Learn to Play Catch With God | Pastor Jim Combs

Hey, thank you for checking out our video today We know you're gonna enjoy this word from God and make sure to leave a like and share it with some These middle schoolers are incredible they are incredible. Yeah, give them a hand they deserve it You guys are off the charts. What's up, dude? See ya Catch a seat get comfortable man. There's a real problem here at momentum. I'm falling in love with you. I am I Traveled from church to church weekend and week out and I was kind of looking at my schedule the last six weeks I think I've slept in my own bed like two days and But I don't really want to leave It's just been amazing and so much appreciate The welcome that I've received and man just there's a sweetness going on in this place and I love being part of it So thanks for allowing me to you know to do this. I mean it with all my heart I'm blessed with this ministry that I'm part of TTI which you guys are partners with They just simply allow me to go from church to church and place to place and and do what I love to do Which is you know, proclaim the good news of Jesus and I enjoy it so very much I don't know if he knows that but that's like my happy place It really really late is if you got your Bibles We're gonna hang out for just a few minutes in Luke chapter 7 in a bit, but let's get this thing going There was this little girl Well, I'll tell you what you talk about born in a tough place Her dad had checked out even before she was born and a mama was just doing her thing You know and every Friday night mama would you know spend the evening at the bar and you know do the things that you know Goes on in that arena and she would tell her little girl. She say here's what we're gonna do She said there's a frozen pizza in the freezer and I'm gonna be gone not sure what I'm coming home, but all I want you to do is you have that pizza watching TV and And do this do not answer the door. No matter who comes to the door. Don't answer the door and she said, okay, mama And mama did her thing that night. She made her frozen pizza and fell asleep on the couch watching TV Woke up the next morning, you know catching a few cartoons and all of a sudden there was a little knock at the door She thought mama told me not to answer the door mama told me not to answer the door

But so she goes to the door and kind of peeks through the you know The ragged blinds there and sees these two old ladies and she thinks to herself man They look harmless to me and she thought they look harmless But mom took she opened the door crack and she said ladies Listen, not sure who you are. Mama told me not to open this this door up for anybody, but you two look harmless What do you want? And they said we're from the we're from the church up the street and we just we wanted to come by we're going through the neighborhood Inviting people to come to our church. Just wanted to invite you. She said me Said yeah, we would love for you to come me. You really want me to come to church This little girl nothing about the church the Bible Jesus nobody man. She not heard any of that stuff She thought I can come to church. She's well, I asked my mom thanks ladies and they passed the door through the door a little crack in the door a little flyer that gave the times and and They left and mama woke up a little while later and the little girl said mama these two ladies They looked harmless mom and I told you know, he told me never to answer the door But they looked they looked harmless and and I opened the door and I said, hey, what can I do? And they they were from the church mom, you know, it's a couple blocks up the road him and I was wondering mom They invited me. They said I could come to church and I like never been to church mom Can I like can I go can I go mom would it be? Okay, mom? Can I go and after annoying her mother long enough, you know how kids are? Mom said fine if you want to go that's great. I'm going out tonight And so, you know, I don't know how it's gonna work. And so mom goes out Saturday night that little girls pumped man She is pumped. She goes to sleep. She wakes up man gets dressed thinks I'm going to church I'm going to church kind of says goodbye to her mom mom's out of it Don't really know what's going on and little girl walks up the street and gets to church. She never been any place like that Man, she was in a place. She thought this is nuts. These people really loved me. These people care about me They're talking about people that I've never heard about man. They're introducing me to stuff I've never even seen or heard before this place is amazing So she went back home and she told her mom all about it She said mom mom really wasn't interested in hearing it. She said mom. It was great mom It's okay

If I go next week and mom said whatever you do whatever you want to do and so every week that little girl get up mom Partying on the weekend that little girl get up man Sunday morning She'd go to church weekend week out weekend week out and she went literally for 10 weeks straight now You got to be like old to understand what's about to happen here the The teacher there in her Sunday school said little girl. We're getting ready to honor you We're gonna give you a 10-week pin. Now, if you know what a 10-week pin is you're old Because they used to for Sunday school They'd give away these 10-week pins and and they would honor you with a 10-week pin It was a big thing for you know someone to get she said we're gonna give you a 10-week pin and we're gonna you know Honor you for your faithfulness a little girl said are you kidding me? Teach said yeah next week's your week and we're gonna bless you she goes Oh man, she's so excited. She said mama. I'm getting a 10-week pin. They're gonna honor me It's my special day. Please. Will you come mom, please? Will you come mom said well, let me see what I could do Let's see Saturday night mom goes out You know comes back and gets in late the little girl man is so pumped. She can hardly go to sleep It's her big day man. It's like incredible and she oversleeps She wakes up. She said oh no, I'm gonna be late. I'm gonna be late She runs and puts her best dress on which wasn't much of anything and she ran into mama mama We got to go mama. We got to go mama wasn't having none of it And so she said I got to get out of here She takes off running man out the front door down that dirt road a couple blocks She's just she's a you know beating feet She's running as fast as she can and if she's running she looks over her shoulder She says God, please help me God, please help me God, please help me get there on time All of a sudden she's she trips and falls skids in the dirt Gets up rips her dress a little bit dusts off turns around and says God don't push How many of you all believe that every day you wish God was that real to you come on Yeah, I want to know God's that real She gets to the church runs in teacher says, okay, you're all right, man. It's all right. Don't worry about it

And she said we're gonna still honor you and little Chris as well. That's great And they honor, you know, it's a big to-do and the teacher says now little girl This is your special day So you can pick on any story you want any story you want to pick out It's all yours and the little girl didn't know much about you know, any stories She'd only been there a few weeks and she's thinking what story she loved the story of that guy named Jonah Those were here last week. We learned some things about that guy and she says I want to Say I love that story teacher goes Okay That's the story of the day and if you get something tells a story about you know Jonah the dude who disobeyed God ends up in the sea and in the big fish and that kind of deal and she's just smiling Ear to ear and loving it. Well, she goes home tells her mom all about it. Next day's Monday school little girl gets up She heads to school. She arrives there school begins They're going through the middle of the day and the teacher walks, you know stand up for anybody says listen It's now our science time. How many all remember the desks that open up and you get the books out inside of them Come on you out there They say get your science book out little girl reaches in pulls a science book out sets on the desk She says turn to chapter number eight. We're gonna study things of the sea But before we look at our book anybody got these stories about things of the sea They might want to share and a little girls waving and a little girls waving. She said I know a story I know a story and they just said what's your story? She said I heard it yesterday at church It's a story this guy named Jonah who did not do what God told him to do and teeth that ain't a good decision She says and you know what Jonah ends up in the sea the teacher starts rolling her eyes Hit me I'll kind of do in the the air leak deal and next thing, you know She says and he gets swallowed up by a big fish and teacher says stop little girl stop Here's what I want you and the whole class to know Church is fiction and School is fact

And little girl says well tell you what I'm gonna do teacher When I get to heaven I'm gonna ask Jonah if he was in that fish And the teacher got a real cocky look on her face and still well What if Jonah went to hell and little girl said well, then you ask him when you get there Listen here's what I want to do today. I Want to make sure you leave this place knowing how real God is I Hope you know you didn't you didn't ask a religious guy to come and show up and speak to you today I could care less about religion. What I'm interested in is a real God to help me in my real journey I need a real God to help me in my real marriage I need a real God to help me with my real hurts and my real pain and my real past and my real future And it's one thing I want you to know no matter who you are No matter where you're at. There's a real God that wants to go on the journey with you He wants to help you with it he wants to walk with you he wants to spend time with you leave here no one There's a very real God Who wants to be part of your very real life? In Luke chapter 7 there is a sermon Given by the greatest speaker who ever walked on this planet. His name was Jesus Nobody could tell stories that made things come to life like Jesus We learned that they're called parables they're just stories that bring light to truth and Jesus was incredible Nobody could speak and multitude stop and listen What he said was so incredible and every word that came out of his mouth was like wow This is breathtaking. This is moment-stopping. This is amazing He preached sermons like the most famous one of all was found the scriptures called the Sermon on the Mount Man, it's incredible the facts inside of it the principles that evolved from that sermon But in Luke 7, there's another sermon historian Let's call it the Sermon on the Plane. Wasn't the Sermon on the Mount, it was a sermon given on a plane, on the flatlands of where he lived.

And in that sermon, there are many amazing truths. But there's one that I wanna share with you that literally shook my world. A principle that has changed every single thing about what I do. It has transformed my entire journey from the day one that I began understanding what it was about. This little simple truth is so yet so profound and so powerful. And it simply goes something like this. Give, and it shall be given unto you. You say, huh? Can I show you what that looks like? Now I have this amazing singer that's gonna help me with this. Where is she? I lost her. Where is she? You gonna help? Somebody gonna help? Come on. You work. Woohoo! I love it. You know, I was just, your dad just texted me and warned me about you. He didn't. We were just. Hayden broke her finger.

So she can't do it. Yeah, so I'm gonna trade him. You sub it in. I love it, good. All right. I'm gonna warn you, I'm nearsighted, so. Are you athletic? No. I got a nearsighted, non-athletic person to play catch with. What kind of church are you? We can do this, can we? Yeah. I can. All right, first of all, we're gonna pretend. And man, are we gonna pretend. We're gonna stretch it. We're gonna pretend she's God. Not a chance. We're gonna pretend you're God. You ready? You better be ready. Good girl, she got it. Now, a long, long time ago, God did something pretty crazy for me. God threw me life. Nice job, God. How many of you all believe God's the giver and taker of life? You believe that?

You better get that settled. You better understand that God is the giver of life. Free commercial, I've yet to understand the concept of evolution and how much of a fairy tale it is. To take away the truth that God gave us life. May I help you with something just real quick for fun? If you took a watch, just a simple wristwatch, and you took it all apart, every piece of it, and you put it in a paper bag, just a little paper bag, and you shook that paper bag, and you shook that paper bag, how long do you think you would shake that paper bag until it would go back to being a watch? Do you realize you could shake that bag for 100 million years, and it would never, ever go back to being a watch. You'd just keep shaking that watch. Do you understand that is the concept of evolution? Do you realize that your fingertip, just your fingertip, is 100 times more, even more than that, more incredible than a watch? Do you realize that your fingertip, you can touch something, it'll tell you if it's cold. It'll tell you if it's hot. Do you understand that you can touch your little girl's face with your fingertip, and it will melt your heart? Do you understand that's just your fingertip? You can poke it with a pen, and you'll feel it, trust me.

Do you understand that's your fingertip? We're not talking about your eyesight. We're not talking about your ears. We're not talking about, you know, how God created this amazing human body, and somehow it was shaken together on accident, just happened. No, my friend, let's celebrate the fact that God is the giver of life. Yeah, he deserves applause. He deserves a standing ovation. He let you wake up today. You rose because God allowed you to rise. What can I say? If all we do is celebrate the creator God, it was worth showing up today. You betcha. So God throws me life. You got this. But to be honest with you, where God threw me life, no kid should ever be allowed to live. My mama had me when she was 15 years old. My mom grew up in foster care. She got pregnant by an addict. If you may, my father. I can honestly tell you he was evil. And I grew up in a world that no kid should ever grow up in. Grandparents, yeah, my grandfather was doing life in prison for murder.

I grew up in a world of felons, dope dealers, dope dealers. And God throws me life there. I did what everybody else does. I took my life and then began to do what I wanted. I knew where I was going. When I was 10 years old, I got kicked out of school. When I was 10 years old, it was the first time the cops showed up at my house, coming to arrest me, knocking at my front door. I knew what was going to happen to me. Do you understand? Kids who grew up where I grew up, they end up one of two places, like all my friends, dead or in a cage. I knew where I was going. Listen, I understood it. When I was 13 years old, my mom came home from seeing the school counselor. She was crying. She was just a little girl raising a little boy. I said, mama, what's the matter? She wouldn't tell me. I said, mama, what's the matter? She said, they said you're incapable of learning, that you don't have the ability to learn. They're going to put you in special ed. Do you know what happens to kids like me? I got it. I got it. I totally did. I knew exactly where I was going. Not long after that, there's a girl that showed up and she says to me, hey, Jim, how'd you like to do something crazy?

You got to understand something. I always been crazy. I'm still crazy. God did not take crazy out of me. I mean, I got a craziness about me. Trust me. A lot of people will tell you, man, I'm one French fry short of a Happy Meal. For sure. I said, what? What do you mean? You want to do something crazy? I said, I love crazy. She goes, I know. She said, why don't you try throwing your life back to God? I said, like what? See, I didn't like do church. I didn't like know Bible. I didn't like, in my neighborhood, that ain't how it worked. There were other people that went to church, but we were the family people were afraid of because we were going to beat you up. You understand? It's like, you want me to do what? She said, yeah. She said, you need to understand that God threw you life and you ought to throw it back to him. I'm like, what's that look like? I had no clue about it. But here's what I did know. I knew where I was going if something didn't change. Something dramatic had to change because there ain't no hope for kids who come from where

I come from. So I did something nuts. Nice catch, God. I threw God my life and you know what God did? He threw it back better. He threw it back better. All of a sudden I thought, wait a minute here. This is off the charts. I never experienced anything like this before. You mean, you throw God your past and God throws it back better? I mean, you throw God your dreams and God throws them back better? I mean, you throw God your life and God does things that don't make sense and you begin this thing with God. And you know what's nuts? I've been playing catch with God for all these years. I ain't the sharpest theologian in the Bible, I mean, in the church, and I don't know the Bible like a lot of people, and I can't even spell words like eschatology. But I know this much. You give and God will give back better. And the more you give to God and the more you give your life to God, the more he gives back better. That's what he means when he says, give and it shall be given unto you. I just have been playing this crazy game of catch with God and all I do is play catch with God. God, you take this because I don't know what to do with it and God throws it back better. One day I'm playing catch with God, it's kind of cool, and you know what God does? God throws me a wife. I'm like, what do I do with this? This is like a wife, man. Nobody ever taught me how to be a husband.

I mean, I didn't, I grew up in one of those families, like, what's that? You say, what'd you do with her? I threw her to God. You know what God did? God threw her back better. We've been married for 46 years. Can you imagine? What a lucky woman! 46 years, are you kidding me? Man, I'll tell you what's weird. My wife grew up in the Beaver household. Her dad came home every day. They had dinner at four o'clock. Man, they spent time together. She watched a little TV. I mean, I grew up in the Beaver household. Her dad came home every day. They had dinner at four o'clock. Man, they spent time together. She watched a little TV. Man, I'll tell you what's weird. They had dinner at four o'clock. Man, they spent time together. She watched a little TV. She did her homework. Man, what a girl! And then she ran into me, the crazy man. I had no idea what that lifestyle was like. Had nothing to, and put us together, and man, you think, this is going to be really good. Have you lost your mind?

Two totally different worlds thrown together, and you've got to figure out how to make this work? By the way, she's crazy about me. I got up this morning. This is the truth. I'll even show it to you. It's nothing. I got up this morning. I got dressed. Got my hair all combed. I went over to the full-length mirror in the hotel, and I took a picture of myself. And I sent it to my wife, and she said, ain't he handsome? I said, yes, he is. You say, what are you trying to say? Dude, I threw God my marriage, and God throw it back better, and you better begin this amazing game of catch with God. The world does not have the answer for your marriage, but that God who's incredibly real wants to be a real part of it. I'm playing catch with God one day, and God does something nuts. God throws me a son. No, I'm a dad. I don't know how to be a dad. Dad, I don't even know what that even is about at all. Dad. You say, what'd you do with him? I threw him to God.

You know what God did? God threw him back better. You know what he's doing right this very moment? He's preaching in the church that he pastors. How's a guy like me got a kid who's a pastor? God does something nuts. God throws me a second son. You kidding me? I threw him to God too. God threw him back better. You say, what's he doing right now? My second son is preaching the gospel in the church he pastors. You say, are you crazy? Yeah, I already told you that. God kept throwing me sons. Throw me a third one. Yeah, he's a pastor too. God threw me a fourth one. He's not a pastor, but he's one of the finest men you'll ever meet in your life. He does things that I'm not even allowed to tell people what he does. He's kind of an undercover cop, and he's just out there making the world better every day, and I'll tell you this much, he's nuts about his mom. He's six foot five, 240 pounds. Do not mess with his mama. I love it. So I said to God one day, God, I wanna throw you something.

I'm sick of boys. God, could you like throw me something else? So one day, God does something nuts. My wife and I couldn't have any more children. Wasn't safe for my wife. So I thought, man, I'll adopt one. In my mind, I had this crazy idea. I want this dark-haired, brown-eyed girl. I mean, my wife's blonde. She got blue eyes, I got blue eyes. How do blue-eyed people have brown-eyed babies? Like, I don't know if you know that. That like genetically don't work. So I'm praying, God, I wish you would give me that dark-haired, brown-eyed girl. And one day, I'm sitting in my office, and the secretary comes and says, there's a lady here to see you. I said, oh, do I know her? She said, no, she's a visitor to church Sunday. This lady came in, grandma type, walks in the door, introduces herself. She said, hey, I came to church Sunday. She said, truthfully, I'm not a religious person. I don't really have much to do with God. She said, but I have a daughter who's a prostitute and a heroin addict. And she said, she abandoned her little girl at my house, and I can't raise her. I was wondering, would you know of anybody

that might want a little girl? I said, how old is she? She said, she's two. I said, can I see her? I might know somebody. She said, oh yeah, she's out with your secretary in the lobby. She calls her in, she comes around the corner. She's got the most beautiful dark hair, biggest brown eyes that a little Hispanic girl could ever have. I started bawling. The lady thought I was crazy. I said, what's her name? She said, Angel, which means one sent from God. Two days later, Angel came to live with us. She was addicted to heroin when she came to be with us. She's now daddy's girl, and I will tell you something. It's one of the greatest gifts God ever gave me. He gave me that little girl that we, her and I, understand each other in a wonderful way, and it's incredible, and I love her dearly. You say, what are you saying? I'm saying, listen, I started playing catch with God when I was just a mixed up guy who came from a wreck, and that's all I do. One day, God does something kind of wacky to me. He throws me a church and says, I'm gonna make you a pastor. A what?

God, you like know where I'm from? Do you understand? I mean, I'm incapable of learning. I got a background. You don't become a pastor. You become a thug. You understand? It ain't pastor that you become. You gonna make me a pastor? And he gives me this church outside of Detroit. It's a doozy. The church had voted. In fact, they were taking a vote to decide whether they wanted me as a pastor. 101 people voted. What's crazy is God had already whispered in my heart. You believe God whispers in your heart? Whisper in my heart, you're gonna be the pastor of that church. 51 people voted for me, and 50 people voted against me. Nobody in their right mind takes a church like that. That's why I came. I became the pastor of that church having no idea what to do or what I was doing. Say, what'd you do? You threw it to God. What did God do? He threw it back better. I arrived there. My first service had 20 something people.

Man, I was so proud. I had my Bible tucked under my arm. I walked in, I'm a pastor, look at me, ain't I? All that and a bucket of chicken. So I walk up the stairs, it's the big glass doors, I walk in, you know, underneath the big steeple, and there's a lady standing there, I'm thinking, oh, she's gonna welcome her pastor. She's got her arms crossed like that, I walk in the door and she looks at me and she says, I don't like you, this is my church, I'm not leaving, but I'm never gonna listen to you preach. I said, good to be here. She didn't, man, I'm telling you, what's crazy is, church would begin and they'd sing the songs, do the little announcements, she'd sit, about the fourth row, her and her husband, when I got up to preach, he'd walk out the door, go around and send out, leave, slam the doors on the way out, every single week. I got where I just started waving. Everybody knew she was gonna leave. One Sunday, I'm preaching away about how good God is and what he can do in your life and how crazy about you he is, and all of a sudden, I look at the end of the service and I give people an opportunity to, you know, give their lives to an amazing God and her husband slips out and he starts walking towards me. Dude, I didn't mind her walking that way,

but I wasn't sure I wanted that big biker boy walking this way. I thought, his background, my background, this could get really interesting. He's a big old burly dude, he's walking towards me and I look at his face and tears are running down his face. I mean, running down his face. He gets there, he kneels down in front and I'm telling you, God is shaking his world. God is doing a work in his heart and all of a sudden, the back doors spring open. Here she came, I'm thinking, this oughta be cool. She comes down the aisle, man, she is just crying to beat the band. She gets down next to him, puts her hands on his back and she looks up at me and she says, he ain't been right with God for five years. I said, neither have you. God shakes her life, she looks up at me and she says, you're the greatest preacher I've ever heard in the whole world. I love you. From that moment on, I'm gonna tell you, that lady committed to our ministry, loved me like nobody ever loved me. That couple became an integral part of who we were and what we did. God shook their world. When you play catch with God, God will throw it back better.

And God began to build a church. That church went from 20 something people and it began to grow, not just to one service, two, three, four, five, six. Next thing you know, I've got 10 services on a weekend, 10 different locations. God's shaken a world and now there are 10,000 believers that have put their faith in Christ. You say, what happened? God happened and it'll happen here if you'll let him. Yeah. You say, how's it work? Throw it to God. Man, one day in the early stages, and I gotta get done, man, I'm running out of time. In the early years of our ministry, small, trying to figure out how to connect, there was a retirement home where there were these older ladies. It was sort of an old, big old mansion, a farmhouse, that somebody turned into a place where ladies can come and get care, but yet live on their own. So we decided to take them to church. My boys would go there and sing, my wife played the piano, and I would bring them a message every Friday. One Friday night, one of the ladies there, his name was Josephine. Josephine came up to me and she said, Pastor, can I talk to you a minute? I said, yeah.

She was like 150 or 60 or something, I don't know what she was. She said, I don't have an official pastor and I would like an official pastor. Would you become my official pastor? I said, well, let's make it official. I'll pick you up Sunday, we'll bring you to church, introduce you to your official church, we'll make it official. She said, I'm in, let's make it official. So we pick her up, bring her to church, it was a great celebration. I officially become her pastor and that kind of thing. She couldn't come much, she had Parkinson's real bad and she struggled with her health, but she loved us. And our church began to grow, like I told you, like craziness. People getting saved at a rate that was insane. Our auditorium was shaped much like this, rectangle, long rectangle. Didn't know what to do. Running out of seats, trying to figure out what to do. I said, here, we're gonna tear the back wall out, extend it out a little bit, put some new chairs in here and make it seat about 125 more people or whatever it was. Some board member asked me the normal question, how are we gonna pay for this? And I gave the standard answer of somebody who don't know what they're doing, I don't know.

We announced it, we wanted to do this. One of the things that Josephine would do is she'd get a recording of the services. She got a recording of that and one Friday, we went over there to do our services. She said, Pastor Jim, could I see you in my room a minute afterwards? I said, yeah. My boys, my wife went to our car. Went to her room and she said, I love you. I love our church. More than that, I love our God. She said, I'd like to pay for the entire renovation. I said, what? All of it? She said, yep. She said, would you get my checkbook right over there? I set her checkbook up on the side of a dresser where she leaned over and, you know, I'm not near as good a man as I wished I was. Her Parkinson's, I was hoping she'd shake one more time and add a zero to that bad boy. Honest guy, ain't I? She hands me that check. I'm telling you, I can get a little excited in case you never noticed. I got like pumped, man. I remember going out of that place and running out to my car, and I was lit, man. I was like lit up. I went to my boy and said, let me tell you how real God is. Let me tell you how good God is. Look at God. It was the largest sum of money I'd ever touched in my entire life, paying for the entire renovation

of the building, all brand new seats. It was a large sum of money. It was crazy. I'm waving it around. My wife's like going, calm down, dude, you know, because, you know, it's what she always says to me. I couldn't sleep. I called the guys at the church. I said, meet me at the church. Bring sledgehammers. Man, they got there. We started tearing the back of the building out. We ripped the whole back of the building. It was summertime. We tore the windows out because we're putting new windows in. We gutted that thing. Saturday, we swept it up, got it cleaned up. Sunday morning was awesome. People were walking in. What happened? I said, God happened. Yeah, God showed up. God did some crazy stuff. God paid for this. The place is standing, shouting, applauding a real God who's doing some real stuff, and I'm like wired. Monday comes around. Our office manager's name was D. Calls me on the phone. She said, hey, hey, Pastor Jim, I just wanted to tell you something that you might want to know.

I went to the bank, and that check's no good. I began to feel God call me to Africa. I'm like, are you kidding me? I just tore a whole back of the building out, and we ain't got no money? She said, yep. Man, I'm the sharpest pastor in town. Got no money and a gutted building. Josephine called me on Monday, and she said, I'm so sorry. She said, I really do have the money, but I got to die before you get it. Right then, you don't know how to pray. Tuesday morning, she called the church, and we had a lady who volunteered to take seniors. She came and got her and took her to run some errands. She bought a few things, and that day, she went to a store and bought her a brand-new blue dress. Tuesday afternoon, she went in her room, and she laid down. Josephine Straub went to heaven. I did not touch her. Three days later, I preached Josephine Straub's funeral. She had on a brand-new blue dress, and we cast the check, and Josephine Straub paid for the entire renovation of that building. What do you learn from that, Pastor Jim? Josephine Straub taught me an amazing truth. She threw what she had to God, and God threw it back better. Do you understand that churches are not built just by happenstance or accident? They have men and women who understand what it means to throw who they have and what they are to God. God looks and says, wow, I see their faith, and He shakes communities and cities, and He does things that don't make sense, and today, Josephine Straub is in heaven, and she doesn't have Parkinson's disease. She got a brand-new body.

Josephine Straub is not walking around on a walker. Josephine Straub is celebrating the fact that a church exploded, and she had a part in it. Every day, people are coming to know Jesus, and today, my two sons lead that church, and it's a mammoth megachurch that God is shaking an entire area with, and I say to you, what happened? A lady understood about what it meant to play catch with God. You throw what you have, who you are, your dreams, your past, your future, your marriage, your kids, your hopes, your brokenness. You throw it to God, and God will always throw it back better. Where'd you get that from? Give, and it shall be given unto you. That's what God said. I'll play catch with you if you want to. Hey, hey, that's for you. So I got to get out of here, trying not to get past time, but I don't know if you noticed that I love preaching, and I especially love preaching to people who want to be part, and you do. So here's what I'll tell you. You may be sitting here today, and you don't know Jesus as your Savior. What's that mean? You must ask yourself a simple question. If you had to die today, are you absolutely sure you'd go to Heaven? If the answer wasn't yes, throw your life to God right now. Throw your life to God. right now. That's a simple thing. Don't let religion mess you up. Religion is man's idea how to get to God. I'm interested in God's idea how to get to me. That's why he sent his son. Trust him. I don't know all about it. Dude, I've been a pastor 40 years and I don't know all about it. I just knew I threw my life to God and he threw it back better. And I would say to you today, time to play catch for the first time for some of you.

You may be here today and you're not sure if you had to die to go to heaven. Throw your life to God right now. Right now. Right now. Right where you're sitting. You say, I am here right this moment and I'm not sure if I had to die. I'd go to heaven. Pastor Jim, can you help me throw my life to God? Anybody like that at all? You slip your hand up and say, can you help me with that? Anybody, I'll help you with it. Right where you're at, I'll be happy to help you. Be glad to do it. You can leave this place knowing you're on your way to heaven. It's as simple as throwing your life to him. You may be here and be a believer and the truth of the matter is, you know what you'd spend your time doing? Taking your life and do what you want with it. You know what I discovered? The more I take my life and do what I want with it, the more messed up my life is. It's when I wake up every day and I throw my life to God. It's when I throw my marriage to God. It's when I throw my kids to God. It's when I throw my dreams to God. It's when I throw my past to God. It's when I throw my present to God. It's when I throw my future to God. It's when I learn to play catch with him. God says, Listen, I've given, and I shall be given unto you, Jim. All I want to do is go out in the backyard and play catch with you. That's the reason that you exist is to play catch with God. Play catch with me. And watch what I'll do with your life. Watch what I'll do with who you are. And some of you need to get back to playing catch with God. Look up at me, will you, all of you? How many of you would say, I'm a believer here, and the truth of the matter is, I've been struggling playing catch with God. I've been doing what I want with my life. I find myself, you know, slipping back things that say, I'm going to do this. And God, you can't have that. You can't have this. Listen, when you learn to give it to God, hang on. You say, God spoke to me, Pastor Jim. I need to play catch with God. I need to get busy playing catch with God. If you're like that, would you slip your hand up and let me pray for you. I need to get busy playing catch with God. There's a hand. Anybody else? I need to play catch with God. Come on. There's another one and another one. They're still going up. I need to throw my marriage to God. I need to throw my kids to God. Pastor Jim, would you pray for me? I should have raised my hand. If

you're like that, slip your hand up, will you, in the back. That's awesome. Anybody else? I got to start playing catch with God. Then there are others of you that truth of the matter is, you've been blessed and we've all been blessed to live in the country we live in. Somehow, we just struggle with giving what we have to God. I watched a little old lady shake an entire part of the state we lived in because she learned a great truth. Give and it shall be given unto you. Wow, wow, wow. God, I think you did a work in this place today. There were many men and women that raised their hands and said, God, it's time to get back to playing catch. Some of you did, some of them didn't, but you stirred them. We look back over our lives, God, often we see the times we took our ball in our life and we did what we wanted with it. Then we shake our heads and say, why'd we do that? All we had to do is throw it to you. We carry our pain, our discouragement, our depressions, thinking we can deal with it and we don't have to. Churches have tried to figure everything out, make these great decisions, but at the end of the day, we need to throw them to you. God, there are many hands were raised and you spoke to lives. I've been grateful to spend a couple weeks in a wonderful place. I believe, God, this place is on the verge of you doing something great. I look forward to hearing about it. I look forward to hearing about, God, as you've shaken the city of Pensacola because some people learn to play catch with you. I know, God, I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Just a simple man who came from the wreckage of life. I learned how to play catch with you. Please bless these. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you, everybody. I'm going to turn it over to Seth. Well, that was a great word that we just heard, so make sure to leave a comment on the video of what you got from it. like and subscribe to the YouTube page. That way you can stay up to date with everything that's going on at Momentum Church. And you can also click on that give now button down below if you want to support the mission.

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