Different Now Part 4 I Pastor Joshua Gay

[SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High Praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Luke chapter nine, we're going to be concluding this series that we've been in called different now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the burden that I've been carrying through this entire series is very simple and is really just one statement.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are not who we used to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now that you are born again, once you are saved, once you've been made a new creation, the operative word in new creation is new.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are new, you are not who you used to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: The way of sin, the way of death, the way of destruction, has been abandoned, and God has now put us on a road of life.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's put us on a road of peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's put us on a road of joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as we close, I really want to kind of finish with what is somewhat of a bold question, which is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: What are you going to do with everything that God has already done?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are we going to do with everything that God has already done?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because somewhere between the inspiration of the Spirit and obedience to His call, a lot of people will still try to follow Jesus while keeping one emotional escape hatch open.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will try to follow him while always making sure we keep all our options open.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we don't necessarily keep all the options open, we're going to make sure we have at least one of if this doesn't go the way that I want it to go then I'm going to kind of do something different.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we aren't called to live that way.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to be really clear right up top.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today is not a sermon about spiritual vibes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today is a decision message.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today is a message where we are making a choice that we have decided to follow Jesus and there's no turning back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We sing songs like this all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have decided

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The world behind.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what's the next statement?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm worried about 10 different keys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: What key was that in?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Just right.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why some of y'all aren't up here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all can make a joyful noise in the congregation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have decided to follow Jesus the world behind the cross before and I won't turn back.

[SPEAKER_00]: We make those kind of statements and we sing those songs and because it's got a killer guitar rip and Marcus is killing it on the drums and everybody sounds so great that sometimes we don't let the weight of those kind of statements sit on us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just because it's in a major key and you can dance to it doesn't mean that we're not making

[SPEAKER_00]: But I've made a final decision that I am following him and get this, get this, the world behind me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the past is behind me, the cross is before, what's the cross?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you're going to have to die to yourself, to your flesh, to your vain ambition.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then we say this and I won't turn back.

[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, I'm burning the bridge.

[SPEAKER_00]: My escape plans are over, and I refuse to turn back.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we're about to read in Luke chapter 9 to give you some context.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: It happens on the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't happen in a recliner.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't happen from comfort.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is about to speak these words, and Scripture tells us this, and I think it's Luke 952, that His face is set towards Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what Scripture tells us.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just telling us where Jesus is geographically.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's giving us something much deeper.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is saying that Jesus has made this firm conscious decision that He is going to the city where He knows He's going to be betrayed, where He knows He's going to be tortured, where He knows He's going to be crucified, that He has made that choice, He's made that decision, He is on that road, He is on that path, that is what His eyes are fixated on, and that's where He is headed.

[SPEAKER_00]: His face is set towards the cross, towards redemption, towards a death he would die to liberate us from death and hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the context under which this account transpires, which when you read it from that perspective, it makes a lot more sense by Jesus feels as urgent as he does in this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Luke chapter 9 verse 57, it says this.

Luke 9:57

[SPEAKER_00]: Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, what road the road to Jerusalem that someone said to him, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then he said to another, follow me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus said to him, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And another also said, Lord, I will follow you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But let me first go and bid them farewell who were at my house.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus said to him, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to let kind of the seriousness of the words of Jesus settled with you for a moment here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because this is one of those passages that a lot of preachers and a lot of people in our modernity of the pulpit will just skip over and act like don't exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it doesn't fit the context of the Jesus that we like.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't fit the context of the do whatever you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do you move, put you first.

[SPEAKER_00]: version of Jesus, which never really existed.

[SPEAKER_00]: that we want to build in our heads.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not an ease and comfort, magic, genie version of Jesus, that some of us view Him as.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a very serious, confrontational, you're pushing all your chips in or don't bother sitting at the table version of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a you go all in or you just don't go at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a you follow me with everything or you don't follow at all, just stay home.

[SPEAKER_00]: version of Jesus that really sits uncomfortably with our modern, Americanized version of Jesus that says, you're afraid to do whatever you want to do, just come to church on Sunday, and everything's all right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you all with me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Real quiet.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know I told you all this was a decision message today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus here answers three would be followers with what's really three hard words.

[SPEAKER_00]: Following is costly.

[SPEAKER_00]: The call is urgent and looking back, makes someone unfit to be a disciple.

[SPEAKER_00]: Following is costly, the call is urgent, and looking back makes you unfit to be a disciple for kingdom life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I wanna look at all of these real quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first man says, I will follow wherever you go.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus immediately answers with Fox's birds and homelessness.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the way Jesus responds sometimes, because it just seems so like what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I'm going to follow you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Fox's birds and how I don't have anywhere to lay my head.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is Jesus doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this really seems strange?

[SPEAKER_00]: What he's doing is he's exposing the rootless.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's exposing people who say they'll follow, but they're not rooted in him in his kingdom and what he's called them to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's exposing the cost of following.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a costly path of truly following Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: If following Jesus doesn't cost you, you're probably not actually following him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you for that overwhelming response today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to say that again, if following Jesus doesn't cost you something, you're probably not actually following him at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might be following something.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might be following a golden calf version of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you certainly are not really following Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have a concern that we have done exactly what the children of Israel did whenever Moses goes up to receive the commandments and he's taken too long and they don't know what God wants.

[SPEAKER_00]: So instead, what they do is they just make a God in an image that they desire.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we have made a God in an image that we desire and we've called him Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have made a version of Jesus that cost us nothing, that says do whatever you want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: It ain't that big of a deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Scriptures are old fashioned and they're out of style, they're in their list, that and the other, you do, you put your mental health first, put your happiness first, put your joy first, and we've called that Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what Jesus is saying here in Luke 9, 57, 262 stands in stark contrast to our vision and our version of this golden calf version of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is truly a cost of following.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus doesn't reward his emotional enthusiasm with easy promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to follow you Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: You do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything's going to be great and easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're never going to have a problem again.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you since you have followed Jesus have realized there are still problems that you encounter?

[SPEAKER_00]: How many since you have followed Jesus have discovered that it's costed you something?

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it can cost you friendships.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me tell you what it is going to cost you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to cost you you in your way and your will and your freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to do this, but you don't get to do that anymore if you're bought by the blood of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means you can't just spout off everything that you want to spout off.

[SPEAKER_00]: It means you can't just go wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me this morning?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is exposing this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's exposing whether commitment can survive inconvenience, whether commitment can survive instability, whether commitment can survive discomfort, because discipleship that only works when life is soft will not survive the road to Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Discipleship that only works when everything is going your way,

[SPEAKER_00]: will not survive the road to Jerusalem.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen people like this before.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's as long as everything is going great, they're all in, but the moment they encounter a speed, but they're like, God, this ain't worth it anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me tell you what, I'm gonna get ahead of myself, but what you receive is so much better.

[SPEAKER_00]: than the costs that you pay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there a cost to follow?

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the reward is so much better than the cost.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the reward is actual joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not happiness, joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The result is peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just a momentary, high, peace that passes all understanding.

[SPEAKER_00]: The reward is life with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not being under the dominion of sin and of death.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is coming against the idea that following Him is filled with ease and convenience.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love convenience in our culture, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can we be real?

[SPEAKER_00]: We love.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love convenience, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got Taco Bell, like four minutes from my house, but you best believe that there's been days where I didn't wanna get off the couch and drive the four minutes there, sitting the drive through and drive home.

[SPEAKER_00]: Which would take all of 10 minutes.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you know what happens?

[SPEAKER_00]: Uber eats happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I must say, we pay a premium for convenience, because I don't know if you've ever compared the prices on the app versus the prices in the restaurant.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, I'm old enough to remember the days where you could order the entire Taco Bell menu for $27.32.

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all know what I'm talking about?

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife and I were talking about this the other day.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, I'm not a, I'm just not a giant, fast food person in general, but I remember one of the first times who were like, with our family of six.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're like, we're gonna talk about Belle because it's cheap and it was like $72.

[SPEAKER_00]: Taco Bell, what has happened to you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who has bewitched you?

[SPEAKER_00]: So prices are already higher, and then you go on the app and everything's like a buck 50 higher than it is in the store.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're going to pay like a convenience fee.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but it's there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're going to tip the driver, which costs more than like three items.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then before you know it,

[SPEAKER_00]: I've literally gotten on the app before me like I'm gonna order something because I just want to get it here I don't want to get off both the couch and I'm like I'm trying to order two sandwiches and a fry and it's like forty seven dollars Close praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be hungry Right We love convenience.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't just want fast food.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to get off our couch to go get the fast food

[SPEAKER_00]: We are becoming the Wally people, really fast.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know what that is, go watch Wally.

[SPEAKER_00]: Food delivered, grocery delivered, church online in our pajamas, because we just didn't wanna get up and go to church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just say this for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so thankful that we can be online, if you're sick, if you're out, whatever, if you're traveling, that we have an online platform, but I'm just gonna say this real quickly, nothing replaces.

[SPEAKER_00]: being present in the House of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to get on a soapbox for a minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: It amazes me how many people in 2020 were up in arms.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can't gather together and we can't be together.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they're nothing like being together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yada yada yada and those same people.

[SPEAKER_00]: In 2026, show up about once every seven weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, you didn't actually miss the gathering of the believers.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just want to complain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you for that overwhelming response.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're just going to keep going.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love convenience.

[SPEAKER_00]: But following Jesus is not built for comfort zones.

[SPEAKER_00]: Discipleship really following Jesus is not mainly about securing comfortable circumstances for your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Following him is about being conformed to Christ's own life in his own way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I want you to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is not asking for weakened visitation rights.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is not asking for people who are having mood-based yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I feel right and my circumstances are okay and everything's going all right, then I'll show up.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I'm not going through a hard time, then I'll show, if the weather is just mid enough,

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm talking about?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not bad enough to where I need to stay home.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's also not good enough that I need to go hit the beach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go on the boat, go out of town.

[SPEAKER_00]: If the weather is just mid enough, I'll show up to the church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even if I show up to church, I'm definitely not giving them Monday through Friday.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you want me to be, radical?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you want me to be?

[SPEAKER_00]: A fanatic?

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, I don't want you to be a fanatic.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to be a follower.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a difference between people who are fans and people who are followers, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: There's people who are fans of teams.

[SPEAKER_00]: We call them bandwagon fans.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who is long as their team is winning, and as long as it's an enjoyable product, they're all in, baby, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's people who are followers of a team, who whenever you're a Florida state fan, you've learned to be a follower.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we're still all in, baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not lying to myself and thinking, we're gonna be good this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I am following.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't go throw away my Florida State Year just because we've had a couple bad years.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I'm not some sort of lukewarm, half-hearted, half-in, half-out fan.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of people who the moment things get difficult in their life.

[SPEAKER_00]: They go to their cause and they throw away all their Jesus jerseys.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you weren't called to be a fan.

[SPEAKER_00]: You were called to be a follower.

[SPEAKER_00]: And trust me, being a follower sometimes makes you lose some things.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've lost some peace over some Florida state games before.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know nobody else has ever lost peace over a sports game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, y'all don't look at me like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all know exactly what I'm talking about.

[SPEAKER_00]: I lost some peace on earlier this week watching the NBA playoffs.

[SPEAKER_00]: My magic were up by like 23, 20, 20 who was in this whew, whew, whew, whew.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were up by like 23 points or something in the third quarter.

[SPEAKER_00]: How much were they up by whew, magic in the third?

[SPEAKER_00]: 26, they were up by a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was over 20 points.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I think they went one for 24 from the field in the fourth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Huh?

[SPEAKER_00]: They were up 27.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they are the eight seed and they needed to just, you know,

[SPEAKER_00]: to send home the one seed and then they went one for twenty something in the fourth quarter and gave up the lead and got beat by like twelve.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know how impressive that is?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean giving up that kind of lead is almost more impressive than winning the game.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's looking at the the bright side here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean this is like an all-time collapse we're in the record books, baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: I lost some peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: My wife was watching the game with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: She had to go pick up our girls and we're sitting there on the couch and we're watching the game and she had to go get the girls and I'm like shouting and yelling like Palo's Drain 3's, let's go!

[SPEAKER_00]: And then she starts getting text 12 Miss shots in a row.

[SPEAKER_00]: 14 Miss shots in a row.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're only up by four.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is awful.

[SPEAKER_00]: I go get on my walking pad just because I'm mad.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just walking.

[SPEAKER_00]: because I'm not some fair weather fan, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where am I going with this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you're really devoted to something, it might cost you something.

[SPEAKER_00]: But one day, in Jesus' name, when the magic hoist, the trophy up, we're not gonna be thinking about the 27 point loss.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you really are devoted to something, even with it's difficult, you stay devoted.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I promise you this, the victory on the other side is much better than any difficulty or struggle you might get going through right now, because what a white Jew is better in the church says.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, I gotta hurry up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Luke chapter 9 makes it very clear a few verses before this.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, if anyone desires to come after me to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me, following Jesus means this, that we choose our purpose over our preference.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes God leads you into things that stretch you, that don't necessarily sue you.

[SPEAKER_00]: We all want to be sued by the Lord all the time, but he also will stretch us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He will also challenge you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We say this all the time, and people say this whenever they want to be soothed, I just need the touch of Abba Father right now in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just need his soothings.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing to be wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's times where the Lord sooths.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if he's really a father, then he stretches, and he challenges, and he calls things out in your life that are out of position and out of order.

[SPEAKER_00]: because he's more interested in you becoming who he's called you to be than making you feel good.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what fives the heart of founders, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I have four children.

[SPEAKER_00]: My heart is obviously if they're hurting, if they're in pain, I want to sue them.

[SPEAKER_00]: But also sometimes if they're hurting and their pain is the result of their own bad choices, I'm gonna say, this was avoidable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on somebody.

[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all don't look at me in that tone of voice, like I'm being abusive or something?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like y'all haven't done it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was avoidable, you're here because of choices and decisions you made.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not because the world's out to get you, not because you have it worse than anybody else.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fathers will challenge and confront.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_00]: The next thing he says.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got a hurry.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next thing is this.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Luke 959, Jesus initiates the call himself to the next person.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, follow me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this response is not open refusal, but he says, Lord let me first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord let me first, and that's exactly why this text really bites so hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's talked about it last week about drift, drift going backwards backsliding, often begins with respectful delay rather than a rebellious note.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't tell Jesus, no, he just says, let me first.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna follow you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But first, I need to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: But first, this is what is happening.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the second man, a lot of times we hear this preach like the man, his dad is literally dead, and he wants to go dig a hole and put him in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But more than likely, the way a lot of people interpret this is the man wants to remain with his father until he dies.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus' answer is highlighting the urgency of the times.

[SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom is pressing in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus' suffering and glorification are drawing near.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the point he's making here is not contempt for family.

[SPEAKER_00]: The point is that when Jesus calls, no rival gets to claim first place.

[SPEAKER_00]: That he is first above everything else.

[SPEAKER_00]: Above everything else, Jesus and His way is first, I love my wife so much, so much, I love my kids so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: But they know that Jesus is first, because the only way I can love them right is to love Him first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: My kids say this, even Eva Joy, who's six years old, I can talk to her, is like, who do you love the most?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: You love Jesus more than daddy?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.

[SPEAKER_00]: You love Jesus more than mom.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's a pause, and she's got to think about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I tell her, good, because Jesus is the person you need to love the most, because Jesus loves you more than daddy ever could, and Jesus loves you more than mama ever could.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus is highlighting here is not like forget your family, they're awful, forget about them.

[SPEAKER_00]: What he's saying is whenever I come calling, nothing else goes above that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am never one.

[SPEAKER_00]: We make excuses constantly for why he can't be first right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll serve God when things slow down in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well guess what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Life isn't going to get slower.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I get on to the young adults for a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that all right?

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do it anyways.

[SPEAKER_00]: I walk to this side.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is where they all sit.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is something we hear from

[SPEAKER_00]: is just so busy, Pastor Casey is cracking up on the front row that I barely have time to fit anything like this in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to let all of y'all know right now, your life is not that busy, moms and dad y'all are missing great opportunities right now to help

[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, none of us are our lives so busy that Jesus comes second.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have a beautiful wife, four children who are always going 27 different directions.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a church that we pass through.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have all sorts of things that we're involved in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like sometimes it is like mental overload of what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: I never get to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am so busy that Jesus, you need to come second or third for a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I can put my mental health number one.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't shout me down now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus you just need to take a back seat for them because the call and what you're asking for is so great And it is so taxing and it is so this and you know how insulting it is to tell Jesus I'm just too busy for you right now Let me tell you what would have much of my wife came to say hey, I want to go out with you tonight And I want to just go to dinner.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said babe.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just way too busy for you right now I don't even need to finish the sentence because y'all can already know what's gonna happen

[SPEAKER_00]: It ain't going to be good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of y'all may have done that and found out.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not very good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of y'all are laughing like, I did that one.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it was not fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: One time.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right, Bruce.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we do this to Jesus all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I know you're calling me to do this, but there's a tournament this weekend.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I know you're calling me to do this, but I've had a long work week and I just need some time to relax.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I know you're calling me to give, but I mean, you've seen the economy right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are constantly putting him second.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is exposing here, you can't do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't go let me first.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll get serious about my faith after this season.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't promised tomorrow, what's you waiting for?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll commit after I get my life together.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: To put it really succinct to singly, this mythical season where conditions are perfect never shows up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And listen, young adults, I want you to really understand that right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: This mythical season that you all like when everything comes down, and I just have perfect mental health and perfect peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I can be perfectly rested and I'm making a hundred and million dollars a year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then I'll do all the things that I know I need to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: It never happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't show up, because there's always something else.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean this with all honesty and all truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's always something else that shows up that's going to make life complicated.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I remember at 20, thinking I was busy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I had children.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I had more response to my two children.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I had two more surprise children.

[SPEAKER_00]: Beat birth control twice.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I've said before, I don't know whether I should high-five somebody or cry.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yo, Amy, your life is not going to get easier.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not going to get slower.

[SPEAKER_00]: Serve him now, giving him second place is spiritually dangerous when Jesus is speaking.

[SPEAKER_00]: In practical terms, let me first

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we read, we says, Jesus, I will follow you, but first, just let me go bury my dad.

[SPEAKER_00]: We read that and we go, that seems reasonable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Jesus, you said to honor your parents, the Lord told us to honor our parents.

[SPEAKER_00]: This seems honorable.

[SPEAKER_00]: This seems like the right thing to do but Jesus goes, you can't put me second.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am always first.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is how our drift heights, it's family time, it's this, it's investment in my future, it's edited out, we hide our drift in respectable clothes constantly and all the while we're getting further off.

[SPEAKER_00]: That drift, this, this, let me first, sounds like career first, mental health first, one more relationship first, one more season first, one more relationship first, one more private conversation, one more habit first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Until Jesus is always acknowledged, but he's no longer obeyed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus here is exposing divided sequence, not attacking compassion.

[SPEAKER_00]: The call here is not to lovelessness, but it is to undivided lordship.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you put God first, everything else finds its place.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything else finds its place.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is first in my life, and I have a phenomenal marriage.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is first in our life and we have wonderful children that we love and love us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is first in my life and He's blessed me and my family and my children.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if I put any of those things in His seat, then everything else falls apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: Once Jesus exposes to lay, I'm trying to wrap up.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes even deeper.

[SPEAKER_00]: The final man says to the right words, but Jesus can still hear the old world pulling

[SPEAKER_00]: The third man says, I will follow you Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus answers that with his farming image.

[SPEAKER_00]: No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: This one might hit the hardest.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm with Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just need to go tell him I'm tell him I'm by.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's intense.

[SPEAKER_00]: The reader to feel the intensity of divided focus, this plow imagery that Jesus gives at Echo's First King's 19 where Elijah is called from the plow where Elijah throws the mantle on Elijah.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus intensifies the urgency that this is not the time to have a foot in two worlds.

[SPEAKER_00]: The issue is not polite goodbye.

[SPEAKER_00]: A plowman who keeps looking over his shoulder can not cut a straight furrow, a disciple who keeps feeding the nostalgia for the old life can not move cleanly into the kingdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: You cannot step into new identity while still clinging to old history.

[SPEAKER_00]: You cannot drive forward while staring at the rear view mirror.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason your windshield is bigger than your rear view.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's because your eyes are meant to be fixed forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not looking back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Could you imagine getting on the interstate and trying to drive?

[SPEAKER_00]: If it was reversed, if your rear view was bigger than your windshield, but there's a lot of believers who live this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our rear view mirror and looking backward is bigger than the windshield.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're wondering why we're recking constantly.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's because you're looking the wrong way.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're wondering why we're constantly falling apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's because you're looking the wrong way.

[SPEAKER_00]: John 21, we've preached in week one, go back to the list of our podcast or on YouTube or whatever, is a perfect picture of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: After the resurrection, Peter goes back to fishing, catches nothing, meets Jesus at a charcoal fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: Christ restores him and says, follow me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Grace restores the disciple who looked back.

[SPEAKER_00]: But grace does not commission him to keep living backward.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there are some people in this room right now who are stuck.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're trying to plow a kingdom field, while their heart is still turned towards old patterns.

[SPEAKER_00]: While their heart is still focused to old ways, old identity scripts, old relationships, old addictions, old applause, were old shame.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you can't build a future in God, while treating yesterday like a secret home address.

[SPEAKER_00]: The danger here is attachment to what was before rather than pushing forward to what's ahead.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Jerusalem is ahead, but Egypt still has your imagination.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the danger.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a divided heart will never step fully into what God has for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we close here, I want to kind of highlight what I said at the beginning, which is this following isn't cheap.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, truly being different now will cost you everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's cost you a little bit, it costs you everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: It costs, it requires everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: It demands surrender.

[SPEAKER_00]: But look at what we get on the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get purpose that outlives you.

[SPEAKER_00]: and they're actually in Spain right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yesterday, they sent me a picture of this old cathedral that they were in that was like 200 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's still being built, kind of a wild situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this cathedral in Barcelona, and they sent it pictures, they know I love old churches and cathedrals.

[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the reasons I love them so much

[SPEAKER_00]: don't get me wrong, I love all of our modern lights, screens, and all that, it's its own kind of beautiful.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a beauty in a lot of those old cathedral's, first of all, just the architecture is incredible.

[SPEAKER_00]: But secondly, whenever I see them, it makes me just for a moment, realize how small we are in the grand story of our faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a good thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: To realize that for two millennia,

[SPEAKER_00]: people had been worshipping his name.

[SPEAKER_00]: I see old churches like that and I think 200 years ago somebody was building that place and singing songs and offering prayers that now are part of the choir of the saints that go before us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever we sing I always get emotional and we sing the song we sing this morning, this morning says in all who gone before us and all who bear

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think about that, and I think, well, never, we worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we're doing will outlive us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever we say Jesus, your prayers, your worship, the sea that you sow, outlives you legacy is bigger when you actually follow Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get peace that doesn't make sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: When the world is topsy-turvy, you can still live in peace.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get identity that isn't fragile.

[SPEAKER_00]: You get a future that is secure.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times people have read this passage in Luke chapter 9 and they've viewed it as people that Jesus was rejecting, but that's not what's happening.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: These are people that Jesus was inviting into a life that they couldn't see yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is not asking you to give up things to punish you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's asking you to give up things to invite you to a life that's better than you could have ever hoped dreamed of.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's asking you to put him first, because whenever you put him first, he's going to

[SPEAKER_00]: But scripture starts about Revelation and he'll wipe away every tear on that day.

[SPEAKER_00]: We serve a God who makes all wrongs right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And whenever you serve him, that's what you get.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not asking you to release things so he can punish you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not being restricted, you're being redirected.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not delaying.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not choosing comfort over calling.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not delaying.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not choosing comfort over calling.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I believe this morning we're in a different number I'm going to stand here for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We trust that this message has blessed and encouraged and identified you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a message here from High Braise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Also, you can follow us on social media, on Facebook and on Instagram, and don't forget to go subscribe to our YouTube channel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message.

[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.