[0:00] Lord, I wish each of you a good morning, and it's good to see you. Some of you I don't know, but that's okay. I trust you'll forgive me if I'm not quite what you expected, but I thought Brother John was going to preach, and then I think he saw a way out somehow.
[0:24] No. It's okay. I do enjoy bringing the Word of God when I go someplace. It is always something that is alive. It never changes. It never will. It's been settled forever in heaven, the Bible tells us.
[0:39] So whatever we have here as God's Word will always be. God told us in the book of Psalms, He said, I have honored my Word above my name. So the Word of God is here. It is forever settled in heaven, and if we stand on the Word, we will forever stand on truth.
[0:57] It doesn't only contain truth. It is truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And the Word of God, He is also called the Word of God. And therefore we know that when we preach from the Word of God, when we teach the Word of God, we have something solid, not just my opinion.
[1:16] I'm not here to share my opinion, because my opinion and your opinion both are equally valid. And if they differ, then who's right? Our world today is a very relative world. Our world today is, oh, that's your truth.
[1:30] But this is my truth. And wait a minute. We can't have two different truths. If we don't have a solid truth that lasts forever, we have no truth. There is no truth, because it washes back and forth.
[1:43] This over here, oh, this is true today. And oh, tomorrow, next week, whatever, next year, oh, things have changed. So now we've got new information. Now this is true. Folks, it's not that way. God's Word is always true, always will be, and is forever settled in heaven.
[1:58] And we heard it this morning. We heard in the story of Paul and Silas. We have the examples that they gave us.
[2:14] And, you know, last night, I have no idea what y'all been preaching here. Where you've gone, the subjects, I don't know.
[2:24] So if I happen to overlap anybody's messages or I'm not trying to take from anybody, I have no idea what you've been preaching. So by God's grace, we're going to look at the truth of God's Word, and we're going to look at how it's going to affect me in my life today.
[2:42] Because that's what the point is. That's what's relevant. It's not, oh, just what God did back then. That's great, because it gives us an example, and it gives us something that we can look at and say, this is who God is.
[2:54] But if it doesn't make a difference in my life today, all I've done is heard it. It hasn't gone anywhere deeper than just here. From your ear balls into your head.
[3:05] You know, what you hear through your ear balls here is something that should make a difference in my life as I walk it. But you know how many times James tells us, you know, he said, here, we hear it.
[3:17] We look in the mirror and we walk away. We forget what kind of person we were. Because what we heard and what we saw, oh, was my face dirty? I forgot to look. But I just looked myself in the mirror.
[3:29] And so what we have in Scripture is a reflection. God wants us to look at that. This is God. How do we measure to that?
[3:39] God. And so last night I was trying to, I was thinking about it after James said something about it yesterday.
[3:51] And I'm like, I know I preached here last year. And I was trying to remember what did I preach. I called my wife. I said, what did I preach here at church? I don't want to necessarily go over the same thing.
[4:03] Because I said, people remember that. And they said, well, don't he have anything different to share? You know, and I don't want to do that either. Even though if it's worth preaching once, it ought to be worth preaching twice.
[4:14] But you ought to have something new to bring and God can share it. We got the whole Bible and there's so many things. We're going to overlap some of this stuff anyway. But it's okay. If you hear it twice, it might be something you need to listen to.
[4:26] So, but in our, as I studied on that and because the message that first came to me was one that my wife said, I think you preached that there last time.
[4:39] I said, Lord, if I did, then you better give me something different. And so hopefully we can, by God's grace, bring a word from God, a word from scripture that is going to help us in our life.
[4:56] I know your desire because you're here this morning. Your desire is to walk with God. Your desire is to do what God wants you to do. And so today I want to, I want to just go over some things.
[5:11] This is nothing new, but maybe it's something that we need to be reminded of because we're human. We forget. We tend to kind of things get away from us a little bit. And so as I was, as I was just contemplating, Lord, what, what is the, the thrust of the message today?
[5:31] It's, it's, it's an obedience to the call of Christ. Basically, we're talking about discipleship.
[5:44] Basically, we're talking about a walk with God, a walk that is going to bring us closer to God and something that is going to be a blessing to those around us.
[5:54] We heard about that in Paul and Silas' life already. I thought, okay, Lord, that's, that's tremendous example of true discipleship. What does it mean? So I want to read some scriptures and, and to just kind of bring us a little background.
[6:14] I'm going to start in the book of Matthew in chapter four and verses 18 to 22. Jesus is calling his first disciples.
[6:29] Now I thought about it later. I said, well, we could, I guess, define what is a disciple, but we've used the word many times in, in, in our life in church.
[6:44] Trust. We know that a disciple is one who is following someone who is following the teachings of someone. And, and Jesus calls us to make disciples.
[6:55] Who are you discipling? Do you have somebody that you're discipling? In other words, you're helping them know more about who God is and what Jesus calls, has called them to be in their life.
[7:09] But as we, as we start this and here we have a man, Jesus, who is at 30 years of age. Anybody in here 30? Most of, some of us are above that, but I've been there twice already going on the third time.
[7:26] Um, but Jesus starts his ministry at the age of 30 and he's out. I don't know what he was doing.
[7:37] All it says here in verse 18, it says, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brother, Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea.
[7:50] And therefore they were fishers. And he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. What kind of a call is that? Here's guys who I got a feeling they were probably strong, burly guys.
[8:06] I mean, they're pulling nets of fish. Takes a lot of strength. We saw that over in Ghana when we were there, they would take these nets way out there. And then they would have 10 or 11 guys on this end, on the, on the shore pulling this net in.
[8:20] And all these guys, the one guy was calling cadence, you know, one, two, pull one, two. And they were pulling and they would, and these guys, I mean, the muscle would just bulge him because they had nets way out there.
[8:31] So I'm assuming that these fishermen, I don't know if they were doing the same thing, but these were not wimps. These were not little skinny fellows. I got a feeling there were some strong people, but Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
[8:45] They're like, what is a fisher of men? You know? But anyway, he calls them and here's their response. And they straightway left their nets and followed him.
[8:56] And going on from thence, he saw other two brothers, James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother in a ship with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. And he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him.
[9:13] Now, I've thought about that many times. How do you do that? How does, what kind of a presence did Jesus have that he could just walk along and he would say, Aaron, follow me and I'll make you a fisher of men.
[9:27] And Aaron jumps up and he's following me, you know, here I've got a servant. He's now following me and I'm, you know, what would make him do that? What kind of a presence did Jesus have?
[9:42] Did they know him before? Had they heard him speak? Had they heard some of his teachings? I have no idea. I have no idea.
[9:54] And I can almost imagine, you know, here's Peter with his personality like me. Why me? I mean, what are we going to do?
[10:06] It doesn't say that they questioned anything. But when Jesus said, follow me, they got up. They just left their net. These guys were in the fishing business.
[10:17] So who's going to take up the net? Apparently they didn't care. They just left it. It said they left it and they turned and they followed him. Now, what would make a man do that?
[10:29] What is it about Jesus in this situation that caused these men burly, strong, could do all kinds of different things. They just left what they were making a living with and follow him.
[10:43] John and James, the sons of Zebedee. Same thing. They're in the ship with their father mending the nets. And if you watch people mend their nets, it's very interesting.
[10:55] They take these strings and they tie them back together because some of them are broken and fish can swim out through there. So here we got the first four disciples are all fishermen. Strong, burly guys.
[11:09] And every one of them. The Bible says straightway. And that's the old English word for right now. Immediately. Not questioning. Not waiting. Not, I'll be there in a little bit.
[11:21] Just go on. I'll catch up to you. No. It says they immediately left the nets, the ship, their father, everything. And they followed him.
[11:34] They were obedient to the call of Christ at that point. They walked with him. They went with him. It doesn't say where they went, but they went. It says, other than the next verse, it says that Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
[11:53] Here he's got his four followers. They're going with him. I can only imagine all the things that he was telling them as they walked. As he was trying to make fishers of men out of them, from fishers of fish to fishers of men.
[12:08] There was going to be a transformation. And John was just talking about justification and then sanctification. So there was a process going on here that these guys' minds had to be changed from what they were, earthly things.
[12:24] Not that earthly things are necessarily a bad thing. We all need to make a living. We all need to earn something to feed ourselves and our families. But they were changing from that to something bigger.
[12:35] They didn't know it. They had no idea, I don't think, what all they were getting into. Well, I'm sure they didn't because they got into some pretty rough stuff. But here they were.
[12:48] They followed. We only have a few. There's only one more that I know of.
[12:58] Maybe other than Bartholomew. But he's not really listed among the apostles. But there's only one other one that we find that we know how he was called.
[13:10] And that's Matthew. Called Levi and Matthew. They're the same person. And that's found in Luke chapter 5, verse 27 and 28. It says, These guys were the IRS agents of the day.
[13:29] Okay. You really didn't want to deal with these guys. They were. Yeah. Named Levi. Sitting at the receipt of custom. He's got his own little office here.
[13:39] And he's. You got taxes to pay. So you come there and you pay the taxes. These guys had pretty much a free reign to charge what they wanted. They had to have a certain limit. This is what the government required.
[13:51] Beyond that. You can get any more out of them. That's yours. So here we have Matthew. Levi. Sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him. Follow me.
[14:03] He didn't say I'm going to make you a fisher of men. Or I'm going to take your taxes away. Or whatever. He just said follow me. And I love what it says about Levi. He left all.
[14:15] Rose up. And followed him. Now there's something to be said about this. This response.
[14:27] We find Peter and Andrew. They left their net. That was probably all that they had. To make their living with. So they left their net. And followed him.
[14:39] James and John. They left their net. Their ship. Their father. And they followed him. And now we have Levi. It says.
[14:50] He left it all. All the tax money that was there on the table. Everything. All his records. Whatever. It says he left it all. He rose up. And he followed Jesus.
[15:03] Now what would you do? We're not. I'm not. We're not going to get into all of that right now. But you think about the fact. That these men. Grown men.
[15:15] Here's a 30 year old man. I don't know how the older disciples were. I have no idea. The Bible doesn't really tell us anything about that. But it does say.
[15:26] That they left everything. And they followed Jesus. And here they are. Not knowing where they're going. But they're. They're. They're. They're doing things. Jesus is going around preaching and teaching.
[15:37] What were the disciples doing while he was doing that? We don't know. But they were listening and they were hearing. The teachings of Jesus. Day after day after day. Now these guys.
[15:49] Were not. Perfect. It took a lot of work. To change them from fishers of fish. To fishers of men. It took a lot of time.
[16:01] It took a lot of work. Now we have others. That wanted to be a disciple. In Luke chapter 9. In verse 57 to 62.
[16:14] We find. It came to pass. That as they went in the way. A certain man said unto him. Lord. I will follow thee. Whithersoever thou goest. Jesus said unto him.
[16:27] Foxes have holes. And birds of the air have nests. But the son of man has not. Anywhere to lay his head. In other words. It's not an easy life bro. You're not.
[16:38] You're not coming with me. To make an easy life. Because I don't even have a place to stay. So if you're looking for an easy trip. Don't come with me. Basically. To me. Is what kind of what he's saying. You better be committed.
[16:49] If you're going to come. You're welcome. But you better be committed. Now I'm adding. I'm not trying to add to the scriptures here. But. There's things that. Obviously probably took place.
[17:00] But he said. You know. First off. He said. I will. I will follow you. Wherever you go. So Jesus told him about his lifestyle. And then. He said unto another one.
[17:12] Follow me. But. He said. Lord. Suffer me first. To go and bury my father. To me. He's saying. Lord. I will.
[17:23] But you know. Wait until after my dad dies. And I bury him. And we get all the estate settled. And all this kind of thing. Then I'll come. Well.
[17:36] Is that a true disciple response? Jesus said unto him. Let the dead bury the dead. But go thou. And preach the kingdom of God. In other words.
[17:46] There's a higher call here. Your dad is going to die. There's other people who can bury him. But it's urgent. You need to get out here. And preach. The gospel of the kingdom of God. Don't wait.
[17:57] We got things to do. I've got things that's going on. And he. Jesus of course. Hadn't died yet. So. Though. There wasn't all that. But the kingdom of God. Was still. What it.
[18:07] What is the kingdom of God? It is to do the work of God. To enhance the kingdom of God. To enhance his name. And his glory. And to bring honor and glory to him. The kingdom of God. Is not of this earth.
[18:18] It is of heaven. And. The Jews were a people. That knew of heaven. So Jesus said. Let the dead bury the dead. You think.
[18:30] Well that doesn't quite work. But. There was something behind that. He's calling him. To a higher standard. He's calling him. To a higher work. You know. You can go make a living.
[18:41] In our world. But as you go. You preach. It's a bigger. Need. That people hear. About the kingdom of God. Rather than that you build.
[18:52] Your own kingdom. I see people all the time. They're building. Their own kingdom. And boy. Don't you mess it up. I got my ducks in a row. And they're swimming pretty good. Don't mess them up.
[19:06] What about the kingdom of God? You know. Another one said. Lord I will follow thee.
[19:17] But let me first go and bid them farewell. Which are at home in my house. Jesus said follow me. He says. Okay. I will follow you.
[19:28] But. I still got to go back here. And say goodbye to everybody here. Make arrangements for everything. And. Can't go right now. Hang on a bit.
[19:38] But. Jesus said unto him. No man. Having put his hand to the plow. And looking back. Is fit. For the kingdom of God. Now that's a pretty strong statement.
[19:52] And I had to wonder. In my own heart. Have I. Having started walking with God. As. In saying. Put your hand to the plow. You're making progress here. You're getting ground stirred up.
[20:03] You're preaching. You're teaching. You're doing some of this. And you look back. And I'm not sure. What you're looking back for. Lot's wife. Looked back. And turned into a pillar of salt.
[20:17] She wasn't fit. To go. With Lot. And to move. Out of the city. And go. Her heart. Was still there. That to me. I think. Is what it's talking about.
[20:28] You may have a different opinion. It's okay. But there was a reason. That Jesus said. If you look back. You're not fit. For the kingdom of God. The question is.
[20:38] What are we looking back for? Are we looking to. Go back to a more comfortable life. Nice houses. Easy money.
[20:49] Plenty of food. Good place to sleep. Jesus said. He didn't have a place to sleep. He didn't own anything. He owned it all. But he didn't own anything. He didn't own anything. That's.
[21:04] That's some pretty strong words. That he is not fit. For the kingdom of God. Question is. Do you want to be fit. For the kingdom of God. If so.
[21:16] Don't look back. Don't look back. With longing. Oh man. It was so nice. What did the Israelites do. When they came out of Egypt. They were out in the wilderness. Boy.
[21:26] They hit some tough times. And there. They got the longing. For the leeks. And the garlics of Egypt. Oh. We could just go back there. And look at all the. Good food we had back there.
[21:37] It's seasoned food. It was all. Here we got nothing. But this manna. And we got to go out. And get it. Every day. We can't even can it.
[21:47] We can't freeze it. We can't do anything with it. We got to go out. Every morning. And get this stuff. Boy. If we were just back in Egypt. We had it pretty nice. Not a whole lot of difference.
[22:00] Between then and now. We like it nice. What about the kingdom of God? If it calls us to. If God calls us to a point. Where we are walking with him.
[22:12] We are doing his will. And we hit some rough times. Oh we're looking back. Boy. If we were just back there yet again. It's just so much easier. In Luke chapter 14.
[22:28] And verse 33. So likewise. Whosoever he be of you. That forsaketh not all that he hath. He cannot be my disciple. First he says.
[22:41] You're not fit for the kingdom. And in this part. This part. And he says. You cannot be my disciple. If we don't forsake all. Does that mean.
[22:51] We just leave everything. And just go wandering around. Doing whatever. I don't think so. There is a call from God. There is a place. That he wants you to walk. And there's a place.
[23:03] He wants me to walk. And. Scripture also says. You have the things of this world. But not abusing them. In other words. If you set your heart on it. Proverbs says.
[23:15] You set your heart on riches. That they make themselves wings. And they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. So money is not going to. Make you happy. And then in verse.
[23:28] In Luke 18. In the verse. In verse. In chapter 14. We just read. Whosoever he be. That forsaken. Not all that he hath. He cannot be my disciple. Luke 18. Peter said.
[23:38] Lo. We have left all. And followed you. And he said unto them. Verily. I say unto you. There is no man. That has left house. Or parents. Or brethren.
[23:49] Or wife. Or children. For the kingdom of God's sake. Who shall not receive manifold more. In this present world. And in the world to come. Life everlasting. In other words.
[24:01] There is no sacrifice. Jesus is saying. There is no sacrifice. That you've made. For the kingdom's sake. Now not because you're being lazy. Or just because you don't want to do something.
[24:13] Do the work that you're called to do. But he said. There is no sacrifice. That you have made. For kingdom's sake. That is not going to be rewarded. You'll get.
[24:25] A blessing in this world. And beyond that. There's life everlasting. With God. What a tremendous. Thought. Remember us.
[24:38] Rehearing. Reading a story. Of a missionary. Couple that came back from. A foreign field. Came back to the U.S. After.
[24:49] Basically their whole lifetime. In foreign field. And. This was back before the airplanes. And everything. So they came back on a ship. And there was some other celebrity.
[25:00] That was coming back. From some trip somewhere. And. At the dock. At the pier. Where they were disembarking. From the ship. There was. A welcoming committee.
[25:11] To welcome this other. Celebrity. Whoever he was. I don't remember who it was. But somebody who was big. In. Entertainment. Or something. And there's this great big.
[25:21] Welcoming committee. Hey. Welcome home. Welcome home. And. Here's a missionary. And he's looking at that. And he said. Lord. We've been. Whatever. 40. 50 years.
[25:32] On the field. There's nobody here. To welcome us home. And he felt left out. He felt a bit disappointed. Felt a little bit like. What was it. Was it worth anything.
[25:42] To go over there. And do all that. The Lord just simply told him. Says you're not home yet. You're not home yet. I can only imagine.
[25:55] The welcoming committee. He got. When he got to heaven. But he had to get reminded. You may come back. To your home country. But you're not home yet.
[26:05] And so that's what Jesus is saying here. You get. Blessings in this world. And in the world to come. Life everlasting. But it comes by being obedient.
[26:18] To the call of Christ. On your life. Now I don't know. You know. Jesus chose 12. Disciples.
[26:30] And except for Judas. They all became. The apostles. The ground. And the pillar and ground. Of the truth. Of the church. They started the church. He chose 12.
[26:44] Judas made a bad choice. In doing what he did. But it was all. Written in scripture. But beyond that. There were 12. They had a replacement form.
[26:57] But there were 12. Who started. And kept on with. The vision of the church. In this world. Had they not been faithful. In their call to discipleship. And their discipleship.
[27:08] Cost them everything. Their faithfulness. To God's call on their life. Cost them everything. Stop and check it out sometime.
[27:19] Read the ending. The life. The death. Of these apostles. John was the only one. I think. If I remember correctly. Who actually died. A natural death. But they tried their best.
[27:31] To kill him. And they couldn't kill him. Wasn't he the one? I think they tried. To boil him in oil. And that'd be hot.
[27:42] Didn't faze him. They had to get him. Back out of the pot. Because he wouldn't boil. They tried different things. Then they. Finally just banished him out. To the Isle of Patmos.
[27:53] Well thank God for that. Because we have the book. Of the revelation. Of Jesus Christ. Because he was there. And he heard. He saw that. Oh. The first chapter there. Just thrills my heart. Every time I read it.
[28:04] I just. He said. I saw him. And he describes him. Tries to describe him. Who is Jesus. And.
[28:15] These disciples. These apostles. Paid for their discipleship. With their life. But they were obedient.
[28:26] They were obedient. To the call. They had no earthly idea. I don't believe. When Jesus called them. And they left everything. The things of this world.
[28:37] In their life. Was nothing to them anymore. Jesus called me. So I'm going to follow him. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what's going to happen.
[28:47] I don't know. What he's going to ask me to do. But it doesn't matter. Because I'm going to follow him. All the way. Many people. They start out.
[28:59] Following him. Till it gets hard. Our world today. And I don't know how much of it. Is being still being taught now. But there for a while. You know. There was a lot of teaching.
[29:10] Going on. Well you come to Jesus Christ. And you give your heart to him. And your life will become easier. That's a lie from the pit. Your life doesn't get easier. You now become a special target.
[29:22] For the enemy to destroy you. And he's going to be trying to destroy you. And he's going to do everything he can. To discourage you. From walking with Jesus. Anybody know what I'm talking about?
[29:34] You become a special target. In so many different ways. One gets hammered on this side. And the other one gets hammered on that side. And amongst all of it.
[29:45] Even within the body of Christ. You will have people. Who will come up against each other. And there's like two ships colliding. Bam. How in the world are you going to work this thing out?
[29:56] Nobody here I'm sure. But in some churches. We do have that problem. See if you smile. We might not. Must be hitting a little bit close to home here. On some of it. It's okay.
[30:07] Because it's truth. We're humans. We've got to deal with this. And the enemy knows your weakness. And he knows my weakness. And he will work on that. And stir that thing up. And try to get you against your brother.
[30:20] Your sister. Whoever it may be. Because you're going to try to destroy you. Your life does not get easier. When you answer the call of Christ to come to salvation. Your salvation has got to be worked out.
[30:31] That's what part of sanctification. All that old garbage that's in my life. It takes those hard times. When I smack up against somebody else. To make me realize. What is in my heart.
[30:43] Because it's like anything else. It's like. You got a cup of coffee. You got coffee in there. If you get jarred. What spills out? It ain't orange juice. It's coffee.
[30:53] And the Bible tells us. That what's in the heart. Will come out of your mouth. So what's the first thing. That comes out of your mouth. When somebody jars you.
[31:06] Is it praise and adoration to God. Or is it. What about if somebody cuts you off in traffic. You don't have so much traffic out here. Back where we are.
[31:17] I'm telling you. You got to go to Nashville to the airport. Oh yeah. Yeah. These guys in these high power little. Foreign cars. Man they come. Screaming around you. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like.
[31:28] You crazy nut. I know I shouldn't say that. But that's kind of sometimes. What I feel. It's like. Guys you're going to hurt somebody. And it's not going to be you. It's going to be somebody else.
[31:40] Mess up their day. That's so many garbage. I got to get worked out. Right. And until I face that. Or anything head on. We did have a little problem with that.
[31:54] Some time back. Back earlier in the year. When we. On a. On a travel. Back to Virginia. Again traffic just jammed up. And all of a sudden. We had to do.
[32:06] Slam on the brakes. To keep from hitting the guy in front of us. And I looked in my mirror. And here comes a guy out from behind the truck. That was beside us right there. I said. He ain't stopping. Three quarter ton Dodge pickup truck.
[32:19] Right slamming in the back of my van. I'm like. Here I am. 750 miles from home. And you. With the walk away. I got. What am I going to do? It didn't go down good.
[32:30] It was that old man. That just didn't. No license. Couldn't talk English. But those are the things. That we're going to face.
[32:41] Not necessarily like that. But. Things that we come up against. Slam. That tells us. What's inside here. And as a disciple of Christ. It is my job.
[32:52] To let him work that out of me. I have to submit. To him. And get that stuff worked out of me. Now you may not have all that stuff in you.
[33:03] I don't know. But I got a feeling. You're made out of the same dirt that I am. So. You're going to face some of the same stuff. I think. And it's okay. But it's a. That's a part of what God is doing.
[33:14] In your life and mine. In the sanctification process. What doesn't look like him. He wants to get out of there. Sculptors have been asked.
[33:24] Well how do you. How do you make this statue look like this? He said. I just chip away everything. That doesn't look like. That's what God is doing. He's chipping this stuff away.
[33:36] Things that don't look like him. He wants to get out of our life. As a disciple. And a follower of Christ. It is my responsibility. To allow him to do that. And I cannot do it.
[33:46] With a proud heart. I can't do it. With a heart that refuses. To submit. To his will. You know.
[34:00] Would to God. That there would be. Just a pill you could take. To make us be like him. There is. Actually. And that is tribulation.
[34:13] Persecution. Hard times. Paul and Silas faced it. They're in the prison. Roman citizens. Beaten.
[34:24] Uncondemned. Yeah. Their backs were bleeding. But you know. God had done such a work. In their life. And they were submitted.
[34:36] To just simply. God whatever. Whatever you allow. We'll be okay with. You know it's a little harder. For some of us to do that.
[34:47] Because. We kind of like. To have things done our way. Someone has said. That most everybody. Will go God's way. If God will go their way.
[34:58] Wait a minute. Who's in charge? Me. Or God. These are challenges. That I face. I'm sharing this. Because. Some of you probably.
[35:10] Are facing the same thing too. You know. The world. That we live in. Is not friendly. To God's people.
[35:22] It's not friendly. To most anybody. But especially. When you. And I. Are working. Wanting to work. For the kingdom of God.
[35:33] We want to do our part. In building the kingdom of God. We've laid down. Some of these things. We've laid. You know. We've forsaken. At least something.
[35:45] And as these things come up. We face situations. Where. We realize. You know what. Really haven't forsaken. All. I.
[35:56] I was looking at the song. In the song books. This morning. I almost gave it out. And I didn't. Take my life. And let it be. Consecrated Lord. To thee. And then it goes on.
[36:08] Take my silver. And my gold. You ever sang that song. And you realize. You. Kind of weren't. Totally honest. About that. What if.
[36:19] God touches. Your silver. And your gold. Not a mite. Would I withhold. Really. Really. If God.
[36:30] Took you. At your word. And took. What you have. Allowed you. To lose. What you have. Would you still. Honor him. You see.
[36:41] We serve. A God. Who wants. All. Of our. Being. He wants. All. Of our. Affection. He wants. All. Of who we are. You know.
[36:55] In Old Testament. I think it was. Ezekiel. If I'm not mistaken. God told him. He said. Your wife. Is going to die. Today. But don't you. Start. The morning. You're not. Allowed. To start. Morning. For her.
[37:06] You got to. Keep on preaching. You got to. Keep on doing. What I call you. To do. You think. That's going to be hard. Those who have. Lost a spouse. But when God.
[37:19] Calls us. Into discipleship. Just like. Jesus said. If you don't. Forsake all. That little word. All. Means. What? All.
[37:32] What is all? It's everything. And he says. You for. If you forsaken. If you've left it all. If you have. And I'm not sure. Exactly.
[37:42] What all this entails. As far as. You know. Parents. And wife. And children. I've heard of guys. Who have. Just. God is calling me. To do this preaching.
[37:52] Over here. And he just walks away. And his wife. And the children. The whole family. Just left behind. Like. Wait a minute. He's over here. Doing this. Supposedly preaching. The gospel of Jesus Christ. But he's not taking care.
[38:03] Of his family. That also is. Okay. Bible tells us too. Paul says. If you don't take care. Of your family. You're worse than an infidel. You denied the faith. So.
[38:14] I. We. We have to find. A common. Or. Right. Interpretation here. But I'm saying. I think. If. If it's not. If. If. If. My earthly possessions.
[38:26] My family. And all that. Is more important. To me. Than if God calls me. To preach. If he calls me. To teach. If he calls me. To serve. In some capacity. It may not always be.
[38:37] It's not that God. Is looking for. Somebody. Who's just a. A bum. And not willing. To do the work. But to do. What he calls us. To do. With a heart.
[38:48] That is going to honor him. And is going to take care. Of things. That we need to take care of. Then. We can bring glory. To him. And we can work. In his kingdom. But if.
[38:58] Your kingdom. Is more important. Than God's kingdom. We need to stop. And reevaluate. Because. We are called. To build up.
[39:09] The kingdom of God. So he told. This one guy here. He said. You know. But you. You go. And you preach. The kingdom of God. The guy said. Well I wanted to go. You know. Bury my father first.
[39:20] He said. Go and preach. The kingdom of God. Don't wait. Until your dad is dead. Do it now. Let your daddy.
[39:31] Encourage you. Let your daddy. Help you. Don't wait. Until he's dead. And then go preach. You might be dead too. By that time. We don't know. But God is calling us.
[39:42] To lay down. And I'm not trying to say things. That are. That are. Lying with scripture. But God is calling us. As men. Number one. The world needs to see men. Who will stand up.
[39:53] For the kingdom of God. Who will stand up. For truth. Taking care of their family. Taking care of their business. But. The kingdom of God. Comes first. The men.
[40:08] We are. We're called to that. And I'm older than most of you. I'm not sure about this gentleman here. He might have me. Beat in age. That's okay. I'm not trying to be anything here. But it's just.
[40:19] Younger people sometimes. Have more of a vision. For something that they want to try to get done. Some of us older guys. We got a bucket list. If we get it done. That's great. If we don't.
[40:30] Before we leave here. So what. But. We are called. First of all. The kingdom of God. And the honor of God. Must come first.
[40:42] Whatever you do. The Bible says. Do all. To the glory of God. That is so vital. Don't do it. For your glory. Do it. Because.
[40:54] You want to bring honor to God. Even in Matthew chapter 5. Where Jesus is given. The beatitudes and everything. He says. Do your good works. So that.
[41:06] Men. Can honor God. Not you. But honor God. And so he called. Jesus called these men. To walk with him.
[41:19] He taught them. He gave them commands. He gave them instruction. He gave them. An example to follow. And probably one of the hardest things.
[41:32] That we find as humans. In our life. Is submission. To authority. And many times to God. James tells us.
[41:45] He that knoweth to do good. Doeth it not. To him it is sin. So there we come back. To a question again.
[41:56] Is there something. That you know. That you ought to be doing. For God's kingdom. And you're not. This is not. Please don't get me wrong.
[42:06] This is not an accusatory message. This is a challenge. To all of us. Me included. I have many times. I say God. I want to do. Even in my old age.
[42:17] Y'all want to do. Whatever it is. You want me to do. Wherever it might be. It really doesn't matter. We were blessed. To spend some time in Africa. That was a tremendous experience.
[42:28] And I told different people. I'd go back there again. It's just as close to heaven. From Africa. As it is from here. If I die there. That's fine. I want to be.
[42:40] Where God wants me to be. And I want to do. What he wants me to do. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. You know.
[42:51] We have the example. Of Jesus Christ. In the garden of. Gethsemane. As he's facing. His last time. Here on earth. His last of his days. On earth. You know.
[43:02] He's facing something. And he knows. He's facing. The cross. His humanity. Comes into play. He was human. Like you. If you were facing death.
[43:14] Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Or. Today. If you knew that. What would you do? You would rebel. You would.
[43:24] You don't want to. You know. Death is an enemy. Death is not something. That's pleasant. Death is not something. That we welcome. In that sense. But Jesus was facing.
[43:38] Something here. And his prayer. In the garden. This is where the battle. Was fought. Not on Calvary. The battle. Was fought. I believe. For Jesus.
[43:49] In the garden. Because he prayed. Three times. He said. Father. If there's any way. To let this cup. Pass from me. Is there any other way. That we can do this.
[44:00] Is there anything. That can be done. That I don't have to go. Through this. But here's his response. And here's our response. As an example. For us. Whatever you're facing.
[44:11] That you want. To get rid of. You would like. To get out of. You'd like. To get away from. Jesus said. Nevertheless. Not. My will.
[44:22] But thy will be done. That is. In fact. And an act. Of total. Submission. To the father's will. And it was because. Of that.
[44:32] And I believe. That was. Because of that. Total submission. To what. He knew. That this was a way. That his father. Had planned. We say. Well the Romans killed him.
[44:43] And all that. They did. They did the physical. Do the act. That they did. But the whole thing. Was planned out. By the heavenly father. It said. Before. The foundation. Of the world. He was already slain.
[44:54] How does that. He already. I think he already knew that. But. He's facing it. In his humanness. And he said. Father is there any other way. I don't think it's wrong.
[45:06] To cry out to God. Is there something. I can do about this situation. How can we rectify this. And make it better. We don't want to have to go through this. But. Not my will.
[45:18] But thy will. Be done. And as we find our place. We find us. Ourselves. In that place.
[45:30] Of submission. To the father's will. As. Jesus did. Because when he got up. From that third time. He finally just.
[45:40] He. It was done. He got up. Came back to the disciples. He said. All right guys. I'm going to get up. Let's go. His resolve at that point. Was okay. This is the father's will.
[45:52] Let's go do it. Whatever comes here. Whatever I face. It's the father's will. I'm going to do it. Paul and Silas. Here.
[46:02] In jail. Beaten. Bleeding. Feet. Stuck straight out in them stocks. Couldn't move them. Probably hands. Probably tied to the wall. I don't know.
[46:13] They could sing. And they could pray. Because in their heart. And in their life. They were submitted.
[46:25] Totally. To whatever they had to face. For Jesus sake. Now it doesn't mean. That it's always a good thing. They had a hard.
[46:35] Hard go of it. It was tough. Somebody beat you on the back. And tear your back all to pieces. It's going to hurt. And then throw you in the prison.
[46:47] Got your back. And raw bleeding flesh. Up against that hard rock wall. It's going to hurt. But if I'm submitted.
[46:57] To following Jesus. No matter what the cost. That gives you. The peace. The grace. The strength. To go on through it.
[47:09] To deal with it. To let God work. In my life. And make me. What he wants me to be. Without brokenness. We can't find our place there.
[47:23] Until my spirit. And my heart. And my. My will. Is shaped. To the point. That whatever. I face. For the father's sake. Now. There's no glory. The bible says.
[47:33] If I face. Punishment. For something. I have personally done wrong. Bad choices. I've made. Bad decisions. I've made. There's consequences.
[47:44] But if. Whatever. I'm facing. Is for the kingdom. Of God's sake. He is going to give me. The grace. And the strength. To walk through that. It'll bring me.
[47:56] To a point. Of brokenness. And submission. To the will of God. And what is the will of God? The will of God. Is that you.
[48:08] And I. All of us. Are conformed. To the image. Of his son. You know. We can think. Oh. What does God want me.
[48:18] To do in this life. And this is. The will of God. God. What is your will for me. In this life. In this. In this. In this. In this. He says. Be conformed.
[48:29] To the image. Of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? That means. That no matter. What happens. My response. And my. Submission. To his will. Is going to be like Jesus.
[48:41] Boy. That's hard. That's difficult. But that's a part. Of the sanctification. That John was talking. About earlier. Sanctification.
[48:52] Is getting out. Of our life. All of those things. That don't look like Jesus. Because you and I.
[49:03] Are all on a one way trip. And that trip. We don't know. When it will end. It could end today. Could end tomorrow. It might be a long time yet.
[49:14] But if we can. By God's grace. Come to the point. Of submission. Like Jesus did. In the garden. Not my will. But thy will be done.
[49:27] We can look forward. To a time. When the time of life. Is over with. That we will hear. Well done. Thou good. And faithful servant.
[49:37] Faithfulness. In serving Christ. As his disciple. We portray. An example. Of Jesus life. And to those around us.
[49:50] It may be. I know I heard someone. Say already. It's just. This person. Has never become a Christian. Because.
[50:00] First. He hasn't met one. And then. He did meet one. Neither one of them. Wanted to make him. Become a Christian. Am I the kind of Christian.
[50:12] Are you. The type of Christian. That will make people. Want. To become one. Submission. To Christ. Is going to make us. Look like Jesus. And Jesus.
[50:23] With one call. Just. Follow me. These disciples. Left their boat. Left everything. And followed him. Can we be.
[50:35] In our world. Today. The kind of people. That will honor. Our Lord. And Savior. By the life that we live. And submission. To his will. Let's pray.
[50:46] Father God. We thank you. For this day. We thank you. For your mercy. And grace to us. Lord. We thank you. For your word. And just pray. Oh God. That you would just help us. To live our lives.
[50:56] In such a way. That will honor. And glorify you. In a way. That will bring. Others. To know. Who you are. And how you want us to live. Lord.
[51:07] We need you. So much. We need your help. And we invite you. To work in our life. And make us. What you want us to be. Forgive us. Oh God. For the many times. That we have not.
[51:17] Responded properly. To different. And difficult things. And Lord. Grant us. Such a heart. That whatever happens. In our life. We would only spill.
[51:29] Jesus. To the world around us. We thank you Lord. For all that you've done. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. To guide and direct us. And to fill us. And thank you for your word. And the examples. We have in your word.
[51:40] Of those who walked. With you in that way. To commit our lives. Into your hand. Lord. Use us. Mightily in this world. And guide us. As we go. From day to day. In Jesus name.
[51:51] Amen. Amen.