Never Unnoticed: Don't Miss Out

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Everyone say, never unnoticed. This is week number

two in that series. Taught me not to use double

negatives. But that's okay. She's in heaven.

She's going to be glad that I'm preaching today,

right? Never unnoticed. The reason why we named

it this instead of just naming it always noticed

is because so often many of us feel unnoticed.

We feel unnoticed. We feel like no one sees what

we're doing. Especially when we think we're doing

something good. We're like, do people really

notice? You know, this past week, you know, was

my birthday on Friday. So I got like almost 300

happy birthdays from a lot of different locations.

So it was kind of hard to keep up with, but I'm

pretty sure that I went on every single one,

almost 300. I'm pretty sure I went on every one

and typed thank you. Because I did not want them

to think, someone who sent me happy birthday,

who took the time to send me that, I didn't want

them to think that it was unnoticed, that they

told me happy birthday. It was noticed. I felt

appreciated. I felt celebrated. Sometimes we

feel unnoticed. Even when I put happy birthday

on people's social media walls and then they

just never reply to it. It's just like, well,

did they read it? Do they care? Some people even

block all that on their birthday because they

don't want all those messages coming in. So they

change their profile on their birthday so that

they won't have to notice because it's not available

to leave, to write on their wall and say, happy

birthday. But this series is about this. If you

ever feel like you're unnoticed by God, I want

you to know that you're never unnoticed. Never

unnoticed. So that's why I have a double negative.

All right, back to my funny story. Let's see,

this was off the air before you guys were born.

Has anyone ever seen the show Candid Camera?

Used to be a TV show. We could call it one of

the first reality TV shows. Unlike modern -day

reality TV shows that are all scripted and have

nothing to do with reality, somebody wrote out

the script and how people are going to act and

respond, and they're just acting this pseudo

-reality. Does anybody believe what I'm saying?

I mean, it reminds me of watching Lawrence Welk.

I know that was older than some of you. Used

to watch Lawrence Welk every week. Anybody watch

Lawrence Welk every week? There were only three

TV channels, you know. And it was like an orchestra

and a sissy and a Bobby. One of you got that

joke. Anyway. Here's the funny thing. Ghana thought

that they were singing all that stuff. Live.

But they weren't. They were lip syncing. It was

like the first Milli Vanilli, you know. They

were just lip syncing all that stuff. They'd

recorded it. And then they were lip syncing it.

And then we'd gone back and looked at it later.

And I said, watch your lips. Their lips aren't

matching what you're hearing. They were lip syncing.

But candid camera was genuine reality TV because

they would set up these scenarios where it would

make people very uncomfortable. And they would

have the cameras going. But the cameras were

hidden. They didn't know they were on TV. And

the situation that they were in and how they

were responding, I mean, it was making everybody

very uncomfortable. And then when it just, like,

freaked them out, All of a sudden they would

say, smile, you're on candid camera. You were

on the TV show and you didn't even know you were

being recorded at the time. So I want to tell

you today, smile, you're on candid camera. If

you turn around and look behind you, there's

a camera right there and there's a camera right

there. There's cameras everywhere. You are on

camera coming here. Have you noticed that every

traffic light has a camera on it? There are different

shapes and different sizes, but I mean, it's

rare to find a traffic light without a camera

on it. Most of them are just watching traffic.

But then some of them are red light cameras.

And if you run a red light, you're going to get

a ticket in the mail. And they're even going

to show you a video of you running the red light

so that you can't contest it in any way. It's

like, yeah, you caught me. If you came to church

on a toll road today, I don't know if anyone

came on a toll road today, but there are toll

cameras. They've closed all the booths. You can't

pay if you want to. They're either going to send

you a bill in the mail or you're going to...

Get a discount by getting a sun pass or something

like that. But it's all done with cameras. I

found out a few weeks ago that now there's such

a thing as a speed limit camera. Have you seen

one? You sell them. Go get the rocks. Don't have

to stone. Only inside HOAs. I heard they're legal

on regular roads. And I heard that they set up

one in Polk County about three weeks ago, and

in one day, there was supposed to be 8 ,000 tickets,

speeding tickets, in one day. Now, I don't think

they did. I think they're still trying to figure

it out and work it out because... 8 ,000 tickets

in one day? JT has his hand up. Really? See,

here's a question I have now. I've always been

told if you stay at least... nine miles an hour

under the speed limit, you wouldn't get a ticket.

But if it's a camera, I don't know. If it's one

mile an hour over, maybe you're going to get

a ticket. Who knows? And then there's the school

cameras. Like I said, there's one right there,

one right there. They can see my face. The principal,

I'm sure, could open up her cell phone and see

what's going on here. Polk County schools, the

people in charge of facilities. and the superintendent

of schools, they could open up their camera and

see what's going on here today. So, I doubt somebody's

watching us, but they could be. They could be.

So that's why I need to keep smiling, because

you're always on candid camera. Last week we

talked about this, and I think we're going to

talk about it every week, in Genesis chapter

Genesis 16 · chapter mention

16. We see a story. We see the story of Abram,

Sarai, and Hagar. If you weren't here last week,

hopefully you're familiar with the story of Abraham,

but even if you aren't, I'm going to fill you

in very quickly. Abram later is named Abraham,

and he's known as the father of our faith. Because

he followed God. God told him to leave and go

somewhere that he would show him. He didn't even

know where he was going, but he just trusted

God enough to just follow God. Well, he's married

to Sarai, who later becomes Sarah when God changed

their names. But when they went down to Egypt

during a famine, they were given a servant. Her

name was Hagar. And she was Sarah's handmaid.

Now, God promised Abram something. God promised

Abram something. One night he took him outside

and told him to look up at the stars. And he

says, your descendants are going to outnumber

the stars. He said, you're going to be the father

of many nations. God's promise. Everybody say

promise. Well, there's a problem. When he first

got the promise, he's 75 years old and he doesn't

have a child. Not one. And as time passed, he

and Sarah still didn't have a child. How are

your descendants going to outnumber the stars

and you're going to be the father of nations,

father of many nations, and you don't even have

one child? So, Sarah, his wife, Had this big

idea. She said, well, you know, God's made us

a promise, and the promise hasn't been fulfilled

yet, so obviously God needs some help. How many

of you know that's not going to be a good thing

for you to think? Well, God's not doing what

He said He was going to do, so He obviously needs

my help. So Sarai said, Abram, I have this handmaiden.

I have this servant. I have this slave. And Abram,

we need to help God out. And I want my handmaiden

to be a surrogate mother to fulfill God's promise.

Well, not long after, Hagar is expecting. And

here's the problem. The Bible says when Hagar

became pregnant, all of a sudden she developed

an attitude. Everybody say attitude. She had

an attitude. She began to treat Sarah with contempt.

She began to like, you know, I'm having a baby.

You can't have a baby. I'm having a baby. How

many of you know that probably didn't go well

with Sarah? Didn't go well with Sarah. So Sarah

began to make her life difficult, the Bible says.

It's like, really? You're going to act that way

towards me? Sarah made her life difficult, and

Hagar ran away out into the wilderness. And God

met her in the wilderness. It says the angel

of the Lord. But this is a theophany or a Christophany.

This is not just a regular angel, not just a

regular messenger of God. This is God Himself

appearing in human form. He didn't take on human

form at this time, but He appeared that way.

Just like an angel can appear like a person,

And the Bible says we can entertain angels unaware.

Sometimes we may be dealing with someone who

we think is a person, but it could be an angel

that God has sent. Well, this is the angel of

the Lord. This is God Himself appearing as a

human to Hagar. And He says, Hagar, I want you

to run away. You need to go back. You need to

go back to Abram and Sarah. And she did. But

in this encounter, we found out one of God's

names. Now, if you've been here through the months,

you know, we did a series on Hello, My Name is

God. And we talked about so many names of God,

how God has revealed Himself to us through the

Word of God by... telling us who he is, identity,

relationship, and activity. Who he is, what kind

of relationship he wants to be in with you and

me, what he wants to do in our lives, who he

wants to be, the activity that he wants to do

in our lives, we find out through his names.

But we did not study this name. We find out that

God is El Roi. You pronounce it R -O -H dash

capital E -E. Go figure. You pronounce it however

you want to. El Roi. As good as I can come up

with. Or you could say El Roy. El is an abbreviation

for Elohim. We talked about this last week. Which

means he is the supreme and mighty God. And roi

means he sees. So he is the supreme mighty God

who sees me. That's who God is. That's who he

is. He is the supreme mighty God who sees you.

So you are never unnoticed by God because God

sees. God sees you. The supreme and mighty God

sees you personally. He sees every tear. He sees

every act of obedience. He sees every sacrifice.

He sees every act of faithfulness. Nothing goes

unnoticed by God. Nothing. Now for us to find

out that God is the supreme and mighty God who

sees me, you may say, there's some times when

I'm hoping He doesn't see me. I hope He doesn't

see me when I'm responding poorly. I hope He

doesn't see me. You know, when I'm not being

obedient, when I'm wanting my way more than His

way, I mean, I hope He's not really paying attention.

Come on, somebody. Smile, something. Just go

ahead and say, I'm glad He's talking about that

person sitting beside me today. Hallelujah. They

need this. But He sees you. He sees you. And

I want this to be not frightening, but encouraging.

He sees when you obey. He sees when you sacrifice.

He sees when you trust Him and act in faith.

He sees it. He sees it. 2 Chronicles 16, 9. It's

been one of my favorite verses for a long time.

When I was on the road, preaching, I would use

this verse almost every week. Not as the message,

but as hey, we need to be aware of this. For

the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout

the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf

of those whose heart is loyal to him. What an

amazing verse. It tells us that He's the God

who sees people. His eyes are going back and

forth through the whole earth. And what's most

important to God? When He looks at you, is He

most concerned about what you chose to put on

to wear today? I mean, He knows that. He sees

that. Is he most concerned about your hair? Herb

said, thank God. Is your hair styled? Is that

what he's concerned about? No. The Bible tells

us that God doesn't see like we see. Because

when we look at each other, we look at the appearance.

We look at the outward appearance. Because that's

what we can see with our natural eyes. So we

look at the natural appearance. But the Bible

says that God doesn't see like we see. He looks

at the heart. So He can look right through us,

whatever we look like on the outside, and He

can see the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

And God's eyes are running back and forth throughout

the whole earth, back and forth between each

row of chairs in this gymnasium. God is looking.

He's searching. He's looking for something. He's

looking for hearts that are loyal to Him. He's

looking for hearts that are committed to Him,

fully committed to Him. And when He finds it,

when He finds somebody who has a heart that's

fully committed to Him, I think he smiles and

he says, I'm going to show my goodness and my

faithfulness and my favor through them. I'm going

to show myself strong through them. He's the

God who sees. Notice what God's looking for.

He's not looking for talent. He's not looking

for influence. He's searching for hearts that

are fully committed to Him. When we're fully

committed to Him, we're going to experience His

goodness and favor. God doesn't simply look and

observe and calculate. He responds. Look to the

person beside you and tell them God responds.

And throughout this series, we're going to be

studying several biblical accounts where God

sees the hearts of people, and then He reveals

what He sees to us. How many of you are thankful

that God's not always revealing the thoughts

and intentions of your hearts to everybody in

the room? Or everybody for the next 2 ,000 years

is going to... Even after you're gone, people

are going to remember what your heart looked

like. Well, that's what we're seeing in these

stories. Today we're looking at Mark 10. I can

preach louder than her. She's fine. Mark 10,

Mark 10:17–30

verses 17 through 30. Mark 10, verses 17 through

Mark 10:17–30

30. As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem,

a man came running up to him, knelt down. Listen

to his posture. He ran up to Jesus and he knelt

down before Jesus. This wasn't just a casual

walk by. He sought Jesus out. He ran up to him.

He knelt down. And he asked him a question. Good

teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

That lets us know that he's heard Jesus talk

about eternal life. What do I have to do to get

this eternal life that you've been talking about?

What do I have to do? Hey, good teacher. And

then Jesus replied. He said, wait a minute. Why

do you call me good? Why do you call me good?

Only God is truly good. Why do you call me good?

I mean, obviously, if you run up to somebody

and kneel down in front of them, you have some

great respect for them. This wasn't the first

time this young man had been around Jesus, even

though the Bible doesn't say. Now this guy who

had been hanging out, this guy who had been up

on the mountainside listening to Jesus, this

guy who always walked where Jesus walked and

wanted to hear what he had to say, this guy who

was astonished with Jesus' words, the Bible doesn't

tell us that. But how many of you know it's okay

to read between the lines a little bit? Based

on him running to Jesus, falling on his feet,

calling him a good teacher. This man had been

around Jesus. He recognized something. He recognized

that Jesus was different than any of the other

religious teachers. He knew that Jesus spoke

with some authority that he had never heard before.

You know, that's one of the outstanding things

about Jesus that we see in the Bible is his words.

How he spoke differently than everyone else.

This guy respected Jesus. Now I'm not sure if

he had already come to the point where he believed

that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised one

from God. I'm not sure if he had gone that far.

But I'm sure he at least considered Jesus a prophet

of God who was speaking. On behalf of God. Are

you with me? Then Jesus goes on. He didn't allow

him to answer. Why do you call me good? Because

only God's good. He just kept on speaking. He

said. But to answer your question. You know the

commandments. Good Jewish boy. You know the commandments.

You must not murder. You must not commit adultery.

You must not steal. You must not testify falsely.

You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father

and mother. So Jesus said, okay, you're looking

for something. Here's your question. You're looking

for something you can do to get eternal life.

So you're asking me what you can do, how you

can work for it, and get eternal life. So let's

just go through these questions. How many of

you have never murdered someone? Raise your hand.

How many of you have never committed adultery?

Raise your hand. How many of you have never robbed

a bank or stole something out of a store? Raise

your hand. Some of you's hands aren't up. Hey,

somebody sit beside you. Tap your wallet. Make

sure your wallet's still there. How many of you

have not testified falsely? You haven't said

something about someone else that was not true?

Some people take this and say, how many of you

have never told a lie? Raise your hand. How many

of you have never, ever cheated anybody? Raise

your hand. How many of you have always, always,

always, every day, every moment, honored your

father and mother? We started out pretty good.

What do you think? You think he's always honored

you? Every time you've... He was raising his

hands. I'm just going to call him out. Every

time you've asked him to do something, he's always

smiled real big and happily done it. Oh, when

it takes you an hour to wake him up. Did he kind

of hear you and respond to you the first time,

but he just didn't get out of bed? Okay. So,

Jesus goes through these commandments with this

young man. What do you want to do? What can I

do? How can I work for it and have this eternal

life that you keep talking about? Now listen

to what he said. Teacher, the man replied, I've

obeyed all these commandments since I was just

a little boy. I've obeyed all these commandments.

How many of you think Jesus could have went,

liar? Right there in front of everybody. You

lying. no, you haven't kept them all. That was

a bold and a prideful response. Let's give him

the impossible, reasonable doubt. Let's say he

kept them all, which we know that he didn't.

Here's a bigger deal. Here's a bigger commandment

that Jesus knows He hasn't kept. Here's the way

we can put it. Honor the Lord your God and don't

have any gods before Him. Don't let there be

anything in your life that's more important to

you than God. Don't let there be anything in

your life that you trust more than you trust

God, because that's an idol. It's not a little

statue, but it's an idol. Looking at the man,

listen to this. Jesus felt genuine love for him.

Jesus loved him. And he says this, there's still

one thing you haven't done. And here's what he

told him to do. Go and sell all your possessions

and give the money to the poor. And you will

have treasure in heaven. Then, after you do that,

come follow me. Listen, sometimes the greatest

expression of God's love for you and for me is

exposing the thing in our life that is keeping

us from having His best. I'm going to say that

again. If you're writing notes, you need to write

this down. Sometimes the greatest expression

of God's love is exposing, after we are in Him

and we're in Christ and we're following Him,

Sometimes the greatest expression of His love

is exposing something in our lives that's keeping

us from having His best. We don't like things

being exposed in our hearts. It's not always

the ooey -gooey feelings of love, but it's important.

Because God wants you to experience His best.

And He's saying, if you'll just deal with this,

you can experience my best. This confrontation.

And I believe things like this need to happen

regularly in our lives. We need to be confronted

with the Word of God. We need to be challenged

by the Word of God concerning the things that

are in our lives that are keeping us from His

best. We get confronted and then we can either

be offended or we can respond because the confrontation

is an invitation. His confrontation is an invitation

for you and for me to come up higher. And for

you and for me to take hold of something better

than what we've been dealing with. So the confrontation

to this young man was an invitation. Here's how

he responded. Verse 22. At this, the man's face

fell. He's like, good teacher. What must I do

to inherit eternal life? Yeah, I've kept all

those commandments. What else? Sell all I have

and give to the poor? That's what he did, right?

At that word from Jesus, his face fell and he

went away sad because he had many possessions.

It's like, if that's what it takes, I'm not going

to have it. Nailed it. Jesus. Jesus nailed it.

Because this young man trusted his possessions

more than he trusted Jesus. Remember, this story

didn't take place in a vacuum like we talked

about last week. I mean, if he's been following

Jesus around, he had been to the synagogue, he

had been to the temple, he knew that God made

promises to people who gave. And if people give,

when God leads them to give or commands them

to give or His Word tells them to give and they

give in response to that, there's always a blessing

attached. I'm not sure if I've got it in here

or not. I might go ahead and say something that's

coming up. But if I do, just forgive me because

I can't memorize every slide. Last week, the

widow... put in her two mites, which equals about

$1 .88 in today's money. And I've got a question.

Didn't Jesus say she gave more than anybody,

even though she only gave $1 .88? And the reason

why Jesus said she gave more than anybody is

because she gave all she had. So it's easy for

us to sit here today and say, well, you know,

it wasn't a big deal for that widow to give away

all she had. But it's a big deal for this rich

guy to give away all he had. Look at the person

beside you and say, no, it's the same. It's the

same. It's the same level of trust. No difference.

He knew the promises of God. He just didn't trust

it. He trusted his possessions more than he trusted

Jesus. There it is. I couldn't remember if I

had it there or not. I'll go ahead and read it.

Last week, we looked at the story of the woman

putting $1 .88 in the offering. That was all

she had. And we talked about this, how her offering

demonstrated her complete trust and confidence

in God. If you weren't here last week, I'll ask

you the same question as last week. Do you think

she went hungry? Some of you are not sure. Do

you think she went hungry because she gave all

she had? If you think she went hungry because

she gave all she had, then you don't trust God.

She trusted God. We talked about, she knew about

the widow that only had a little bit of flour

and oil. She was going to make her last meal.

But God said, through the prophet, the prophet,

God sent him there and he said, make me a biscuit

first. She only had enough for two biscuits,

but the prophet said, make a biscuit for me first

before you make one for you and your son. She

was going to make two biscuits. That was all

their food. She was going to die. Her son was

going to die of starvation. It was a time of

famine. And God had the audacity. To tell her

to give the first portion to the prophet. And

like I said, in our culture, it's like, really?

I'm offended. Why didn't you go to the richest

person in town? Well, the richest person in town

didn't need the blessing as much as the widow

who was going to have her last meal and die anyway.

She needed some help. She was in desperate need

for a miracle. Or either she was going to die.

But the miracle came when she obeyed God and

gave first. And then the Bible says her flour

and her oil did not fail for months and months

and months and months. Even though it was just

enough for two little biscuits. A miracle every

day. Because every day she made the first biscuit

for the prophet. Even though it looked like she

only had a little bit. How many of you know God

didn't want to take what she had? God wanted

to multiply what she had. Hallelujah. I'm going

to tell you the same thing. God does not want

to take what you have. God wants to multiply

what you have. He's the same God. He didn't want

to take everything this rich young ruler had.

We're going to find out right in line with the

text. He wanted to multiply what the rich young

ruler had. That's who God is. God's not a God

of subtraction. God's a God of multiplication.

And if you get mad because I say that, it's because

you don't trust him. You've never proven Him.

You've never tried Him in this. Put Him to the

test like the Bible says and discover that He's

a good God. Sometimes you've got to wait a little

while but stay in faith. Stay in faith. Listen,

this young man missed out on a couple of things.

The first thing is He missed out on being one

of Jesus' disciples. I don't know if you've ever

considered this or not. I know I'm not the only

person who's ever said it, but Jesus told him,

he said, come follow me. It's the same call to

other disciples. But this man missed out on being

one of Jesus' disciples because his possessions

were more valuable to him. than obeying Jesus

and following Jesus. 1 Timothy 6 .10 says this,

For the love of money is the root of all kinds

of evil. And some people, craving money, have

wandered away from the true faith and pierced

themselves with many sorrows. Now you might have

heard somebody say before, money is the root

of all evil. But that's not true. The love of

money is the root of all evil. I'm going to go

ahead and throw this out there. You can love

money and not have a quarter in your pocket.

Just like you can love money if you have... A

trillion dollars in your bank account. The love

of money doesn't depend on how much you have

or how much you don't have. Some people who have

nothing are just always thinking about money.

When they don't have anything. Our words reveal

the passion of our hearts. Our words reveal the

treasure of our hearts. Our words reveal what

we love the most. What we desire the most. The

love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

How many of you know the widow who put in the

$1 .88? She didn't love money. This guy, Jesus

said, follow me, and he's just like, can't do

it, Jesus. I love my stuff more than I respect

you. The story continues. Just like Jesus taught

His disciples from the widow's offering. I mean,

He was standing there watching the offering.

And after she put in the offering, He says, Guys,

come here. I want to tell you something. I want

to point out something to you. I don't count

the same way you count. Heaven doesn't count

the same way you count. It's a lot of rich people

put in some pretty big offerings. But this little

lady who put in $1 .88, she gave more than everybody.

Insignificant to us. But exploding in heaven.

We're still talking about it 2 ,000 years later.

So just like Jesus taught his disciples from

the widow's offering, now he's going to teach

his disciples again. He says, hey guys, come

here. Jesus looked around. Come here. I want

you to get something. I want you to know something.

Hey guys, it's hard for rich people to enter

the kingdom of God. How hard is it for the rich

to enter the kingdom of God? And they went, what?

What? It's amazing. But Jesus said it again.

Dear children, it's very hard to enter the kingdom

of God. It's hard to enter the kingdom. To enter

the kingdom of God, you've got to come to the

point where you trust Jesus more than you trust

yourself. You've got to trust Jesus more than

you trust your stuff. Hello? To enter the kingdom

of God, you have to confess Jesus as Lord. It's

like, Jesus, all that I am, all that I have is

now yours. I am yours. I yield myself to you.

You are now my master. You're now my boss. You're

now the one in charge of my life. And since you're

in charge of my life, that puts you in charge

of everything, every part of my life, every possession

of my life. Jesus, you're in charge. Then he

said this. In fact, it's easier for a camel to

go through the eye of a needle than for a rich

person to enter the kingdom of God. We need to

start making a big needle if we're going to put

a camel through it. I'm not going to go there.

Anyway. Some preachers have come up with the

idea that there's a gate and the camel has to

get on its knees and be unloaded to go through

the gate and they call the gate the eye of the

needle. Maybe you've heard a preacher say that.

I've said it before. There's no evidence. It's

just a nice little illustration that some preacher

came up with, and he must have been pretty influential

because a lot of preachers find out about it,

and a lot of preachers repeat it, and I found

out about it, and I repeated it, and then somebody

challenged me on it, and I'm like, well, I can't

find it. So Jesus was talking about a real camel

going through the eye of a needle. Well, remember,

Jesus counts differently and Jesus sees differently.

The disciples were astounded. And they said,

then who in the world can be saved? I mean, just

open up your mind a little bit. Jesus had a treasurer.

Do you need a treasurer if you're broke, busted,

and disgusted? There was enough going through

the Jesus Evangelistic Association that he had

to have a treasurer. and that the treasurer could

be stealing the whole time, and there's still

enough to do what they needed to do, even with

him stealing the whole time. Hello? So keep your

mind open. Poor old Jesus, he didn't even have

a place to lay his head. Whew! Somebody smile.

I mean, right before the disciples left to go

with Jesus, they caught more fish than they would

normally catch in a month's time. It was a huge

payday. Huge payday. Got a month's pay in one

day. How many of you would like to get your whole

month's pay tomorrow and then still work the

month out? Listen, they were astounded. They

didn't consider themselves poor beggars. Who

in the world can be saved, Jesus? Is it only

the widow that can be saved? I mean, do you have

to be poor to come to God? Is God against people

having abundance? Is God against people having

abundance? If you think, He is, and if your former

pastor thinks that he is, tell him to read his

Bible. Abraham's the father of our faith. Try

to read your Bible and see how much he had. He

had enough people, he had enough servants working

for him that he suited up an army and defeated

a nation. Just with the servants in his household.

Had so much that he and Lot had to split. God

blessed them so much, they had to split. They

couldn't even stay in the same region. What about

David? A man after God's own heart. You think

God's against Abraham? No. Look at the person

beside you and go, no. You think God's against

David? I mean, he called him a man after his

own heart. But he had so much abundance, he gave,

in today's money, he gave over $1 .4 billion

of his personal money towards building the temple.

If you're broke, busted, and disgusted, you probably

can't come up with a $1 .4 billion offering.

Solomon. He's known as the wisest man who ever

lived. But just read your Bible. Even Jesus referred

to Solomon. He said, Solomon has the best. Solomon

is dressed the best. I mean, he's wearing Louis

Vuitton. He's wearing the best. All the time.

Every day. Look how he's clothed. You think God's

against Solomon? No. And then Jesus told them

this. He said, hey guys, you're missing the point

here. He looked at them intently. Humanly speaking,

it's impossible. What I just told you, camel

going through an eye of a needle, humanly speaking,

it's impossible. But don't forget, That what

you think in your little brain, what you think

is impossible, it's not impossible with God.

Everything's possible with God. If God wants

a camel to go through an eye of a needle, just

stand back and watch. He'll show you how He can

do it. Then Peter began to speak up. Peter likes

to talk. Sometimes he puts his foot in his mouth.

Sometimes he says great things. But he's always

saying something. Peter began to speak up. We've

given up everything to follow you. He said. He

said, Jesus, you just pointed out this guy. You

told him to give away everything and come follow

you like you told us to just drop everything

and come follow you. But he went away sad. We

didn't go away sad. Hey, Jesus. Are they telling

the truth? Yeah, they're telling the truth. He's

not just talking about himself. He's talking

about all those guys. We've given up everything

to follow you, he said. Listen, when Jesus said,

come follow me to Peter, Andrew, James, and John,

they walked away from their boats. They walked

away from their nets. They walked away from their

family to follow Jesus. If you don't believe

me, let's read it. Matthew 4, verses 18 through

Matthew 4:18–22

22. One day as Jesus was walking along the shore

of the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon,

also called Peter, and Andrew, throwing a net

into the water. For they fished for a living.

They were fishermen. Jesus called out to them,

Come follow Me, and I will show you how to fish

for people. And they left their nets at once

and followed Him. A little farther up the shore,

he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting

in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing

their nets. And he called them to come too. Come

on, guys. Come follow me. How did they respond?

They immediately followed him, leaving the boat

and their father behind. Peter, Andrew, James,

and John, they changed the world. Look to the

person beside you and say, these guys changed

the world. The world's never been the same since

they followed Jesus. All we know about this young

rich man is that he walked away sad. We don't

even know his name. He didn't change the world.

We still know his story, but we know it because

of bad reasons. Because Jesus saw his heart and

then he said, alright, here's his heart on display

for everybody for ages to come. Here's this guy's

heart. And then Jesus replied to Peter. He said,

yeah, Peter, you have. You and Andrew and James

and John, when I called you to follow me, you

dropped it. You dropped your nets, walked away

from your boats, walked away from your family

fishing business. You left all that to follow

me. Yes, you did. Listen. He says, I assure you,

I promise you, that everyone who has given up

house, our brothers, our sisters, our mother,

our father, our children, our property, for my

sake and for the gospel, for the good news, I

assure you, That these people will receive now.

Everybody say now. Other translations are saying

in this life. It's not just heaven. Even though

heaven is amazing and it's awesome and it's worth

it all. Jesus is saying, no, now, in this life,

before you die, you're going to receive. In return,

a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters,

mothers, children, property, along with some

persecution. And all of them except John died

for their faith, were murdered, martyred because

of their faith. So they faced some persecution.

But I'm here today to tell you that they weren't

broke, busted, and disgusted the rest of their

life. Listen, this man not only missed out on

being one of Jesus' disciples, he also missed

out on having a hundred times more than what

he started with. How many of you believe Jesus

tells the truth? How many of you believe He keeps

His promises? Chances are, chances are very high

that Jesus is not calling you to leave your house

to follow Him. To leave your business to follow

Him. Chances are very high. He's not going to

do that. Listen. In 1991, Gannon and I were married

in 85. In 1991, we built our dream home in Greenville,

South Carolina. There weren't many houses at

that time with two bedrooms on one end of the

house with a bathroom and another master bedroom

on the other end of the house with a bathroom.

That wasn't the common floor plan. But that's

what we wanted. So we had an architect draw it

up, draw up the plans just for us. And on December

24th of 1991, we moved into our brand new house.

What we always wanted. Moved in. Now there wasn't

nothing in the house but a bed and a couch. Because

it's Christmas Eve. Did we put up a Christmas

tree? A Christmas tree. A Christmas tree, a couch

that Ganna's daddy made for us, and a bed. And

we built this house while Ganna was pregnant.

Because Jeffrey was born a month later after

we moved in the house. Talking about having nesting

issues. You don't even have a house. So you're

building a house and you can't get the nursery

ready until you move in the house. And then you

move in the house a month before, a month and

one week before he was born. So, why did I tell

you all this? Well... In 95, April 15th, never

forget it because it was tax day. April 15th

of 1995, we followed Jesus by moving out of the

house, selling the house, and moving into a motorhome.

Listen. When I talk about stuff like this, I'm

not just presenting theory. I'm presenting theory.

Chances are very high that God's not going to

call you to leave your house to follow Him. Or

to step away from your family, to move away from

your family. I mean, almost immediately we moved

to Alabama with family in South Carolina and

North Carolina. But I'm here to tell you something.

We've received way more than a hundredfold return

for family. Because we're going to be dancing

on the streets of gold with at least, I mean,

if I took my last breath today, I'm dancing on

the streets of gold with about 10 ,000. I mean,

you know, we walked away from 21 family members.

How many of you know 100 times 21? What's that?

2100? 10 ,000 people. Brothers and sisters. And

listen. The hundredfold return on the house itself

and land. Part of that is going to be. Galatian

church land and Galatian church building. Because

I haven't given up on the promise. Because I

believe God keeps His promises and I still trust

Him as much as I did then, I trust Him today.

Because I was living in Myrtle Beach in a house

that was almost twice the square footage as our

dream house on the ocean. And you know what?

God said, I didn't own it, but I could have lived

in it until I couldn't preach anymore. For free.

God said, let's do it again. Let's do it again.

In a 2 ,400 square foot house that I could almost

hit a golf ball into the ocean, let's do it again.

Yeah. You think I'm crazy. I'm glad God sees

different than you do. Let's do it again. And

then look at this family. There's more family.

So when I talk about this, I'm not talking about

some kind of theory. Right? All of our possessions

were laying on the ground behind the house. There

was a stack to put in storage and a stack to

give away or throw away and a stack for the sale.

Garage sale. Yeah, the funny thing is, our friends

decided to help us with the garage sale. So they

just priced everything. They just came and picked

it up and took it to their neighborhood that

was having a big garage sale. They priced everything.

By the time we got there, almost all of our junk

had already been sold. This ain't about me. I

don't want you to leave thinking it's about me.

I'm just telling you. God's faithful. God's going

to keep His promises. You can trust Him. He's

not wanting... to receive from you, to subtract

from you. He's wanting to multiply you. The Bible

is evidence. My life is evidence. There are people

in this room who could say, my life's evidence

too, and I'll tell you that testimony. Here's

another consideration. Maybe the rich young ruler

wasn't as greedy as much as he was afraid. Maybe

he believed that surrender to Jesus, selling

all he had and following Jesus, maybe he believed

surrender meant loss. But faith sees surrender

as gain. Trust sees surrender as gain. Hebrews

11, 6. I'm almost done. It's impossible to please

God without faith. You're not going to please

Him without faith. Without a confident expectation

that He's going to keep His promises. You're

not going to please Him. Because anybody who

comes to God must believe that He exists. And

we're real cool with that. I believe God exists.

I believe in God. Sometimes we get squirrely

on this. I believe God exists, but we also have

to believe that He rewards those who sincerely

seek Him. Sincerely means with the right heart,

with the right intent, with the right motive,

we're seeking God. I didn't read that verse and

say, well, Ganna, let's sell the house and move

into a motorhome and never own a house. Let's

do that because God's going to owe us a hundred

times. That was not the motivation. The motivation

was, God, if that's what you want us to do, we're

going to do it. We're going to do it. We've got

to believe that God rewards those who sincerely

seek Him. Jesus still invites people to follow

Him. And He still exposes with love what... for

our hearts. He will expose that to us. As long

as you're breathing, you haven't missed your

opportunity. He still rewards surrendered lives.

He still does. Whatever you place in God's hands

is never lost. But whatever you refuse to surrender,

Can quietly become your master. So God speaks

to all of us. He speaks to all of us. He challenges

all of us. He wants to pull all of us out of

our comfort zone. Every single one of us. To

say something, to give something, to do something.

If we'll listen, He'll challenge us. What you

don't want to happen is, you don't want to hear

it and then say, well, no, God, that's just too

much. That's just too much. Not going to be able

to do that, God. It's what this rich young ruler

did. Listen, your sacrifice, your displays of

trust, your actions that reveal your trust in

God, your obedience, your generosity, your worship

will never go unnoticed by God. Never go unnoticed

by God. God always sees. He is El Rohi. He always

sees. And your faith response to whatever He

calls you to, that's what activates His promises.

His promises are there. He's already paid for

them. He's already provided for them. They're

already yours. But in my life and in my experience,

it always takes some kind of response on my end

in order to receive it. Some type of obedience.

Some type of act. I believe that's in line with

the Word of God. And I'm telling you that it's

in line. With my experience too. This online

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