Good morning, good morning.
Morning, church. How are we doing?
I'm on now.
Happy. Tired. Sunday.
Thankful you are with us if we have not met.
My name is Michael.
I'm not usually up here, Pastor Carlos.
So please come back next week and hear from the man,
the bus guy, the guy who knows scripture better than anyone I know.
So come on back next week.
No. Super grateful you're here.
I know it is a tired Sunday.
We lose that hour of sleep and it messes up the kids.
But it's fun to be together.
It's good to be together.
It's it's it's right to be together.
And so this morning, we're going to be back in the gospel of Matthew.
So if you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew ten,
Matthew ten, Matthew ten.
Pastor Carl last week covered the first half of the chapter.
This morning.
We're going to cover the latter half.
We're going to cover the second half of the chapter about 20 verses or so.
We're going to pick up in verse 26.
But I want to, while you turn there,
remind you what we talked about last week, what Pascal talked about last week,
or if you weren't here, you'll catch you up a little bit.
So last week, Pastor Carl, he challenge us with this word,
this idea that we are sent out, that you and I are on a mission,
that you are called to go and do and be what this world needs
in the name of Jesus, who are his hands and his feet where were sent out.
And so I wanted to put that back in your head. In your heart.
What does it mean for you personally, or you and your spouse or your family to
be sent out?
What does that mean for you?
Uniquely?
And then I just want to give you a quick snippet.
Some things that stood out to me from last week.
Hopefully some of the things stood out to you.
Not an exhaustive list, but but rather just a list of of things.
Pascale told us that chapters 1 to 9 our Jesus doing
ministry, modeling ministry, showing his disciples
what this world needs, guiding and teaching and encouraging and helping.
And then we flip to chapter ten.
Now Jesus says, now you go and do ministry.
It's your turn to step up.
You are sent.
Pascal also shared that that is challenging.
He said joining Jesus will be costly.
Joining Jesus will be costly.
He shared that a saved life is a life.
He said that you and I, as
believers, we have to accept responsibility of the cross.
That made us a new creation and now we're supposed to live accordingly.
Just accept the reality that that we're called to go and do
and live and model what John just said, right?
Invite people into the kingdom, whether it's overseas in Mexico,
whether it's here in the ranchos or wherever you live.
We have to accept responsibility.
He said last week that the call precedes the gift.
So accept the call, step up to the plate, go and do.
And then I love, he said.
We're supposed to live with a sense of urgency,
a sense of purpose, a sense of pride, a sense of empowerment.
But sometimes we get comfortable, right as Americans are.
So we're supposed to live with a sense of urgency
that our God is long suffering and he wants none to perish,
but all to come to repentance, and he wants to use us all.
What an amazing reality that God wants to use us
even when our brokenness, even our selfishness, even in our sin,
he still wants to use you to reach those
who were lost and don't know the saving hope of the cross.
And so that's the challenge, is that we we don't live in
such a way where it's self-centered.
We live in such a way where others centered,
and we value an invitation from God to be sent and to go and do,
even though it can be challenging.
And so this morning,
there are some big themes that Jesus brings up here in the text,
and I want to put them on the screen for you. Just a
process.
Sorry, this clicker has been jump on me this morning.
These are these are the six themes we're going to cover each of them.
It's almost this overview.
We're going to spend a little more time in fear
because I think fear is so controlling at times.
But Jesus brings up fear.
He brings up Werth, he brings up public allegiance.
He brings up division in this text.
He brings up discipleship, and he brings up faithfulness.
We could take.
And do you know, we talk about one of these a week, really.
And so I hope this morning
is an invitation from God to say, all right, where do you need to lean in?
Which of these six or maybe a couple of them
or maybe all, you know, but where do you need to lean in?
Is fear kind of have that grip on you,
or do you find your worth outside of Christ?
Does your face been private for too long?
Is it public allegiance like I'm a declare this, this is this is real to me.
I'm all in.
What is division exist in your life and you would like to change that
discipleship.
This idea that you and I are not our own anymore.
If we are a disciple of Jesus, if he is Lord and Savior,
he was supposed to live in such a way.
We're not in control.
We let him be in control.
And then faithfulness is this idea that you and I are called to
serve this world well, even though it doesn't deserve it at times
it is nasty and difficult to navigate, and it's uncomfortable and scary.
We're still called to be faithful to God
and where he's called us and placed us and asks us to go.
And so it's it's this all in mentality.
And so this week, I've been thinking about this word.
I've called it the L-word.
And I think when we think of Jesus,
we think of the L-word as love, which of course it is that word.
But this morning I have a different word for you.
And I think what we're going to see over and over is that Jesus saying,
everything comes down to this one word.
It's loyalty.
Everything about the text this morning, about this Christian walk,
about our faith, why we do what we do or don't do.
We like all the things that we decide to come down to that word loyalty.
Are we loyal to Jesus above all else?
Is he number one?
Is he truly King?
Is he truly Lord?
Right.
The saving act the cross was a one time event.
It's not continuously happening, but lordship is continual.
Lordship is ongoing.
You have to daily say yes to Jesus and no to self.
Right?
And so as we navigate this list,
fear, worth, public allegiance, division, discipleship and faithfulness.
Keep in mind loyalty, right?
Because we can not live these things out,
we cannot grow in these areas unless loyalty is our posture.
We just can't. Loyalty has to be number one.
And so I do have to apologize.
I made a mistake with Miranda.
I thought I had the slot this the slides for the text this morning.
I do not, but I'm going to read it aloud to you.
So if you have a Bible, you're ahead. If you don't, I apologize.
I don't have this slide behind me, but I'm going to read the text to you out loud.
We're going to read all, all the verses this morning and then we'll unpack it.
I'm gonna start in verse 26.
It says, so do not be afraid of them,
for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed
or hidden, that will not be made known.
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight.
What is whispered in the in your ear.
Proclaim from the roofs,
do not be afraid.
There's that word again. Fear.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet?
Not one of them will fall to the ground outside of your father's care.
Or some translations, say, outside of your father's will,
and even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
So don't be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows.
Verse 32 whoever acknowledges me before
others, I will also acknowledge you for my father in heaven.
But whoever disowns me before others,
I will disown before my father in heaven.
Do you not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth?
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,
for I have come
to turn a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter in law against her mother in law.
I think we could acknowledge that one already exists.
A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.
Verse 37.
Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
What a challenging text.
Anyone who love their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not
worthy of me.
Whoever finds their life will lose it,
and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Verse 40.
Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me.
And anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Whoever
welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
And whoever welcomes
a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.
Verse 42.
Our last scripture this morning, and if anyone gives even a cup of cold
water to one of these little ones, who is my disciple?
Truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
This is a challenging 20 verses.
It's a lot.
And so we're going to start with fear.
That's where we see it. Don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.
He says it over and over and over.
And I was processing this week.
I thought of this fork in the road right.
Or we can go left and fear can take us left.
And it's all about me.
I can justify why I'm not going to do something.
I can justify why I'm not going to be sent.
I can justify what I'm going to say. No. And I can.
I think I can justify in a pretty good way I'm going to let fear control me
or fear can take me down the right path, right down that road.
And it can lead me towards God,
where I have this fear of God and not fear of others.
Where fear of God is not to tremble, but to respect
and Revere and be in awe and wonder and let him motivate us,
his character, his goodness, his faithfulness, who he is.
And so we have this opportunity always, I think, at all times.
Or what is fear going to do?
How is it going to motivate us and Jesus laying that out here?
And I think
it's proper to start here,
although it's challenging, it's this idea that a true disciple
values Jesus above comfort,
above reputation,
above safety, and above approval,
because at the root cause of those things, think about,
I mean, we love our comfort, right?
But it's fear driven.
I don't want to lose my comfort reputation, want to lose my reputation.
There's a fear that's driven our safety.
It's a huge thing for parents in the room
because we think about the Mexico trip, right?
It's like, oh man, can I know, should I?
But safety, we don't want to lose our state.
There's a there's underlining fear almost to it.
Same with the approval. Approval.
I was reading a study our junior high and our high school students
that says they need approval like they need air to breathe.
That's how much it motivates their decisions.
I mean, think about that just for a second.
And it still exists for us.
I think just on a lesser level, because we've navigated those years and
hormones are different and we're just as sure of who
we are a little more than junior high and high school students are.
But approval still impacts us, and wanting approval
and the fear of missing that approval or not getting it
can can cause us to just focus on that fear element.
It's that half glass empty approach to life, not half glass full.
But fear is just so prevalent.
It's such a big factor in this, even this Christian walk.
But Jesus is saying the believer
and the nonbeliever should factor in or should should process fear differently.
They shouldn't fact
they shouldn't process fear the same way because we do have true hope.
We do have true,
forgiveness.
We do have this true relationship with a God who knows us.
Again, he said he knows.
He knows the hairs on your head that's all intimate.
This God is at how knowledgeable this God is.
And so we see here in ten, Jesus has his 12.
He picks them and then he sends them out.
But he he also speaks into the he say, here's what you're going to experience.
He just takes the sting out of it.
He says, you're going to be brought before counsel.
You're going to be beaten.
You're going to be betrayed sometimes by family,
and you're going to be hated at times by all.
Like he lays it out and we talk about it's costly to follow Jesus.
There's just a different standard that we live by.
There's different motivation we have.
There's a different perspective that we keep.
It's eternal.
We don't fear them.
We fear God, and we let him motivate us and him
guide us and him encourage us as much as we can.
Right.
And here's what I think why
Jesus is telling them what you're going to experience
and telling you and me what we're going to experience.
This is why Jesus is preparing them for pressure.
Jesus appearing them for rejection.
This is preparing them for misunderstanding, for family tension,
and for fear.
Jesus is preparing them, but also preparing us.
We are his disciples.
So when we see this red letter text, he is speaking directly to us as well.
Then maybe the context is different, of course,
but just preparing them for pressure,
rejection, misunderstanding, family tension and fear.
I mean, look at that list.
What do you struggle with or what's kind of a part of your life right now?
I mean, I think that the fear just creeps in
and we don't we don't want to live with this
pressure filled life or we don't want to be rejected.
We don't want experience misunderstandings.
And Jesus saying these things will happen, like start to process this.
It will happen.
How you navigate it, how you view this world, how you view
me, how you lean on me, how you depend on me.
That's what's going to help you get through this list
and navigate this part of life.
But he said, this will happen.
I years ago I had a motorcycle and my father in law.
He said, it's not if you go down, but it's when you go down.
And so it's having this very defensive driver kind of mindset.
And I think that that's here. It's not if it's going to happen, it's
when it's going to happen, this will happen.
But we can take heart because Jesus has overcome the world
and we don't have to live in the fear because Jesus has already gone through it.
He's already he's already preceded us.
He's already gone before us in this area.
He's experience all the things will experience.
He's been rejected.
He's been spit on. He's been beaten.
He's a misunderstood.
He's already experience all these things.
And so we can take heart in that.
Say, okay, my God knows this road.
He's traveled this road already.
I don't have to let fear control me.
Yeah, yeah, sometimes it still does.
And so we have to really be intentional with fear and navigate it.
This text, this passage is one of this is what it cost to follow Jesus.
But it's still worth it and it costs a lot.
And so we have to just have this self-assessment, this vulnerable question
of what am I willing to endure?
This thing jumps.
What am I willing to endure in the name of Jesus?
What am I willing to go through and encounter?
I mean, how serious are we about our faith?
Go back to the outward right loyalty.
What does it look like to value this faith above everything else?
Are you all in?
I think it but Jesus asking Michael, are you all in?
Do you fully trust me? Do you fully depend on me?
Do you fully know me?
Even I do we know this text enough. Are we?
Well, I have this assurance of who Jesus is,
what he's done, what he's gone through,
and how he's going to help me get through it.
A lot of this, this,
this Christian faith is its work on our part.
Jesus did the work.
He saved this world.
He's redeemed his creation when we put our faith in him.
But then it's our job to be sanctified.
It's our job to continuously grow in our faith
and to be challenged and to say yes, that's the challenge in this
is this world is distracting.
It's loud.
There's a lot going on.
And we can again justify why I'm not being sanctified
or why I'm not going in my faith, or why I'm not doing this or doing that.
And Jesus saying, remain loyal to me, that's this fulfilled life.
And so what are you willing to endure in the name of Jesus?
It's not if it's when persecution or things will happen.
I want to go back to that fork in the road because Paul, he shares this.
He says, why do I do what I don't want to do
when I don't do what I want to do?
Why am I motivated by my flesh?
My spirit's been redeemed, my soul's been redeemed, but my flesh is not like it's.
It's just this tension of.
I'm a new creation, but I still have sin.
And there's this battle, there's this warring going on in us.
And so that fork is there.
Sin still swells up.
It still is a part of us.
And so when we have that fork moment and we can go left,
remind yourself it's unbroken, scared,
lost, selfish, left with fear.
Go right where it's all about God.
It's saying, I'm going to depend on you.
I'm going to seek you, and I'm gonna ultimately trust you.
I'm going to fear you because you are in control.
It says, fear him who can kill body and soul, not just fear them.
Who can kill body.
But is challenging.
So I just put a few things together.
Things I typically fear. Awkwardness.
I don't love. Awkwardness.
Loss of reputation.
I want a good reputation, I do, I want a good standing with everyone
and being labeled.
I think that that motivates us in a negative way. Being labeled.
I want to be labeled. I don't want to be seen.
I don't want to be viewed as weird.
Right?
Going back to approval, approval, approval.
Pascale, show this with me.
He said, don't give me credit,
and I have to give him credit because he's a theologian.
He said, silence is usually not a knowledge problem, it's a fear problem.
So I have been there where you're like, I don't know enough to do that.
I can't, I don't know enough to participate.
I don't know enough to go on that trip or to hang out or to join that ministry,
he said. It's not a knowledge problem.
It's a fear problem.
It's fear of just stepping into something that's new,
he shared.
We don't stay quiet because we lack answers.
We stay quiet because we fear reactions.
I think these are powerful ideas.
We don't stay quiet because we lack answers.
We stay quiet because we fear reactions.
And still there's still this underlying theme of fear.
And so maybe a few this morning. Right?
This first theme of fear is something you need to confront.
You need to lean in a little bit, and you need to trust God with God.
Help me work through this.
Fear has had too much of a control and a grip on my life.
I don't want that to be the reality anymore.
Our second theme this morning
is worth.
It's worth.
And we go, let's go back to verse 29.
It says, are
not two sparrows sold for a penny yet?
Not one of them will fall to the ground outside of your father's care
or your father's will, and even the very hairs of your head
are all numbered, so don't be afraid.
You are worth more than many sparrows.
Sparrows were the cheapest in the temple market.
That you could buy two sparrows for pennies was cheap.
And yet Scripture just told us that God's will happens for the sparrows.
God is mindful of the sparrows.
God is aware of what's happening with the sparrows.
Nothing happens outside of God's will for them either.
Cheapest in the temple market.
So right.
I've got to thinking this week
how much more?
Does God govern us?
How much more does God provide for us?
How much does God protect us?
We are his image bearer.
The sparrows weren't created in God's image.
You and I were.
And so if God is so intentional and so mindful,
he he governs the life of the sparrow.
How much more does he govern ours?
And so we need to find our worth and that reality that God knows you
so much better than yourself.
He knows the number of hairs on your head, a number a we
we don't.
And so
I think that this conversation of worth
it comes down to where do I place my worth?
Is it in my performance?
Is it in my marriage? Is it in my achievement?
Is it in my career?
Is it in my kids?
Is it in my house and the stuff I'm accumulated?
Where does your worth?
Where do you draw your value from?
And Jesus saying no, put your worth in me.
Put your hope in me, your faith in me.
Let me dictate how you view self.
Don't look for it externally because it's always this mark
we can never reach because we're comparing constantly to someone else.
There's always someone bigger, faster, stronger, right?
Makes more money, more successful.
And so with this lie that we can attain it somewhere else.
And then Jesus fear creeps in too. He says.
He says that Jesus connects fear and worth.
In verse 31 he says, so don't be afraid.
You were worth more than many sparrows.
Again, he's just saying, Michael.
Also, if you're not mindful of fear and you, our intention was fear.
You don't work through fear.
It's also going to dictate how you view yourself,
your own self-worth.
I think fear to
our rather worth.
If we can get it right and we can put our hope in Jesus
and we can find our identity in him, there's such a freedom there, right?
There's such a weight that we get to release where I'm not
constantly trying to prove myself to everyone around me.
I'm not constantly trying to run around and say, look at me, look at me,
look at me.
How cool and how not when how awesome is am I?
We don't need that validation.
It's still good to hear. Don't get me wrong.
You know, someone says, hey, I've see you.
I know you're working harder.
You're doing great work.
Like we want to hear those things, but not in a way
where if we don't hear them, we're in the dumpster, right?
Well, our worth is dependent on it.
And so we really have to challenge ourselves
to not let fear creep into self-worth and how we view ourselves.
God says, I govern the sparrows. How much more on my governance you?
How much more my caring for you, how much more my providing for you.
Until it's
really sitting in that reality and trusting that reality,
the freedom that lives there, when I can be obedient to God and believe
what he believes about me, that I am loved and I am sought and I am redeemed.
I am not saying, well, I had a bad week and so there's my worth.
Or I had a bad quarter, so there's my worth or I had a bad year.
So there's my worth.
Those are just bummer moments.
But it's not going to send you in a tailspin
because your worth is not found there.
And so maybe for you this morning, it's processing just worth.
Where do you place your worth?
What do you depend on for for for how you feel about yourself?
And I think it's easy
for those who are married to those who have kids to put it in them,
our spouse and our kids, or those who just love to work and go and do.
It's easy to put it there and Jesus is saying it will fail you.
It will fail you. So we're called to be obedient
to Jesus
in believing His Word and what he says about us.
So process this morning, where do you put your worth?
Where do you place or where do you pull your value from?
Our third theme
this morning is public allegiance.
Verse 32, it says, whoever acknowledges me before others,
I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven.
But whoever disowns me before others, I will also disown
before my father in heaven.
I read the NIV.
I want to read you one more translation in the new King James.
I think it it's it's helpful.
It says again, verse 32, therefore whoever confesses me before men,
I will confess before my father in heaven
that word confess.
I think that's a deeper meaning there.
There's a deeper weight to the word confess and means to testify.
I'm confessing. I'm testifying.
I'm taking this public stand.
I identify with
Jesus, and I'm unapologetic about it.
You and I are called to confess Christ as Lord.
Christianity was never meant
to be a silent faith, a silent religion.
I are one pastor. Say,
because we know our our faith leads to true
hope and true peace and true grace and true forgiveness.
Right?
We extend those to each other, but nothing.
Let God extend to us.
So how much do you have to hate someone to not share
that same grace with them, that same truth with them?
To to go silently and not share this life saving reality?
In truth, how much you have to dislike them
to not share that with them.
And so I ask you,
do your neighbors know you're a believer?
Do your coworkers know you're a believer?
Do your family members, extended family, dear friends, know you're a believer?
This should be something I.
I was thinking to myself, how would my sons describe me
and say, oh, he like, you know,
worked at a church and liked soccer and all the things, right?
But what they say, he knows Jesus well, they say he follows Jesus.
I would hope so. Right?
Do I confess it?
Do I testify to that enough?
Or my boys know that at my core, that is the number one thing.
And this is the challenging part of this text, right?
Where we want to confess
often Jesus is Lord.
We don't want anyone to go through.
And and I don't know, you're a Christian.
I know you're a believer because then we're not doing our job.
We're not confessing. We're not have we don't have this public faith.
But then it goes back to, I think that fear of like
I might make
when I be labeled
and people are going to think less of me and they're
not going to like me or whatever, but we're not called to be silent.
How can we say Corinthians says we're a new creation in Christ.
The old is gone, the new is here.
How can we be a new creation and be silent?
How can we have the Holy Spirit and be silent?
How can we experience the love of God and be silent?
That's the challenge of this text is it does require action on our part.
We have to step out. We have to lean in.
We have to trust God and be uncomfortable at times.
It's okay to be uncomfortable.
We cannot continue to live for self.
I think that what ultimately is for me, the moment
I'm silent and I'm just living for me, I'm being selfish.
It's it's great.
Romans ten nine.
This shows that you declare with your mouth
Jesus, Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead.
You will be saved.
It starts with if you declare, we're called to declare.
We're called to confess.
We're called to testify.
Don't be silent.
Be obedient.
If you're the one who can kill body and soul again, not trembling, a respect,
a reverence, an are for God and who he is.
I mean, I think I mean, just imagine this scenario, right?
We're standing before God.
I got I wanted to say it, but I wanted to fit in God.
I wanted to share,
but it was uncomfortable.
God, I wanted to,
but I feared their reaction is like, what
he says, don't fear them.
I've covered you. I've got you. I've experienced it.
I'm going to help you through it.
Yeah, it might be a little awkward, a little bit weird.
You may not have the perfect answer, but grace abounds.
Let me help. Let me work. Let me navigate through it.
You been silent. I can't work through that.
You being and fumbling and trying and going and picking yourself up.
I can work through that.
We're called to trust God and to fumble through things at times.
We don't have all the answers.
I think that's what kept me from the stage for a long time, is it was selfish
and it was like, I don't have all the answers and I'm not,
I'm not, I'm not that guy.
Like, I just got to get to a point.
I was like, all right, God, let's just do it and you'll cover
and you'll grace and you'll speak and you'll go and I'll prep.
And we just pray that you cover it all.
And you speak so often we just we we second guess ourselves
and just credit ourselves and say no to God.
He just.
Saint Michael, be obedient, be obedient, fumble through it, get through it.
Remember, I've experienced everything you're going to experience.
It's not going to catch me off guard.
I have the number of hairs on your head numbered.
I know your future. I know your days.
I know all the things I know. You're going to fumble.
I'm gonna be right there.
So this challenge of trusting God,
genuinely trusting him when it comes to this public allegiance.
When you stand before God, we don't want to be like,
I thought about a guy, but I didn't want to.
I was afraid.
So maybe for you it's it's asking this question.
It's a question we say often.
What is your next best step as a believer
if you're in this room when you've accepted Jesus, you never been baptized.
Be baptized, share a testimony.
Declare God is King and Lord publicly
take that step, glorify him, give you what you've been there
and you've done that, and you've shared and you've celebrated.
Join a team.
I selfishly think this and, you know, I hope with next
gen and kids and youth, every person in this room should serve in good ministry.
They're the next generation.
We should all be pointing to them.
We should all value what they're doing.
They're going to take the faith person weekend because they're going to be here.
When we're not here.
They we should value once a month.
I'm in that room because I'm going to pour into you.
I'm going to start this foundation with you. I'm going to share the gospel.
I'm going to love you. Well, have you one of us? We should.
Maybe it's something about giving.
Maybe it's again letting people in your life know you're a believer.
Whatever that next best step is, process that for yourself.
What does it look like for you to have this public stance that Jesus is Lord?
Declare it, confess it, own it.
It's okay to be awkward and uncomfortable.
Our fourth theme this morning is the vision.
This one's a tough one.
I mean, they're all great, but just the way this is spelled out,
it says in verse 34,
do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,
for I have come to turn a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law.
A man's enemies will be members of his own household.
That's challenging.
Jesus says, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
But we know
he wasn't part of a militia.
He was wasn't violent at all, actually.
And so I think this goes back to our O word, Jesus
saying here, Michael, are you loyal to me?
Above everything else?
Let's go back to that, because here's where we are.
The gospel should should produce this repentant heart in us.
Where I know God's character, I know my character,
I know God's goodness, and I know my lack of goodness.
We should create this repentant heart when God.
I'm sorry. I'm not getting there.
I'm sorry. I'm struggling.
I'm sorry I'm caught in this. Like, forgive me. Forgive me.
There's this recognition in dependance on God.
And why division will naturally exist is because we should live
by a standard that is different than the rest of the world.
The way we think about money and time
and parenting and how we spouse, how we
how we view things, it should be different than the rest of the world.
We should look different and that can at times create
some frustration, some animosity, some some some sideways eyes.
Like it's just like you're just looking sideways.
You're like, it actually creates some tension with the world.
Why are they different?
What is it going on over there? And it's going to create that.
And it may create, even if in our families it says,
but I didn't like that.
And so I was thinking this week, how can that
not be the reality for everyone in this room, for all your families?
And here's what I here's what I settled on starting your home.
Your first ministry is in your home.
You better be talking about fear with your kids.
You better be talking about your worth with your kids.
You better be talking about public allegiance to Jesus with your kids.
You better be in Scripture, with your kids, in prayer,
with your kids, and pray with them over them for them, behind them.
Salvation with your boys, with your girls, with your spouse.
That's your number one priority in life.
Have you start in your home at least that division won't be
a man against his father or a daughter against her mother.
Start in your home.
We cannot control everything.
And I was talking with him after first service.
Just because we have the
right motivation also doesn't mean it's going to work out.
We can't guarantee anything, right?
We pray it though. We want our kids with us for eternity.
Want them to know
Jesus and the Redeemer that he is and the giver of life that he is.
We want that.
And so there's the challenge.
We have to be obedient, bless you.
We have to be obedient outside of the circle, outside of the outcome.
Right?
We have to be obedient to God.
I don't want this division in my home.
So I'm going to do everything I can.
I'm going to walk this walk. I'm going to make my faith a priority
because you're going to see me in Scripture.
They're going to see me in prayer. They're going to see me in submission.
They're going to see me in silence. You're going to see me looking weird
to the
world, because this is how important it is to me.
Because I am loyal.
I want to be loyal to Jesus.
So start in your home.
Don't miss that opportunity.
The kids grow up quick, right?
They're not babies anymore. Like five because they're going to school already.
So don't miss this window of time that you have.
And if you have missed that window, jump on it today.
Who cares, right?
Again, God helps us fumble through life.
He can cover it. Address fear in your home.
We don't fear them. We fear God.
Address birth in your home.
Our word comes from our relationship with God,
not from who you are and what you can do and what you can't do.
Address allegiance in your home so that division does not exist.
Can't control everything, but
we can at least have a stab at like, I don't want that division.
I don't like that division.
So process that, pray about that, show your kids what faith is like.
And then when you get out of the house, walk it out.
Still have that public declaration that Jesus is Lord.
Confess it, testify to it, serve in a ministry, be a part of a huddle.
Say yes to things. Say no to things.
Have good boundaries.
You have to walk it out.
Pastor always said that's what's not taught. It's what's caught.
They're going to see what you do,
what how you live your life, because it's going to ultimately show what you value.
And that's a challenging thing.
The kids are the youngest.
We're like, I feel like we're the most inadequate because like,
we're just new parents and that's when we have to have our stuff together.
And I think that starts with this rooted, grounded,
genuine, honest relationship with Jesus.
And so are you loyal to Jesus above all else.
We see this in John 15.
It says, if the world hates you,
keep in mind that it hated me first.
If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own as it is.
You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That's why the world hates you.
And so again, it's not if, it's when.
So process for yourself.
What does it look like
for you to say, okay, this division exists, I'm going to help
correct it or this division, I don't want it to exist now.
I'm going to live in such a way where that's not going to be
a reality in this home.
This home will be set apart,
right?
And that leads to our fifth theme of,
oh, I see discipleship.
Discipleship. Verses 30 and 39.
Share this.
Whoever does not take up their cross and follow
me is not worthy of me, and whoever finds their life will lose it,
and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Before persecution ever kills you physically
and we focus on that, the physical you and I have to surrender.
We have to kill our pride.
Discipleship is an all in mentality that Jesus is Lord
and I'm not in control anymore.
It's living in such a way where he calls and we go.
He open the door and we investigate.
He prompts something. He invites you to something.
He brings something up.
He nudges you in one direction and we listen genuinely listen.
We sit in the uncomfortableness
of the tension of change or or whatever that might be for you.
We have to surrender and kill
our pride that we want to be in control, and we want to control the narrative. We.
It's me, me, me.
And I'm going to want to have the steel fist that are grip so tight.
I think it's difficult to walk out when you're married and you have kids.
Life is out of your control to begin with.
But Jesus, he says, here, take up your cross daily.
Have this all in mentality.
Surrender to me.
Remember, he says, you're purchased.
You were bought.
Your life is not your own anymore.
There's no take you back.
Cease.
We are not our own.
If you are in Christ Jesus.
And so it feels kind of elementary, but I think it's true.
We can't follow Jesus and stay in charge.
We just can't.
We can't. And so it got me thinking, though,
taking an inventory, who is pointing to you spiritually?
Who are you accountable to?
Who's accountable to you? Like like what does that look like for you?
Do you have healthy rhythms in place so that this is a reality
where people can say, hey, Michael, I've seen this and you're I hear this,
what's going on?
And you can do the same for other people because we'll drift.
We'll drift. It talks about Hebrews.
Don't drift right.
Keep Jesus as that, that centerpiece, that focal point of we.
Because when we drift, we drift.
We don't. It's just not like this.
It's it's a big drift.
And so we need the only people in accountability.
I think we need spiritual disciplines.
Are you in Scripture? Are you in prayer?
Are you in community?
Do you value those things?
Are you loyal to them?
Then also, something I've been trying to do this year is be silent.
I just put a ten minute timer on.
Can I be silent for ten minutes?
And it is challenging because inevitably one of my kids will come in
or my phone will ding and I'll be like, what is that?
But I think what it's done for me,
even in the moments where I get distracted, is it brings to mind
what I'm like most focused on and what I'm most thinking about.
And it can correct me.
I'm like, why is that what I think about when I'm silent in this posture of
Holy Spirit, I'm silent, speak and expect him to speak.
And then these things pop up like, why is that popping up?
Why am I thinking about that?
Why is that coming to my for the forefront of my mind,
and as well as being
intentional, is taking captive all of our thoughts, like all of them.
Why is that a thought I have right now
and process in it, out
we see this in Galatians two.
It says, I've been crucified Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live now.
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself.
I no longer live.
We need accountability.
We need people. We need disciplines.
We need community. We need it.
If we're going to walk this phase out because it is the this world
is distracting and it's challenging and it is overwhelming.
It's consuming.
I think this statement is
true as we process, is that salvation is free,
but following Jesus cost you everything
the rhythms, your daily schedule, your check ins with God,
how you how you view your spouse and how you view your kids
and how you parent and how you again go through the list.
But it cost us everything and it should.
And that's good.
There's a freedom when we can give up control
and not feel like I have to have all the answers, and I have to have it
all together, and I have to have all the next steps in life.
I can just genuinely trust God with it and say, all right, God, I'm good.
You lead a new God and you direct and I'll stop
and pause and reflect and ponder and think and pray.
But you lead.
There's a freedom there.
Sometimes we think like that will be overwhelming, not having control.
I think it's the opposite.
Giving God control is
is the ultimate form of trust and freedom, and it just brings you joy.
It brings you a sense of I'm good,
but it takes time.
Of course, I definitely am not good at this all the time, but
God still calls us to be mindful of this, that following him cost us everything.
I think that leads to
our last one this morning, our last theme, and it's faithfulness.
Verses 4041 to 42 say this anyone who welcomes you welcomes me.
And when who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prosperous people profits, reward,
and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person
will receive a righteous person's reward.
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones, who is my disciple?
Truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
Here's what I think Jesus is saying
small acts of obedience reveal who you belong to.
Small acts of obedience reveal who you belong to.
Some, as we think we have to have this grand gesture
and we can do these big things of this world.
And it's like, no, just a life lived of little acts of saying, Jesus.
Yes. It just every single time.
Yes, yes, over and over the in of our life.
It's a huge impact in this world.
It says a cup of cold water and saying you'll change everyone's life
so that a cup of cold water.
Can we extend that?
Can we say, God, I'm going to I'm going to be obedient.
I'm going to serve.
I'm going to I'm going to say yes, because it's going to show who I belong to.
And that way we are faithful and we trust him.
We see us in.
Hebrews six says, God is not unjust.
He will not forget your work and the love that you've shown him.
He will not forget your work
and the love that you've shown him.
And so I have been processing this this week.
Jesus, can I live in this way?
Genuinely not just say it where I'm going
to place my entire life in your hands, where I am fully in.
I'm fully invested. I'm.
I'm all the way and it's it's I'm going to win or I'm going bust.
You know, all the chips in the middle of the table.
Because here's how
how Jesus is move this morning right through our text,
he says, you're going to be pressured.
He said, you must publicly stand testify.
He says it will cost relationships all that.
We pray. It's not with our children.
And it'll cost relationships.
It will cost your life direction at times.
God, I thought I was going this way and then.
But now I'm going. Going this way.
But here's the reality.
Nothing you lose is greater than what you gain.
True freedom, true dependance, true worth.
The weight of sin.
Actually been forgiven.
Not just forgiven, but a race from God's memory.
Like it's that doesn't even exist.
Nothing you lose in life
by submitting to God, following your pride, letting him lead.
Nothing you lose is greater than what you gain.
We come out on top every time.
And here's the final thought.
Then we're going to sing one more song.
We're going to we're going to press out.
But this.
Jesus is worth
public, costly, undivided allegiance.
He's worth it.
Even when fear is saying, Michael, no,
even when feel fear is pressuring you to stay silent,
the fear is pressuring you, and it might be justified and it might feel right.
And you're like, I don't want to do this. I don't want to fumble.
I don't want to.
Jesus is worth public costly.
I mean, that's the big one, such as public, but it's costly.
We have to know that going in he's worth public,
costly, undivided allegiance
because we always come out on top because our God is good
and he is faithful and he is just.
And so process this week sit in in Matthew ten.
All right Pascale, we'll get back this next week will be in 11.
But process fear and how you navigate
fear a process worth and where you find your process public allegiance.
Are you do you have a public faith or not
a process division.
Does that exist and can you correct it?
Can you stop it?
Can you not allow it to start to begin with?
And then discipleship and faithfulness.
What does it mean to trust God,
depend on God, seek God and say, okay, God, I'm all in.
I'm going to give a cup of cold water.
I'm going to show who I belong to.
It's a challenging tax, but I think it's a helpful text.
It's it's God saying, this is what it means to follow me.
Michael, there's no secrets here.
Well, he's he's saying, let me let me let me help you through this life.
So process this week, let me pray.
I'm going to sing one more song this morning.
Father. You're good.
Lord, we thank you for this morning.
We thank you for a challenging text in Matthew ten.
God, we are grateful that you have done the work,
that you've conquered death,
you've defeated the grave.
Lord, we are grateful that you called us, though to still have a part in this,
to still have ownership of our faith, to still seek
a lifestyle
where we are sanctifying ourself.
We are processing what it means to give everything over to you.
Lord, we pray that you would continue to work on our hearts
and show us the areas in which we are falling short.
Please help us God to lean into fear so it doesn't control us.
Help us to
process word so that we find it in the right place.
Help us to have a public faith where we confess you
unapologetically.
Help us, Lord, to live in a way where if division exists, it's because of you,
not because of us.
Because we live according to how you call us to live.
And we're all in for our kids.
And help us, Lord, to continue
to process discipleship and faithfulness to you.
We are grateful, God, for this community, for your Word.
We pray that you would continue to work on our hearts.
Jesus, we thank you. We praise on them.
Amen.