1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:03,400 Well, good morning crossing Church. 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,920 How are you doing today? It is a good day. 3 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:08,800 It's a good day to be in the House of the Lord. 4 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,920 It's a good day to be with the people of the Lord and there's 5 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,760 no better way that you can start your week than that way. 6 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,440 I want to welcome everyone that's joining from all of our 7 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,560 locations all over this three state area. 8 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,960 If you're inside or you're online, we are thankful for you 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,080 joining with us as well and we pray that it'll be a blessing to 10 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:35,440 you that you spent time in God's word today and we would all join 11 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:41,880 in that blessing together. So we're in a series called 12 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,240 God's Way is the best Way, right? 13 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:49,200 And is that all the time or is that just some time? 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,960 It really is. It really is all the time. 15 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:55,240 So there are times when you're down. 16 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,640 There's times when the challenges or overwhelming you, 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:03,040 There are other times when maybe you would describe your life as 18 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:07,920 up and to the right. You know, that's kind of the way 19 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:12,640 that a lot of people in that are kind of in a success mode want 20 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,720 to see their lives described up and to the right, like on a 21 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,160 graph. It just keeps getting better and 22 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:20,560 better. And you and I all know that we 23 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,000 have different times and seasons in life where that would not be 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,040 a good description, but sometimes it is. 25 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,840 I have to say, in my life, the last couple of weeks have been 26 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:39,280 incredibly up and to the right. Last week, I got to take my my 27 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,280 entire family, fourteen of us to Disney World. 28 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:46,760 Some of you would think that is not up and to the right. 29 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,360 Some of you would go, that's like a horrible thing. 30 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:53,480 And it's absolute not true as far as I'm concerned. 31 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:57,400 It was incredible. And Allison's been planning that 32 00:01:57,400 --> 00:01:59,120 for a long time. You know, we got the credit 33 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,360 cards that are the Disney cards to try to get points. 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,480 And we've been, she's been working on that for years. 35 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:11,039 But last August was Allison and my 25th anniversary being here 36 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:16,080 at the Crossing. And thank you. 25 years. 37 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:22,120 That's pretty good. And at 8:30 on a Sunday morning, 38 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,280 about 1/2 an hour before services started here at the 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,040 48th Street campus, the elders asked if they could meet with me 40 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,520 in the green room and Allison that we would be back there. 41 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,880 And they kind of shoot everybody else out. 42 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:40,000 And they spent some time sharing with me their appreciation for 43 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,120 that 25 years and Allison. And while they were talking, I 44 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,720 noticed that there was a little, there was a white box and it was 45 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,400 like a box you put a cake in. It had a little ribbon on it. 46 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:52,440 And I go, they're going to give me a cake. 47 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:55,280 That's really, that's really cool. 48 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:58,320 They're going to give me a cake. And they handed it to Allison 49 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,600 instead of me. And. 50 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,840 Yeah. Well, and she opened it and I 51 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,640 and I don't know what she was expecting, but inside there were 52 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:13,080 luggage tags for 14 people to go to Disney World. 53 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,560 And. And they knew that we were 54 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,040 planning that. And they said, we want to kick 55 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,400 that up a notch. And so we not only got to go to 56 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,320 Disney World, we got to go to Disney World first class. 57 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:27,200 And yeah, it was absolutely incredible. 58 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:31,440 And I, I, I mean, I've got videos like I can't do, I don't 59 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,160 have time for that. But I'm just trying to describe 60 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:40,360 to you how that felt, how, how it felt, you know, because kids 61 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,680 when they're preachers kids, they have their own little 62 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:44,400 purgatory that they have to live in. 63 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,720 And, and, and you know, I looked at them and it was like a 64 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:52,400 thankful, it was a thankful time not for just, you know, the 65 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,760 relationship between Allison and I and the crossing, but also 66 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,680 with our kids. And everybody got to be blessed. 67 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,480 I only have one granddaughter. I have 4 grandsons. 68 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,760 And I got to take her Allison, and I got to be the ones to take 69 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,720 her to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where she was 70 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,000 completely made-up as the Princess of her choice. 71 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:22,040 And then, you know, to go out, to step out with the hair and 72 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,120 the the whole deal. And she's seven years old. 73 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:26,880 It's perfect time. And I actually watched her 74 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:32,080 change before my eyes. When it's one thing when your 75 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,000 grandfather or your grandmother or your mom and dad tell you 76 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,440 that you're beautiful and you're wonderful, but it's different 77 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,360 when you look in the mirror and you see that for yourself. 78 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,880 And the rest of the day she was walking like this. 79 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:54,000 Her, her cousins, all my grandsons, they, they as soon as 80 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,760 they saw her, they were like overwhelmed. 81 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,640 And they started hugging her that some of them bowed. 82 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,960 How can you not say that an experience like that and all the 83 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,280 other things that are associated with it. 84 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:11,040 I think Clayton talked a few weeks ago about going to Disney 85 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:13,920 and he talked about rise of the resistance and waiting in line 86 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,320 for 3 1/2 hours. Oh, not us. 87 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,000 We had the lightning lane thing. You know, we just like walk on 88 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 rides. It was awesome, you know, 89 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,120 absolutely incredible. And I have to describe that my 90 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:33,280 life last week was definitely up and to the right just before we 91 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:37,080 left on that trip. My son's Joe, my son Joey's 92 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,680 church, he runs multi site tech for this church. 93 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:45,000 They had a big conference, a lot of big name speakers and one of 94 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,720 the people that were that was working with those speakers in 95 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,360 the booth got to talking to him about his life. 96 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,280 And Joey was talking about us and, you know, being in ministry 97 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,360 their our whole lives and, and, and he said, so are you, are you 98 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,600 all right? And he goes, yeah, yeah, we're 99 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:05,560 we're we're all doing, we're all doing fine. 100 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,000 He goes, your parents are OK. And he's like, yeah, they're 101 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,200 doing great. Marriage is OK. 102 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,640 Yeah. How about the kids? 103 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:15,480 Are they still in relationship with Jesus? 104 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,600 Yeah, all four of them are. He goes. 105 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:23,840 You know how rare that is? It's incredibly rare. 106 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,320 Preachers in large churches able to retain their marriages, their 107 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,480 families and their faith in that framework. 108 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:36,600 You know what? I have to give God the glory for 109 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,200 that. I want to give God the glory for 110 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:43,600 that, for the success of this church and our family being 111 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,080 intact. And that truly is success. 112 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,160 That truly is up and to the right. 113 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,040 Now, you probably know people, I know people that could be 114 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,640 described that way. And I don't want to be too 115 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:02,600 binary in my thinking, but you know, some people have that kind 116 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,720 of a life, maybe because they were born into it. 117 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,760 You know, it that there's a lot of privilege in their life and 118 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:14,800 and that maybe they inherited it or they stand to inherit it and 119 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,960 and you know, they receive whatever they receive, maybe not 120 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,840 so much out of their own effort, but by effort that existed 121 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:24,600 before them. And then there's others that 122 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:29,000 kind of claw their way, right to have that description over their 123 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,640 life, this idea of up and to the right. 124 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,080 I've been to a lot of preachers conferences and you know, 125 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,920 there's some preacher families or ministry families that are 126 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,520 like dynasties, like they have a last name and everybody is kind 127 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,800 of following that like the family business. 128 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,160 And because of that they they have relationships and networks 129 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,240 and they have a lot of opportunities. 130 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,720 Maybe other people that feel called into the ministry but 131 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,240 that don't have all of those might find a lot more difficult. 132 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:08,240 So some people might have that privilege, other people may have 133 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:14,400 sacrificed greatly, but you probably know people or others 134 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:21,440 may describe you as a life that is up and to the right now. 135 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,440 You know, that's a wonderful thing, but it can also be a 136 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,320 trap. Can I get a name in for that? 137 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:30,920 It can be a trap because you can be led to believe that whatever 138 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,480 kind of blessing you have in life, that's you did that. 139 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,240 Like you're responsible for that, like you should get the 140 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,760 credit for that. And what I want to say is, 141 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,520 whether life is good or bad, all the glory needs to go to God. 142 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,160 All the glory always needs to go to God. 143 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,440 Because when you're giving the credit to God, you're putting it 144 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,760 where it belongs. In the book of Luke, we have two 145 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:00,800 stories that are actually very interesting stories, descriptive 146 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:08,720 of two lives that are up and to the right and particularly the 147 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:13,720 area of wealth. But apart from that similarity, 148 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:16,800 these two stories couldn't be any more different. 149 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:21,800 And one of the stories, we don't know the person's name. 150 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,280 We we have a description of this person, but not their name. 151 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:30,320 And you would recognize this person by this description. 152 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:37,120 Rich young ruler. There's a second person who is 153 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,920 described by name also a very successful life, and you would 154 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:47,280 recognize him maybe more by his attributes, but he has a very 155 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:51,240 specific name, even a song that goes with it if you're a kid, 156 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:57,280 and that's Zacchaeus. Both individuals lives could be 157 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,040 described as up and to the right. 158 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:05,800 And if we take these two lives and we lay them over our lives, 159 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:10,160 I wonder if we can get a better understanding of how we need 160 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:15,240 when those blessed moments come our way, how we can live those 161 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:21,000 moments out, giving glory to God and not getting caught in a 162 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:24,840 trap. I'm going to read from Luke 18, 163 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,000 verses 18 to 23. We're going to learn a little 164 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:34,160 bit about the rich young ruler, says a certain ruler asked him, 165 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,800 Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 166 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,120 Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, No one is good 167 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,040 except God alone. You know the commandments. 168 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,480 You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall 169 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:52,720 not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your 170 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,280 father and mother. All of these I've kept since I 171 00:10:56,280 --> 00:11:01,200 was a boy, he said. When Jesus heard this, he said 172 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:02,800 to him, You still lack one thing. 173 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,360 Sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and you'll have 174 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,280 treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. 175 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:15,800 And when he heard this, he became very sad because he was 176 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:21,800 very wealthy. There's a lot to unpack in this 177 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,840 story, a lot more than I have time to do today. 178 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:28,160 And this story is recorded in three of the gospels, Matthew, 179 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,720 Mark and Luke. And it's important that you have 180 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,800 a view of all three of them because they all give more 181 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,120 insight into the person and his story. 182 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:42,440 We call him Rich because that part of his description is 183 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:47,600 mentioned in all three accounts. We call him Young because that's 184 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:51,960 mentioned in Matthew's account. And we call him a ruler because 185 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:58,520 Luke records that. And the idea that I kind of 186 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:04,120 connect to the beginning of what I said today, that I, I think 187 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:10,160 that this was a, a person who inherited his wealth comes from 188 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:14,000 what he says in two of those gospels, which is what must I 189 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:15,760 do? And he uses this word to 190 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:20,840 inherit, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 191 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:27,520 So maybe that was the way he understood things coming to him 192 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:29,920 in his life. You don't have to. 193 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,880 You don't have to think very far out to understand that. 194 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,320 Now, before we judge this guy or condemn this guy, there's a 195 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:44,000 couple of other things that I want us to read and understand 196 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,880 about him. And that's in the book of Mark, 197 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:54,640 specifically in Mark chapter 10 in verse 17, it says as Jesus 198 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:59,240 started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees 199 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:02,160 before him. Good teacher, He asked, what 200 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,760 must I do to inherit eternal life? 201 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:09,040 What does that tell you about this guy that he's not putting 202 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,440 on heirs? He's not like walking in front 203 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:16,320 of Jesus with his, you know, like super cool outfit, you 204 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,920 know, like check me out. Wouldn't you like to have me 205 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:22,520 follow you? Wouldn't you like me to be in 206 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,400 your entourage of people? No, he runs up to him. 207 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:32,120 He falls down and bows before him on his knees, showing this 208 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,960 total humility, recognizing the authority of Jesus to speak over 209 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,600 this thing when he asked him that. 210 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:45,160 So that tells you a lot about this man's heart just because he 211 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:50,800 was wealthy and because he is a man of position, you know, and, 212 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,520 and had all of his life in front of him because he was young. 213 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:58,360 It didn't mean that he let that go to his head, right? 214 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,840 He can still be humble. He can still recognize 215 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:05,760 greatness. He wasn't afraid to do that. 216 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:11,000 There's another scripture that I want to call your attention to 217 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,120 and it's in verse 21. It says Jesus looked at him and 218 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:19,800 loved him. When he said one thing you lack, 219 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,040 go sell everything you have, give it to the poor. 220 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,560 Then you'll have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. 221 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:32,240 When I read that, I read that Jesus had a really positive 222 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,080 attitude toward him. So he had a very humble attitude 223 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,600 toward Jesus. Even though he was this man of 224 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,560 position and Jesus had a great attitude towards him, He loved 225 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,480 him. Do you think that Jesus was 226 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,680 setting him up to use him as a sermon illustration? 227 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,240 You think that Jesus was wanting to use this guy, Or do you think 228 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:56,800 that Jesus truly, as the the gospel says, loved him? 229 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:04,440 Oh, I, I agree with the gospel that he loved him, not just an 230 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:09,760 illustration for the crowd. Jesus honestly wanted him to get 231 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,960 what he was saying. When we read a little bit 232 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,840 further, we we understand that this young man was someone who 233 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,680 kept the rules of his faith. You notice that Jesus doesn't 234 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,040 dispute that. He doesn't say, you know, you 235 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,480 really aren't keeping the rule. You really aren't doing it the 236 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:26,080 way you're supposed to be doing it. 237 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,640 So he was a guy who was definitely putting in the 238 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:38,560 spiritual effort. The Matthew record of this says 239 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,320 Jesus says you need one more thing to be perfect. 240 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:44,400 And that word in the original language means to be complete. 241 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,080 You want to, you want to cover this all the way, You want to 242 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,800 dot all the Is and cross all the TS, then you need to do this. 243 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,800 And that's when he said, sell all that you have. 244 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,760 Give it to the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven 245 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,440 and then you'll, you can come and follow me. 246 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,800 The idea of giving his wealth in order to follow Jesus, though, 247 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,120 was something that this man was not willing to do. 248 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,520 He had an emotional reaction to the fact that he wasn't. 249 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:25,040 He was very sad. The Bible says, I want you to 250 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:26,600 know what's actually happening here. 251 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,800 This man is experiencing a calling. 252 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,440 Jesus put a calling on his life. I mean, it's one of the most 253 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:37,440 obvious callings in the Bible, right? 254 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,000 I mean, there's Jesus. He says sell all this stuff, 255 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,560 walk away from it, you'll come and follow me even tells him 256 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:52,280 that he's going to have heavenly treasure, right? 257 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,960 That's a calling. And to understand this is a 258 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:02,560 calling because the rest of the disciples that were following 259 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,680 Jesus did the same thing, right? We read about Peter, Andrew, 260 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,240 James and John, those four disciples that were all 261 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,400 fishermen, and it says that they walked away from their boats and 262 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,880 they walked away from their Nets and they walked away from a 263 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:17,440 miraculous catch. And they said, we're following 264 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:19,480 you now. We're walking away from our old 265 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,119 life. They had all done that. 266 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,800 So Jesus wasn't asking this young man to do anything that he 267 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,040 hadn't asked everyone else already. 268 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,000 And this calling was something greater than all of his wealth, 269 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:42,760 all of his influence, and all of his life potential could ever 270 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:47,080 provide him. You know, some people might read 271 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:49,200 that at first reading. They might say, well, that was 272 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,760 just too hard for this guy. It wasn't too hard for this guy. 273 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,680 I want you to understand something about Jesus. 274 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:01,120 It wasn't too hard because Jesus will never ask you to do 275 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:04,320 something that He hasn't already provided for. 276 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,000 He has already given you every bit of what you need to do what 277 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,000 He says. He will not unfairly ask you to 278 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,480 do the impossible. He will only ask you what He has 279 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:24,160 given you the ability to do. And this man had the ability. 280 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:31,040 So it was a choice that he made a hard choice, but it was a 281 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,880 choice. And the way he did it, way Jesus 282 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,800 did it with this guy's very interesting. 283 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,800 He made the commandments because Jesus asked him, have you kept 284 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,360 the commandments right. And and he, he lists some of 285 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:48,520 them out and the young man says, I've kept all of them from when 286 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,520 I from the time I was a boy. Now, in his own mind, that was 287 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,240 true. In his own mind, he wasn't a a 288 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,760 liar, wasn't a thief. He wasn't an adulterer. 289 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,880 He'd put God first in his life. He was a deeply religious 290 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:07,080 person. All of those things were true to 291 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:12,120 this guy until Jesus contextualized it into his life. 292 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,840 What Jesus did was he made it that commandment, real and 293 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:18,320 personal. What's the first commandment? 294 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,880 I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of 295 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,520 Egypt. You shall have no other gods 296 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,920 before me. Well, this guy hadn't been 297 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:33,440 worshipping any idols, but did he have a priority in his life 298 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:39,600 that was greater than his God? He did, and the choice proved 299 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:43,000 it. So in his own mind, he wasn't 300 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,680 breaking any commandments. But the truth of the matter was, 301 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,720 in the spirit of that commandment, He'd already broken 302 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,760 it, which mean he'd broken them all, just like us. 303 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,000 See, when Jesus made it personal, He changed the weight 304 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:07,280 of the commandment. Did this guy's money come before 305 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,800 his God? Was it his money at all? 306 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,640 Had it ever been his money? Listen to me. 307 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:17,880 We all have abilities. We all have talents. 308 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,720 Some of us have more than others, but we all have at least 309 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,800 one. But a talent does not become a 310 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,040 gift until you give it back to God. 311 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:37,880 A talent OR an ability does not become a gift until you give it 312 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:45,760 back to the one who provided it. You see, whatever God gave you 313 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,000 is something that He wants you to honor Him first with. 314 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,440 That was God's way for this young man's life. 315 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,480 That was the best way for his life. 316 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:04,600 That was the purest way for his life, but he didn't follow it. 317 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:09,440 Now, this is where the Bible leaves the story of the rich 318 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:14,520 young ruler after Jesus does some teaching on it. 319 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,240 But I want you to know this. That's where it ends. 320 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:27,360 Then I wonder how many stories there are of people who maybe at 321 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:32,920 the particular time said no, but then later on said yes. 322 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:38,800 Do you think that this calling on this young man's life was his 323 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,160 only chance? Do you think that's the way God 324 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:44,360 is? He gives you one. 325 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,120 How many of you think God that God is a God of one chance? 326 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,720 How many of you think that God is a God of second chances? 327 00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:00,320 How many of you believe that God is a God of 72nd chances? 328 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,280 How many of you are in an illustration of 72nd chances? 329 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:10,240 So am I. I don't know what the rest of 330 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:14,320 the story is with this guy, but we have enough stories in the 331 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,040 New Testament to show us that just because we make the wrong 332 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,680 decision doesn't mean that God will completely abandoned us. 333 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,000 What we learned from him is that God's way is the best way and we 334 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,520 need to go all in. But I want to ask you a 335 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,360 question. What does going all in for Jesus 336 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:44,280 look like for you, and what might be preventing you from 337 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:48,920 going all in with Jesus? Are there things in this story 338 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:53,120 that you can relate to where maybe you've kind of kept the 339 00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:58,080 rules, but you've kind of messed with the spirit of the 340 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:06,520 commandment? Are you trying to negotiate with 341 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:10,880 Jesus? Are you hearing that call on 342 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:15,880 your life? Next illustration, this is 343 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:21,320 Zacchaeus. Now we read this in Luke 19, one 344 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,760 through 10, and this is what it says. 345 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,960 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through and a man was 346 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,040 there by the name of Zacchaeus, and he was the chief tax 347 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:36,800 collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, 348 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,160 but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. 349 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:45,560 So we ran ahead and climbed a Sycamore fig tree to see him, 350 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,320 since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he 351 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,160 looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down 352 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,680 immediately. I must stay at your house. 353 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,640 So he came down at once and welcomed him, welcomed him 354 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,280 gladly. All the people saw this. 355 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,240 All the people saw this and began to mutter. 356 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,760 How many people began to mutter? All of them. 357 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,760 He is gone to be the guest of a Sinner. 358 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,560 Wow. If Jesus ever came to your 359 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:24,920 house, would people mutter? Would they say he's gone to be 360 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:31,280 the guest of a Sinner? Yeah, and you'd be right because 361 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:36,280 we're all sinners. But Zacchaeus stood up and said 362 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,760 to the Lord, Look, Lord, here and now I give half of my 363 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,800 possessions to the poor, and if I've cheated anybody out of 364 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,280 anything, I'll pay him back four times the amount. 365 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,720 Did Jesus tell him that there was one thing he lacked? 366 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,640 Did Jesus tell him? Did he give him a calling saying 367 00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,760 this is what you need to do, take your money, give it to the 368 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,960 poor? No, Jesus never asked him 369 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,240 anything. He was just eating a sandwich. 370 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,600 Jesus said to him, today's salvation has come to this house 371 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,920 because this man too is the son of Abraham. 372 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:18,000 For the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. 373 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,880 You know, this story is only found in the book of Luke. 374 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,560 I think that's interesting. There's some other stories like 375 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,640 that in Luke, like the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the 376 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,360 two men from Emmaus. There's more. 377 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,880 And like the rich young Ruler, Zacchaeus was rich. 378 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,800 But again, that's really where the similarity ended. 379 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,640 While the rich Ruler would have been looked up to by the people, 380 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,680 loved and honored by the people, Zacchaeus would have been 381 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,120 despised by the people. That's clear. 382 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,480 They were muttering, calling him a Sinner, but it was way deeper 383 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,360 than that. They had. 384 00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:00,400 They had a hatred for Zacchaeus. Why? 385 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,720 Because he was a tax collector, and tax collectors were Roman 386 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,000 sympathizers. But Zacchaeus wasn't just a tax 387 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:13,920 collector, he was the chief tax collector, which means all the 388 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,160 other tax collectors in that region worked for him. 389 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,080 And the way they made their money was not by charging taxes, 390 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:27,680 it was by overcharging taxes. The more you could get over the 391 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,640 bill, the more wealthy you became. 392 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,160 And you know all the tax collectors under Zacchaeus had 393 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,040 to pay him back. They all had to give some to 394 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:43,760 him. This is how Zacchaeus became 395 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,240 wealthy. This is why he was despised. 396 00:26:53,190 --> 00:26:56,910 There is no indication that the rich young ruler gave up 397 00:26:56,910 --> 00:27:03,920 anything for his wealth, but Zacchaeus for his wealth. 398 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:09,440 He'd given up everything. His reputation, his 399 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:13,800 relationships, his honor, his respect. 400 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,560 Why? Why would Zacchaeus do that? 401 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,760 Well, for some reason he really wanted a life described worldly 402 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:27,800 as up and to the right. He wanted money. 403 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,400 Do you think it had anything to do with being short? 404 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,240 Is it possible that he used something that he might have 405 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,480 been ridiculed for to fuel his desire for success? 406 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,960 Do you think that some people seek wealth because they know 407 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,320 what it's like not to have, or they want people to view them 408 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:52,160 differently? If we can't be the man, maybe we 409 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:53,800 ought to try to stick it to the man. 410 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:57,800 I'm going to ask you what's behind those things in your 411 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,200 life. What drives you, you see, was 412 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,440 Zacchaeus. You can see that Jesus saw 413 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:09,280 through all that stuff, and he saw through it to Zacchaeus the 414 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,680 person, even as at a distance up in this tree. 415 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,320 See, there's this empty place in Zacchaeus's heart that he keeps 416 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,360 filling with money. He just keeps piling the money. 417 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,520 But no matter how much money he piles into his own heart, it's 418 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,320 never enough. It never satisfies him. 419 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:33,600 He could never get it full, but this day was his divine 420 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,320 appointment day. And I love the fact that Jesus 421 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,680 calls him by name. How in the world would Jesus 422 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,600 know Zacchaeus, his name from Zacchaeus? 423 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,840 How does he know my name? How would that affect you to 424 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,040 have Jesus call you by name? I love that. 425 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:58,080 I love the fact that Jesus said I must stay at this house. 426 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,240 It tells you that this was part of his plan. 427 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,120 I love the fact that Jesus ignored those who judged him. 428 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,800 You call him whatever you want. You can call me whatever you 429 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,120 want, doesn't matter. I'm going to go seek and save 430 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:16,640 that lost guy. I love the fact that Zacchaeus 431 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,720 gave without being prompted. And I love the fact that Jesus 432 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,800 declared not just Zacchaeus saved, but the whole house 433 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:30,040 saved, that he called him a son of Abraham when other people 434 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,400 were calling a son of a son of something else. 435 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:39,400 And that seeking and saving the lost is what Jesus does. 436 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:43,360 Now I'm going to get real transparent with you because 437 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:48,200 when I read these two stories, the person that I relate to is 438 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,240 Zacchaeus. And there's a reason for that. 439 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,520 You see, I, I've spent my whole senior ministry life in small 440 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,720 towns. And when I went to Bible 441 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,800 college, I had this big idea, had this big idea of what God 442 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:07,920 was going to do in my life. I, that was kind of how I 443 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,400 translated The Calling. And it was a totally selfish, 444 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:16,480 convoluted idea that I had. I wanted to be famous. 445 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,560 And then he put me in Rochedale, Indiana, for 11 years. 446 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:31,160 Well, that'll cure that. And I kind of developed this 447 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,320 attitude. I didn't kind of develop it. 448 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,480 I developed an attitude and an attitude that I actually brought 449 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,600 to Quincy with me. So I never got over it when I 450 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,120 was in Rochdale. And when I came here, a smaller 451 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,160 town, a smaller church at the time than the church in 452 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,240 Rochdale. It's a much smaller building. 453 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:58,720 I, I, I took this idea of being overlooked for years and I used 454 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,440 it as a motivational tool, personal motivational tool. 455 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:07,680 And I can see all these other people that were doing so well 456 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,200 in ministry in these big churches, in these big cities, 457 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:17,200 big budgets and lots of tools. And I started to say to myself, 458 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,400 you know what? I'll show them. 459 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:25,160 I'll stick it to them. They won't overlook me anymore. 460 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,320 And that was my fuel for ministry. 461 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,320 You think that was of God? Do you think that came from the 462 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:33,400 throne of God? Do you think that's what God 463 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:38,000 wanted me to use to motivate me to be successful in ministry? 464 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,080 Do you think there's higher, better things than that kind of 465 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:44,280 selfishness? But I'm not in my life. 466 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:50,400 And it was 2006. I got AI got a letter on my on 467 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,040 my desk. I opened it up and I was invited 468 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:58,520 to a mega church pastor's luncheon in Kansas City, MO. 469 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,280 And I was like, wow, they, they actually know that I'm here. 470 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,880 Somebody figured that out and they invited me to this luncheon 471 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,160 and it was only four hour drive away. 472 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:14,760 And so I said, you know what, I'm going. 473 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,800 So Allison, I got in the car, we drove over there and I remember 474 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:23,920 I walked into and into this luncheon room and all of these 475 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:29,520 like, like big shots in the independent Christian Church 476 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:31,640 were in there. And I'm like, look, you know who 477 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:32,840 that is? Who's that? 478 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,600 You know, I'm, I'm fangirling like big time. 479 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,240 And the the guy that was the pastor of the church where I was 480 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,400 ordained was sitting there and I know sooner got in the room and 481 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,680 he looked at me because he never took a personal interest in what 482 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:52,880 I was doing at that time. And do you know what he said to 483 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,080 me? You think he said, I'm so glad 484 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,600 to see you here. He said these exact words. 485 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:07,000 What are you doing here in front of my wife and I? 486 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:13,480 There's my fuel. Part of me wanted to say, well, 487 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:19,640 because my church is bigger than yours, I'm telling you that's, 488 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:21,440 that's the sinfulness in my heart. 489 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:26,720 That's real. He just didn't know it. 490 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,240 When that luncheon was over, which was a great luncheon, a 491 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,120 guy came up to me named Ben Kacharis. 492 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:37,800 And, and he's in Baltimore, MD and, and he said, Hey, Jerry, we 493 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,640 have this, this thing that we do every year. 494 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,000 We have a, a, a mega church pastors retreat. 495 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,160 Would you consider coming? We'd love to have you. 496 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:52,160 Like he just invited me to this like retreat thing and I said I 497 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,360 would love to come. And Allison, I talked about it. 498 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,000 Well, I'll tell you what, it started freaking me out. 499 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,640 Like before I went, it was kind of, it was weird. 500 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,320 And we went there and I was so intimidated because you have to 501 00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:09,679 understand for me and my world, these guys were like comic book 502 00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:12,840 heroes. They were like larger than life. 503 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:16,960 At the time, the largest church in the independent Christian 504 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,880 Church was Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY, ran 505 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,760 about 20,000 a weekend. And the senior pastor at that 506 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,639 time was Dave Stone. Dave and Beth Stone and I, we 507 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:31,520 were walking through a lobby and Dave and Beth were sitting on on 508 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,000 a couch and they said, you're Jerry Harris, right? 509 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,560 And Allison Harris, come and sit down. 510 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:39,920 Let's talk. And I started to freak out. 511 00:34:41,679 --> 00:34:42,560 I don't. What am I going to say? 512 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:43,600 I mean, I'm going to say the right thing. 513 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:44,600 I'm going to say the wrong thing. 514 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,719 I didn't feel, you know, what it was like. 515 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:53,840 Do you know what I found out? I found out that my motives in 516 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:59,680 my heart were sinful motives that I would judge people so 517 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,560 that I could feel better about myself. 518 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,720 And you know what God did in that retreat? 519 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:11,920 He exposed that sin in my heart, and together we had to deal with 520 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:16,160 it. You know, I published a magazine 521 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:21,800 called Christian Standard, and Dave Stone wrote an article for 522 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,280 it. And I was preparing this sermon. 523 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:29,320 And, and, you know, he texted me and I texted him back. 524 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,000 And I said, you know, I've been thinking about you this week. 525 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,520 You have no idea what you did in 2006. 526 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:40,640 You and Beth sitting on that couch, making me feel like I 527 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,720 belonged. See, that's where Zacchaeus was. 528 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,720 He was a person for his own reasons that didn't feel like he 529 00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:55,880 belonged. And then Jesus said, no, you 530 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,920 belong. You're a son of Abraham. 531 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:05,120 The Bible talks about accidental finders and earnest seekers. 532 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:07,920 Jesus does talks about the treasure hid in the field. 533 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:09,840 The guy just stumbles over it, right? 534 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,360 He was an accidental Finder. But then it talks about this 535 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,280 Pearl of great price that this Pearl merchant finds. 536 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:21,280 He was an earnest seeker. Both of those individuals in the 537 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,400 Bible, the rich young ruler and Zacchaeus, both wanted to 538 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:30,480 inherit eternal life. They were both earnest seekers. 539 00:36:31,720 --> 00:36:36,000 One was willing to pay a price, so willing that he didn't even 540 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,280 need to be asked. The other went away in sorrow 541 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,960 because he wasn't willing to lay down what he could never hold on 542 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,640 to for something that was priceless that he could never 543 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:51,920 lose. One came to improve his own life 544 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:57,160 plan. The other came to discover God's 545 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:01,000 plan. And that's my question for you. 546 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:08,440 Here you are, all of our locations inside online. 547 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:14,800 Why are you here? What are you willing to let God 548 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:26,960 do to change your life? Because God's way is what we're 549 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:37,680 moving to a time of decision. We do so much. 550 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:43,840 We work so hard to try to give people a positive opinion of us. 551 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:54,120 And it's so much easier to live our lives with a minimum of 552 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,160 faith instead of a maximum of faith, right? 553 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:03,480 So we don't want to have faith about how people view us. 554 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:08,680 We want to be able to hear their approval and see their approval, 555 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:13,160 you know, in their eyes. And so we go to great lengths to 556 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:19,840 get that approval. There's a lot, right? 557 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:24,280 Now that makes up your life. That is all based on that, 558 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:29,640 right? The thing that your family. 559 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:33,480 'S involved in. House, you live the 560 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:36,600 neighborhood. You live in car, you drive 561 00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,360 clothes, you wear places. Where you go out to. 562 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:46,480 Eat the friends you have associations you're a part of. 563 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:52,000 There's so much so. Much investment that we. 564 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,880 Put in that. How much investment? 565 00:38:56,280 --> 00:39:01,720 Do we put in the space of faith where we're more concerned about 566 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:10,800 what does God think of me? Well, you don't earn how God 567 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:14,120 views you. That's good news. 568 00:39:15,720 --> 00:39:18,480 Matter of fact, you. Can't earn that. 569 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,160 And even though. You can't earn God's love and 570 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,480 you can't earn God's respect and. 571 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,600 You can't manipulate. God's view of you. 572 00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:37,040 I can tell you this. That. 573 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:44,760 God loves. You with a furious love that he. 574 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,200 Loves you with an. Overwhelming love. 575 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:53,680 That if you were to feel the. Full force of God's love roll 576 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,120 over you. You would drown in it. 577 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:01,920 That God's love is so great, it's more than you can imagine. 578 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:06,480 That's how he. Feels about you. 579 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:13,800 Our life. Isn't an action when it comes to 580 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:17,760 God and faith. It's a response because God's 581 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:22,360 the one who always initiates. That's why Romans 5. 582 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:25,840 Eight says while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 583 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,720 And what was he doing? The first part of that verse? 584 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:33,040 God demonstrated his love. He demonstrates it today, His 585 00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,520 love for us, and that while we were still sinners, while we 586 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:39,960 didn't care a bit. And he died for us. 587 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:45,160 He initiates. He's always initiated. 588 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:56,040 What's your response? How much of who you are are you 589 00:40:56,040 --> 00:41:05,920 holding back for yourself? And how much of your life is 590 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:14,640 simply a response? Thanking him, loving him back. 591 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,960 See if I added up. There was. 11 years at. 592 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:29,600 Rochdale, a few years here and three or four years before that, 593 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:36,800 15 maybe, you know, 18 years of my ministry life, totally self 594 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:43,320 absorbed do you think? That God loved me any. 595 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:47,120 Less. No was. 596 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:52,160 He patient was I, the rich young ruler who was very sad and 597 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:55,120 walked away. I can't tell you how many times 598 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,320 if you're here today and you don't have an intimate personal 599 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:05,360 relationship with Jesus Christ right now, right now you can do 600 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:06,480 that. There's going to be somebody 601 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,680 right over there by that baptistry that would love to 602 00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:10,160 talk to you and pray with you about it. 603 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:11,880 Right now you can do that online. 604 00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:15,200 You can press that button and you can talk to somebody online 605 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,160 right now. You don't have to put it off 606 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:19,400 anymore. Do you have to have someone 607 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:23,240 motivate you anymore or can you just take Jesus at His Word? 608 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:30,080 And some of you today need to lay something down and that's. 609 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:33,040 What these steps are for? To come up here and just lay it 610 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:37,000 down and just say this is a sacrifice that you deserve. 611 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,920 This is something that I never, never deserved, Lord and I, I 612 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,480 just want you to know that I want to put it behind me. 613 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,560 I want more of you and less of me. 614 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:51,600 Would you stand with me? Let God work in your heart. 615 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,400 Listen to Him. Don't listen to me. 616 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:57,480 Listen to that small still voice inside your heart and then 617 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,320 respond to that. Heavenly Father, in Jesus name, 618 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:02,840 please take this moment. Use it for your glory. 619 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:07,960 Father, help us to understand your grace on a deeper level to 620 00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,200 go just go down one more step into that grace to understand 621 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,320 just how much love you have for us and what you gave and 622 00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:18,160 continue to give for us. I pray. 623 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:24,280 That you would do that. In Jesus name, Amen.