Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Good morning.
[00:00:14] Speaker C: How's everybody doing?
I am going to read script. We did this song a few weeks ago. But I'm going to read some scripture this morning before we go.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: Is that okay?
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Scripture okay?
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I hope so.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: You're in the wrong place if you don't like scripture. So we are going to read from Romans 8, Starting in verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword.
As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Now here's the important part here.
In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Amen. Let's stand and worship together.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Come on.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: Your word is a lamp unto my feet.
Your way is the only way for me.
It's a narrow road that leads to life. But I to be honest.
It's a narrow road, but your mercy's wide.
[00:02:11] Speaker D: Cuz you're good on your promise.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: I'll take you at your word.
If you said it, I'll believe it. I seen how good it works.
If you starting you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word.
Cause you're good on your promise.
[00:02:41] Speaker D: You spoke in the chaos, fell in line.
I know cause I've seen it in my life.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: It's a narrow road that leads to in life.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: But I want to be on it.
Hey.
[00:03:03] Speaker E: Yes, it's a narrow road.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: The tide is high but you parted the water.
I'll take you at your word.
If you said it, I'll believe it. I see how good it works.
If you start it, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word.
If you said it, I'll believe it. I seen how good it works.
If you started, you'll complete it. I'll take you at your word.
Oh cause you're good on your promise.
[00:03:56] Speaker E: You said your love will never give up.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: You said your grace is always enough.
You said your heart would never forget or forsake me. Do you believe that?
You said I'm saved. You call me yours. You said my future's full of your hope.
[00:04:21] Speaker F: You never fail.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: So I know that you'll never fail me. I'll take you at your word?
Said it, I'll believe it? I seen how good it works?
If you start it, you'll complete it? I'll take you at your word?
If you said it, I'll believe it? I seen how good it works?
If you start it, you'll complete?
I take you at your word?
Cause you're good on your promise?
I'll take you at your word? Yes.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: Good morning, Westgate Chapel. How we doing?
Hey. That was okay. That's all right. Some of you are excited to be here.
I'm excited to be here.
My name is Dan. I'm the high school pastor here at Westgate Chapel. And I'm so thankful that you chose to get up this morning, not that early, it's 10:45, to be here with us and to worship God with God's people.
What a blessing and honor it is to be able to do that. And so I'm thankful that you're here. Hopefully you grabbed the sermon notes as you walked in. There's something important in there today. Not just Rob's notes, but something else. We'll get to that in a little bit. And also in front of you is our connect card.
If you're new for the first time, if you've been checking out Westgate for a little bit and you're like, man, I want to get connected, or I'm ready to get connected for the first time. I've been looking at Westgate, seeing what they're about, and, like, I think I'll be a part of this church because it seems really awesome. I think it's awesome. You can go ahead and fill that out.
See a way that you can get connected. Westgate Chapel, we have so many serving opportunities that you can be a part of life groups and things like that. So please, if you're ready, fill that out, you can put it in. We have some giving boxes in the back. You can slip that in there, or you can go to our guest center services right outside in the main lobby. And there's someone there, a real person that you can talk to, hand it to, and if you have any questions, you can ask them. They might not have all the answers, but they might have some that you might be thinking about. And so thankful that you guys are here.
One announcement is we have baptism Sunday coming up, who's pumped for baptisms.
So let's go.
We love baptism here at Westgate Chapel. We believe it's an integral part of our faith journey and walk with Jesus. And so leading up to that, we're gonna have some Baptism classes. And the pastor's been a little confusion about who goes into what class. And so we're making it about as simple as we can. We have three classes, one for adults, one for students, and one for kids. Okay, so if you're an adult, which one would you go to?
The adults. If you're a student, if you're a kid.
Kids. Right. I don't think we can make it more simpler than that, but we want to give you guys the opportunity. If you feel like this is your next step, like it's time to get baptized because you follow and trust Jesus, these classes are there to help you figure out what baptism is, what it isn't, get a better understanding of those kind of things, and the importance it is as a follower in Jesus of why we get baptized. So if you're interested in that, those are gonna be starting in April. You can go online, westgatechapel.org to sign up for those classes.
Okay, so now to get to this bowling pin that's up here.
This summer, our high school students are going on a missions trip to Costa Rica. Okay. I'm super stoked for it. We have 18 students that are going on this trip, and it's a partnership that we started three years ago. If you remember, Steve Fisher, he was the previous high school pastor. He started this. This partnership with Costa Rica. He took some students there, and now we've gone on a few trips, and now we're taking high school students again.
And we're really excited because when you take students out of their comfort zone, out of the country, out of their house, out of their regular rhythm, God shows up and does really cool things. And so who in here, raise your hand. If you've been on a mission trip or some kind of serving thing in your lifetime, raise your hand. Okay. A lot of people. All right, put your hand down. Thank you.
Now raise your hand.
If that trip, or whatever it was, was super impactful in your walk with Jesus, raise your hand.
Okay. Beautiful. Thank you.
A lot of you that raised your hand the first time, I think raised your hand the second time. Okay. Which proves the point that going on these trips is a big deal. It's not like to go see another culture, another country, you know, go on a little vacation for a week.
It's so that you can grow in your faith with Jesus Christ to connect with God in a way that you probably can't connect with God here in the States.
A lot of you can attest to that. If you've gone, even if it's not even out of the country, but you go to a different place in the city or Ohio or somewhere else, things happen, right? You're more open and available for what God has for your life. And so just a really quick story on this trip. Last time, three years ago, one of the leaders, Maddie Hadid, went on this trip, okay? And she went. She was helping Steve out. He needed extra leaders. Like, yeah, I'll go. And so she goes, and while she's there, she calls her husband Luke, who we're at a serve retreat that same time frame, okay? And so we're there in Warren, Ohio, serving middle schoolers. She's in Costa Rica with high schoolers. And Luke gets a call really late at night, and then I end up talking to him the next day. And he's like, matty thinks we're called to, like, do something in Costa Rica. Okay. And at that time, it was like, super up in the air, not sure what's happening. And over, like, a course of a year, they spent time figuring out, is this what God is calling us to? Is this what we're gonna do? And ultimately it was, yes, we want to go. We're gonna serve six months. They ended up serving 12 months a year.
And what happened while they were over in Costa Rica?
Their faith was transformed. They matured in their faith way more. I'm speaking for them. Hopefully they agree with this. Like, how God worked in their life in that year probably couldn't have happened here in Ohio. Okay? And there's a piece, I think, that God was getting Luke ready specifically for this job as middle school pastor here at Westgate Chapel. Right? And so the reason I tell that story is. Cause we have students, they have no clue what they want to do with their future. We have students that are thinking about ministry. We have students that think about going into missions work. And so when you go and do something different and you say, God, I'm open and available for what you have for my life, I think God uses that, right? God took Maddie and was like, I'm gonna give you a call in your life, and because you're here, you're probably gonna say yes to it. If she was just in Ohio, who knows how that would have that panned out? But because these students are gonna be in a place where they're separate from distractions, separate from friends and other voices and all that kind of stuff, I think God's gonna do something really cool in their life, whether they're gonna be a missionary and say, like, this is what God's called. Me to. I'm doing that, or yes, I'm gonna be a pastor now because I went on this trip, or, man, when I come back, I just wanna share Jesus with friends at my school. Right? The spectrum is just wide. I think God can use all of that.
And what I want from you guys as a church is just for you to partner with our students.
Westgate students, middle school, high school. Not just kind of our own little thing over there in the refinery. But we are part of Westgate Chapel. We are part of this body of believers. And I want you guys to have the amazing opportunity to partner with us. And so there's a couple ways you can do that. I'm gonna go with. The first and easy one is financially, okay, that's always. This is an expensive trip. It's like $2,000 for these students to go, which. That's a lot of money. If you're a high school student, it's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. For me as an adult, I'm like, 2,000. That's a lot.
But there's two ways you can do that is we have our bowl of Rama, okay? That's our fundraiser we're doing. We've done it a few years. I think it's like our third or fourth year doing it. And there's two ways you can help out is you can bowl. You can get a lane, and you can bring your friends, your family, your life group, and just come and bowl on April 11th in the afternoon or the morning. And it can be a cool opportunity not just to bowl, but be like, hey, kids, you know why we're bowling today? It's because we are partnering with students to hopefully they can go and share the gospel with Costa Rican people and kids in their own age, right? And so it's a cool shepherding moment. As parents and as friends, you'd be like, we're not just bowling here. We're partnering in God's kingdom, right? Which is way better than bowling.
And then the other part is you can be a sponsor. If you have a business, small or big or whatever, and you want to help sponsor this fundraiser, you can get lanes. And there's a whole bunch of information that insert. That's in your sermon notes, which I totally forgot to mention till right now would have been helpful. If you pull that out, it has a link for you to sign up to bowl and a link for you to sign up as a sponsor. If you follow that link, you have all the information you need. I'm not Gonna get into details here. We would love your support. And then finally, the third way I'm gonna wrap this up quick is you can pray for us.
I'll take your prayers over your money any day, but also I will take both. I like that the most.
But I think your prayers are the most important.
[00:13:21] Speaker F: Right?
[00:13:22] Speaker B: If you pray for us, the money's gonna come in. And so I want you guys to have an opportunity to be praying for these students as we prep and prepare to go on this trip. We're have meetings and things like that where we're going to be talking about different culture and how we share our faith and share our story and just pray for their hearts that God will start moving something already, that they'd be prepared for what he has for when they're there and for protection against the enemy.
Right? The devil does not want these kids to go and have their lives impacted or changed for Christ.
And so just pray Jesus over them as you're thinking about them and praying for them, and then be praying for them as we are over in Costa Rica as well. And so I'm super excited for this trip and I'm really excited that when we come back we can share and you can be like, man, I'm so pumped. Like, I prayed for them, I was speaking, I was lifting them up to Jesus. And then we get to share about how Jesus moved and worked. And selfishly, it's like, oh, man, I got to be a piece of that, a part of that. And so I would love for you guys almost dropped it to help us with our bowl of Rama. We have a table out there, it has two other of these out there, so you'll know what it looks like.
But help us financially, but more importantly, help us with your prayer as we go and try to spread Jesus to Costa Rica. Love you guys. What you can do now is stand up and maybe ask someone around you the best trip you went on, whether it was a mission trip or maybe a honeymoon to Fiji.
Go ahead and share that now. Love you guys.
[00:14:56] Speaker E: Jesus is mine he's been my fourth man in the fire Time after time Born of his spirit washed in his
[00:15:17] Speaker A: blood
[00:15:20] Speaker E: and what he did for me on Calvary is more than enough.
I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never
[00:15:41] Speaker F: fail he will
[00:15:45] Speaker E: never fail I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail.
Perfect submission all is at rest I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps so this is my story this is my song I'm praising my risen King And Savior all the day
[00:16:46] Speaker F: long
[00:16:50] Speaker E: I trust in God my Savior the one who will never
[00:17:01] Speaker A: fail
[00:17:05] Speaker F: he
[00:17:05] Speaker E: will never fail Fail I trust in God my Savior the one who will
[00:17:18] Speaker F: never
[00:17:20] Speaker E: fail he will never fail.
I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I sought the Lord and He heard Is anything he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never fail he will never fail
[00:19:26] Speaker A: I
[00:19:26] Speaker E: trust in God my Savior the one who will never
[00:19:37] Speaker A: fail
[00:19:41] Speaker E: he will never fail.
That I see Sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust him I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered I got to know he ever and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered that's why I trust him that's why I trust in God, my Savior the one who will
[00:20:33] Speaker D: never
[00:20:35] Speaker A: fail
[00:20:39] Speaker E: he will never fail I trust in God, my Savior the one who will never
[00:20:55] Speaker A: fail
[00:20:59] Speaker E: he will never fail.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: Hallelujah.
[00:21:32] Speaker G: Worthy of every song we could ever
[00:21:35] Speaker A: sing
[00:21:38] Speaker G: Worthy of all the praise we could ever breathe Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Jesus the name above every other name Jesus the only one who could ever
[00:22:09] Speaker F: see
[00:22:12] Speaker A: you're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you
[00:22:20] Speaker G: we live for you
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Holy There is no one like you There is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me.
[00:22:58] Speaker G: Jesus.
Worthy of every song we could ever
[00:23:11] Speaker A: see
[00:23:14] Speaker G: Worthy of all the praise we could ever breathe Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you.
[00:23:35] Speaker A: Jesus the name above every other name Jesus the only one who could ever save you're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you Holy Live for you Holy There is no one like you There is no there's none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me only There is no one like thank you There is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and leave me in your love to those around me.
Leave me in your love.
Jesus Lead me in your love.
I will be build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust in you alive and I will I will not be shaken Holy There is no one like you There is none beating beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me Holy There is no one like you there is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me I will fill my life upon your love it is the firm foundation I will put my trust in you all alone and I will I will not be shaken I will build my life upon your life.
I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation I will put my trust on you alone and I will not be shaken
[00:29:05] Speaker F: Amen.
[00:29:06] Speaker D: Yes, amen.
You may be seated.
The Lord is good, is he not? He is so good.
It is so good to be here. Let's take a moment and pray as we come to our time of offering this morning.
Father, thank you that you've given us this place where we can come together and worship you.
Thank you, Father, for moments like this where we can be together as the body of Christ, maybe escape for a few moments the pressures of the world that surround us in our lives. Thank you that we can come and we can lay our burdens down before you and worship you and seek you.
But teach us, God, we don't have to wait till Sunday. We can have that every single day with you where we Just come to you. And we depend on you for everything you've proven, that you are faithful, that you are just, that you are a God who is for us and that desires to walk with us day in and day out. And so teach us that truth, Father. Teach us what it means to wholly depend on you in every area of our life.
But thank you for these moments where we can be with family, where we can be encouraged together, Father, challenge one another to walk closer with with you, Lord, as we come to our time of offering. It is our expression of joy and thankfulness, God, for your provision for us.
We give because, God, of how much you have given to us.
And so, Father, our desire again, the expression of our hearts and our giving of our tithes and offerings today, is that, Lord, you would take what we give and that you would use it so that more people would experience your son and his salvation.
And so, Lord, we pray that you would multiply it. We give joyfully and we pray that you would be glorified. We love you with all of our hearts. We invite you to speak to us this morning as well. That we would hear from you and that, Father, you would continue to transform our lives as we depend on you and surrender our all to you. In Jesus name, Amen.
If you would, on the center aisle, we have our offering buckets. If you can grab those, we'll just pass those out to the sides. They're in the corner up in the balcony, and you can pass those in.
And we'll continue worshiping the Lord through our giving here for just a moment, and then we'll continue.
All right. Well, again, thank you for worshiping with us today. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet, my name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate. And before we jump into our message this morning, I have just a moment that I want you as a church family, to share with us. I'm gonna invite Nick Ludwig to come and join me here in the front. How many of you guys know Nick? How many people know Nick? We love Nick. Yes, there's much love, Nick.
Nick has served on our staff here for quite a while as our worship arts assistant.
But if you don't know Nick, maybe you'll see him sometimes playing the keys back here on the platform.
He has served in many ways behind the scenes that a lot of people don't know. You have mentored our students, have not only done that through our student ministry, but you've also mentored the high school worship team and have been developing people there. If you've seen, like, over the past many years, our Christmas sets, our Easter sets, what we have here currently. Like, Nick is the one who makes those things come to life and has done such a beautiful job with it. He has served faithfully in our production, behind the scenes, helping us troubleshoot more problems than we could probably count.
[00:33:16] Speaker F: And the reason I share all of
[00:33:18] Speaker D: this with you is because when Nick, he went to school to be a worship pastor, and this, I believe, is this past week, you received a call to be a worship pastor at a church in Northwood, Ohio.
[00:33:30] Speaker F: And so we are super excited.
[00:33:34] Speaker D: We are super excited for the journey that God has had you on. And this morning, we want to take just a moment as a church family to pray over Nick. Today is his last Sunday with us. You'll be beginning next Sunday, right? Ish on Tuesday.
[00:33:52] Speaker F: So we need to really pray for
[00:33:54] Speaker D: him as he dives in.
[00:33:55] Speaker F: And so, church family, would you stand with us?
[00:33:57] Speaker D: We wanna commission Nick to the Lord and give thanks to the Lord for
[00:34:02] Speaker F: Nick and what he has done here,
[00:34:04] Speaker D: but also just pray over him. I love you, brother. I'm excited for you, Father. Thank you for Nick.
Thank you, Father, for how you've brought him up through our own student ministries, brought him and his family here to this church.
And Father, I thank you for the ways in which you have so purposefully gifted him to serve this body and to make an impact in the lives of countless people, from our students that he has mentored in small groups or the worship teams to countless people in
[00:34:36] Speaker F: this room, whether we realize it or
[00:34:38] Speaker D: not, week in and week out, with the excellence that he put into everything that he did.
And, Father, I am thankful that you are giving him that step in the direction that his heart has been drawn for a long time to serve you full time in ministry as a worship leader and a worship pastor. Father, I ask that you would give him everything that he needs for what you are calling him to. Holy Spirit, I pray that you would move powerfully through him, that this congregation that he is going to that Father, you would just allow him in his worship leading and his shepherding of these people, Father, to draw them into a more intimate worship of you, but a more intimate experience of walking with you. Lord, I pray that you would use him to impact the teams of people that he will be working with most of all, Father, not just in his ability and skill with playing the piano or singing songs, but in the way that he loves people and cares for them and points them to you. And so, Father, use him.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to send him out. And Lord, we commission him in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, expecting God that you are going to use his life to make your name great. We love you, Jesus, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.
Love you, brother.
You may be seated. And again, if you get a chance to see Nick today, congratulate him and just be praying for him as he takes this next step. Such an exciting time to begin his position as a worship pastor.
[00:36:23] Speaker F: Well, if you've been with us over the last few weeks, we have been in a series together entitled the King is Coming.
[00:36:31] Speaker D: And it is our series that we
[00:36:33] Speaker F: are in leading up to to the Easter season.
What we are doing is going through kind of the end of the book of Luke and looking at Jesus final days as he begins his journey towards Jerusalem, which will no doubt end at the cross where he will give his very life for us. But one of the reasons that we chose to do this series as we lead to Easter is because we know that in Jesus last moments, in his last days, the teaching that he gives is the teaching that is closest to his heart. The things that he knows need to be taught not only to his disciples, but also to the people of that day that were wrapped up in a religious culture that wasn't necessarily pointing people to God, but as well. There were so many people that did not know God. And the words that Jesus speaks in this journey to Jerusalem are some of
[00:37:28] Speaker D: the most key and essential truths and
[00:37:31] Speaker F: that he knew needed to be shared
[00:37:32] Speaker D: about the Kingdom of heaven.
[00:37:34] Speaker F: But that I believe are so important for every single follower of Jesus Christ for us to understand his purpose and
[00:37:40] Speaker D: what he has done for us.
[00:37:42] Speaker F: And so this morning we're going to dive in. But I want to give us, especially
[00:37:47] Speaker D: if you are new here with us
[00:37:48] Speaker F: and haven't been with us over the last couple of weeks, a quick recap so that you can see how each of these topic bill topics build and
[00:37:57] Speaker D: what Jesus is seeking to communicate.
[00:37:59] Speaker F: So if you have your sermon notes, pull them out. I'd invite you to follow along with with me here.
[00:38:03] Speaker D: If you don't have those and you
[00:38:05] Speaker F: got a smartphone or an iPad with
[00:38:07] Speaker D: you, you can open up our Westgate app and take notes there as well.
[00:38:11] Speaker F: But we are going to take a look quickly here at where we have
[00:38:15] Speaker D: been over the last few weeks.
[00:38:16] Speaker F: The first thing is this letter A. We saw that in the first week in Luke chapter 17 that the whole point was that the King has come and he is Coming. You'll remember that in Luke 17, verses 20 through 37, the Pharisees asked Jesus about when the kingdom of God would come.
What they were looking for was not what God had intended. You see, what they were looking for again was that God would send a Messiah, an earthly ruler who would come and overthrow their enemies, set up an everlasting time of peace, and where all the nations of the world would come underneath the rule and reign of the Messiah, and there would be kind of an eternal time of prosperity for God's people.
In other words, they wanted to have their earthly woes taken away and experience a time of blessing.
But what Jesus says was so profound. And what he's doing is he's shifting their understanding of the purposes of God. The purposes of God was not just to take away the brokenness of life in terms of the uncomfortableness of Rome ruling over them and them not being able to worship as freely as they would like to.
What Jesus was coming to address was the issue of the heart and sin, which created all of the issue in the first place. And so what Jesus says, abundantly clear to them, is, you're thinking in terms of this king that is coming. But no, what I want you to understand is the king is here. The kingdom has come. And because Jesus the king, because he had arrived, the kingdom also had come. And with Jesus coming, he knew that he would be going to a cross to die for the sin of the world, so that if we would place our faith in him, we could have eternal life. In other words, the king's arrival, Jesus arrival secured our eternal redemption. It was the answer to the human condition.
And yet he said, not only had he come, but he would come again in fullness, his second coming, and fully restore the brokenness in this world, cleaning up the mess that the human condition of sin had created. And so he calls his disciples and all who would listen to, to live their lives with undivided devotion to God. Not a divided heart and getting caught up in the things of the world, but truly living with devotion, with their eyes set on the King who is still to come.
Now, what Jesus also does in this moment is he acknowledges with his disciples, because this kind of shakes their world, is that it would be quite a while that would pass before he would come again. He even says that there will be days where you long for the King.
And yet he goes and he shares what we talked about in the second week, a parable to help them understand this truth. Letter B, that waiting for the King requires faithful persistence.
Luke 18 verses 1 through 8 was the parable of the persistent widow.
And you remember that within this parable Jesus tells a story about a widow who needs justice against an adversary. And there is an unjust judge who she keeps going to, but he doesn't want to bother with her, he doesn't want to help her. But eventually he relents because the passage says essentially that she beat him down with her continual coming.
And Jesus uses this parable to teach two really important truths about himself and about the kingdom of God.
[00:41:39] Speaker D: Number one is that the comparison between
[00:41:41] Speaker F: the unjust judge who this woman had to go after day and night in order to get justice.
[00:41:48] Speaker D: And he compares it to himself, to
[00:41:50] Speaker F: God, a righteous judge who loves his people with all of his heart. And he says, how much more will the righteous judge do for you? You don't have to beat down his door in order to get what you are looking for. And so he shows this comparison truly
[00:42:08] Speaker D: between following the ways of the world and understanding that there is a God who loves you, who gives generously to
[00:42:16] Speaker F: those who love him and follow after him as well.
[00:42:20] Speaker D: He asks this all important question at the very end of the text. He says, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth in our long waiting for him to come?
[00:42:33] Speaker F: Will those who have chosen to follow
[00:42:35] Speaker D: him still continue to persist?
[00:42:39] Speaker F: So Jesus begins by saying that the king has come and he will be coming again. It will be a ways and you must wait for for him with faithful persistence. But the next thing that Jesus talks about in Luke 18, verses 9 through 14 is this. And we looked at it last week, letter C, that pride is one of the major roadblocks for people entering into
[00:42:58] Speaker D: the kingdom of heaven.
[00:43:01] Speaker F: Pride creates for us a righteous standard
[00:43:04] Speaker D: that is based on our own perception of the righteousness of others.
[00:43:08] Speaker F: In other words, when our standard of
[00:43:10] Speaker D: righteousness is based on the bar of
[00:43:12] Speaker F: others unrighteousness, what we actually do is
[00:43:15] Speaker D: we blind ourselves to how God sees us.
[00:43:20] Speaker F: And I want you to catch this
[00:43:21] Speaker D: point that Jesus made, that those who are justified in the kingdom of heaven are those who in humility, see themselves through the lens of their brokenness and acknowledge their need for a savior.
What Jesus was doing was teaching that those who enter the kingdom of heaven,
[00:43:40] Speaker F: that the descriptor of who they are and what they value is vastly different
[00:43:46] Speaker D: from what they saw in the world around them.
The letter D, what we're going to take a look at today is actually
[00:43:54] Speaker F: what I would say is the greatest
[00:43:56] Speaker D: roadblock to the kingdom of heaven, not
[00:43:59] Speaker F: just for the people of Jesus Day,
[00:44:01] Speaker D: but for all people of all time.
[00:44:04] Speaker F: If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me again to Luke chapter 18.
[00:44:07] Speaker D: We're going to begin in verse 18 together.
And as we go through this section, I'll be reading from the esv.
[00:44:14] Speaker F: It'll also be here on the screen for you. But Luke 18, verse 18 begins this way.
It says, and a ruler asked him, right? Jesus is traveling with his disciples. There are a number of other people around. And it says, a ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Now, as we think about this, as Jesus is with his disciples, other people around, the passage tells us that there is a ruler that stops now. It doesn't give us a lot of information about what type of ruler this is, but from context and kind of understanding how Jesus was moving through towns and villages, the likelihood is that this ruler was probably someone of prominence of power and authority, likely within a local synagogue, and definitely one who had prominence within that specific community.
And the passage tells us that the ruler comes up and he asks Jesus the question, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And I want us to look at, if you're looking in your notes, what the rich young ruler's question actually reveals about him.
The first thing that I see is this letter A is that it shows that he is in what I would call an unabated, unobstructed hot prospect for salvation.
Okay, yeah, let me. Let me help you understand what I mean. How many of you here shop at Sam's Club? Anybody here shop at Sam's Club? Just quick raise hands. Okay, how many of your Costco people? All right. Oh, there's more of you. Okay, look at that. Now, there's one thing that I've learned about Sam's Club and Costco, they are very similar in this regard. When you walk into either one of them, typically you walk past first, like kind of the electronic section. And if you turn and you go down that first aisle at the very end of the electronic section, who is standing there waiting for you? The cell phone guy? The guy that wants to tell you he can save you money if you will switch over to his. Not only to his provider, but also to his plans, Right? Anybody here experience cell phone guys? You go through Sam's Club in Costco? Oh, yeah, I know you have, because you try to avoid him like I do. I'm confessing my sin every single time I walk down in Sam's Club and I walk past this guy and he asks Me the same question, or his friends ask me the same question over and over. It kind of gets annoying. I'm like, no, I don't want your subservient service. I'm good with what I got, right?
I don't say that I think it, but I keep on walking. And every time I'm watching and I notice that other people do the same thing. Like, they want to avoid this guy like the plague.
They make it so awkward. And so people respond. They do everything they can to either speed past them, they ignore them. Some of them talk rudely to them. Others will turn around and take other aisles.
[00:46:54] Speaker D: Rochelle's probably nodding her head because she's seen me do that.
[00:46:57] Speaker F: They will do all types of things. And I feel bad kind of for this guy because it's a tough job. Constant rejection from people. No, I don't want your plan. But I can remember one specific Saturday where I was walking, and I was walking, there were a whole group of people going, and I could see cell phone man standing over there. And I was kind of hiding behind the other shoppers so that I didn't get a ask a question, and I could just scoot by quickly. But then there was this other man that literally came and made a beeline straight for cell Phone Man. And he walks up to him and he says, look, I am ready to change my provider. I know what plan I want. How long is this gonna take? And I'm telling you, the smile that came across Cell Phone man's face was like it was Christmas morning. I mean, he couldn't believe how easy this sale was going to be. And so he didn't even have to, like, bait the hook, cast it out, reel in the fish, right? This guy literally walked up and was ready to go. All he had to do was seal the deal.
[00:47:52] Speaker D: Now, transition, if you've ever shared your faith with people, you know how this guy feels. People are skeptical. They don't want to be bothered.
[00:48:01] Speaker F: They don't want to believe what you believe.
[00:48:03] Speaker D: Rejection is common.
No doubt Jesus experienced a lot of rejection in his own earthly ministry for the same exact reasons.
But here's a guy fully influential in his community, a ruler with power and authority who walks up to Jesus and says, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life? This is the definition of an unobstructed hot prospect.
[00:48:29] Speaker F: He is primed and ready for salvation.
You would think that what Jesus is going to do is lead him in the sinner's prayer, go find water, baptize him, and everything will be good. He will have given his life to Jesus. He didn't even have to try yet. Do you notice that Jesus doesn't do that?
This man walks up to ask this question rather than jump into the sinner's prayer like we might and just say, all right, I get to notch one on the belt.
[00:48:52] Speaker D: Jesus challenges his understanding of what it means to receive eternal life.
[00:48:59] Speaker F: If you have your Bibles, look at
[00:49:00] Speaker D: Luke 18, verse 19.
Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?
No one is good except God alone.
[00:49:11] Speaker F: The first thing I see that Jesus does here, letter B, is he recognizes that this man doesn't truly understand who Jesus is.
Let me give you again a little bit of an example of what I see going on here in this passage.
[00:49:25] Speaker D: There was a man here at Westgate
[00:49:27] Speaker F: that used to work on staff years
[00:49:28] Speaker D: and years ago who hired me. His name was Mike.
Some of you may know Mike, many
[00:49:34] Speaker F: of you will not. But Mike was the kind of guy that every single day I worked, literally from day one on, would walk into
[00:49:40] Speaker D: my office in the morning and he would open up my door and he would look me and go, rob, you're looking beautiful today.
[00:49:46] Speaker F: He's like, you're looking good. He's like, have you lost weight? Have you done something new with your hair? And he would, like, lavish on all of these compliments. And then without fail, about 30 to 60 seconds later, he'd be like, hey, I forgot my keys.
[00:50:00] Speaker D: Can you let me into my office?
[00:50:02] Speaker F: I was like, oh, okay, yeah, thanks,
[00:50:04] Speaker D: Mike, for the compliments.
[00:50:05] Speaker F: Yeah, I can definitely do that for you. And that seemed all nice until the next day when he came again and he walked into my office and he
[00:50:12] Speaker D: goes, you are a good looking man.
[00:50:15] Speaker F: I know, right? And you know, you're the best hire I've ever made. And I forgot my keys.
[00:50:23] Speaker D: Could you let me into my office?
[00:50:25] Speaker F: And this went on over and over and over and over again throughout the time that we worked together. What I noticed was that Mike, in a fun way, loved to use flattery to then ask for me to do something for him.
We call this flattery, right?
[00:50:40] Speaker D: Compliments with a purpose.
[00:50:43] Speaker F: Well, it seems that that's what's happening here with this religious ruler that is encountering Jesus when he calls him good Jesus Christ.
[00:50:52] Speaker D: Why do you call me good?
[00:50:54] Speaker F: In Jesus Day, the Greek word for good was almost always strictly reserved for God. It would speak of the goodness of God. It would have been strange for this term to have been used speaking of a man, let alone a rabbi.
Thus, what Jesus does is he calls out the cheapening of this word which is being used for the purpose of flattery, likely to attempt to endear himself to Jesus.
[00:51:21] Speaker D: You see, Jesus wasn't just a teacher. Though he was the king of kings
[00:51:27] Speaker F: who was sent by God, in reality this term actually fit him perfectly. And yet the ruler has no concept of the significance of Jesus as the Messiah. Yet Jesus, in his true servant fashion, redirects the ruler's flattery to God and to God alone, modeling what the Bible says in Philippians 2, that though Jesus
[00:51:48] Speaker D: was in very nature God, he did
[00:51:51] Speaker F: not consider equality with God a thing
[00:51:52] Speaker D: to be grasped, but he took the form of a servant humbling himself.
And here's the deal. Here's another thing that this man's question reveals. Not only does he not understand who
[00:52:05] Speaker F: Jesus is, but his question reveals letter
[00:52:10] Speaker D: C, that his understanding of salvation is based in self merit.
[00:52:17] Speaker F: What is the question that he asks Jesus?
[00:52:20] Speaker D: He says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:52:26] Speaker F: Look with me at what follows this
[00:52:28] Speaker D: in verse 20, Jesus response to him is this, you know the commandments, don't commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.
[00:52:40] Speaker F: And he said, then the rich ruler says, all these I have kept from my youth.
His understanding of salvation is that he
[00:52:51] Speaker D: is doing good works, which is gaining
[00:52:53] Speaker F: him favor with God, which will assure him salvation and eternal life. Now we may look at this and think, oh, that's strange, but this was actually a common belief in Judaism that if you would follow the Torah perfectly, you would be assured of eternal life. And this belief was so firmly rooted in rabbinic teaching that they actually spoke of people who had held to the Torah literally from A to Z perfectly. And the young man essentially states this fact. He's like, from my own time of accountability, from the time I was a young boy when I was bar mitzvahed and I became responsible for my own actions, he believed he had fulfilled that law perfectly.
Intriguingly though, Jesus doesn't even challenge him on these claims.
We've heard Jesus challenge other people on them is Jesus would say things like, hey, you say do not murder, but I say if you harbor anger and hatred in your heart towards your brother, it's the same thing. We would say, I haven't committed adultery, but if you lust in your heart after another, you've done the same thing. What Jesus had often taught was intent was equivalent to deed, recognizing the fact that sin begins in our heart long before it becomes an action.
And notice that Jesus doesn't even challenge him on these things. However, it should open up our eyes
[00:54:13] Speaker D: as we read this to the false
[00:54:15] Speaker F: belief that even happens in our own
[00:54:18] Speaker D: world today that the way to heaven is based upon rules or gaining favor with God in some sort of way.
[00:54:26] Speaker F: We have lived years and years and
[00:54:28] Speaker D: years in a culture that says, you just gotta pray this prayer, go to church, be a good person, somehow you gain favor with God and you find your way in.
[00:54:36] Speaker F: And this is essentially the equivalent, in some degree to a maybe more extreme
[00:54:41] Speaker D: degree of what this man himself thinks.
[00:54:43] Speaker F: He had made his decision to love God and he was going to live perfectly following the rules.
Here's the deal.
When Jesus corrects this understanding, when Jesus begins to shake that foundation, it is
[00:54:58] Speaker D: for some people, the best news they've ever heard. Because some of us, maybe even you
[00:55:03] Speaker F: in this room, have gone through seasons where you feel the weight and depth
[00:55:06] Speaker D: of your sin and your inability to be good enough for God. And when you hear that that is
[00:55:10] Speaker F: not the plan of salvation, that you
[00:55:12] Speaker D: have to be perfect, that is freeing. It is a freeing thing.
[00:55:16] Speaker F: For other people, though, it's foundation shaking
[00:55:19] Speaker D: and paradigm shifting because many people within
[00:55:22] Speaker F: the church today, I am convinced, all
[00:55:24] Speaker D: around our world, sit in pews, go
[00:55:26] Speaker F: to church, try to be good people, and yet they're just simply trying to
[00:55:32] Speaker D: follow rules, believing, if I can gain enough favor with God, that that is the way in. What Jesus does here is he doesn't
[00:55:39] Speaker F: try to challenge him by going back and saying, well, let's look at those
[00:55:42] Speaker D: rules and let me point out how you've messed up.
[00:55:44] Speaker F: What Jesus actually does is he pushes
[00:55:47] Speaker D: him deeper below the surface to help him to understand the truth about where salvation comes from. So rather than arguing his past, he pushes him deeper. And Jesus reveals in this the greatest roadblock to salvation.
Luke 18, verses 22 to 25.
It says, When Jesus heard this, he said to him, one thing you still
[00:56:13] Speaker F: lack, you know, you've had it all down, you've got it perfect, great. But there's one thing you still lack. Sell everything that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have
[00:56:21] Speaker D: treasure in heaven and come, follow me. But when he heard these things, the ruler, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
[00:56:32] Speaker F: Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said how difficult it is for those
[00:56:36] Speaker D: who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God, for it is easier for
[00:56:41] Speaker F: a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
[00:56:44] Speaker D: person to enter the kingdom of God.
[00:56:47] Speaker F: You know what's interesting as we read
[00:56:49] Speaker D: this at first glance, Letter A It appears that the man's bank account is a roadblock to salvation.
[00:56:55] Speaker F: There have been some people who have taken this literally and have used this passage to teach that wealth in and of itself is evil. Some people throughout Christian history have renounced wealth entirely. They will take vows of poverty, believing that somehow wealth would keep them out of the kingdom of heaven. There are fringe groups that have taught that the rich man cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Well, if that's true, why don't I come down here today and I'm just going to ask, can some of you open up your pocketbooks for me or pull up your bank account on your cell phone? Let's take a look and see how much is in there and I'll let you know whether or not you're making
[00:57:30] Speaker D: into the kingdom of heaven.
[00:57:31] Speaker F: Right, college students? I don't need to look.
[00:57:34] Speaker D: You're in.
[00:57:35] Speaker F: Okay, we understand your stage of life. You're safe, right? If, if that's what Jesus is saying, then then that's kind of strange. But notice that that is definitely not what he is saying. And we see that in the way that Luke actually, the words that Luke uses in the Greek, it's really hard to see in the English language.
And I want you to recognize that letter B. Jesus doesn't say that it's impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. What does he do? He says it's incredibly difficult.
Here's what Luke says after this encounter. And Jesus says these things about selling all of his possessions and giving it to the poor and coming and following.
[00:58:16] Speaker D: Jesus verse 23 says that the man, the ruler, became sad for he was
[00:58:20] Speaker F: extremely rich or wealthy. The normal word for wealth in the Greek, throughout the Greek language is crema. It speaks of money, property, financial assets. If you want to make it more modern day terms, bank accounts, cars, boats, lake houses, 401ks, computers, big screen TVs, closets full of clothes and shoes and more. Right? It's wealth, it's stuff.
Luke though does not use the Greek word crema.
All throughout his gospel he actually uses a different word, plusios. Plusios is a word he repeats often. Why? Because crema would place the emphasis on the resources themselves, but plusios places the emphasis on the individual.
Wealth was not merely something that the man owned.
[00:59:13] Speaker D: It defined him,
[00:59:16] Speaker F: it defined his life.
[00:59:18] Speaker D: And the truth is, what Jesus says would keep him from the kingdom of God was not the possessions themselves, but how he allowed those possessions to define his life and to give him his own worth and his value.
What's Astonishing is that Jesus disciples after Jesus, says all of these things to this man, his disciples are astonished.
[00:59:52] Speaker F: They literally cannot believe.
[00:59:53] Speaker D: Verse 26, when you read that, it says that those who heard what Jesus said looked at Jesus and said, then who can be saved?
[01:00:01] Speaker F: Because the idea that wealth was a
[01:00:03] Speaker D: sign of God's blessing was deeply entrenched within Jewish theology.
[01:00:08] Speaker F: People who were wealthy or rich were thought to have an inside track with God. They experienced greater blessing, and because of that they could give greater alms away to the poor. And because of this, they would gain greater favor with God. So they were on the fast track to heaven and to eternity.
And in the same rite, their theology said that suffering was considered to be a sign of God's judgment. Think of Job's friends in the Old Testament who look at him and go, look at everything you've lost, lost. Obviously there must be some sin in your life, right? Because they equated either wealth and prosperity or suffering with whether or not you
[01:00:40] Speaker D: were walking closely with God in the favor you had with him. And it was one of their deepest concerns.
[01:00:45] Speaker F: Sadly, we still fight the same horrible theology in our own world today, where some people believe that if you are right with God, you will necessarily experience wealth and prosperity. And if you don't experience that, there must be something that is an evil and completely false teaching that is in some churches today. And Jesus actually debunks those thoughts and those ideas all throughout Scripture. But here's the deal. What Jesus is doing is not pointing
[01:01:16] Speaker D: to the possessions themselves.
He's pointing to the heart of this man.
[01:01:22] Speaker F: You see, Jesus says it's not impossible
[01:01:26] Speaker D: for a rich man to enter. It's incredibly diffic.
Why letter C? Because the man's unwillingness to give up his wealth revealed a number of things.
Here's what it revealed. Number one, his wealth had become an idol in his life.
Typically when we talk about idols or we think about idols, we think of a figure made of metal, stone, gold, glass, something that people go and bow down to. When I went to Cambodia years ago, there were idols everywhere you went. We walked into the royal palace and there was this huge golden Buddha that filled up this entire room.
[01:02:05] Speaker F: I can remember driving out to the countryside and on top of a house
[01:02:09] Speaker D: was this like, I don't know, it had to have been some like hundred foot golden statue.
[01:02:14] Speaker F: Like typically that's what we picture when we hear the word idol.
But in the Bible, idols are far
[01:02:21] Speaker D: more than just physical statues.
[01:02:23] Speaker F: What are idols? They are anything we trust, pursue or
[01:02:27] Speaker D: depend on more than God, you know that something has become an idol in your life when it controls your decisions in opposition to what God would desire.
And for this man, Jesus helps him
[01:02:44] Speaker F: to dig a little bit past his
[01:02:45] Speaker D: outward actions and gets right to the heart and says, sell all that you have and come follow me.
And it puts him at a crossroads where he now realizes that he has put something as more important than following after God. His wealth has become his idol. But the man's unwillingness to give up
[01:03:09] Speaker F: his wealth not only revealed that it
[01:03:10] Speaker D: had become an idol number two, it revealed that his self sufficiency had become his identity. He was a self made man.
The cost of giving up his wealth would be the literal loss of his identity. And so he protected it at every cost.
What did he desire more? The identity that he had created for his own glory or a new identity in Christ that would bring the greatest glory to God.
[01:03:39] Speaker F: His unwillingness to give up his wealth also revealed, number three, that his wealth
[01:03:43] Speaker D: had become his security.
[01:03:45] Speaker F: It was the thing that made him feel the most safe. He could have anything he wanted at any point, at any time. His family would always be provided for, they would always have food on the table. It also gave him status, which gave him protection in another right. For him to give up his wealth would have been to give up the certainty of comfort, the certainty of a sense of safety, the certainty of status, the certainty of of specific relationships. He could stand to lose it all.
And his unwillingness to give up his wealth revealed also number four, that he was wearing a mask of self righteousness.
[01:04:23] Speaker D: A mask of self righteousness. I think of when I was a young kid, one of my favorite holidays was Halloween. I loved to go pick out a costume to wear and specifically a mask to put on where you could go around and pretend that you are or someone else, you know. I find it interesting that in the Christian life oftentimes we wear masks ourselves.
We like to put on a mask that we've got it all together.
I see this man doing the same thing when he stands in Jesus. He asks Jesus, what must I do to inherit, inherit eternal life. And Jesus kind of gives him this list. He goes, yep, done those perfectly my whole life. And he slips on that mask of perfection.
Sometimes I find that in the church, what we do too is that we walk in here, we go through the rhythms and routines that we know we're in church, we've got our people, we run in proximity with the right people, we know how to say the right things.
But if we were really honest, while we like to look like it's all put together.
Many times there's a mask that we're wearing that if we would peel it away, it would allow people to see the broken areas of our lives, the places where we know we don't match up.
Places where we are wrestling in our own relationship with God and that we desperately need for him to heal. But sometimes it's just far easier to put on that mask and to make it look like everything is good because it keeps us from shame. It keeps us from feeling like we aren't good enough.
This man is wearing a mask of self righteousness.
And what it did is it exposed his desire. That his desire for godliness could actually only go so far. He wanted people to think he had it all together.
He wore the mask of perfect outward adherence to the law, which wasn't true. He wasn't perfect.
But it also covered over the sin that resided in his heart that nobody else could see that Jesus is now exposing.
And that's the real talk that I want to have with you this morning. Church if we want to see God transform our lives, we have got to stop thinking that there is nothing but shame in store for us when we take off the mask and allow people to see and know that we're broken and that we need God.
[01:06:36] Speaker F: Because the truth is, as long as
[01:06:38] Speaker D: we keep those masks on, we actually keep ourselves from God and allowing him to move and to transform our own hearts and lives.
Rather than putting on a mask of self righteousness. What God calls us to is to come face to face with our brokenness, with our imperfections, with our sin, and to be those who would willingly bring it out into the open.
[01:06:59] Speaker F: To allow God to change and to transform our hearts. We have to allow God into those spaces if we are going to see him move in our lives, but even more move through our entire church.
[01:07:11] Speaker D: Church Would we be willing ourselves to remove those masks of self righteousness so that God can do his greatest work in us and also through us?
And when I boil all of these
[01:07:24] Speaker F: things down, when I look at the unwillingness of this man to give up
[01:07:27] Speaker D: his wealth and what it revealed about him, the greatest thing is it showed the greatest roadblock to salvation that the world experiences. Number five. And it's this, that he was unwilling to place his complete dependence upon God. By putting Jesus first in his life,
[01:07:43] Speaker F: the ruler's sadness showed that his wealth
[01:07:46] Speaker D: possessed him more than he possessed it.
His wealth had captured his heart more than God had. And the ruler isn't just someone with money.
His money shaped his very identity.
And so he is brought to a crossroad, a place where he is called to count the cost of following Jesus.
Is it worth it to give up
[01:08:12] Speaker F: everything that he had accumulated?
[01:08:15] Speaker D: Was it more important for him to hold onto his wealth, his power, his status, his very identity?
Or to find a new identity in Jesus through complete dependence upon him?
You know what's interesting when you read through this encounter that Jesus has with this ruler that Luke gives to us. It doesn't matter if you go and look at this account, which is in some of the other Gospels, we are never actually told what the final decision of this ruler is. You notice that it says that he walked away sad, he hit the crossroad and he felt the weight of will. I choose to lay everything down to follow Jesus. Will I truly put him first in all things?
And I wonder if the writers of the Gospels leave us in this place for a reason.
Maybe because it's meant to bring us into that same place of tension at the crossroad that we all come to in this life.
Will we choose to find our deepest satisfaction in the things of this world or things that we can do in our own righteousness?
Or will we choose to admit our need for God and choose surrender?
Will we choose to follow Jesus?
You know, the central meaning behind this encounter is clear. I'm going to move through these points quickly this morning, but I want you to see how what Jesus has done has moved over these many passages that we have been reading to, giving a very clear picture of not only the kingdom of God and what it is, but how a person becomes a part of the kingdom of God and enters into eternal life and salvation. The central meaning is clear. Letter A. No one enters the kingdom without humbly confessing their sinfulness.
And this isn't just a one time deal.
[01:10:10] Speaker F: It's not just, hey, I prayed a prayer one time to ask Jesus to
[01:10:13] Speaker D: come to my life and said, I know that I'm a sinner and God come into my heart. No, this is a continual posture of the heart, a daily journey with the Lord where we recognize and know that we can't be good enough, that we aren't perfect, that we have sin that we wrestle with.
[01:10:28] Speaker F: But it's that humble confession of our sinfulness and our need for God that
[01:10:33] Speaker D: shows our dependence upon Him.
[01:10:36] Speaker F: No one enters the kingdom without humble confession of their sinfulness. Letter B. No one enters the kingdom without complete
[01:10:42] Speaker D: surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ over their life.
In other words, it's not about being good enough it's about choosing to let Jesus be first in all things and in all ways.
[01:11:00] Speaker F: Let's spell it out a little more clearly.
[01:11:02] Speaker D: Letter C. Salvation is more than believing facts and good behavior.
[01:11:08] Speaker F: There are many people filling churches today, all around the world who erroneously boil
[01:11:12] Speaker D: their Christianity down to this point. They believe that.
[01:11:16] Speaker F: They believe the right things, say the
[01:11:18] Speaker D: right things, they do good deeds, but have never truly surrendered their heart to God in such a way that he has become Lord and first in their life.
Maybe even as you sit here this morning, you may have a realization or the Holy Spirit, Spirit is speaking to you in your own life of questioning and asking you that question. Have you truly made him first?
[01:11:39] Speaker F: Has your Christian life been based more on, like your friends that you hang out with? Or has it become maybe more based on your idea of being good enough for God, recognizing that that isn't possible?
[01:11:49] Speaker D: Have you ever truly said, God, I'll
[01:11:51] Speaker F: make you first over all things.
[01:11:53] Speaker D: I'll follow you no matter what it costs?
Salvation is more than believing facts and good behavior. Letter D. Salvation involves understanding, understanding our need for a Savior and entrusting our lives to the authority of Jesus.
And this is what faith is.
[01:12:11] Speaker F: Faith is when we remove the masks
[01:12:13] Speaker D: that we wear, when we admit that we fail, but that God's grace is enough.
[01:12:21] Speaker F: It's the reason that Jesus went to the cross and died on a cross for us is because we couldn't be good enough. We wouldn't be good enough.
And yet when we remove those masks and admit our need, acknowledging what Christ has done for us, confessing our brokenness, and then inviting Jesus to come and
[01:12:39] Speaker D: heal us from our brokenness, choosing to put him first in all things.
It is that faith that brings us to the place of salvation. Jesus is redirected, redirecting and rewiring people's understanding that it's not about how good you are.
It's not about the Christian things you do.
It's about the surrender of your heart and your life to him and putting him first in all things.
And what does Jesus end with as he's talking with his disciples? Letter E.
He reminds them that the blessings of salvation are both for now and eternity, that you will experience the
[01:13:17] Speaker F: blessing of this church of surrender, both
[01:13:19] Speaker D: now and for all eternity.
[01:13:21] Speaker F: It's not just for the future, it's for now. Look at Luke 18:28 30 as we close, Peter said, see, we have left our homes and followed you. And he said to them, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or Brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many more in this time and in the age to come. Eternal life.
When we surrender our hearts and our lives to Jesus, and we put him first in all things, he breaks us free from the power that sin has over us, the chains that it puts us in. It breaks us free from the life that we experience in those chains and allows us to live in freedom.
And yet it also gives us the promise of eternity, that one day we will be with God in His kingdom, when he has come again and restored all things and will live with him forever, watching all sin, all pain, all brokenness, all sadness, all sickness wiped away.
And this is the gift of salvation.
[01:14:23] Speaker D: But we are called to count the cost.
We're called to count the cost.
Will we choose to put Jesus before all things and surrender our hearts and lives to Him?
Or like the rich man, will we feel like there are too many other things that we love more and struggle and walk away in sadness?
I would just simply say to you, church, as we read through this gospel, as we move toward Easter together, you will see, if you have not seen before, that what Jesus offers far exceeds what the world can give you.
And so, as you count the cost, Jesus is saying, for those of you who have not placed your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, he is inviting you to that place of saying, look at what the world offers. Look at what I offer.
Will you choose to follow me because I have given you the free gift of salvation by dying on a cross to pay the penalty for your sin, so that you could live with me forever, removed from this horrible, evil, broken world and experiencing all the blessing I have for you.
But God is also looking at those of you who have placed your faith in Jesus Christ. And I believe that he's asking you the question at a crossroad, that there are things that all of us are holding onto in our lives that we have a hard time letting go of and truly letting God be first in this passage. It's wealth and money, but it's also any sin that we wrestle with in areas where we say, nope, I need this. I want to keep it for myself. And God can't have this area.
And what he's asking you today is, will you lay it all down to truly follow me and believe that what I have for you is best?
Pray with me. Father, I praise you and I thank you for your word this morning. And I ask, and I pray that your Holy Spirit is moving in this room and that God, you are convicting hearts.
I would just simply say this morning that as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, that if you have never placed your faith in Jesus and you have recognized this morning the goodness of God, that he loved you so much that he sent his son to die on a cross for your sake so that you could live with him forever and be restored in a right relationship with him.
If the Holy Spirit has been speaking to you and you would say, today is the day that I want to make that choice, I finally recognize that this Christian life is not about being a good person or just being a rule follower, but it's about the surrender of my heart. And that's a decision you want to make. I just want to invite you to pray this prayer with me this morning. God, I believe and confess to you that I'm a sinner.
I see my brokenness and most importantly God, today I see my need for you.
I pray that you would forgive me of my sin.
I believe in you. I believe that you died on a cross for me and today I choose to follow you.
I surrender my heart and my life to you.
And I ask that you would come in and that you would transform my heart and my life as I begin this journey with you.
I also recognize that there are those of you in this room today that you've been Christians for a long time, but there are areas that you would even acknowledge. I have not surrendered this area of my life to the Lord.
And God is doing something the whole Holy Spirit is telling you, I want this area. And it's easy. You want to ignore it. You want to keep the mask on.
I just want to pray over you this morning that God would give you the courage to begin to deal with that area with him. And maybe that comes through confessing it to a close friend, to someone that you trust and allowing God to begin a new work in your life as you bring it into the light. Lord, I pray for all of us because we, we all have these areas that, Father, you would give us the courage to peel back the masks that hide our imperfections.
And Father, that through your grace you would create that fertile ground for us, Father, to come to confess our wrestling of the areas we don't want to yield to you and that, Father, you would begin a new work in us as we surrender all that we are to you.
Lord, we give our lives to you.
You have done far more exceedingly than anything we could ever think or imagine in showing us the depth of your love.
The only response would be to lay down and surrender our hearts and our lives to you. And so we do that today and we pray in that that you would be glorified.
So teach us Father, what it means to walk with you, to follow you and to be those who have received the kingdom of heaven in Jesus name. Amen.
[01:19:52] Speaker G: I give my life to follow Jesus captive to Christ I know true freedom I count it all joy to take up my cross Our Father oh,
[01:20:18] Speaker A: These
[01:20:19] Speaker G: earthly wells have left me thirsty
[01:20:25] Speaker A: all
[01:20:25] Speaker G: worldly wisdom comes up empty Only your word and only your ways Alpha follow what a joy it is to follow Jesus what a gift it is to bear his name.
[01:20:52] Speaker A: What an honor to choose surrender and
[01:20:59] Speaker G: make him my everything.
When the darkness brings its questions
[01:21:16] Speaker F: when
[01:21:17] Speaker G: trusting you becomes a wrestle I have resolved no matter the cost I'll follow
[01:21:31] Speaker A: and what a joy it is to follow Jesus what a gift it is to bear his name.
What an honor to choose surrender and
[01:21:51] Speaker G: make him mighty Everything.
[01:21:57] Speaker A: And what a joy it is to follow Jesus what a gift it is to bear his name.
What an honor to choose, surrender and make him my.
[01:22:19] Speaker G: My everything.
Yes to surrender.
Yes to the altar.
Yes to your plans for me.
Yes to correction.
Yes to, to confession.
Yes to refining me.
[01:22:51] Speaker A: Oh yes to your blessing.
Yes to anointing your spirit alive in me.
And yes to salvation and and resurrection.
Yes to eternity.
What a joy it is to follow Jesus.
What a gift it is to bear his name.
What an honor to choose to surrender and make you my everything.
[01:23:44] Speaker G: And make you my everything.
[01:23:51] Speaker A: Lord, you are my everything.
[01:24:03] Speaker D: Amen. Can we give God glory this morning?
What a.
What a full, beautiful song and prayer to end in. And my prayer is that. That is our hearts this morning.
Our prayer team is here at the front. If there's any prayer needs that you have, we'd invite you to come as we close our service today. They would love the opportunity to minister with you. If you made a decision today to pray and to say yes to Jesus for the first time, I would love for you to take and before you leave, fill out that card that you'll see in the pew in front of you says, I said yes to Jesus.
We would love for you to just take a moment, just your name, your email, bring it to the front. And our prayer team has a Bible
[01:24:42] Speaker F: that they would love to give you
[01:24:44] Speaker D: as you start this journey with Jesus and just encourage and pray with you. So we would invite you to come as well.
But as we close, we're going to close with one special thing. Many of you, you guys know Julianne she has been our outreach admissions director here at Westgate for a number of years, serving in many different positions over many different years. And many of you probably received an email a few weeks ago letting you know that Julianne is going to be stepping down from her role in outreach admissions. As her and her husband David talked, It's a season in their life for more at home with husband and with kids. And so the best part in this is Nick's leaving us. Boo.
[01:25:26] Speaker F: But Julianne is not.
[01:25:28] Speaker D: And I'm just kidding. Julianne, you're going to be heading off to a council meeting here in a little bit, continuing to serve, continuing to be a part.
[01:25:38] Speaker F: But I really wanted to take a
[01:25:39] Speaker D: moment to allow us as a church to say thank you to Julianne for all that she has done over the past many years. So.
I said at first service, I will say it again.
The vision that God has given us over these last five years, you have been so instrumental in weaving it into the fabric of our church, of being people who will go and recognize who God is, put in our circle that needs to hear the good news of Jesus. And Julianne, you believed that. And you bring glory and honor to God when you do so. And you have blessed so many people in this church. I know you will continue to do so. This is not a goodbye, but we do want to pray blessing over you in this season.
And so we got a few friends that'll be up here. We're going to just pray over Julianne. Church family, if you want to extend your hands, you can. But we just want want to bless Julianne as she moves into this season together.
Father, thank you for Julianne.
Thank you for the giftedness that you have given to her and the ways that you have blessed our lives over these so many years from the gifts you have given her and the ways that you have used her. Thank you, Father. How you have given her such a heart for people.
She has touched so many lives within this church building. And Father, we recognize that it's just because she surrendered her life to you and allowed you to use it. And that blessing is you through her.
And so, Father, we praise you and we give you thanks.
But Father, she moves into this new season of being at home more and spending time with the kids, discipling her young children and being present. Would you give her everything that she needs and very clear purpose. And as well, she continues to serve in a lay capacity, continue to use her life to point people to Jesus that many would come to know. Your son, we thank you God. Because even as we honor her and celebrate her father, we're honoring you and everything, every way that you have blessed us through her humble servanthood. And so, Father, be with her and her family and bless them abundantly. We love you, Jesus. It's your name that we pray. Amen.
We love you, friend.
All right.
Well, church family, thank you for worshiping with us today. Go out and serve the Lord with your whole heart, surrendering your hearts and allowing him to use you this week. We look forward to worshiping with you again later next week.
