http://www.higherupministries.com/

Higher Up Ministries, PO Box 156, Prospect Heights, IL (2026)

05/13/2026

Last week, we shared a message at The Food Pantry about some recent Gifts we gave away. Ladies Purses to honor Women and The Easter Resurrection Baskets. Here's what we said at Food Pantry last Saturday-

Purses Baskets and Heaven
So, who got a purse last week? I hope you had fun discovering all the little surprises inside.
Or at easter, many of you went home with a family Easter Basket. We hope your faces smiled when you saw some of the gifts we left in there.

But you know what? You should have seen the faces of the volunteers who filled those purses or the baskets. They were so excited. Talking about what they had, choosing the right color that went with the basket of purse. Laughing at people, “It doesn’t matter what color the lipstick is!”
Or the Small Groups s and Churches that were collecting the stuff. People were so excited to be a part of getting all the supplies together for these special times at Higher Up Ministries.
There is truly a joy in only receiving gifts, but having the opportunity to give gifts as well.

But there’s a greater gift that GOD wants to give to all of us as well. We’ve received the first one already, His Son, Jesus. I say this all the time,
“GOD Loved the world so much He gave His one and only Son. And whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.”

But GOD’s got another gift instore for those of us who do choose to believe in His Son Jesus.
A place in His Family. John 1:12- Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

No more tears or fear. Revelations 21:4- He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Shame is gone. Romans 10:11- As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

No hate in heaven- Isaiah 11:9- They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
Can you imagine that? No hate, no bigotry, no evil? I can’t. But GOD’s gift is beyond our imagination…

Heaven will be indescribable! 1 Corinthians 2:9- as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him

It will be a Celebration! The Wedding Feast- Matthew 22

No evil rulers. Revelation 21:8- But the vile, the murderers, the immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

A perfect world. Revelation 21:1- Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

GOD has the greatest gift prepared to share with you. Greater than we can actually even imagine. But you have to put your faith and Trust in His Son Jesus. If you don’t believe He exists, how can He reward you?
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

04/14/2026

I was the speaker at last Saturdays Food Pantry. I thought I'd share the message with you as well.

I love going on walks in the evening and just talking to Jesus as if we we’re walking together and just talking. And there are times I see people walking with their dogs. Sometimes the dogs look older. They’re kinda slow and have grey on their nose. And every now and then they look up at their human and their tail starts to wag, and I wonder how long have they been together.
Jan and I have had older cats. And there were times they’d be sleeping next to me, then they’d wake up and look at me and purr then go back to sleep. These pets seem to be thinking, “Is my human still with me?” And when they see that we are, they’re happy.

I was reading a Psalm the other day, Psalm 124.
“If the Lord had not been on our side, let the people of GOD say, if the Lord had not been on our side..”
And as I read that I said to GOD, “I thank you that you are always on my side.” Then I remembered those walks I just talked about. The fact that when we stay close to GOD’s side, we can know He’s got us covered. I wanna feel like that dog walking with its human. Looking up to GOD and asking, “Are You still with me?” And feeling the comfort of knowing He’s always there. Regardless of the ‘weather,’ regardless of what’s going on around me. I hope the ‘tail of my soul is wagging, or my heart is purring.

Here’s the danger. We can run ahead. We walk along in life thinking, “I’ve got this covered. I know what’s best.” And many times we do know what’s best. But when we forget to look up and see what’s GOD’s plan, too often we look up and find out GOD’s turned left down a side street. We get so caught up in our plans we miss the fact that GOD’s got something better lined up.
A great job with lots a money, but less time with our family.
A struggle with an old hurt, bad habit and we think, “I can handle this mt self. I don’t need help from others or a support group like Celebrate Recovery.”
A partner in life who puts you down. “I can change them ‘cause they love me.”
We’re going along forgetting to see if we’re walking with GOD, only to find out we’ve lost our way.
Here’s the good news, no, great news. Jesus always has a place for you if you turn around and come back.
Jesus tells a great story about a sheep that wanders off. He leaves the 99 obedient sheep to go and bring the silly one back.

04/07/2026

Saturdays Food Pantry not only had a great message about Jesus' return, but with the help of a Bridge small group we filled 52 Baskets to hand out to Food Pantry and Boys Club Families.

Jesus Says He's Coming Back
There are 2 events in Jesus' life I want to tell you about.
First, after Jesus rose from the dead, He spent over a month with His 12 Apostles, His Mother and Step-brothers, as well as over 400 Disciples! Then, He gets them all together on a mountain in Galilee and gives them some final instructions, then He ascends into heaven!
Acts 1:6-11
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
GOD makes sure we understand ‘Jesus is coming back.’ Not like He did the first time, not born as a baby and growing up. This time He is coming back out of the sky.
While He was still on earth Jesus taught He’d come back, "With Powerful Angels, riding on a horse."

The Second event I want to tell you about is the night before Jesus was executed, He was talking to His 12 Apostles. He was trying to prepare them for what was going to happen- His death, His resurrection from the dead. And even the fact He was returning to Heaven eventually. So He tells His Disciples in John 14:2-3
"My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am"
So Jesus is telling them, He is going back to heaven to prepare a place for His Followers. But not just these guys and gals, but everyone who chooses to believe in Him and follow Him.
“Father,” Jesus prayed, “My message is not for these alone, but for those who will believe in Me through their message.”

Think about that, Jesus hasn't been sitting around heaven for the last 2000 years killing time. He's been preparing a place for you. Do you know anyone who thinks you are so special they would spend that much time getting something ready for you?
Jesus is very clear, "Anyone who puts their trust in Him, has a place in His Kingdom, His Family."
When you Trust that Jesus died on the cross just for you.
Trust that He came back from the dead to be a part of your life.
And Trust that what He taught is true, so we need to follow His teachings.
When you put your Trust in Jesus, He has a place set up, just for you in Heaven.

03/29/2026

We have a great time at The Higher Up Food Pantry. But let me share Saturdays message to our guests.

The Cup
The night before Jesus died, He had His last Passover meal on earth with His closest followers. Later He was arrested, falsely accused and condemned to die. But before all that, Jesus went to a garden with His Disciples and prayed. He took 3 of His most trusted Disciples off to a quiet place and asked them to wait with Him while He prayed.
The Bible tells us Jesus prayed, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup away from me. But Your will, not mine be done.” I’ve often asked myself, ‘what’s He mean by “This cup”?’
We can assume the ‘cup of suffering’ is what Jesus is going to endure. Jesus knows His whole life was leading up to this moment. Scripture foretold The messiahs betrayal, the brutal beatings and painful death The Savior would have to endure.
But in the Scriptures, it talks about another cup. The book of Psalms was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. And in it, one Psalm talks about the wrath of GOD. That GOD would pour out His cup of wrath on all the wicked of the world. He would make them drink the foaming cup of GOD’s wrath, “down to the very dredges.”
That’s the cup Jesus is about to drink. The wrath that was meant for all the wicked. And let’s be clear, we are all wicked. GOD says, “All have sinned and fallen short of GOD’s perfect plan for their life.” We deserve to be punished. We deserve to have GOD’s wrath poured out on us.
But this night, Jesus is going to ‘Drink that foaming cup of GOD’s wrath.’ And drink it down to it’s very dredges. Not for any wrong He’s done, but He’s drinking it for us.

But in this garden prayer, Jesus seems to be hoping there’s another way, “Father, if it be possible, take this cup away from me. But Your will, not mine be done.” Jesus prays that and goes back to His 3 most trusted friends. And he finds them asleep. “Couldn’t you stay awake even 1 hour with me?” Maybe that’s when it really hit home, ‘There’s no other way for humanity to be saved from our sinful ways.’ I mean, if His 3 closest friends can’t even stay awake one hour, how can any of us do what it takes to have our sin’s washed away? Jesus prays that prayer 2 more times and each time His men have fallen asleep. So, with a resolute spirit Jesus wakes them again and says, “Come. My betrayer is here.” And Jesus drinks down that cup of suffering for His followers, for us, and drinks it down to the very dredges at the bottom of the cup.

Because Jesus did that, He offers forgiveness to anyone who comes to Him and makes Him the LORD, the Leader of their lives. Listen to what Peter says. One of those guys who couldn’t even stay awake one hour. After Jesus rose form the dead He forgave Peter and trusted him to lead the others. Peter wrote this, “Christ died for sins, once for all. The righteous one for the unrighteous ones, to bring you to GOD.”
Jesus drank that cup of GOD’s wrath for you, and offers forgiveness to all who put their trust in Him.

03/26/2026

Hey Friends! Do you live in the NW Suburbs of Chicago? And are you interested in your family's history, but don't know where to start?
Higher Up is hosting a FREE FAMILY HISTORY WORKSHOP on Saturday, April 25th from 10 am to 2 pm at The Bridge in Prospect Heights. Check out the flyer and sign-up information. Space is limited, so sign up today and reserve your spot! 💜higherupministries.com

01/15/2026

Hey Friends, please join Higher Up in helping our local Veteran's and send them the message that they are loved & appreciated! Check out all the details here on this flyer or at higherupministries.com Thanks! 💜

01/04/2026

It was my turn to speak at Food Pantry this week, so I shared an old story with a great message.

The Man and the Birds

There's a story of a man who was un-interested in Jesus. His wife and children were into "Church Stuff" and that was fine. But it wasn't for him. The idea of a GOD, coming to earth as a human, just to die seemed foolish. "If GOD was really all you say He is, He should just show up and tell us what to do."

So, one Christmas Eve his family went off to church and he settled in to watch TV. But he was interrupted by a pounding on the front window. The man went to see what was up and he noticed a group of birds had flown into the window because of the light. The weather report for that night was well below zero and he began to wonder what would happen to the birds. They were just sitting outside the window.

So, he decided to go outside and see if he could get the birds into the garage. He opened the garage door and turned on the light, then went to the front window and tried to shoo the birds towards the garage. The birds just freaked out, they began to fly around banging into the window. The man went back inside and got a towel. "This will push them towards the garage." He thought. But as he waved the towel around the birds became more frightened and flew off into the cold dark night.

As he stormed back inside, he was muttering to himself, "Stupid birds. I was only trying to help them." And as he sat in front of the TV thinking about what he could have done differently, the thought acured to him, "If he could only have turned into a bird and led them into the safety of the garage..." That's when he got it, "GOD became a man and lived for awhile among us..."

You see, GOD had sent messengers to warn us our sins would lead us to death and hell.
GOD had given us the Bible to teach us that sin will lead us to death and hell.
But we kept on doing things our own way, he ignored GOD's directions to rescue us from death and hell. Like the birds we didn't understand GOD is trying to show us the way to safety.

That's what Christmas is all about, GOD becoming a human, to live among us. To walk with us and show us the way to Salvation.
"Jesus, being in very nature GOD, did not consider equality with GOD something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on the cross. Therefore, GOD has given Him the name that is above all names. That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of GOD The Father."

12/14/2025

Saturday at Food Pantry, we had an interesting message about St Nick-

Do you know who St Nicholas is?
He’s the person who the myth of Santa Claus came from.
Nicholas was from a wealthy family. When his parents were killed, he inherited their vast fortune. Nicholas was a Bishop, so he used his fortune to secretly help the poor.
One example was back in his day, if a family owed money, they could be thrown into jail and sold as slaves to pay off the debt. So often times if there was a daughter in the family, she would be offered for s*x to pay off the debt.
Nicholas heard of a family in his parish that was considering that option, so one night he walked by their house and threw a bag of money through the window three nights in row to help the father pay of his debt. Another story was that he dropped a bag of coins down the chimney so it landed by the children’s socks drying by the fire place. So the story of St Nick filling socks with gifts and candy sprung up.

When I saw the post I attached on Facebook, I had to laugh. I didn’t know St Nick, (supposed ‘Santa Claus.) was a fighter.
“I came here to give gifts and punch Heretics (liars) …and I’m all out of gifts!”

The picture is about another Bishop who was abusing the truths that Jesus taught. And while the other Bishops just sat there, Nicholas got up and punched the guy out!
“‘Santa Claus’ loves you, but he’s not afraid to throw hands.”

Nicholas the Bishop got that attitude from Jesus.
We have this image of Jesus, holding a little lamb, looking serene. Or Jesus with the little children. “He’s so sweet.” But be aware, Jesus is not afraid to whoop some butt.
When religious leaders let rip off artists in the Holy Temple to sell stuff to people who just wanted to worship GOD. Do you know what He did?
He made a rope into a whip and chased the sellers out of the temple. He overturned the tables holding the money they were making.
Jesus isn’t afraid to ‘Throw Hands’ In fact Jesus says that one day He’s coming back to take the people who trust Him and are trying to follow Him, to His Kingdom in Heaven.
And the people who don’t care about GOD and His teachings? This is what Jesus says
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful Angels. - 2 Thessalonians
Nicholas was only imitating Jesus. Jesus came to us, with the riches of Heaven to save us from sin and punishment. All He asks is that we put our trust in Him and follow His teaching.

11/23/2025

What a great Food Pantry, with the opportunity to hand out Holiday Meals to families. Meals donated by Jewel in Randhurst. We also shared this message.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I know that now days people like to politicize old traditions. But Thanksgiving was meant to be a reminder that 2 different cultures came together and survived extreme odds because of selfless help. One of the people that played a major part in the survival of the Pilgrims who had come to share Jesus with the Indians was an Indian names Squanto.
The English and the French had come to the Americas decades earlier to trade with the Indians. On one of those trips a Captain Hunter kidnapped Squanto and several others to take them to Europe and sell them into slavery. Squanto was sold to a Spanish Monk who treated him kindly and freed him from slavery while teaching him about Christianity. Squanto made it to England where he worked in a stable and learned English. Eventually he saved enough money to return to the Americas in1618. Sadley, upon his return he found out his Tribe had died from an epidemic, Influenzas? Smallpox? Whatever it was, English sickness were new to the American Indians and it killed many. Squanto found himself devastated and wondering why GOD would let this happen in his life.

In 1620, the Mayflower arrived. As you may know, the cold winter with lack of supplies was killing these new immigrants to North America. A Friend of Squanto’s, Samoset, came to him and asked him to help these poor English. Since Squanto spoke their language, they were able to teach the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish and plant corn effectively.
Later, Governor Bradford asked Squanto to be the Ambassador between the English and the Indian Tribes. In Bradfords writings he accredited Squanto with the survival of the Pilgrim Colonies, “Without GOD’s providential hand in sending Squanto, the Colony would not have survived.”

This is not the first time GOD has allowed someone to go through a difficult time, only later to see it save the lives of others.
Joseph was a boy who trusted GOD, so GOD always blessed his life. His jealous stepbrothers decided to sell him into slavery to Egypt. As a slave, he trusted GOD and GOD blessed him there too. When he was falsely accused and thrown into prison he kept trusting GOD. And GOD blessed him there as well. Joseph even had a gift to interpret dream. So when the king has a crazy dream that no wiseman can explain, an ex-convict says, “I knew this guy in prison who could interpret dreams.” Joseph not only interprets the dream about disaster for Egypt, but he comes up with a plan that saves not only Egypt but the surrounding areas from a major food shortage. Joseph becomes the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt. And when his stepbrothers come to ask for food during this famine, and realize Joseph is in power! Joseph says, “What you did was meant for evil, but GOD used it for good.” He saved Egypt and his family.

Sometimes life can take a nasty turn. But don’t give up. Squanto and Joseph didn’t and GOD did something beautiful with their lives. He wants to do something beautiful in our lives too.

11/16/2025

What a beautiful day at The Food Pantry. I thought I'd share a this weeks Message for our guests-

It’s been a year now since I had my open-heart surgery. The Doctors found I had a birth defect in my heart, and open-heart surgery was the best solution. They would have to stop my heart, then for 4 hours fix the defect then get my heart started again. I’ll be honest, I trusted GOD was with me, and I trusted the Doctors, so I wasn’t really worried.. until I was rolled into the operating room and saw the machine that would act as my heart while the Doctors did their work. That’s when I realized, “They’re gonna stop my heart.” And I drifted off to sleep from the drugs.
Obviously everything worked out.

But it dawned on me this week, ‘We all have defective hearts.’ Not this heart in our chests, but the heart of our soul, our character. The Bible’s clear, it points out that “All have sinned, all have fallen short of GOD’s perfect plan for their life.” GOD wants to live in Paradise with us, but our defective heart, our soul, chooses to sin. That goes for everyone. The first two people had that relationship with GOD, and they were given one rule. One! And they couldn’t keep it. We’ve all followed that same path, we’ve all sinned and with sin comes punishment.
You see, that’s the problem with a defective heart, the one in our chest and the one in our soul, it will always breakdown. Oh, it may seem fine for awhile, but eventually guilt, shame, fear, not ever feeling satisfied steals our joy. And when that heart dies we are left with punishment for our disobedience.

But GOD is aware of that defect. GOD has had a plan all along to repair the heart of our soul.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will take from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
If you’ve come to Food Pantry for any length of time, you know I say all the time how Jesus died on the cross to be punished for our sins. To actually go to hell for us, and when you put your trust in Him, you are forgiven.
But there’s a second part to that plan, GOD also promises to send His SPIRIT into your heart to give it new life. But to do that, we need to let Him ‘Stop’ our old heart to replace the defect of sin. There’s a word the Bible uses, “Repent” It means ‘Stop what you’re doing, turn around and go the other way.’ I was a drug addict before I met Jesus. I had to “Stop” turn around, and live sober. Someone might be a liar. They need to “Stop.” Turn around and be truthful.
The SPIRIT of GOD in your heart helps your heart change. We may still struggle with old temptations, but now we ask for help to overcome them and find success. And sometimes we mess up and fail, but with this new heart, we ask for forgiveness and for help to do better. Now, we don’t carry around the guilt or shame or fear of hell from sin, because Jesus said, “If you confess your sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.”

10/20/2025

We are Lovin' our Food Pantry times. Let me share a recent message for our families,

Let me tell you a story. Let’s say you’re walking down the street and you see a house that’s on fire. You see smoke coming out of the second floor. Inside, you see a family doing something. Maybe playing monopoly, or on their Phones.
So you run up to the door and start knocking. But no one answers ‘casue they’re so into what they’re doing. You run to the window and start pounding on the glass, and yelling “Fire!”
Now you have their attention.
Hopefully one of them runs out and thanks you, then goes back to get everyone else out before the fire spreads downstairs.
But ‘what if’ they look at you like you’re nuts. “There’s no fire. You’re crazy. Go bug someone else.” Eventually the fire spreads downstairs to their loss.
Or maybe, they acknowledge you. “Thanks. But we just need to finish up this game.” “No worries, we’ve got time.”

That’s crazy talk! But isn’t that how we respond to Jesus?
The New Testament of the Bible, (The part after Jesus rose from the dead and spent 40 days advising over 400 people about His teachings, then ascended into heaven) The New Testament is all about GOD’s people warning us that our ‘house is on fire.’ Because of our sin, we are in danger of the fires of hell. In danger of GOD’s punishing us for our sins. But Jesus tells us this-
“GOD Loves you so much, He sent His only Son. And whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
In essence, Jesus is telling us, “GOD gave you a ‘Get Out of Hell Free card.” When we put our faith, our trust in Jesus, our sins and the punishment we deserve are forgiven.
GOD’s saying, ‘Your life is on fire, but follow Jesus and you’ll be safe.”
Some people believe and are thankful, so they try to live a life of gratitude for what Jesus did.
But there are those who simply don’t believe. They don’t believe they’ve done anything wrong. Maybe they don’t believe in GOD. They just don’t care. But their life is going to come crashing down on them.
But there are also too many who believe that there is a GOD and that Jesus was His son. But they’re still young. They have a lot of fun things they wanna do. There’s no rush. But like the house in the story, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Our hope is that you will want to do more than just think Jesus is a good guy. But that you will let Him to be the leader of your life. To trust Him and get to know Him better.

Higher Up Ministries

05/13/2026

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