SPEAKER_00: An honor and a privilege uh to be in the word, to share the word.
SPEAKER_00: I love Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I love the word.
SPEAKER_00: I love growing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh growing is changing, and changing is growing, and we're all growing.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We haven't arrived.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so uh, you know, I love uh getting to do what I do and and work with the young people.
SPEAKER_00: Um it's fun, it's it's fun getting to share the word with them, but it's also an honor to get to share the word tonight with you.
SPEAKER_00: So why don't we start out in prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Father, we just thank you, Lord, for tonight.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you, Lord, for uh this is the day that you've made, we'll rejoice and be glad in it.
SPEAKER_00: And so we lift up this time together to you.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Lord, that our hearts are open, our ears are open to what you have to say tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place.
SPEAKER_00: Not my will, but your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: And so we thank you, Father.
SPEAKER_00: We don't take it lightly when we come together, we don't take it uh lightly when we're in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: And so we thank you for what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you gave us your best, you gave us Jesus, and we honor that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're taking notes tonight, um, or you can type it out on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: The title of my message is extravagant devotion.
SPEAKER_00: Extravagant devotion.
SPEAKER_00: And this came out of um, so today we had a staff meeting.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, we had prayer and a staff meeting, but I missed prayer because I was at the dentist's office.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we used to have uh prayer and staff meeting on a different day.
SPEAKER_00: And so when I scheduled the dentist six months ago, you know, I can't change that appointment, or I try not to change my appointments.
SPEAKER_00: Um, anyways, anyways, I'm on a rabbit trail.
SPEAKER_00: Um, so there was staff prayer this morning, and then we uh had a meeting.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh it was good.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor was there, and anyways, so I was taking a couple of notes, and my notebook that I grabbed from my office um had a song that I had jotted down when we had gone, Jay and I went to another church.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they had like a worship outside.
SPEAKER_00: It's a um River of Praise.
SPEAKER_00: Is that the name of the church?
SPEAKER_00: I think River of Praise.
SPEAKER_00: Um and they have a big cross over here on 249.99, and there was worship outside.
SPEAKER_00: And so, and they sang a song, um, and it just it touched me.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wrote down some of the lyrics on my in my notebook, and I opened that notebook today, forgetting that I had done that.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so uh anyway, so just brought back um some things that God has spoken to me that night.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was gonna just read you the lyrics um from that song.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think it's called What a God.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all.
SPEAKER_00: If the best thing that I've I'm not gonna sing, if the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you've heard this song.
SPEAKER_00: Your love has changed my life forever satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: God, you are my everything.
SPEAKER_00: Your love has changed my life forever satisfied.
SPEAKER_00: No treasure of this life could ever satisfy God, you are my everything.
SPEAKER_00: And so um I love those lyrics, you know, it they they just are profound.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that's where this came out of.
SPEAKER_00: Uh just of our devotion to God.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's a war, spiritual war in this generation for our attention, if you haven't noticed.
SPEAKER_00: Um even different than back when I grew up in the 80s.
SPEAKER_00: Uh definitely, you know, now with just uh social media and the phones and all the pressures, um, there's definitely a uh attention, you know, the enemy wants to grab our attention.
SPEAKER_00: God wants us focused on certain things, but there's so many distractions.
SPEAKER_00: And so, um, and I and I jotted this down in my notebook.
SPEAKER_00: Don't waste your affection on things he hasn't called you to.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's lots of um maybe okay things um that look good, but there's specifics that God has called us to.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times I think we waste our affection on things that he's never really called us to.
SPEAKER_00: And so um, so God wants us to have devotion, extravagant devotion.
SPEAKER_00: So there's lots of uh biblical stories, stories in the Bible um of devotion.
SPEAKER_00: And so John 12, the first one I thought of is uh Mary in the alabaster box.
SPEAKER_00: So we'll read that in John, in John's account, John 12, 1 through 7, um, and the New Living.
SPEAKER_00: It says, six days before the Passover celebration began.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus, the man he had raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: A dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor.
SPEAKER_00: Mary uh Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.
SPEAKER_00: Then Mary took a 12-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from the essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it.
SPEAKER_00: Wiping his feet with her hair, the house was filled with the fragrance.
SPEAKER_00: But Judas, the disciple, who would soon betray him, said, That perfume was worth a year's wages.
SPEAKER_00: It should have been sold, and the money given to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: Not that he cared for the poor, he was a thief.
SPEAKER_00: And since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some from himself for himself.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, Leave her alone.
SPEAKER_00: She did this in preparation for my burial.
SPEAKER_00: You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.
SPEAKER_00: And so, number one, extravagant devotion is personal and intimate.
SPEAKER_00: And so here you see Mary's act that was personal.
SPEAKER_00: That was she she didn't care who was in the room, uh, she worshipped Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It was nobody was gonna talk her out of that.
SPEAKER_00: And so, um, and even using her hair, you know, as a uh, you know, wiping the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so that was so sweet.
SPEAKER_00: And so her her true devotion flowed from a relationship with him, not just, you know, a ritual.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can get in these um habits or rituals where we just do things, you know, automatically.
SPEAKER_00: And so, but I I don't think she did that.
SPEAKER_00: It it was a year's worth, and so it was intimate for her.
SPEAKER_00: It um she didn't weigh.
SPEAKER_00: I wrote here, she didn't wait for permission.
SPEAKER_00: It may not have been the perfect timing.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe other people in the room, uh, of course, Judas was like, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: And so um, God, God's not impressed with formality.
SPEAKER_00: Um, He wants our heart, He wants intimacy, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so Matthew uh 22, 37 says, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first and greatest commandment.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes on saying this, you know, the second one is love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I love how they were they were always trying to trip up Jesus, but Jesus was like, forget about all that, forget about the law, forget about all of those.
SPEAKER_00: If you just keep this, you won't break all the other, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you just love me with all of your heart and all your soul and all your mind, um, you're not gonna have anger or rage or jealousy, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so you you wanna make sure that that we we want to make sure that we keep our heart, that it, that we're intimate towards the Lord, that we keep a tender heart towards the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and then if you read on in Matthew 15, uh then kind of the opposite, uh, Matthew 15, 1 through 9, also in the New Living Translation.
SPEAKER_00: And so here Jesus is teaching about inner purity, uh, warning them against empty traditions.
SPEAKER_00: Uh some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They asked him, Why do your disciples disobey our age old tradition, for they ignore our tradition or ceremonial hand washing before they eat?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus replied, And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?
SPEAKER_00: For instance, God says, honor your father and mother, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully of disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.
SPEAKER_00: But you say it is all right for people to say to the parents, sorry, I can't help you, for I have vowed to give to God what I have given to you.
SPEAKER_00: In this way, you say they don't need to honor their parents.
SPEAKER_00: And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
SPEAKER_00: You hypocrites.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
SPEAKER_00: So uh their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.
SPEAKER_00: So here they were stuck on what you know, the traditions of men.
SPEAKER_00: They were stuck on washing the hands, and you don't do it that way, and you're talking about honoring your parents, and here he's just saying, hey, you you you speak the right words, but your heart's way far, you know?
SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of times I think um we can get we can we can get to a place where we might be saying the right thing, but our hearts far it's far from God.
SPEAKER_00: And so we want to make sure that um, and that comes with just uh a daily surrender to God, a daily, a daily purge, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um new year.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times we, you know, usually new year, new you, you think about what you've been eating, you start exercising more, you're purging the closet.
SPEAKER_00: At least that's what I'm trying to do.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you go through all of these rituals, and they're good, right?
SPEAKER_00: We need to do all the things, those are good to reflect and to and to see, you know, what to take inventory.
SPEAKER_00: And so here he's saying, You're you're saying the right things.
SPEAKER_00: Check, check.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing you're saying the right things, but your hearts are far from me.
SPEAKER_00: And so your worship, that's not worship, that's not devotion, that's not extravagant devotion.
SPEAKER_00: That's not being intimate with God, that's not being personal.
SPEAKER_00: God's not interested in lip service.
SPEAKER_00: God wants your heart.
SPEAKER_00: God wants the real you.
SPEAKER_00: He knows you, he knows the real you, anyways, right?
SPEAKER_00: He knows the real us.
SPEAKER_00: And so he just wants honesty.
SPEAKER_00: He wants um, he wants us to come to a place of of being honest, of honest prayers, of honest consecration, of honest um just a surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we can get there.
SPEAKER_00: He can help us.
SPEAKER_00: We have the Holy Spirit inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: You have the Holy Spirit inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: You're not left alone to figure it out on your own.
SPEAKER_00: You have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and he is a helper, he is a comforter.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be there when nobody else is.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not like we have a heavenly father that points out all of, you know, a lot of times I think people uh relate to a heavenly father as a mankind, as a man, as as that's how their father was, or that's how men treat, you know, us or mankind, you know, man or woman.
SPEAKER_00: But but no, God, God doesn't even see our failures.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't see your your weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you, he he wants to have a close relationship with you.
SPEAKER_00: He he wants you to have He the Word says to come close to me, draw close to me, and I'll come close to you.
SPEAKER_00: And so God, God's not a heavenly father who just chastens us all, is mean, rude.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's sweet, he's kind, he loves us, he is love.
SPEAKER_00: God is love.
SPEAKER_00: And uh so number two, extravagant devotion is costly.
SPEAKER_00: John 12, 5 says, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii?
SPEAKER_00: So it was it the and if you do research on that, it was a year's wage.
SPEAKER_00: It was a year's wage, so it was costly.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so extravagant devotion always looks wasteful to people who don't value Jesus the same way, right?
SPEAKER_00: It it maybe to you, maybe God's given you a word, but I don't know that word.
SPEAKER_00: You know, mom and dad might know that word, he's given you a word, Uncle so-and-so doesn't know that word, even pastor may not know that word, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so he's given you a word, though.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you're extravagant, you know, it can look wasteful or it can look silly to some other people, but when God has given you a word, nobody should be able to talk you out of that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody should be able to talk you out of that.
SPEAKER_00: When God's given you something, um it's it's uh it might look wasteful to people, but I would just encourage you, keep that.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's good to keep our just our mouth shut.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think we say too much, you know, God shows me this.
SPEAKER_00: And and it doesn't it doesn't mean you can't testify at the right time.
SPEAKER_00: Um but but I would just uh just be cautious of of of who you say, how you divulge what God has spoken to you, to your heart, just to anybody, because that anybody can talk you out of things.
SPEAKER_00: And so you want to make sure that that's um that you keep those things in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And then at the right time you can share it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and 2 Samuel now just mentioned this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh David said, I will not offer that which costs me nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, we live in a society that's convenient, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Um, our our devotion, you know, it should cost us something.
SPEAKER_00: It should prayer, you know, like the extra 30 minutes, waking up earlier.
SPEAKER_00: Your flesh does not want to do that.
SPEAKER_00: The other morning, I set my alarm at 4:30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: I did not wake up at 4 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: No, I did not.
SPEAKER_00: I went right back to sleep.
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember if Jay had good sleep that night, uh, but I did not.
SPEAKER_00: I went to bed late.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you go to bed at midnight and you set your alarm at four, you yeah, that's not really gonna work.
SPEAKER_00: You kind of have to go to bed at a certain uh decent hour.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but your flesh doesn't, when your flesh is is is you know used to a certain thing, used to a certain routine, and then you just do something different, it's like whoa, right?
SPEAKER_00: But um, extravagant devotion is costly.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you have goals this year, if you have goals that God has given you, whether it's to wake up 30 minutes earlier, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Your flesh is gonna talk.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna say something, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna say something.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so what are you gonna say back?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And it's in these, these, and we might not think that that's a that's a major thing.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes I just like to tell the flesh no um in these simple little things because when the big things come, if you can't say no to the flesh and those minor things, something major comes.
SPEAKER_00: How can you say no to the flesh when you haven't trained your body and your flesh under?
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, I'm gonna say no to you because I can, because I'm not flesh ruled, I'm spirit ruled.
SPEAKER_00: My flesh talks very loud.
SPEAKER_00: I will tell it no.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: My thoughts, you know.
SPEAKER_00: So you have to, what are where are those thoughts coming from?
SPEAKER_00: Did that thought come from the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: No, that came from the pit of hell.
SPEAKER_00: That was a fiery dart.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna talk back to that.
SPEAKER_00: And so you have to be your extravagant devotion is costly.
SPEAKER_00: It'll cost you something.
SPEAKER_00: It may cost you, maybe you've had some friendships and God doesn't, they're keeping you, they're not godly friendships that you might need to do away with those ungodly associations.
SPEAKER_00: And so uh you have to make sure that that you know, extravagant devotion, it it's costly.
SPEAKER_00: You have to tell your flesh no, you have to put it under.
SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes, you know, maybe the Lord wants you to visit somebody in the hospital.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh, I've had a long day.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to go home.
SPEAKER_00: It's nine, it's eight o'clock.
SPEAKER_00: I haven't had dinner.
SPEAKER_00: My tummy is grumbling.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord's like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: So and so.
SPEAKER_00: That's at the hospital.
SPEAKER_00: You they might need you.
SPEAKER_00: They, you know, not pressure, but I'm just saying, devotion, it costs, it's costly.
SPEAKER_00: It'll cost you something.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, extravagant devotion sometimes faces criticism.
SPEAKER_00: And I just read it about Judas, right?
SPEAKER_00: The disciple would soon, so verses four through six in John 12, 4 through 6, the disciple who would soon betray him said that perfume was worth a year's wages.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, woman, what you doing?
SPEAKER_00: You know what you're doing?
SPEAKER_00: You know that that bottle of perfume, you know how much it cost from Neiman Marcus.
SPEAKER_00: You know, do you know how much I saved up to buy you that bottle of perfume?
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do with it?
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: You you're gonna do what?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna pour it?
SPEAKER_00: So that was Judas, right?
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, you should do this with it.
SPEAKER_00: You should give it to the poor.
SPEAKER_00: This is a better option, right here.
SPEAKER_00: You gonna do that?
SPEAKER_00: No, this this right here is a better, better option.
SPEAKER_00: And so um, so Judas, so again, number three, extravagant devotion sometimes will face criticism.
SPEAKER_00: Um he challenged her, right?
SPEAKER_00: For a good cause.
SPEAKER_00: Feed the poor.
SPEAKER_00: We do, yeah, feed the poor, but it wasn't the one thing that she needed to do.
SPEAKER_00: It might have been an okay thing, feed the poor, that's a good thing, but she was there on mission, right?
SPEAKER_00: Even though we had Judas yapping his mouth, right?
SPEAKER_00: We had him yap in his mouth, and so here I put religious voices or just any voices may criticize radical obedience, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's radical obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Man, you're like, yeah, I'm trying to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: God's told me such and such, and I got a bunch of naysayers.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: Keep praying, keep believing, keep your heart right, and then keep praying, just do it over again.
SPEAKER_00: Keep believing, keep your heart right, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, even in the in the face of criticism, um, she did it anyways.
SPEAKER_00: She was extravagant in her devotion, even in the face of criticism, even in the people in the room who said, Are you nuts?
SPEAKER_00: Are you crazy?
SPEAKER_00: What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't look like a good plan.
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: That money should go to this other thing, and so she didn't listen.
SPEAKER_00: She was there on mission, and then Jesus defended Mary.
SPEAKER_00: He defended her.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, she's preparing me for my burial, she's preparing me, and so um, be devoted, stay devoted.
SPEAKER_00: Another example in Luke 10, verses 38 through 42.
SPEAKER_00: Says, and Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
SPEAKER_00: Her sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught.
SPEAKER_00: But Martha was distracted by the big dinner.
SPEAKER_00: This was the New Living Translation, by the big dinner she was preparing.
SPEAKER_00: She came to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work?
SPEAKER_00: Tell her to come and help me.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all of these details.
SPEAKER_00: There is only one thing worth being concerned about.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say, one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken from her.
SPEAKER_00: She discovered it, and it will not be taken from her.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but she she chose to sit at the feet of Jesus, she chose devotion, she chose to put all of the distractions away, and she both chose to be devoted.
SPEAKER_00: She chose to be devoted, even with all the things, the long list.
SPEAKER_00: Right, there might be a long list of things to do, but she chose devotion to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because if Jesus isn't at the top of your list of being devoted to him, how those things, how you proceed forward with the rest of your list, I would not trust myself.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I we would we should not trust ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: If we have not spent time, spent time with Jesus, why should you be trusting your decisions?
SPEAKER_00: Because then your decisions are just out of here, they're not out of here, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so we have to make sure the list has to be done, all the things need to get done, but you want to make sure that you spend time with Jesus, that you're diligent about that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, number four, extravagant devotions, devotion honors Jesus above all else.
SPEAKER_00: Extravagant devotion honors Jesus above all else.
SPEAKER_00: So John 12, 7, she has kept this for the day of my burial.
SPEAKER_00: And so she had discerned what other people in the room had missed.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: She knew.
SPEAKER_00: Judas was like, What you doing, woman?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: But she knew.
SPEAKER_00: She knew about Jesus' death, and so her actions were not wasteful.
SPEAKER_00: Her actions were not wasteful.
SPEAKER_00: Where other people might have seen them as wasteful, her actions were not wasteful.
SPEAKER_00: And so that honored Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: She was intentional, she was loving.
SPEAKER_00: Um I put here, extravagant devotions recognizes the moment and responds without delay.
SPEAKER_00: How about if she would have missed that moment?
SPEAKER_00: How about if she would have listened to Judas?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I did.
SPEAKER_00: That is a year's, that is a year's worth.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: I worked very hard for that.
SPEAKER_00: I saved for that.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: What are these people gonna think of me?
SPEAKER_00: She she didn't, she didn't.
SPEAKER_00: She she responded without delay.
SPEAKER_00: She recognized the moment because some moments may never come up again in your life, right?
SPEAKER_00: You have to seize the moment, you have to seize that opportunity because it may not come back again.
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, maybe some uh God put something in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Don't, you know, pray about it, seek God about it.
SPEAKER_00: But then when that opportunity comes, you have to seize upon it.
SPEAKER_00: Number five, extravagant devotion leaves a lasting fragrance, leaves a lasting fragrance, and in John 12, 3 says, the house was filled with fragrance of the oil, the whole house was filled with fragrance, and so true worship changes the atmosphere, true worship changes the entire atmosphere, also vice versa.
SPEAKER_00: If you complain and murmur and gossip, that changes an atmosphere too.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I shut down real quick if I hear all of that.
SPEAKER_00: Um I do not partake in that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it pushes me the other way.
SPEAKER_00: I will be silent, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so it changes the both change the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna complain, if you're gonna murmur, if you're gonna gossip, that creates an atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00: That's a hostile atmosphere, that's an atmosphere where you don't want to say anything, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's very, it's icky, it's ugh, ugh, right?
SPEAKER_00: It makes me want to throw up.
SPEAKER_00: Ugh, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: And it should.
SPEAKER_00: It should, because the Bible says don't complain, don't murmur and don't complain and don't be mean.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Bible said.
SPEAKER_00: It creates an atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want that's icky.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's the devil's territory.
SPEAKER_00: We want to make sure that that we create a beautiful lasting fragrance, just like just like she did.
SPEAKER_00: Her devotion created a lasting fragrance that we are not now talking about and teaching about, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so true worship changes the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and I put what you pour on Jesus blesses others around you.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: What you pour on Jesus, when you are full of thanksgiving, I say, thank you, God.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus, for this day.
SPEAKER_00: This is the day you've made.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of the Lord is my strength, even when things aren't happening or you know, just it doesn't look right.
SPEAKER_00: But I thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I set my eyes on you, I set my focus on you.
SPEAKER_00: God has not given me a spirit of fear, but a power of love and a sound mind.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I have a sound mind.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you just lavish your love on Jesus, it's not only for you, but it's for the people around you and in your household.
SPEAKER_00: And so that creates a lasting fragrance with others, with you, and then with others around you, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so you want to make sure you're known for that.
SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure to be known for that, to be that, oh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: That person's been with Jesus instead of, oh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: They need to be with Jesus a little more.
SPEAKER_00: Go back into the prayer closet, right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back into a prayer closet.
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's all start this day over, let's go back, right?
SPEAKER_00: Right, I'm preaching to myself, not just pointing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, like, if if I wake up in a funk, right, and Jay's already said a bunch of words.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I haven't had no coffee yet.
SPEAKER_00: Hold up.
SPEAKER_00: Hold up, honey.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, wait.
SPEAKER_00: No, I love when you talk to me in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, sometimes we wake up in a funk and we're like, oh no, mm-mm, no.
SPEAKER_00: Like, let me go read the word.
SPEAKER_00: Let me sometimes I do wake up with scripture or a song, but then other days I don't, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just being real.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just being real, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so you want to make sure that that, you know, because it blesses others, when what you pour on Jesus, when you're filled up to overflowing, then you can pour that oil on others.
SPEAKER_00: But when you're dry, when you haven't said hello to Jesus, when you haven't cracked open your Bible, when you're just thinking about what you have to do today, and you have no thought for him, you can't do this very well when you haven't done this, right?
SPEAKER_00: Ever.
SPEAKER_00: You will never do this, even with me with the mic, doesn't mean I have to do this, be with him, so then I can pour his love that he's bestowed on me to you, right?
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus said her act would be remembered forever.
SPEAKER_00: In Mark 14, it says, her act would be remembered forever.
SPEAKER_00: And so I put here extravagant devotion outlives the moment.
SPEAKER_00: We had this one theme in youth to live beyond the moments.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but outlives the moment and leaves a legacy.
SPEAKER_00: You're leaving a legacy.
SPEAKER_00: Your extravagant devotion of worship, of life, of doing life that way, right?
SPEAKER_00: Not just Sunday morning at 10 a.m., you a worship song, but when you do life as man, I'm devoted to you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It leaves a legacy.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Romans 12:1 says, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all that he has done for you.
SPEAKER_00: Let them be a living and a holy sacrifice, which he'll find acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: That's true worship.
SPEAKER_00: Our bodies, spirit, soul, and body, it's just a living sacrifice, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, um, so yeah, no, so that was my last point.
SPEAKER_00: Extravagant devotion leaves a lasting fragrance.
SPEAKER_00: And Sunday night, so we did this Sunday night, and there's a couple of questions.
SPEAKER_00: Um, actually, it started with the teenagers the the week before, where I had them fill out some papers, um, and then I just asked them some questions.
SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, the questions weren't for the paper, but it was at the end of me teaching them, and it was a just good reflection.
SPEAKER_00: What pulled me away this year?
SPEAKER_00: What or who helped me grow, and then what needs to change for next year?
SPEAKER_00: And so God's not asking for perfection.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times I think, you know, and I tell the teens this like a lot of times we think, man, wow, I can't, you know, and they come back with like, you know, their prayer requests, like they're not perfect, and this happened and that happened.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about perfection, but it's about having a devoted heart, a tender heart towards God, a willing heart, a heart that says, you know what, I surrender to him.
SPEAKER_00: Even through all of the yucky stuff, even through all of the uh the life and the Judases and the people, um, the naysayers, like when you spend time, when you devote, when you are extravagant, man, when yeah, when I say extravagant devotion, it looks a certain way, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like a fan.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to a football game or a baseball game?
SPEAKER_00: And they are fanatics.
SPEAKER_00: They take off their shirt and they paint their chest and they do crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, they are fanatics.
SPEAKER_00: We watch sports.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes, well, really, because Ethan, we have somebody at the house that's uh watches sports, and so some sports are sometimes on, not all the time, but and we'll watch Astros or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see those, they're fans, they are extravagant.
SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt that they are an Astros fan, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's on the it's on their.
SPEAKER_00: I even saw one uh truck on the freeway.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was like a Texans fan.
SPEAKER_00: He had the stickers, he had the, I don't know what he had, the all kinds of stuff on his truck.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, he is a fan.
SPEAKER_00: And so how much more are should we be fans of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Be devoted to so I just want to encourage you, be devoted to him here at the beginning of the year.
SPEAKER_00: Do a reset.
SPEAKER_00: Say, hey, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: What pulled me, what pulled me away last year?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of thoughts pulled me away?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of actions?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of uh reactions?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a reaction, something's presented to you and it's not quite right, and it doesn't quite sit with you, and then you're just like, then you have a choice, right?
SPEAKER_00: Whew, am I going to not say anything?
SPEAKER_00: How about we just pray about this for a while?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Like that's probably the bit number one.
SPEAKER_00: But let's pray about it for a while.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of responding, reacting, let's pray, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes things aren't aren't, you know, quite right in families or in certain work situations.
SPEAKER_00: But instead of reacting, I mean, we just heard a testimony from somebody on Sunday that he, well, I won't tell it for him.
SPEAKER_00: But anyways, there was a certain situation at work and he hadn't gotten paid and he didn't react.
SPEAKER_00: He just prayed, he prayed, he prayed, he prayed, and finally it came through.
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, then the lady, I don't know if it was the boss or the HR, anyways, she was like, Thank you for just being patient.
SPEAKER_00: You know, favor, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's favor.
SPEAKER_00: Favor isn't though.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we think favor, like, oh, okay, I may have favor here at the end and I got all the things, but it's how you got there.
SPEAKER_00: Well, did you beat them upside the head?
SPEAKER_00: And then, like, I have favor.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like, did you make it happen?
SPEAKER_00: No, let God let just let God do it.
SPEAKER_00: Let God fight your battles.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to try to fight them on your own.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to try to uh struggle and do it on your own.
SPEAKER_00: No, let God fight your battles.
SPEAKER_00: He does way better fighting for you than us, right?
SPEAKER_00: He does.
SPEAKER_00: He he's he knows um how to fight our battles.
SPEAKER_00: And so all we do is, yeah, we we contend.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we pray, yes, we press.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we're extravagant in our devotion.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then also do when doing all of that, and sometimes we may not see the answer, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's all right.
SPEAKER_00: You just do it all over again, right?
SPEAKER_00: You pray and you're devoted, and you, and then it becomes who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And then circumstances don't change that, right?
SPEAKER_00: Circumstances don't change that because you've you've created this habit of I'm extravagantly gonna be devoted to him, whether anybody else is or not, right?
SPEAKER_00: Whether anybody else gets up early or not, whether anybody else, and it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I, me, myself, I'm gonna do this, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to encourage you in the doing of life to make sure that you're devoted to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's devoted to us.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know he's devoted to us?
SPEAKER_00: He loves us, he loves you, he loves you so much.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't see your past failures, he doesn't see your shortcomings, um, he doesn't see your anything, like anything bad like that.
SPEAKER_00: He he's just a loving father.
SPEAKER_00: And then we in Hebrews it says we have uh the ones that have gone before him, they're cheering us on, right?
SPEAKER_00: They're cheering us on, like Deborah, you can do it.
SPEAKER_00: Rosie, you got this, right?
SPEAKER_00: Share, you you can do it.
SPEAKER_00: They're cheering us on from the grandstands, you know, and so I think sometimes we get we can get discouraged, um, but no, don't get discouraged, be encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: So you have people cheering you on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm cheering you on, they're cheering you on, and God is cheering you on.
SPEAKER_00: And so he's devoted to us.
SPEAKER_00: And so I would just encourage you to stay devoted to him, just like Mary did.
SPEAKER_00: She was devoted.
SPEAKER_00: Um, she didn't, she didn't care about what anybody else said.
SPEAKER_00: She was focused, she was, she, she had she was on a mission, and she did that.
SPEAKER_00: She prepared Jesus and she left a legacy.
SPEAKER_00: She left a legacy, she left a beautiful, fragrant legacy.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can do that.
SPEAKER_00: You can do that.
SPEAKER_00: You you may say, oh Selena, it's too late.
SPEAKER_00: Nope, it's never too late.
SPEAKER_00: You can start today.
SPEAKER_00: It's never too late.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to know.
SPEAKER_00: God knows, and so um, he's the God of the the redo's.
SPEAKER_00: You can redo.
SPEAKER_00: Um He again, like I said before, he doesn't he doesn't remember your past, he doesn't remember the failures.
SPEAKER_00: He's just cheering you on.
SPEAKER_00: He loves his kids, even the ones who don't know him yet, even the ones who are astray and don't know him yet.
SPEAKER_00: He's not there, oh, I hate you.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Like, can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
SPEAKER_00: God, we serve a good, good father.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God that is love.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God that loves us so much.
SPEAKER_00: He gave us his very best.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to encourage you to keep, you know, keep that at the forefront.
SPEAKER_00: That God loves you.
SPEAKER_00: He has a wonderful plan.
SPEAKER_00: He has a wonderful purpose for your life.
SPEAKER_00: So don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up on the people around you.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up on your family.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up on the ones you're believing God for.
SPEAKER_00: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: God never gives up on us.
SPEAKER_00: So why do we give what we shouldn't give up on anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So we're devoted to God.
SPEAKER_00: We're devoted to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Then that makes us devoted to others.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We love like Jesus loves.
SPEAKER_00: When we spend time with him, we become more like him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you with that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's uh let's see.
SPEAKER_00: I know we have a couple of or one prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Jay said, read my all my points again.
SPEAKER_00: I'll read all the points again.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, let me let me okay.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, extravagant devotion is personal and intimate.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, extravagant devotion is costly.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, extravagant devotion often faces criticism.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, extravagant devotion honors Jesus above all else.
SPEAKER_00: And then number five, extravagant devotion leaves a lasting fragrance.
SPEAKER_00: And um I don't know that song, I might want to, maybe we should start singing it in the youth.
SPEAKER_00: If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That one line right there says it all.
SPEAKER_00: Says it all.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about all the stuff, it's about that's the highest place that you'll reach is at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Then you've done it all.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.