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Welcome to the Jesus Image Podcast.

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Thank you, Lord, that you're with us. Thank you, Lord, that you're good. And thank you, Lord, that tonight you seek to encounter us through your word. Lord, speak to our hearts, change our lives, reveal Jesus to us through the power of the cross. In and by and through the person of the Holy Spirit. In your name we pray. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Yeah, amen. Always great to be here with you guys. You guys can turn to Matthew 26. Praying for much rest for Pastor Michael and Jessica as they're on vacation. We actually have been here for a couple of months. We are here for the graduation. It's when we had just gotten in. We go back in two weeks. Looking forward to getting back to Iraq and at the same time praying for grace during those hot summers, those hot Middle Eastern summers. Anyone here by any chance from the Middle East? No? Maybe? Oh, okay. Where from? Pakistan. The Lord bless you. So Matthew 26, uh, today, one of the things that even in the last period of time, just in prayer, one of the things that just kind of came across, you know, you know, these it's these stories that we continue to read over and over again that the Lord just illumines to us in a new way. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Lord says about the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit, who is God in us and with us, one of the things that the Spirit of God does is that he reminds us the things that the Lord has spoken. In fact, not just the things that the Lord has spoken, but the things that are penned down in the Word of God. And it's interesting that in Jesus' ministry, and I believe that all of the Word of God is the Word of God, but there's something special and unique about the words of Jesus. The words of Jesus are like the holy of holies. I don't know if that's necessarily theology or not, but of the scriptures. It's like the supreme court of the gospel, as John G. Lake used to say. And in the ministry of Jesus, in the teachings of Jesus, there are only two times that he talks about remembering someone. Of course, he talks about remembering in the upper room during the Passover, he talks about every time that we break the bread and we take the cup, we call back to remembrance what he has done, and in a fresh way we recovenant with the Lord. And that's a beautiful thing. It's not just something that we do as a tradition, it's a way that we encounter the Lord that's triggered through memory. And at the same time, it's also a proclamation to the world around us. But in Jesus' ministry, there are only two times that, besides, of course, communion and the Passover, that He tells us to remember someone. And it just so happens that both of them were women. All the ladies in the house. Focus on a wisdom, right? But both lady wisdom and lady foolishness, which it's it's it's a contradiction of what it looks like to fear the Lord, submit to the Lord, love the Lord, or in the New Testament, you know, verbiage, a a disciple, a biblical disciple follows the way of wisdom. And the anti- the antithesis to a biblical disciple is is foolishness. And Jesus talks about two women. He talks about Mary of Bethany. He says, every single time the gospel is preached, in fact, in Matthew 26, let's just read it. You know the story. Jesus is in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, starting in verse 6. He is about to take upon himself the sins of the world in obedience to the Father, and because of love for his creation and his bride. And Mary of Bethany comes with a year's worth, about 300 denarii, which was worth about a year's worth of salary. In fact, it's interesting, which we'll look at in a moment, that the Lord finds it fitting not just to put the amount, but to put the amount of time that it took to acquire it. So it's a year's worth of salary. She comes, she takes this precious ointment, she breaks it. It's probably her life savings, it's her stock holdings and her wrath and everything else she has. And she prepares Jesus for his burial in this extravagant devotional way of worship. And the disciples and all also others around were indignant and they were saying this is wasteful. Isn't it interesting how it's the most wise possible thing she could have done? It's what from heaven's perspective and in hindsight, every one that has passed on and is with the Lord and is able to see this story can only desire if only I could have been there to participate. But foolishness sees wisdom as foolish. And what makes sense to foolishness doesn't make sense to God. In accordance with the wisdom of the world, it makes sense to save your life. In God's economy, it makes sense to lose your life. According to the world's standards of wisdom, it makes sense to just keep for yourself. In God's wisdom, it makes sense to pour out upon the Lord. And look at what it says here in verse eleven in verse 12. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. And truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. I think that we don't talk about the story enough. I don't know about you, you know, I preach the gospel throughout the Middle East. If I were honest with myself, every single time we start a church or start a new group or whatever, or meet a new family that's come to faith. I don't know how quickly I get to the story, but Jesus says everywhere the gospel breaks into a region, into a community, into a family. When the gospel is preached, when Jesus is revealed and they understand what he's done on the cross and they respond with faith, Jesus is saying, I want you to give them a picture of what devotion looks like, of what discipleship looks like. So Jesus says, I want her to be remembered. She's criticized for misappropriating her treasure. Ultimately, it's wasting what in this world has ultimate value. It's interesting that Jesus says, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And in this world system, we have different kinds of currencies. I would say at the very top of the list is money and time. When you're young, you're willing to do anything to get more money. Right? I don't know how many people, you know, young career professionals, they're moving to New York City, they're moving to Chicago, they're moving to London, they're giving, they're working 80-hour weeks, they're working 100-hour weeks, their families are suffering, their relationships are suffering, but they're like, you know what, it's gonna make sense if we could just get this little nest egg and we could just purchase this property, and it's all about money. And then they get older, and whatever money they have, they're wanting to trade in to be able to live a little bit longer, right? So they're the longevity protocols and the clinics and the doctors' visits and the surgeries and the supplements and whatever I have to do, I will pay however much I have to pay if I can have one more year, five more years, ten more years. And it's interesting that in this in this story, and every gospel records this story, the spirit is intent on not just giving a sum of money, but also giving a span of time. She offered to the Lord what had what has ultimate value in this world's system money and time. And it's not a coincidence that Jesus says, I want this story retold in memory of her where the gospel is proclaimed because Jesus is looking for this kind of discipleship. Amen. Now, who's the second person? You can turn to Luke 17. I think many of us would immediately recall this story in Matthew twenty-six. But Jesus also talks about another woman. In Luke 17, he talks about Lot's wife. I'll say one more thing about Mary. Jesus says, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We read it and we think to ourselves, maybe he should have said, Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also, but that's not the way it works. Because your affections will bind themselves to whatever you determine as ultimate. Whatever in your value system, however you deem ultimate value and utmost importance, your affections will chase that thing. I think sometimes even when we are making disciples and we're seeking spiritual formation in young believers or in our own lives, we we rev the engine so much trying to transform our affections. We're just trying to change our affections. We're trying to change our feelings. We want our feelings toward the Lord to intensify. We want our feelings toward the lost to intensify, right? We should want this. We want to have a heart that longs to see people being born again. We we want to have joy in offering. We want to be moved to wake up in the morning to love the Lord and wait upon him and hear his voice and weep in his presence. And so we try different things to transform our affections. We change this the type of worship we listen to. We're like, maybe it's the words, right? Anybody gone through a season like that? It's the words. I'm I'm I'm not I'm just it's only gonna be instrumentals from now on. Right? Because the words are I'm thinking, next thing you know, I'm thinking about the words, I'm not paying attention to the Lord, and then it's like when I'm changing the maybe I'm reading too much theological books. I need more devotional books. We try to do what we ought to do is shift or replace what we determine to have ultimate value, your affections will chase whatever you determine to have ultimate value. However, you define ultimate value, and again, in the world system, ultimate value, and there's a long list of things, but it's gonna be it's gonna be our time and it's gonna be our money. And and there are all kinds of things that follow, but when we determine ultimate value to be the person of the Lord, the word of the Lord, the presence of God, obedience to him, our affections will naturally follow. And now we find in this story, Luke 17, let's start reading in Luke 17. The context of Luke 17 is the return of the Lord. In the first century, Jesus spoke of his return often. You we read throughout the epistles, Paul, Peter, the apostles, they're gripped with the reality of the return of the Lord. Peter, in fact, he even talks about it. He says, There will be mockers, and there are there were mockers in his own day saying, How long will you continue to preach this message of the return of the Lord? Meaning it was so preeminent in their proclamation that they started to be criticized and ridiculed. You keep talking about this Messiah who's coming back, where is he at? It's so gripped the first century church that there's a church and uh and the Thessalonian church that Paul has to, you know, it's a good thing when you have pastoral issues that you have to deal with, right? I'd rather have, well, let me just explain it first. It's a good thing when you have pastoral issues that you have to deal with because the people of God are so hungry for God and they're so gripped by the fear of God that maybe they get it go a little bit too far on one side or the other. They're like, hey guys, just kind of pull it back a little bit, right? We'd rather have that situ we'd rather have that kind of a challenge than have the challenge of trying to get people to even believe that the gospel's true. Do we even believe our doctrinal statements? Listen, the world is not reading your doctrinal statement, and powers and principalities do not tremble at your doctrinal statements. Right? And so the church is so gripped by the return of the Lord that there's a group of people that quit their jobs. Right? No, I'm not encouraging young college age students to do this, and then come to Pastor Michael saying that he has to pay a rent. No, right? It's it is so they start, they start quit, they quit their jobs, they're not working, and Paul's like, hey guys, the return of the Lord is eminent, but in the meantime, you st the way that we walk out discipleship and godliness is through faithfulness, through responsibility. You have to work, if you don't work, you don't eat. Right? In fact, he even tells Timothy, they're the same thing, they're they're dealing with issues in the church. He's like, listen. If a man doesn't take care of his own household, he's worse than a reprobate. That's those are strong, strong words. I didn't say it, right? Paul said it. And so the church in the first century was gripped with the reality of the return of Jesus. We ought to be gripped with this reality. This is the context, and this is what he says in verse 22. The Lord says to the disciples, Luke 17, 22, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it. And they will say to you, look over there, or look over here, do not go out or follow after them. He's speaking of false messiahs, false prophets we have one to deal with in the Middle East, right? Muhammad is a large false prophet, over a billion and a half people are following. That's what he's talking about. Because you may read that passage and think this is not as relevant. No, no, no, this is very relevant. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. Speaking of the return of the Lord. But he must first suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. You would think if the sky splits and light flashes from another dimension into our world, and glorious sounds are coming out of the heavens, and the earth underneath is trembling, earthquakes unlike the world has ever seen, you would think that the thought, the first thought that would cross your mind would not be, let me go back into the house and get my most valuable possessions. You would think. What's in the field? They're farmers. His crops, that year's wages, his property, whatever the case may be. And then listen to what he says, the very next verse, a very short verse. And this is the second time the Lord says to remember someone in his earthly ministry. The first one is Mary of Bethany. Everywhere the gospel is preached, I want what she's done to be remembered. The story must be retold. A picture must be painted about what biblical worship and biblical discipleship looks like. And then because she's Lady Wisdom, she's a picture of Lady Wisdom. In the same way, he wants to make sure that a picture is painted of lady foolishness in the book of Proverbs. And he says in verse 32, remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will keep it. Because we've heard those, we've we've heard that statement from Jesus before. In fact, every gospel author records a variation of that same statement. It's Jesus' invitation and definition of biblical discipleship. Mark 8:34. Calling the crowd to himself with his disciples, he says to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. Now you know what's interesting about Lot's wife? Is that we don't know her name. We know Mary's name. We don't know her name. Now maybe she didn't have a name. Maybe Lot just called her woman. I don't know. But I don't think it's a coincidence that we don't know her name. And we can debate about why we don't know her name, but I think one thing is clear. The Spirit of God wanted us to understand her in a way that was tied to Lot's decision. Right? It's not just, you know, her name could have been whatever, you know. Now I don't want To say a name because it might be your name, and you'd be like, You know, her name, she could have had any name. But the scriptures record her as a Lot's wife because Lot made a decision. Now, let me just say something. Lot, according to the scriptures, was a righteous man. Lot was a righteous man. He's a relative of Abraham's. They they sojourned together. I'm sure he encountered the Lord. Of course, he knew of stories from Abraham. We know that he encountered the angels of the Lord in the book of Genesis. But he made a decision. There was a critical juncture in his life, and this is very important for us because we come to cross roads in our lives and seasons of our lives. You know, every single day of your life is important. And every decision that you make, every single day that you make it, will move you into a particular direction. And that direction eventually will get you to a particular juncture in the road where you have to make a decision. Decisions that have been that have been made have has have conditioned you to get to that place. Now, when you're at this place, now you have a decision to make. Okay, you pick. What do you, you know, where should I go, where should you go? And uh Abraham trusts the Lord, so Abraham says, I'm not gonna pick. Do you know why he says I'm not gonna pick? Because he's learned that when he makes choices, he had enough wisdom to know when I make a choice, it's gonna be at the mercy of my human understanding, my limited knowledge and perception. I want God to make the choice. So Lot makes a choice, and who wants to who wants to guess which choice Lot makes? Lot chooses Sodom. Now I know when we think about Sodom, I have a funny story about Sodom, by the way, super funny story about Sodom. Maybe another time. Should I tell you guys a story about Sodom? My first trip to Iraq, 2011, spring of 2011. I think some people in here probably have heard the story before. I'm preaching in a church, first time preaching in an Iraqi church with a translator. Translating into Arabic, preaching out of Ezekiel, and he mentions in Ezekiel the sin of the nation of Israel and how they did not share their bread, and as a result of that, judgment came just like it did upon Sodom. And so the whole context of the message was, you know, when we think about Sodom, we usually immediately think about perversion and homosexuality. I didn't know at that point that certain even using certain terms in the Middle Eastern church was like taboo. People wouldn't even say that in the Middle East. They would be a little bit more careful, maybe with the verbiage. And so I was like, you know, Sodom, I said, you some of you guys think the destruction came to Sodom because of homosexuality. There was a problem that led to that issue. And he was like, Saddam? Homosexual? I was like, yeah, that's why Saddam fell. And they're like, Saddam, Saddam? I was like, Saddam, however you say it, Saddam, Saddam. I don't know the right way to pronounce it. The pastor's looking, everybody's faces turn white. I was like, what? And then somebody in the front is like, Sudum? I was like, is that how you say the city? They thought I was talking about the former president. Anyways, you live and you learn, right? Live and you learn. Choose safer passages to preach when it's your first time in a country and you don't speak and understand the language. Where were we? Oh yeah. When we think about Sodom, usually we're thinking about like, you know, different, you know, images pop up into our minds, like the you know, the worst ghetto in, you know, Los Angeles or the most perverse area of Amsterdam. But we have to understand why Lot chose Sodom. Lot chose Sodom because it represented, in at least to use like, you know, references, we would understand, the place with the nicest weather, right? The prettiest real estate, the most beautiful hills, the nicest French cafes. I thought they had French cafes. But you know, like that's that's what it represented. It represented the place where you had the most potential to make money economically. That's what it was. It was the booming up-and-coming city. That's what it was. That's why he chose it. He didn't choose it because it was some kind of like an evil cesspool, and he was like, I want to go plant my family there. He chose it because in every natural way, that's the best area around. And so he's sitting there looking at Abraham, he's like, Well, I'm gonna honor you because you're my uncle, but are you gonna choose it? Because if Abraham's like, I'm not gonna, I'm just gonna trust God and wait on to see what the Lord says. He says, Well, I'm picking Sodom. So he's like, All right, I'll go on the other side. And next thing you know, he plants his roots in Sodom, and then before you know it, now his family have planted their affections, and Lot's wife is called Lot's wife because Lot made a decision. Now, granted, she's 100% responsible for her decision. She turns into a pillar of salt. But I think it's important to say, fathers, husbands, who you know, mothers, daughters, brothers, sisters, all of us, the decisions that we make impact more and influence more than just our lives. There is a real thing such as generational blessing, and sometimes you can release generational issues on your family because of choosing to harden your heart against the truth. There were studies done actually, I remember on Jonathan Edwards' family bloodline. I don't know how many of you have heard of this, but they did a study on his family, and there was like, I think it was like eight generations or ten generations, maybe more, it could have been twenty. But they did a study on his family as a result of one man who chose to place his faith in Christ and repent from sin and obey Jesus. That's it. Listen, it's so natural for us to look for some kind of like a secret, but what's the secret? No, that is the secret. There's there's no, you know, like I'm gonna go to the conference with the one particular guy who raised 10 people from the dead and then, you know, cast out so many demons and you know, whatever the case, so I can find out the there's no secret. That's the secret. The secret is wake up every day, love Jesus, repent from sin, stay in the presence of God when your heart hardens, obey the truth of God's word. You don't need an angel to visit you to tell you to obey what the truth is, the truth is before us, amen. Now, if you get an angel, praise God. Tell me about it. But the problem is, most people that tell me about it, I don't think they saw an angel. And if they did, I don't know what's going on with their lives. Some of the stories are real. Just to be clear, I am a Pentecostal. I believe. Now, none of these none of these things that we mentioned with Sodom, you know, what Sodom offered, the natural things that Sodom offered are inherently wrong. But we have to remember the statement of Peter when Peter, you know, when they come to Jesus and they say, Jesus, we have left everything behind. We've sold all, we've left everything behind. They did so because they saw in Jesus ultimate value. I remember you know something that took place years ago. I went to ministry school in Pensacola, Florida, and I had I knew a young man, he was actually went to school a few years after me, but my sister knew him better. You know, he got married, and they had a call from the Lord to move their families to the Middle East in the Gulf and to serve the Lord there. There was a strong uh Al-Qaeda presence there during that time. It was in the mid-2007, eight, somewhere there. And they were there for a few years, had several small children, very difficult place to live, far more difficult, at least naturally speaking, than where we're where we're planted. And a few years into it, they killed him. Al-Qaeda killed him. And I remember afterwards, um, you know, he left behind of you know, a precious wife, three children, three young children. And I remember afterwards, uh, you know, you know, different ones. We were talking about the story, what was taking place, we were praying for the family, and and just that the what God had done there would be preserved. Interestingly enough, we work with a young man right now, a Muslim who had come to faith, who is now in North Carolina and works with a large ministry there, uh with online evangelism, and they they forward us every month about a dozen people, maybe two dozen people to follow up with uh that they've already interfaced with online. And I remember talking to him, I was like, Where are you from? He's like, Oh, I'm from you know, such and such place, but I grew up in Yemen, and I was like, Oh, that's crazy. I had a friend over there. I was like, How'd you come to faith? He's like, My brother came to faith by going to a language institute. I was like, That's interesting. What was the language institute? Sure enough, it's the one they started. And he came to faith, his brother came to faith, his brother led him to faith, uh, the family came to faith, they ended up immigrating, and now God is using them powerfully. But I remember sharing that story with some people, and I remember one time hearing a uh, I was talking to somebody, and they were like, you know, and that's what happens when you don't hear the spirit. That's what that's what the person told me. They said, and that's what happens when you don't hear the spirit when you're not sensitive to the spirit. When you're not sensitive to the spirit, you make decisions, foolish decisions, that cost you, and now look at his wife is left behind with three small children trying to figure out how to live life. And I remember thinking to myself, wow, that's a very different way that you see the gospel than I do. Because that makes perfect what he did with his life makes perfect sense to me. Because Lot's wife is always looking to run up to the roof and run back to the field and preserve her life as much as she can rather than offering her life in obedience to Jesus and loving Jesus and true worship and obedience to the Great Commission. That's what Lot's wife does. Mary pours out what's most precious because Jesus is worthy. And it's interesting that in Mark's account of the invitation to discipleship, he says in verse 35, whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, and he adds, in Mark's account only, he adds, and the gospels will save it. Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. I think it's important that we remember Lot's wife. This is what Peter sought to do in Matthew 16, where he sought to redefine the terms of discipleship. Peter is struck with revelation from heaven. Listen, we gen generally don't go into watch and pray mode right after we had our most powerful encounter. When we've had our most powerful encounter, we're kind of like in awe of I can't believe what happened. My heart was so moved. We're not sitting there just like, let me just watch over my heart. The moment, I mean, it's safe to say in this particular moment, Peter is the most divinely inspired person on the planet next to Jesus. Peter receives a revelation concerning the person of Jesus that nobody else had. Jesus is waiting for this revelation to come from heaven to earth, and when it does, that's the trigger, that's the sign he's received from his father to now explain the identity of the church. The first time Jesus mentions the word church and explains what the church is, is after one of his disciples, after one human has received a revelation from heaven about who he is. And the very next moment, the most inspired person, at least in the country, all right, if not more, tries to redefine the terms. Because Jesus says, I must be persecuted, I must suffer, I must be rejected. Peter says, No, no, no. You're the king. We want you. We want you, we want your presence, we want you, we want your words, but not that way. Peter wanted Jesus just like Lot's wife wanted Yahweh. Again, Lot was a righteous soul, the Bible says so. And we shouldn't, we don't have any reason to believe that Lot's wife was any different. I believe that they were genuine believers, but something was off in her soul. But how does it get to this point? I think there's a principle in life, whether we're talking about positive things or whether we're talking about negative things, right? So whether we're talking about natural growth or spiritual growth or natural decline or spiritual decline, this is the this is the pattern. It's little by little by little by little, and then all of a sudden. That's the way it works, right? You don't see your nephew for a summer, right? They go, he goes away to some kind of baseball camp or whatever the case. He comes back and you're like, What in the world? Did you grow like six inches? Right? You see him all the time. You see him after a while, like you completely changed. You do have a you have a mustache now, right? Hopefully it's not your niece. Yeah, you said that too. Right? But it's it that's the principle. It's little by little by little, and then all of a sudden, nations collapse. Right? Do you know at one time the UK was the world power? Little by little by little, all of a sudden. Marriages crumble. How many times do you have you heard or have you know have I heard, have we heard, so-and-so's, you know, just got a divorce? You're like, no way. There's no way. Like I like I know them, but we just saw them, like with you know, like we saw them in a service, we saw them in church, like how how? It didn't just happen because there was like a blowout fight or something. It's little by little by little by little, and then bam, all of a sudden, and you can't return from all of a sudden. Once all of a sudden hits, it hits hard. And that's what Jesus is talking about even in Luke 17 when he's talking about his return. There are signs, there are prophetic things that are taking place. The gospel's being proclaimed around the world. The Bible says the gospel must be preached to all the peoples of the earth before the Lord returns. The church is being purified, right? Things are happening. Antichrists have risen. There will be ultimately an antichrist to arise. But it'll be just like it was in Noah's day, just like it was in Lot's Day. Life will continue to move forward. It'll just continue to move forward. And little by little by little, and then all of a sudden something takes place. Same things happen as happened with moves of God, by the way. Moves of God happen the same way. A church decides to consecrate it themselves to love the Lord, to fast, to pray, to wait on God, to call upon His presence. Sometimes it's weeks, months, years, little things, you know, there's little little changes, little breakthroughs, whatever the case may. And then all of a sudden, one day, you know, I was part of something like that in the Pensacola Revival. Some of you may have heard of it. Just little by little, God's moving. Here's a testimony there, here's a testimony here. We're just seeking the Lord loving him. And one day, something cracks and the waters pour down from heaven. That's how it gets to that point. It's Pharaoh telling Moses, after the judgments of God have so weakened the national state of Egypt, he says, okay, let's make a deal. Right? Right now in politics, there are all kinds of deals between countries and governments. Let's make a deal. You can worship the Lord in Egypt. Not Sinai. You can worship the Lord, but just keep him here in Egypt. Those kinds of decisions are made inside of our hearts. Well, the enemy would well, he'll give you room. He'll give you room in your devotion to God, or at least in your perspective of what it looks like to be a disciple, as long as you still ultimately make your decisions in a way that seeks to, above all things, preserve your own life. This is fundamental discipleship 101. Jesus does not have a plan B. There's no other way. It's the only way, it's the only way into his presence in a lasting kind of way. Jesus says, if you would come to be with me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow, and lose your life for my sake and for the gospels. And there's danger in it because, you know, we could seek to adopt benefits from the cross to our lives, right? Forgiveness of sin, healing of our diseases, the gifts of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the joy of God's presence and the assembly of the saints. We can apply or we can seek to adopt elements of the benefits of the cross, but still live our lives in contradiction to the shape of the cross. And this is something that happened frequently in the Old Testament. Israel did this. Listen, Israel knew Yahweh. They knew Yahweh. But there are many seasons in Israel's history where they would worship Yahweh by name while giving him the attributes of the gods in the surrounding region. So they would call him Yahweh, but when but they would give him attributes of false gods. In fact, that's exactly what took place when the golden calf came out. When Moses is on the mountain, and Aaron, Aaron's, I always find Aaron's statement very amusing. I just put in this calf came out. It's like, what did somebody shape the calf? Like I just random, just magically come out as a calf? Right? It's a they weren't saying when that took place and they gave themselves to sin. When that took place, they weren't saying Yahweh was not the one who delivered us. They wanted to put a shape and give attributes to Yahweh in accordance with the gods that they knew in Egypt. Because they're but why? Because their affections were tied to what those gods represented. Those gods encouraged, saved your life. Those gods informed, inspired the whole motto of it's all about you. It's all about you. If it makes you happy, that's what you should go after. That's why, that's why it came out in the form of a calf. Because it it there were gods as such in Egypt. So they said, Yahweh's the one. And this is what Yahweh, and how do we know? How do we know? Because what followed the worship of the golden calf? Who remembers? Right? Sin, adultery in the camp, drunkenness in the camp, all kinds of why are they doing that? Because that's what those gods represent. But the whole time they're calling it Yahweh. And the danger of that is that we can hold on to a veneer gold-plated idol. It's gold plated, meaning we can think it's the real thing. You know, your faith is more precious than gold. You can think it's a real thing until right? Who's ever seen something gold-plated? It looks real. Right? And they have, of course, the different carrots. You go to the Middle East, they like it, they like the gold super yellow. Anybody been to the Middle East? Anybody seen Indian gold or like Dubai gold? That's yellow gold. And then you have the like the 14 carat, whatever it is over here. You can tell I'm partial after living over there for a little while. But then you have gold playing to gold, and then be like, well, this is gold. Just, you know, just wait till the elements hit it. And you start to see the beauty fade off. Because it can't give what it's not. And when Once you put it under the fire, once you put it through the test of time, once you put it through the water, right? It's short to erode. And it's the same thing. Fundamental discipleship. It's not something we just do when we get born again and we say, Yes, I made a decision at the altar. I want to give my life to Jesus. And what does that mean? It's such a vague statement. I want my life to look like Mary's, meaning I want the definition in my soul of ultimate treasure to be the person of Jesus, his words and his gospel. I'll give my life for that. We want to respond to the Lord this evening. When the test of hardship comes, when the test of temptation comes, the test of suffering, the test of persecution, you can only give what you have to give. I remember talking one time to uh one of the young believers in our church who had gotten born again out of Islam and his family was persecuting him and hating him. And, you know, they didn't, I don't think that they were even necessarily conscious of it, but you know, they're reacting towards him with just hatred, just so much hatred. And at one point, one of his relatives asked him, who was still in conversation with him, was like, why don't, you know, why don't you you you would have never allowed you your name to be so tarnished and you know uh blasphemed and uh the kind of words that our family is using when they talk to you and the things that they say about you, and again, in the Middle East, this is a big deal, far more than the West. Like your reputation in the Middle East is, you know, right at the top. And I said, you know, why why no, you know, no violence? I know the person that you used to be, you know, he was a part of groups that were, you know, violent groups. I won't get into those, all those stories right now, but and I remember he told me, he says, I told him, I don't have it to give anymore. You know, you could push all the buttons you want. I don't, I don't have the I I don't have it to give anymore. I don't have the violence to give, I don't have the bitterness to give, I don't have the the hatred to give, I don't have the the curse words to give you, I don't know what you want me to give you. I don't I don't have it to give it. That's the real test of if you have gold-plated faith or if your faith is genuine. When suffering comes, when hardships come, when temptation comes and knocks on your door, when difficulty comes, what comes out? Is it humility? Is it love? Is it truth? Is it purity? Is it forgiveness? Is it beauty? This is what came out of Mary. I want to invite you guys just to respond tonight because again, this is not just a decision that we make one time. It's just like we take communion, every time we take communion, we call to remembrance what he's done, and it triggers an encounter with God that becomes a proclamation to the world that Christ is Lord. And it's connected to that word remember. In the same way, tonight we're reminded by the Holy Spirit that there were two different times in his ministry where he went out of his way to say to us 2,000 years later, everyone else throughout time in history, and it's gonna echo through the halls of eternity. I want you to remember these two women. I want you to remember Mary of Bethany when her story retold, and I want you to remember Lot's wife. I want to just encourage you to come up, the prayer team will be here to pray with you, to just recovenant with the Lord in a fresh way today. Lord, I don't want to in my heart ever make the kinds of decisions that would put me at the place of utmost importance. I want my life to be shaped by the cross. Paul says this. Paul says, I want to know him. I want to know him in the power of his resurrection, I want to know him in the fellowship of his sufferings. The truth of the matter is that if our hearts are not transformed by the words of Jesus, we're not pushing back darkness and powers and principalities. And I'm not talking about like hyper-spiritual warfare language. I'm talking about biblical Great Commission talk. All of us should be aware of the fact that we're called to be ministers of reconciliation. We're co-laborers with Jesus in our generation, in our in our community, in our city, and in our nation. Maybe in the nations of the world. God is, Jesus said he will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail. Gates don't move. Gates don't move. Which means the church is advancing forward through the proclamation of the gospel and the laying down of its life. We're not moving powers and principalities. Listen, we can get politicians on our side. You know, we can get a politician in office who's for Christians. Maybe they genuinely are for Christians. Maybe they're saying that they're for Christians because they want more of the popular vote. And we could we could feel we could try to attach ourselves to different personas and people in government business. We can have influence and ways, maybe, and you know, different things, but we're not shaking powers and principalities. We're not pushing back powers and principalities. If our hearts mirror what they represent, if our hearts mirror what they represent, we're not moving anything. And so, in a fresh way today, Lord, we surrender to you and we say, Lord, make us like Mary, Lord. Whatever earthly treasures we have, our time, our futures, our finances, our reputations, our families, or whatever it may be, Lord. Lord, we poured out upon you. We love you, Lord. Lord, we want to respond to you in the day of salvation. Lot's wife couldn't respond to you in the day of salvation because her soul was tied to a world that was passing away. Lord, we pray that we would be able to respond to you in the day of your visitation. In the day of your coming, Lord. Speak to us today. We don't want to try to generate better ideas or more force to shift our affections, Lord. We just want to set our hearts and our minds on Jesus Christ as Lord. On the word of God, on the gospel as ultimate truth. We just want to set our hearts upon you, Lord. We want to set our minds upon you. We want to in our hearts settle this conviction that you are true. Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar. And Lord, we trust the grace of God and the Spirit of God to transform our affections. We know our heart will pursue whatever it may be that it considers to be ultimate treasure. Help us, Lord, in a fresh way today to lose our lives and to find you. To lose our lives in a fresh way today and find you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

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