Subscribed or Surrendered- Matthew 21: 23-32

day again. Now if you'll just turn to where we

left off last week. We're going to continue in

our sermon series in Matthew and we're coming

to this section that's all about authority and

what it means to follow Jesus and it's interesting

because we use the word follow very loosely today.

If you think about how we use it we say well

I follow this person on Instagram, I follow this

person's podcast, I follow this person on Twitter.

But in the Bible, to follow someone, it meant

something very different. It meant that you actually

left something behind, that you submitted to

someone else's leadership. When Jesus calls people

to follow Him, He is not calling people to just

click a like and subscribe button. He is asking

people to lay down their lives. This is what

He said in Matthew 16. The Bible says, Let him

deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find

it. You see, when the term follow started being

used in the context of social media, it originally

meant I like this person's content. But it's

developed even further now. There's such a thing

now as a hate follow. which is where you follow

someone that you don't like and you don't agree

with just to keep tabs on them. That's why I

follow the Vatican on Twitter. There are really

three kinds of followers. You have those who

are irritated and they are merely subscribed

because they're wanting to keep tabs with someone

and argue with them. You have those who are interested

and they're just kind of on the fringe. They

want to keep up with what someone's saying, but

it really doesn't affect their life too much.

And then you have those who are invested. They

are prepared to change their lives. They're prepared

to adjust their lives and their beliefs based

on what the person they're following tells them

to do. They are in the words of the greatest

football coach alive today, Dabo Sweeney. They

are all in. And that's what Jesus is doing here

in Matthew 21. He's exposing the difference between

these different kinds of people. And the Bible's

point here is that Jesus isn't looking for spiritual

subscribers, but surrendered followers. Jesus

isn't looking for spiritual subscribers. He's

looking for surrendered followers. He isn't interested

in people who are going to give him lip service.

He isn't interested in people who are just gonna

show up to church on a Sunday morning, looking

nice, saying all the right things. When Jesus

calls a man to follow him, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer

said, he bids him come and die. And so the difference

that we need to consider this morning, the importance

that we need to be looking at this morning is

what is the difference between spiritual subscribers

and surrendered followers? What's the difference

between spiritual subscribers and surrendered

followers? Now as we're getting into this passage,

we need to remember the context of the passage

and what has happened. For instance, Jesus has

entered into Jerusalem at his triumphal entry.

He immediately went and he cleansed the temple.

He started flipping over tables and driving people

out. Then he cursed a fig tree, and exposed the

problem of false faith. And Jesus has done all

of this over the course of an afternoon and a

morning. And so he's made a lot of waves in not

a lot of time. And people are on edge, the religious

leaders, they are irritated, and they are looking

for a fight. And right on cue, they're entering

into the temple, and they see Jesus teaching,

and they say, all right, now's the time. It's

time to start a fight with Jesus. And so this

is what the Bible says in verse 23. And when

he entered the temple, the chief priests and

the elders of the people came up to him as he

was teaching and said, by what authority are

you doing these things? And who gave you this

authority? All right, so you have to understand,

the reason they're asking this question is because

in ancient Judaism, authority came from recognized

sources. It came from the Sanhedrin, famous rabbis,

scribal training or a prophetic calling. In other

words, you would almost never hear a rabbi speak

with their own authority. They would almost never

say things like, I say to you, or I teach you

this. Instead, they would say things like, Rabbi

Hillel says, or according to Rabbi Shemai, And

so they would teach with the authority of another.

It was coming from some other source. I actually

created a graphic. Hopefully we have it for you

to see. You can't read that. That's on me. That's

my bad. Looks nice though. I'll send it to you

if you want it. But basically the idea is that

you would never teach with your own authority.

It came from an outside source. And you see Paul

doing this very thing in Acts 22. When he's making

his appeal to the Jewish people, Paul says to

them in Acts 22 verse 3, I'm a Jew. born in Tarsus

Acts 22:3

and Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated

at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict

manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous

for God as all of you are this day." So what's

Paul doing here? He's anticipating the same question

that the religious leaders are asking Jesus here.

Paul was making his appeal to the Jewish people.

He was telling them that Jesus was the promised

Messiah that the Old Testament had foretold about.

And so he's pointing them to Jesus, he's preaching

the gospel, and he's anticipating that they're

going to say to him, by what authority are you

saying these things, Paul? And he says, well,

Gamaliel. I was trained at the feet of Gamaliel.

And so in order to be a legitimate rabbi, you

had to be validated by this higher authority.

And so it's interesting when we see Jesus speaking

and teaching and healing, and he's not doing

it by saying, I'm appealing to this other source

of authority, he's doing it in and of himself.

Jesus is claiming to have the highest authority

possible. Jesus is saying, I don't need to be

validated by some other source, I validate myself.

I don't get my authority from some religious

teacher that came before me. I am the authority.

And so when the religious leaders ask by what

authority you do these things, you have to understand

what they're really asking Jesus is, Jesus, who

do you think you are? What gives you the right

to come into our temple? and say things against

us and teach things that go against us and tell

us that we're a bunch of bad people who aren't

actually right with God. Jesus, what gives you

the right? You see, what they're hoping is that

Jesus would agree with them. And when Jesus doesn't

agree with them, they want to go around Jesus

and find some authority that will agree with

them. And if that sounds familiar to you, it's

because that's exactly what people still do today.

People like to claim they believe in Jesus. They

like to claim they believe the Bible, but when

Jesus doesn't agree with them, they go and find

someone who will. When I was at North Greenville,

I had to take a class called Senior Seminar,

and every senior seminar has its own topic, and

our topic was the topic of homosexuality. And

so we had to read a book called God and the Gay

Christian by Matthew Vines. I have this book

in my office, but if you find it in my office,

it is stamped with a stamp that says heretical

garbage for research purposes only. I just don't

want people to be confused about what the pastor's

reading, okay? So I got that stamp for a reason.

But basically here's what happened. Matthew Vines

grew up in a Christian household. But he started

to struggle with feelings of homosexuality, same

-sex attraction, and so he said he wanted to

discover what the Bible actually taught on this

subject. And so he said what he was going to

do is he was going to go and do research for

himself. He was going to investigate this topic

for himself, and he was going to let the evidence

speak for itself, and he would just present it

in this book. And surprisingly what he found

is that apparently God never condemns homosexuality.

That all the Bible verses that speak against

it are actually speaking against it. And so he

writes in his book his findings and he says well

this expert says this and this person who's a

scholar in this says this. Here's what he actually

did. He ignored every orthodox and evangelical

authority on this matter and he went and specifically

looked for liberal scholars who would tell him

what he wanted to hear. And so he ignored the

majority voice. He found people who would affirm

his lifestyle, tell him what he wanted to hear,

and then he presented that as though that is

what the Bible actually says on this matter.

He was merely looking for someone to validate

his lifestyle. And this is exactly what the religious

leaders are doing here. You're seeing a key difference

between being spiritually subscribed and spiritually

surrendered. Spiritual subscribers resist Jesus's

authority to the degree that it threatens their

own. Spiritual subscribers resist Jesus's authority

to the degree that it threatens their own. You

see, those who are merely subscribed, they are

completely fine with Jesus as long as Jesus agrees

with them, as long as Jesus tells them what they

want to hear, as long as Jesus affirms their

lifestyle. But the second that there's disagreement,

they resist Jesus's authority and they reject

his authority. I think one of the absolute best

self -examination questions you can ask yourself

this morning is this, when scripture confronts

me, do I adjust my life or my interpretation?

That's going to tell you where your heart's at

this morning. When scripture confronts me and

confronts me in my sin, do I adjust my life or

my interpretation? And we see this in all sorts

of issues today, do we not? People who clearly

see what God has to say on an issue, they clearly

see where Jesus is claiming to be an authority

and yet they don't like what He has to say and

so they just adjust their interpretation. You

see it with the issue of abortion today. The

Bible says that mankind is made in the image

of God. Every single human is made in the image

of God. The Bible also makes it very clear that

life begins at conception, not at some later

point. The Bible says that God knit us in our

mother's womb. Before we were ever even born,

He knew us. Life begins at conception. Every

human is made in the image of God. The Bible

says that murder is a sin, and the taking of

innocent human life is murder. You go to the

Bible, and the Bible says abortion is murder.

God judged nations specifically for ripping open

the wombs of pregnant women. God brought judgment

upon them. And yet you look at what the world

says today. This is what God has to say on the

issue, and then people today go, well it's my

body, my choice. No, it's not. The Bible says

that you are not your own, that you were bought

with a price, so honor and glorify God with your

bodies. It is not your body, your choice. And

no human has the right to do whatever they want

with their own body, regardless of their gender.

And so we have two options here. When we see

what God has to say on the topic of abortion,

we can either change our life or we can change

our interpretation. We can either submit to Jesus's

authority or we can say that we know better.

And this is what we're going to do. If that one

wasn't controversial enough for you, let's think

of another one. You take the issue of women pastors

today. The Bible says that the office of pastor

is reserved for men as qualified by scripture.

That's what the Bible says. The Bible says in

1st Timothy 2, 12 that women are not permitted

to teach or exercise authority over men. That's

what God says in His inspired and narrant Word.

Now we can either submit to that Or we can go,

well, I don't like that, pastor. That's not fair.

That's outdated. That was just for the first

century. We need to get with the times. It's

totally appropriate to have women pastors today.

And all we're doing is saying the same thing

the religious leaders are saying here. What authority,

Jesus? What gives you the right to tell me what

I can and cannot do? I feel a certain way. Listen

to me. It doesn't matter how you feel. It matters

what God says in His Word. I think it would be

wise to tell you at this point that your interpretation

of Scripture doesn't actually change God's intention

with Scripture. God's Word means what it was

intended to mean and our understanding of Scripture

has no bearing on its actual meaning. Let God

be true in every man a liar. If that wasn't controversial

enough for you, take the issue of marriage and

sexuality. The Bible says that marriage is to

be between one man and one woman for life. That

is the only God -ordained form of marriage. And

we can either accept that and adjust our lives

or we can resist Jesus' authority. We can say,

well, God needs to get with the times. People

need to live together before they get married.

They need to see if they're compatible. They

need to enjoy a physical relationship with one

another before marriage. It's completely acceptable.

It's completely appropriate today. God needs

to get with it. Who are you, O man, to question

the Almighty? Are we really going to be so arrogant

that we say that we, the dust of the earth, know

better than the eternal God, who knows all things

is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. We know

better than him and say, God, you need to adjust

what you say to what I believe. We can either

change our lives. We can change our interpretation.

If that one wasn't enough for you, I've got another

one. Let's think about a really fun one. Second

Thessalonians chapter three, verse 10. The Bible

says, for even when we were with you, we would

give you this command, if anyone is not willing

to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some

among you walk in idleness, not busy at work,

but busy bodies. Now, this is where all the men

are going to get uncomfortable. Most men today

think that they're doing a great job fulfilling

this first, do they not? All the men that I know

think they're doing a phenomenal job with this.

Because they look at this, they go, hey, men

are supposed to work, they're supposed to work

hard, I'm doing it. And it's because they're

thinking about their nine to five. They go to

work, they pay their bills, they provide for

their family. And so I read a couple of verses

like this and they go, go on and preach it, pastor.

You lay it on thick because I'm doing good at

this. And that's because these men are thinking

only of their vocation. And they're not thinking

at all about the work that God has called them

to do in their homes. These men go to work, they

come home, they kick off their boots, and they

expect dinner to be on the table for them. They

expect the house to be cleaned. After dinner,

they'd like to unwind and have their wife take

care of their children and their house. So I'm

about to make people really uncomfortable, especially

the men. So happy Mother's Day, mothers. This

is my gift to you for not having a Mother's Day

sermon. Men, I'm going to tell every single one

of you something you do not want to hear but

is entirely biblical. Everything in your house

is your responsibility. You're the man of the

house, right? You like to use that phrase? This

is my house, I'm the man of the house, my rules?

Because God has made you the leader of your household

and put you as the head of your household, listen

to me. Everything in your house is your responsibility.

The laundry is your responsibility. The dishes

are your responsibility. The cleaning is your

responsibility. The cooking is your responsibility.

And I hear you. I hear you. Pastor, this isn't

fair. I can't do everything myself. I can't be

expected to go to work and then come home and

do everything myself. Exactly. That's exactly

right. That's why God has given you an Isaiah,

a helper, a helpmate, not a servant to wait on

you hand and foot. God in His grace has given

you a helper to come alongside of you and help

you take care of the responsibility and take

care of all the work in the house. But make no

mistake, men, everything in the house is your

responsibility. But rather than having biblical

men today, We have men today who use their 9

to 5 as an excuse to check out from 5 to 9 when

they get home. We have men who want to help make

the baby, but then they don't want to help take

care of the baby. We have men who never read

scripture with their families, never pray with

their families, never teach their children about

the Lord. Here's my question to you, church.

Are these men? Is this really the best that we

can do? Is this what submission to Jesus's authority

looks like in our lives? I mean, it absolutely

breaks my heart as I was writing this. I don't

even have a daughter. It literally was bringing

me to tears to think about all the little girls

in our church. I want you to think about all

the little girls that just left and went to children's

church. I want you to think about all of our

youth girls that we have here this morning. We've

got five youth girls here this morning. Think

about all these girls. One day they are going

to grow up and they're going to be looking for

a husband. It breaks my heart to think that this

sort of man is the best that we have to offer

them. A man who will go to work and pay the bills,

but will neglect them, neglect their children,

and neglect the spiritual nourishment of their

families. Is this really the best that we can

do? Men who will gravitate towards the easy work

and neglect the hard work. And I hear you again,

you say, but pastor, how can you say it's easy

work? I go to work all day long. I work a manual

labor job. If you had to come and work a day

in my job, I guarantee you wouldn't be saying

it's easy. I'll prove to you that it's easy and

that you know it is. Here's a scenario for you.

If you were to give most men the option, you

have two options, men. You can either go to your

job, whatever it is, and you can work an eight

hour shift. or option two, you can stay at home

with your family, no technology, no smartphones,

and you have to spend one hour in uninterrupted

family worship, leading your family in scripture

reading, praying, and singing worship songs.

I guarantee you, the majority of men pick the

eight hour shift at work. Because it's easy.

You see men, the Bible says that you're to love

your wife as Christ loved the church and gave

himself up for her. Jesus said of himself that

he came not to be served, but to serve. And so

if you're resisting Jesus' call for you to work

hard, not just at your job, but in your home,

and especially the spiritual nourishment of your

family, then you're no better than the religious

leaders here. You're saying the same thing they

did. What gives Jesus the right to tell me how

to live my life? If you want to know whether

you're spiritually subscribed or spiritually

surrendered, you need to ask yourself the question,

are there any areas of my life that are off limits

to Jesus? I'm fine with Jesus talking about religious

stuff and church stuff. That's no problem with

me. But relationships, finances, careers, sexualities,

priorities, responsibilities, those are off limits

to him. He can't say a thing about it. If you're

resisting Jesus' authority, it's probably because

you sense that your own is being threatened.

You see, you might think that you're good this

morning because you've got the Bible app downloaded

on your phone. And you're subscribed to the Bible

Recap podcast. So you're good. But being subscribed

to a biblical podcast, no matter how good it

is, is not the same thing as being spiritually

surrendered or submitting to Jesus' authority

in your life. It doesn't matter how much you

know if you never actually obey or follow what

you know. I mean, just look at the religious

leaders here in verse 24. Jesus answered them.

I also will ask you one question, and if you

tell me the answer, then I will tell you by what

authority I do these things. The baptism of John,

from where did it come? From heaven or from man?

And they discussed it among themselves saying,

if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why

then did you not believe him? But if we say from

man, we're afraid of the crowd, for they all

hold that John was a prophet. And so they answered

Jesus, we don't know. And he said to them, well

neither will I tell you by what authority I do

these things. Now this is a brilliant tactic

by Jesus, is it not? It was common in that day

to be in a debate and answer a question with

a question. And it was not to try to avoid the

question that was being asked, it was used as

a tactic to try to expose motives and intentions.

And that's exactly what Jesus is doing here.

He's not avoiding their question, he's exposing

their hearts. Because right now they're stuck

between a rock and a hard place, are they not?

When they talk about John's baptism, they understand

if they say, well, he was a prophet from God,

they're in big trouble because Jesus is going

to say, well, why didn't you believe him? But

if they say, well, he wasn't a prophet from God,

the problem is all the crowds held that he was.

And so if they say that he wasn't, then they're

not going to be accepted by the crowds anymore.

And so they take the coward's way out. And they

say, we don't know. Which isn't true. They do

know. It's like I said, their problem is not

a lack of information. Their problem is a lack

of integrity. This is not honest ignorance. This

is skillful evasion at a moment of decision.

And I was thinking of someone else who said,

I don't know, at a crucial moment of decision.

I was thinking of the Apostle Peter on the night

that Jesus was arrested. The Apostle Peter had

three different people come up to him. and point

out that Peter was a disciple and a friend of

Jesus, and three different times, what did Peter

say? I don't know him. You see, in that moment,

Peter did not forget Jesus, he just feared the

crowd. And just like the religious leaders here,

their answer, we don't know, it wasn't about

information, it was about self -preservation.

And I think that just like Peter and just like

these leaders, we all face these moments where

standing for the truth is costly. We're standing

for Jesus, for standing for the truth about sin

and what we believe. It is actually costly. And

the question is very rarely, do you know? The

question is always, what are you going to do

with what you know? You see, the point here is

that spiritual subscribers reject truth to the

degree that it endangers their image. Spiritual

subscribers reject truth to the degree that it

endangers their image, just like the religious

leaders here. When their image was in jeopardy,

and they were fearful that the crowd would no

longer accept them or look well upon them, they

decided to take the coward's way out. We've got

a big problem when our public image matters more

to us than our personal integrity. And I want

to remind you church that every single person

in this room this morning, every single person

who professes to be a believer in Jesus and a

follower of Christ, you're going to face these

exact situations in your life. It starts early.

We've got students and youth here this morning.

You're going to be facing this challenge in school.

Because I promise you it's going to be easier

many times throughout your school years. It's

going to be easier to blend into the crowd than

it is to stand for Jesus. There are going to

be moments when your reputation is on the line,

when your acceptance is on the line, when people

might not look upon you favorably anymore because

of your belief in Jesus, and you're going to

face the same question and situation that the

religious leaders did here. Are you going to

deny Christ or are you going to stand for Christ?

In this problem, it doesn't go away when you

leave school, does it, adults? I think every

Christian, working Christian here this morning,

knows that you still face this same problem when

you go to work. And you're surrounded by unbelieving

co -workers. And you're hearing the way they

talk. And you're seeing the way they live their

lives. And you see that they're hanging out together.

And they're inviting each other to things. And

you're not being included. You're going to be

very tempted to just push the faith aside. So

that you can be accepted. So that you can be

invited. So that you can have a good reputation

and popularity at work and the question is are

you going to stand for Christ? Are you going

to reject Christ? God has not called his people

to blend in to the rest of the world He has called

us to be separate from the rest of the world

to be distinct from the rest of the world Christ

has called his people to be salt and light in

this world You can't be salt and light If you're

covering yourself with a lampshade, as Jesus

said, how's the light supposed to shine then?

You're not called to blend in at work. You're

not called to blend in at school. You're not

called to blend in in society. You were called

to shine the light of Christ. Will you stand

or will you deny Christ? I want to remind you

this morning that any person on earth can stand

for Christ and be a Christian in a church building

where it costs you nothing. This is the easiest

place to be a Christian. Don't you know that?

There's no one in here going to judge you for

it. There's no one going to condemn you for it,

reject you for it. This is the easiest place.

This costs you nothing. This is the easiest thing

you can do. The question is, what are you going

to do tomorrow when Monday rolls around? Will

you still stand then? Jesus is looking for people

who will follow Him with their lives and not

just their words. Which is why He says this parable

in verse 28. He says to this crowd, What do you

think? A man had two sons. And he went to the

first and he said, Son, go and work in the vineyard

today. And he answered, I will not. But afterward

he changed his mind and went. And he went to

the other and he said the same. And he answered,

I go, sir, but didn't. Which of the two did the

will of the Father? And they said, the first.

And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, the

tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom

of God before you. For John came to you in the

way of righteousness, and you did not believe

him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed

him. And even when you saw it, you did not change

your minds and believe him. What is Jesus saying

here? He's saying that the religious leaders

have been given lip service to God for their

entire lives. They've been saying yes to God

with their lips and no to God with their lives.

And the worst part about all of it is that they

actually thought that God was pleased with them.

They thought that God was happy with them. God,

we're coming to the temple. We've got our suits

on. We're nice and dressed up. We're participating

in all the festivals. We're doing all the religious

things. We're doing these things. God, aren't

you pleased with us? And God says, no, because

your lips are close to me, but your hearts are

far from me. Do you think that God just wants

you to say yes and not do it? I mean, it makes

total sense to me when I read this passage that

Jesus told a story about two children, because

that's exactly what this sounds like, does it

not? I mean, it sounds like a bunch of kids here.

I mean, our boys. This was a couple months ago.

They came to me, I think it was a Saturday, and

they said, hey, daddy, can we watch TV? And I

said, no, you bunch of heathens. I said, no,

you need to go and clean up all the toys, pick

up all the toys that are scattered around the

house, and then you can watch TV. So about 30

minutes goes by, I'm doing the dishes, Anna's

doing laundry, and they come back up to me and

they go, can we watch TV now? And I look around

and I'm like, absolutely not. What are you kidding?

There are toys everywhere. You didn't do what

I asked you to do. And Judah says to me, Daddy,

I told you I'd pick up the toys. And I'm like,

this is literally this story. Do you think I

just wanted you to say you'd go and pick up the

toys? Or do you think I actually wanted you to

pick up the toys? Because that's not going to

cut it by you just going and saying, oh, I told

you I would do it. Yeah, that's great. But you

didn't actually do it. That's exactly what the

religious leaders are doing here. And I think

there's a little bit of both of the sons in all

of us. Because sometimes we say all the right

things, do we not? Christians know how to sound

real spiritual, don't we? How you doing brother?

I'll pray for you. How you doing today? I'm blessed.

Or if they're feeling really good and spiritual

that day, I'm blessed and highly favored. We

know how to sound spiritual. We know how to play

the part. We know how to give God our lip service.

But then when we leave this place, we go right

back to living like we are Lord rather than Jesus

is Lord. Other times in our lives, we've said

no to God. Maybe for years. Maybe we have run

from Him. We've resisted Him. We've rejected

Him outright. But then something amazing happened.

God starts working in our lives. And the Holy

Spirit starts convicting us of sin. He starts

showing us the beauty of Jesus, and even though

we started wrong, we want to finish differently.

That's what this parable is about. It's about

two sons, two responses, and only one obeyed.

My question to you is, where's the gap in your

life this morning between what you're affirming

with your lips and how you're living with your

life? Where are you subscribed where you need

to be surrendered? It might be a sin that you've

justified for years. You've tried to convince

yourself it's not a sin. You've tried to convince

other people it's not a sin. It could be a habit

that you won't surrender. It could be a conversation

that you keep avoiding. It could be a step of

faith that you've delayed taking because it's

scary and it seems costly, inconvenient. and

deep down you know you've been saying yes with

your lips but no with your life and I want to

tell you this morning the good news of this passage

is that a past no doesn't disqualify you from

a present yes that God doesn't cancel rebels

he invites those who repent and he welcomes them

into the kingdom I mean that's the beauty here

right like look who's entering the kingdom of

God it's not the religious people It's not the

church people. It's not the people who have it

all together. Jesus says it's the prostitutes.

It's the tax collectors. It's these people who

had been publicly saying no to God for their

entire lives and yet when they heard the message

of John the Baptist and they felt the conviction

of the Holy Spirit, they turned it over to God

and they repented of their sins. God is not looking

for a bunch of polished performers. God is looking

for surrendered hearts. I want to just say this

to you very plainly so no one leaves here confused

about this. Jesus is not calling you to be a

spiritual subscriber this morning. He is calling

you to be spiritually surrendered. Subscribers

admire Jesus from a distance. Surrender followers

follow him and obey at a cost. Subscribers they

like Jesus as long as he doesn't interfere with

their lives. As long as he doesn't say anything

inconvenient. But surrendered followers say yes,

even when it is inconvenient. Today needs to

be the day that we stop saying to Jesus, by what

authority? And what gives you the right to tell

me how to live my life? Today needs to be the

day that we stop giving Jesus part of our lives,

part of our obedience, all of our lip service,

and all of our religious show. And today needs

to be the day that we lay everything at the feet

of Jesus. Today needs to be the day that we say

whatever you ask Lord, wherever you call me,

whatever you want me to do, whatever I need to

pick up, whatever I need to lay aside, I will

do it. Here I am, send me. I will count everything

as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ

Jesus my Lord and Savior. Because when it comes

to the kingdom of God, it's not about how you

start church. It's about how you finish. And

Jesus is calling us today to follow him and be

spiritually surrendered. Amen.