Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Love Quest International
Church podcast, where we seek to love all nations, equip the
church, mobilize the equipped, and serve all.
We're super glad you're joining us from whenever and wherever
you're at in the world. Welcome to the family to get
your Bibles ready, get some water, get some coffee, maybe
some tea, and get ready to receive.
Let's get into it. Not only today are cemeteries
filled with dead bodies, hospitals filled with
compromised health and prisons filled with criminals, I could
also say there's non criminals. There is one theme that runs
through graves, prisons and hospital rooms alike and that is
regret. The echo of Shoulda, Coulda
Woulda still rings loud in the souls of millions today, past,
present and future. And if Shoulda coulda Woulda
could be captured in one single question, it would be this
question. What if?
What if I tried? What if I obeyed?
What if I trusted? What if I didn't let fear
decide? Because fear doubted fear and
doubt and anxiety and insecurity and sabotage and codependency
and unbroken strongholds have kept far too many people
standing at the edge of destiny but never stepping into it.
And the greatest tragedy today in this room, it is not failing,
it is not loss, and it is not rejection.
The greatest tragedy is this the tragedy of never finding out?
What if the tragedy of never finding out it's standing before
God one day realizing obedience was offered and I never found
out what my yes could have become?
One day every life will be weighed, every choice revealed,
and every yes or no will be accounted for.
Today going to look at this story through two lenses at the
same time. 1 lens. It asked this what does this
mean for my life right now? What does this mean for my life
right now? This is existential.
We we look through the lens of existential.
Who am I becoming right now? What does this mean right now?
And then the second will be, what does this mean when I stand
before God? This is eschatological.
Who will I answer to? Eschatological is speaking to
eternity. It is speaking to my eternal
balance. It is speaking to being with the
Lord or for some people not. It is.
It is reaching into eternity with the questions and the
thinking that I am asking and reflecting on.
So existential is about now who am I becoming?
And then eschatological is about who will I answer to at the end.
This isn't just a message today about about about forever or
just about today. The question, it really started
in Matthew 19, verse 16. And it starts with this one
question by this guy we've heard of.
Someone came to him and said, Teacher, what essentially good
thing shall I do to obtain eternal life, that is eternal
salvation in the Messiah's Kingdom?
What shall I do? Before God speaks, he often
steals us that be still, remember, be still.
And no, before he speaks, he asked us to what?
Be still. Not because he's quiet, but
because we are loud. God's not being quiet.
Our lives are just too loud and too busy.
Psalm says, Psalm 34 says or 46 sorry says, let be and be still
and know, recognize and understand that I am God.
We've learned over the last two weeks, stillness is not calm.
Stillness is not inactivity. Stillness is the moment where
competing loyalties are exposed. And here's the danger.
Some people avoid stillness not because they're busy, but
because stillness would begin asking way too many questions.
In our stillness, we can't avoid hearing these questions.
Like what if you get to the end of your life and realize you
never actually tried? What if obedience was the
doorway to the version of you heaven was waiting on?
What if the thing Jesus asked you to lay down was the very
thing blocking your peace? What if you didn't fail, but you
hesitated? What if your wealth wasn't
money, but it was control or it was busyness?
What if you were one surrender away from rest?
What if you kept everything but lost rest and you lost your
peace? What if you kept the
commandments, but you missed the calling?
What, What if you What if heaven had plans your comfort vetoed?
Well, what if your morality was on point, but your availability
wasn't? What if you love the idea of
eternal life, but not so much the idea of transformation?
What What if your life ends responsibly lived but eternally
unnamed? What if you never find out who
you could have become? Stillness doesn't force a
decision, it reveals 1. What happens when scripture
stands Silence and stillness and silence keeps us hanging in the
balance. Watch this.
There is no demons, there's no storms, there's no crowd.
There's just one man, one question and one invitation.
What happens when Scripture throws US one of these
situations where there is no repentance, There is no crowd,
there's no scripture, there's no healing, there's no outcome.
There's just this big question mark of what if he would have?
Many of us aren't living this way.
We don't know when the end is coming.
But one thing you got to face today is what if Jesus answers
this? Yeah, Why are you asking me
about what is essentially good? There is only one who is
essentially good, but if you wish to enter into eternal life,
keep the commandments. There's a man in these gospels
who does everything right. He is moral.
He is disciplined. He is sincere.
He comes to Jesus respectfully. He asked about eternal life.
He wants assurance about his future with God.
This is not rebellious. He's not rebelling.
He's not a skeptic. He's not doubting like Thomas.
He is not. This is someone who wants life.
Jewish thought to inherit eternal life meant participating
in the age to come. He is not making or asking how
to behave better. He is asking who he will become.
This is where the tragedy begins, because the greatest
tragedy in Scripture is not rebellion, It is unrealized
obedience. This is where we doubt, we
hesitate, and we second guess because listen, people do not
always go missing because they reject Jesus.
We go missing because doubt, we second guess, we hesitate.
The rich young ruler didn't reject Jesus loudly.
He walked away quietly. That's why we never heard.
He wasn't bitter at Jesus. He didn't cuss him out.
He didn't throw stones. He didn't lie on Jesus.
He was morally intact. He wanted to be better.
And he's like, I've done all of this.
I want that thing, the eternal thing.
I want eternal life. Scripture never tells us what he
became. Here's the tragedy.
It was a life unresolved. Graves are full of unresolved
lives, prisons unresolved. And there's people in this room.
You have just quit on pursuing Jesus.
No, you're a good person. You got a job, you own time to
work all the time. But when it comes to pursuing
Jesus, you stopped at the cost. Life got frustrating.
Somebody hurt you. Trauma too real, Crutches too
good, Excuses too many. A life unresolved question isn't
what did he do wrong? The question is what did he
refuse to release? We're always focused on wrong.
And the real problem in your life you'll find God is that's
what the blood took care of is what you did wrong.
But what the blood can't make you do is release what the blood
is asking for so that in change you can get what the blood paid
for. And the reason this story is so
unsettling is because nothing is wrong with him.
No scandal, no sin, no demon to cast out.
There's many people in here, especially Christians.
I ain't got no demons. I'm a good, upright person.
I got great integrity. Check, check, check.
There's no answer. He didn't do anything wrong, and
if he did, the blood would have handled that.
And This is why we got to slow this thing down and really pay
attention to the question he asked teacher.
What essentially good thing shall I do to obtain eternal
life? What essentially good thing can
I do? Well, what if you've done
everything your question is asking?
He's done all the good things and now he's asking what other
good thing can I do? He wants eternal life, you guys.
But watch this. He wants control over how to get
it. He's not asking who do I follow.
He is asking what do I do. He's not asking who do I follow,
He's asking what do I do? He wants eternal life.
You want that God life, but you want control of how to get it.
Jesus, watch it, begins to expose the throne.
Jesus redirects him from good deeds to God's goodness.
This isn't a trick question. This is not cynicism.
This is a man seeking assurance. He comes running, He kneels.
He calls Jesus teacher. Nothing about his posture
suggests rebellion. Still.
And yet there's something to be exposed that he does not realize
is in the way between him following Jesus and his desire.
Watch this Jesus shifts the question from achievement to
allegiance and behavior to belonging.
All you smart people in here. Jesus shifts the question from
achievement to allegiance, from behavior to belonging.
Jesus consistently moves conversations from performance
to lordship. He's constantly shifting our
direction back from performance to lordship.
What do I do? I send and I messed up
performance. I send and I messed up.
No, no, no, the blood. The question is not what to do.
The question is, are you following the blood?
Made it so that no matter how many times you fall, the blood
reaches A handout and say come on, keep on going.
The blood is the hand that picks you up so you can keep walking
after a fall. Eternal life is the result of
surrender, not the completion of A to do list.
Yeah, eternal life is the result of surrender, not the completion
of A to do list. Jesus is not investigating his
works, He is exposing his surrender.
Jesus help us today, the young man said to him, I have kept all
these things. Watch it, Jesus, I've kept all
these things. Check, check, check, check,
check, check. Came to church Sunday, check
from my youth. So I've kept them for a long
time. I've had faith.
I've done the right thing for a long time.
What do I still lack? Watch this.
He's not lying at all. He's been disciplined.
He's been super sincere and totally devout.
He says, Jesus, I've kept all these things.
Truth of the matter is this people, you can be sincere and
still stalled. You can be moral and still
misaligned and you can obey rules and resist rule, and
that's a lot of people in here. You obey rules, but he does not
have rule. And here is the issue with a lot
of us. It is not your sin.
It is who is sitting on the throne of your life.
Watch this. Your sorries mean nothing if you
don't let Jesus take his seat. Wake him up.
He might need this. He kept commands, Yes he did.
But obedience to rules is not the same as surrender to rule.
Stop patting yourself on the back because you read your
Bible. Stop patting yourself on the
back because you tithed. Stop patting.
It's no different than a father or mother wanting a celebration
for paying child support. That's your child.
Guess what you supposed to do? Support because you serve at
your church. We're in a day where it's like
we want extra for serving God. We have entitlement.
It's not about obedience to rules.
No, no, no, no. This man is spiritually,
morally, and financially successful and he's at the point
of his life where he's like, what else is there?
Watch this because rules will not quench your thirst.
Full bank account will not quench your thirst.
Loving your husband, loving your wife, being a good parent will
not quench your thirst. The only thing, the only one
that will ever fulfill you is Jesus Christ himself.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah. The one and only, the way, the
truth and the life. And every day it's like, watch
this your job. You should go through a
checklist. I I get paid to do this, this,
this, this, this, this. He paid it all so I can follow
him. He kept commands, Effie.
Yes, but commandments can shape behavior without ever touching
authority. Commandments can shape behavior
without ever touching authority. And you got so much pride in the
body of Christ because you have modified your behavior to look
Christian but not live Christ like or you stop at Christ like
but you are not. When I look at you, I still
can't tell the difference. But you like do you have the
authority from being at the hem of his garment.
This man is not lying at all. Discipline.
Watch this. Looking at him, Jesus felt a
love. This is scripture.
Looking at this man, Jesus felt a love, a high regard, A
compassion for him. There was no beef here, guys,
you got to get this. There was no beef, no rebellion,
no demons, no sickness, no nothing.
Here. He's just purely coming with
pure motivation to say, Jesus, I've done all these things, what
else do I need to do to have eternal life?
Jesus is rooted in love here. So the command that follows is
an invitation, not a rebuke. Jesus not rebuking him, he is
inviting him. And to watch this, Jesus is
inviting him into the very place his soul longs to be.
But the cost is heavy. Some of us get to the point
where we find out, oh, I wanted to be a leader up until I wanted
to get married, up until right. You come all the way to the feet
of the thing and there's just one thing and it's the heaviest
thing you like. I went to premarital counseling.
I've read books on marriage. I've done this.
I got all my confessions down. I got a job.
Watch this. I don't want to have a family
because I need to get all my ducks in the row.
You got all your ducks in the row and now you at the altar and
you crossover threshold of the altar and you like, oh crap, I
didn't know being married like having because everybody want a
good marriage. Everybody want to have good
kids. And then you're like, oh, this
is the price of a good marriage. Oh, this is a price of having
good kids. And then we stopped there and
we're there for years and marriages.
You wouldn't want to miss tonight if you don't want to
miss tonight. Tonight is going to be ground
shaking and revolutionary for your marriage.
Look at y'all over there moving fast.
That wasn't even a promo, but Amen.
Listen, we all get there. I want to serve.
I can't wait to serve on the worship team until you like, oh,
like there's a price to be up here.
Oh, I want to help PT out and PT I want to help the oh, there's a
price from assisting and helping the pastors and everybody gets
to this point and your heart longs and you even got a call.
This man has a call to follow Jesus.
But then he gets to the point where it's like this is what it
requires. Why can't I just oh, you doing
too much? No, you can't go into Louis
Vuitton and look at the price and say they doing too much.
You knew going into Louis Vuitton even the clearance price
is going to be too much, right? You can't want the high quality,
right? You can't go into these Gucci
and be like where the clearance rack?
No, Jesus exposes Thrones to free
people. Shame is not in his blood, so
he's not confronting you with a price to shame you.
He knows you don't got what it costs.
The price of following Jesus is following Jesus.
He's telling you to do a hard thing, but he paid the price so
that is possible. Jesus exposed his Thrones to
free people and shame is not in his blood.
Guys, Mark 10 and he said to him, you lack one thing.
Here we go. You lack one thing.
You lack one thing, man can't watch this.
I I can't wait to get to a place in my life where where, where,
where I just the Lord's like you right there.
PT you just lack one thing. You just lack one thing.
That's that's it man. I cannot wait till to get and
then you tell me the one thing I lack is following you.
Now I'm not in this guy's situation yet and when I say yet
I'm talking about the thing that held him back.
I'm glad that it worked in reverse for me, that I got the
following Jesus part down 1st before the the, the, the, the,
the, the, the wealth or whatever may come, the blessing may come
and materialize in my life. I'm glad that I didn't have to
work through materialism. I didn't have to work through
abundance in order to see Jesus. I think Lecrae had a song where
he said being broke made me rich.
And I'm like whoa, that sounds stupid.
But then, like, that's dope. Yeah.
Being broke made me rich instead of being rich made me broke.
Sometimes you can appreciate starting from the bottom,
starting from ignorance, he says.
You lack one thing. Go and sell all your property
and give the money to the poor and you will have abundant
treasure in heaven. What this did not say is go sell
it. Give the give the profit away
and you'll you'll you'll never have wealth again.
Well I could just assume the principle and watch this.
This is the part about never knowing.
I could assume based on the principles that's in the word
give and it shall be given. Press down shaking.
I can on giving principles. I can only imagine that on the
other side of of not knowing there was more than enough
because it's what if and we're hanging in the balance.
I have a biblical right to assume he sews everything and
the Bible tells me he will get 100 times more in this lifetime.
We'll get to that later. It says you will have abundant
treasure in heaven. Wow, what a trade off.
But it's not a trade off if you have no revelation.
It says, and come follow me, becoming my disciple, believing
and trusting in me, and walking the same path of life that I
walk. Come follow me, be my disciple,
believing and trusting in me and walking the same path of life
that I walk, same path of life that I walk.
This is not a universal command. I want you guys to notice this.
There is more wealthy people in the land than him.
So stop asking why he ain't asking everybody to do what he
asking me to do, because everybody don't got the plan
that he has for you. So stop wanting the blessing to
be customized for you, but not the cost.
You want to customize. You want to customize that
price, but not the come on now. This is not a universal command.
This is AU verse. This is AU command.
This is AU request and so stop looking around when you in
church and the voice of God hit you and you looking around and
you looking at your wife. This ain't even your spouse
request. This is a you.
Jesus always addresses the rival king.
Mastery here is being addressed. Money is not the issue.
He is not. He does not.
Jesus does not care about the man's money.
Stop thinking that the thing that Jesus is asking you to lay
down, he needed. He don't need nothing that he's
asking you to lay down. You have a need to lay it down.
Mastery is being exposed. Mastery is being addressed.
Jesus always addresses the rival king man, these are these these
these last few months have been so many keys.
You wondering why there's not progress or acceleration or
promotion? Man, Jesus is.
He is dealing with mastery, and he doesn't mind allowing telling
you to let you. Whatever is mastering you,
master you. And if busy master you, he's
gonna let busy master you until you come to the end of yourself
and turn to the Master, right? If your child is your idol, if
your marriage is your idol, if your business is your idol, he
is going to let it be your idol. And when you need the master, he
is going to let you turn to the thing that's been mastering you
and find out that that master don't have what the master got
for you. You can come to you.
You can come to the end of yourself by invitation or
destruction. Jesus is not confronting
possessions, He is confronting possession.
He's not confronting possessions.
He is confronting what is possessing you.
He is not removing wealth, He is revealing rule.
Wealth is the oppressor, not the object.
It's not about the money. It's not about the the the
cattle. It is not about the fine
jewelry. He does not care about any of
that. But if that chain around your
neck got you by your neck, that's what he's after.
Stillness is the moment where competing loyalties, remember
are exposed competing loyalties. And This is why many of us do
not like to be still, because we do not like to be in that
uncomfortable tension of what I want from God and what's
gripping me that He wants from me.
He stood still long enough. Watch this guy's this is
shiphew. He stood still long enough to
hear Jesus, but not long enough to surrender.
I came to church long enough to get a word, but I didn't stick
with Jesus long enough to see it through.
What if Abraham only heard Jesus say go kill God, go kill your
son? What if he didn't hear him say
no, no, no, no, no. He stood still long enough to
hear Jesus, but not long enough to surrender.
Stillness revealed the rival king.
What if you walk away still good but never free?
That's every Sunday at church. You good, not free.
You a good kid, good student, not free.
Them secrets in that closet not free.
Externally good, monetarily good.
But watch this. There's some of y'all in here
you don't even like yourself. You uncomfortable in your own
skin. The Spirit tells on you what if
you walk away still good, but never free, still good but never
free. Matthew 1920 says the young man
said I have observed all these from my youth.
What still do I lack verse 21 Jesus answered him, if you would
be perfect. That is, have that spiritual
maturity, somebody say maturity which accompanies self
sacrificing character. Go and sell what you have and
give to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven.
And come be my disciple, side with my party and follow me.
But when the young man pay attention, lean in.
But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, grieved
and in much distress, for he had great possessions.
I wanted, I wanted, I wanted, I wanted cost watch this.
I've been looking for a church like this.
Cost, fault finding and what you really couldn't tap into is this
one thing. You found what your soul
desired, but when things got tough cost right.
You can man how many how many times you've been in the store
and tried on what you wanted to wear look good.
Don't it feel good and you walk away.
I'm like, I'm going to get that one day.
I'm I was just faith fitting right there.
I was faith fitting. I was trying on some stuff.
I want that one day. You looked at that price tag and
then you was too ashamed to be like, I ain't got the money.
So you like yeah, hope. Can you hold this for me?
Can you hold this for me?
I'm I'm going to be back. I left my money in the car
right. That that price you like.
Oh, and whether it's your call rather God in this season is
asking you to put down your Plan B, your hobby, your number 2,
your minor, pick up your major, pick up your crown, pick up your
call, whatever it may be, you get to the point of cost.
Oh, that mean I got to leave that behind.
That mean I can't talk like that no more.
That mean me and him and her. That mean I got to let go of my
parents and I got to focus on, Gee, I can't baby my parents, I
can't baby my kids. I got to lay this thing down.
You walk away in your soul and then all of a sudden God's
calling you to do something else.
No, he just not changing the price.
I've been in them stores where where I was, it's a it's a
little too much. And you walk up, this is me,
this is me. I know nobody in here has ever
did this, but you walk up and you go to the cash register and
it's already a sale and you go up and you be like, Hey, can you
ring this up to see if there's more off?
Because sometimes there's because it does.
Sometimes you ring it up and you like, oh, it's more off, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, that, that,
that, that that's kind of where we are.
We just, we're looking for God to discount the cost.
You like God? I don't mind doing it because
can I hold on to 1 finger? Can I hold on to 2 cigarettes?
You, you telling me to get stop smoking?
Can I just go to one a day? Stop sleeping around.
OK, well, can I watch porn? No, right.
It's it's like you're trying to get this discount with God and
you frustrated and then all of a sudden he's changed the call.
He's changed the church, he's changed the relationship, he's
changed your dreams, he's changed all of this and you just
keep wandering instead of just stepping into the call.
What if you stepped into it? Not next year, not next month.
I think this word is very timely because we're about to get out
of this month. We're about to leave stillness.
We're about to leave peace. We're about to leave these
things that God has been setting us up and we're about to enter
into the next 11 months, supposedly to step into a new
dimension. And God so, so kindly shows us
this. Maybe you are free and maybe
everything you're doing is right.
And maybe you have been transformed by the renewing of
your mind. But there's, there's one thing
you don't want to pay this price and watch this even if you're
doing the thing, but complaining, even within your
soul, nobody knows you're complaining, but you're, you're
doing a thing. But you're online looking at
what you really want to do in life.
Well, look, if you really want to do it in life and God's
calling you there, go do it. But the double mindedness in
your life, watch this. You also in this year got to
change language. This.
I wish I was doing this. And I oh man, I thought, I
thought, I thought when I was younger I was going to do this.
It's over. You're either doing it or you're
not. You need to totally commit every
part of your being to what God is saying or it's not a fool.
Yes, and some of y'all serving with resentment and some of
y'all show up with resentment. And some of y'all like God's
called me, but not in this season.
So when? What if?
What if your time is running out?
What if you don't have time? You're like, I'm a king and a
priest. I'm called to do this and that,
but not now. I can't, I can't juggle it all.
You can if you let go of some of the things you juggle it.
And if God's called you to it, we've talked, we've we've
learned about this in revival week about the Holy Spirit is
our capacity. You're burning out because some
of the stuff you're doing is not what he's blessing.
So you're in your own strength, your own ability, your own
talent, and you're not in the grace.
And how many times do we all put stuff down?
It's just like, let me offload instead of on loading the grace.
Let me, I can't do this. I can't do this that much.
I can't, I can't do this that much.
When you are walking in what God watch this.
When you are walking in your major, God empowers you with
enough capacity to also do your minor.
Got way too many believers lukewarm and you, you, you cold
and you serve the world with all your might and all your strength
while the church is dying because there's people carrying
stuff standing in the gap because God's going to annoy
somebody. But that pastor could have lived
maybe a few more years if people stop watching them carry that
elder or that, that, that Deacon, that, that, that, that,
that, that, that worship director.
If somebody stepped up and say, yeah, I'm called, yes, Lord, I'm
here. There is no perfect time to
obey. The perfect time to obey is now.
We're in a new year, guys. Oh, I'm going to be excellent in
2026. Be excellent.
Excellence is a call. What if you live successful but
unfinished? What if you die unfinished?
And I ain't talking about your bank is good.
I'm talking about you didn't leave this earth maximizing who
God right the the the memory. Watch this leave the world a
finished picture of you. What was my daddy like complete
like like when my dad when my mom, when my auntie, when my
friend, pastor whatever. I can truly say that they got a
well done and they they did all that they could and their stand
was their transition. And there's some of you, if
Jesus came next week, if your last day came next week, you
have so much your final breaths that you would regret.
And that is pride to sit here and act like you got all kind of
time to live. Yes, sure, He promised us long
life, but if that's how you approach life, like from, from,
from when I'm 1 to 30, that's the years to do this.
And when I'm 30 to 60, then I'm going to do this.
And then when I'm 60 to 90, I'm going to do this.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The day you hear my voice.
There's way too many people in here trying to survive, trying
to make it in this world, trying to climb the ladder of the
business world, trying to trying to achieve all of this stuff.
And God's like, you can do that, but how is that consuming you in
a way that you don't have time for this other thing I'm calling
you to? We forget when the labor of
employment became a curse. Don't act, don't.
Don't forget that the labor of work is curse.
It was not labor when Adam and Eve was in the garden strolling
and then he God pronounced this curse.
Sweat from your brow. You're going to get up and not
feel like going to work. You're going to work jobs that
you wish you could quit. Double minded, but that's a part
of the curse. I'm going to work, I'm laboring,
I'm slaving. I got to work overtime to pay
these bills. Any type of lifestyle I want, I
got to do this. I got to do that.
That is not the blessing. It's a blessing that you get
paid. But to wake up every day and
have to do it, but not wake up every day and have to worship
and have to be at his feet and have to.
But I get up every day and I have to go to work or my kids
ain't going to eat. I got to make this deal or my
that's not the blessing. People.
This walked away sad means deep distress.
It does not mean anger. It does not mean rebellion.
He literally walked away grieved in his spirit.
He went away sorrowful. Watch this.
This is bless somebody at least two people.
Sorrow is the emotion of someone who knows exactly what they are
walking away from scripture never mentions him again who's
no repentance narrative right. We we there's most scriptures
give us kind of a resolve. This is one of the only
scriptures that don't give us a resolve.
You like he just walked away. OK, let me first.
Dude didn't pop up again. Nope.
What happened after this really good man who followed all the
law walked away? How many people in the graves,
in hospitals, in prisons and you like, I wonder what they could
have been. If obedience moves, heaven like
works will never do. It's following Jesus, not
traditions, rituals and laws. What if obedience is lighter
than anxiety? What?
What if obedience lifts burdens more than a therapy session?
What if obedience is lighter than anxiety?
What if surrender simplifies your soul?
Maybe not your schedule, but your soul?
What if letting go creates room? Forrest?
What if Jesus wasn't taking, but His invitation was him trusting?
What if the cross you avoid is the crown you delay?
What? What if the thing you fear
losing is the thing killing your joy?
What if stillness births courage?
It's in there. They'll bring it up one day.
Stillness births courage. What if faith feels risky
because it actually is? What if faith feels risky
because it actually is? Let's go back, Let's go back.
I want to. I want to feed your, your sight
and your hearing. What if obedience is lighter
than anxiety? What if surrender simplifies
your soul? What if letting go creates room?
Forrest? What if Jesus wasn't taking, but
he was trusting? What if the cross you avoid is
the crown you delay? What if the thing you fear
losing is the thing killing your joy?
And what if stillness births courage?
And what if faith feels risky because it actually is risky?
What if you don't just inherit eternal life later, but abundant
life now? What if peace is on the other
side of your yes what? What if your bloodline shifts
because you obeyed? What if we just find out?
Matthew 1921 says this and come be my disciple, side with my
party and follow me. Transformation precedes this
invitation. Discipleship always cost
something, watch this, but it never cost nothing.
Matthew 1922 But when the young man heard this, he left grieving
and distressed, for he owned much property and had many
possessions, which he treasured more than his relationship with
God. Don't let your life end in a
question mark. Don't let destiny stop at
hesitation. Be still long enough to hear, be
brave enough to obey and be faithful enough to find out.
Mark 10 says this guys, truly I tell you, Jesus said, no one who
has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or
children or fields for me and the gospel.
No one will fail to receive 100 times as much in this present
age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children
in fields alone with persecution.
Might I remind you and in the age watch this to come eternal
life. What a promise.
That's one of my favorite scriptures because when we came
to Canada, what else am I going to hold on?
Lord we leaving everything no one who leaves behind and this
doesn't mean cut people off, this mean reprioritize them.
No one who puts me first and the gospel first will go without 100
times return. Watch what First Corinthians
says. This is why scripture says
things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our
ability to imagine. These are the many things God
has in store for all His lovers. Wow.
Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither will they
unless they obey. Jesus never asked him to give
everything because He wanted him poor.
He asked him to give everything because he wanted them free.
And Jesus makes a promise not just for heaven, but for now.
He said if you leave houses, land, security, control for me
and for the gospel, you will receive a hundredfold in this
lifetime houses, land, family, provision and eternal life in
the age to come. The promise of following Jesus
is not lost is multiplication. What you release never compares
to what He returns. People.
Ephesians 3 says Never doubt God's mighty power to work in
you and accomplish all this. He will achieve it infinitely
more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream,
and exceed your wildest imagination.
He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly
energizes you. Now we offer up to God all the
glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation
through Jesus, and all that will yet be manifest through the time
and eternity. Don't get too excited.
In that moment and in this moment, your praise represents
your response to follow or your paralysis because you thinking
about the cost. I know a message like this can
steal us. That's the point We're thinking
about, these questions we're thinking about.
That's why we mentioned the eschatological lens that we're
looking through because watch this, I believe.
I, I, I, I, I remember this was spoken into my spirit.
Son, you're going to live a long life because of the way you hold
life, precious. I always think about watch this.
I don't think about death in a defeated way or a fearful way.
I actually respect it. Knowing that it's coming shifts
how I watch this. You cannot live in Max gratitude
and not think about the end. And many of us in here avoid the
end. But what did he overcome death
for? He took the sting out of death.
So when you do consider the end, it is not paralyzing, but it's
empowering and it's gasoline. And yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because he conquered death. But there's no way that I cannot
think about, yeah, there is an end coming on this side.
And because I know that the end is not my end, that that doesn't
fuel me to assure that what I leave behind encourages others
to get to the finish line. Your life, when it's over, when
you go through the ribbon, you should be standing at the
ribbon. Come on, come on, come on.
When you go through the ribbon, your life should go all the way
back to the starting line and walk with people and say, Yep,
I've been there. You can get through this moment.
You can get through that moment because I did.
Hebrews 12 tells us that Look at when it gets tough.
Look at the life of Jesus and look how he endured.
Way too many people are trying to dodge the end.
I don't want to think about. That's why you hide.
That's why you drunk. That's why that's why you can't
go deep in conversation. That's why you don't want to
deal with trauma. That's why you because you just
kind of. But what if.
Yeah, because the end is coming. Before I get there, I'm going to
make sure this trauma, the the power over my life has an end
before my life ends, whether before the life ends, I'm going
to go show people how to be an overcomer, not just read
scripture that says I'm an overcomer.
He defeated the grave. He conquered death so in full.
And most people don't think about the end till they get
older still. And yet there's people that
that's five years old passing. We've made the end or death all
about what happens to old people.
No, no, no, no. That's what happens when it's
time to transition into eternal life.
Watch this. You came in, you go out.
But when you go out, it's not all you just transition man.
Why are you talking about this? BT I hate that.
No, no, no, because because because you take in your call,
you're in control by even saying by by weighing things in me like
I don't got time. So if yo-yo watch this, your
lack of time somehow speaks that God is saying it's not time
versus I got some priorities wrong.
So as a dad, my son, my daughter, my wife might be
watching this and then my 18 year old son and my 20 year old
daughter can be thinking, whoa. Because when I was 18, I wasn't
thinking about the end. I thought I had all kind of
life. But then then my age, I'm not
telling you yet. I'll tell you in two years.
But my age came and I'm like, whoa, we here already?
Where did time go? And you always have.
Man, if I could have. If I, if I just got serious a
little bit earlier in life, where would I be?
Well, I'm telling nobody in here got to wait another day.
You can take this and nobody in here got to wait another day.
Nobody in here got to wait another day.
This is why our hands are up high.
This is why our knees hit the floor.
And here's the crazy thing, we have exactly what the rich ruler
was asking for. That's crazy.
Jesus had not yet left this or he had not just went, yet went
to the cross. So he's like, you're going to
have to follow me. But watch this.
Jesus gives us eternal life even if we ain't following him.
No, we get eternal life because we accept Him and we believe,
not because we follow. Because there's some of y'all in
here that have accepted and believed you don't follow.
You got your ticket though. I'm going to heaven when it's
all over. But now I'm a play with my life
and be a terrible example of what it looks like to follow
Jesus and not just follow but when have fruit or follow it.
It's not just about being a Christian man, it's about
following Christ, being Christ's followers and Christian is what
they gave Christ followers. The name they gave Christ
followed. Jesus never called us Christian,
but they got labeled them Christ's followers, Christians.
I don't want the label if I'm not the true essence of what
that means. Discipline 1 and what the world
needs is not more Christians. We need more Christ followers.
Lift your hands if that's you in this room.
Lift your hands if you are you don't want to come to the end
and there be a what if the tragedy of never finding out.
No, we going to find out. You get to the end of your life.
May there be, by the grace of God, nothing else to find out,
but it is finished. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That the Lord is pleased. May you get to the end of your
life and there's nothing else to find out except see the face of
Jesus. I believe there's a few people
in here that the Holy Spirit grabbed a hold of today.
If that's you stand to your feet and you going to make some
changes, not just be convicted. Take the next two, two to three
minutes and respond. Whether that is on your knees
rather that is with your hands lifted, whatever it may be, but
respond, respond, shift, tell your soul this is the direction
we're going. Come on now what is the
direction we're going? Yes, Lord, I don't know how to
plan right now, but I'm turning, I'm turning, I'm figuring out
how to turn. I'm turning, I'm turning.
I'm going to take some stuff off my plate.
I'm turning. God, I repent.
Come on, open your mouths and lift your voices.
Come on, open your mouths. Lift your voices.
No, no, no, no, no, no. This is what making disciples is
about. We confront the throne.
Jesus comes to confront the
throne. Hallelujah.
Come on.
Come on, Saints. Lord, Lord, Lord, we repent.
You can be enthroned today, be enthroned today, be enthroned
today, be enthroned today, be enthroned today.
You watching right now, Repent. Pray and repent.
Is not this evil thing. It's not because you sin.
No, you're just turning. You're turning your heart,
you're turning your mind, you're shifting things.
Thank you so much for tuning into this week's sermon.
We pray you were challenged, equipped and encouraged.
Make sure to follow us on all platforms.
That's love quest intl church. We out here for real.
We're really doing it. That's Facebook, Instagram,
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need to find us. But until next time, you know
the drill. You know the motto, get your
love fixed man and we'll see y'all real soon.