The Jesus Stories | The Story of the Pearl

Sunday, July 14th | Beau Bradberry

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls" — Matthew 13:45

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Creators and Guests

Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

- Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons Podcast.

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and thanks for listening.

- Well, good morning.

- Good morning.

- If you have your Bibles and I hope you do,

I wanna invite you to join me in Matthew chapter 13.

It's where we will be.

As you turn there, I wanna share a couple things with you.

This summer, I was listening to a book

when we were out at the beach

and the pastor who wrote the book,

he referenced in his quiet time,

he had spent some time in Titus.

And I thought, you know, that's a book

that I haven't spent a lot of quiet time in.

So I came back from the beach with the determination

that I'm gonna spend time in Titus.

And so over the next several weeks,

I worked through Titus one and Titus two

and as a pastor, there's some great affirming things

in there and there's some wonderful challenges

and it was wonderful to listen to the Holy Spirit

in areas of my life.

And then I came to Titus chapter three

and honestly had underlined,

this is the Bible set that I worked through

for my quiet time and had underlined

close to late October, early November

to spend some time in Titus three with you guys.

And then yesterday happened.

(sighs)

As we saw an attempted assassination

on a former president currently running for office.

Now, if you know me, you know that I guard

what we do and what we say as teaching from God's word

and hold that to the highest level

of accountability in my life.

That the pulpit, no matter how big or small a church is,

is not a place for politics.

We preach God's truth.

I challenge you and myself to allow our faith

to influence our politics and not allow our politics

to influence our faith.

Yesterday happened.

Tim Stewart and I were talking out in the lobby

and we were kind of going through a historical recap

and this isn't the first time that something like this

has happened in our country.

I don't know where you went when you saw that.

Unfortunately, a lot of people went numb.

When I looked at the surrounding events,

my concern definitely for all of the people who were there,

all of the things that are unfolding.

I thank the Lord that we have men and women

like our Secret Service agents, like our military,

like our police force, like our firefighters

who apart from political affiliations do their job

putting their own life on the line

regardless if they voted for or even care for

the individual whose life they are protecting.

I didn't sleep a lot last night

because my concern is in all that's going on

that we as the church, those that are called

to be salt and light, those that are called

to be messengers of hope, those who are called

to put our hope in a savior, those who look forward

to the king who rules in our lives, to rule in this world,

to become focused on the things that the world wants to use

to divide us, to create division, to create arguments,

to create debates and move from that,

move away from the mission of what God has for us.

And so as I'm sure a lot of pastors are,

discussing what happened last night,

I couldn't help but just pause for a moment.

And in a moment we're gonna pray.

We're gonna pray for all those involved.

We're gonna pray for the families of those

who lost their life.

We're gonna pray against the work of Satan

and what he would wanna do.

But as we do that, as we go into this season,

listen, if you love politics, that's great.

If you wanna discuss politics with me,

I welcome the opportunity to sit down and do that.

I'll share my thoughts, you can share your thoughts.

My hope is at the end of that we can walk away,

brothers and sisters, in Christ,

embracing the godly friendship that he called us to.

But I came to Titus three, and I just feel as we head

into this season in the life of our country,

that's going to invade conversations, family dinners,

conversations between husband and wives,

conversations between neighbors in their front yard,

conversations between people at work,

conversation between students on campuses,

that as believers, as believers, we come back

to God's word.

So I'm gonna read Titus three, verses one through seven.

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities,

to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling,

to be gentle, to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

For we were once, for we ourselves were once fools

disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions

and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy,

hated by others and hating one another.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God,

our Savior appeared, he saved us.

Not because of works done by us in righteousness,

but according to his own mercy,

by the washing of regeneration and renewal

of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly

through Jesus Christ, our Savior,

so that being justified by his grace,

we might become heirs according to the hope

of eternal life.

Would you pray with me?

God, yesterday felt like a heavy day, a heavy moment.

In the history of our country,

and Lord, is left with a feeling for many

of uncertainty in the state of which we find ourselves

of where we live.

God, I pray for all of those physically injured

or to pray for those emotionally traumatized

by what they experienced.

Would I pray for those who lost someone yesterday

whom they loved?

Lord, remind us.

Remind us of the evil that is in this world.

Remind us that your word tells us

that at one point in time, the evil reigned in us,

and it's what we pursued, and it's what we loved.

But you and your kindness, you and your goodness,

you and your mercy, you and your love saved us.

God, I pray that we as men and women

living in a land where you have placed us

in a time in which you have determined

would live for boldness.

That we ultimately are not known

by our political affiliation,

that we are not known by our gender,

that we are not known by our race,

that we are known ultimately in who we are

as sons and daughters of the living God,

and what that looks like and what that means,

and that your love crosses all boundaries.

May we live for boldness for our faith

and who we are made in the image and likeness of God.

May we be bold to share our faith.

May we be bold to call others to repentance.

May we be bold to share the good news

and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Lord, ultimately, would you remind us,

Lord, would you remind me that in spite

of the craziness of this world, you were in control.

That presidents and governors

and kings and rulers will come and go.

That your reign, your kingdom is for all of eternity.

And I send Jesus in me pray, amen, amen.

Thank you for that.

Well, if you're curious,

and I saw some of you give me the funny eye

when I walked in holding this,

I'm holding a box that is decorated with different shells.

I wanna tell you a story about this box.

See, on the bottom of this box is still a price sticker.

$9.99.

About nine years ago, let me pause really quickly

and give a disclaimer.

I did receive permission from my daughter

to share this story.

Years ago, when Em and Grace were in elementary school,

we went down on vacation and my parents

were on vacation with us.

And where we went for vacation,

there's only this like one souvenir shop

that's near where we stay.

And we were going over there to do something.

I forget what we were going to do.

We were going out.

And my dad said to Emma and Grayson,

here's $10, go buy yourself something.

We walked in, instantly, instantly Grayson saw something

that he had to have.

And what he bought was one of those like shell necklaces,

like Kenny Chesney style, right?

Y'all know what I'm talking about.

With the biggest shark's tooth ever hanging off of it.

And for that week, man, he was the coolest guy at the beach.

Like I didn't get permission to say all of this from him.

[audience laughing]

Just walked around, all 32 pounds of him, right?

Well, Emma, if you've ever been shopping with Emma,

it's an experience.

Still to this day, that I've got to run in quick

and grab something, that ain't happening.

She's going to touch everything in the store.

And she works her way through whatever store

we find ourselves at.

It's become Black Friday shopping is not for she and I

to go out and find all the deals for everyone.

Black Friday is those opportunities where we can go out

and she can go and she can look

and I know what it is going into it.

What I didn't understand about first grade, second grade,

Emma, what I know now about rising junior Emma

in high school.

We go into the shop and she has $10.

So she's limited on what she can buy.

But as you know, at one of those typical beach stores,

there's like at the eye level of kids, a million things.

For an hour.

We walked around the same 80 square feet of her looking.

She cried, I cried.

It was a bad day, it's a bad moment.

And then she came walking up with this.

She said, "I want to buy this."

I said, "Okay."

I didn't ask why, I just said, "Okay."

Relief, freedom.

We can go back to the condo.

We load up in the truck and I hear this noise

coming from the back seat.

Instant buyer's remorse.

And I got to make a decision.

Do we keep going or do we go back?

Well, you weren't getting me back in that store, right?

Like I've moved out of the occupied territory

and I now see my freedom.

But I've got a decision to make.

What am I going to do for my daughter?

Because if not, I can tell you what the next several hours

are going to be.

They're going to be instant buyer's remorse

because her money that she had,

her valuable $10 that she had been given,

it was wasted on a box with some shells.

I'm not saying this is my most proud moment,

but I was pretty quick.

I said, "Well, do you understand about this box

"what this is?"

No.

I said, "Well, that's a treasure box."

Treasure box?

I said, "Yeah, it's a treasure box."

I said, "And I will guarantee you that every morning

"when you wake up, what you will find in that box

"is a treasure."

Now, Grayson's like, "I don't want my sharks tooth

"anymore, right?

"I want a treasure box."

I promised her I got to fulfill.

So every day out at the beach,

sand dollars, seashells, different things that I can find.

I didn't tell her how it got there.

I didn't mislead her.

I just promised that a treasure would be in it.

And she left it by the end table where she slept,

and I'd go in there, and I'd open it up,

and I'd set it down there, and by the end of the week,

I got tired, and it was like, "Here's a dollar."

You know what I mean?

[audience laughing]

Treasure box.

We laugh about that often with us as a family.

Emma keeps this, and she's begin to put inside of it

things that are treasures for her.

Memories, words, notes, pieces that she can have,

and she places in here, and even though this doesn't fit

with the vibe of her room, it's there.

And as friends walk in, I'm sure they wonder,

"Why do you have this?"

But every time that I walk in, I'm reminded

about my daughter and her treasures.

This morning, as we look at parables,

we're gonna look at two parables back to back

that Jesus tells, and the theme of these

is going to be those things of great value or treasures.

So look at Matthew 13, verse 44.

We'll read the first parable, talk about it,

and then we'll look at the second one.

He says, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure

"hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.

"Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has,

"and he buys that field."

Let's pause here for just a moment,

understand a little bit what Jesus is talking about.

Remember, all of Jesus' parables make sense in the culture

what Jesus is telling them, even though sometimes

they're hard for us in there.

During the time of Christ, it was common for someone

to bury their treasures or to bury their valuables

They didn't exactly have security the way that we do

with banks and with safes and with different things

that we have, so they would find these things

of great value, they would go out into the land,

they would find a place that was secure,

they would dig a hole, and they would bury those things

there and cover them up where only they

would know where they were.

Sometimes war would come to their area,

and so those who oftentimes were preparing to fight,

they would take more things out of their home,

things that were precious to them, of their valuables,

and they would go out into a field,

and they would even bury those things,

because the concern of what would happen

if an invading army overtook that before they could

retake their city, before they could retake their land,

they would pillage all of the things that were theirs,

so this was done in a practice that people would use

to protect what is theirs.

Now, it's a risk that they're taking,

but it's a risk that was worth it,

for their valuables and what they would have.

You know, some people don't make it back from the war.

Some people have things buried in the field,

and then they pass, and their passing was unexpected,

and they didn't communicate it with loved ones.

So while finding buried treasure may be stories

that we tell of the days of pirates,

but not realistic for us,

the story of finding buried treasure,

while not an everyday occurrence during the time of Christ,

was a common thing.

And if you found this treasure,

here's what the law stated.

If you found the treasure that was in the land,

that treasure was not yours.

That treasure belonged to the land owner.

And you, as being the person who found the treasure,

were not obligated to inform, legally speaking,

the land owner, or even in their times,

ethically, of what you had found in their property.

Instead, all you had to do was go up

and purchase the land from them,

and then anything that you'd find on the land was yours.

So Jesus says that there's a man,

and he comes across a treasure.

And this treasure is so great.

Specifically, Jesus says, from his joy.

From his joy, from his source, from his logic,

from his reasoning, with all that he is,

he sells all that he has, everything,

and he buys the field.

And Jesus tells the second one, look at verses 45 and 46.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant

in search of fine pearls,

who on finding one pearl of great value

went and sold all that he had and bought it.

So previously, Jesus spoke about a man

that we know nothing about, who finds a treasure,

but this man, Jesus gives us some details.

It says that he is a merchant, he's a businessman.

He is out with a purpose and for a reason

to go and find something, investments,

so that he can grow his business,

so that he can expand his portfolio,

and so that he can make a profit.

That's his agenda.

His agenda is, I have some, I want more.

And very specifically, this man is a merchant,

and he's searching for fine pearls.

Now, I'm not a pearl expert,

but I know that you can go and you can buy pearls,

and you can buy things that look like pearls.

All the guys were like, we wanna buy things

that look like pearls and hope that they believe

that they're pearls, right?

'Cause they're expensive.

They're expensive because they're rare.

Well, during the time of Jesus,

you didn't have things that looked like pearls.

You either had real pearls or you had nothing.

So this man is searching, what Scripture says,

for not just what is rare, but the rarest of rare.

And he finds something.

The Bible says that he finds,

and I think this is important, he finds a pearl.

A pearl.

Not a bunch of them, not several that are together,

not a piece of jewelry that has them on there,

but he finds a pearl.

And this pearl is more valuable than any other.

So he too, he goes and he sells all that he had.

He sells his house, he sells his livestock,

he sells his business, he sells his other pearls.

Just so that he can buy this one pearl.

And he does.

And Jesus tells us these two parables

as he's painting a picture for us again.

Jesus says at the beginning of both of these,

the kingdom of heaven is like.

We discussed this a few weeks ago

in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18.

And a reminder, the kingdom of heaven,

we said that we could discuss this for weeks and weeks,

but the sake of our time here,

I wanted to find the kingdom of heaven

or the kingdom of God as this.

The kingdom of heaven is the rule

of an eternal, sovereign God over all the universe.

But more narrowly, the kingdom of heaven

is a spiritual rule over the hearts and lives

of those who willingly submit to God's authority.

So in the parable of the unforgiving servant,

what we see is a call to forgiveness,

but very specifically, it's a call to forgiveness

because we have been forgiven.

It's as participants in,

it's as those whose subjects who were in

the kingdom of heaven to have this be that that marks us.

And so Jesus talks about this kingdom of heaven,

this finding treasures.

It's like someone who gave up all that they had

because the treasure that they found was so great.

I wanna ask you, if you are a follower of Jesus,

if Jesus Christ has saved you,

if that's what you believe,

if that's what you cling to,

then you are a part of this kingdom.

And then Jesus though describes the individuals

in this kingdom, and he does so by saying,

this is what they value, the kingdom,

the treasure, and they've got these parts

about who they are when they discover

the priceless nature of the kingdom.

The first thing that we see from these two men,

regardless of the treasure that they found,

the means in which they came by it,

we see passionate joy, we see passionate joy.

What I see so many times in the lives of men and women

is not passionate joy, but circumstantial happiness.

But we are called as recipients, as subjects of the kingdom

to be that of passionate joy.

Both of the men understood that the treasure

in front of them was a source of joy

and a production of joy in their lives.

And they longed for what was different

than what they had to live in the joy

of the kingdom of the treasure that's there.

Joy can be defined as the settling of the spirit

that is dependent on who Jesus is

rather than who we are or what is happening.

Joy is not an absence of struggle or suffering or pain,

but is instead confidence in the one who holds you,

who cares for you, and who sustains you during that pain.

Passionate joy is seeing God as he truly is

and finding our deepest sense of satisfaction

in him and in him alone.

You see, circumstantial happiness says that I'm only happy

as long as the things that I've determined

that need to be play out that way around me.

But passionate joy of those who are called

and saved in a part of the kingdom of God

find their joy in who he is

and what he has done in his cares for us.

I wanna read a verse to you

that I believe is a command that comes with a promise.

Psalm 37 four says this,

delight yourself in the Lord.

Delight yourself in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

You see, there's a command, delight yourself in God.

Let God be your source.

Let your joy come from him.

Let your confidence come from him.

Dive into, recklessly abandon all else that's there.

Hold him as king of kings and Lord of lords

and then he will give you the desires of your heart

as he molds you, as he changes you,

as he works in your life of what he's going to do.

It's why we can see the apostles in the New Testament

beaten and imprisoned and chained

and their lives taken from them

but yet through that process,

they're given praise and hope and adoration to God

and witnessing to those who are around them.

Why?

Because of their circumstances.

No, no, their circumstances are not what they long for.

Their circumstances are not what they would ask for

but what they see in this moment

is that the God who saves me is bigger than this

and I delight myself in him

and so what God will do is use me for his name's sake.

Delight yourself in the Lord

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

You see, in our sin and our flesh,

we wanna flip that verse.

We wanna flip that verse.

We wanna turn God into the genie

and we wanna read it,

God, if you will give me the desire of my heart,

then I will delight myself in you.

God said that's not how this works.

That's not what it's about to be a part of the kingdom.

That's not what the kingdom of heaven is like.

So I ask you these questions.

What or who, if you're being honest with yourself,

with the listening of the Holy Spirit,

what or who do you delight in?

What does your heart desire?

What brings you happiness?

What do you think brings you joy?

If it's anything other than Christ,

it will fail, it will fail.

The second thing that we see from these men

is their costly sacrifice, their costly sacrifice.

Both of these men sell all they have,

all that they have,

so that they can obtain this treasure.

All right, first, Jesus is not saying

that you purchase or earn your entrance into the kingdom.

That is not what he's saying.

That's not the lesson,

that's not the point of what we can draw from here.

It's grace, it's by grace through faith in Christ.

It's his work, it's what he's done.

We're the recipients of that.

That's not what he's saying.

But what he does say is this,

the kingdom is costly, the kingdom is costly.

The kingdom is valuable and the kingdom is costly.

To the disciples, two different times,

he says, what, take up your cross.

To the disciples, he says, count the cost.

You're gonna follow me, you're gonna come to my disciple.

It's a little bit tougher,

it's a little bit more than a casual relationship.

Take up your cross, count the cost.

To the rich young ruler who came to Christ,

who would have had everything

that a movement could have been built on,

he had influence, he had money, he had power, he had youth.

For all the things that he offered,

Jesus looked at him and said, hey, go and sell it all.

Go and sell it all.

And he walked away sad because he knew that he couldn't.

It involves costly sacrifice.

What do you need to walk away from?

What do you need to hand over?

What do you need to give up so that God can do the work

that God wants to do in you?

You know, the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit

of what he does in our life is he takes who we were

and he transforms us to who we are now.

He moves us from we were lost in our trespasses and sins,

we were dead, and he saves us and makes us alive again.

The work of God and the work of cross, what happens in us?

We see this work happen of who we were

to now becoming who we are,

sons and daughters of the living God.

But God doesn't stop there.

So many times we think, I'm saved, I'm good.

I'm saved, that's all I need to be.

My story is done, it is written.

And while the work of the Spirit in us,

while the work of God in us is who we were

to now who we are, the continuing work of God

that we see in our lives is who we are now

and what we're recognizing our areas of needed growth

to who we are called to be more like him.

So every day is another moment for me

and the power of the Holy Spirit,

the work of God inside of me to find those areas

in my life to give up, to walk away from,

to lay down at the altar, to surrender,

to confess, to repent, so that in that,

I'm taking another step of faithfulness,

not in my own righteousness, not in my own power,

not in my own ability, but in the power

and the righteousness of God.

And there's a commitment of what God is calling me to

in the sacrifice to give it up, to walk away,

to go because of who he is and what he's done.

And it's not so that I can prove it.

It's not so that I can earn it.

It's because of who he is and who he is in me.

I'm not perfect.

We serve a perfect God who calls us

into a life of brokenness and repentance

for him to do the work in us that he is going to do.

Paul says in Romans 12, one,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,

by the mercy of God, to present your bodies

as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.

What do we call the sacrifice?

Our old self, Romans 8, 13 says,

put to death the deeds of the flesh, the body.

What Paul writes to believers.

Put it to death, put it to death, put it to death.

What do we call the sacrifice?

We call it to sacrifice our time.

Give it up, it's not yours.

We're called to sacrifice our talents,

what God has given us so that we can use them

for his kingdom and for his name.

We're called to give up our resources,

our money, our homes, our belongings,

all that we have and all that we are.

We're called to give it up, to turn it over,

to surrender it, and we do this daily.

And we don't just give it over to a group.

We give it over to the king of kings

and the lord of lords to lead us.

But we're called to be people of sacrifice.

So what do you sacrifice?

What do you sacrifice?

What have you given up?

What is God saying to you?

Hey, this isn't yours anymore.

Lay it down, lay it down.

The last one, and we'll close with this.

Not only do we see the sacrifice,

not only do we see the joy,

but we see an unwavering commitment,

an unwavering commitment.

When these men sold all they had,

they didn't diversify.

They went all in.

They went all in.

There was no margin for anything else.

My heart for you is this.

For 20 years, for 20 years,

I've tried to do the dance

of one foot in and one foot out Christianity.

I tried to be committed to the Lord

and committed to myself.

I tried to keep this balancing act of what's there.

And what I found time and time again,

that if this is me and this is God,

while I was lying to myself,

I was standing over here,

firmly rooted in the foundation

and who I was in my flesh.

And on that day, on that day,

the truth of God's word spoke to me clearly.

And it was, God, what do I need to do?

Who do I need to be to be committed to you?

And in that moment, the answer was,

"Bo, I want it all.

"I want it all.

"I want all of you.

"I want all that you are,

"all that you think, all that you desire."

And in that day, Jesus saved me.

Not because I was good enough,

not because I'd figured out,

not because I had all these things,

not because I was some wonderful addition to the team,

but because of who he is

and the work that he would do

and the work, praise the Lord,

that he is still doing to this day.

It's why Paul writes in Philippians 38 through 11,

"Indeed, I count everything as loss."

Paul says, "I count everything as worthless and pointless

"because of the surpassing worth

"of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."

Paul says, "None of it matters anymore

"because I have Jesus.

"For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things

"and count them as rubbish

"in order that I might gain Christ."

What Paul is saying here of what he has lost

and what he has suffered through is worth it.

It's worth it because in every moment of gain or loss,

what he has is Jesus.

And in that, what he has is Jesus.

It's an intimate relationship with him

that is changing him and molding Paul

more to be like Christ as well.

And he says in verse nine,

"And be found in him,

"not having a righteousness of my own

"that comes from the law,

"but that which comes through faith in Christ,

"the righteousness from God that depends on faith."

And I love this.

And all this, "That I may know him,

"that I may know him."

But what Paul, does Paul know Jesus?

Yes, but what Paul is saying,

but I get to know him more.

I get to know him more.

Every single day is another love letter.

Every single day is another moment with him.

Every single day is another glimpse into his beauty

and his majesty and who he is.

Every single day, Paul says,

"I count it all as rubbish because I get more of Jesus."

And then in that, in that,

it's something that I find hard oftentimes to fathom

and that may share, Paul writes this,

"And I may share in his suffering."

Because Paul says, "In this, the sacrifice is worth it."

It's worth it.

Would've been worth it in the jail

when he was chained to the wall,

surrounded by the sewage that would've filled around him,

waiting what he had to know to be was impending death,

but yet he sang psalms

and he praised and shared the gospel,

becoming like him in his death.

Paul says, "Becoming like him in his death,

"obedience to the Father,

"that by any means possible,

"I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

Paul says, "Look, when you find the treasure,"

Jesus says, "When you find the treasure,

"it's beyond worth it.

"It's priceless.

"It's filled with joy.

"It calls for your sacrifice.

"It calls for your commitment,

"but the fruit of it is beyond

"a little girl's treasure box."

That it's beyond a treasure

that a man finds buried in the dirt.

That it's beyond the most priceless pearl

that you could ever imagine.

Because it's Jesus.

It's Jesus.

So I wanna ask you these three questions as we close.

In fact, I don't do this often.

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

In my prayer for you,

a prayer for me,

that you would not listen to those around you,

but that you would listen to the Holy Spirit.

Who knows you?

And who will reveal to you?

Number one, what do you ultimately delight in?

What brings you great joy?

Is it your accomplishments?

Is it your finances?

Is it your kids?

Is it your spouse?

Is it your possessions?

Ultimately, above all, above everything else,

right now between you and the Holy Spirit,

what do you delight in?

What do you delight in?

Number two, what do you ultimately sacrifice for?

What's the one ultimate non-negotiable in your life?

What would you give up everything for?

What is that that you prize greater than anything else?

Than everything else?

Third question,

what are you committed to?

What holds precedence?

What holds authority?

What rules in your life?

With every head bowed, every eye closed,

I want you to take whatever those are,

put it at the front of your mind.

Friends, that's your treasure.

And anything, and anything other than Jesus,

anything other than him,

demands your and my repentance before him.

And today, would you ask Jesus to give you

and to restore the joy of your salvation?

Today, would you ask Jesus to give you

the spirit of sacrifice, to give it all to him

for whatever he asks, for the good, the bad, the ugly?

Today, would you say to him, Lord, you are the king,

you are my Lord, and my commitment is unwavering

and it's to you?

God, I thank you.

Word for who you are, Lord, and what you've done.

Lord, as we prepare to go into our time of response,

God, I pray that your Holy Spirit

will continue to speak to us.

Lord, help us find those idols in our life

that we reach out for, that we long for, that we cling to.

Lord, have us surrender them to you.

Lord, may we see the kingdom as what the kingdom is.

Lord, may we hold the priceless nature of the kingdom,

Lord, in who you've called us to be.

Lord, may we be people of joy, people of sacrifice,

people of commitment.

Lord, may we, because you, Jesus, are worth it.

God, I pray if there's anyone here

and they don't know you,

Lord, I pray that today would be the day of their salvation.

I pray that today would be the day that they count the cost.

Lord, I pray that today would be the day

that they take up their cross and they follow you.

Jesus, as you only can work and move,

would you work and move?

In the lives of us here today.

We send Jesus and we pray, amen.

Thanks again for listening,

and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

In the meantime, you can visit us at willowridgechurch.org

or by searching for Willow Ridge Church

on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.