this morning, but isn't it kind of neat, the family Jesus grew up in? You had one man married to one woman. You had a man that got up in the morning and went to work and didn't go stand in the welfare line when he was able-bodied. You had a family that when it came church time, they got their little family together and they went to church. Amen? But that family was a poor family. And therefore, when Jesus, perhaps as a young boy, might have come and seen his mama come in, boy, you're walking a butcher shop. You know, I like ribeye. Rack of lamb. Oh, that's good preaching. You know, I mean, sirloin, you know, and boy, that filet mignon, can't say it, but I can eat it. You know, great, great stuff. And Mary's a poor, maybe Jesus as a small boy came in with Mary and there hung all that stuff and boy, it was good. And maybe Mary said, do you have any sparrow today? Because they were a poor family. You get two, the Bible said, for a farthing you get two sparrows. But Jesus said, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? Now, if you get two sparrows for one farthing, what would you expect to get with two farthings? Four. I can see Mary being a businesswoman and being a good steward. She might have come in and saw five sparrows and she had two farthings and she might have, you know, the butcher might be thinking, well, there's four, you know, that's four. Maybe Mary looked at it and said, I'll give you two farthings for five. Jesus said, are not five sold for two farthings? Why is that? Because Mary would have known, or maybe this never happened, I don't have a passage on that, but I do know that sparrows were bought by very poor people. Jesus said one farthing gets you two, but he said two farthings will get you five. Maybe Mary walked in and saw five sparrows and she had two farthings and she knew that butcher couldn't sell one sparrow. How are you going to sell one sparrow? There's no coin small enough to buy it. She's a good business lady and she walks in and says, I'll give you two for five. And the old butcher probably said, what am I going to do with the fifth sparrow? Can't do nothing with that. All right, you can have it. Why? Because in the world's mind, a fifth sparrow was pretty much worthless. There was no coin small enough to buy it. It doesn't make any difference. Nobody's going to pay much attention. It's not like a rack of lamb. It's not like a side of beef. It's just a sparrow, and in the world's eyes, not worth much. But Jesus said, speaking of these things, You're of much more value than the sparrows. He said, God's number the very hairs of your head. God said, there's not a sparrow that falls to the ground, but that your father knows of it. Did you know that the Bible says that God attends the funeral of every sparrow? And Jesus said, if sparrows, that we don't even have a coin small enough to buy one, if sparrows that the world sees as useless, if sparrows that make no difference, He said, you need to remember something. You're of more value than the sparrows. There's a God in heaven that loves you. You say, preacher, what's your point? Maybe this morning I'm preaching to somebody that feels like a fifth sparrow. not making any difference. We come to church and people get up and sing. I can't sing. We go to church and somebody's giving money in the offering report and we thank God for that and the devil says, your little old puty offering don't even make any difference. And other people come in and they've led people to Christ and done great things. They get up and they teach. They sing in the choir. They go out sewing. They go to the nursing home and bring the sermon. And the old devil says, you're not very good at that, are you? You're a fifth sparrow. Your little offering don't matter. Your little passing out a track don't matter. You're never going to sing a solo one Sunday morning. You're never going to write a track. You're never going to teach a Sunday school class. You don't matter much, do you? What does Jesus say? Jesus said you're of more value than many sparrows and your heavenly father knows when one of them falls to the ground and if your heavenly father takes note of each one of them, then God still loves you. You're still important to God. Don't you let the devil beat you up. You're a child of the king. You're blood bought. You have a mansion waiting in glory and you may not be a rack of lamb right now. The world may see you as just one little old sparrow, but there's a God in heaven that will get glory out of your life. You think of the fifth sparrows in the Bible. Now you think about it. Remember Joseph? Not Joseph the husband of Mary, but Joseph in the Old Testament. You remember him? Joseph was a good boy. He was living his God-given dreams. He was doing what was right. He loved God, and he honored his daddy. And them old sorry brothers, they turned on him and threw him in the pit. You've read that story? They threw him in the pit, and then they sold him, and off he went to Egypt, and he hadn't done a thing wrong down there, and some old shameless hussy, I mean, she told this big old lie about him, and he ends up getting thrown in the... He was the head of the Gestapo, you know, that guy. And he got himself thrown in jail, And there he was and he hadn't done a thing wrong. Nothing. And he was there year after year after year. Probably felt a lot like a fifth sparrow. Well, it's over. I'm going to die in this crazy prison. I haven't done anything wrong. But the Bible says, but the Lord was with him. And you all know the story. God came down and God intervened and brought him out of that prison and he ended up sitting on a throne in Egypt. Not bad for a fifth sparrow. Maybe you're not sitting on the throne this morning. No, preacher, it's more like in the prison. If there's a God in heaven that takes note when a sparrow falls on the ground out in this parking lot, God knows where you're at, God still loves you, God has not forgotten you, and God's got great things in store for you. It may not be great in the world's mind, the world may not see you as a side of beef, the world may see you as a fifth sparrow, but God still loves and uses fifth sparrows. Does that make sense? Don't you be discouraged. Think about the woman at the well in John chapter number four, Jacob's well. You remember her? Oh, she was a fifth sparrow. You think about it. Jesus said, I must needs go through Samaria. There's a sermon there, but we'll let it rest. He said, I must needs go through Samaria. He went down there in the heat of the day. And here comes this woman out of Samaria and she comes to get water at Jacob's well and Jesus is there by himself and has sent the disciples on into the city. You remember the story? What's that woman doing at a well in the heat of the day? Well, she's probably tired of being called names and laughed at and sneered at and tired of dirty jokes being told about her. You say, well, preacher, she wasn't exactly all that honorable. Unless she'd been married five times and she was probably living with some other woman's husband that day. That's true. You know, that's true. We're not denying that. Jesus was not denying that. She had lived an immoral life. You talk about a soiled and tainted past, brother, she had her one, amen? And that morning, she probably got out of her bed. She should not have been in. We get that. She was living the wrong life. I understand that. She was sinning against the man's wife right then. We get that. And Jesus is not minimizing purity and He's not minimizing marriage vows or anything like that. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying, but understand this. God still loved that woman. Jesus is going to die for that woman. And I'm a sinner and so was she. And that kind of put us in the same category, it seems to me like, and we've all sinned to come short of the glory of God. Amen? And Jesus looked at her and began to speak to her. There she was. And you all know the story. He said, give me something to drink. And she said, you don't have anything to draw with. And Jesus said, if you knew the water I speak of, you'd ask me. And she was gloriously and wonderfully saved by the grace of God. Why? And there she was. And went back to town and told the men about coming. She wanted to tell me all things ever that I did. Jesus really didn't do that. She got all excited. Amen. Her heart was right, she was saved by the grace of God, did great things! You say, what's your point, preacher? My point is maybe your past isn't something you'd want to talk about. Maybe there's some things there that nobody in this room knows and you're glad. It could be. you know sometimes your devil comes and gets on your shoulder and says, well you're the one that did this and you're the one that did that and these are good people and you're not like them and you might as well face that and why don't you just go home and the devil, let me tell you something if God has forgiven you for something why don't you be like God and forgive yourself for that thing and understand that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin and it's buried in the depths of God's forgiveness and go on and serve God Then this woman, in the world's eyes, was a fifth sparrow, but yet God had a plan for her, and she was saved by the grace of God. She went back to town and did more soul-wondering than twelve backslidden Baptist preachers had done all afternoon, because she understood that God loves fifth sparrows, and went and did something for His glory. I had a fifth sparrow. I remember the little woman that came when Jesus was on His way to the home of Jarius. Do you remember that? He was on His way and that little woman come and touched the hem of His garment. Do you remember that? Boy, the Bible said she had spent all of her money and was none the better but only grew worse. Anybody ever here have a sickness where you spend all your money, but none the worse, none the better? Boy, she had to feel like a fifth sparrow. She thought if I could just get in touch with the hem of his garment. She made her way through that little crowd, and here she comes. I mean, her money was gone. Probably, probably her reputation was gone. Doctors say there were diseases that were very prevalent that were very often misdiagnosed. And I can't prove it, but it's very likely that she had been accused of things that she was not guilty of. It's very likely, again I can't prove it, but it's very likely that because of her symptoms she had been accused of diseases that you would contract through immorality. But it could very well be that she was not guilty of that at all. And she probably had lost her very own family that had thought she had lived in immorality. Isn't it interesting that when she come and touched the hem of his garment that Jesus turned to her and said, Who touched me? That he said, Daughter, Why don't you enjoy church for a little while? He said, daughter? Why was the first word that came out of his mouth, daughter? Maybe because she had lost her earthly family and thought she would never have a family, thought she would be sick forever, thought she would never make any difference, felt more useless than a fifth sparrow. But Jesus healed her and looked at her. I think he was saying, you might have lost one family, you got a new one now. And called her daughter. She felt like a fifth sparrow, but there's still a God in heaven that loves fifth sparrows. Remember the little woman caught in the very act of adultery, dragged to the temple site, thrown down by the hair of the head at Jesus' feet and said, the law says stone her, what do you say? She had to feel like a fifth sparrow, worthless, guilty, no good, I'll never make any difference. Every time I read that story, I think to myself, where's the man at? Going to grab people by the hair of the head and drag them in seems to me like you just forgot somebody. These people didn't care about the law. They didn't care about right and wrong. They were just trying to embarrass Jesus. And they drug through Jesus. You remember what Jesus did? Knelt down and started writing. I've always wondered what he wrote. Might have broke last Thursday about 7 o'clock. That might have made one of them birds drop his rocks. I don't know! And again, Jesus is not okaying immorality. Jesus is not saying that purity doesn't matter. Don't misunderstand. But He still loved her. He died on Calvary for her. He looked at her and said, Where are those that accuse thee? And she said, They're gone. He said, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. I'm still saying that no matter how low it gets, no matter how useless you feel, no matter how defeated you might feel in your soul, there's a God in heaven that said, You're more important than sparrows that I care about. Does that make sense? Fifth Sparrows. God help us. A little old widow in Mark 12. Remember her? Here she comes. Jesus was watching and he watched people. They went by and they put their offering in the treasury. Now there's a bunch of rich dudes and if they wouldn't put a dollar in, they'd go to the bank and get a hundred pennies. Yeah. Here they come. And then wait until there's a big crowd and everybody's kind of watching and then dump it in, you know, and maybe spill a little bit. Oh, I got to get my offering in the box, I ain't going to hold mine, you know. And here they go and they had on their clothes and they had on their royalty and they had a big offering and they make a big to-do about it. Everybody, oh, their brother so-and-so, he's giving a lot today. Jesus saw a little widow girl come in. She didn't act like that, did she? I guarantee you that little widow lady knew all about sparrows and where to get a good deal on them. She didn't eat rack of lamb and porterhouse. She knows all about sparrows. When she came to the temple that day, she did not go to a closet full of clothes and pick out one for today that suited her like most of us did. You remember when you got dressed this morning, you opened the door, which one am I going to wear today? She didn't have that problem. Now find me a pair of shoes that matches." I first got married. I thought, Diane don't have too many shoes. Then I found out she had a sack for each season. That's the truth. And I found the other three seasons in these big sacks. You know, there they were, you know. That's the truth. This little widow didn't have that problem. I guarantee you she picked out the very best she had out of a very limited wardrobe, and I guarantee you it didn't look like anybody's best, and here she come. She kind of goes over to the treasury. I think she wasn't watching to make sure somebody's looking. She's probably trying to watch to catch a time when nobody's looking. Slipped in her little two mites. Probably tries to slip away, but there was one that was watching. Jesus called, disciple, come over here, look at this. You see that little lady? She gave more than all of the rest because they gave out of their abundance. They're going home to their clothes, they're going home to their porterhouse, they're riding home in a fancy chariot. That offering made no difference in their life whatsoever. Their standard of living did not lower at all. But when that little lady gave those two mites, she gave her all. And Jesus said she gave more than all the rest of them put together. She could have felt like a fifth sparrow and said, well, my offering doesn't matter, and God will never take no to me, and it's just all over, and I'll just, I'll just, no. But she was a fifth sparrow that loved her maker and wanted to do something for his glory, and her maker loved her and took note of it. And how much it's been given down through the years, been encouraged by the generosity and the faithfulness of that little lady that was willing, that little fifth sparrow that gave her two mites. Too much. God help us. Let me say something real quick. I don't know when you all quit, but I told Brother Salih and Brother Poe this morning, I'll tell you a joke real quick if you'll laugh, will you laugh? These two old sisters, and every Sunday, they didn't like their preacher preach too long. So every Sunday morning, about noon, one of them would look back at the wall. They had a big clock up, and neither one of them could hear, so they hollered at each other. You know how they do. And one of them said, well, he's preaching over again! And the whole church was, the old preacher got so tired of it, he said, I'll fix her. And so what he did was he took the clock down in the back and he put up a big oil painting of himself. They come in, sit down, he gets about 12 o'clock, 5 after, and one of the dear old ladies, she turned to look at the clock and looked back there and there was his picture. And she said, oh no, he's taken down time and put up eternity. I think that's funny, you know. But there it was. Well, I won't preach for eternity, bye. You think of another, think of the fifth sparrow. Think about little Mephibosheth. Isn't that a fifth sparrow? Bible says in 2 Samuel chapter 4, run over there if you want to, 2 Samuel chapter number 4, Bible says that Mephibosheth was, he was about 5 years old and a nurse, it was an emergency and the nurse ran and grabbed him and took off to run and she dropped him. My buddy Lester Roloff, he's in heaven this morning, but Brother Roloff said his mama wouldn't have dropped him. But that nurse, she dropped him. And his feet, both of them were mangled. And he grew up that way. Little old Mephibosheth, he lived in the land of Lodibar. And five years old, and there were no orthopedic surgeons then, there was not much in the way of painkiller, and anybody that's had anything to do with bone surgery, you know deep down how painful it can be. We can only imagine those bones trying to knit back, not having been set properly. Five years old. I can promise you that little fella cried himself to sleep night after night after night. What did he have to look forward to? Anyone that severely handicapped, it meant poverty. He was going to sit out by the wall and say alms. I mean, he looked out the window and other children are playing and running and not him. Little guy was either carried or probably sat on the floor and scooted around like you've seen children do. That was his life. And one day David, look at 2 Samuel 4, Mephibosheth son of Jonathan. You know, David and Jonathan were big buddies and here's another sermon. David did real good until he lost his buddy. You ever think about that? When he lost Jonathan, he got in trouble. You know, if you've got a good friend, don't you backslide, it will affect your brother, amen? And David did pretty good, but when he lost Jonathan, he got in all kinds of trouble. But David loved Jonathan, and David said, 2 Samuel, look at chapter 9, I believe I put you in 2 Samuel 4, run over 2 Samuel 9. David said, is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And they said, well, there's one down in Lodabard, his name is Mephibosheth, if you read the story. And David said, you go get him. And you take the wagon and you go to Lodabar. And you pick that little guy up and you put him on that wagon and you bring him back here to me. And he will put his feet under my table for the rest of his life. And he said, if there's any lien, if there's any debt that he owes, I will pay the debt. I will cancel the liens. I will bring him back to my house. He will sit at my table for all the rest of his days. There little old Baphibosheth is. He's the fifth sparrow if there ever was one. And all of a sudden there's a knock at the door, and the king calleth thee, and for the sake of another that he loves, and they put him on the wagon, and they took him back to the king's house, and he put those little crippled feet under the king's table, and the rest of his life, and every debt was cancelled, and every lien was cancelled, because of the act of the king for one that he loved. And you cannot read that without thinking. We're all Mephibosheth's, and we were all crippled by a fall. But there's a Father in heaven for the sake of another, His own darling Son, that sent the Holy Ghost in the wagon of grace and put us up on it and took us out of the lodomar in which we were living and takes us back to the Father's house and will put our feet under His table as long as the ages roll. We'll sit at a banquet table with a father who canceled every debt and paid every debt and canceled every lien that was against our estate when he saved my wrecked and wretched soul. And if that don't make you shout, there's just something missing. That's just a real good place to thank God. Fifth sparrows like me and you and Mephibosheth. There's a father in heaven for the sake of another that sends the Holy Ghost and puts us on a wagon of grace and will do something in our lives for His glory as long as the ages roll. Don't miss that. I mean, miss going to Kings Island or Disney World or something, but don't miss that. You can be saved by the grace of God. You say, well, I'm not worth much. God specializes in people like you. Well, I can't do much. You're acting like a fifth sparrow. Well, I don't know much. Neither do fifth sparrows, but God loves fifth sparrows. God loves you. God loves you. Poor little old Mephibosheth. You say, Brother Terrell, but why? You know, in spite of it all, now listen to me. Maybe you're not two bad feet. I've got one bad foot. Maybe you've got, but Brother Randy touched on this a little bit this morning in a real good Sunday School lesson on, you know, why sin and why suffering in the world? Job. Mephibosheth, blind Bartimaeus, the list goes on and on and on. You may be healthy, and if you are, I'm happy for you. I mean that. Could I offer you a little advice? Enjoy it. Enjoy it. I don't know you all like I know the people at Moraine Heights, but every time I've ever stood in the pulpit at Moraine Heights, I know I've preached to people hurting worse than I ever have. had every reason in the world to quit and not be at church that day and just skip it, but they wanted to be in God's house and they came on anyway. And there they sat and stand up when they probably shouldn't have even tried it and walk around and shake hands when they probably ought to have skipped it. But yet they, that may not mean a whole lot to you right now, but you end up like my daddy is this morning. How many of y'all know there's somebody that's, and maybe, and I'm not saying you have to come to church to be right with God if you're really sick and need to be home, of course you need to be, don't misunderstand me. But don't we all know people that are hurting this morning? Don't we all know people that are done taking long hikes and climbing mountains and water skiing and even, it's over. It's over. It ain't happening no more. I woke up this morning and prayed for this service. Maybe couldn't be here, but sent their offering by somebody. They're wanting to hear this afternoon what happened in church. Did anybody get saved? And they're going to pray for the service tonight. Well, it's real wide. I believe for one thing, it shuts the devil's mouth. It shows to a lost and dying world that what they have in them is real, and that they're going to serve God if they're healthy, they're going to serve God if they're sick, they're going to serve God if they've got a bunch of money, they're going to serve God if they don't. They're going to serve God if all their dreams come true, they're going to serve God if they don't. But one thing, they are going to love God and they are going to serve Him, and though He slay them, they will not charge God foolishly. And it shuts the devil's mouth. Didn't the Old Testament teach us that? You know, there's something about fifth sparrows. Just a little fifth sparrow. Why didn't God talk about golden-throated, ruby-crested, warbling jayhawks or something? I made that up. You didn't know that, did you? Of course I made that up. I'm sure there's no bird like that anywhere. Somebody will come up to me like, Google, they'll find that. Anyway, I made that up. God didn't tell us to watch out for, you know, eagles. You won't see many around here. You'll see a few, but not many. What'd God say? Consider the sparrow. We're all going to see sparrows today. We won't necessarily see a turkey or something, but we'll see a sparrow. God put them everywhere. Why? I think God's saying, you remember something. If I care about the sparrow, even to attend their funeral, you're of much more value than they. And I love you. And the world thinks of you or me as a fifth sparrow. We don't matter. We're not going to amount to much. We're not going to accomplish anything. Our dreams have faded away. There's still a God in heaven that can get glory out of the life of someone who even as a fifth sparrow will love God and trust that all things still work together for good. And that will praise him as long as they have breath because he is their God and they belong to him. And it shuts the devil's mouth who says God has to pay people to serve him. That's what he told Job. The old devil went to God and said, God said, hath thou considered my servant Job? And Satan said, doth he serve thee for naught? Is he serving you for nothing? Is he serving you? What was the devil saying? The devil was saying, well, of course he serves you. Land, cattle, family, money coming out of his ears, healthy as a horse, everything's wonderful, of course he serves you. You take that away and he'll curse you to your face. God said you can't kill him, but God turned him loose on a short leash and Job lost it all. His wife run up and I used to, when I started preaching, I always said that the devil killed everybody but his wife and he left her for meanness. But you know, I'd like to think I'm a little smarter. Had a thought one day, if I just lost 10 kids, I might spout off a little too. When you think what that lady just went through, maybe Terrell needs to shut up and leave her alone. That's really good preaching, it is. What did Job do? And all of this neither charged he God foolishly. And he said, naked came I, and naked shall I go hither. And he said, Blessed be the name of the Lord. He knew what it was to be the soaring eagle, and God let him be the little fifth sparrow. But he still praised God, and God got glory out of it, and he shut the devil's mouth. God help us. I can't sing a lick. It's never stopped me from singing. Oh, why don't you enjoy church a little bit? So don't be embarrassed at what this sounds like, because I know I can't sing, so don't worry about it. Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion, my constant friend is here. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know he watches me. Let's sing together. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. I sing because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow. For his eye is on the sparrow. And I know He watches me. Thank God there's a God in heaven that loves the fifth sparrow. I don't know where you're at in your life. I don't know. But I've preached long enough to know that there's broken hearts in this room. What did Brother Salih or Brother Travis tell you? Nothing. But I know there's broken hearts in this room. How do you know that? Because you're people. I know there's needs in this room. I know there's valleys that you're going through. I know those times come. But you say, what do you want out of all this, preacher? I want me and you, the next time we see a sparrow, know that if God loves that sparrow and watches over that sparrow, I am of much more value than a sparrow, and no matter what I go through in this life, I know God loves me. Cal resettled that. And I know that I'll praise Him and serve Him and honor Him if I want to be right with Him as long as I live. Thank God for that. I got another sermon. Can I talk real loud? Can you hear me? I'm not going to preach this, but I got a sermon that sometimes I preach with a rope. I got me a big rope. I almost brought it this morning, but I didn't. It's already time to quit. And what I do is, is I make sure it goes out the door. I've preached this different places. And I have somebody bring me my rope in. So here they come dragging the rope in, you know. And it goes out the door. So then I tell everybody, I say, now we're gonna play a game. We're only pretending, but let's pretend. Let me tell you about the rope. It's an amazing rope. I said it goes out, it goes up here on, is this El Troth Road? And it goes all the way to Lebanon. You all seen the guys at Walmart trying to fit, no I'm teasing you. And it goes to Lebanon, then it goes all the way up to Dayton. Yeah, big rope, this is just one end of it. And then that rope, it goes up to Dayton, it goes up 75, it gets on 70, it goes plumb to California. It's the most amazing rope. And it goes across, it goes over to California, then it goes over to, out to Hawaii, and then it goes over to Japan, and then it goes up through Asia and over through Europe, goes through the North Pole and heads up to the Moon in those four or five loops, and this rope goes all the way past, you know, Saturn, Earth, Uranus, all that stuff. It goes all the way past the Milky Way. It goes out past all the quasars. It goes out past galaxy after galaxy. This is just one end of it. And this little rope goes billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of light years away. and it just keeps going and then on the end of it I got about six inches this long that's painted red and I said now this rope is kind of shows us time this six inches right here is our time here on this earth and we get all wrapped up with this time here on this earth and we get so worried about it And we're going to quit on God and everything else if we're not happy. And we get all flabbergasted. And we stick our little Baptist lips out and pooch and pout on God because somehow or another we think we're getting shortchanged or something. And we're all worried about six inches. We're not pretending here when we remember that the gift of God is eternal life. And that 10 trillion billion years from now, we're going to be singing and praising God in heaven. And the fifth sparrow we're experiencing is for this little piece right here. Don't forget the rest of the rope. You're hurting this morning. If you know God, it's temporary. You got a burden this morning, if you know God, it's temporary. You got a tear in your eye this morning, if you know God, it's temporary. I'm not discounting your pain, but I'm going to tell you something. There's a God in heaven that will wipe the tear away someday and lift the burden off and take us and set us under his table like little Baphomet. And you may feel like a fifth sparrow right now, but it's just for a little while. And I would remind you, you're a child of the King. You're a blood-bought child of God, and you're on the way to glory. And God looks down at you, the Lord Jesus Christ, and tells the Father, that one's mine. Trust Christ. If you've never been saved, you say, well, I've got problems, preacher. Well, get them saved, take them away. I hope you understand they won't, but you can take care of any problem better with God than without Him. Will joining this church take me to heaven? Nope. Will saying amen to you take me to heaven? Nope. Will putting money in the offering plate take me to heaven? Nope. What will take you to heaven is having Christ as your Savior. He will come in when you invite Him in. For by the grace that you save through faith that night of yourselves, it's a gift of God. If you've never done that, trust Him today. God might have let you feel like a fifth sparrow and make you look up to heaven. Maybe God's using this for his glory and for your good. Trust him today.