Following Jesus at a distance // Matthew 8: 18-22

[Music] hey pastor josh here thanks so much for watching our videos if you'd like more information about legacy city church you can go to legacy citychurch.com please don't forget to like subscribe and hit the bell below god bless you matthew chapter 8 in our bibles we're working through a series i've titled jesus worldview jesus worldview i'm tired of the views of the world to be honest get overwhelmed with the views of the world to be honest they're always so difficult to pinpoint and understand exactly what people are trying to do exactly what their motives are it's always a slight a hand in our society especially here in la but man even more so in our world but we know leaders have been doing this world leaders have been doing this for thousands of years they're always doing something else they're always up to something else it's hard to find those who have pure motive we even see it in the kings of the bible all you got to do is read through the book of the kings and just watch what they do some will honor the lord some will not i want to see jesus worldview the king of kings the lord of lords i want to see what he has to say i want to be about my father's business i don't care about the rest of the business of the world i want to know what he's up to and what he is saying that's why we dove into this study through the book of matthew because i wanted to help the church hear our church have the view of jesus and i believe that when you get into his mind into his heart into his truth into his word what he is trying to say and accomplish then you have a lens and glasses on in which you can see the world through how would jesus think about this what is his view what are his ideas that's what i'm hoping to accomplish as we work through this text we are in sermon number 37 through the book of matthew title the message today if you're taking notes is following jesus at a distance following jesus at a distance if jesus was alive today how many followers would he have insta on tick tock facebook twitter how many followers would he have i wonder he had lots of followers in his day now didn't he but most of them left and canceled him once he started to speak truth one day remember they were shouting hosanna hosanna which means what hoshanah hoshanah which means what save now save now from what remember he was writing in on the donkey palm sunday save now save now what do you want me to save you from of course the political parties they're destroying us they're suppressing us jesus says i'm sorry i didn't come to save you from that i came to save you and all of the politicians from their so sins stop hurting each other they start loving and serving each other he has a greater agenda to reconcile us back to the god who made us it's interesting to watch they were shouting hosanna hosanna on that day save now save now on that day but then what would they say on one of his last days crucify him crucify him do you want barabbas or do you want jesus the king of the jews we want barabbas the murderer forget jesus crucify him what happened to hoshanah save now he had lots of followers millions then he went down to about a thousand no maybe just 12. you go on his profile you click on his followers james peter john but even them on that day where were they they were hiding now weren't they scared that they were about to get crucified too today we will look closely at two men who try to jump on the jesus bandwagon but the lord challenges them they want to get on board they want to get on the train the jesus train baby they don't want to miss and the lord challenges them right where they're at the crowds are following him there's a big crowd following him right now everybody loves him right now because he's done some miracles we're in matthew chapter 8 we're going to look at verses 18 to 22 in our text can we stand for the reading of god's word read together we always stand for the reading of god's word to pay honor to him to remember whose word we are reading we honor him we bless him we remember him in his word it's his words we're looking at not mine my words can't change you i promise you that may motivate a little get people a little excited but i cannot change anybody we need jesus word to transform the mind and the heart his word alone can do this take a look verse 18 to 22 of matthew 8. it says now when jesus saw a crowd around him he gave orders to go to the other side and a scribe came up and said to him teacher i will follow you wherever you go and jesus said to him foxes have holes birds have of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head verse 21 then another of the disciples said to him lord let me first go and bury my father and jesus said to him follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead let's pray father we thank you for this truth we thank you for these stories and we ask now god by the power of your holy spirit would you illuminate the text to us would you help us to understand what matthew is writing why he put these stories here what is he trying to say to us and most importantly lord what are you trying to say to us what are you saying to us in this day in this generation speak to us your servant is listening we ask it in jesus name amen you can be seated remember what happened last week in our text you guys remember the lord jesus has just healed three people they were all people the culture thought he shouldn't be with and he shouldn't be touching let alone healing the leper the roman soldier centurion and the older woman the leper was an outcast in society and obviously highly contagious you get leprosy you're dead jesus what are you doing you can't touch a leper that guy didn't even say unclean he didn't have anything over his head what are you doing don't touch his head what are you doing don't do that jesus touches him and heals him roman soldier walks up in capernaum what in the world is that roman guard doing here has he come to suppress us is he going to come and abuse a couple people come beat him over the head with a club take some money steal some taxes he walks up to jesus and asks the request and the crowd watches closely lord you're not actually going to listen to him are you get him out of here do a miracle on him kick him in the face get him out of here right jesus says i haven't seen faith in all of israel like this guy to the roman the non-jew the outsider the suppressor lord you can't say that about him jesus heals his servant boy at home finally the old woman that has a fever peter's mother-in-law lord you have time for a fever just give her some advil and get out of there lord we know that men in this society don't approach women like this what are you doing going into her house she probably doesn't have the proper garments on what are you doing you can't just walk in she didn't even ask for him to come in he just walked into the house said you have a fever let me heal you jesus crossed all cultural barriers to heal and save jesus our healer remember the beginning of our chapter it tells us that the crowds were following him and he was going from place to place in the galilee teaching and healing look at verse 18 in our text then when jesus saw a crowd around him he gave orders to go over to the other side the other side of what this is the sea of galilee they are right now in the north of the sea of galilee if you look on a map you might have one there in the back your bible you'll see capernaum is at the north kind of west tip of this of the sea of galilee the sea of galilee is really just a giant lake and they call it the sea of cali they call it the uh connector it or the canarits they're uh in israel now he's saying we're going to go to the other side potentially tiberius potentially to the south we'll see him interact with some demon possessed guys here later in our chapter uh potentially kersey which is on the northeast side of galilee when you go to israel all this will make sense very quickly because you know the area there are only a couple hot spots on this this lake verse 19 says and a scribe came up and said to him teacher i will follow you wherever you go jesus said to him foxes have holes birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head what a response when the world foxes and birds what are you even talking about i said i wanted to follow you matthew points out these quick interactions if you notice they're very quick to give us an understanding of how our lord was dealing with the crowds and all the popularity you see jesus is so different than the celebrity of today he is not interested in having a big crowd he's not even interested in having followers he's not interested in money he's not interested in success according to the world standard you know this guy showing up this carpenter who can swing a hammer and he's not because the crowd starts showing up and disciples like dude look at the crowd lord look at all these people jesus like man he desires one thing not crowds not money not success he desires one thing to do the will of him who sent him my job is to do the will of my father he's about his father's business and what business is that the business of making real disciples people who love god people who really love one another that was his pursuit to make disciples who make disciples the true measure of a disciple is one who actually makes another disciple are you a disciple of christ yes of course i am have you made a disciple this is the greatest command he gave us go therefore and make what disciples of all nations then baptize them in the name of the father son and the holy spirit and teach them to observe what i command you the best thing you could ever do with your business the best thing you could ever do with your family the best thing you'd ever do in your job in your workplace in your marriage with your friends in your neighborhood in your city is make disciples who know god and they know god so much so that it transforms the way they treat their neighbor they actually start loving one another in this city why has god given you success why has god given you your gifts talents and abilities why has god given you the opportunities that you have today i challenge you that in them he is calling you and asking you to follow him and to make disciples lots of people follow jesus at a distance some try to come close to see what jesus is all about it's interesting the way he responds to people sometimes because again we have this idea of this jesus who just i don't know is just going to let things go all the time and he doesn't let anything go he forgives he's gracious he pours out love and compassion no doubt but he takes time to speak truth into people's lives look at the woman at the well did he not love her and serve her he did only after saying where is your husband with a smile on his face and she's like oh i don't have a husband that's right you were married uh four times and the guy you're with right now is not your husband he says this to her and then she says i perceive you're a prophet yes what about the rich young ruler lord i'm rich i'm young and i rule i got power i got influence and check this out lord i have obeyed all 10 of the commandments since i was young i'm that guy can you believe that lord you want me on your team i'm rich i'm young i'm cool and i'm a ruler jesus says go sell everything you have and give it to the poor then come follow me what no no you don't get it i'm a ruler i got influence you know i'm rich i got money and i'm young i got youth you you want me right here in this position to make some moves for you jesus trust me you don't know who i am he says no you don't know who i am i own everything i don't need any of this stuff jesus testing people all the time to see where their heart is at this first man comes up to him who is a scribe the bible says bible students a scribe do you remember what a scribe is a scribe is a teacher of the torah and a scholar in his day truly an expert in the bible scribes are highly respected in their towns they're like brain surgeons of the bible you find somebody here in l.a like what do you do for a living i'm a brain surgeon oh okay this guy was a brain surgeon of the bible clearly lots of success and intellect let's look closely at what he says and why this brings forth jesus answer our first clue as to his relationship with jesus is what the scribe calls him take a look at verse 19 it says and a scribe came up to him and said teacher i will follow you wherever you go in matthew's gospel he writes five different times when people come up to jesus and call him teacher and each time they walk away sorrowful we don't know if they eventually become disciples but the text implies they go away sorrowful because the commands the lord gives them are difficult we know that when the roman soldier walked up to him what did he call jesus lord he didn't call him teacher he didn't call him good teacher a lot of people do this in this society jesus was a good teacher no no no no no he's not just a teacher he's the risen lord you know what such jesus part amongst every good religious guru and teacher on the planet one thing the resurrection everyone else is dead and jesus dared to say i will raise myself from the dead he says that when he's alive come to my funeral watch what i'm going to do you want to sign destroy the temple and in three days i will resurrect it he says in john's gospel they say it took 40 years to build the temple how are you going to raise it back up in three days it says the temple he was speaking about was his own body that's what sets jesus apart from every religious guru on the planet they all face death and death conquered them and they're supposed to be leading religious gurus on the planet and the one guy challenges death and sin like no one else and then resurrects himself from the dead and this is the point that must be proven wrong in our society in christianity in order to push the whole thing away the resurrection of christ haunts me all the days of my life if i have moments of doubt or there isn't a god or is christianity the right way or is the bible true i can't get away from this one thing did jesus really rise from the dead if he did this changes everything he really is the messiah he really is the lord he really is god incarnate he really can forgive sins he can't go around saying these types of things c.s lewis said the great writer he said that jesus was either a liar and a lunatic or he was telling the truth he said crazy things you can't say you can't say you're the son of god if somebody can't walk up to you and you say i forgive you of your sins who are you you can't forgive people of sin this guy walks up to jesus and calls him teacher the expert on the torah rabbi very impressive on the surface especially in front of all the crowd but jesus saw through all of his academics and accolades and jesus looks at his heart jesus looks right at his heart it's a moment of almost someone looking right through you did you have a mom growing up that moment when you got in trouble did something terrible and she looks at you did you do that oh no son you're lying it's the moment when peter had denied jesus three times and the lord had told him prior you will delight me three times before the rooster crows and it says there in the gospels that as peter denies him for the third time jesus is passing by and he looks across and sees peter denying him peter locks eyes with the lord jesus looks right through him i told you you would deny me three times before the rooster crowd jesus looks through this man and he says i see your academics i see your accolades you impress the crowd there's a big crowd around us huh interesting you say this in front of the big crowd very loudly just loud enough so everyone can hear jesus looked at his heart you see this wasn't a difficult thing to say in this moment there's thousands of people following jesus in this moment the crowds are large and this would no doubt bring describe popularity and more success as well to jump on the coattails of jesus and ride them for a little while jesus you need a scribe on the team like me do you know who i've studied with did you read any of my articles just that book i put out he would say to jesus you need me on your team jesus turns around and says really wherever i go you will follow me secretly thinking will you say this on that day on the cross with me so the lord responds with foxes have holes birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head jesus is saying to this scribe i'm not on a path of going up in society i'm on a path of going down he says will you follow me and be homeless with me will you give up everything to follow me jesus says at least foxes have holes to sleep in and birds have nests to lay in but the son of man has no place to call home you still want to follow me wherever i'm going jesus is pointing out to this big brain scribe that he didn't know who jesus is he's like you still don't get it and you're an expert on these writings and you don't get it you're the professor you don't get it point number one if you're taking notes to be ashamed to be named with jesus to be ashamed to be named with jesus following at a distance following just far enough so you're not fully associated with them but just close enough so that the crowd say oh cool awesome this guy had worked his whole life to gain status no way he was going to give it up to follow jesus and potentially find himself with nothing at the end of his life he wasn't willing to follow jesus to the cross a lot of people like the idea of following jesus to heaven they just don't want to leave they just want to leave the cross part out of it people love following jesus to heaven but they want to leave that whole cross stuff out of it romans 1 16 i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes i'm not ashamed of jesus because hey he's the one doing the saving and whatever the path is i want to figure out what's going on i love what arkham hughes said about this he said you see jesus had no faith in this man's faith because he knew that at the heart of this scribe's bold declaration was self-love not self-denial a desire for power not a willingness to be powerless without a home without esteem and possibly without a life jesus would say later in luke 9 23 if any of you wants to be my follower you must give up your own way take up your cross daily and follow me you got to give up your way the roman centurion remember the roman guard came to jesus with not being an expert in the scriptures he's a gentile he wasn't raised in synagogue he didn't go to jewish school when he growing up he's not anywhere near a scribe he's the furthest thing from a scribe and here the next moment jesus is talking to a real scribe a real expert in the scriptures jesus is not impressed with knowledge again he is impressed with faith what do you believe about what you know what do you believe with all of your heart about what you know you know the scriptures you must know that it's speaking of me the messiah you would say to him how are you not believing with all of your heart when you know the scriptures if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me what does it mean to take up your cross it means to deny yourself of what you want that's the most contradictory thing in this society now isn't it yes say no to your feelings say no to yourself and say yes to what god wants for your life this is christianity we're dying to self we're being crucified with christ this is what we did in baptism yesterday we are identifying with his death burial and resurrection in baptism i am crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ lives within me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me galatians 2 20. i'm crucified with him i no longer follow my own desires people say i was born feeling this way i say yes you were born sinning born doing terrible things born feeling like cutting that person off born feeling like hating that person born feel like cheating on your spouse born feeling like commuting sexual sin born feeling like i should steal that and lie about this born feeling all of that and christ is calling you to deny to crucify and to follow him with all of your being yeah you're following god's way and not your own way that is so opposite la now isn't it and they would cancel him we would cancel him i would cancel him his well have i come in contact with him face to face i am not holy enough either to stand before the risen lord to stand before the christ he would pinpoint my heart as well he would find me by the grace of god i would fall on my knees in repentance by the grace of god alone not because we're great people he's challenging the heart of this great man in society he does the same with the rich young ruler why can't we give it up why can't this guy give it up jesus saying are you ashamed to only have me the lord you have to have you can't associate with me because they will abandon you you need all this other stuff the lord is calling us to follow him with our whole heart not half and that's why he challenges these men he's telling this scribe you're still holding on to the world mark 8 36 jesus would say what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but you lose your own soul what if he gained the whole thing jesus sent the scribe away to really go and think and pray and reflect if he really wants to follow the messiah with his whole life and family some of you today need to do this the lord has brought you here to reflect on the cost of following him it may cost you a lot yeah but if i start like being a real christian then what a what are they going to think about me what if i lose in this world what if i lose opportunity but jesus is saying though scribe you may give up your plush professor job and the respect of the world you may become a fool for me according to the world you may lose your home to follow me but i am going to prepare a place for you in heaven a home for you in heaven you will never regret it that's the harsh reality of heaven is that when we cross over when we step into eternity we're standing there looking at the lord we look back on life and say why why didn't i matthew 19 29 and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or lands for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life do you believe this what happened to this softy jesus our culture tries to cling to where's the blond-haired blue-eyed jesus with the lamb around his neck doing the peace sign he was never blonde hair blue eyes he's dark skinned dark eyes dark hair and had a beard and isaiah tells us that we couldn't recognize him or we wouldn't he had he was nothing to behold he wasn't a good looking guy you wouldn't have known he didn't have a halo around his head his robe his white robe wasn't glowing he didn't float when he walked he probably he was in the sun all the time he swung a hammer he had dark skin from the sun beating down on his skin all the time leather hands he was a blue collar worker you'd never notice him he's a construction guy until you listen to his words the crowds are astonished and amazed at what he would do and who he would talk to and who he would spend time with what happened to the softy jesus our culture tries to cling to lord have some understanding why are you being so rough on this guy jesus says no this guy is more interested in getting than giving matthew reveals this is a surface follower of jesus and there were lots of them and there are still lots of them today and family i i plead with you don't be one of them follow the lord with your whole heart with all of your life love god with all of your life and prove it by loving your neighbor this is a bummer no it's the greatest thing we could ever do it's the most satisfying thing we could ever do in the universe this is what we're made to do is to walk with god and know him and this is when real peace shows up we're not stressed out by the demands and the fear of man of the world anymore what people think of me and what people want from me i'm going to do what god wants and i want to know what god thinks about me and then i'm finally able to live at peace in this world and love people genuinely god's going to take care of me he's going to take care of my career he's going to take care of my family he's going to take care of my marriage he's going to take care of my life i trust him above the whole world this is loving god and this is what jesus is calling the scribe to we don't know what happened to him but matthew just moves on he says next verse 21 take a look at your text another of the disciples that actually used the word disciples said to him lord let me first go and bury my father and jesus said to him follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead okay that's it jesus this is too much you can't say this to people but lord let me go bury my father the crowd's like no you let him go let him go bury his father this is a good thing come on come on let him go bury his father this is a good thing do you let the dead bury the dead with a smile and a twinkle in his eye and he just moves on what is he saying we have another man notice he calls jesus lord this is a good start but the next three words are a problem lord let me first lord let me first let me first seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness no let me first grab my stuff i'm ready to go wherever you're going to go lord no let me first go bury my father what's wrong with that you say well it's not on the surface of the text it's why it's important to study context and understand what's happening in the jewish mind you see this man's father is still alive how do we know that because according to jewish tradition many jews even to this day when a person dies they try to bury the family member immediately and bury the person on the same day that they died then they mourn for seven days without changing their clothes bathing shaving nothing they sit and mourn with family and friends that come to visit them and comfort them for seven days and on the eighth day they would burn their clothes shave their heads bathe and then move forward in life they would exhaust the morning process for seven days and then move forward so somebody dies they try to bury him on that day get the family together we're going to bury him today and we're mourning they cry and they weep together they spend time together and try to encourage each other a great picture of this is job remember job his friends come to console him and talk with him and that's the conversation happening in the book of job after his family members had died this man is saying lord let me go bury my father first which means that he is not dead and who knows when his father might pass there is more to this story though because sons would be involved in the business of their fathers in that day and his livelihood was wrapped around his father and his business what he is saying to jesus is lord let me go home run my dad's business until he passes then i will be free from our responsibilities as a son i will get my inheritance i'll get my inheritance me and you lord inheritance baby i'm gonna get some cash have lots of cash on hand and then i will have time to follow you i don't have time right now jesus says no if you don't have time now you won't then follow me leave the dead to bury their own dead wow point number two today there's only two points don't worry too busy to follow jesus busy to follow jesus jesus says forget the money i own it all leave the dead to bury the dead you can follow me now i can't afford to follow you now lord i have to build this and do that i have to give my life to other things i'll get around to spending time in the word with you i'll get around to praying soon when this happens i'll get around to teaching my kids and praying with them soon i'll get around to using the gifting you gave me for for the glory of you soon uh i have to use it to do a couple other things right now first and i'll get around to being generous soon lord i'll tithe and bring my offering when i get a little more cash i'll i'll do that ministry thing you put on my on my heart soon lord i'm going to get after it one of these days i'll come to church every sunday to worship and it'll be a rhythm of my life i promise i'm going to get around to it soon i i just have to do this thing first is the lord jesus your first priority or is it something else i have to go do this first then i'll get to worshiping you trust me i i live in this society too i love projects i love building things i love the next hobby i love the next thing you just asked my wife it's like what is josh interested in it's like what is he not interested in does josh stop working when he gets home he never stops working he he has a problem relaxing when we go on vacation this is my dilemma this is my issue confession time you guys are priests right we're all good right you really are the text says this yeah thank you thank you for the uh like that somebody blessed me in the crowd i was thankful confession time the bible actually calls you priests yes if you're a christian you are actually a priest and priestess so congratulations you don't have to go to the priest you are the priests the holy priesthood of god a chosen race a royal priesthood amen kings and queens for for his glory sons and daughters of the king me too busy there's always something and um this city doesn't help in that we just have so many distractions and so many things going on and you know the traffic adds to it right let's talk about real cultural problems it actually is one it's like oh i'm going to go hang out with so-and-so oh dang it's going to take me 45 minutes to get there we're going to go to so-and-so's house and have dinner oh 35 minutes we can't pull it off we have these that the culture demands that you are successful that you have money if you actually want to have a place to stay here in this society it demands um that you act and feel a certain way you live in certain neighborhoods it it does a lot of things that cause us to be stressed and overwhelmed and feel like we have to do more and be more busy and more busy about work success and money and it's hard this is a it's a rough place to live that's why a lot of people don't stay here very long unless you grew up here those people are in for three to five years and then they're out unless they build a life and success and money and then they can actually stay and so it's easy to be busy but i'm telling you at the end of your life when you were looking back on your life you're going to be wishing that you would have prioritized the lord as the first thing in your business with the way you handle your finances with the way you handle your marriage with the way you handle your kids with the way you handle your neighborhood you're going to be asking at the end of your life what was i supposed to do with this life that god gave me did i do it because i'm about to see him it's going to be a big conversation as i ask people this sometimes often i say are you are you doing what god's calling you to do are you able to die today if you needed to did you do it did you accomplish what god has entrusted to you family if you are not ready to give all of your life to jesus now don't plan on it tomorrow after all no one knows the day or hour we will step into eternity and there won't be another opportunity on earth james 4 13 says come now you who say today or tomorrow we'll go to this or that city spend a year there carry on business and make profit he says you do not even know what will happen tomorrow what is your life you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes says you are a vapor that shows up and then vanishes solomon would tell us teach us to number our days that we may have hearts of wisdom count your days that you may have hearts of wisdom our days are numbered we don't know how long we have on this earth in heaven we won't have to live by faith because we will see him earth is our last chance to live a life of faith no faith in heaven because you'll see him this is your last chance on earth to live a life of faith this is it jesus says follow me leave the dead to bury their own dead what does this mean the lord only sees people in one of two spiritual states bible students one of two spiritual states on earth he sees them as dead or alive spiritually dead or spiritually alive dead in sin still living for self alive or alive in christ now living for god jesus said i see dead men walking the walking dead they need to be resurrected and that's why he came to forgive and bring dead men dead women to life to have life in that abundantly and to show the world what life in that abundantly looks like with god that they would see your good works glorify your father who is in heaven and start walking with the god who made them let the dead bury the dead he says let the dead spiritually who can't see spiritually handle the dead you be about the spiritual kingdom i'm calling you to live in now the world can handle the business you can build business anytime i'm asking you to follow me now this guy didn't see that he just got a personal invitation from the lord jesus to come follow him in the flesh on earth amazing he was too busy and had more important things to do what do you would he would have come to understand had he left all and followed the lord was that jesus was only going to be on the earth for three more years then gone forever then the cross resurrection and ascension into heaven and forever now he is the guy in the bible who is too busy to follow the lord he wanted the money of his father instead jesus is looking you in the eyes and says for just follow me dude we got this you follow me your dad's going to have the best burial ever i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he dies yet shall he live do you believe this no doubt the lord is not calling everyone individually to this calling of following him on the earth in the flesh for three years or you would have been there and i would have too but he's calling us to give up all of our lives for him that's our craft business money status work play family our minds our life should all be for his glory not our own denying ourselves daily and lifting up jesus daily as lord over our lives this is what jesus is telling this guy and us to do we got to figure out how to use everything we have in our life to turn it and bring him for glory how are you going to do that with what you're doing in life what do you do all day in your job who do you talk to who you're spending time with here in the city how are you going to take all of your life and relationships and introduce people to the god who made them you have to be asking this question because the one task he gave you to do is go therefore and make disciples of all nations you don't have to be a jerk you don't have to be mean but you got to figure out how this works in your life whether you eat or drink or whatever you do first corinthians 10 31 do all for the glory of god even eating and drinking might as well add breathing breathe for the glory of god work for the glory of god do marriage for the glory of god have kids for the glory of god be a plumber for the glory of god be a musician for the glory of god be an academic for the glory of god please take all that you have and use it for his glory this is what jesus is saying to us today i love the words of king david after he saw his sin before the lord and went to make it right with a sacrifice offering when he went to purchase all the animals to offer to the lord the man selling him the animals says king david is that you please i know you had a big sin that happened but let me give you these animals for free as your sin offering it's my gift for you king please take these and offer them to the lord for your sin offering it's on the house king david david says absolutely not second samuel 24 24 i will not give to the lord that which cost me nothing if it doesn't cost me i'm not giving it it has to cost me or it's not worth anything and i sense that the church in christianity of today doesn't want to sacrifice an inch or have it cost them anything to break god glory i don't know what it is for you i've got to figure out what it is for me but you got to start praying about this lord what are you calling me to do what are you calling me to sacrifice what are you calling me to give up how do you want me to walk with you family the lord is calling us into deeper fellowship with him not as the world does not even as many followers of jesus do but real discipleship costly discipleship giving up our lives to bring him glory giving up our lives to point everyone to a relationship with him people are going to think i'm a fool so what it's amazing when you look look who jesus uses in the bible it's rare for him to use the kings and queens and royalty he uses fishermen and tax collectors and average people on the street prostitutes he uses the the low people of the street this is how he infiltrates and builds the kingdom i hope your life is doing this i hope all that you have is doing this after all isn't that why we're here on earth to love god we're created to know him to love people by pointing them to this god helping them come to know the one who made them and then enjoying the earth he has given us trust me i'm not trying to steal your fun i am going to have an absolute blast all the days of my life not gonna stop i'm gonna have a blast i'm gonna have as much fun as i possibly can i'm gonna be dead serious about the things of god and then enjoy the earth that god has created for you don't miss it don't follow jesus at a distance allow him to pinpoint what's in your heart say lord i surrender i give it to you can we pray let's go before the lord father we love you and we ask that you hear our prayer now i pray for our church lord i pray for our hearts now oh god that you would pinpoint the things in our hearts that may be stopping us from being able to worship you with everything search me and know me oh god try my heart know my thoughts see if there be any wicked way in me lead me in the way everlasting lord i pray for everyone gathered here today that lord we would take these things in our hearts and that we would offer them to you once again and say lord use me i give you my life i'm not following at a distance anymore i'm going to walk with you in close relationship from this day forward lord use me to make disciples in this city with my family with my friends lord give me wisdom on how to handle them and point them to you give me kindness and compassion gentleness and joy you fruits of the spirit give me truth clarity so i can minister in this city but i pray that repentance would take place in here today in your church and that we would turn to you with all of our hearts you would be our king you would be our lord you would be our savior forgive us of our sin we will not give to the lord that which costs us nothing we choose to give to you please be honored with these gifts the gift of our life we do it in jesus name amen

Channel: • Legacy •

Views: 189

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Josh Thompson. Pastor Josh, Legacy City Church, Church in LA, Church in Los Angles, Church in Studio City, Christian Church Studio City, Christian Church Los Angles, Christian Church LA, Legacy, Legacy City Church

Id: zbDupsR8wE4

Length: 52min 20sec (3140 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 26 2021