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One Hope Church is all about Jesus. Every week, we come together to remember and celebrate Him. Jesus is our one hope. We are about Him and the things that matter to Him. We are on His mission, and He is changing everything for us.
Marcus: you've heard me say this
before and I'll say it again.
I say this almost every time I'm up
here, I'm sure it gets old, but before
we endeavor to understand scripture,
we must always understand the context.
So we always have to
understand the context.
Many verses in scripture are taken
out of conduct on out of context,
either on purpose or by mistake.
Either way, misunderstanding the
context of scripture can lead to
terrible misunderstandings, which
leads to inaccurate theology and
eventually even false doctrine.
So a great example of this, it's one of
my favorite examples, is Philippians 4.
13, which says, I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
In the proper context, we can
clearly understand that Paul is
telling us that no matter what
circumstances we find ourselves
in, Christ can help us through it.
This verse is written, um, this verse is
written within the context of suffering.
However, when taken out of context
and just read like I just did
like that, it sounds like you
can do anything you want to do.
You can just set your mind to
it and ask Christ to help you
and everything will be great.
And anyone who actually tries to apply
this verse out of context will quickly
be disappointed the moment they fail.
I wonder how many people have
left the gym after a workout with
back pain because of this verse.
I don't know if I've actually ever
been to a gym that doesn't have
this verse on the wall, by the way.
So, way out of context.
Um, Probably a lot of liability
in that if you pursue it.
But there are serious consequences to
errant reading of the Word of God, right?
So we see how important context is.
Philippians 4.
13 does not promise supernatural abilities
to do whatever you want to do, but it
does provide divine strength to go through
whatever you're going to go through.
The same thing can happen with
the verses that we're going
to be looking at this morning.
If we don't understand the character
of Christ given to us throughout
Scripture and evaluate what He says in
the light of everything else He says,
then these verses this morning will
most certainly be a hindrance to us.
And we must remember, if there is
something that we find hard to understand
in God's Word, it's not because His
Word is incomplete or errant or faulty.
But that our finite minds are
limited in our understanding,
and that we make errors.
Any error in reading the Bible is not
sourced in the content of the Word of
God, but in our own fallibilities, okay?
So we must come to the Word with humility.
Even if we read something that we
don't like, we can't just throw it
out, because if there's something
we don't like, then that means our
hearts are not in the right place.
It's a study of the word that means
that we are, we are not on the correct
path that God wants us to be on.
So this morning I will endeavor to
help us grasp the full context of
Luke chapter 14 verses 25 through 35.
In my opinion, these are the most
difficult, this is the most difficult
challenge put forth by Christ.
This morning, Jesus will help us
understand the real cost of following him.
A few weeks ago, we read where
Jesus was talking about not
worrying about material needs.
And he talked about not pursuing
material wealth, possessions.
Now, Jesus takes the challenge
to a whole new level.
Let's read.
If you have your Bibles with you,
turn with me to Luke chapter 14 and
we'll start reading at verse 25.
Now, great crowds accompanied him and
he turned and said to them, that's
Jesus, if anyone comes to me and does
not hate his own father and mother
and wife and children and brothers and
sisters, yes, and even his own life.
He cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and
come after me cannot be my disciple.
I'm going to read that one
more time just for effect.
If anyone comes to me and does
not hate his own father and mother
and wife and children and brothers
and sisters, and yes, even his own
life, he cannot be my disciple.
So not only are we not supposed to love,
wealth, and possessions, but now we're
supposed to hate our closest relatives?
Well, read at face value,
that's what Jesus says.
But that is not exactly the point
that Jesus is trying to make here.
Now this is certainly
a shocking statement.
And I personally, this, I mean, this is.
This was hard for me to read.
I would never have expected Jesus to
tell his followers that they must hate
their families in order to follow him.
I would have never expected that.
And then he even says that
you must hate yourself.
Now that's counter cultural for
sure, especially in our day.
And in the time when Jesus lived,
the cross, which he says you
have to bear, was a horrible and
shameful, humiliating way to die.
He tells us to voluntarily die this way.
How is this good?
And how can, how can we
follow someone so, so radical?
Could you imagine if Jesus were here
today and our present day news media
got a hold of this, what would it read?
The headlines would read rogue
religious teacher claims that in order
to be holy, you must hate your family
and commit suicide by crucifixion.
Cancel him.
That's what I'd read.
Everybody would be
wanting to cancel Jesus.
Now, I know that is what
Jesus said verbatim, right?
He says to hate your
family and hate yourself.
That's what he says verbatim.
But oftentimes good teachers, and
Jesus is the greatest of teachers,
use strong language and make wild
statements to help make a point.
So our job is to figure out
what is the point of Jesus.
is trying to make.
And in order to know that point that he's
trying to make, we must look at everything
he says before and after his statement.
And we must know him well enough to
really understand what he's saying.
Fortunately for us, we are blessed
with the holy word of God to help us
know the heart and character of Christ.
So, um, I want to illustrate my
point here just for a moment.
So what if you and I began
to engage in a conversation
about college football, right?
And we begin, and we begin, some of y'all
may already know where this is going.
And we began a debate about
the best college football team.
And I say, there is only one
college football team, period.
That's what I say, that's my statement.
Now if you take this statement at
face value, and you don't know me
or the context of that conversation,
you're gonna call me a fool.
for thinking that there's only one
college football team in existence.
Now that obviously doesn't make sense,
but that's what I said verbatim.
What I said verbatim is that there's
only one college football team.
But what do I really mean?
What do I really mean when I say that?
Well, it's obvious that I'm
actually saying that there's no
other football team that compares
to the one that I'm talking about.
Now, only one is the best
and only one matters to me.
Now, I'll take this
illustration a little further.
It takes a little knowledge of the context
to know that I'm not declaring there to be
only one existing college football team.
But only those of you who actually
know me well would know which college
football team I'm referring to when I say
there's only one college football team.
Only those of you who not only understand
the context of the statement but
also know who I am as an individual
will be able to fully discern.
What I'm saying in that little
statement, and it's that Georgia Bulldogs
is the best football team, right?
That's obviously not
what I would be saying.
So if you know me, you
know that I'm a Bama fan.
And so I would say that the Alabama
Crimson Tide is the only football
team we're following, right?
So you see how important it is to
know not only the context in which
the statement is made, but also the
individual making the statement.
Now, before my illustration gets
me booed out of here, which I
guess it kind of already did,
let's get back to the word of God.
Boy, I'm, I'm probably making
it really easy to follow
Jesus teaching this morning.
Y'all are probably sitting there
saying, Jesus says to hate my brother.
I can do that right now.
All right.
So, all right, let's get back to this.
So let's do what we need to do with
this passage to get the entire point
that Jesus is trying to make here.
First, we must understand
the proper context.
So let's read all of our verses
this morning, then jump in.
So start at verse 25 again.
We're going to go all the way through 35.
Now great crowds accompanied him, and
he turned and said to them, if anyone
comes to me and does not hate his own
father and mother and wife and children
and brothers and sisters, yes, and even
his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not bear his own
cross and come after me cannot be.
My disciple, for which of you
desiring to build a tower does not
first sit down and count the cost,
whether he has enough to complete it.
Otherwise, when he's laid a foundation and
is not able to finish all who see it began
to mock him saying this man began to build
and was not able to finish or what king
going out to encounter another king in
war will not sit down first and deliberate
whether he is able with 10, 000 to meet
him who comes against him with 20, 000.
And if not, while the other is yet a
great way off, he sends a delegation
and asks for terms of peace.
So therefore, any one of you
who does not renounce all that
he has cannot be my disciple.
Salt is good, but if salt
has lost its taste, how shall
its saltiness be restored?
It is of no use either for the
soil or for the manure pile.
It is thrown away.
He who has ears, ears
to hear, let him hear.
We see here that Jesus now
has a crowd following him.
We've shifted from the scene where
Jesus was dining with the Pharisee
and other prominent religious leaders
discussed last week and have moved
on to a larger setting where a large
amount of people are following him.
We're not given specifically the
reason people were following him
or following him here, but we see
this often throughout scripture.
Jesus was powerful.
He was a magnetic individual
who drew a lot of attention
from everyone who was around.
Um, that's going to happen when you
declare yourself to be the Christ.
Um, so he, he drew people from the
political elite, the rich and powerful
to the layman citizen, and even maybe
especially the poor and the weak.
And oftentimes we see that when
a large crowd begins to follow
Jesus, he says something radical
that makes many people leave him.
Why does he do this?
Well, Jesus is not
interested in quantity here.
He's interested in quality.
Now that doesn't mean that
he doesn't want everyone to
believe in him because he does.
John 3 16 tells us that he does.
However, the reality.
is that not everyone will be able
to pay the cost of discipleship.
Jesus brings many people to him, and
then he begins to winnow them out.
To sort out the chaff from the wheat.
We actually see something similar
to this in John chapter 6.
We are, we're not going to jump into
that section this morning because
we've got one tough section already.
However, Jesus calls himself the bread
of life and says some other things there
that are really hard to understand and it
causes many of his disciples to leave him.
In this section, it is obvious
Jesus is talking about what it
will cost someone to follow him.
He follows up the hyperbole with a builder
counting the cost for his building and
a king counting the cost of war when
he is outnumbered by his adversaries.
Clearly, Jesus is telling those following
him to consider what the price is to
place Jesus as your highest priority.
Choosing to follow Jesus is not
easy, and it is very costly.
He knows that many will turn
away when it gets challenging.
This statement here is a call to
those who are seriously considering
a life committed to Jesus.
It is a call to help people understand
what it means to follow Christ.
This is not a faith for the uncommitted
or simply those who are curious to follow.
Jesus is to forsake
everything else to follow.
Jesus is to forsake everything else.
Now,
though, I believe we have already
clearly explained what Jesus is
meaning with this radical statement.
We can further understand Jesus's point.
Jesus's point here.
If we go elsewhere in scripture
To see what Jesus says in other places now
Now that we have a simple understanding
that Jesus is referring to the cost of
discipleship We can look for other places
in scripture that also refer to what
it takes to follow Jesus Like we talked
about this past week at house fellowship.
This is always a good method to use
when studying the Bible The Bible never
contradicts itself You Any confusion
here is usually a misunderstanding of
context and of the character of Christ.
So when you have an issue like this
in scripture where you come to it
and it doesn't make sense to you,
seek help and look in other places in
scripture that help support and help you
understand what Jesus is trying to say.
So let's look first to the section we
already looked at a few weeks ago in
chapter 12 of Luke, verses 51 through 53.
He says, Do you think that I
have come to give peace on earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division
for from now on in one house,
there will be five divided three
against two and two against three.
They will be divided father against son
and son against father, mother against
daughter and daughter against mother,
mother in law against her daughter in law
and daughter in law against mother in law.
This is the practical real
life application of what
it means to follow Jesus.
The cost is often deep
relationships, family.
Many people in this room this
morning who have made the choice to
follow Jesus know this personally.
Many people in this room have given up
certain relationships that were dear to
them for the sake of following Christ.
Not, not because, not to create division.
You don't follow Christ with the
intention of creating division, but
following Christ causes that division
because the world doesn't understand
what it means to follow Jesus.
It doesn't understand the
choices that you make.
When following Christ.
People have actually caused
strain in their families.
Brothers have become enemies.
Parents have grown cold or
distant, not understanding.
Contention and division arise because
of what it means to follow Christ.
Priorities shift.
And when your priorities shift
to Christ, the world cannot
understand those priorities.
Jesus is offensive.
If there's any verse in scripture
that says that, we're reading it.
This morning, Jesus is offensive.
He tells us not to be like
the world in nearly every way.
And every way and the way you work
and the way you dress and the way you
think and the way all these things and
the way you use your money, your time,
everything is different from the way
the world tells you to spend your time.
So, what do you expect when your
family is worldly in priority?
Or perhaps they're committed
to another religion.
Sometimes even a different denomination.
Or maybe they are just
fully devoted to themselves.
Like most people, you know.
To follow Jesus is a total and
complete shift of priority.
And no one can understand this
unless they're in the faith.
Because these things
are spiritual in nature.
Paul says in his first letter to the
Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 through or
just verse 18 for the word of the cross
is folly to those who are perishing.
But to us who are being
saved, it is the power of God.
The wisdom of the world is folly to God.
And we who are found in Christ
are no longer bound to the
ways of the world for freedom.
Christ has set us free.
It's in Galatians.
Remember, to follow Jesus is
to forsake everything else.
Let's look at another passage where
Jesus says something similar to this.
This will help clarify this section a lot.
Many of you will be like, why
didn't you leave with this
section, but we're here now.
So Matthew 10 verses 34 through 39,
Jesus says, do not think that I have
come to bring priest peace to the earth.
I've not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man
against his father and a daughter
against her mother and a daughter
in law against her mother in law.
And a person's enemies will
be those of his own household.
Whoever loves father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me.
And whoever loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.
And whoever does not take his cross
and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it.
And whoever loses his life
for my sake, we'll find it.
Whoever finds his life, we'll lose it.
And whoever loses his life
for my sake, we'll find it.
You see, Jesus isn't, yes, word for
word, he says to hate your family, right?
But that's not his point.
The point that he is making
is that you have to choose
Christ over everything else.
You have to choose Christ.
And Jesus
is not talking about literal death here.
He's not talking about that.
He's talking about a spiritual one.
Talking about the cross, going to
death, crucifixion, that's death.
He's talking about a spiritual cross.
Certainly, there are people, he did call
to this specifically, to physical death.
But in some ways that's easier than
to die a spiritual death now and to
live a life of sacrifice to Christ.
We've kind of talked about that before.
To follow Jesus is to
forsake everything else.
Whoever finds his life will
lose it and whoever loses his
life for my sake will find it.
Jesus is talking about priority.
He's talking about your priority here.
He's talking about surrender.
Who or what is your God?
Who or what is your God?
Who do you aim to please in life?
Who do you seek to please?
Your wife?
Your boyfriend?
Your girlfriend?
Your partner?
Is it your children?
Yourself?
Ultimately, right?
Ultimately, all of this
is to please yourself.
Who are you?
Is it your job, your hobbies, your ideals?
Are your ideals your God?
Your political opinions?
If any of these things are put in front of
Jesus Christ, we cannot follow him fully.
We must love Christ more than
even our own families and
more than even our own selves.
You know, it's, I think, What's
interesting to me is that when you read
these verses, I think everybody would
probably admit that the shock factor
in these verses is that Jesus says
to hate your families, but it's not
shocking that he says to hate yourself.
Like it's a lot less shocking for
him to be like, deny yourself.
But the reality is in our trying
to please our families and are
trying to please others or whatever.
Usually that's an effort to
really do what we want to do.
That's usually an effort
to please ourselves.
So ultimately, you can choose
Christ or you can choose self.
To follow Christ, there must be a
great deal of humility, recognition
that we ourselves are not gods
and are quite, quite faulty.
We're pretty messed up.
It doesn't take a lot, really,
if you think about it, to realize
how messed up we are as people.
And if you say, dude, that's impossible.
Jesus actually addresses that.
He tells a story in Matthew 19 about a
rich man who had done everything right.
He had done everything right.
He obeyed all of the law to the
letter all the days of his life.
But Jesus required one thing of him.
Just one thing.
He says, tells this man to sell all of
his possessions and to follow Jesus.
And that man.
Could not do it because
his God was his wealth.
His God was his stuff.
His God was himself.
The true and living God was
a high priority in his life.
But he was second.
Wasn't first.
He was second to the man's possessions.
Then Jesus says the crazy, a crazy
thing, another crazy thing, imagine
that, about it being harder for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle.
Than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of heaven and when the
disciples heard this they were
like Well, then who can be saved?
We're all doomed But jesus says
with man it is impossible We
cannot earn our own salvation But
with god all things are possible
Regarding these things we talked about
this morning with man It is impossible
But with God, all things are possible.
Okay, let's be real here.
We may want to talk like the
challenge in our verses this morning
is not putting family above Christ.
We may want to talk like that's the
family that makes us sound good, right?
But really the real challenge is
putting Christ above ourselves.
Let's just go ahead and admit
that the real challenge is putting
Christ above our own desires.
The challenge, the really challenging
thing is laying aside our own opinions
to trust Jesus and his words of our own.
You see, Jesus knew exactly what he was
doing when he made these statements.
If anyone comes to me and does
not hate even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
That was like the main
point of all of this.
Yeah, it's, you know, hate wife, family.
Sister, brother, but ultimately the
main point at the end of that, the
reason that you put it at the end was
that you have to hate your own life in
order to follow him, to be his disciple.
Right?
You have to choose him over yourself.
That's that is the hard thing.
That is the challenge.
And the reality is, is that
we can't do that alone.
What's impossible for
man is possible with God.
So what do you choose when your opinions
come in conflict with the Bible?
What do you choose when your politics
come in conflict with Scripture?
What do you do when you realize your
choices don't line up with Scripture?
Do you choose your own way and say,
ah, I know better than the Bible?
Or, and are you smarter than God's Word?
Do you know better than
the creator of the world?
The one who designed you, who
made you, who designed all things.
Isaiah 55 tells us that his
ways are higher than our ways.
The real challenge here is
laying our own lives down.
Luke 9 tells us, Jesus says to
all, If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever would save
his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life
for my sake will save it.
Whoever would save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life
for my sake will save it.
We're talking about
spiritual stuff here, people.
Spiritual things, okay?
Whoever would save his life will lose it.
If you desire to take grasp and hold
to all things dear and be in total and
utter control of your life, But for
however long you live, you know, for
the next hour maybe, or for the next 70
years, or however long you have left,
if you choose to take control of that,
in the end, you're gonna lose it all.
But if you choose to give up now, to
lose your life now, your spiritual life,
and hand it to the Lord, to give it to
Christ, in the end, you'll be saved.
Talking about that
countercultural idea, right?
That the Lord tells us to work, to
do things differently than the world
that we talked about earlier, right?
It sounds like, you know, when
you have a problem, you gotta take
control of it, you gotta handle it.
It's all about you and what you can do.
That's not what the Bible says.
That's not what God says.
He says to give it to Him.
In Romans, He tells us, chapter 12, verses
1 and 2, I appeal to you, therefore,
brothers, by the mercies of God.
To present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual
worship or your reasonable service.
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal
of your mind that by testing you
may discern what is the will of God,
what is good, acceptable and perfect.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewal of your mind.
What does it look like in
your life to follow Jesus?
What does it look like in your own life
to make Jesus the highest priority?
To follow Jesus is to
forsake everything else.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life will find it.
Following Christ is no halfway endeavor.
It's not this halfway thing.
It's not something that you get into
and then decide later on down the
road that you don't want it anymore.
That's what Jesus is talking
about with the builder not
counting the cost of the building.
Or the king failing to
count the cost of war.
Or the salt that loses its effectiveness.
All of these things are subjects of
ridicule, destruction, and uselessness.
You must be either all in or all out.
And the reality is, you are.
Where you stand right now, you are
either all in or you are all out.
There is no halfway here.
Jesus demands everything.
To get halfway in and then bail out.
It's to have failed to count
the cost before getting in.
It's to fail to be effective at anything.
Now we have talked a lot.
We've talked a lot about the cost
of following Jesus this morning.
And it feels heavy.
I kind of hope it does feel heavy because
there is a great cost of following Jesus.
For those of us who are already
disciples of Christ, identify what
in your life is holding you back.
From living fully sacrificially.
Is your job too high a priority?
Are you always aiming
to please your family?
Are you always looking at sports?
Are sports pulling you away
from what God wants you to do?
Is your boyfriend or
girlfriend pulling you away?
Distracting you?
Is your own opinion pulling
you away from scripture?
How you choose to spend your time?
What is limiting your obedience
to Christ this morning?
And then surrender that to the cross
Daily lay it down at the cross daily
go in prayer and focus on it and ask
the lord to help you surrender it
In time you will find that christ
will bear the burden for you If you
just surrender it to him And for those
who have not yet decided to follow
jesus Humble yourselves before the
Word of God and consider the cost
of discipleship in your own life.
It is a life of sacrifice, but it
does not come without joy and without
the ultimate promise of reward.
We're not asked to do this
just because it's hard.
Christ sets us free
from the bondage of sin.
Christ sets us free from doing all the
things that we know we shouldn't do.
Christ is the only answer to those things.
We have joy and peace
no matter what we face.
Only in Christ is that true.
Only in Jesus can you actually
face any challenge in this
world with joy and peace.
Now, I'm not saying you're always going to
be happy and things are always going to be
easy and you're going to have it all made.
No, that's not the case.
The rain falls on the good and the bad.
That's not the way life works.
Once sin entered the
world, messed it all up.
We're all living in that right now.
But what it does do is kind of what we
talked about with Philippians 4 13, that
you can face all things that you encounter
through Christ who strengthens you.
No matter what trial comes,
there's peace, there's joy.
And ultimately, We have peace with
God and the promise of everlasting
life in paradise with our creator.
That's a reality.
This is not some myth of mythology
that we're talking about here.
That is the truth that those who are
found in Christ will spend eternity in
perfect, perfect harmony with our creator
in a paradise, the way God intended
the world to be at the beginning.
Now that is awesome.
That is cool.
And that is the promise.
That's the reward for putting
Jesus as your highest priority.
That's the reward for following Christ.
And all of these things are guaranteed
in Scripture for those who follow Jesus.
Following Jesus is worth everything.
It's worth everything.
Jesus explains it like this.
He says, it's like a treasure
hidden in a field, which a
man found and covered it up.
Then in his joy, he goes and he sells
all that he has and he buys that field.
So that treasure can be his.
He gets sold all that he had so
that he could own that field.
It's like a merchant in
search of fine pearls.
His goal is to find the best pearl.
Who, on finding one pearl of great
value, he goes and sells all that
he has and buys that one pearl.
That's what Jesus is.
It's, he is worth it.
He is worth selling all that
you have, metaphorically.
He is worth, and literally if
he asks you to, like the rich
man, he is worth everything.
He is worth everything.
The choice comes down to surrender.
That's the hard part, the surrender.
Do you trust yourself
to manage your own life?
Or will you give up control
to the giver of life?
John 10 10 says that Christ came that
we may have life and have it abundantly.
Whoever finds his life will lose it.
And whoever loses his
life, for Christ's sake.
We'll find it
as we wrap up this morning.
I just have one last question to ask.
We have considered greatly the cost
of following Jesus, but I asked you
this morning to consider what is
the cost of not following Jesus?
What is the cost of not following Jesus?
We all have a debt to pay.
For the sin in our lives,
are you willing to pay it?
Are you even able to pay it?
The Bible says that we are not able to pay
our debt on our own It's far too great.
We're far too messed up to fix all
the things Will you allow Jesus to
attribute his payment to your account?
Because our debt is paid for We just
got to receive it Christ died on
that cross for all for all who would
believe he paid the debt that we owe.
So will you allow Jesus to attribute
his payment to your account?
All of us have only two
choices to follow Jesus or not.
It's that simple.
Any way other than Jesus, any way
other than Jesus cannot settle
the debt that we owe to God.
Jesus is the only way he says I
am the way the truth and the life.
No one comes to the father
except through through me.
No one comes to the father
except through Jesus Christ.
And with the acceptance of the
free gift of salvation comes
the free gift of eternal life
in paradise with Christ himself.
All you must do is surrender
your life to Jesus.
It is a choice, and it's yours to make.
One last illustration as we close,
and this one is from Matthew 13.
It's Jesus's own illustration, not,
not my terrible one from earlier.
He says, the kingdom of heaven
may be compared to a man who
sowed good seed in his field.
But while his men were sleeping,
his enemy came and sowed weeds
among the wheat and went away.
So, when the plants came up and bore
grain, then the weeds appeared also.
And the servants of the master of the
house came and said to him, Master, did
you not sow good seed in your field?
How then does that have weeds?
And he said to them,
An enemy has done this.
So the servants said to him, Then do
you want us to go and gather them?
But he said, No, lest in
gathering the weeds, you also
root up the weed along with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest
and at harvest time, I will tell the
reapers, gather the weeds first and
bind them in bundles to be burned,
but gather the wheat into my barn.
We get to choose whether we're the
weeds destined for burning or the
wheat destined for the sower's barn.
God's preference is that you do not
perish, but have everlasting life.
with him.
Whoever finds his life will lose it.
And whoever loses his life for
Christ's sake, we'll find it.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we praise you
and worship you this morning.
We thank you so much for your word,
for the treasure of your word that
we get to study and learn and know
that you reveal yourself to us in
scripture that we can know you.
That you offer us a way and ultimately
that Christ came and died on the cross
to, to break the barrier of debt owed
between us, that our account can be
settled and we can be free of sin
and that we can receive the promise
of salvation of an eternity with
you, that we can be made right
with you, that we can be made holy.
What is impossible for
man is possible with God.
You have made a way through
your son, Jesus Christ.
And this morning, as we go into our open
time, we worship you and we praise you,
Lord Jesus, for the sacrifice of the cross
that you took on the sin of the world.
We can't even bear.
And in the end, if we choose to,
we can't even bear our own sin.
Yet you came and bore
the sin of the world.
He who knew no sin became sin.
That we might become the
righteousness of God.
What a beautiful thing that
you have made it possible for
us to be holy and righteous as
you intended at the beginning.
I pray this morning for those who
have made the choice to follow Christ.
I pray that you would help us to
continue to take up our cross daily,
to continue to To make the hard choice
and follow you each and every day and
the big things and in the little things
That we would surrender each and every
choice each and every thing that we
have to do so it's surrender to you
and Lord for those who have not yet
placed their faith in you this morning.
I pray that you compel them through
your spirit to surrender and to find
the ultimate And only real peace
that exists in Fellowship with you
this morning.
We are grateful for your presence.
We gr we are grateful for your word.
I pray that we would worship
you in spirit and truth.
May you be glorified in all things.
This and Jesus, holy name we pray.
Amen.
how awesome that is.
Um, so with that, And with that, I want
to thank all of you for being here.
This morning.
Um, and those with us online.
Um, may we all be mutually encouraged?
This morning, both as individuals
and as a community and Christ.
Before we begin this morning.
Let's pray.