Matthew 19, I'm doing a quick series over
the next four weeks on this word back
here.
Back there.
Hope, does anybody need any?
Or is it just me?
As the world is crumbling, I mean, sometimes
I just want to go on CNN and
Fox News and say, Hey, well there's an
answer.
There's an answer.
Right?
It's not a gun problem.
It's a sin problem.
Then Savior's the solution.
I mean, there's tremendous hope out there.
If we would just look to the right
source, it just drives me crazy sometimes.
What should we do?
Well, first we need to repent.
And get the fear of the Lord back
into our churches again, back into our nation
again.
Start seeking God with all of our heart,
not this much.
And let Him rebuild.
Matthew 19, verse 20.
I read this a month ago before we
started the Ten Commandments series.
And I want to read it again.
It's Jesus talking to the rich young ruler.
There's a young man that came to Jesus
and he said, What must I do to
have eternal life, to be saved?
And Jesus said, Well, here's what you need
to do.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And he says, Well, I've done all that.
And then Jesus said, Well, now you need
to go sell everything you have and then
come and follow me.
And as we talked about, it's not in
selling everything that saved him.
What Jesus was doing is showing the man
the idolatry he had in his heart.
He basically loved the riches.
So I did all these things, and Jesus
said, Okay, well, if your heart's really right,
go do it.
I mean, that's where the rubber meets the
road, isn't it?
When we find out what we're willing to
give up, it will reveal your heart.
When Jesus says, Give this up, and we
say, No, I don't want to, it reveals
a great deal about our hearts.
And I often say, and it's a true
statement, that it's not really what you own,
it's what owns you.
And the more you own, the more owns
you.
And that's what's happening in our nation, is
this wonderful blessing has turned into a curse,
and we're rejecting God.
The very God who's blessed us, we're turning
our backs on.
And that's what we're seeing now manifest itself.
Matthew 19-20, the young man said to
him, All these things I have kept from
my youth, meaning many of the Ten Commandments,
what do I still lack?
Jesus said to him, If you want to
be perfect, go sell what you have and
give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven.
And come, follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying,
he went away sorrowful, for he had many
possessions.
And we talked about this already, but a
couple quick things that will put the next
scripture in context.
I want to just remind you that perfect
doesn't mean perfect.
Jesus said, You will be perfect.
Well, nobody on this side of heaven is
going to be perfect.
And if somebody says they are, you might
want to remind them of many different scriptures.
Number one, John says, He who says they
don't have sin, you're lying.
We all have sin, we're not perfect.
So this word perfect actually means complete.
So Jesus is saying, If you want to
be complete, if you want to be fulfilled,
go and remove these things that are hindering
your relationship with me, and then come and
follow me.
And the man went away sorrowful.
And I was also reminded that following Jesus
has a cost.
If you're not willing to live for Him
today, you will not die for Him tomorrow.
There's a cost there.
And we see what you're seeing in the
news, the uprising of terrorism, all these different
things.
It's not going to get easier for followers
of Jesus.
I'm not trying to be negative, I'm trying
to prepare you.
That following Him will have a cost.
There's countries, I've seen videos from the underground
church in China.
Underground, 4 a.m., in these tunnels, dark,
worshiping God.
It's amazing to see the difference.
They're on their faces before God.
They're cherishing the Bible.
They're weeping.
They're holding up their Bible.
And it's 4 a.m. to 8 a
.m. Four hours?
Boy, what's wrong with those people?
Nothing.
What's wrong with us?
I mean, they're worshiping God.
They're persecuted.
They'll go to prison.
They'll lose things.
They'll lose family members.
And following Jesus always has a cost.
And so it begs the question to ask,
what is it costing you?
If it's not costing you anything, you might
want to look at what direction you're walking.
Are you following Christ or are you going
with the world?
Because you'll be made fun of at work,
unless you work here, right?
You'll be made fun of at work, around
friends sometimes who don't agree.
I'll open up.
I'll be honest.
I'm always honest up here.
I'll put my foot in my mouth.
I don't like when people ask me what
I do.
Because I tell, right?
Because they're like, oh.
It's like, ah, right there with attorneys.
Or it's like, oh, a pastor?
Oh, man, how can you?
I mean, that's just gullible.
But after I tell them, it opens up
good conversation.
So once I get past the flesh not
wanting to say that, right?
God doesn't want me to be embarrassed.
He wants me to be proud of what
he's called me to do.
But I know what's coming.
Oh, and then people treat you differently.
And you're marginalized.
In our nation, we don't really see that
a lot.
It's coming more and more.
But there's a cost of following Jesus.
And if it's not hurting something, if people
aren't somehow seeing the Christ in you, you
might want to look at your lifestyle and
evaluate where you're at.
Because following Jesus will cost us somewhere, something,
somehow.
And then right into verse 23.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, Assuredly, I
say to you, that it's hard for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
It's hard for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
And again, I say to you, it's easier
for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven.
When his disciples heard it, they were greatly
astonished, saying, Who then can be saved?
But Jesus looked at them and said to
them, With men this is impossible, but with
God all things are possible.
And that's the message tonight, hope.
With God all things are possible.
Now what's happening here is it was in
Jesus' time, and it is still today, that
people often link the blessings of God to
wealth.
If you're wealthy, you must be in good
standing with God.
And we know that's not true.
Now we also know, see this is really
a double-edged sword, because disobedience can lead
to poverty.
And many poor people are close to God.
But it doesn't mean that if you're poor,
you're out of the favor with God or
disobedient.
It doesn't mean that at all.
And if you're rich, it doesn't mean you're
good with God.
Many times rich people have drifted from God.
So it can actually go either way, depending
on where the heart's at.
Because I've seen people end up poor because
of bad choices, of getting outside of God's
will.
God's favor is removed.
And now everything's breaking.
Now the financial chaos.
Now I lose my job.
So that can be a result, but it's
not always the case.
Now this statement, it's hard for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
I could preach a whole sermon on this.
I'm going to talk more about it next
week.
But the kingdom of heaven in a rich
man.
See, there's a thought out there that man
does not have the ability to repent and
believe.
You cannot repent of your sin unless God
has elected you, has chosen you.
Many people, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, believe
this type of theology.
And a lot of great points.
I'm not even debating that.
Who am I debating?
These guys.
But when Jesus says it's hard for a
rich man to enter heaven, that tells me
that riches can contend for our heart.
Because if the heart is able, if God
gave man the ability to repent and believe,
to accept or reject him, those riches can
keep my heart away from seeing my need
for him.
Have you seen that many rich people come
to saving faith?
Name any Hollywood actresses or actors lately.
Think Charlie Sheen is going to be repenting
anytime soon and joining the church?
I pray so too.
But we just don't see it.
Founder of Apple, before he died.
Bill Gates, did he repent?
Why?
Because money becomes a god.
I'll buy my way out of it.
I'll get better doctors.
I'll get better health care coverage.
And there's really, when the Bible talks about
poverty, often it's talking about poverty of spirit.
And if a person doesn't see their need
for God because of material possessions, then they're
not going to turn to him.
And often, I mean nine times out of
ten, God gets a person to a state
of desperation and need, and then they finally
say, Uncle, time out.
I'm done.
I need you.
But without that, so often circumstances can be
the blessings of God.
Many people look back and say, Lord, I
thank you for that very difficult season that
brought me to know you.
And it's very hard for a rich man
to enter heaven.
And also this means a person who's doing
well financially, it's very hard to witness to
them because they don't need God.
And you can't serve two masters.
Jesus wasn't lying.
Jesus wasn't confused.
You cannot serve two masters.
You cannot serve the God of this world.
Actually, the word was mammon he used.
You cannot use mammon, money, and things of
the world and serve God.
It's not possible to do that.
And I could break down the whole theology
here, but I think that if man was
given the ability to repent and believe in
the gospel, like the Bible says, repent and
believe, if a person's very wealthy, it's going
to be very difficult.
You don't see CEOs of Fortune 500 companies
at the altar.
We pray for them.
We hope so, but it's interesting.
Everybody wants this wealth, but the wealth draws
them away from God.
So it's hard for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven for that reason.
They don't see their need for a savior.
That's why when Jesus walked into the temple,
opened the scroll, and he said, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me to preach
the gospel to who?
The rich?
The poor.
The poor in spirit.
It's always a desperation for God.
A sinner will not turn to God unless
they see their desperation, their need for a
savior.
They have to.
And I comment in the first service, that's
one of the first steps, if you look
at an AA book and different things, is
they'll say the first step is to recognize
your need for, they'll say a higher power,
and I won't tell them who the real
power is, but to recognize you're out of
control.
You can't control your life.
You are desperate for somebody higher than you
to save you and to set you free.
And you have to get to that point.
That's why humbling ourselves is so important.
Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God,
that in due time he will exalt you.
God gives grace to the humble.
There's something about humility that pleases God, and
his grace flows in.
There's something very healthy about saying, I was
wrong.
God, I need you.
If I could get more men to say,
God, I need you, we would see a
lot less divorce.
What about the women?
Yeah, them too, but I'll talk to them
next.
Because I believe when a man leads, often
the woman follows.
I don't have the data, so I'm scared
to go there with this, but when a
father comes to know God in his house,
the statistics are very high that the family
will also.
When it's the mom, it's not as high.
Because they see the leader not following God.
And it's something very refreshing about humility and
brokenness.
And I just, oh gosh, I don't want
to say too much here.
But one of the hardest parts for me
when I'm talking to men or whoever it
is, and counseling and encouraging, the hardest part
for me many times is to see that
arrogance.
And they don't want to do what you're
telling them they need to do.
It's arrogance.
The Bible says haughtiness.
This yeah, but, yeah, but, yeah, but.
And they just, it's just arrogance is dripping
off of you.
Can you get a towel?
It's just sickening.
And I see it in the mirror sometimes,
too.
It's the arrogant heart.
I mean, you realize you could fix a
lot of your problems if you humbled yourself.
Two things.
Actually, humble yourself and do this.
Remember when you were a little kid?
That's going to stop a lot of humbling
yourself and throwing away the key to this
thing.
Because the pride comes as a man, what's
in his heart.
As a man speaks, what's coming out of
his heart.
Out of the abundance of my heart, my
mouth is going to speak.
And it's very important.
Just people who are not in need, not
in debt.
And that's why sometimes people are, oh, I
lost my job.
And inside of me, I'm going, gosh, it's
about time.
Now, maybe you'll humble yourself under God's hand.
We're going through this challenging, I can't believe.
And sometimes, I know people don't always agree
with this, and I do get emails on
this.
But I will counsel some people in a
marriage relationship to separate.
I didn't use the word divorce.
I used the word separate.
And often, that will humble the person.
That separation humbles you because you say, I
see what's at risk now.
This is time to see God, not go
find plan B.
You humble yourself.
You humble yourself under the mighty hand of
God.
You separate and you say, this is getting
difficult.
And sometimes, people need that wake-up call
before they'll actually change.
And the same principle applies.
Riches, wealth.
And this is why our nation is so
poor spiritually.
I mean, if we look at who our
idols are now for the kids, I mean,
me, when I was growing up, it was
a rifle man.
Right?
Or Andy Griffin.
Now it's, I can't even say.
I mean, the heroes.
All these vampires and the occult and casting
spells and porn stars and transgender heroes and
all these things that were, the culture's dead
spiritually.
It's absolutely alarming.
It's like the walking dead.
Wake up.
You want to just wake up.
Whatever news radio and things, they're glorifying evil.
They're glorifying things that God clearly says is
an abomination.
Spiritually speaking, we are poor.
What did Jesus say to the church in
Revelation?
I know your works.
I know all this stuff, but you're dead.
You're dead inside.
You say you're alive, but you're dead.
What are they dead?
They're dead spiritually.
So salvation.
All things.
With God, all things are possible.
All things.
There is no one beyond His reach.
There is nobody beyond God's reach.
This should drive all parents, all spouses, all
family members to our knees.
There's nobody beyond His reach.
No situation.
People say, yeah, I know.
They'll say, yeah, but to this too.
Yeah, I know, but as if God's hands
are tied.
See, I've found, and I'm going to continue
to find, and it's difficult.
I've found that often when you just get
out of the way, God moves.
You say, Lord, you're going to have to
do something.
I can't.
And when we stop getting our agenda out
of the way, start trying to push this
and make this happen and prod this and
manipulate this.
When we just get out of the way,
God says, and you say, God, you take
over.
This is impossible.
I don't know how this person is going
to come to know you.
Lord, my kids are so far away from
you, I don't even know how to pray.
But nobody is beyond His reach, nobody.
And I want to encourage, like I did
at the first service, that I'd like to
see during worship, at the end, our closing
worship, for us to pray for those who
need God.
We have family members who aren't going to
church.
They're not walking with God.
I would hate to bury them next week.
We should be praying for them because prayer
moves the hand of God.
Have you heard of intercessory prayer?
Intercessor are people that would go before God
on His behalf.
Does God really listen?
Oh, yes, He listens.
He told Ezekiel that he sought for a
man from among the people who would stand
in the gap and build a wall between
him and God that he might not destroy
the land.
But he says, but I found no one.
Now, either you take that scripture for what
it means, or you just, oh, that wasn't
really true.
God says, I sought for a man from
among my people who would stand in the
gap, literally build a wall, a hedge, stand
in the gap.
I sought, I looked, the eyes of the
Lord went to and fro throughout the whole
earth, throughout the children of Israel, and He
was looking for His people to stand in
the gap, but I found no one.
I believe the same.
God's just looking for people.
I don't know how the sovereignty of God
works with our prayers, with our choices, but
you know what?
I'm not going to be confused over a
mystery and have that affect my prayer life
because I know God, prayer moves the hand
of God.
Prayer will change the situation.
And of all the things I've seen in
all Christianity, of traveling and speaking in this
church and other churches, I don't even know
if there's a stronger word, but I am
amazed at how many people actually do not
pray.
I don't know if it's correct, and I
was going to look into it, but the
average person spends three minutes a day, the
average Christian, and we wonder why we're experiencing
this and that.
Three minutes?
I mean, it takes longer for Chick-fil
-A.
We'll go wait in that line.
Two drive-thrus and this will still take
a long time.
Three minutes.
And then I almost pulled over and wrote
it down on the website.
The average pastor spends five minutes.
What?
No wonder the church, no wonder we're being
so politically correct.
Nobody wants to offend anybody.
No, we don't want to speak the truth.
We're not Spirit-filled.
We're filled with our own ambitions.
A.W. Tozer said, this was 56 years
ago, in the early church, if the Holy
Spirit was removed from the church, 90%
of the work would have ceased.
Today, if the Holy Spirit is removed, and
He is, 90% of the work continues.
Because it's not Spirit-led.
It's not God-driven.
Because if you're spending five minutes in prayer,
you're not leading anybody.
You can't lead a person to where you've
never been.
So when we say all things are possible
with God, we believe it, I truly believe
we believe it, but we don't live it
out.
Because we try to make things happen.
And we say, oh, they're beyond God's reach,
I'm not praying.
There's no way that would, I mean, if
I, I should just do a sermon sometime,
like, but God.
I mean, me and my wife, oh, this
would never happen.
Never happen.
It's impossible.
There's no way.
And then, happens.
It's just unbelievable when you allow Him to
do things.
I want to give some examples, but I'm
not going to.
We could be here for a while.
From buying our house, to just things in
real estate, to family members, to our own
kids, you know, praying to receive the Lord,
and repent, and want to get baptized, like,
oh, that's, like, I'm being negative, like, oh,
they're too, I mean, this, oh, they're gonna
probably rebel for 10 years.
Oh, that's what I did, oh, no.
You know, and then, like, two weeks later,
my daughter comes up and says, can I,
I want to, Jesus, I need to pray,
and I'm like, whoa.
How did, that's not fair.
Why did I, you know, but it is
fair, I'm glad, but just so many different
things that God, just impossible odds, and actually,
that's why He'll do it when it's impossible,
because then you look back and you say,
but God.
I mean, people will still ask you, how
did you start West Side with 10 people
on a Saturday night, doesn't, and now this
church, and radios everywhere, and how, how?
God, no, Shane, really, really, God, I'm telling
you, I have no, there's not a, there's
not a, well, do this, and do this,
and I mean, radio picks it up, and
internet picks it up, and all these people
are, there's tons of listeners, thousands of listeners,
I'm like, how does that happen?
You can't plan it, you can't orchestrate it,
you can't market it, God, He does it
all, and He gets all the glory and
all the credit, and my mom's here, too,
and she knows, and people ask, oh, you
guys, you know, she helps me, like, edit
a lot of the books, and your books
are so good, and how, you must have
a schooling degree, and where'd you go to
college?
And I'm like, dyslexia, barely graduated high school.
God, God does it, I still can't read,
drives my wife crazy, I'll read something wrong,
the number's wrong, get phone numbers wrong, and
He gets, that's what I'm saying, He gets
all the credit when He does it.
Writing books is a, I would have never,
I hated reading books, I just hate books
altogether, and so He does things, but once
my heart changed, and I became clay on
the potter's wheel, He said, okay, now I'm
gonna do this through you, and as you
yield to me, let me show you what
I can do, and that's really a lot
of what I wanted to get to in
a minute, is following Christ means getting out
of the way.
That's exactly what it means, when He says,
follow me, it means you get out of
the way.
Follow Him means you're following something, not yourself.
If I'm following something, something's in the lead.
Let me read that.
Verse 27, offering hope, I don't know how
people get through life without following Christ, I
just, I mean, it's tough already.
Then Peter answered and said to Him, see,
we have left all and followed You, therefore
what shall we have?
Peter wanted to know what he's gonna get
for following Jesus.
So Jesus said to him, assuredly I say
to you that in the regeneration, when the
Son of Man sits on the throne of
His glory, you who have followed me will
also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12
tribes of Israel.
So whether you're pre-millennial, post-millennial, mid
-trib, all these different things, a lot of
people believe this is dealing with the millennial
kingdom.
If you don't know what that means, I'm
hoping to speak on that in the future.
During a time where Jesus is going to
judge, and He's gonna have the 12 tribes
of Israel judging as well, or the 12
disciples judging according to this.
If you read it, not figuratively, but this
is actually what's gonna happen, which I do.
And everyone who has left houses, listen to
this, if everyone who's left houses or brothers
or sisters or fathers or mothers or wives
or children or lands for my namesake shall
receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.
Now, I need to tell you up front,
because I've heard people tell me this before,
this is not a proof text for divorcing
your spouse.
It says, I'm leaving you to follow Christ.
That's what it says, right?
Remember, you can make the Bible say whatever
you want, taking things out of context.
Anything you want.
You can say, God approves of homosexuality because
David was gay.
Bible says he loved Jonathan more than that
of a woman.
Now, come on.
I mean, that just means that's a really
good friend that he had a good relationship
with.
So you can make the Bible say whatever
you want if you take it out of
the context.
The context is not leaving your spouse, but
following Christ is going to cost you.
If you go to Jerusalem, or even meet
a Messianic Jew here in America who told
his family he was a Christian or a
Muslim, you think they celebrate and get a
birthday cake and 31 flavors?
No, they disowned them.
The children, 17, 18-year-old kids will
have, they'll say, you're no longer my dad.
You're no longer my father for following Christ.
So following Christ costs them their family, their
wife, their kids.
Some speculate that Paul was married and that
his wife left him.
Now, of course, there's just speculation.
We don't know.
And he knows.
But others say he had to be married
to be a Sadducee in this high...
But then when he became a Christian, well,
we don't know what happened there.
So this isn't saying divorce your spouse or
sorry, kids, I'll see you in 20 years
from now and following Jesus.
No, we have a responsibility to our family.
But following him will have a cost.
If it hasn't cost you anything, you have
to look at what direction you're going.
I mean, there's people I know that they'll
put Christian on Facebook, but they look just
like the world.
There's no difference.
The world loves them.
The world loves their posts.
The world loves the movies they go to.
The world loves the way they live their
life.
There's nothing about Jesus whatsoever.
I mean, they might put a cute little
Scripture on Facebook.
Everybody likes those, right?
As long as it's not too offensive.
As long as it's, you know...
What's a good one?
You know, just, God is love.
You're not gonna get too many enemies.
God loves you.
You know, there's peace today and all these
things.
But if they look just like the world...
Now, I don't want you to go out
and be a jerk.
I'm not saying that.
You shouldn't look for a fight, but it'll
come on its own.
See, the truth, there's nothing...
The truth will offend people, but your attitude
shouldn't.
How many times have I said that?
The attitude...
Our attitude should not offend people.
We can be able to engage them, but
the truth will offend.
The truth will definitely offend.
So, let's look at this.
Left all to follow.
The definition of leaving all.
We all know what it means, but let's...
The definition helps.
To go away from, to withdraw from, to
retire from, to disappear from, to vacate, to
say one's farewells and goodbyes.
So, here's what this looks like for the
believer.
You have to go away from, withdraw from,
and disappear from those activities and things that
pull you away from God.
You must say your farewells and goodbyes to
the world to follow Jesus.
Now, this is an interesting topic because you're
probably thinking, what does he mean by that?
Well, you don't necessarily go find another job
and go live in a cave.
It has nothing to do with that.
But it's how you live your life.
Do my choices reflect the world or God's
standard?
In business practices.
I got in trouble a lot of times.
People didn't like working with me sometimes in
real estate.
Just put some paint over that black mold.
Like, no, we're not gonna do that.
Don't get a termite inspection.
Look at the termite damage.
The way you live your life is going
to upset people.
If you're at work, trying to hold a
standard that not everybody's gonna agree with.
I don't know of any secular workplace where
a Christian's not gonna feel some type of
resistance.
Even when I was in construction, worked with
the water district.
I was their heavy equipment operator 15 years
ago.
And those guys did not like me.
I don't know why.
Oh, there's that guy.
Oh, don't say anything around Shane.
Don't cuss around Shane.
Oh, oh, oh.
Don't do that.
There's Shane's list.
Because the lifestyle convicted them.
So there's forms of persecution because nobody likes
the light shining in.
Now, I didn't go on there and go,
I'm not going to do this.
And I don't cuss and swear and hang
out with them.
I didn't say any of that.
They just knew by the lifestyle that there
was a difference.
There's a distinction.
And following Christ, if you haven't left something
for Jesus, I don't think you're following Him.
I'm unapologetically going to say that.
I went over this a few days ago.
Can I say that?
Yeah, you can say that.
Because if you don't leave something, we're not
following Jesus.
Because following, I think somebody said, count the
cost.
Jewish carpenter, 2,000 years ago.
Count the cost.
Before a builder builds a building, he counts
the cost.
Before a king goes to war, he counts
the cost.
In addition to counting the cost, pick up
your cross and deny yourself.
There's a difference there.
Something's going to be different about the way
you become a giver and not a taker.
You build people up, not pull them down.
You forgive and forget.
You're not bitter.
You know what I'm saying, right?
I'm trying to paint this.
There's a difference.
If there's not a difference, you have to
ask, has God really changed my life?
That's the first thing I'll tell somebody.
Now, there's people are growing.
There's different stages.
You backslid.
I'm not beating you.
But if there's just no difference in a
person's life, if they look just like the
world and they've been a Christian for 10
years, you've got to wonder what they're following.
What Bible are they reading?
Because there's fruit.
A Jewish carpenter also said you'll know them
by their fruit.
Is there an apple on a fig tree?
Or grapes on thorn bushes?
No.
You'll know.
There's always fruit there.
Left all.
Believers must disconnect from the world's mindset.
See, and that's where a lot of hope
is found.
A lot of people that are struggling right
now with fear, anxiety, depression, all these things,
they're often feeding their mind on the wrong
things.
I'm not going to go down this rabbit
trail because I have many times before.
But when it comes to this issue of
hope, you're not going to find hope if
you're constantly looking outside of Christ and the
Bible and what it says.
Listen, I don't care if you like Fox
News or CNN, but they're not going to
draw you closer to God.
Right?
What have I said before?
You're going to want to go order an
AR-15, get a gun safe, load it
up.
Now I'm ready.
Those people do not have any hope.
Often it's a loose cannon.
There's no hope.
They're in a fear frenzy mode.
So hope is found from disconnecting from the
world's mindset.
And I thought this was amazing.
Reading the Bible, it's amazing how many people
received healing and direction throughout the New Testament
after they followed Jesus.
Now people would come as intercessors and pray
for people, or Jesus would go, hey, do
you want to be made well?
People would come, Jesus, please pray for my
servant.
But many times you'll read that people would
follow Him and then be healed.
Follow Him and then hear His teaching and
get direction.
Many times it came after following Him.
Same thing with us.
Until we give up all to gain all,
you will not be following Him the way
He's designed it.
Again, not perfectly.
Nobody follows Him perfectly.
Not even you, Shane?
No.
Not at all.
Because it's a constant struggle against the world.
But then also left all for unbelievers.
If a person's an unbeliever, what leaving all
means is that they must disconnect from the
sin and bondage.
They must forsake their old lives.
They must say this is wrong.
God, I repent.
I'm forsaking this.
And I'm leaving it behind and I'm following
You.
They're following Him.
That's what has to happen to an unbeliever.
I don't know if we passed them out.
I forgot to check, but it was in
the paper today.
I think here locally in Victorville, different things.
But I talked about, actually the title of
the article was Will God Really Say Depart
From Me?
I Don't Know You.
Will Jesus Really Say Depart From Me?
I Don't Know You.
And I talked about my story and I
remember it.
It was yesterday.
It was about 15, 16 years ago.
It was the summer of 2000.
And I was working with 24 Hour Fitness.
Many of you know.
And I was at a very difficult transition
in my life.
And I was, well let me just read
what I put.
Although I felt a sense of purpose, it
often left me feeling empty.
I was passionate, but for the wrong things.
I focused on everything society had to offer.
But ultimately I found that it offered little
of lasting value.
I focused on money, status, recognition, but I
had starved other important areas of my life,
including my relationship with God.
Due to my misguided focus, my life took
many turns for the worse.
Here's the key.
Desperate for direction and fulfillment, I began to
search the pages of a Bible that I
put on the shelf long ago.
Two scriptures literally jumped from the pages.
For what profit is it to a man
if he gains the whole world, but loses
his soul?
And you know, maybe some of you know,
some of you don't, but when you read
something and God's saying something, it's like it's
illuminated.
It jumps out, smacks you in the face,
and you put the Bible down.
That's how I read it.
What will profit you to gain the whole
world and lose your soul?
And then I was reading a little bit
more that day, and it said, when you
hear His voice, harden not your heart.
And actually in the book of Hebrews, I
believe if I'm not mistaken, it says it
three times.
When you hear His voice, harden not your
heart.
When you hear His voice, harden not your
heart.
And that tells me we can harden our
hearts.
When you hear something, when you hear God
convicting, God drawing, are we receptive, or do
we harden our hearts?
And there's a lot of different people in
the church.
Some come, they've been Christians longer than I
have.
Others come, they're like, they're trying, they're wanting
to hear what God has to say, but
they're continuing in sin.
They're running from God, and God is saying,
if you hear my voice, harden not your
heart.
And there's a hardening that can take place.
And the Puritans who founded our country used
to say, the same sun that melts the
wax will harden the clay.
The same sun.
It melts the wax, but it hardens that
clay.
Same thing with the human heart, I believe.
You can open your heart and allow God's
word to melt you.
Not physically, of course, but it's humility.
It's a humbling process, and you just melt
before God, or you can harden before God.
And some of the most angry people you've
ever met are those who've hardened their hearts
towards God.
The surrendered life, which I talk about often,
I want to explain what that means.
To find hope, we have to surrender our
life.
We have to surrender our rights.
Not gun rights, right?
But we have to surrender our rights.
I'm trying to appease the NRA and the
right-wing Republicans at this sermon.
The surrendered life is to cease resistance.
To cease resistance.
So when you surrender, you stop resisting.
And you obey what God wants us to
do.
And I saw something interesting on Facebook.
I wasn't sure.
It took me a little while to process
it.
But the post said this, and I know
it's hard to believe I got something from
Facebook.
But it says, Grace did not save Noah.
Obedience did.
I better build this ark.
Right?
Now, the Bible says Noah found favor in
the eyes of God, and we know that
grace ultimately saved him.
But the message is that grace, God's grace,
Noah had to obey.
And Noah, being divinely warned in a dream
of things not yet to come, moved with
fear, moved with reverence to the building of
an ark and the saving of his family.
So there's an obedience factor there.
So that's the Word of God.
God's grace, and we must obey.
How does that work?
I don't know.
I'm not going to worry about a mystery.
I'm going to let God figure that out.
I just know both are true.
God's grace is sufficient.
But when He asks us to obey, we
need to obey.
And they work together.
This is why I talk often about the
importance of spiritual disciplines.
If you come here long enough, you'll probably
get sick and tired of me saying this,
but we have to have the Word of
God because it teaches us.
We have to have prayer because it shows
us.
We have to have worship because it humbles
us.
It's very important, in my opinion, to do
fasting because it stops the flesh from dominating
our lives.
That's why spiritual disciplines are so important.
They are a humbling process.
The Word of God teaches me.
I go into it saying, Lord, I don't
know everything.
Will you show me?
And then prayer.
Prayer opens that door and begins to reveal
God's will.
And then worship humbles me.
Do you know there's no such thing as
a prideful worshiper?
Now, they might go through the motions, right?
And just, you know, active, you know, shoulders
up worship.
But a humble worshiper is the true sense
of the Word.
When God says, let us come together and
worship Him, God's Word says, come together and
worship Him, the beauty of holiness.
There's a humility there.
And we should be, as Christians, we should
be the most hopeful people on the planet.
But people are in fear factor mode on
Facebook, too.
San Bernardino's right over the hill, yeah?
Are you ready?
Are we prepared?
I mean, look what Jesus said.
Rivers of living water, if you believe on
Me, as the Scriptures say, out of your
belly will flow rivers of living water.
Cast your cares upon Me.
Come to Me all you are weak and
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Listen, folks, either we think that's a lie
or we think it's real.
If we think it's real, why don't we
live like it?
If Jesus says, cast all your cares upon
Me, carry My yoke, grab My yoke, My
yoke is light.
And a yoke, two oxen would be yoked
together.
It's this large instrument.
They put on one neck of another ox
and another neck of another ox.
And they would yoke and pull the load
together.
Jesus says, My yoke is light.
Come and take it.
Let Me pull the load.
Let Me fall.
Follow Me.
All back to this following Me in the
surrendered life.
What about this time of year?
Isaiah 9.6, For unto us a child
is born, a son is given, and the
government will be upon His shoulders, and His
name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
See, there's no peace outside of God.
No peace.
I don't care who they are, they're lying.
If there's no peace.
There's no true peace outside of God.
Because where does real peace come from?
What peace is, it's security, isn't it?
I'm trusting somebody's in charge.
There's peace there now.
Some of you, if you live out and
there's helicopters flying around your neighborhood at two
in the morning, at the window, there's not
a lot of peace.
And then the sun comes out, and everything's
gone.
Where'd that come from?
Security.
And there's no peace outside of God, because
that's true peace, is knowing who you're secure
in.
There will come a time when everybody in
this room will not be here anymore.
We will all face the grave.
And is there true peace?
The only true peace comes from knowing Him.
That's where true peace comes from.
I'm going to just share two quick stories
about surrendering their life.
The one is about Frances Jane Crosby.
Her name was Fanny Crosby, born 1820.
She said this, If I had a choice,
I would still choose to remain blind.
For when I die, the first face I
will ever see will be the face of
my blessed Savior.
Blind for nearly all of her life, Fanny
Crosby is known as one of the greatest
hymn writers in the history of the Christian
church.
Though blind, she witnessed over 8,000 of
her poems set to music.
One of those is Blessed Assurance.
Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of
His Spirit, washed in His blood.
So a blind lady wrote Blessed Assurance once
she surrendered her life and her giftings to
God.
Another guy by the name of Jetson Van
Deventer, born in 1855.
He studied and taught music.
He mastered 13 different instruments and sang and
composed music.
He was very involved in the music ministry
at his church and eventually found himself torn
between a successful teaching career and his desire
to pursue ministry.
That happens a lot.
Why?
Because I want a successful teaching career.
God says, no, I want to use you.
And there's this pole.
And then 1896, he was at a series
of meetings and he finally surrendered his desires
completely to God.
As he submitted completely to the will of
his Lord, a song was born in his
heart.
It's called I Surrender All.
You ever heard that famous hymn?
It was put to music by Winfield Whedon
who published this and many other hymns in
several volumes.
Whedon so loved this song that the words
I Surrender All were put on his tombstone.
But it's interesting.
In both cases, and I can bring books,
stack them on the floor this high, of
people who finally, finally were used of God
after they surrendered all.
See, God will still use people.
Don't get me wrong.
But it's not until you surrender everything and
you become that pliable clay on the potter's
will that allows him to...
See, most people say, I don't want to
be a vase.
No, no, no, don't make me a vase.
No, no, I don't want to be a
vase.
I want to be that strong statue.
No, I don't want to be this.
And we fight the potter.
And we're surprised when he says, okay, give
me a different clump of clay.
Let me use somebody else.
And that's what surrendering and following...
Because once you surrender everything, give up resistance.
That's the definition.
Give up your agendas, of your goal, of
everything.
I mean, we pray for Bran.
He knows my passion for worship, wanting worship.
But until a worship leader says, Lord, this
is about you and not me, like that's
one thing I love about Bran's heart and
worship, is once you say, Lord, whatever you
want to do, I don't care if there's
60 people here.
I'm going to sing to your glory.
Use me however you want.
Then he'll give you 600.
And same thing, Lord, whatever you want me
to do.
You want me to go to hospital homes?
You want me to minister out that city
out there, that small community?
Whatever you want.
I'm yours.
I'm surrendering all.
Then he can shape and guide.
And then from that, that peace comes.
You think the peace that surpasses all understanding
comes into a heart that's going to do
their own thing in their own way and
stand like this?
And many times I see people, Shane, I
don't have that peace.
I don't want it.
No wonder.
You're a nervous wreck.
Give it all to God.
Oh, I can't do that.
I'll have no more money.
No social security.
Or I can't give up that.
Or you don't know my kids.
No, no, give him everything.
Like he doesn't know what he's doing.
That's what people, they're worried about.
He doesn't know what he's doing.
He's got too much to worry about.
And he's not, God does not know my
life as well as I do.
I mean, it comes down to trust.
Let's be honest.
If we truly trusted God, Lord, whatever you
want me to do.
So I would just encourage you tonight, as
the worship team comes back up, that we
can sing, I surrender all and still not
surrender all.
See, it's not going like this.
Because a lot of people are going like
this.
Yeah, that sounds great.
That's the easy part.
The hard part is putting the feet to
it and putting our hearts to it.
And the hearts, what does that look like?
Well, here's what it looks like.
All you have to say, and you have
to be sincere, is Lord, I'm ready to
be fully used by you.
I know there's areas in my life that
you're wanting to work on.
I know there's bitterness, anger, lust, greed, addiction,
whatever it is.
And Lord, take these away so I can
serve you better.
I know I've been holding onto things, relationships,
habits, whatever it is.
Lord, I'm giving it all to you tonight.
I'm fully surrendering, and I want to follow
you.
Now, will you do that perfectly?
No.
Thank God for the grace of God.
Because you're walking off track.
He goes, nope, this way.
Nope, this way.
But you have to be movable.
We have to.
That's part of the clay process, is allowing
the potter to do what he wants to
do.
And that's where hope comes from.
As believers, true hope comes from releasing control.
Releasing control.
And allowing him to lead.
Amen.