To Be the Church, You Have to be Part of the Church
Understanding How To Be A Part of The Church Through Jesus
Darrell Ingram
Mar 7, 2021 1hr 2m
To be the church, you have to be part of the church. And you can only be part of the church through Jesus. Jesus should the center of our lives. Jesus should come first. He is not an add-on. He is the main priority. If He is not first in your life, make Him first. Nothing is greater than Him. Video recorded at Pineville, Louisiana.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Darrell Ingram (00:01):
You know, this week I was looking at Facebook which all of us older people do. And I saw pictures of Pastor James and Mrs. Debbie. Man, listen, I don't normally get cold, but I was cold looking at all that, especially after the ice storm we just had. And to be in that all the time? Oh Lord, man. I hope y'all enjoy it, Pastor James, Mrs. Debbie. Y'all have fun. Go skiing. Go whatever you're doing. Enjoy it. But I do want to thank him for going and allowing me to step up on his pulpit and just to be here. And just to share the Lord with you, to share the gospel with you. You see, God is good. But before I start, I do want to take a moment real fast and I want to reach out to the Lord and just lift up Taylor and Andrew this morning. You know, Taylor was rushed to the hospital last night at about 1:30.
Darrell Ingram (00:52):
She had surgery. She's doing fine. The baby's doing fine. They're still there. She'll have to be there about a week. But I do want to ask the Lord just to miraculously move in their lives and just to encourage her and heal her and help her to get on with this. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you. I thank you for your goodness. You are Jehovah Rapha. So Father, we right now, we're asking you as a body of Christ, a body of believers to touch Taylor right now, Lord. You use the doctors to minister to her. You watch over her and you keep her safe and you get her well and back up on her feet. And father, I ask you to encourage Andrew. Lord, give him peace, give her peace. Lord, you comfort them and let them know that you're right there with them every step of the way. Father, we just lift them up right now. And Father, I ask you right now just to help me, a broken vessel, someone apart from you is nothing. So Father, use me to glorify you and show people you and you alone. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Darrell Ingram (02:04):
At Journey Church, we often hear quite often to be the church. Be the church, be the church, be the church. But do you know what be the church is really all about or what we're talking about? You see, it's something that you and I, it requires a heart transplant. Not physically, but spiritually. We need to apply a heart transplant spiritually. You see, you can't be the church if you're not a part of the church. And the only way that you can be a part of the church is to keep the main thing. The main thing. And Jesus is the main thing. It's all about Him. So when you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, He can actually satisfy every hunger that you have, every thirst that you have. And in John 6:35, Jesus makes this statement. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will not be hungry. And the one who believes in me will never thirst. I am the bread of life. It doesn't seem that very big to us, like a big deal. Because in our culture, bread is just like a side dish. It's something you stick out on the side. It's something that they bring in a basket and sit at the end of the table. You can either take it or you can leave it. It's a freebie. You know, they just bring it. You can go to pretty much any restaurant around and they bring bread. Like Texas Roadhouse.
Darrell Ingram (03:40):
You know, we walk into Texas Roadhouse. They get a basket of bread for you. And listen, guys, the bread is up there as you walk in. So as they get one, I grab another one and we walk. If I'm going eat free bread, I'm going to eat free bread. But not only that, that bread is all lathered up with butter. I mean, ooh. And you know what? They bring you extra butter. And man, that stuff's good. It's like that butter is like a dipping thing. You know, you get a piece of bread and you just dip it. Ooh. Guys, that's why I am the way I am. Man, butter is good. Bread is good. But you don't go to a restaurant just to eat the bread. You don't go to a restaurant just to eat the appetizers. Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
Darrell Ingram (04:30):
This is a small statement, but it's a profound statement. It's something that touches the very core of who we are. Have y'all ever heard of Lamberts in Foley, Alabama? Man, they're good. They're known for what? The sign says they're known for the throwed, not thrown. It's gotta be right. The throwed rolls. And man, they go, it's like, man, they're big as a softball. I mean they throw them and you're like bam. Throw me another one. Bam. Throw me one more. But we don't go just to Lamberts just to eat the bread. We don't go there to eat the side dish, just the appetizer. And let me tell you something. Those appetizers are good. Yeah. I mean you put out a paper towel and they just come by in a bucket, man. And they're just like, you want some more? You want some more? Man, I keep on putting towels all around the table.
Darrell Ingram (05:23):
I said, fill them all up, just fill them all up. The only thing I really don't like in Lamberts is the collard greens. If I want to eat grass, I can go outside and grab some grass and eat some grass. But people go for the chicken, the fried chicken. They go for the catfish. They don't go for the appetizers. They go, ooh, I could smell that. And I don't know why they call chicken fried steak chicken fried steak. But I love that stuff. And then they pleather all that gravy all over it. What Jesus was saying is He was saying, I'm not a side dish. I'm not a side dish or a basket that you reach into and pull me out once a week. I'm not something that you go around and just on Sundays, you come to church and you pick me out and you take a bite of me.
Darrell Ingram (06:14):
I'm something that needs to be a part of your every day life. We can't just pick and choose Jesus. He's got to be the main thing. In the Bible, in Genesis 3, the Bible says, Adam was put under a curse. And God said, by the sweat of your brow, you will work for your food. Then the last part, it says by this, you shall eat bread. From the very beginning, God established bread as the main meal. And then in Genesis 19:3, when Lot was living in the city, Sodom and Gomorrah, two angels came and visited him and brought them into his house. And the Bible said that he prepared a feast. You know what that feast was? Two loaves of unleavened bread. I can imagine coming home. And as you walk in, your husband, I'm going to be politically correct, or wife says, husband, honey, I made you a big feast. And he's like, oh man, I'm so glad because I got so busy, I didn't even get to eat lunch. Man, I'm hungry. What we having? And they say, we're having bread and bread. That's the feast. That was a feast, man. But do you know how many times that Jesus broke bread? He broke bread every meal. The New Testament church, they went house to house, breaking bread. Guys, you know what? We get the opportunity to go house to house to house to house and break the bread of life with people who may not know Jesus. When it comes around March 20th, we can go out and we can share Jesus with the world. That's what it's all about. If you want to be the church, then be the church. Not only have Him in your life but take Him so that He can touch other people's lives.
Darrell Ingram (08:13):
But man, you can't go a day. I can't. I can't go a day without having Jesus, the bread of life, in my life. When Jesus said, I am the bread of life, He was saying I'm the very core of your existence. I'm the very essence of who you are. And to be the church, you have to have the bread of life in your life. You have to have it. Jesus needs to be in your life. If He's not in your life, then what's the sense in coming to church and worshiping Jesus if you don't have Him with you? No sense at all. Jesus said, I'm the main thing. You put the bread basket in the middle of the table. You put me in the middle of the table. He says, because I'm what the church is all about. I'm what the songs and the singing is all about. I'm what worship is all about. I'm what preach is all about. I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. And when you go out, be sure in life that you don't order the apple pies. Be careful with that. I know me and Bev, right there, my wife for 35 years, man, we had two boys and love them to death. But our youngest, whew. When he came into the world, the nurse came out and said, he is the most irritable baby. A nurse now. In the baby ward, he is the most irritable baby I have ever met. And I've met thousands of them. I said, oh Lord, here it goes.
Darrell Ingram (09:54):
When we would go out and eat and when he was a baby, you know, we would bring him into the restaurant. If he didn't like that restaurant, watch out. Even as an infant, he would be squalling the whole time. The whole time. It's like if the people noticed us coming in, it's like they fought to not wait on us. That's how bad it got. But as he got older, it changed. He didn't even cry. But when he went in there, I get really, really leery about going to restaurants sow, about babies even crying in restaurants. Not that the baby is crying but it brings back memories of when my baby was crying and we couldn't get him to stop. So you know, as he grew, as he grew up, he didn't cry anymore. But he would go into the restaurant and if he didn't like the restaurant or getting like what the food was, he would sit there with his arms crossed. And you want something to eat, baby? No. Come on. We would plead with him. Come on, son. You need to eat something. No, I'm not hungry. And he'd continue to say it. And then the people that sat next to us would be looking at us and say, to me and Beverly, I know they were thinking this. Why ain't you letting that boy eat? And I wanted to lean over and say, well, it's really not his day to eat. It's ours. Listen, are you coming to church and God is trying to feed you? But yet you're sitting there with your arms crossed. And He's trying to give you some bread and you say, I'm not hungry. You see, I'm not going to eat. And you just sit there Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Every Sunday, the table is prepared and God says, come and eat. And yet we say, I'm not hungry,
Darrell Ingram (11:51):
Lord, I'm ready to do it on my own. I'm ready to do it on my own. Listen, God wants to feed us every Sunday. You know, you pull into a fast food restaurant. You guys, y'all are gonna relate to me on this. You pull into a fast food restaurant and I'm convinced, guys, that Beverly is teleported onto another planet at this time. We've talked about what she's going to order. And we pull up and I say, okay, baby, what do you want to eat? I don't know. You guys, I don't know what I'm talking about. And then the guy comes on the speaker and after we start to order, she said, well, hey, I don't think I want that. I want something different. I don't know about you guys, but it does happen. Guys, y'all got to be real with me now. Come on. Yes or no? Oh me or oh no. There you go. I got one guy out there that's tough. Thank you, Fred. But after we order and after we go through all this, the guy comes back on the speaker and he says, would you like a hot apple pie with that? Understand the question that the guy's asking. Would you like a hot apple pie is an acknowledgement that that's not the main thing at this restaurant. The thing that they're known for is cheeseburgers. The thing that they're known for are the fries and their fries are really good.
Darrell Ingram (13:22):
The very fact that he asked you, would you like a hot apple pie after you ordered is telling us that is something extra. That is not the main dish. That is not what you came for. It's something that is on top of what you came for. You didn't really come for this but I'm asking you if you want something else. But by the way, would you like a hot apple pie with this? The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:33, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. I wonder if Jesus comes to our service and He hears our singing and He sees everything that is going on. I wonder if He would ask, would you like some God with that? I wonder would He ask each and every one of us, Darrell, would you like some God with that? You know, you're listening real good and Darrell, you're singing real good and you've even got your eyes shut like you're praising me. But would you really like some God with that? Sometimes we get busy with life and life gets so monotonous. We bring the kids to school. We take them to practice, dance rehearsal, piano. Piano. Y'all see Myer up there, man, hitting the keys? I didn't know he was that talented. Man, great job, Myer.
Darrell Ingram (14:48):
But we take them all over the place, piano lessons. And we're busy working. And guess what? We're busy with our hobbies. We're building. We're working. We have these plans. We have that plan. We have dreams. We have visions. We're getting married. We're getting engaged. We're getting this. We're getting that. And I think God wants to stop us and say, would you like some God with that? Would you like some Jesus with that? I'm not the side dish. I'm the main thing. You can't take it or leave it. You can't take me or leave me. I am the main thing. I am the purpose. I can do a lot of things. I can do with house, without a house. But I got to have Jesus. I can do with a job or without a job. But I got to have Jesus. I can do anything or nothing but I still got to have Jesus. He's not the side dish. He is the main thing. I got to have Him. We've got talent. We've got talent but there's something greater than talent. You got to have bread. Jesus is greater. There's something about professionalism but Jesus is better than professionalism. Listen, you don't have to put one or the other aside. You can have them both. But Jesus needs to still be the bread of your life. Every service, every service, we need bread in our building. We can clean and we can look clean and we can be beautiful and we can be excellent at everything we do. But if we're not giving the people a dose of Jesus, of bread and keeping Him the main meal, the main course, it's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Darrell Ingram (16:41):
There's something about that name. Hey, I just want to stop right now because I'm so excited. Let's give Jesus a praise. Praise break. Woo. Because that's what we're here for. We're here for Jesus and Jesus alone. We come to church to get our praise on. Not to each other, but we get our praise on to Jesus. It's all about Jesus. There's something about that name that just gives me goosebumps and it gets me fired up to know where I was and to know where I am right now, to know how I was and how God changed me. That's what gets me excited. That's what gets me so excited that I want to tell the world. I'm willing to storm hell, Mike, with a water pistol to tell people about Jesus. It's Jesus or nothing. Jesus has to be the bread of your life. I was reading Acts chapter 16 the other day about Paul and Silas being in prison. And the Bible says the prisoners, the prisoners were listening. They were listening and an earthquake came and the doors, the doors were shaken and they were open. Do you remember that story? Y'all remember that story? Yes, no? Oh me, oh no. Am I going too fast for you? Do I need to slow down? Huh?
Darrell Ingram (18:05):
The chains fell off all the prisoners. It said chains fell off. Not just on Paul and Silas but it fell off on everyone. Everyone. It said that every prison door was open. And the jailer, when he saw what was happening, he became nervous. He was afraid because all the doors were open and because all the doors were open, he was afraid that every prisoner was about to escape, leave. And he was about to fall on his sword and commit suicide. But Paul said to him, do not harm yourself. Listen to these words. We are still here. We are still here. There were murders in that prison. There were rapists in that prison. There were thieves, liars, unbelievable vile people in that prison. But when God showed up, when God showed up in that prison, even though the doors were wide open, there was such an attraction in that place that they said, you're not getting rid of us.
Darrell Ingram (19:25):
We came to eat. We've been searching for this all our lives. And now it's here. Even though the doors are open, you're not getting rid of us. You're not running us off. You're not running us away. There's something about that name. There's something about the bread of life. We've been searching for it. Remember what they are doing. They were listening. Now let me explain something to you about this listening. Regardless of you think, people are listening and watching you. Their eyes and ears are always on you. So it matters what we say. And sometimes I put my foot in my mouth. But it matters what we say. But not only what we say. It's what we do that can change the actions of somebody else. I remember when Eric was growing up, I was in the military and I was around all that diesel and my nose would get clogged up. So I got hooked on this stuff called Afrin. And I would like everywhere I had have it or I couldn't breathe. I was going to suffocate to death. And so one day, I saw Eric walking down the hall with this empty bottle of Afrin. He was and he was like three years old. But he was sniffing it up like me. It matters what we do in front of our children. It matters what we do in front of all people. Remember they were listening.
Darrell Ingram (21:04):
Listen, when you get full of Jesus, you don't have to worry about attracting them because they will come. You don't have to worry about attracting people. They will come. You need the bread of life in your families. You need the bread of life in your marriages. You need the bread of life in your home. You need the bread of life in church. Until Jesus is the center of your life, you're never going to have a life. It's gotta be Him and Him alone. You have to be the church. In order to be the church, you must have Jesus in your life. Jesus needs to be your Lord and Savior. It's not enough to come and to pray. It's not enough to come and to sing. It's not enough to come and serve. It's not enough to come and go to small group. It's not enough to come and even get baptized. That's not enough. There's only one that is true enough. That is Jesus. Him and Him alone. Listen, I want you to know, you need to bring your children, you need to bring your friends, you need to bring your family to the church house. That's where they're going to get fed the bread of life. They need to be here. We need Jesus every day of our lives. I want my family to know that I love God. I want them to know I love my church. I want them to know I love their leaders. I want them to know I love their preachers, love their house. Love, love, love. And you never, listen they will never know how much you love something if you don't devote your love to it.
Darrell Ingram (22:54):
It matters. It matters. If you want your family to come to know Jesus, then we need to bring the bread back home with us once we get it at this home. It needs to go everywhere we are. It needs to go wherever you are. Listen, I want to ask you something and I'm going to be, I know I was going to put this at men but I'm going to ask both husbands and wives. Do your children know you as the breadwinner? Do your children know you as the breadwinner? Meaning when they need prayer, are you the first one they go to or do they go to someone else? Meaning that if they need to talk to someone, they have enough confidence in you that you will give them godly wisdom, godly advice. Do they do they come to you first? Are you known as the breadwinner? You see, the Bible said, if they didn't get fresh bread, if the people didn't get fresh bread, every 24 hours, the worms would step in and get ahold of that brand. Every 24 hours, they had to have fresh bread. Listen, yesterday's bread had worms in it. Yesterday's bread has worms in it. I'm afraid that many of us are living on yesterday's bread and it's got worms in it. We're living off past experiences. We're living off past blessings, past victories. Are you living through the bread or eating the bread from last week, yesterday, last year, last month? You see, that bread has worms in it. We need fresh bread. And we need it every day. We need it every day. Not just on Sunday, not just on Wednesday, but we need it Monday through Sunday. We need it every day of our lives. You see, don't live on past victories. Don't live on past experience. Live for today.
Darrell Ingram (25:07):
That's why Jesus, when He taught us how to pray, He said this. He said our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Then He goes on to say this. He says, give us this day our daily bread. You see, God gives us enough for today. He gives us enough for the day, enough for right now. We can't take on tomorrow. We can't take on yesterday. But He gives us enough. We have enough for today and today alone. We can't get overwhelmed with the future, but we can get peace in the present. It's either Him or it's nothing. Listen, would you like some God with that? Would you like some Jesus with that? Would you like Jesus in your life? You see, in order to be a part of the church, you have to have the church in you.
Darrell Ingram (26:19):
And the only way you have the church in you is to have Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Jesus said to all of us that no one comes to the Father but by me. He has to be your main course. Youth, He's got to be the center of your life. He needs to be the bread of your life. He needs the one, He needs to be the one that's very present and very alive in you right now. Listen, today, it's time. It's time to take that order. It's time to make your order. Let me share something with you. In the beginning, God created earth. And that's what that green is about. Y'all remember the story about the Garden of Eden, right? That's what that's about. But God told them, He said, listen, I want, you can do anything in this area, in this place. But there's one thing you can't do. You can't take from the fruit of that right there. That one thing, you can't do it.
Darrell Ingram (27:31):
They did it and it brought sin into the world. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But God demonstrated His own love towards us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us. And then it goes on to say, it says, if you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, He will cleanse you and forgive you and make you white as snow like you don't have any sin. Because what God sees, He sees it through the lens of Jesus. And when He sees your sins through Jesus after you've asked Him to forgive you, that's what He sees. Forgiven. And then when you die, you get to go to Heaven. But while you're still here, you need to continue to grow in the Lord. It's all about letting Jesus be the Lord of your life. And I'm going to ask you to do something very strange that we don't normally do. I'm going to ask you that before the last prayer, don't leave. Please don't leave. But I'm going to ask you to go ahead and stand and bow your heads.
Darrell Ingram (28:50):
I want everybody's eyes closed. Nobody looking. Nobody moving around. But right now, I'm going to ask you a question. And that question is, if you died today, are you 100% certain that you'd go to Heaven? You see, if you're not a hundred percent certain that you'd go to Heaven, then you're not going to Heaven. You see, the Bible says that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. You got to have Jesus. So I'm going to give you the opportunity right now. If you don't know that you have Jesus in your life, nobody's looking, I'm going to ask you right now just to raise your hand. Raise your hand. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. In the back. Yes. Upstairs. Yes. Listen, I'm going to ask you to do something right now. And it's between you and God. And then I'm going to ask you to do one more thing. If you say this prayer, I want you to truly just come down to me or Mike or Pastor Richie. And we want to pray with you. We want to give you guidance and direction and help. But this is what I want you to pray. You pray right now. Say, dear Jesus, come into my life. I ask you to take me to Heaven when I die. Forgive me of my sin and make me Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving me. Amen. No one raise your head. I'm simply going to ask you right now, the altar’s open. So come. Come. Step out and come. Go ahead, Mike.
Bruce Goulart (30:59):
Wasn't that just a great start to our new series, Don't Just Go To Church. Now we should always take home that we should just not go to church, but we should be the church. If you need prayer right now, we have people on standby waiting to pray for you. So just click on the link down below and someone will get with you right away. Also, there's still time for you to sign up for our Journey Fam WhatsApp group. That way you can stay connected and also receive devotions. There's also a link in your comments right now for you to sign up for the Journey Fam online campus. I'll encourage you just to click on that link and to fill it out. And that way you can join the Journey Fam. Thank you all for coming today and I hope to see you all next week.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
You know, this week I was looking at Facebook which all of us older people do. And I saw pictures of Pastor James and Mrs. Debbie. Man, listen, I don't normally get cold, but I was cold looking at all that, especially after the ice storm we just had. And to be in that all the time? Oh Lord, man. I hope y'all enjoy it, Pastor James, Mrs. Debbie. Y'all have fun. Go skiing. Go whatever you're doing. Enjoy it. But I do want to thank him for going and allowing me to step up on his pulpit and just to be here. And just to share the Lord with you, to share the gospel with you. You see, God is good. But before I start, I do want to take a moment real fast and I want to reach out to the Lord and just lift up Taylor and Andrew this morning. You know, Taylor was rushed to the hospital last night at about 1:30.
Darrell Ingram (00:52):
She had surgery. She's doing fine. The baby's doing fine. They're still there. She'll have to be there about a week. But I do want to ask the Lord just to miraculously move in their lives and just to encourage her and heal her and help her to get on with this. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you. I thank you for your goodness. You are Jehovah Rapha. So Father, we right now, we're asking you as a body of Christ, a body of believers to touch Taylor right now, Lord. You use the doctors to minister to her. You watch over her and you keep her safe and you get her well and back up on her feet. And father, I ask you to encourage Andrew. Lord, give him peace, give her peace. Lord, you comfort them and let them know that you're right there with them every step of the way. Father, we just lift them up right now. And Father, I ask you right now just to help me, a broken vessel, someone apart from you is nothing. So Father, use me to glorify you and show people you and you alone. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Darrell Ingram (02:04):
At Journey Church, we often hear quite often to be the church. Be the church, be the church, be the church. But do you know what be the church is really all about or what we're talking about? You see, it's something that you and I, it requires a heart transplant. Not physically, but spiritually. We need to apply a heart transplant spiritually. You see, you can't be the church if you're not a part of the church. And the only way that you can be a part of the church is to keep the main thing. The main thing. And Jesus is the main thing. It's all about Him. So when you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, He can actually satisfy every hunger that you have, every thirst that you have. And in John 6:35, Jesus makes this statement. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will not be hungry. And the one who believes in me will never thirst. I am the bread of life. It doesn't seem that very big to us, like a big deal. Because in our culture, bread is just like a side dish. It's something you stick out on the side. It's something that they bring in a basket and sit at the end of the table. You can either take it or you can leave it. It's a freebie. You know, they just bring it. You can go to pretty much any restaurant around and they bring bread. Like Texas Roadhouse.
Darrell Ingram (03:40):
You know, we walk into Texas Roadhouse. They get a basket of bread for you. And listen, guys, the bread is up there as you walk in. So as they get one, I grab another one and we walk. If I'm going eat free bread, I'm going to eat free bread. But not only that, that bread is all lathered up with butter. I mean, ooh. And you know what? They bring you extra butter. And man, that stuff's good. It's like that butter is like a dipping thing. You know, you get a piece of bread and you just dip it. Ooh. Guys, that's why I am the way I am. Man, butter is good. Bread is good. But you don't go to a restaurant just to eat the bread. You don't go to a restaurant just to eat the appetizers. Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
Darrell Ingram (04:30):
This is a small statement, but it's a profound statement. It's something that touches the very core of who we are. Have y'all ever heard of Lamberts in Foley, Alabama? Man, they're good. They're known for what? The sign says they're known for the throwed, not thrown. It's gotta be right. The throwed rolls. And man, they go, it's like, man, they're big as a softball. I mean they throw them and you're like bam. Throw me another one. Bam. Throw me one more. But we don't go just to Lamberts just to eat the bread. We don't go there to eat the side dish, just the appetizer. And let me tell you something. Those appetizers are good. Yeah. I mean you put out a paper towel and they just come by in a bucket, man. And they're just like, you want some more? You want some more? Man, I keep on putting towels all around the table.
Darrell Ingram (05:23):
I said, fill them all up, just fill them all up. The only thing I really don't like in Lamberts is the collard greens. If I want to eat grass, I can go outside and grab some grass and eat some grass. But people go for the chicken, the fried chicken. They go for the catfish. They don't go for the appetizers. They go, ooh, I could smell that. And I don't know why they call chicken fried steak chicken fried steak. But I love that stuff. And then they pleather all that gravy all over it. What Jesus was saying is He was saying, I'm not a side dish. I'm not a side dish or a basket that you reach into and pull me out once a week. I'm not something that you go around and just on Sundays, you come to church and you pick me out and you take a bite of me.
Darrell Ingram (06:14):
I'm something that needs to be a part of your every day life. We can't just pick and choose Jesus. He's got to be the main thing. In the Bible, in Genesis 3, the Bible says, Adam was put under a curse. And God said, by the sweat of your brow, you will work for your food. Then the last part, it says by this, you shall eat bread. From the very beginning, God established bread as the main meal. And then in Genesis 19:3, when Lot was living in the city, Sodom and Gomorrah, two angels came and visited him and brought them into his house. And the Bible said that he prepared a feast. You know what that feast was? Two loaves of unleavened bread. I can imagine coming home. And as you walk in, your husband, I'm going to be politically correct, or wife says, husband, honey, I made you a big feast. And he's like, oh man, I'm so glad because I got so busy, I didn't even get to eat lunch. Man, I'm hungry. What we having? And they say, we're having bread and bread. That's the feast. That was a feast, man. But do you know how many times that Jesus broke bread? He broke bread every meal. The New Testament church, they went house to house, breaking bread. Guys, you know what? We get the opportunity to go house to house to house to house and break the bread of life with people who may not know Jesus. When it comes around March 20th, we can go out and we can share Jesus with the world. That's what it's all about. If you want to be the church, then be the church. Not only have Him in your life but take Him so that He can touch other people's lives.
Darrell Ingram (08:13):
But man, you can't go a day. I can't. I can't go a day without having Jesus, the bread of life, in my life. When Jesus said, I am the bread of life, He was saying I'm the very core of your existence. I'm the very essence of who you are. And to be the church, you have to have the bread of life in your life. You have to have it. Jesus needs to be in your life. If He's not in your life, then what's the sense in coming to church and worshiping Jesus if you don't have Him with you? No sense at all. Jesus said, I'm the main thing. You put the bread basket in the middle of the table. You put me in the middle of the table. He says, because I'm what the church is all about. I'm what the songs and the singing is all about. I'm what worship is all about. I'm what preach is all about. I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. And when you go out, be sure in life that you don't order the apple pies. Be careful with that. I know me and Bev, right there, my wife for 35 years, man, we had two boys and love them to death. But our youngest, whew. When he came into the world, the nurse came out and said, he is the most irritable baby. A nurse now. In the baby ward, he is the most irritable baby I have ever met. And I've met thousands of them. I said, oh Lord, here it goes.
Darrell Ingram (09:54):
When we would go out and eat and when he was a baby, you know, we would bring him into the restaurant. If he didn't like that restaurant, watch out. Even as an infant, he would be squalling the whole time. The whole time. It's like if the people noticed us coming in, it's like they fought to not wait on us. That's how bad it got. But as he got older, it changed. He didn't even cry. But when he went in there, I get really, really leery about going to restaurants sow, about babies even crying in restaurants. Not that the baby is crying but it brings back memories of when my baby was crying and we couldn't get him to stop. So you know, as he grew, as he grew up, he didn't cry anymore. But he would go into the restaurant and if he didn't like the restaurant or getting like what the food was, he would sit there with his arms crossed. And you want something to eat, baby? No. Come on. We would plead with him. Come on, son. You need to eat something. No, I'm not hungry. And he'd continue to say it. And then the people that sat next to us would be looking at us and say, to me and Beverly, I know they were thinking this. Why ain't you letting that boy eat? And I wanted to lean over and say, well, it's really not his day to eat. It's ours. Listen, are you coming to church and God is trying to feed you? But yet you're sitting there with your arms crossed. And He's trying to give you some bread and you say, I'm not hungry. You see, I'm not going to eat. And you just sit there Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Every Sunday, the table is prepared and God says, come and eat. And yet we say, I'm not hungry,
Darrell Ingram (11:51):
Lord, I'm ready to do it on my own. I'm ready to do it on my own. Listen, God wants to feed us every Sunday. You know, you pull into a fast food restaurant. You guys, y'all are gonna relate to me on this. You pull into a fast food restaurant and I'm convinced, guys, that Beverly is teleported onto another planet at this time. We've talked about what she's going to order. And we pull up and I say, okay, baby, what do you want to eat? I don't know. You guys, I don't know what I'm talking about. And then the guy comes on the speaker and after we start to order, she said, well, hey, I don't think I want that. I want something different. I don't know about you guys, but it does happen. Guys, y'all got to be real with me now. Come on. Yes or no? Oh me or oh no. There you go. I got one guy out there that's tough. Thank you, Fred. But after we order and after we go through all this, the guy comes back on the speaker and he says, would you like a hot apple pie with that? Understand the question that the guy's asking. Would you like a hot apple pie is an acknowledgement that that's not the main thing at this restaurant. The thing that they're known for is cheeseburgers. The thing that they're known for are the fries and their fries are really good.
Darrell Ingram (13:22):
The very fact that he asked you, would you like a hot apple pie after you ordered is telling us that is something extra. That is not the main dish. That is not what you came for. It's something that is on top of what you came for. You didn't really come for this but I'm asking you if you want something else. But by the way, would you like a hot apple pie with this? The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:33, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. I wonder if Jesus comes to our service and He hears our singing and He sees everything that is going on. I wonder if He would ask, would you like some God with that? I wonder would He ask each and every one of us, Darrell, would you like some God with that? You know, you're listening real good and Darrell, you're singing real good and you've even got your eyes shut like you're praising me. But would you really like some God with that? Sometimes we get busy with life and life gets so monotonous. We bring the kids to school. We take them to practice, dance rehearsal, piano. Piano. Y'all see Myer up there, man, hitting the keys? I didn't know he was that talented. Man, great job, Myer.
Darrell Ingram (14:48):
But we take them all over the place, piano lessons. And we're busy working. And guess what? We're busy with our hobbies. We're building. We're working. We have these plans. We have that plan. We have dreams. We have visions. We're getting married. We're getting engaged. We're getting this. We're getting that. And I think God wants to stop us and say, would you like some God with that? Would you like some Jesus with that? I'm not the side dish. I'm the main thing. You can't take it or leave it. You can't take me or leave me. I am the main thing. I am the purpose. I can do a lot of things. I can do with house, without a house. But I got to have Jesus. I can do with a job or without a job. But I got to have Jesus. I can do anything or nothing but I still got to have Jesus. He's not the side dish. He is the main thing. I got to have Him. We've got talent. We've got talent but there's something greater than talent. You got to have bread. Jesus is greater. There's something about professionalism but Jesus is better than professionalism. Listen, you don't have to put one or the other aside. You can have them both. But Jesus needs to still be the bread of your life. Every service, every service, we need bread in our building. We can clean and we can look clean and we can be beautiful and we can be excellent at everything we do. But if we're not giving the people a dose of Jesus, of bread and keeping Him the main meal, the main course, it's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
Darrell Ingram (16:41):
There's something about that name. Hey, I just want to stop right now because I'm so excited. Let's give Jesus a praise. Praise break. Woo. Because that's what we're here for. We're here for Jesus and Jesus alone. We come to church to get our praise on. Not to each other, but we get our praise on to Jesus. It's all about Jesus. There's something about that name that just gives me goosebumps and it gets me fired up to know where I was and to know where I am right now, to know how I was and how God changed me. That's what gets me excited. That's what gets me so excited that I want to tell the world. I'm willing to storm hell, Mike, with a water pistol to tell people about Jesus. It's Jesus or nothing. Jesus has to be the bread of your life. I was reading Acts chapter 16 the other day about Paul and Silas being in prison. And the Bible says the prisoners, the prisoners were listening. They were listening and an earthquake came and the doors, the doors were shaken and they were open. Do you remember that story? Y'all remember that story? Yes, no? Oh me, oh no. Am I going too fast for you? Do I need to slow down? Huh?
Darrell Ingram (18:05):
The chains fell off all the prisoners. It said chains fell off. Not just on Paul and Silas but it fell off on everyone. Everyone. It said that every prison door was open. And the jailer, when he saw what was happening, he became nervous. He was afraid because all the doors were open and because all the doors were open, he was afraid that every prisoner was about to escape, leave. And he was about to fall on his sword and commit suicide. But Paul said to him, do not harm yourself. Listen to these words. We are still here. We are still here. There were murders in that prison. There were rapists in that prison. There were thieves, liars, unbelievable vile people in that prison. But when God showed up, when God showed up in that prison, even though the doors were wide open, there was such an attraction in that place that they said, you're not getting rid of us.
Darrell Ingram (19:25):
We came to eat. We've been searching for this all our lives. And now it's here. Even though the doors are open, you're not getting rid of us. You're not running us off. You're not running us away. There's something about that name. There's something about the bread of life. We've been searching for it. Remember what they are doing. They were listening. Now let me explain something to you about this listening. Regardless of you think, people are listening and watching you. Their eyes and ears are always on you. So it matters what we say. And sometimes I put my foot in my mouth. But it matters what we say. But not only what we say. It's what we do that can change the actions of somebody else. I remember when Eric was growing up, I was in the military and I was around all that diesel and my nose would get clogged up. So I got hooked on this stuff called Afrin. And I would like everywhere I had have it or I couldn't breathe. I was going to suffocate to death. And so one day, I saw Eric walking down the hall with this empty bottle of Afrin. He was and he was like three years old. But he was sniffing it up like me. It matters what we do in front of our children. It matters what we do in front of all people. Remember they were listening.
Darrell Ingram (21:04):
Listen, when you get full of Jesus, you don't have to worry about attracting them because they will come. You don't have to worry about attracting people. They will come. You need the bread of life in your families. You need the bread of life in your marriages. You need the bread of life in your home. You need the bread of life in church. Until Jesus is the center of your life, you're never going to have a life. It's gotta be Him and Him alone. You have to be the church. In order to be the church, you must have Jesus in your life. Jesus needs to be your Lord and Savior. It's not enough to come and to pray. It's not enough to come and to sing. It's not enough to come and serve. It's not enough to come and go to small group. It's not enough to come and even get baptized. That's not enough. There's only one that is true enough. That is Jesus. Him and Him alone. Listen, I want you to know, you need to bring your children, you need to bring your friends, you need to bring your family to the church house. That's where they're going to get fed the bread of life. They need to be here. We need Jesus every day of our lives. I want my family to know that I love God. I want them to know I love my church. I want them to know I love their leaders. I want them to know I love their preachers, love their house. Love, love, love. And you never, listen they will never know how much you love something if you don't devote your love to it.
Darrell Ingram (22:54):
It matters. It matters. If you want your family to come to know Jesus, then we need to bring the bread back home with us once we get it at this home. It needs to go everywhere we are. It needs to go wherever you are. Listen, I want to ask you something and I'm going to be, I know I was going to put this at men but I'm going to ask both husbands and wives. Do your children know you as the breadwinner? Do your children know you as the breadwinner? Meaning when they need prayer, are you the first one they go to or do they go to someone else? Meaning that if they need to talk to someone, they have enough confidence in you that you will give them godly wisdom, godly advice. Do they do they come to you first? Are you known as the breadwinner? You see, the Bible said, if they didn't get fresh bread, if the people didn't get fresh bread, every 24 hours, the worms would step in and get ahold of that brand. Every 24 hours, they had to have fresh bread. Listen, yesterday's bread had worms in it. Yesterday's bread has worms in it. I'm afraid that many of us are living on yesterday's bread and it's got worms in it. We're living off past experiences. We're living off past blessings, past victories. Are you living through the bread or eating the bread from last week, yesterday, last year, last month? You see, that bread has worms in it. We need fresh bread. And we need it every day. We need it every day. Not just on Sunday, not just on Wednesday, but we need it Monday through Sunday. We need it every day of our lives. You see, don't live on past victories. Don't live on past experience. Live for today.
Darrell Ingram (25:07):
That's why Jesus, when He taught us how to pray, He said this. He said our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Then He goes on to say this. He says, give us this day our daily bread. You see, God gives us enough for today. He gives us enough for the day, enough for right now. We can't take on tomorrow. We can't take on yesterday. But He gives us enough. We have enough for today and today alone. We can't get overwhelmed with the future, but we can get peace in the present. It's either Him or it's nothing. Listen, would you like some God with that? Would you like some Jesus with that? Would you like Jesus in your life? You see, in order to be a part of the church, you have to have the church in you.
Darrell Ingram (26:19):
And the only way you have the church in you is to have Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Jesus said to all of us that no one comes to the Father but by me. He has to be your main course. Youth, He's got to be the center of your life. He needs to be the bread of your life. He needs the one, He needs to be the one that's very present and very alive in you right now. Listen, today, it's time. It's time to take that order. It's time to make your order. Let me share something with you. In the beginning, God created earth. And that's what that green is about. Y'all remember the story about the Garden of Eden, right? That's what that's about. But God told them, He said, listen, I want, you can do anything in this area, in this place. But there's one thing you can't do. You can't take from the fruit of that right there. That one thing, you can't do it.
Darrell Ingram (27:31):
They did it and it brought sin into the world. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But God demonstrated His own love towards us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us. And then it goes on to say, it says, if you ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, He will cleanse you and forgive you and make you white as snow like you don't have any sin. Because what God sees, He sees it through the lens of Jesus. And when He sees your sins through Jesus after you've asked Him to forgive you, that's what He sees. Forgiven. And then when you die, you get to go to Heaven. But while you're still here, you need to continue to grow in the Lord. It's all about letting Jesus be the Lord of your life. And I'm going to ask you to do something very strange that we don't normally do. I'm going to ask you that before the last prayer, don't leave. Please don't leave. But I'm going to ask you to go ahead and stand and bow your heads.
Darrell Ingram (28:50):
I want everybody's eyes closed. Nobody looking. Nobody moving around. But right now, I'm going to ask you a question. And that question is, if you died today, are you 100% certain that you'd go to Heaven? You see, if you're not a hundred percent certain that you'd go to Heaven, then you're not going to Heaven. You see, the Bible says that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. You got to have Jesus. So I'm going to give you the opportunity right now. If you don't know that you have Jesus in your life, nobody's looking, I'm going to ask you right now just to raise your hand. Raise your hand. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Yes. In the back. Yes. Upstairs. Yes. Listen, I'm going to ask you to do something right now. And it's between you and God. And then I'm going to ask you to do one more thing. If you say this prayer, I want you to truly just come down to me or Mike or Pastor Richie. And we want to pray with you. We want to give you guidance and direction and help. But this is what I want you to pray. You pray right now. Say, dear Jesus, come into my life. I ask you to take me to Heaven when I die. Forgive me of my sin and make me Lord and Savior. Thank you for saving me. Amen. No one raise your head. I'm simply going to ask you right now, the altar’s open. So come. Come. Step out and come. Go ahead, Mike.
Bruce Goulart (30:59):
Wasn't that just a great start to our new series, Don't Just Go To Church. Now we should always take home that we should just not go to church, but we should be the church. If you need prayer right now, we have people on standby waiting to pray for you. So just click on the link down below and someone will get with you right away. Also, there's still time for you to sign up for our Journey Fam WhatsApp group. That way you can stay connected and also receive devotions. There's also a link in your comments right now for you to sign up for the Journey Fam online campus. I'll encourage you just to click on that link and to fill it out. And that way you can join the Journey Fam. Thank you all for coming today and I hope to see you all next week.
Recorded in Pineville, Louisiana.
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