Denying Self

The cost is high, but christ is worth it. Are you willing to give up everything for Jesus?

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SPEAKER_00 0:11

Speaking of genuine, I was thinking of this story. There was a group of us that were in Ephesus, Turkey, and we were wanting to see everything about Ephesus. And if you ever want to read about Ephesus, you can read particularly in Acts chapter 19. And as we arrive, before the tour starts, there are a bunch of shops before you enter through Ephesus, and you do this guided tour, and we had a tremendous guide. And as the bus arrives, we're looking at these shops. And one of the signs, it's a place that sells lots of jewelry and watches. And it says, Sherry's laughing already. She knows where I'm going. It says, genuine fake watches. So the only thing they were guaranteeing about their watches is it's genuinely a fake. We promise you, it's it's fake. And you know, it was it was about a year and a half later, we're at a market in Cambodia, and we're walking around, and it's it's Jesse and I, and we see all these watches. And I said, you know what? They probably have a Rolex. And as we're walking through these, these these glass glass booths, and we're seeing all the watches, he's like, no, really, look at this. It's spelled R-O-L-A-X. And then there it was right on the watch. It was spelled R-O-L-A-X. And so it, you know, it kind of resembled the real thing. And some people, Lord help these people, some people are duped to actually believing it's the real thing. But it's a pretty amazing deal to get a Rolex for $30, right? And you know, we we might see the price at first and might want to believe it's real. And we're like, I'm in. Like, give me five, and then I'll go back home and I'll try and make some money back. But and then there are some that they know it's a fake, but they still want it because they want to give the appearance of wearing the real thing. Now we know the quality is nowhere near the actual product, and the issue becomes that if you want to obtain that, the the genuine thing, the cost to acquire that item is way too high for most people. Like that's unreasonable. I'm not gonna spend that kind of money. And Jesus knew that there are a bunch of people following him. And they are seeing him do miracles, they're seeing him do amazing things, and more and more people are following him, but Jesus thought they don't understand what it takes to follow me. And so Jesus does something to see if they really understand the value of what's going to be required of them. And he related that to the cost of people following him. So I asked you to turn Luke chapter 14. We're going to be reading verses 25 through 33. Who here says, Pastor, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. Okay, there's hands up all over this room. And before we read, I want to get to the context of this passage. Jesus is speaking to these large crowds, and they're all enthusiastic. Like I'm seeing this guy do amazing things, super likable. I want to follow him. The problem was he's sensing they're not fully committed. And so what he is about to do is he is going to whittle down who's committed and who's not. And so Jesus is going to give a high demand.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

And what he's about to tell them is that you gotta make radical steps, radical steps, if you're going to align your life with me.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

And so right now I'd say, who wants to get radical? But then we're gonna read this scripture and you might change your mind. So let's read Luke 14, 25 through 33. Says a large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, If you want to be my disciple, you must by comparison hate everyone else. Your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Who hears that and you're like, wow, Jesus, I'm out. Let's keep going. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, There's the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it. Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him. And if he can't, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Let's pray. Lord, it's easy to read this scripture and just say, Really? Give up everything? God, I pray that you will give us understanding.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Lord, speak to each individual because I think the requirement, Lord, your word is the standard. It stays the same, it never changes. But your requirement for the individual, Lord, and what we might have to give up to follow you, might be different. So God, may we not may we not compare the life of another brother or sister in this place, but Lord, may we look to you, the author and finisher of our faith. I thank you and I praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. So, you know, I just read this scripture and then I'm gonna ask this question. And some of you that raised your hand earlier and said, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ, you might be thinking, Ah, maybe I should have kept my hand down. I don't know. But if you're choosing to be a disciple, I do think there's some things that we truly have to think about. And I'm going to illustrate this later at the end of the message, but I think ultimately we make decisions far too soon. And we assume salvation before salvation has actually taken root and been planted in our heart. And so if you're choosing to be a disciple, the first thing that we have to look at is what is our priority? And to me, the priority, first and foremost, is love Jesus supremely. We see that here in this scripture. And because I read something that, you know, it stands out to me as quite stark. Does he really mean hate everybody? Listen to this. Jesus said, This is verse 26, if you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else. Your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. Now I read that and I read everything else that Jesus has ever said, and I think it seems contradictory to who Jesus is. So it doesn't make sense to me because on the surface, it seems contrary to everything else. Listen to 1 John 4.20. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he is he cannot see, excuse me, love God whom he has not seen. Let me start that over again. Wow, I'm ahead of myself. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. So in turn, and again, these seem to stand contradictory to each other at face value. What we learn here is we can't love God if we hate our brother, but we can't be Jesus' disciple unless we hate our brother. Like that's what we're reading. And I want to illustrate this so clearly. Jesus does not contradict Scripture or who God is. This is important. He doesn't do it. This word, the original word here in the Greek is Messeo, and it's it's the word hate, and it can mean hate, detest, or abhor. But here, particularly here, Jesus is using comparative or hyperbolic language. And so what he is saying, he's not promoting malice, he's not promoting literal hatred to your family. He is saying, by comparison of your relationship with me, by comparison, you should hate them. And the reason he's saying, he's he's not saying you need to literally hate them. He's saying, listen, if you want to understand, if you want to fathom everything that is waiting for you in eternity, by comparison, the the priority here, the priority is me. So he's saying you should prefer him supremely, even in the conflict of family loyalties. And I hear that, and I'm like, God, that doesn't make sense. You you've given family as a blessing, and this is a product. You you've instructed us actually be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth. And yet Jesus comes along and he's saying, Listen, by comparison of your relationship with me, if you truly want to fathom what it means to be my disciple, if you truly want to fathom what it means to follow me, you need to have a much lower priority in those relationships. They're not equal. They're not. Because that interferes with your discipleship, that interferes with your growth. And so immediately what Jesus comes out and does is he is shocking them as to test the seriousness of their faith and commitment to follow him. Matthew 10, 37 is a parallel and to this scripture, and it says, if you love your father and mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine. Or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. And so I think here's the thing that I learned from this. I think we can agree, family is good. Everyone on the same page. Family is good. And you might say, Pastor, you don't know my family. But Jesus is teaching us we can become guilty of idolizing family over him. We can. If I want to hold on to things and listen, this world is decaying. I don't know a single person who has lived forever, do you? I don't. But I know my eternal promises in Christ Jesus. And so what I need to do is I need to cling onto everything He offers, everything He provides, and I need to loosen my grip on everything else because I'm going to lose it no matter what. So my relationship with Him becomes the priority over all things. And it's radical. I know, I know some people who maybe have never heard these words of Christ. It's radical, but Jesus tells us not to love this life or anything in it. Because the risk of gaining the world and losing your soul is easier than we're led to believe. It's easier. Because here's the thing we get we get passionate about Christ. And people don't just fall off with Christ right away. It's slow. We start letting little pieces of the world, and what we notice is like after time, our heart has been distancing ourselves from Him. And so, really, for me, scripture like this, it's a great wake-up call. Because you might be wrestling with this right now, and you might be asking, but can't I love both equally? I want to love both. I want, I want to love the world and I want to love Christ. I want to love the life that I've built for myself and I want to love Jesus. And here's the thing: I emphatically and lovingly am telling you no. And I want you to understand this. Philippians 3, 7 through 8. It says, I once thought these things were valuable. Listen to this. I once thought these things were valuable. But now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ. Now here's the thing in light of this scripture, I wouldn't tell you to throw your family in the garbage. But I would tell you, let nothing get in the way between you and Jesus. Couple weeks ago, we did a baby dedication, and another couple weeks we're gonna do another baby dedication. And there's something significant about dedicating your child. It is walking up to God with an open hand saying, They're yours. They're yours. And so even the most precious thing in your life, you're willing to give up and say, God, whatever you want to do, be it be your will. Not my will, yours be done, Lord, in their life. Because if you really believe in eternity and you believe in the words of Christ, then you know true love leads others to eternity. And true love sometimes is painful. True love hurts. It's not an emotion. And the other thing, and this this is in your familial relationships. Listen to this the more you choose to love Jesus, the more you choose to be drawn to Him, the more you will demonstrate that love to your family. They're not going to see your love for them diminish. They're gonna see it get stronger. You have to believe it. You have to embrace it. Because the closer you get to Jesus, the more you display true love. I mean, what greater symbol of love that ever walked the face of the earth is there than Jesus Christ? There is none. That is God's symbol of love given to us, offered for us.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

And so we have to understand it's not saying hate your family. But are you willing to give it all up for Jesus? If that's what it means.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Where we go, we know the circus typically is on the road. And you also know that I'm called to a men's ministry that travels all over the world. And and I was I was gone this last week, and every time I have to travel without her, I go back to my Bible college days where we were both missions majors, and we both believed we knew what God's calling was. And so we had all these ideas of what that looked like, and and I believed that I was gonna be doing that with her, and and there are I I know I'm doing exactly what God's called me to do, but there are seasons where I'm gone and I start to question my calling because I hate being apart. And I come home and I'm struggling with being apart from those that I love the most, and my wife lovingly reinforces God's calling in your life, and she says, Don't let it go, don't let it go. And so what we have to embrace is that in order to follow Jesus into truly what we're being called to do, it takes a deep commitment and understanding that the path isn't easy. And I think that's what you really need to embrace is that it's not that once you say, God, I'm all in, all right, let the money start flowing, let everything start going perfectly, and then my life is gonna be complete bliss because I said yes to God. It's not how it works. And in fact, the more the the closer I get to God, the more He reveals to me the things that I need to give up if I truly want to follow Him. And I'm so thankful that I am still a work in progress. Come on, church family, are you thankful for that? I am I am still a work in progress, and God is still showing me you have more you can give up for me. And so the next step in choosing to become a disciple is to see the path right in front of us. And that path Jesus made so clear in verse 27. He says, carry your own cross. And what is the cross as a symbol? Because it's like we're not supposed to literally carry this cross with us wherever we go. Jesus is using figurative language here. He says in verse 27, is he says, and if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. And I want to be clear the cross isn't jewelry, the cross isn't some cool tattoo that you can get. Listen to what Jesus or what is said, instructed in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. The author says, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame. You hear that? He endured the cross disregarding its shame. And so what we learn is this cross is simple. It represents public shame, suffering, and even death. So, church, if your life is no longer your own, you need to recognize you were bought with a price, that price was higher than anything you can repay. And so what we become is we become permanently indebted to Christ. That's a choice to make. Where we are permanently indebted to Christ because of everything that He's done. He has made a way where there was no way. And we got to say, Lord, I choose to clothe myself in Christ daily because I'm not getting to eternity on my own. I'm not getting to heaven on my own. I need him. And so it becomes a matter of can you carry your own cross even if it means death? Philippians 1.21. The apostle Paul says, For to me, living means living for Christ. And dying is even better. You know, growing up, I used to be scared of my own shadow. And it started at a young age. I can actually tell you when it started. I spoke to youth here a couple weeks ago, and I was I was thinking about this. I, my grandma, who's gonna be here next weekend for anyone who's missed my grandma, she's gonna be 93 this summer. Holy, holy Moses. Holy Methuselah. But she still gets around really well. And so she's coming back from Texas this weekend. And she used to live down at Lake Ponderosa, out by Montezuma. And we'd go out there swimming. I was probably five, six years old. And this neighbor who thought he was a funny guy kept saying, Aaron, there's a snapping turtle behind you. And here's the thing: I'd seen snapping turtles pulled out of that lake that were this big. I don't want to get my leg bit off. You know, there's things that I like about this body, believe it or not. And I I want to keep everything intact. And so I started to become fearful because he did that every time I was in the water.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

And so it took Christ for me to embrace, you know what? This life is great. But I'm not scared to die.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

In fact, that's the reward. It's the reward. It's the it's it's what were we created, what we were created for, because the goal should be eternity, amen. That is the goal. But yeah, so many of us, the goal is retirement, or the goal is the next vacation, or the goal is maybe getting married, or the goal is grandkids. And we make all these goals, and we're not just keeping our eyes fixed on the most important thing there is. Thomas A. Kempis said, Jesus has many who love his kingdom, but few who bear his cross. If we are physically going to carry this cross, this metaphorical cross, what does it look like? I want to give you seven biblical principles to bear your cross. The first is daily self-denial. To actively say no to our own agenda, be willing to surrender it to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to actively give up our comforts and sinful desires so Christ's will rules our life. You know, Luke chapter 9, 23, it said they denied themselves. And so I would encourage you, what we actively have to start doing is skip the selfish choice.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Instead of scrolling, pray. Instead of taking revenge, offer forgiveness.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Number two, a willingness to suffer shame or loss. Shame's not fun. Remember when you were made fun of in school for that one thing? Everyone's got that one thing, right? And and I can go back there and say, I don't want to experience that. I don't want to, I definitely don't want to experience it in public. But I think if you want to follow Christ, you kind of have to embrace ridicule. You have to embrace rejection or or just understanding that there is a personal cost for following Jesus publicly. Because at the time the cross was a symbol of public execution. So I encourage you, take that step. Speak up for Christ at work, or even if even if it costs you a promotion, stand firm in your conviction when family or culture pushes back. Because the bottom line is would it be better to keep your job and lose your salvation? And I don't want to make it seem like it's so easy to lose our salvation, but here's the thing the reality is we think we understand this road and following Christ and many of us, because we have been raised in a culture that makes it so easy. We don't understand the sacrifice. And so we have to have that willingness to suffer shame or loss, even when family or culture pushes back. Amen. All right, number three, radical obedience over personal comfort to choose God's will even when it's inconvenient or painful. How many times God has spoken to me to do that thing? I said yes, and then I didn't want to do it. So it was painful to do it. But I still went through with it. And you know, Jesus said follow me, and when he said follow me, it was at inconvenient times. Listen, these guys were in their boats, they were providing fish for their family, they were making money off their trade. All these guys, they left their lifestyles to go where he sends. And so for you, that might be maybe God's calling you on a missions trip. Maybe he's calling you to have a hard conversation with someone because there's something that you need to give up, or it's just requiring difficult career change. Who knows? But instead of staying in your comfort zone, it is you choosing to say, Lord, not my will, yours be done. Number four, detachment from possessions and security. And what, you know, Christ said in the last verse of what we read today, verse 33, he says, Give everything you have. Basically, what it is, it's a detachment from those things where I'm holding everything loosely because Jesus is my treasure. It's not, it's not that vehicle, it's not the house, it's not, it's not anything that I have. Jesus is my treasure. And that that does tie directly to verse 33 where he says, give up everything. Because we need to learn to be able to generously give our time, money, resources, even when it hurts. And I don't mean directly to the church, I mean to those that God wants you to minister to. There have been times where God has said, I want you to give that to that person. And I was like, But God, I want it.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

I love that thing. I worked hard for it. And I realized that it was choosing to make that heart posture.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

God, you're more important. And so it was challenging. Number five, dying to sin and selfish ambitions. This is crucifying the old self so Christ lives through you. And I realize that I need to do this daily. Galatians 2.20 says, I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So what we're doing is we're we're fighting habitual sin. Anger, lust, pride. And we need to do that on the daily because through repentance and the Spirit's power, we will see that we can no longer excuse those things if we truly want to minister to other people. Number six, and I'm almost done with my list. To be others focused. Love and service. Lay down your life for people. The same way Jesus did. Jesus said in Luke 9, 24, whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. So serve your spouse. Some of you, that's a challenge. Serve your spouse, serve your kids, serve your church, serve your neighbors, serve your coworkers, even when you're tired. Forgive others when it costs you your pride. It's not worth holding on to. And we don't like that. See, I really think what happens is that we come into church, we we hear a good word, we hear a good message, and we say, I am ready to make that decision because it did something inside of me. And I don't think that's inherently a bad thing, but what I have learned is I make a lot of incorrect emotional decisions. Who knows what I'm talking about? Here's one, for example, just being at a restaurant and seeing something that you know you have no business eating. That's an emotional decision in that moment, and then you're usually regretting it later. And so we do these things without truly assessing the change that needs to come into our life. And so, my goal today is that you're prepared, you have this preparation, you've counted the cost of what it means to follow Jesus because it's not easy, and he instructed us through two illustrations, the first of which he illustrated through the builder of the tower. Did you read that? The builder of the tower? It's in Luke chapter 14. We're gonna pick that up again and we're gonna read verses 28 through 30. It says, But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there's enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, There's the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it. Friday night, I came back from Costa Rica, and I know everyone in here feels really sorry for me. But we went down there with a purpose. Here's the thing we're building a church there in January. And again, the the trip's filling up. We have about 10 spots left. If there's men in the church that want to join, you're welcome to join. But we're going down there in January to build this church. And I would be a terrible leader if I didn't understand that the cost in Costa Rica are different than the cost in the United States are different than the cost in Cambodia. So I have to go down there and we have to price out everything we're gonna do. And we have to make sure that we have developed a good budget because it would be so embarrassing to get to everything but the roof and say, no, no, no. You guys can still meet in there.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Now, not when it rains or not when it's just extremely, extremely windy. But we have to count the cost.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

And to me, it's foolish to say that I am going to follow Christ the rest of my life, and I'm so excited to commit the rest of my life to him, and then life gets real, and it is so easy to fall off. It's it's so easy to just say, This was more difficult than I thought. Because we hear the words of Christ and we we want to jump all in, but what it exposes is it exposes the lack of consideration for what our decisions truly require. Then he illustrated a king going to war. And I want to read verses 31 through 32. It says, or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him. And if he can't, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So what he's doing is he's saying, assess all the forces against you, assess, assess the enemy against you, because it's better to negotiate in peace than be crushed, but but more so, what it speaks to us directly is that we're often guilty of making these emotional decisions and then the difficult nature of what is required. Like in war, the lives lost, it's gonna stop us from progressing. I thought about this that when I got married, you know, I thought I had a good clue of what life was going to look like. I thought that everything was gonna be perfect harmony. She operated exactly, it was like another me. Wow, that'd be great, right? And hopefully, before you got married, you did things like discussed kids, you discussed goals, you discussed belief systems, you discussed politics, and and the goal was that before I make this lifelong commitment, I'm gonna know exactly who I'm linking up with. And I'm gonna make sure that we are on the same page. Hopefully, you did that at that time. And listen, I know, I know things can progress and things can change from the start of marriage, but at least when you made that commitment to that person and when you said for better, for worse, worse, those vows, you meant it. That you actually meant it. And so this relationship with Christ, it shouldn't be taken lightly, it shouldn't be just boy, I feel good in my heart. So let's just say yes. But to truly sit down and say, what does it mean to follow Jesus? Can I commit to that for the rest of my life? Am I willing to give that up? And so Jesus wants you to understand what you are signing on to when you say, I want to be his disciple, I want to do whatever it takes. Because, church, the reality is discipleship does cost you everything. Luke 14, 33, it says, So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. And so I could easily tell you right now, and you might believe me, I could easily tell you, go home, sell everything, and at face value in that single verse, you might determine that is what is required of you. And I I would tell you, I think you're missing the point. The point of this verse is that if we could do that, but yet at the same time, we might not have to do that. He's got a specific calling on your life, and he's going to ask you to give up things that you don't want to give up, and that's true for anyone who chooses to follow him. Some you might go home and God's saying, Okay, I want you to use your house to invite the hurt and broken in. I want to use your place as a place of refuge. God might say, I want you to travel to the far reaches of the earth, and I want you to just be willing to leave it all behind for me and knowing that I am with you. Because what God is ultimately asking is, are you willing to let go of all those things that you truly care about and do what I am requiring of you? See, the disciples left their livelihoods, their families to follow Jesus. And so what it is, it's this willing abandonment, abandoning the world for the greater eternal purposes. And you know, I think we all have this wrestling match of the things that we feel attached to and our higher spiritual calling. Paul talks about that. He talks about this wrestling of the flesh, and so it's choosing to do this daily. And I'm asking you, will you knowingly give up your life for the cause of Christ? Will you give up everything you are choosing to hold back? Because I do believe we are holding something back. And what are you holding back? Um, last Friday, well, a little over a week ago, we celebrated Josiah's 24th birthday. And you know, we had dreams and visions of what things would be like when they grew up. And then um, for those who don't know the story, my two oldest sons were diagnosed with autism on the same day. And we had to go through this process of grief and understanding what was going on with them, and we also knew that the world had not been kind to us as we were learning what it meant to be a special needs family. And so what happened was because they drew so much attention, we decided, you know what, we're going to protect them from all that. And so we we didn't leave the home. If we wanted food at a restaurant, we went and got it to go. And then brought it home. And we just thought, if I could, if I could protect them from all the hurt, all the pain, all the awkwardness. And the the funniest part is, guys, and maybe it's not funny at all, but but for me as a parent, it's funny that they don't even notice it, and I'm the one that's more affected by it than they are. And so I'm sitting there wrestling with these things, and and eventually God said, When are you going to give them to me? And I'm like, God, I don't understand. Lord, you gave me them, and I wanted to give them back to you. But there's a lot of things we have to navigate as a family, and this is so challenging. And then God opened my eyes, he's like, they minister to you daily. You see my son through them daily. Let others see my son through them too. And so, what I had to do, I had to say, God, they're yours. As awkward and as interesting as they can be sometimes, they are yours. Last week, I'm gonna demonstrate for you guys. Last week, there was a guest here, and my second oldest son came up and said, What's your name? And I sat there and I just smiled. And he introduced himself, and Isaac said his name and then went on his merry way. But what amazes me, there's so many times they say something, and it's like spiritually, it just nails me. And I've had to embrace the cost is high, but Christ is worth it. Christ is worth it. And so I have to surrender my preferences, my desires, the things that I've clung to for him. And again, we're gonna read uh the words of Paul in Philippians 3.8. He says, Yes, everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. What's more valuable? That new vehicle or Jesus? What's more valuable? That promotion? We're doing God's will. Maybe it's the perfect house you've always wanted. I am telling you, it is not going to satisfy. True discipleship is this awakening of knowing I am not my own, I am bought with a price, and the that blood that was shed, it was shed for me, and I am totally indebted to Jesus for the rest of my life. And so, if I don't, if I don't have another new vehicle the rest of my life, so be it. If if if all my family rejects me, so So be it, because the cost of following Jesus is too great to let that go. So as Christians, if we truly want to be disciples, truly want to be followers, weigh the cost, make the commitment, and don't look back. I want everyone in here bow your heads. You might be in this room, and this message maybe hit you just square between the eyes. You might not even like me right now. And I would tell you to take it up with Christ. There's these moments of wrestling and working out our salvation and understanding what's required of us. And you know what? It is a commitment that goes beyond to an emotional decision made in this church today. But it's this physical commitment of that thing you know you need to do, that thing you know you need to give up in order for God to just fulfill his purpose in your life. And so I think the most appropriate thing I could do today is you know who you are, you know what you need to give up, and you know that you need to work at giving that up. And if you're to say, Pastor, I just want you to be praying for me this week as I actively make some decisions in my life to make that step to truly be a disciple. If I need to pray with you throughout the week, I just ask that you look up at me right now and I am just making some notations.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

I don't want to sell it as like something that, boy, I've never had a problem with that. What's your problem? No. It's that daily commitment. And there are days where I have to just kind of snap myself out of it and say, God, I have to give you today. I don't want to, but I have to. And so I am praying for you because there are things that He is going to ask you to give up, and I am telling you, it is going to make you much happier than you think. You're going to see God's purpose fulfilled in your life when you give those things up. And so I am praying for you. But I want you to know, as we've alluded to today, it's not an emotional decision. It's a tactical decision to say I'm following Christ. And I'm going to be actively making sure I do what I need to do. And that is when spiritually God's going to be developing us in our faith. So I want to pray for you. And I encourage you to just pray for yourself. Start giving that thing up to God right now and make sure you're doing it every day. Right when you wake up, give it to Him. Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you. For those, Lord, that have the boldness to just say, Yep, I'm not where I want to be yet. I have some things I'm holding on to. But God, I believe that you are challenging us to let go. Surrender these things unto you. We're weighing the cost, God, and we're realizing what it's going to take, and we know it's a challenge. But God, I pray that we can put that flesh into submission and fully surrender that over to you. Because, Lord, we cannot afford to prioritize or love the world over you. Why gain the world, God, if we just lose our soul in it? So, Lord, I pray that God, you will continue to just stir our hearts. Show us more, God, in what we can give up. Lord, we praise you and thank you in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen, amen. Church, I encourage you, come tonight, be a part of our membership business meeting and vision meeting. But furthermore, next Sunday is a very important Sunday. Guys, you know what next Sunday is? Mother's Day. Mother's Day. So let's come, let's honor our mothers. Your mother's here. Great. If you're a mother, invite your family and we'll make sure they honor you. God bless you.