Who Was Jimmy Barnes?

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my elect in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. So this is God the Father speaking well in advance of Jesus coming forward as the Messiah. Then in Psalm 2 and verse 7, again, I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, Paz, who’s speaking here? The Messiah Jesus is speaking here in Psalm chapter 2 verse 7. Thou art my son. It’s the Father speaking, sorry. It’s the Father speaking. And he says, this day have I begotten you. Is that speaking of Bethlehem? No.

The choice of Jesus coming and becoming known according to John 3 16 for God so love the world he gave is only begotten son. That concept, that theology and that promise were established long before what we would think of as time before the universe. So the Lord is saying, I have begotten you. This day I declare I have begotten you. Then we go on and oh my, I made these up. So, it’s not showing up well on the screen. That’s my fault. So here’s John the Baptist. Jesus has come on the scene and John, in John chapter 1 and verse 33, says, I did not know him. But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the spirit

come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now we know that John blurted out another statement to the people who were at the river jar when he said, there he is, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But isn’t it interesting that John reports to us in John 1 verse 33, he says that the Lord told him, watch for the baptizer, watch for the baptizer, the one whom you see the Spirit descend and remain and abide with him. He’s the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. So I submit to you this morning that yes, he was looking forward as he blurted out the Lamb of God, but I submit to you that John the Baptist was looking for a Baptist. He was looking for Jesus who would baptize. The strange part of the beginning of this verse is he says, I did not know him. That’s a strange comment for John the Baptist to make because Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth

John the Baptist’s mother was at least in a family relationship. I tried to do my research and determine whether were in fact cousins because that’s what I’ve always believed. But I can’t find enough biblical evidence to prove that they were cousins, but that they were related, there is no doubt whatsoever. And so since they were related and since there wasn’t that much mileage between where Mary lived and where Elizabeth lived, Elizabeth was married to a priest who functioned in the tavern in the temple of Jerusalem. So it’s highly unlikely that they live very far from Jerusalem. And I did find the name of the community that they lived in. And for us this morning, it’s a little consequence. They didn’t live very far from Jerusalem. And so in my mind, Jesus and John by times, at least once or if not several times, that

would have met each other. They might have been playmates. And certainly, John was some months ahead of Jesus because when Mary went to the house of Elizabeth, it says that the angel had already said that Elizabeth was with child for six months. So John was at least six months ahead in terms of the age of Jesus. So they could have easily been playmates. It was a regular thing that people from all over Israel would go to Jerusalem for very special festivals and feasts. And so the whole family would go for the Passover by times. And so Jesus and John must have met. They knew each other. And yet John says, I didn’t know him.

What does he mean by that? I think he means, well, sure, I knew who Jesus was. I knew he was my cousin or whatever the relationship may have been. But I had no idea he was the Lamb of God. I had no idea he was the baptizer. How could I know in advance? Although John says it was my responsibility to come and announce to you that it was my privilege to introduce him to you. Here I was looking forward to introducing to you the crowd, the baptizer, and I didn’t know who he was until when I baptized him and I’ve raised him up out of the water. I saw the Spirit of God come down and rest upon him, stay with him and I knew that I knew this is the Messiah. This is the baptizer.

And then we go to Mark’s record. He says, just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending like a dove. So artists like to show the Holy Spirit as a dove. And that’s fine. Somebody wants to depict the Holy Spirit in some fashion. And since it says that the Holy Spirit descended in the form of or like a dove, it makes sense that someone would draw in paint a dove in a picture. But it was not a bird that came upon Jesus. It was the Holy Spirit and the ones who saw the Holy Spirit descended. They determined in their mind that it looked perhaps like a dove the way it descended. And then the unique thing comes, a voice comes out in heaven. Now let’s go back again to where I read for you a little bit ago from the Psalm.

This day I’m declaring, you are my son. Here on a very specific occasion, because we know the historical moment, it’s when Jesus is baptized in the water. And what was significant even about his baptism? I’ve mentioned before, that when Jesus went down in the water, the significance was, that he was saying to the Father, I’m prepared to die. I will not back away from the sacrificial design that you and I thought through in the eternity past. I will go down for these people. I will die. But when he was raised up out of the waters again, it was signifying, but I’ll rise again. And that speaks of our death to sin and our rising again in the newness of life. So I want to drill down on those words that I have emphasized in a unique and larger font,

you are my son, whom I love. With you, I’m well pleased. I quoted that verse on the occasion of our son marrying a beautiful young Italian lady in Brantford, Ontario. And at the wedding feast, I was invited as the father of the groom to make some kind of a speech. In essence, this is pretty well all that I said. I stood to my feet. I pointed at my son and I quoted these words, you are my son, whom I love. And I’m proud of you. With you, I’m so well pleased. I felt that was appropriate on that day. I felt my son needed to hear that.

The question I would ask all of us this morning is why did the father speak to the son on this occasion or any other occasion. You are my son. I love you. And I’m so pleased with you. I’m so pleased with you. I believe that Jesus listened to this word. I believe that Jesus needed to hear that. Pastor Dave, Jesus didn’t need anything. Yeah, he needed food. He needed water. He needed sleep. He needed also it in his soul and spirit.

He needed to hear from his father. I have to wonder about his childhood. What was it like? Have you ever wondered this? This is Jesus, the Messiah. He’s going to raise people from the dead. He’s going to open blind eyes. So do you see a little four or five-year-old rambling through the streets of the town and where they lived? And it probably will be barefoot as little boys love to go barefoot. When he stubbed his toe on a rock, did he cry? Did it hurt? Did it bleed?

Of course. Of course. As Jesus was nailed to the cross, he felt the pain in the anguish. As a little boy, he felt the pain. He was a normal little boy. Now he was very God, but he was very man. 100% God, 100% humanity. As for his humanity, I believe he needed to hear from his father. I think it’s so intriguing, so intriguing that Jesus, I’m not going to say he adopted this principle, but Jesus activated this principle throughout his ministry. And I bring a couple of thoughts to you this. He meets a man Nathaniel and he wants Nathaniel to come along and follow him. And Jesus says of this Nathaniel, the moment he meets him, ah, a true Israelite, a man

who is of utmost integrity, a man within, you’ll never find any deceit. This man would never tell a lie. Then the King James says, now there’s a true Israelite in whom there dwells no guile. What did that do to the psyche? What did that do to the person of this Nathaniel? I think he, he, he stood up pretty straight. I think he took that, ah, like as a wonderful pat on the back. This is the one that he’s heard about that is preaching what’s such glorious vigor and such divine truth. This is the one that he’s heard has been opening blind eyes. This is the one that he’s heard such a marvelous thing. 

Everybody’s saying we’ve never heard a man preach like this. And the moment this Jesus, this, this Nathaniel encounters Jesus, Jesus basically says, I know him and Nathaniel is saying, who me, what me? He says he knows me. And before Nathaniel can even wonder, what’s this all about? Jesus goes on and says, I know this man is not given to lies. I know this is a man of integrity. That caused Nathaniel to show deep respect for Jesus. And I believe it also encouraged him going forward. The Lord God knows our hearts. And this man was encouraged by this. I really believe in integrity and the Lord God in heaven has taken notice of it. Another situation where Jesus encountered some Pharisees who dragged this woman into his presence and said, she’s adulterous and we can prove it right now. We caught her in the very act.

You know the story. I don’t have to rehearse it for you this morning. Where Jesus dismissed her accusers for certain things that he did, he wrote in the sand and he commented on them. And then he said the most amazing thing. Now this woman did not have just one little trust. She was known in the community as an adulterous and that’s how come the Pharisees had her because they knew what she was like. And I believe it was entrapment. I believe that they even went to a fellow who was also a scoundrel and they said, look, we want you to do this. We want you to go and pay this young lady to do thus and so and we’ll pay you richly for it.

We’re going to come in and make an accusation, but you get lost. Why would I think that? Because they brought her to Jesus. Where’s the fellow? He was gone. I believe he was paid off and he ran for it. So here’s this woman, demoralized. This is this woman is laying before Jesus, this majestic, wonderful teacher who knows the Word of God and she knows that his Word carries much. She knows having been caught in the act of adultery that she could be stoned right now. That was biblical judgment. Her life was hanging in the balance. And Jesus says to her, where are your accusers?

They’re gone. And then he says the most amazing thing. I don’t condemn you either. Those men couldn’t condemn you because you see those men had no right to condemn. But we caught her in the very act. Oh, if you’re pure, then you can make your condemnation, but you better prepare your own heart and your own life. In fact, which one of you is not guilty of some sin? And we’re not sure that he didn’t write the sins out of those men on the sand. He could have pointed to the one guy and said, you’re a thief. He could have pointed to another one. You’ve done this very thing. You hire prostitutes all the time.

He could have written in there an abuser of children. He could have written those and then he could have said, which one of you is not guilty of one of these sins? You throw the first stone. He dismissed them. Then he said to her, that the accusation had dissipated. It’s gone. And I don’t condemn you either. And then he said the most amazing thing. He said, now you go, and don’t carry on. Don’t don’t sin anymore. I am so convinced that when he said that, he said, you know, we’ve only got the translation. We’ve got the memory of those who were there who are telling us of the moment.

I’m going to suggest to you that he said to her, now where you go? And by the way, I believe in you go and sin no more. And I believe that from that day, she truly was a gracious, pure woman who did not fail to live up to what Jesus said of her. And then we have Jesus talking to Simon. Simon is a name that means not dependable, easily broken, like a reed in the Nile. If a wind hit it very harshly, apparently it would just snap off. And that was this fellow’s name, Simon Peter. And if you wanted to denigrate him and put him down, just call him Simon. That was a put-down name, you know, a loser. And Jesus said, I know you’ve got that other name, Peter. And you know what? From now on, I’m going to call you Peter.

And from that day, Jesus called him Peter. He called him Rocky. He said, upon this rock. So Peter means Petra. It means rock. And so I believe that from that day, Peter had a whole new sense of personal identity. And from that day on, he insisted that the rest of the disciples, let me say, he’s Simon. He’d say, that’s Peter to you. Because when Jesus said, I’m going to call you rock, he was saying, I believe in you. And Peter needed to hear that because it would come a day when Peter would be bewildered by the responsibility that he had as not just a disciple, but he became known as an apostle. We know that he was so responsible to the whole church at that time, numbering suddenly in the thousands.

The Word of God says that the people who got saved and were in that original church, it says they depended upon Peter and James and the, they depended on the apostles for their teachings as they continued daily in the teachings of Peter and of the rest of the apostles. And Peter would need to have that assurance. I’m calling you rock. In other words, you’re going to be steadfast. Peter, I believe in you. It was another time when Jesus said, you know, you’re about to be sifted as wheat, the devil’s after you. But Peter, I’ve prayed for you. That, had to have lifted him up significantly and it ought to lift us up today to know that there’s one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

We need to understand that he mediates on our behalf constantly and also the Holy Spirit who resides in us. The Word of God says he constantly mediates and intercedes on our behalf. That should encourage us when the Lord says, I believe in you. This week I had an encounter with someone who’s somewhat related to this congregation. And that person isn’t here today. If they were, I’d still go ahead and tell you the story that this person came to me and said, I need some advice. I need some help. This person was really feeling like they were between a rock and a hard place. I can’t go into any kind of discussion that would be unfair to them. But this person really leaned on me and said, I really need help, Pastor. You’ve got to help me with this.

And as I sat there, I felt bewildered because what am I to say? You know, this person is saying, should I go to the left or should I go to the right? Should I choose gray or should I choose brown? Should I stand up or should I sit down? It was to me a very, very challenging moment. This fellow is looking for me to give him some guidance to him. And in my heart, I was praying, dear, Jesus helped me because this man is at his, he’s at his hand. He’s, you’ve heard about a place called a rock and a hard place. He was there and here he was looking to me to say something. So the Lord helped me, by the way. And when we got to the end and we had prayed together, this was a significant, bit of time that we spent together.

When we got done, he said, I can’t thank you enough. And I said this to him. I said you’re in a very, very difficult position right now. But you remember this. God knew he could trust you with that situation. He’s equipped you to manage it. And I said, and furthermore, God entrusted me today. You came to me. You could have gone to any number of counselors, any number of pastors, whatever. But you came to me. I said God had the confidence in me that I could share with you. And God has the confidence in you now. You go and you’re going to make the right decision.

It was a glorious moment. He said, am I ever glad I came? He said I feel like such a burden has been lifted off of me. It wasn’t like I said to him, hey, brother, you are my beloved son, and in you I’m well pleased. No, but I did say something to him that encouraged him and lifted up his heart. And we need to get good at that. We need to get good at encouraging and lifting up each other. Now there’s a small handful of people in this service right now. We’re saying, I’ve heard this preacher talk about this before. Some years ago, somebody came to me and said, you never preach the same sermon, but it’s the same theme. They keep on preaching and preaching. When you’re going to stop, I said, when you get it and you start living it.

Say amen or ouch. We can never hear, to me, we can never hear this principle often enough. We’re easy to criticize. How are we about encouraging and uplifting? I just revert back to what I said last Sunday. I went home all beat up. I don’t know how you felt about that message. I went home all beat up. I thought, dear Lord, who do you think you are? But I was transparent with you and said, I need to deal with my own attitude. I need to deal with what I say. Be careful little mouth what you say. Because this is along the same vein that maybe I’m not speaking directly to somebody and saying,

I just want to encourage you, but my worldview can either discourage or encourage the individual who’s in my presence if I have some kind of an impact, if I have some persuasive ability, if I’m good with words, or if I can pick something out of the news and just shock them today. In fact, I heard some news. I’m dying to tell you today. I’m not going to do it. I could really make you feel upset today. I ain’t going to do it because that would not uplift you. We need to get good at practicing, and shining a good clean light. We need to get good at imposing life, words of life. The word of God says the entrance of his word brings light and light, of course, brings life. So, as we speak, light words that shine the light that brings, we’re like the Lord.

And when we speak words that shine a light on the good stuff, it causes life to spring up and people are encouraged. Rocky. Rocky did well, Peter. And we remember him well. And then we have the story of Jesus going to the house of his very special friends. The story tells us that these were Jesus’ very special friends. Jesus had some special friends, some favorite friends. And why were they his favorites? Because they loved him so much. The ones who loved him the most, he loved them back the most. He loves all of us. But when you push and demand more love, you’ll receive it.

I’ve told you this before as well. The few of you who were here a long time ago that we had three children. We still too. And one of them got more love out of me. How can you say such a thing? I’m basing it, I’m feeling free to say so, because in the Gospels it mentions John the disciple whom Jesus loved. Why would it say he loved him? Does that mean that he didn’t love the others? No. It means that the love that Jesus showed John. Now let me go backward. The love that he showed the other disciples looked pale compared to the love that he showed

to John. Why was that? Why did Jesus offer and share more love with John than he did the rest? Because you see, love is not a thought pattern. Love in fact is not a feeling. Jesus didn’t feel more for John than he did the rest of the disciples. Love is a gift that you give. For God so loved the world he gave. Love is a gift. Love is something that proceeds out of the depths and the foundation of your heart. How come Jesus offered more to John? Because John pushed for more. We understand from reading the Scriptures.

Jesus sat down, John always sat next to him. In fact, I can think that Rocky might have tried to slide in next to Jesus. And John went to come along and said, excuse me, that’s my pew. I paid for it alone. That’s my spot. Jesus might have sat down and somebody might have heard him say, boy, it’s dusty and it sure is dry today. John would be on his feet, run over to a well, and bring him back a nice little plastic bottle of water with a little twist tap on the top. It was John who would run and get a bottle of water for Jesus. Read the book of Revelation. Who was the one that Jesus revealed himself to in the book of Revelation where John himself says, when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead.

I was overcome with the glory of his presence. It was John that Jesus honored the most. But why? Because John pursued the most. Going back to the days of our three kids, there came a day when the oldest one Sherri had a boyfriend. She didn’t have time for me. She had stars in her eyes. The next one was a boy and he was looking for the keys to the car. He wanted to be a man and he wanted to do it right now. But there was one more. She was called Melanie Jane. I called her Mimi and when Sherri was chasing her fellow and when David was looking for

the keys to the car, Melanie was sitting right there. Who did that put my arm around? The one that sat there. Who did I give? Who did I give special treatment to? The one that was in the car with me. Who did I buy ice cream for more than the others? It was little Mimi because she was always there. She was always there. I loved her more. That doesn’t mean I cared for my. I love my kids all the same. I feel the same.

But one got more because that one demanded more. That one said, give me more. Give me more. Not unlike our little doggy at home, Sophie. Some people are coming to our house today. I’ll warn you right now. Sophie’s going to come to you and she’s going to say, how are my ears? Don’t you love my eyes? Give me a little tickle. Give me a little. Give me a little something or other. She wants. And she gets all the attention.

That’s just how it works, isn’t it? So here’s Mary and Martha. And Martha’s out in the kitchen and she’s stirring up the food. She’s preparing a banquet for Jesus. But where’s Mary sitting at his feet? So Martha comes in and says to the one sitting at his feet, come on. Don’t you realize this is the master? That’s no way to honor our guests. Get out here and help me. You could come out and at least carve the turkey for me. And Jesus says, oh, Martha, Martha, Martha, you’re worried and you’re upset about so many things. But few things are really necessary or needed or indeed only one.

Mary has chosen what is really necessary. Mary has chosen what means the most even to me and it will not be taken away. I wondered about that and I looked up another rendition and other translations will say, I wonder, what does it mean? Not be taken away from her. It means she’ll not be deprived of the opportunity to sit at my feet. Who got the love? It was the one who longed for it the most. Well, my time is getting away from me and who’s Jimmy anyhow? What’s Jimmy Barnes? What’s that got to do with anything? It’ll make sense in a moment. I’ve told this story before more times than I can recount.

I will tell you, I just kind of set you up this way. I remember distinctly I was preaching to a very large men’s retreat out on Vancouver Island at a big camp meeting. And I do remember that the campgrounds had an office where you could go and check in with your tent and get your keys for your cottage or whatever. And there was a pay phone attached to the wall outside. And when I got done sharing with you, not exactly what I’m telling you today, but when I shared about my experience to do with Jimmy Barnes when I got done and I went over to have my lunch after the lineup of men standing at that phone went from here to thither. Like they were all lined up with coins in their pockets jingling. They had to make a phone call because they now discovered who’s Jimmy Barnes. How many want to know about who Jimmy Barnes is? Okay, next Sunday morning.

So this, we have to go back in time back to, for me, back to the late 40s and early 50s. My father was a farmer and the farm was taken away from the family by the military during the war. They needed my grandpa’s farm for a landing strip to train Canadian fighter pilots. So the farm was sold to the government. Dad came home from the Navy and he had no place to live. They ended up in the city of Hamilton, not far from here. And dad eventually got a job on a milk wagon. And when I try and tell, my kids, I don’t even try and tell my grandkids. They think Grandpa’s really lost it. They’ve already offered to help me find a nursing home. I find that kind of rude. But my father, my father operated a wagon not unlike this, not unlike this.

Because that’s how so many goods were delivered in those days. To my house, food came to our house. There was a wagon that brought bread. There was a wagon that brought milk. There was a wagon that brought ice for the ice box. And then there was the sheeny man. I don’t know where that word came. The sheeny man, he came to collect things. He’d come down the street yelling, sheeny, sheeny. And people go right running out. He was the recycling agent. You could give him your shoes, your jacket, your worn-out sock, whatever. He’d take it all.

So things came and things left using a wagon. So my recollection, my very, I’m not making this up, my very first memory of my daddy. I was on a milk wagon. It was drawn by a single horse. And the headlights were a couple of kerosene lanterns propped up on the front post. A horse was pulling the wagon. This was not a challenge for my dad. He was a farmer. He could ban his horses. And I remember early in the morning, it was dark still so early in the morning. And we were on a street in downtown Hamilton and the carriage went down the street. Then my dad pulled on the reins and my dad said to me, I have to go into that house. Don’t move.

Stay put. My dad picked up a wire cage. It held six glass bottles of milk in it. And as my dad jumped, out of the carriage, two things happened. I heard the jingling, of the milk bottles in the wire cage and I heard my dad go just that funny little mouth sound and the horse started to move. I grabbed the walls of the wagon. I’m thinking stage coach trail like we’re on the loop. This is a runaway. But the horse went down and it turned out to be a dead-end street. And a nice loop at the bottom. Are you going to believe this? My dad had this horse train when it got down to the end, it turned around, came back and

where did it stop? Right where my dad sicked him in the first place. My dad came out of the house, dropped the cage, and away we went. That was my first real memory of my papa of my dad. I told somebody the other day, I almost broke into tears. I said, I still miss my dad. Like I can’t tell you, he’s been gone for over 20 years. I told that in my house the other night in a Bible study. I miss my dad so much. And that might make sense to you when I tell you about this rascal. Jimmy Barnes. So my dad delivered milk and then he moved to another company and literally the wagon that my dad steered for the bread company looked almost identical to this one.

So he went from delivering milk to delivering bread. And I would go with my daddy by times just as a rider. I don’t know how I got to him. I don’t know how I got home. It doesn’t matter. But I remember riding in this carriage with my dad and it was full of bread drawn by a horse. And so that was my earliest recognition of my father. Now I speed ahead to the only time I saw my dad was Sunday mornings. The real next significant memory that I have of my father, my dad worked from five in the morning. He got up, and had his breakfast at five in the morning. My dad never sat down to supper much before, seven or eight at night.

My dad never taught me to play ball. He never taught me to ride a bicycle. My dad was a very hardworking man delivering bread door to door to door. Six days a week. And he made such a small amount of money doing so. So I scarcely got to see my dad. The highest moment in my seven-day week was Sunday morning when my mom would get us, my brother and I all shined up and ready to go to church. She had us in this cute little suit. And then my mother would hand me, I can, I’m living it out, I’m living it again. She’d hand me a tie. She’d say, no, you know what’s next. You go to your daddy and he’ll tie your tie.

And always the timing seemed to be perfect. It was never any different because this was the moment I cherished for the whole week. I would go to my dad in the kitchen. He’d be sitting there eating shredded wheat. And I’d go to my dad and stand there in silence holding the tie. My dad would finish swallowing the shredded wheat in his mouth. He beckoned me to come close. And as my dad tied my tie, he was so close to me. I smelled the shredded wheat on his breath. How I loved that fragrance. He’d say, David, you’re a nutcase. I love my dad, but he was far from me because I’d go to bed at night. He wasn’t home yet.

I’d get up in the morning six days a week. He was already gone. I wanted my dad. I wanted my dad. I needed my dad. But he just wasn’t there because he worked so laboriously. I grew a little bit older and on Sunday morning from church we’d go home. My mother usually prepared a noon meal. We never went to a restaurant. We couldn’t afford such wonderful things. And Sunday after Sunday, I would hear these words. It may not have happened as frequently as I think it did. I’m going to tell you what, it rang a big bell in my head.

I would hear this at the dinner table so often. My dad would start talking to my mom about how the week went. And then he’d say, and yesterday, wow. I don’t know how I would have ever made it through the day without Jimmy Barnes. My dad on his going street by street had a call where he’d drop off bread. And he got to know this young fellow in this house named Jimmy Barnes. My dad apparently offered him a job. He said I’ll pick you up on Saturday mornings. It’s a heavy day for me. People are buying for two days. They got to get enough bread for Sunday. And they want cakes and they want tarts. And I need somebody with young legs to run back and forth.

And so my dad would say, I don’t know what I ever do without Jimmy Barnes. I didn’t hate to hear that name. But I really wish that I was Jimmy Barnes. Why? Because I needed some love. I needed some attention. And I couldn’t get it. And it wasn’t my dad’s fault. It was not his fault. What would I ever do without Jimmy Barnes, he would say? Then on a Sunday morning, I can’t tell you exactly who I was. Maybe I want to stretch it. Maybe I was eight or nine years of age.

And I was a Pipsqueak. I was the shortest kid in my class. I was just a. . . I don’t know what was going on. I wasn’t growing. Maybe it was because I wouldn’t eat my spinach. And so anyway, I heard my dad poke this out. He said, Marion, I don’t know what I’m going to do. That’s the end of Jimmy Barnes. He got himself a good job. You know my dad paid per day?

It was extravagant. For a full day, my dad paid $1. And Jimmy got a job somewhere on a single day. And he got a buck and a half, and he moved on to the big top. What am I going to do without Jimmy? And I remember saying, Daddy, can I help you? And my dad turned and said, don’t be foolish. You’re too small. I shrunk. This is the one I needed. This is the one I wanted. This one put me down. I knew I was small.

I didn’t need that nail to be pressed in beyond the surface of the wood. Hit it again. And the nail goes down. You’ll never pull that nail out. I was hurt. But he didn’t know that. He had no idea whatsoever. I kept on asking. He kept on saying to my mom on a Sunday. I couldn’t find anybody this way. I had to find somebody soon. Yesterday was horrendous.

It was hard for me to get the work done. And I said, can I come? No. I prevailed upon my mother. And finally, my mom said, I talk to your dad. You can get up on Saturday morning and go with your dad. I almost did cartwheels. I was so excited. Now, Dad wasn’t running on a breadwagon now. He was driving a step-in, stand-up, drive truck. Maybe you’ve never seen one of those. You just jump in, grab all the steering wheel, do a couple of things, and you drive it standing up.

And so I remember standing in the truck and watching my dad. And I watched now how he did it. I noticed that he’d run up to the door with a big wicker basket. It was loaded with bread and cakes because my dad was paid according to how much he sold. So he took this basket loaded with stuff, cakes and tarts, and bread. He seemed to know every house and what they would want. And I heard him. I heard him in the stillness of the morning. I heard him as the, I heard him yell through a screen door. It was a summer kind of day.

I heard him yell, baker. And then I heard all the chatter going on. And then Dad came out and plunked down the wicker basket. Interesting, there were two wicker baskets there. So I could take it to the house right now. In Hamilton, I’ve taken April there. So I, I, I, I want to go by the house again. I want to go by the house. I love to go by and park and stare at the door of that house. It’s on a corner. And there’s a door on both, on both streets. So the side door is the door I went to. I tell you, I think it’s the same screen door as it was back then.

An old-fashioned wooden screen door, they’ve changed the screen, but the door is still the same. I want desperately to go up and wrap on the door when somebody opens, I want to say, baker, because that’s what I did that morning. Now my dad, when my dad put a basket out, put a loaf of bread in it, and maybe a tiny little box of butter tarts, my dad said, now you go up to that door, that lady will look after you, my dad dove off that way. I turned and I threw in a cake and I threw in this and I threw in some hermit cookies. And, then I picked up the basket. It was too heavy, mama.

And so I’m staggering. Have you ever seen one of these baskets about so big? And the things loaded, you see, way too much for me. I got up to the door and I propped my belly, pushing the basket against the wall. I couldn’t hold onto it. And the screen door was, was, was there, but the inside door was open. And I howled through the door, baker. And I’ll never forget this woman who came and looked through the screen and she said, well, what do we have here? I said, Jimmy’s gone.

I’m the new boy, Reg is my dad. And she caught on like that. She caught on right now. She pushed the door open. She said, well, is this nice. I said, you’re my first customer, you know, and you have to buy something. Ha ha ha. I, I worked her over. And I don’t remember what she bought. But I remember when I got back to the truck and my dad came back to the truck and I said, I sold her a little for bed and I sold her that thing.

I didn’t put that in your basket. I know I did. I was with my dad on that truck way up into my tent and I didn’t have any machines until I, learned to drive driving that truck. Every Saturday morning, I was up at 4. 35 o’clock in the morning. I went with my dad and I prided myself, and I prided myself in how I functioned. I worked myself to death. I got to the point where my dad wasn’t noticing this, but for every house call he made,

I did a minimum of two and most of the time I did three. He’d do one house and I didn’t walk, I ran from house to house to house. I was trying to do, I was trying to live up to the high bar that Jimmy Barnes had established and my dad never said, good. He never said, well done son. Dad, I just sold her this, this and this. All right, need a market in the credit book. He had a way of keeping track of what they still owed him. Never heard, you’re a good salesman David. I never heard it.

I knew every house. And I remember, you know, we’re gonna take a minute, and a few moments, it already gives them some kind of a drug to settle them down, whatever they do to you. And I remember saying to April to my mom, you go away, I wanna talk to my dad. Are you ready for this? My dad’s gonna have them zip-built and with some kind of a bus stop. They’re gonna tear and learn from living. It’s what I had imagined. I leaned down close to his face. I touched his face with my hand.

I was thinking, I’ll never see him alive again. So, Dad, you’re wanting to know something. You looked at me, and I said, I love you. And he said, it’s gonna be all right, David. I leaned even closer. It was a shred of wheat moment without them shred of wheat. So, daddy, I love you. David, stop, you’re worried. You’re gonna be fine. I left that room and it doesn’t matter what year it was. But there was an old-fashioned wooden phone booth on that floor. It was made out of this beautiful piece of artwork. It was beautiful wood.

I ran down there. I don’t know where April was, or where I ran down. I stepped into that old-fashioned phone booth. And I cried. I cried loudly. I wanted to hear, I love you. My dad couldn’t say it. I’m gonna speed on the head just a little bit. After my mom, and after my dad was gone, I took my mom off for dinner one night. We sat there and she wanted to run into both my dad. I missed your dad. I missed your dad.

I missed your dad. I said, you know what I missed, Mom? I said I missed one. I said I missed one. I never got. What would that be? I said, Dad never told me he loved me. And she looked at me kind of funny. And she said, you never did know your dad. She said, your dad seldom ever told me he loved me. But I knew he did. For some reason, he couldn’t say it. But now I’m also remembering that my dad had a terrible relationship with his father.

And I won’t go on and on and on about that. But my dad did not have a mentor. He did not have a mentor. He did not have somebody that he could mimic. So he learned from the most influential person in his life. He learned that it didn’t matter. You don’t have to say stuff. You know you love them. You don’t have to say it. It’s okay. It can pass it off. I flew home from Africa. I called April from the Toronto airport.

She said, David, you’d better get to your dad right now. I couldn’t get through to you. He’s in the hospital. He’s in a bad way. I rented a car, raced in the Hamilton, and raced in there. And he was in ICU. I went over to him. He’s got wikers and stuff all over him. And I looked at him and he was people. He was pale. And I looked at him and I said, he’s going to die. And I said, Dad, are you going to make it? He doesn’t look like it doesn’t.

I said, Dad, don’t you dare leave now. You stay here right now because you and I are going to have a talk. I said, Dad, don’t you dare leave now. You stay here right now because you and I are going to have a talk. For a day, he didn’t need to sell a moment like that. What is it, Dave? I said I have to know something. What do you want to know? I said, Dad, I’m 45. I was 45, 50 years of age. I said this is going to sell you to the person. This is going to sell so stupid. But Dad means something to me.

So I put up with my stupidity and my childhood thoughts. I need to know one thing before you leave. And he said, what’s that? I need to know did I ever do as good, as Jimmy Barnes? Well, of course, you did. I said, you never said it. I asked Dad, Daddy, you never said it. I said I worked my butt off to try and get you to give me some approval. I needed to know you’ll love me. I needed to know you believed in me. I needed to know your problem. You couldn’t say it. My dad went like a baby.

The two of us were crying. He’s going to die and we’re both crying. It was a weird moment. The nurses thought I was nuts. I did ask. Pastor Dave, are you such a wimp? Like, what’s wrong with you? Dad, A, you’re carrying on like that? I’m talking about humanity. I’m talking about who we are. Jesus heard you’re my beloved son. And with you on Soul, please. He needed to hear that.

Neither do I condemn you. Nobody in this town believes in you. But, sweetheart, I believe in you. You can do better. Peter, I’m counting on you. Everybody thinks you’re a waste. Everybody thinks you’re a loser. But I don’t think you’re a loser. I’m counting on you, Peter. Don’t you let me down? You can do this. I shared that this week with a brother that I love so very much is going through a challenge in his life.

And I told him to a space. God hasn’t trusted you with this challenge. He’s believed in you. You’ve got to believe in yourself. You’ve got to believe in yourself. I’ve told you about the camp meeting out there. You’re ready to call on me, you’re right? I said, sirs, it was all men. Isn’t it a chance that there’s a wrench up along you? My daddy’s name was Reg. I said, give your excuse. Your dad never taught you. Your dad never showed you.

My dad never showed me, but I broke that chain. My lineage now is not dependent on what my dad did. What my grandfather did. I’m responsible for me. And I’ve told my son again and again and again. I love you. I call my little girl, Mimi. And I’ll tell her at the end of this. I can’t hold it in. I said, do you know how much I love you? I told her that about five days ago. I love you. I love you.

People need to hear. I love you. I know I love you. Your daughter, and your son, need to hear. I’m proud of you. Well, pastor, I don’t want to lie to them. You don’t have to lie to them, honey. You can make up something that will help them through the difficult times of their life. Speak words of life and somebody will live. Speak words of life and darkness will be dissipated. And if you do what I’m suggesting this morning, you are mimicking the life and the methodology of Jesus.

When he’s saying to, you sing Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound that saved a what? A wretch like me. Do you really believe that? And if you do, think about the counter-thought. You know you were a wretch,, but God saw something different. When he picked you up in your ungodly position, he said, I see something here I can work with. He can pick up a lump of clay with his hands. He can make their bays towards a million dollars. With a paintbrush, he can paint, he can paint a sea state that somebody else would see a blank canvas and wouldn’t even know how much to spare.

He sees promise. He sees the possibilities. But now you’ve got to see possibilities in each other. So I say this gently and I say it kindly. As you’re leaving this place today, look around you. I’m looking to ask you to look at each other right now. That’s kind of a scary thing for some of us. I’m having a bad day myself. But look around you and is there somebody that you’ve never really communicated anything of any significance to them? Somebody here could feel kind of left out. You know the likelihood of this. There’s some girl, some woman in this place here.

According to Canadian statistics, there’s a woman in our presence right here, but especially you sometimes when she was very young. And she carries a sense of guilt, even though somebody said, you’re not me spy. I must have done something to encourage all of them. People live with guilt and they need somebody who doesn’t even know their story to say, you know, I admire you. And you’re not the top one wide. I admire you for showing up. This lady over here with the green stripe, sweetheart, when you walked in today, I said something to you. And I want you to know it wasn’t frivolous.

I say now better is a sight for sore eyes. I would say to you, I miss you when you’re not here. And I want you to know I love you and I care about you. I need to communicate with each other. I see a spot in your eye and that tells me you’re worth something special. Work ended okay. Don’t be such a grumble when you’re at work. You know, the front Mrs. doesn’t love it when you don’t have my bills in yet. You don’t have my bills in. This is wonderful.

I have another opportunity to come and visit your star today. I see you got taught a gold shot on sale. Maybe that’s why I’m here today. We have such wonderful opportunities to say something positive when everything else around us is dark and dirty and whatever whatever whatever. I’m not sure I’ll tell you a book about how wonderful you are. I’m just telling you that Jesus can get ahold of you right now. I don’t see a mess. God would say to you I don’t make junk. Right. I don’t make junk. You have possibilities.

He would say, Peter, I’m going to call you the rock band. Little little little little bit who’s been disparaged by so many men. I believe in better things for you. Now you go and you make something wonderful out of yourself. Now have my father. I pray for this wonderful group of people today and for anyone who dares to watch us on the internet. We are today tomorrow or six months from now. We say these sermons online. Lord God, I pray that not only will we salivate over this thing today. This is David’s idea. This is the word of God.

This is how the father spoke to his own son. This is a biblical principle. And Lord, I pray not only will we activate these ministries of good news and light and joy and light, but I pray Lord we will get excited enough about this message. I pray that we will say to somebody even this way, you need to go to 20church. ca and listen to my pastor’s sermon from last Sunday. He’ll do you a whole bunch of good. Oh, Jared God, I pray that every moment of us will find a moment where we can tell you to send somebody, I want to throw a little light on your face. Then we’ll tell you to go ahead and say to somebody in the most awkward moment, the most difficult location.

And God will bless you and to say with gravity and passion.

I ask these things in the precious name of Jesus.