planting free church. And so we started looking around for preschools. And you know, it's it's in the middle of like it's a start of a semester, but it is a middle of a school year, so it's kind of hard to find a preschool that had two spots open. And he was like, yeah, we got a spot open for you. And I'm like, well, I need two. They're like, oh, we can't help you. So we finally found First United, just right here across the street from us, and they were like yeah, we can get your boys in, just bring them in on Wednesday morning. So we brought them in and we got there a little after like all the rest of the kids had arrived and checked in, and they were like just bring them upstairs and we'll introduce you to the teachers. And so we met the teachers and they invited the twins to sit down at a table and they were like we're so glad you got here right at snack time. And I thought, well, this is probably the reason why, even today, if you ask them, their favorite subject in school it's lunch, because they got to preschool right at snack time and we sat down at the table with them and it was. You know, it was an appropriate four-year-old table. It was short and the chairs were short. And when we sat down I noticed there was a pitcher of milk and there was a pitcher of Cheerios. So a pitcher of milk and a pitcher of Cheerios. And the teacher said, well, we're going to have snack right now and we have milk to drink and Cheerios. So a pitcher of milk and a pitcher of Cheerios. And the teacher said, well, we're going to have snack right now and we have milk to drink and Cheerios to eat. And I was like great. So I grabbed a cup and I reached for the milk and she said oh, no, no, no, mr Coldgrove, at our school the kids serve themselves. Now at our home, now at our home.

Up till that point, these kids had not served themselves. They got a mom that did all of that, and occasionally I would do that. And so I was like are you sure? I don't think they've done this yet. And she said, no, they're going to be fine, and so I'll never forget. I said okay, and Eli reached out and grabbed the milk and put the cup there and just started pouring milk. And milk came up over the top of the cup and ran all over. And I was like, uh, and she's like it's okay, it's okay he's going to learn. And he just kept pouring. And then I look over at and Evan's got the Cheerios and he's just pouring Cheerios and there's a small village of Cheerios that is populating the floor and I was like, are we okay with this? She said, oh, this is how they're going to learn.

And it struck me that they just understood the process. They didn't understand when you start pouring, you got to stop pouring at some point. But they't understand when you start pouring, you gotta stop pouring at some point. But they just decided when we start pouring, we ain't stopping. And it reminded me it's the year I was reminded that's how God does in our lives he starts pouring and he ain't stopping. Why don't you just turn to your neighbor and say this is overflow and then turn to the other neighbor you've been ignoring them all service and just bump them and say my cup is running over.

Today we're going to close out our series called Overflow, but we're not going to stop living in overflow called overflow, but we're not gonna stop living in overflow. Remember the beginning of the series we mentioned. We are getting into this position of aligning ourselves under the abundant outpouring of God's life and blessing and favor and gifts and spirit in our lives, not so that we look good, but so that we can overflow into the lives of others. And when God starts pouring, he ain't stopping. You can just get the picture of Eli pouring that pitcher of milk over that cup and just letting it run over it, and nobody's alarmed, nobody seems to be panicking, nobody's running to find the mop and to clean everything. It's okay. This is what happens when we start pouring. It ain't stopping. And that's what God wants to do in our life today. And when God starts pouring, let me just tell you it's not a little trickle, it's not a little stream, it is a waterfall, an avalanche, a river of life flowing into us.

So as we close this out, I just want to say this next week is Easter Sunday. I told our team yesterday at our Dream Team Connect, like when you start the year and Easter is on April 20th, you're like man, we got a long time till Easter and then you blink and it's Easter weekend. But I'm gonna tell you something you need to. Just there was invite cards on every seat and I want you to just take that and invite one more person this week to join you on Easter Sunday. But I wanna remind you it is at nine o'clock and 11 o'clock, not 10 o'clock, nine o'clock. You need to text somebody that sits close to you on Sundays and say hey, just remember, don't come at 10. Be here at nine or 11. Because I know I got like five people in my list that I've written their names down that every year we do two services. They show up in the middle of the second service. They show up in the middle of the two services. So if you get here at 10, you're going to be here for the finale song, but you're going to have to wait another hour for the rest of the service at 11. So remind yourself, set your alarm, listen. We want you to worship one and serve one, but we want you to bring somebody with you. Do not come alone. What they just sang earlier the blood, the blood, the bloods oh, the wonderful blood. That's one of the songs for next week and it's just a setup to how good Easter Sunday is going to be.

Our team's been working so hard to how good Easter Sunday is gonna be. Our team's been working so hard, but today, today, we're gonna talk about really this idea and our main thought would be this that God provides blessings and abundance so we can overflow with praise and worship to him. God provides blessings and abundance so that we can overflow in praise and worship to him. God provides blessings in abundance so that we can overflow in praise and worship to him. You know, when God starts blessing in our life, it is out of abundance and it is out of the overflow of a God who does exceeding and abundantly more than we could ever ask for or imagine. But I want you to understand, and I want to be clear with you today, that when we talk about God's blessings, we're not merely talking about the material things of this world.

There's a standard, we would say, that culture has regarding blessings and the church or the Bible has regarding blessings, and they're quite opposite. And if we're not careful, we can allow culture to influence us and we categorize our blessings only as the things that are material in our lives, for instance. For instance, you know, we would say that, man, when we're successful, that's a blessing. We would say that when we have more money, come on somebody, that's a blessing. You know the world would say that. You know, when we have more power or prestige or we have position, that would be a blessing. And you know, some of us would say when we have more power or prestige or we have position, that would be a blessing. And you know, some of us would say when we have more clothes in the closet, that's a blessing. And others of us would say when we have clothes in the closet that fit, that's a blessing. Because everybody knows there's that section of the closet that we're just holding on to just in case, just in case I get back into it. Oh, what a blessing.

But on the world standards of blessings, you can notice this that it's tied to success, it's often tied to self-satisfaction and I can tell you this, it's very short-lived. The Bible even says Material things, the grass will wither and fade, the earth's gonna come to an end, but the word of God stands forever. So I wanna show you what God's word says about blessing. And know this even though God will bless us with material things, that is not the ultimate measure of God's goodness. Listen, if the blessings of God, even though it might seem like it's coming in a standard of a test or a trial, it is lighter compared to what it's going to produce in our life for eternity. Wait, did he just say a blessing is a test and a trial? Absolutely, because it is the test that drove me to the cross. It is the test that drove me to the cross. It is the trial that drove me to my knees. It is the door that closed that made me search for the open door. It is the answer that I didn't want that made me press in for the answer that I needed.

I didn't write this in my notes, it's not in your notes, but you know what the blessings of God are really, established in his character. They're not earned by merit. You don't earn blessings. You don't get good enough. So God can be good, he's just good, he's just good, he's just good. And then the last one God's blessings grow us closer to him and equip us to bless others. Second, corinthians says this 8 and 9 says See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human's tradition in the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ, For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. Christ blesses us to draw us in in order that we might bless others. So let's lean in, let's just let's lean in for a second.

The Hebrew word. There's a Hebrew word barak. Everybody say barak and you gotta kind of I didn't say it very good the first time because you gotta kind of say it when you get to the end. Right, it's like barak. If you to sound Hebrew like you've studied Hebrew, you just got to just have like a grit to it when you end it. But Barak, you know, I remember Kirk Franklin sang this song. I think I think it was Kirk Franklin. No, who was it? I don't know, somebody knows, but it was kind of like Kirk Franklin. But the song was Barak. And then they say Hallelujah, barak, praise the Lord, soul Children of Chicago, walt Whitman. I was supposed to play drums for him one time but they no-showed Flex Shabak. They said Shabak, okay. So shoot, let's keep moving, let me keep preaching. It was better in my mind when it was Barak.

But Barak means look at this. It has two meanings. It means to bestow favor, but it also means to kneel. So I want you to see the reciprocal fashion of praise in Hebrew. Is this that God bestows favor? But my response is to kneel in worship. So God blesses me and my response not is just to say, oh, look at me, how good I am. My response is to kneel in, just response of like, in awe that God would bless me. He chose me, he picked me, he blessed me. So it is this idea of reciprocal fashion. It's circular, in fact. It has to just become who we are and what we do.

When he blesses, we worship. When he blesses, we worship, we worship and he blesses. I don't know if it was the chicken or the egg that came first, but I'm going to tell you, when you worship, he blesses, and when he blesses, you worship. And when we stop praising him, the river stops and becomes a reservoir and then there's no more room. There's no more room. There's no more room, there's no more room. He'll keep pouring as long as we're praising. And look, I can prove it in Scripture, I can prove it.

Abraham God says I'm going to bless you, to be a blessing. What's he do? He builds an altar and worships Moses and Miriam. They crossed the Red Sea. You know what they did first they sang. Read it. They sang. You can read it in Exodus, chapter 15. They sang this song and my question is what has God delivered you from that? You need to just stop and sing a song and if you read it, it's not like it's ever gonna be on the radio. It wasn't that great lyrically, but I'm going to tell you it came from their heart and that's what counts. So what does God deliver you from that requires you to break into song and listen. It's okay, make it up.

My favorite moments in worship are not when I'm reading what's on the screen. It's when I just start doing my own ohs and my own feels and my own wording to what they're singing. Why? Because it's just an overflow of response to what God has delivered me from. David danced like crazy in response to the opportunity to bring the ark back, the ark of the covenant, which represented the presence of God, and it showed us that real worship is unashamed, unfiltered and unapologetic.

So I've said this in other sessions and other meetings and other Sundays but listen, it should not. It should not. Don't let it freak you out. If somebody runs across the front, it's not, we don't always do it, it's not like it's a standard. I've been in churches where they're saying okay, five people run right now. That's kind of crazy to me. We're gonna respond to the Holy Spirit decently, in order, but sometimes out of the expression.

It is okay to express ourselves as David unapologetic, unfiltered and unashamed. I'm not saying you have to go crazy. I'm just saying if your heart is in it, then be a blessing. If you're a distraction, we'll let you know, because that's the moment it changes. If it's really praise and worship, it's not a distraction. But as soon as it becomes a distraction, then it's really moment it changes. If it's really praise and worship, it's not a distraction. But as soon as it becomes a distraction, then it's really more about you. And praise and worship is never about us, it's always about God. So I can show you another one. Paul and Silas in the jail began to sing and as they sang the jailhouse shook and the doors opened. Somebody just said jailhouse rock over there. I gotcha and the prisoners were all free to go. None of them ran. And it just shows me that sometimes you're going to have to sing your way out of a circumstance. Don't wait till the battle's. And then let's not forget the triumphal entry.

Today, palm Sunday, the response you got to imagine, like in the Roman Empire, when the king came in, when Caesar came in, when people of authority came in, they actually demanded that you do something. They demanded you take a place. They demanded the respect, they demanded the honor. And what I'm gonna tell you is you know, we the Bible says we respect and honor and pray for all of our leaders in government, every single one of them, whether we agree with them. We love them, we like them, we voted whatever. We pray for them, we honor the position and we respect the office. But what I'm going to tell you is but we don't have to wave palm branches at our public leaders, because you know what.

The palm branch was reserved for the one who was going to be living in victory. The palm branch was reserved for the one that all the praise and listen. You don't have to carry a palm branch because you got two right here that you can raise and wave. But you got to imagine the scene People were throwing their coats and their robes and go. I mean, they're singing Hosanna Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and I know it was just leading up to a crucifixion, but still, god's blessings in our life have always been places for us to stop and pause and remember and celebrate. Stop and pause, remember and celebrate. And really, what Palm Sunday music can come. We're gonna close out. What Palm Sunday can show us is this praise is not passive. I've been in that church before. Praise is not passive, it is progressive, it is in response, it is a declaration and it is an overflow.

We got time for one more Hebrew word. One more Hebrew word is kavod kavod. Everybody say kavod Kavod is the Hebrew word for glory and the meaning of it is weight or significance. So that means when we praise God, we aren't just singing songs, we're not just clapping hands. We aren't just singing songs. We're not just clapping hands, we're not just lifting hands, we're not just shouting with our voices. We are ascribing significance and weight to who he is. It's not because he needs to know the weight that he carries. It's because we need to remind ourselves the weight that he carries, the significance of who he is in our life. It's not that he needs to know it, but we need to remind ourselves.

There is a name where there there's a name higher than any other name. There is a name whereby no other man is saved. There is a name that, at the mention of it, demons tremble. Sickness has to flee. Victory comes, and when I begin to praise the name of the Lord. It ascribes the weight of his glory in my life. You can look through it All through the Old Testament. The glory of God in different spaces would fill the tabernacle so much so it would overflow out of the tabernacle but nobody could stand. Fill the tabernacle so much so it would overflow out of the tabernacle but nobody could stand in the tabernacle. Why? Because the weight what do you mean? It was heavy.

Listen, there's just something that happens when I begin to praise God. The Bible is clear. He is a keeper of his promises. When we praise him, he inhabits the place and you need to see this. He doesn't just swing through.

You ever talk to somebody who they're in a room and maybe they have an elevated place for being in the room and they're really in the room to see who else might be in the room. And so when you're talking to them, they really won't give you eye contact. They're like looking around, who else do I see? I mean we've done it, I'm sure I've done it where I've looked around who else Talking to somebody? Who else is here? Who else guys? And they're really trying to find who else is important in this room that I can talk to.

But God doesn't come into the room when people praise him and look for the most important in the room. He just fills the room. He just fills it. So that when you come into the room and start praising him and he fills the room, his presence is undeniable, it's unavoidable, it's irresistible. His presence satisfies the requirement for us to be in the room, and so that is the weight we're talking about, the significance that. We're talking about that when the presence of God is here, anything can happen. That is the weight we're talking about, the significance that we're talking about that when the presence of God is here, anything can happen. And it doesn't matter where I've been, what I've done. I get the benefit of the weight and significance of who's in the room. He finds me. That weight. If you could just see it billowing in, pouring in from the top, filling every area. You ever see water when you pour water out on the driveway or in the backyard and it immediately starts running to the very lowest spot. It runs past the high spots and finds its way all the way and you can trace it all the way to the lowest spot.

And when we sit in a room and worship and praise, like we did today, the presence of God, the blessings of God, remember, because it's not just about the material, it is the spiritual, it is what goes beyond material, it is what goes beyond temporary and current, it goes into the eternal. And that blessing of God, god, that river starts to flow and it's finding its way all the way to the very lowest spot. And you might have come in here thinking there's no way God would ever come down to my level. But he's so good and he pours out in such abundance that, even though you think, well, he's here to fill this person, or he's here to meet this person, or he's here to provide this need, no, he's here to do it all and he can do every bit of it, because nothing is impossible with my God. Would you close your eyes, lord? We've had quite a time.