Follow Me - Week 2, Pastor John Mozingo

Follow Me is a sermon series from Family Church that walks through the life of Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples. His bold steps, honest struggles, and growing faith show what it means to follow Jesus with a willing heart. Each episode highlights key moments from Peter’s journey and invites us to learn how Jesus shapes ordinary people into faithful followers. Join us as we discover how Peter’s story challenges and inspires us to follow Christ every day.

Thank you so much for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week! If you would like to learn more about Family Church, please visit our website myfamilychurch.com or follow us on Facebook or Instagram at @myfamilychurchVA.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Family Church's Sermon of the Week. We're so glad you're here. Each week we share a message from God's Word to encourage your heart, strengthen your faith, and help you grow in your walk with Jesus. We hope this time blesses you and draws you closer to the heart of God.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

So I want you to imagine just for a second that you lived 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. You know, you were there every day. That's just that was your life. And then and then you're walking through the streets one day, and and down the road, down around the corner, you hear a crowd yelling. And and it's not they're not yelling for their favorite team or anything. This is angry. This is mocking. You hear people yelling. And then that crowd comes around the corner, and then you can see at the be at the front of that crowd, there's a person hunched over. You can see their silhouette. They're hunched over and moving really slow. And as they get closer, you can see they're carrying a cross. And they're not the only one there. There's there's lots of people. You can tell there's more people coming. They get closer, and the the yelling gets louder and louder and louder. And then suddenly you can hear the sound of the wood being dragged across those cobblestone streets, and they get get closer. Then you see it's not just one. There's like five or six guys carrying these crosses. And they pass you and you watch them and they go outside the city gate, and you don't look at this and think they're carrying their cross. Wow, that must be inconvenient. Or that that must be a heavy burden. That's not what you think, because you know exactly what it means. You know that those five men are criminals, and they are going to be escorted outside the city gates, and then they're going to be crucified on those crosses at a place where everybody walking by can see them. And everybody knows this. Because the Roman government made it brutal and they made it public so that everyone would see the heavy hand of authority from Rome. And the Roman government would execute people this way, criminals, rebels, anyone who opposed the authority of Rome would die that death. So when Peter said, or when Jesus said, Take up your cross and follow me, the disciples knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. That's kind of a heavy way to start a sermon. So let me fill in, let me fill in some gaps for you here. You know, last week we talked about when Jesus called his first disciples. Peter was the first one. He looked at looked at them and he said, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I will teach you how to fish for people. And we talked about that last week. How that's not only was that their call, that was their calling, that was their purpose. He was calling them away from their uh their jobs, their families, calling them away from what they were doing at that moment, and saying, saying, I'm gonna teach you how to fish for people. That was their calling. They were called and they were given their calling, given their purpose to fish for people. And it's our calling too. It's our calling too. Um they dropped what they were doing, they followed Jesus, and over time, over the next few months, they got to they got to see Jesus do just amazing things. Amazing things. They saw him turn water to wine, they saw him walk on the water, they saw him heal the people from diseases that were incurable. All these amazing things. They saw him in a boat, in a in a storm, Jesus say, peace be still, and the weather obeyed him. They saw all of that. So you would think, you know, you would think that that, you know, guys that walk through that, you know, I mean, put yourself in that position. If you saw Jesus do all of that, if Jesus called you by name, said, follow me, and then you saw all that, you'd be like, Man, I would be all in. But it's hard to be all in when you don't know the cost. It's hard to be all in when you don't cost. Peter had to learn this the hard way. He had to learn the cost of following Jesus the hard way. You know, just because he's a man, man need to, men need to learn things the hard way, don't we? You know, we we learn we learn best when we when we fall flat on our face. And that's what Peter had to go through before he knew, really knew the cost of following Jesus. So look with me in Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? Well, they replied, Some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, others say you're Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Then he asked them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter steps up and answers for everybody, and he says, You're the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. So by this time, the the disciples had been with Jesus for over a year, and they had seen all those amazing things, but they had also heard what people were saying about Jesus. You know, Jesus was the topic of conversation throughout the area. People were talking about Jesus, and and some of them were saying, yeah, well, he must be one of the prophets, you know, from the Old Testament, because he's doing miracles and he's preaching and doing the same thing the prophets did. And there was a common thinking of the day that that uh people thought that when the Messiah came, he would be one of the prophets reincarnated or coming back to life uh to uh deliver them from the tyranny of Rome. That's what people thought. But but Peter didn't answer that way. Peter said, You are the Messiah. You are the Son of God, you're the chosen one, you're the anointed one. That's how Peter answered. And and Jesus replied to him like this: He said, Peter, you are blessed, Simon, son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed to you, revealed this to you, you do not learn this from any human being. You didn't learn this from man. God revealed this to you. Now, up until that moment, no one had referred to Jesus as the Messiah. The very first verse of of uh Matthew, uh the book of Matthew, the very first verse, mentions that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ or the Anointed One. Says that as an introduction. But nobody calls him Messiah. Nobody uses that term until this moment. So Peter wasn't getting this from what people were talking about. Peter wasn't getting this from anyone other than God revealed that to him. And Peter knew when he looked at Jesus and said, You're the Messiah. You're the Messiah. But look in the next verse. It says, Now I say to you, Peter, after he said that, after he said, You're the Messiah, now I say to you, Peter, which means rock, that upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. Now, let me give some explanation to this because there's some confusion about this verse. You know, a lot a lot of a lot of people will say this this is where Jesus tells Peter, you're going to be the leader of the church. You know, some even think that this is where Jesus tells Peter, you are the first Pope. But this is not what was happening. He said, He said, You you are you are uh Peter, which means rock. Upon this rock will I build my church, and all the powers of hell will not prevail against it. So Jesus knew Peter's heart. Jesus knew Peter's heart. You know, Peter was the first one called, but then, you know, he was the first one out of the boat when Jesus was walking on the water. He he frequently stepped up to speak on behalf of the disciples. You know, he, if anyone in that uh group of men would assert themselves as a leader, it would be Peter. He would step up and say, I'm gonna take charge here. He was that kind of a person. I'll do it my way, I'm gonna take charge. But here's what got here's what Jesus was telling him. Jesus knew his heart, maybe that was his personality, maybe that was just some some uh uh attempt at him wanting to be in control or whatever. But but Peter looked at himself as a leader of these men, and if you continue to read his story, you'll see that continues throughout the story. Peter steps up to be the first one to talk way too many times. So Peter's heart was very much get out of my way, I know what I'm doing, I got this. So Jesus looked at him and said, You're Peter. You are Peter. The Greek word for Peter's name is little stone. You are a little stone. And he uses a different word when he says, upon this rock, he uses the word petra. The word petra means boulder. It's even it's even like used to refer to bedrock. When Jesus told the story about the wise man who built his house on the rock, he used the word petra. He built his house on a solid foundation. So Jesus was looking at Peter, who was always ready to assume leadership. He looked at Peter and he said, You are a little stone, and I'm going to build my church on bedrock. You're not the authority. We're going to build the house on the authority of Jesus Christ. We're going to build God's church on the authority of Jesus Christ. That's what he was trying to tell him. So Jesus wasn't naming Peter as the leader of the church. Really, he was drawing a distinction between Peter and himself. You're the little stone, I am the bedrock. And you could even say, Jesus was taking Peter down a notch. You know? You know, and you think about what he said before, he said, Peter, you're blessed because you listen to God. You know, you listened to God when he taught you. But I'm going to build my church on a solid foundation of bedrock, not on a little stone. Not even hell can conquer it. Then look at verse uh 19. It says, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven. Whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Okay? This is where the idea of Peter being the one who greets you at the gates of heaven, you know, because it says you gave him the keys to heaven and earth. So that from that people assume Peter is gonna greet you at the gates of heaven. And that, you know, that makes for great works of art and good Southern gospel songs, but that's not what it meant. Doesn't mean that Peter's gonna greet you. When you close your eyes on this this earth and you open them in eternity, you're gonna look in the face of Jesus, not Peter. And Jesus is going to ask you, Why should I let you into my heaven? Not Peter. That was never given to Peter. So when it says he was given the keys to heaven and earth, you know, keys do not mean authority. Keys do not mean authority. Keys are tools. Now, you think about wherever you work, the person with the most keys is probably not the CEO. It's probably the janitor. You know, that the keys mean responsibility, keys mean access. So so in saying I'm gonna give you the keys to heaven and earth, Jesus was not saying, I'm gonna make you the authority. And when he said whatever you what whatever you uh whatever you permit in heaven will be permitted on earth, or excuse me, whatever you put permit on earth will be permitted in heaven, whatever you forbid in on in heaven will be fit forbidden in earth. He was not saying you get to call the shots. You know, this is this this is Jesus saying, you and all of the disciples, you will have the ability to tell others this is what is right and this is wrong. This is the standard, and it is the same standard that is in heaven. This standard is coming from heaven. You are not setting the standard in heaven, this standard is coming from heaven, and for the next few decades, you and the the disciples, you and the apostles, are going to set the standard as the Holy Spirit reveals truth through you. And the Holy Spirit would reveal that standard, they would write it down, and eventually that became the New Testament. A better way to put this is that uh a better translation is in the New King James it says, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you lose loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Okay? And so when Jesus said that, the disciples recognized that language because that that's a reference the Pharisees would make to enforcing the law. That's and so to bind something meant to forbid it according to the law. To loose something means to permit it according to the law. To bind something was to declare it forbidden, to loose something was to declare it allowed or permitted. So that's what the disciples did, that's what the apostles did for the next few decades, as the Holy Spirit revealed to them this is the truth that you write down, they were saying, this is what is bound and this is what is loosed. So they were not given authority, they were given, they were given responsibility to communicate the truth as it was revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. And as they listened to the Holy Spirit and wrote it down, eventually that's what became the New Testament. Now, you would think that, you know, after all Peter had seen, and Jesus said, Man, you're blessed, you're gonna be a key player at the building of my church, you would think that God would be calling someone who had his act together. You know, you're blessed. You heard directly from God. You're gonna be, you're gonna have a you're gonna be a big part of the establishment of my church, but you're gonna see almost immediately and through the rest of the gospels, you're gonna see that the opposite is true. Peter did not have it all together, like you would assume. And I think this is a good place to point out that God exclusively uses imperfect people to accomplish his purposes. You know, if if you're sitting in here and you think I'm the right guy for the job, you probably are not the right guy for the job. You know, in God's economy, you are probably not the right person for that job. If you're sitting here thinking, man, I'm I'm too much of a sinner, you know, I don't have any experience, I don't do anything like that. That's where God wants you. God wants the humble people that would just say, God, use me any way you want. That's what God's looking for. You know, so if you're waiting, you know, if you're thinking, hey, you know what, I'll I'll start serving, I'll start, you know, I'll start telling people about Jesus, I'll start inviting them to church, I'll do all this when, when, you know, when I when I get over this bad habit that I have. You know, I feel like a hypocrite now, you know, doing that. So I'm not gonna do it. Or if you're thinking, hey, you know, when I when I get to it, I feel like, you know, a certain level of spirituality, when I get to that point, I'll start getting involved in stuff. You're never gonna get involved because you're always gonna be a sinner, and you are never gonna have your act together enough to do something of eternal value. That's why God says, I'll take care of that. You just step up and do what I've asked you to do. You surrender, and I'll take care of the rest. So don't wait until you feel right. Just start. Because you're probably never gonna feel right. You know what I don't feel right doing? Being a pastor, you know, who am I? You know, who am I to stand up here and proclaim God's truth? You know, I'm just blown away that God would let me do that. And, you know, there are days up here, you know, when I'm moving around, it's because I'm expecting a lightning bolt to hit right there. You know, I just, if you wait till you feel like it, you're not gonna do anything, man. You're gonna sit there and you're gonna keep waiting. The proverb says, the farmer who waits for perfect weather never plants. So if you're gonna wait for things to be perfect, perfect, you're never gonna do anything. So now's the time to step up and start now. You grow through serving, so step up to serve. But look in the next verses. Look how quickly things turned for Peter. Verse 21. From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. So, Peter, Jesus had told his disciples before, you know, at some point I'm gonna have to lay down my life. Now he's giving them details. I'm gonna have to stand before the authorities, I'm gonna be crucified. You know, he's telling him great detail. And here's Peter's response. Peter looked at him and and uh Peter Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Heaven forbid, Lord, he said, this will never happen to you. So just a few verses ago, he's saying, You're the Messiah, you're the Christ, you're the chosen one. Now he's now he's pulling him aside, saying, You're wrong. You're wrong. He was reprimanding him. This is never gonna happen. I'm not gonna let this happen. And this wasn't just, you know, testosterone-fueled bravado. This is who Peter was. This is who Peter was. He meant this. Remember, a few months from now, from this time, Peter would be the guy to draw his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. And he cut his ear off because he ducked. Nobody aims for the ear. They aim, they aim to take off the whole head. So he ducked and he took his ear off, then Jesus healed him. That's who Peter was. So when he said, This ain't gonna happen, he meant it. And look at what Jesus said to him. Verse 23. Jesus turned to Peter and said, Get away from me, Satan. And I thought, maybe he saw Satan, you know, there behind Peter, you know. So I really dug into that. Every, every theologian and commentary I read said he was the language says that he was saying that to Peter. He went from, you are blessed. I'm gonna give you the keys to the kingdom. Satan. I mean, what a quick turn. So, so, you know, Peter did not have it all together. Peter didn't have it all together. Look what it says next. You are dangerous, you are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's view. You're seeing things from a human point of view. That was that was one of Peter's biggest downfalls at this time, is that he saw everything from an earthly perspective. He saw everything through the limitations of who man, of what man is rather than who God is. You know, he would he was more worried about what other people think. You know, he's he's traveling with Jesus, who has proved that he is the Son of God. Peter recognized you are the Messiah. God told him you're the Messiah, and he's still looking at things from a human perspective, and he's worried about what people think. You know, a few months later, Jesus is on trial, Peter's sneaking around in the shadows, three people walk up to him and say, Aren't you the Aren't you the guy that was with Jesus? Aren't you one of his followers? Three times. Peter got angry and denied it. I don't know him. I don't know him. That's the man God was calling. That's the man. And one of the worst traps you can fall in is to worry about what other people are thinking. High school students, middle school students, man, I I know how hard it is. You go to school, uh, you know, you you want to fit in, you want to be accepted, you want to have friends. It's hard. It's hard. You know, and and I know it's hard because I I was there. I was in high school and middle school, and I went through the same things. And probably almost every adult in this room would tell you, yeah, that was that was hard. I wasted a lot of time trying to fit in. I did a lot of dumb things just trying to be part of the crowd. You know, I told you last week I let two guys in the back door of the gym so they could set off a bomb, you know, firecracker. I said bomb, but firecracker. If you weren't here, it was a firecracker, a big firecracker. Okay? You know, I did that because I, you know, I wanted those older guys to like me. You know, you do things that you would never do otherwise just to fit into the crowd. But let me tell you something. If somebody is telling you you should do this, if you want to be one of us, they're not looking to be your friend. They just want to manipulate you. They want to see if you'll do what they tell them to do. That's it. Because when you get caught, they're not gonna be anywhere around when you're suffering the consequences for your actions that they talked you into. That's how that goes. And look, look at these verses. Proverbs 13, 20. Walk with wise and become wise. Have wise friends, you'll become wise. Associate with fools and you're gonna get in trouble. Associate with fools, you're gonna get in trouble. Proverbs 1.10. My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them. Here's what that looks like. Jesus wants you to go that way, your friends want you to go that way. Okay, if you're gonna turn and follow Jesus, you have to turn your back on them and follow Jesus. You have to do that. And kids, kids, when when your friends are saying, hey, let's do this, you turn your back on them and you say, No, I'm gonna I'm gonna follow Jesus instead of following the the fool of a friend that I have. If they're bigger than you, don't call them fool. But I'm gonna follow Jesus. I'm gonna make that choice. But here's the thing adults, we do the same thing. We're always worried about what people are thinking. You know? I mean, as a 60-year-old man, I don't post much on on online, but when I post something on Facebook, I always go back and look. You know, I posted a uh a video last year, year before, it was me on my lawnmower pulling my grandson in a kayak around the yard, you know, and it got like it got like 500 hits. I was like, oh, that's cool, you know. I mean, I just I thought that was so awesome. I got 500 hits on Facebook. I usually don't get any hits, you know, because I'm never on there. But you know, we're like that. We like that kind of approval, and so we're always more worried about what other people think than what God thinks. And that was Peter's problem right now. He was too focused on what the world had to offer than he was. On what Jesus had to offer. That was his downfall. Look at the next verse, verse 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way. Take up your cross and follow me. Remember what we talked about at the beginning of the sermon. They knew exactly what he meant. They weren't thinking that. They weren't thinking, oh, I gotta put on a bigger burden. They knew exactly what Jesus meant, that this was a one-way walk to take up your cross and follow him. And they knew that the cross was an ethic was an instrument of execution. They knew that. And Jesus was saying, follow me. Let me give you three things that are necessary when it comes to following Jesus. If you want to take up your cross and follow Jesus, this is what you have to do. First, it says, choose to live life according to God's plan, not your plan. You have to give up your life. Choose to live life according to God's plan, not your plan. Every area of your life, your conduct, your conversation, your money, your influence, time, relationships, every part of it. You have to say, I'm going to do this according to God's plan, not my plan. You know, the Bible has something to say about every one of those. And if you're going to live a life uh God's way, you have to give up your plan and you have to buy into God's plan, and every area of your life has to be uh submitted to the plan of God. You know, it's kind of like this. You know, the Bible uses marriage as a comparison to our relationship with Christ. You know, so think about going into a marriage. You know, you're when you're single, you know, you got your own way of doing things, you got your own routine, you got all these things, you know. And and then when you get married, you know, suddenly it's about two people becoming one flesh, one mind, one heart. And suddenly you don't get the luxury of doing your things your way anymore. I remember when Melinda and I first got married, we we were in our little apartment there in Jupiter, Florida, Sunday afternoon. Come in, throw on some sweat, turn on the TV, and the Redskins are on. And and and she, you know, and she was she was cool about that. But she said, Are we are we gonna watch football every Sunday? Because she didn't grow up watching football. I mean, that was church and church and football was Sunday growing up. That was it. You know? So she's like, Do we have to watch football every Sunday? And I'm like, Well, I guess not. So I turned the TV off and I think we went to the beach right after that. So I'm laying on the beach next to my wife thinking, yeah, this is a pretty good alternative to watching the Redskins, you know, being on the beach with my wife. That's not a bad alternative. You know, I had to I had to change the way that I think about one small thing because now I was one with someone else. And and successful marriages will tell you, yeah, you sacrifice everything about yourself to be one with that other person. You know, and if you if you're if you're thinking uh you know, I don't want to I don't want to lose my identity, I don't want to, I don't want to lose who I am, well you're going to, but you're gonna gain something better. You're gonna be one with another person in Christ. That's better than being alone. And your relationship with God is the same thing. If you're gonna do things God's way, you know, the scripture says we are one with Christ and we accept him, he lives within us, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and the Holy Spirit is gonna point to here's how you do it God's way, and you have to say, okay, I'm gonna do it God's way. I'm gonna do what God created me to be God's way. And you can't do that apart from the scripture, from knowing the scripture. That's the second thing. Choose total commitment to the word of God. Total commitment to the word of God. That's a tough one. You know, it's a big book, and here's the mistake all of us make. We think, we think, okay, I'm gonna turn my life around, I'm gonna become, I'm gonna become the man that God wants me to be, I'm gonna become the woman God wants me to be, and and I need to check and see if that's my phone, because it very well could be. It's not. Sorry. So we want to be the you know, we want to be the person God wants us to be, and we think we're gonna fix everything overnight. I'm gonna get it right right now. God doesn't expect that. That's impossible. You know what the commitment to being to submitting to the truth of God's word is saying, I'm in this for the long haul. I'm gonna commit to this for the rest of my life. I'm gonna make this a one-way walk with Jesus for the rest of my life, then I'm gonna submit to him. Am I gonna fail? Yes. You're gonna fail miserably sometimes. All the commitments you make to Jesus, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do this, I'm gonna start doing this, I'm gonna start reading my Bible, I'm gonna start praying more, you're gonna fail. And here's the cool thing: God already knows that you're gonna fail, and he's calling you anyway. God knew that Peter would mess up as many times as he did. And he called him anyway. Same is true for you. You're going to make mistakes. So this isn't a one-time change, fix everything. This is you saying, I'm committed to this, and from now to the end of my life, I'm gonna follow Jesus and I'm gonna learn from my mistakes like Peter did, and I'm gonna move on, I'm gonna get back up, and I'm gonna keep walking, I'm gonna sit myself, submit myself to the truth of God's word and the leading of his Holy Spirit. That's what it looks like to take up your cross and follow him, and saying, I'm gonna put my life behind me, and I'm gonna put my life with Jesus ahead of me, and nothing's gonna stop me. That's what it looks like. Third thing. Choose to follow Jesus on his terms. Choose to follow Jesus on his terms. You know, when Peter, when Peter uh was on the shore of Galilee and Jesus said, Come with me, and I'll teach you how to fish for people. When that happened, he used this word for follow me, the word deuthe. And it just means come here. Come here. When he said, take up your cross and follow me, he used the word akaluth. And that means join me on this journey. Two very different words. We look at we look at them both as follow me. One of them is just come here. Like, come here, let me show you something. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Let me just let's just experience this. Come with me. And and if you've accepted Christ as your Savior, you've you've followed that call. You have said, I'm gonna go with you. Now he's saying, go with me on this journey to the end. Take up your cross and follow me. Make that commitment that says, I'm gonna do everything I can to submit every part of my life to the teaching of God's word. I'm gonna do all that I can and I'm gonna follow him. And we're gonna do it his way. And here's his way that you study God's word with other people. That's his way. That's his way. He never says, have perfect attendance on Sunday mornings and everything's gonna be okay. He says, with other people, get in the word, study, hold each other accountable, bear each other's burdens. You can't grow as a believer apart from relationships with other Christians. And here's the thing. Ladies, you you I think you get this more than more than men do. You know, because you you thrive on relationships. You really do. You know, ladies like to insulate, men like to isolate. Something goes wrong for a guy, he doesn't call his best boyfriends and say, hey, I got a problem. You know, he goes in the garage, he goes in the basement, he goes out in the yard, he goes somewhere where he's gonna be by himself. And that's the worst place you could go because Satan does his best work on people that are that are in isolation. You need to surround yourself with other men. And guys, that's why I've told you about this Bible study that's gonna start on April 8th. This is so important, especially if you're not in a in a Bible study already, especially if you're not in a Bible study with other men. This is just gonna be a five-week commitment. And it and it's not a small group. It's not, it's not, it's not just for certain people. This is for every man in here. If you're 15 years and old, 15 years older, 15 years and older, this is for you. Dads, bring your sons, bring your son-in-laws, bring, bring, you know, if your son looks at you and go, I'm not going to that, then you hold up those car keys and go, well, guess what else you're not doing? Unless you go to Bible study with me. It's that important. Get him there. You're his dad, you still have you still have authority to tell him what he's gonna do, even if he doesn't like it. Get your son there. But it's that important. If, you know, God's way, if you're gonna if you're gonna submit to the authority of God's word, you're gonna submit to doing things God's way in his time, then you have to be in the word and you have to do it with other men. You don't get as much out of it just reading it by yourself. That's awesome. Do that, but you're not gonna get as much out of it reading it by yourself. Do it with other people. Ladies, same week, ladies' Bible study begins. If you're not, if you're not in a ladies' Bible study, sign up for that Tuesday nights, April 7th at Wegmans, 7 o'clock. Be a part of that. But that's how you do it. Here's what Jesus says at the end. He says, if you're trying to hang your life, hang on to your life, you'll lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but he loses his own soul? What is more important than your soul? You know, and we try so hard to hang on to this stuff that is that is just earthly. It's all about this life. We'll try to hang on to that. But what value is there in hanging on to that when your soul is what Jesus is talking about? You have you have a body and you have a soul, and that soul that is that is eternal. When Jesus said, What's more important than your soul? You know, that that soul, that's the part that's gonna look Jesus face to face. And he's either gonna look at you and say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You made that commitment, take up your cross and follow me. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Or he's gonna look at you because you never accepted Christ as your Savior, and he's gonna say, Depart from me, you worker of iniquity, you you person who never repented of his sins. For I never knew you. That's what's at stake. That's what's at stake. You know, there's there's never there's never a calling in the scripture to be somewhere in between there. You know? There's no there's no no no thou shalt ride the fence if that's the best you can do. Just take up your cross and follow me, or depart from me I never knew you. God is patient. God's gonna take, God, God is gonna let you take your time. He knows, he already knows how long it's gonna take for you to go down that path and to make that journey. He knows when you're gonna fail, he knows when you're gonna have victories. He is patient with all of that. He doesn't expect it to happen overnight. Let me have every head bowed and every eye closed. None of this means anything if you don't know Christ as your Savior, if you've never been saved. And Jesus made that so simple. You know, it says, the Bible says he came to seek and save those who are lost. And if you've never accepted him as your Lord and Savior, you're lost. I know that's very blunt, but you're lost. But he says, today is the day of salvation. So today you can change that. If you've never accepted him as your savior, you can do that today. And it's just a matter of acknowledging the fact that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose again, shed his blood so that you can have forgiveness of your sin and that you can have eternal life. That's it. He did, he did it all. You don't have to do anything but accept that free gift. You don't have to earn it, you don't have to deserve it, you just have to accept it. So, with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior and you want to right now, I want you to lift your hand. I want you to lift your hand and say, I need to be saved. I've never asked Christ to be my Savior. God, thank you for the way your spirit moves in this place. God, I thank you for the salvation that you have offered to all of us. You're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God, I pray that, Lord, if there is anyone here today that does not know you as their Savior, that today would be the day that they accept Christ. Whether it's here, whether it's at home, whatever. God, help them to understand the reality of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus so that they can have eternal life. Help them to understand that you shed, your son shed his blood on the cross so that we can have forgiveness. He took the penalty for our sin so that we can be forgiven. Still with heads bowed and eyes closed. If you're here today and you just need to say, John, I I need to take up my cross and follow Jesus. I've been I've been putting this off too long. I've been making excuses. You know, one thing after another, I have I have put off doing this, but today I'm committing. I'm gonna follow Jesus. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna take up my cross and follow him. I'm gonna commit to being uh uh uh in the word and studying the word with other people. I'm gonna make those commitments because I'm gonna I'm gonna make this journey the rest of my life. Just raise your hand. Raise your hand, let me pray for you. Awesome. God, thank you. Thank you for those that have raised their hand this morning. Lord, I pray that, Lord, right now, Satan has a target on their back and wants nothing more than to discourage them. And when they walk out of here and say, uh, you know, I don't know, I was just emotional. That's Satan. Lord, help them, help them to say, get thee behind me, Satan. Lord, when they have an opportunity to do a Bible study or small group or whatever, or serving or whatever, and they say, I just don't have time. Help them to realize the only person in the room that doesn't want them to go to that is Satan. Help them to have the boldness and the courage and the wisdom to say, get thee behind me, Satan. Lord, don't let Satan stop them from going down this path, from taking up their cross and following him. So, God, we love you. Lord, we are we are so blessed to be here today. We're blessed to be a part of this church. Lord, I pray for everyone in here this week. God, as we prepare for Easter, I pray that you would put somebody in the path of everyone in here that needs the love of Jesus. Help us to recognize it and to act on it and have the boldness to tell them how much Jesus loves them, even if it's just by inviting them to church Easter Sunday. Put those people in our path this week. God, we love you. Thanks for loving us. Thanks for sending Jesus. It's in his name we pray.

unknown 36:51

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Thanks for listening to Family Church's Sermon of the Week. We pray this message encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith. If it blessed you, share it with a friend and follow so you never miss a new episode. You can learn more about Family Church at myfamilychurch.com. If you are in the area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. We meet at Patriot High School 10504 Kittle Run Drive.