The Cost of Change — Changes — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

all right well today we are in part two of our collection entitled changes someone say it's time to make a change and we are studying the gospel of mark and really if you joined us last week what you would know is that we're not just studying mark for a portion of time really we're studying mark for the next six months and our first collection is this collection entitled changes last week i talked to you from the subject an invitation to change but today i want to preach you from the subject the cost of change the cost of change and if you've got a bible i want you to reach for it right now all of our vu friends and family grab a notepad turn into mark chapter one we're going to be studying eight verses from the gospel of mark we're really committing ourselves to bible study as we kick off 2021 and today our teaching comes from these eight verses the cost of change i had a sort of a funny experience take place over the christmas holidays i was doing um some christmas shopping and i was in a store shopping for my wife who loves me very much and i was in this store it was kind of a boutique store and i'm looking around at these different items clothing items and as i was looking at these different items um the thing that kind of i noticed quickly was that there wasn't um any price tags on the items some of you already know where this is going um well your boy is ignorant um i'm shopping i'm like oh this is cool this is cool this is cool there's no price tags and so i like i get a stack of stuff and i'm like oh i'm about to about to make my wife proud you know i'm gonna wrap her up some gifts this christmas and i don't know if this has ever happened to you but i go to the cash register and i bring all these items that don't have any price tags on them and she begins to ring up item after item and as she's ringing them up the price shows up and wow um now i know why they didn't put the price tags on the items how many know if there's no price tags on the items you're in deep water okay this is gonna be some expensive stuff she literally rang up all of these items and i i hate to say it but um i was at the cash register and i was like um i don't i don't think we need all of these items have you ever done this before you actually have to take certain items i'm gonna put this back i'm actually gonna i'm gonna pray about it i'm gonna pray about these items i had to take some items back because i wasn't willing or ready to pay the price of what the items cost and i was just thinking about that today because this is the truth is that so many of us say that we want to change but many of us are unwilling to pay the price to change as we kicked off last week we're talking about this idea of changes in the month of january and really all of change comes from not focusing on what you can't control it comes from focusing on what you can control and today as we get into our study i want to lean into this idea that all of change has a price tag attached to it that today each and every one of us we have to count the cost do we actually want to change are we willing to pay the price for change because what you will discover about jesus in his teaching is that jesus over and over again has a bold blatant message he makes it very very clear that following him comes with an extreme cost he says things like if you want to follow me you have to deny yourself and take up your cross one time jesus says hey unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you let's just say jesus did not sugarcoat his message he wanted you to understand that yes salvation is free but it is not cheap and change will always have a cost attached to it today we're going to pick up where we left off last week last week remember we finished in our reading of mark chapter one we saw this beautiful epic moment it was the baptism of jesus jesus he he goes under the waters and as he comes up out of the waters a voice from heaven speaks out this is my son whom i love i am well pleased and really what we understand as we begin to read mark chapter one is that we see that as mark is writing his gospel he in many ways is mimicking the genesis account for at the very beginning of creation of the world we see the triune god present we see the father the son and the holy spirit we see god who's in heaven we see the word of god which is creating and then we also see the spirit the scripture says hovering over the waters like a dove what's powerful about mark's presentation of jesus's baptism is he's mimicking the same epic moment as creation for at jesus baptism we hear the voice of god which is the father we see the word of god which is the son and we also see this dove hovering down upon jesus which is the spirit of god what mark is trying to say to all of us and we learned this last week is that the baptism of jesus is just as epic as the creation of the world for in jesus there is a brand new creation at hand that because of jesus today you can change you can become who you've been called to become because of jesus you can have a free relationship with god through the son whose name is jesus and what's powerful as we as we step into our reading today is this moment where jesus is baptized where the heavens open up it is this special beautiful moment but now as we get into our reading what we're going to quickly discover is the beauty of divinity is now quickly followed by the brutality of humanity for as this voice speaks this is my son what god was saying is that jesus is not just a man he is god in the flesh so now we see this special moment which is this divine moment but now it's going to be followed by this brutal human moment for god's son is about to meet god's adversary today as we speak about the cost of change i want to draw your attention to mark chapter 1 starting in verse 12. watch what takes place i want to give you three truths today when it comes to this idea the price the cost to change at once the spirit sent him everyone say at once so we're coming out of the baptism and now at once the spirit sent him who's him jesus sent jesus out into the desert and he was in the desert 40 days everyone say 40 days being tempted by satan he was with the wild animals and the angels attended to him truth number one when it comes to the cost of change here's the truth public declaration will always face private temptation i i want you to see this today because honestly what just took place is the heavens opened up it's this awesome victory public moment jesus is god in the flesh the spirit descends upon him in power but now watch that same spirit that descended upon him in power is now sending him out into the desert the same spirit that came upon him in power is the same spirit that's leading him into the wilderness it's funny right because a lot of times in church we say hey be led by the spirit hey brother are you led by the spirit just want to be led by the spirit and most of us think that when we're led by the spirit the spirit is going to lead us to breakthrough the spirit's going to lead us to success the spirit's going to lead us to healing the spirit's going to lead us to prosperity i believe he does lead us to those places but i also wonder today those of you that are in this place that are saying i want to change i want to grow i wonder will you let the spirit lead you into the wilderness will you obey the spirit when he sends you into the desert whoa i don't know about you but there's something about the desert there's something about the wilderness that all of us must experience on the faith journey it's only in the desert where you can truly begin to appreciate water the desert is a place that makes us desperate you know fasting in many ways can feel like a desert experience but it's this desperation that we all desperately need that we all must desperately learn to cling to god why because it's desperation for god that creates revelation about god i want to say it this way the wilderness is not a great place to build a home oh but friends it is a great place to build your faith is there anybody out there who wants to grow who wants to change if you want to change you have to be willing to have these wilderness experiences with your maker i i just i just want you to see this it goes from this epic moment haha heavens open up the voice of mufasa speaks out this is my son whom i love and well pleased and then immediately notice remember jesus in action mark's gospel is all about action at once it's like he he doesn't even want you to linger in the celebration very long at once we saw the spirit descend upon him like a dove in power and then at once the same spirit leads him into the desert why is he being led into the desert he's being led in the desert to be tempted by satan this is this is big he he's going to the desert to actually be tempted by satan and all of us on the journey of faith will have to go through these experiences where we feel like we're in the wilderness where we feel like we're in the desert but the desert is meant to make you desperate for god but what happens to so many of us is that in the wilderness and in the desert that's when we face temptation i'm just telling you if you want to change you're going to have to learn how to pass the test of temptation i just want you to catch this because some of us we don't know this truth this public declaration this aha moment is followed with jesus facing private temptation some of us in this room and some of us that are watching right now on youtube if you could get this revelation you would find yourselves being more content on the faith journey because so many of you you're like i don't get it it's like i make this public declaration i'm a new creation in christ but as the moment i make that declaration it's all of a sudden now i'm facing deeper greater bigger intense temptation why is that it's because many times our public victories are followed by our greatest private attacks people don't know this people don't understand this it's like last week we had a great in-person gathering at jungle island i don't know if anyone's brought you this report but yesterday or last sunday at jungle island day seven of our prayer journey we saw three different services full of people but the best part of last sunday is that 70 people made a decision to get water baptized oh come on i need a praise break right there i'm just like i've been missing that since last year 70 people what they do 70 people made a public declaration i'm following jesus but you know what would be a really fun case study is to get all seven of those people in the studio on this sunday and interview them one by one i got a good feeling that if you ask those 70 people hey that was awesome we all celebrated you we all danced we all jumped we all congratulated you what was monday like i'm almost guarantee you that if you talk to those 70 people most of them felt like they had a week from hell but rich i don't i don't understand why it's because when i make a public declaration i will now have to face private temptation for which i don't understand why i'll tell you why it's because you went from a trend to becoming a threat you went from being a spectator to becoming a participator before you were just in the stands but baby now you're on the field you do know that on the sidelines you don't get tackled but the moment you step into the game you are bound to take a lick or two i want to remind you that some people 70 to be exact got in the game last week is there anybody out there that would say i want to be in the game i want to change i want to grow i want to become i'm telling you what you will never ever change if you can't afford to stop feeding your flesh yo i want abs but you also want pizza i want a promotion but you also want to keep sleeping in i want a spouse who's committed i know but you also want to keep cheating i want authority but you also want no accountability every one of us wanting to change is not enough being willing to resist temptation on the journey is the only way that you will continue to become and it's just a powerful concept right because once again what we see here in mark's gospel is mark is drafting off to genesis story so he starts with the triune god creating and then we see the triune god shows up there for jesus to say that jesus is divine remember he has two thesis points that he's making that he's messiah he came to save but he's also god but he continues in this same flow because you'll remember as god creates the heavens and the earth remember god creates man remember he says let us make man in our image it's the triune god that creates man and woman and if you can remember the story of adam and eve they're the very first people on the earth according to god's word and adam and eve are put in this beautiful plush garden and they're in this garden and there's really only one rule and one boundary in the garden there's this tree it's called the tree of knowledge of good and evil and they're forbidden to eat any of the fruit from that tree but remember what happens jesus is known as the second adam like the first adam and the second adam jesus is now in the wilderness being tempted but adam the first adam he too was tempted by satan himself by the way i just want to make this little fyi a lot of people give um themselves too much credit you say what do you mean oh man the devil's messing with me let me just be honest with you the devil is not omnipresent he's not like jesus he's not like god he's everywhere so you might be under spiritual attack but the idea that the devil himself is tempting you could be i just could be slightly arrogant you might be dealing with some sort of demonic force i don't know some legion bills balthazar i don't know his name but satan in the flesh tempts adam and he tempts jesus i don't know about you but i'm not ready to put myself in either one of those men's categories just good pastoral teaching the serpent comes to adam and eve and the serpent begins to tempt adam and eve how does the serpent tempt adam and eve he does it one way he gets them to question the authority of god how does he do it he asks a question did god really say not to eat from this tree so rich why are you bringing that up i'm bringing that up because flash forward to jesus the second adam the scripture says that he is out in the wilderness fasting for 40 days so i just want you to see there's similarities but there's major differences adam and eve are in a plush garden eden in most cases is seen to be a type of heaven so almost picture paradise on earth that's what they're living in the scripture makes it very clear they're naked and no shame okay so they're living a good life they're living in heaven on earth and they're naked hey somebody like i dream of those days it will come to pass in heaven they're in and then they they they give in to the temptation jesus is similar but much much different he is in a desert the scripture mark makes it very clear with wild animals remember at the time of mark's writing christians are being fed to wild animals now they're seeing one who's hanging out with no harm with wild animals not being fed to them but having dominion over them and here's jesus in the desert so just get the picture not eden in the desert doesn't have a spouse he's all alone doesn't have a paradise has a wilderness and for 40 days he by the way he's fasting day 14 of fasting first five days of 21 days i did a liquid juice fast friends i don't know but like i think about jesus the desert's hot he's hungry hot and hungry always equals hangry dude i'm five days in and i i barely have patience for my loved ones let alone the devil who's right there in the flesh tempting me i i this is a struggle this is the situation that jesus is in and for 40 days and 40 nights he resists the temptation of satan himself it's important that you see that it's 40 days and 40 nights because once again this is drafting off of the old testament remember the israelites they were set free from bondage from the egyptians and they were headed to the promised land aka their destiny and what happens as they step out into the desert the wilderness what do they do they disobey god and because they disobey god if you know the story what was meant to be a few days journey turned into 40 years of wandering can i say it this way disobedience is the best way to delay your destiny disobedience is the best way to delay your destiny i wonder how many of us today that are watching this stream the reason why you haven't changed the reason why you have stopped becoming the reason why you continue to wander is because you continue to give in to temptation you continue to disobey god's word and because of it it's not that you don't have a destiny it's that your destiny is delayed adam failed the test in the garden and just in case you're upset with adam please understand that every human being since adam has failed the same test oh but thank god for mark's gospel thank god that there is a second adam that paul says his name is jesus christ and where we failed he succeeded where we gave in he stood strong where the first adam could never make it oh the second adam he paid the price and he stood the test of temptation oh friend you might be a product of your past but you don't have to be a prisoner of it any longer you have been set free to walk in freedom it's time to stop wandering it's time to change completely in who he's called you to be but you better learn that public declaration will always face private temptation i'm going to have to conquer the test of temptation if i'm going to see the full result of what god has for my life it's amazing right because that garden of eden story where all of humanity now reap the consequence of man's disobedience anyone thankful for the second garden that from eden to gethsemane that's the garden that jesus was in before he went and paid the ultimate price and from the garden of gethsemane what does he say he says father my flesh is weak i'm prone to temptation i'm prone to give into my flesh oh but father my spirit is willing and one man's disobedience led to our death but because of one man's obedience it leads to life and life more abundantly here's the thing with temptation temptation always exposes intentions it exposes intentions um i don't know about you but the scripture is very clear we're supposed to flee temptation i don't want to live my life seeing how close i can get to temptation hello camera person look at me oh there i am cool i'm sorry i just looked over i could saw myself outside of the camera that's awesome it's all the way i don't want to see how close i can get to the line i i actually want to see how far away i can run from the line you ever meet people i mean some people that they they they're so committed to the letter of the law that they miss the spirit of god remember the spirit led him to the desert the spirit did not tempt him the spirit led him to a place where he would be tempted by the devil very very important to understand god does not tempt people god allows us to walk into situations that the tempting can produce a deeper strength a deeper desperation but i meet some people that read god's word and like they're reading it they're like looking for loopholes and what are they doing they're doing exactly what the serpent did to adam and eve did god really say in fact mark's gospel does not tell us the temptation that jesus went through but luke's gospel does luke chapter four as you read it you will see the three different temptations that jesus went through and in one of those temptations the devil actually comes to jesus and he actually quotes god's word to him let me just tell you something if not just enough to know the word you have to know the context of the word and how many know you can't quote the word if you don't know the word and jesus gives him back context to the word and it's god's word which operates as an authority to give him strength and power not to give into temptation we are living in a culture right now that is saying did god really say that and some of you you're calling yourselves believers and you're saying did god really say that and we're looking at god's word like it's some type of contract but i want to remind you god's word is not a contract that's meant to make your life miserable god's word is a love letter that's meant to make your life meaningful it's the cost of change and if you're gonna change you're gonna have to be willing to pay the price and the price tag is i want to change but can my flesh afford resisting i need to resist in 2021. that's what we're doing with 21 days of prayer fasting it's a time to be consecrated unto the lord god i want to be clean and empty that you might use me and that i might develop into the person you've called me to be let's continue in our study mark chapter 1 verse 14. after john was put in prison i just want to help everyone that's watching online that's never done bible study before this is how we're reading god's word in 2021 we're going verse by verse and we're pulling out truths we're discovering what the text says but also what does the text say to us in 2021 so after john was put in prison remember john the baptist was out in the desert preparing the way now how many know this that as he was out there preparing the way it led him to a prison cell where he was ultimately decapitated it's amazing how there's a lot of christianity out there right now that says i will be a christian as long as it leads to my success but yo if you're gonna follow jesus it ended up on a cross for jesus it ended up in a prison cell for john the baptist with his head cut off it doesn't always lead to the life that you were thinking that you wanted but it always leads the life that you needed and after john was put in prison jesus went into galilee watch this proclaiming the good news this is another word for preaching the good news what's the good news another word for good news is gospel we learned that last week that that's why mark is writing it's a proclamation it's a preach it's a sermon about the good news of god here's jesus's words now read letters hopefully if you got that bible the time has come he said the kingdom of god is near repent and believe the good news truth number two around the cost of change today is the most valuable thing you have to give just got to remind some people you see price is what you pay value is what you get the famous poet oscar wilde he said it this way these days everyone knows the price of everything and the value of nothing see the greatest thing that you have to give is today and if you want to know what the cost of change is it is the price of today it's right now it's it's this moment right now god wants to do something in your life right now god wants to bring about change today is the day of change here's the truth change happens in a moment it's results that require time i just think there's so many people that are living today especially in 2021 and we spend more time on our excuses than we do on execution we're just full of excuses just full of reasons as to why we can't start now oh man i'm gonna start tomorrow bro i i failed yesterday some of you you started the fast and because you failed three days in you just gave up on the rest of the 18 days no no start today begin again some of us we glorify the someday well someday i'm going to finally get my life in order and someday i'm gonna really follow god wholeheartedly and someday i'll become the person that god's called me to some of us aren't focused on the some days we're focused on on on back in the day back in the day when it was really good and back in the day when i used to serve at church and back on the day when i was in a crew and back in the day when i had leadership and back in the day when i was really passionate about my job and back in the day when i was going to the gym and you're giving up the power of this moment you're failing and realizing that the most valuable thing that you have is today and if you want to know the cost of change it is the price of today it's amazing mark chapter 1 verse 14. let's just look at the scripture one more time because i want to do this bible study with you watch this after john was put in prison jesus went to galilee and he's proclaiming he's preaching the gospel remember jesus comes not with bad news he comes with good news tell that to fox news tell that to cnn tell that to every person who's shaking in their boots right now if you're in christ jesus there is good news that we have an eternal life that's promised to us get your hopes up proclaiming the good news of god now watch this this is very important if you're taking notes please understand this this is the first time that jesus's words are going to be recorded in the gospel of mark so we did a whole sermon last week we did a whole study and we haven't heard jesus speak these are the first words of jesus here they come jesus the first words the time has come everyone said the time has come he said the kingdom of god is near repent and believe the good news jesus is saying hey the time is right now today is here and if you want to change it starts right now now what's amazing is that mark writes this letter or this gospel in the greek language and i love the greek language because the greek language um well they're they're more descriptive than the english language for instance when you study the word love in english how many know we got one word love i love my dog and i love my wife okay hold on but which one that's the same word the greek language has four words for love words like storge which is a family type of love words like phileo which is a friendship love words like eros which is an erotic kind of love hello doncheri [Applause] agape which is an unconditional love in fact it's really important to note that when the bible says god is love it doesn't say god is store gay doesn't say god is eros it says god is a god what's important about the greek language is that when it comes to the word time they have two words the first word is the word that you're probably most familiar with which is the word chronos chronos this is where we get words like chronological and so honestly the greeks use this word for the quantitative side of time the minute by minute the day by day the year by year time keeps passing time keeps coming and of course as jesus says the time has come of course he means right now in the moment of course he's alluding to this word chronos but when mark writes this book he doesn't use the word chronos instead he uses the word kairos this is the second word for time and this word measures not the quantitative side of time but rather the qualitative side of time it measures moments how many know that life is not measured in minutes life is truly measured in moments it's honestly over and over again it's not the minutes that we are going through but rather it's the moments that shape us and this word kairos it speaks to this idea that at this moment this is a defining moment that all the moments after this moment are different because of this moment and it's hard in the english language to really break this down i guess the best way i could break it down for you would be two words that you're familiar with that many times we mix up which would be the word historical and historic i don't know if you ever watch like a newscaster and they're like this is a historical moment well it's like yeah of course every moment is a historical moment many times what they mean is it's a historic moment today is it's a historical moment this day is happening but i got a feeling that nobody's going to write a book about this day of january as we preached a message called the cost of change it's a historical moment but it's most likely not for all of us a historic moment it could be a historic moment for some but how many know the day that my son wyatt wesley was born yes it was historical january 23 2018 but it was also historic in the wilkerson house because after that boy gave came no other day that followed ever looked the same that moment defined all of the other moments it's called a kairos moment and all throughout the scriptures there are these chirotic moments right like for instance the most chaotic moment of all is the birth of jesus it's not just a chirotic moment for you and for me but it's for all of humanity you can't tell time without the birth of jesus our entire calendar system bc and a.d that moment changed all of the other moments jesus's death on the cross wasn't just a chronos moment it was a kairos moment that's where we had our sins pay his resurrection from the grave not just a chronos moment not just a historical moment but a kairos a a historic moment that through his resurrection everything we believe becomes true and it becomes real and friends the same is true for you and the same is true for me here comes jesus and the first words out of his mouth is the kairos has come this moment right now today this hour this moment repent believe the kingdom of god is near he was saying if you put your belief in me today this moment is going to define all of the other moments i think so many of us we get so confused when it comes to change we keep believing that you know what i'm gonna change but i'm gonna start tomorrow isn't it funny yesterday you said today last year remember last year i did a whole collection called becoming you're like yeah but last year you said this year repent what is jesus saying he's saying turn change shift the good news is at hand i don't know what you need to change i'm gonna keep preaching each week i don't know what you need to change lose weight start the job quit the job bro ask her out write the book for heaven's sake start the business make the album be content stop complaining i don't know what you need to do all i know is you need to start today today is the day of salvation salvation's not a tomorrow thing it's not a yesterday thing it's a right now type of thing and you want to say what's the cost of change the cost of change is the price of today today today this can be a kairos moment for you you don't have to wait for somebody else jesus he's here and he says i'm here right now this kairos moment can change you forever it might look like an ordinary day to everybody else but this might be the most extraordinary day of your entire history not only is it historical it is historic because you finally turned to jesus the cost of change public declaration will face private temptation can you afford to stop feeding your flesh today is the most valuable thing that you have to give tomorrow is not promised life is but a vapor it's here one day and it is gone the next lastly as we get ready to close today mark chapter 1 verse 16 our last four verses as jesus walked beside the sea of galilee he saw simon and his brother andrew casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen come follow me jesus said and i will make you fishers of men at once everyone say at once here's mark this is typical language all throughout suddenly immediately at once at once he's stressing the immediacy of the decision at once they left their nets and followed him and when he had gone a little farther he saw james son of zebedee and his brother john in a boat preparing their nets and without delay he called them and they left their father zebedee in a boat with the hired men and followed him the cost of change truth number three loyalty over everything jesus has been baptized he's not just man he's god in the flesh he's now been tempted in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights he proves that he is the second adam he proves that his obedience can lead to our life not like the israelites who wandered for 40 years out of disobedience though it was a 40-day journey in and out and now he's stepping into his public ministry and he's saying the time to change is right now quit putting it off it's right now today is all you got but here now he walks beside the sea of galilee and he begins to call his very first disciples understand believers believe but disciples do he's calling his disciples i think it's important that we get some context once again around what's taking place the sea of galilee it's much more like a lake it's 13 miles long seven miles wide but what many people don't understand about the sea of galilee is that the sea of galilee was one of the most productive bodies of water in the ancient world for fishing and what we see about jesus is jesus is going out and he's doing something that's very peculiar it doesn't seem peculiar to you and i because we just know this text and we've read it since we were kids it's a famous text come follow me i'll make you fishers of men but we gotta understand it from the ancient writings because the idea that jesus is calling disciples don't get too confused with that word disciple simply means pupil of a tutor or a teacher maybe a better word or word that you might be more comfortable with is an apprentice i want to be an apprentice of jesus i'm learning the ways of jesus i'm wanting to walk like jesus and think like jesus and talk like jesus i want to be like jesus i want to do what jesus did i'm his apprentice and many times we think this word disciple like because we know about the 12 disciples also known as the 12 apostles we think that oh that's just some high elite group that we could never be like the apostles you must understand are different from the disciples there's 12 disciples and 12 apostles but jesus had something like 70 disciples on the earth and not only do you have seven disciples he invites you and i to be his disciple that was his great commission go out into all the world preach the gospel baptize them in the father and the son and make disciples not make believers make disciples but here on the sea of galilee jesus he goes and recruits his students it's interesting because rabbis of that time period they did not pick their pupils their pupils picked them it's much like the university system today like universities don't always go and just pick people most of them we apply to the universe that we want to go to but jesus once again is showing the difference between his authority that unlike regular rabbis you can't have a relationship with jesus unless you he calls you to himself if you're here today if you're watching i believe it's he's calling he's he's drawing you in he's he's wooing you but as jesus walks beside the sea of galilee this this incredible productive body of water josephus the ancient scholar who was a historian wrote in his writings that in the year 65 when rome invaded palestine that they commandeered some 250 boats off of the sea of galilee meaning they seized just 250 on the sea of galilee like that there could have been so many more what i want you to understand is that the sea of galilee was a big business they talk about it from historical place that there was all sorts of different types of fish in the sea of galilee so a lot of those fish were exported to other nations around the world you say rich why are you telling me this i'm telling you this because a lot of us have this picture of peter and james and john and we think they've got a little you know cast in rod and they're on the canal over there and they're just trying to get enough trout for the night so they can feed their little family most likely that is not an accurate picture of the disciples most likely these were lucrative businessmen most likely these were men like the sons of zebedee that this was the family business in the ancient world we live in america and we're so proud of our individuality and we're so big on our individual rights and our own responsibility but in the ancient world it was a communal world and your identity was found from your family not in just who you are but here comes jesus and he walks over to these men that are in the middle of their career in the middle of their identity with their family and he walks up on the scene he doesn't wait for them to pick him he picks them and he says come follow me and i'm going to teach you how to really fish you're not going to fish for for fish you're going you're going to fish for men and the scripture says at once they left their nets and they followed him immediately they left see jesus is looking for loyalty out of disciples loyalty over everything here's what i know about loyalty loyalty is proved in what you're willing to lose not in what you're hoping to gain i give it up you can have it all see if you're going to move from a career to a calling and you want to know what the cost of that is the cost of that is everything it's everything it'll cost you everything and so i will leave my nets and i will leave my family and i will leave my position i will leave my business all with one hope which is to simply follow you i'm loyal to you see jesus he spoke about this cost in a very brash kind of way luke chapter 14 jesus he's speaking to a large crowd and he wants to make sure that we understand the cost of what it looks like to change and become a disciple in and out and large crowds were traveling with jesus and turning to them he said if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother his wife and children his brothers and sisters yes even his own life he cannot be my disciple maybe this is the first time you've seen this scripture and it's kind of freaking you out whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa a little confused here um what you're saying to follow jesus i gotta hate mom and dad what's up with that rich isn't that a contradiction don't i read in most of the scriptures that jesus calls us to radical love of other people in fact doesn't the scripture even say not to hate our enemies so if we're not allowed to hate our enemies how on earth can we start with hating mom and dad i love what tim keller writes about this text and i want to sink into your heart today jesus is not calling us to hate actively he's calling us to hate comparatively you want to know what loyalty to jesus looks like it looks like following him and loving him with such diligence with such a spirit of endurance with such a great great following and desire to be like him that every other earthly attachment in your life compared to that love looks like hate he's not calling you to hate mom and dad he's saying if need be if you got to throw your nets to the side if you got to leave the career if you got to leave the business if i call you will you follow me because if you want to know the cost of change it's that loyalty over everything it's not hating actively it's hating comparatively can you imagine the sons of zebedee hey dad we gotta go with him right now they left their nets they left their father with hired hands because they were saying that we so desperately want to change we so desperately want to follow jesus we will do whatever it is to be like him see there's a there's a thinking that has shown up all over the body of christ and it's jesus i will follow you if jesus i'll follow you if it makes me successful jesus i'll follow you if i can be famous and jesus i will follow you if i'm wealthy and jesus i will follow you if i get the desires of my heart but i'm trying to tell you that jesus will not be a means to your end he must be the goal in and of himself he must be the finish line he must be the prize he wants your only desire to be him and only him i was i was at a wedding yesterday for two incredible people in our church andrew kalor and justine gonzalez i got to perform their wedding which is always a great privilege to be there on a day of people's holy matrimony as they go public with their love for one another and it was a special moment but after the wedding they asked us to take some pictures my wife and i along with one of our other friends take a picture with andrew and justinian they got they got justiny all put together and they got her gown all laid out and then one by one they asked us to come and stand next to her in the picture as we were standing in the picture trying to get the picture in frame many different times they would say dawn tree can you turn rich can you maneuver hey hey sean and courtney can you come in a little bit closer what they were doing is they were saying that you guys are going to revolve around the bride the bride is not going to pivot and adjust for you and i want to encourage some people today the cost of change is i'm not asking god to revolve around my life i'm not asking god to orbit around my dreams but instead i am putting christ at the center and i am orbiting my life around him i'm saying god i want to be in frame with you where your position is where i'll stand it's the cost of change it's the cost of change you say what does that change look like well jesus he speaks so clearly about this cost chapter 14 verse 28 suppose one of you wants to build a tower will he not first down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it for if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it everyone who sees it will ridicule him saying this fellow began to build and was not able to finish or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand if he's not able he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace in the same way someone's saying the same way any of you who does not give up everything someone say everything he has cannot be my disciple loyalty over everything last week we had the invitation to change and this week it's the cost of change public declaration well it's going to have to face private temptation today is the most valuable thing you have to give and it's loyalty over everything following jesus is not a part of your life it is your life and you're invited into that journey today we're taking some time in all of our services to celebrate the life of dr martin luther king jr and there's many different things that we could point out about his life the attributes the characteristics but i think there's one thing that nobody can deny and that is when it came to the cause that dr king was living for which was to have true race reconciliation and true peace and true unity and rights for all regardless of their color of skin this cause was not just something that dr king talked about but rather this cause was something that dr king was willing to lay his life down for he was assassinated before he ever saw that dream come to pass but i believe even in his death that dream continues to unfold that his change that he so desired it cost him absolutely everything today as we think about our lord and savior jesus christ the change that he wants to birth inside of you oh i hope you understand today that you can change not from your own willpower now you don't have enough willpower the reason why you're able to change and the reason why you're able to become is when you simply say god i surrender to who you are once and for all i surrender to your plan i give up my dreams to pick up your dreams i give up my plans to pick up your plans today god i lift up my hands and i believe that you have something good in store for me and lord i leave this career behind to pick up a calling that i will follow you wherever you lead me if you call me to the wilderness i'll go if you take me to the desert i'll go i'll follow you through the valley and i will follow you to the mountaintop because wherever you go i will go come on if you believe it today come on lift your hands [Music] hey rich wilkerson here i want to say a big thank you for watching today's content believing and trusting that it impacted you and if it did help you or encourage in any way i would love you to like it and share it with some other people make sure to subscribe to the vu church youtube page where you can get more content just like this and while you're there go peruse the gallery as they say and see past talks and past content that i believe is going to help you i love you best yet to come

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 43,567

Keywords: vous, vous church, rich wilkerson, rich wilkerson jr, dawnchere wilkerson, miami, church, live stream, worship, church live, live stream church, sermon, miami fl, miami chuch, preaching, the gospel, good news, the message of jesus, jesus

Id: eb0LkRE4VKQ

Length: 52min 16sec (3136 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021