Mark 14:1-27 || The Book of Mark || Pastor Diego Mesa

Thank you for being here. Let's pray and we're going

to get in the Book of Mark. What an exciting

series again that our beloved pastor has put in his

heart that this whole year we would work through the

Book of Mark. Father, thank you for the few moments

that we have. We lean in because we want to

hear from Jesus. We're here because we want to grow.

We want to be better Christians. We want to know

You better so that we can influence our coworkers, our friends,

and our families. Jesus is not just something we are

to keep, but something that we are to share. Lord,

So challenge us, stretch us, encourage us, have your way

in us. In Jesus' name, a man, I'm going to

ask you to stand for the reading of God's Word

and we're going to work through a few verses today.

We're not going to go through everything on the screen,

but we'll start off with the first one. And here

we are in Mark, the fourteenth chapter, and we're going

to read verse one. In verse two, it was two

days before the Passover, the festival of the unleavened Bread.

The chief priests and the scribes religious leaders of the time.

We're looking for cunning way.

Remember that, a cunning way to arrest Jesus and to

kill Jesus. Not during the festival, they said, so that

there won't be a riot among the people.

You may be seated. Today, we're going to talk about

the five Pece.

We're going to work through, not the entire verse or

the entire chapter. You could finish the verses that I

don't finish to get the complete story, but we will

highlight five points in their five piece that we're going

to talk about today.

We're going to talk about the plot that we just

read about.

We're going to second word is going to be the

beauty of worship. The third word we're going to talk

about is preparation for Jesus to do something miraculous and

supernatural in your life. We're going to talk about the passover,

which was communion or the Old Testament exodus of what

took place, and then we're going to talk about the

prediction that Jesus talks about Peter with. You know, in May,

me and Lovely City were celebrating forty one years and

we went to Venice in Italy, and we went to

a place called Saint Mark's Square. How many have ever

been to Saint Mark's Square. Okay, well, there's this place

in Venice called Saint Mark's Square.

That's it.

That church is over a thousand years old. That church

is there. And then you'll see just a little bit

of a video of this tower that exists here, and

this plays every hour and all the visitors there and

tourists sit there and watch these buildings.

But notice that lion. I went close up. You saw

that little lion there.

They say that that's the symbol of Mark, that lion

represented here. And so we're looking at Mark, whether he

is symbolic of Jesus being the king of the lion

from the tribe of Judah, whether it's revelations for that

indicates him as the aarcs or Mark being the servant

of Jesus being the ultimate servant. We're going to navigate

through a few verses here today, and the first one

we just read about deals with the plot and the

rest to kill Jesus, the plot and the arrest to

kill Jesus.

What stands out to me in this story.

Is this is the fact that the devil can plot

all he wants, but God has a plan. In God's

plans always override the devil's plots against your life. Don't

be concerned with the devil's plots as long as you

have confidence in God's plan for your life. And God's

plan for your life comes from you having knowledge of

the Bible and the promises of God. If you don't

know the Bible, then you will never know the plans

that God has for your health, your marriage, your relationships,

your finances, are any aspects of your life. So many people,

the Bible says this in Isaiah fifty four seventeen, no

weapon formed against you. The enemy's gonna form weapons all

day long like a smith. He's gonna be forming those weapons,

sharpening in those arrows against you. He conformed them. But

the Bible promises me they're not going to prosper. But

so many of us are so afraid of the devil

and all that he's trying to form. And I just

want you to see in this story, they plotted to

kill him, they plotted to arrest him, but.

They couldn't kill him.

Now, hang on with me, nor arrest him unless God

wanted him to be arrested and killed.

So Jesus said this.

Jesus said, in his word, no man takes my life

from me, I choose to lay it down. So I

just want you to recognize, no matter what the devil

is doing to plot against your health, to plot against

your marriage, God has a plan that supersedes the plots

of the enemy. It's interesting this word cunning that stands

out to me, this word cunning. The devil in mankind

often think that they're smarter than God. But God's already

one hundred steps ahead of the enemy's plots or man's plotting,

whether it's society, whether it's culture, or whatever it might

be in this world. God is so much smarter than

the cunning ways of this world. God is trillion times

smarter than anything that is on this planet. So the

enemy in the world can cut being in all ways,

but they're stupid and fools compared to the wisdom that's

in God. And that wisdom is available to you and

I for our marriages to succeed, on our jobs or

whatever our career might be, or whatever choices or whatever

decisions that you and I need to make. And ultimately

I recognize that the enemy and mankind and society is

not in charge.

God is in charge.

And no matter what the world looks like I don't

care how dark, I don't care how bad. I don't

care what economists say, I don't care what politicians say.

Or news casters say. They're not in charge.

God is in charge, and we're going to continue to

pray and believe that God reigns in God rules. And

that doesn't mean that we don't have a responsibility to

pray and bind the forces of hell and remind the

devil he's defeated, because we have this wonderful weapon that

doesn't have to sit around as a victim in this world.

But He's given us the authority.

To pray, to exercise authority through prayer, and then ultimately

I recognize that you and I need to stay with

God's plans and with God's timelines and with God's timetables.

So many people get ahead of God.

They don't want to stick with God's plans and God's

time tables. God had a timetable for his son to fulfill,

and so many of us don't recognize that God has

plans and God has time tables.

When I was at a former church.

And that church split drastically and two thirds of the

church left that church, and they had a right to

leave that church because it had fallen to immorality and adultery.

And so the male who had fallen left and left

the wife and the female there. Everything in he wanted

to leave that church. I did not want to be

in an unhealthy environment. I wanted to go find another church.

I wanted to go re engage. But I'm telling you,

God had a mandate on my life to stay there, and.

I didn't understand it because I stood.

There for three and a half more years until she

remarried another man. Then God told me, your assignment is over.

There's a new male pastor here, and now you can leave.

But that didn't come to me till the end of

the three and a half years. I questioned, God, why

did you have me stay when everything in me wanted

to leave.

I didn't want to be in this place. God said,

because they.

Needed a male example and they needed they needed someone.

To pastor them. And so some people never fulfill the

plan of God.

They get too rushed, they get too anxious, they get

too impatient, and they don't understand god timelines. And if

you fulfill God's timeline, then you could be promoted into

the next season of your life. But You'll never be

promoted if you don't fulfill the plans of God and

the timelines of God.

Amen.

Now we're ready for the beauty of worship. That's that's

only number one, so don't get it too excited. Now,

let's read just a few verses here of now, Verse

number I'm sorry, Verse number three.

Okay.

Well, he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon

the Lepper. He was reclining at the table.

A woman.

A woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume

of purenard. She broke the jar and poured it on

his head. But some expressed ignignation to one another, Why

has this perfume been wasted? We'll just stop there. Read

the end of the story. It's a very familiar story.

And so this point is the third the second p

is the the perfect worship that this woman offers.

My question to you is what is the cost?

What is the worth, and what is the value of

Jesus to you? Because that's what she expresses. She expresses

how valuable Jesus is to her, how worthy he is

to her, and the cost of what he is to her,

that I will bring my best, I will give a

year's wages. Not only was it just expensive perfume, it

was an heirloom perfume. I don't know if it was

her mama's. I don't know if it's her grandmama's. I

don't know if it was great grandma.

But it was passed down to her.

So not only was it expensive perfume, it was an heirloom.

It was something that was very very special to me,

carries a great value.

But she laid it all down, she poured it out,

She gave it all.

To Jesus Us in the beauty of worship. And I

see the contrast. One person or one group of people

looks at that worship or the expression of love to

Jesus has wasted. What a waste? Unnecessary? It doesn't take

all that.

And the other one Jesus said, it's a beautiful thing.

Two contrasts that might exist in our worship, two contrasts

of how we express our love to God.

Some view it as a waste. It's not necessary, it's.

Not necessary to tide, not necessarily, serve, not necessarily, to volunteer,

not necessarily, to witness, and vine not necessary. Where the

other part, it's beautiful to worship it's beautiful to tithe,

it's beautiful to serve. Two types of Christians, one that

sees their love and service to God as a waste,

not necessary, where the other one said, he is worthy,

he deserves even more. And I am undignified, i am unashamed,

and I'm unintimidated to worship God in front of my boss,

in front of a cute girl, or in front of everybody.

I'll break it down in front of everybody. And that's

what she does. She don't give a care who's in

the room. She don't care how much money you make,

who you are, celebrity, superstar, famous, it doesn't matter to her.

She is completely unintimidated by who's in the room.

I don't know about you.

I want to get to that place because sometimes I'm

too self conscious looking at my left, looking at my right,

so intimidated by who's watching me.

I want that in my life. Do you want that

in your life? Who cares? All I care about is

how to get Jesus's attention. Here's the thought.

In nineteen eighty five, before many of you were born

here in Pomona, California, the Papona fair Grounds, was a

preacher back in the day was pretty well known. His

name was R. W. Shambac, and R. W. Shambac had

a tent meeting there and I was sitting behind Pastter Kenny,

That's where I was sitting here, and the praise in

worship was going on, and there was a guy where

Pastor Kenny was, but I was sitting where they were

behind Paster Kenny. This guy during let's just say, twenty

five minutes, twenty five minutes of worship.

I'm not joking.

This is how he was worshiping right here, not in

his seat outside in front of the stage like this

for twenty five minutes. Drip, sweat, drip and sweat. Okay,

So like the first song, I'm like this, second song,

I'm like third song, I'm like first song, I'm like this. Okay,

true statement. I'm not worshiping Jesus. I'm over here criticizing

cynical judgmental.

R W.

Shambach gets on the stage and he says, brother, and

I'm so arrogant.

I think he's pointing at me, brother, So good to

see you.

He was looking at the guy in the front row

that was dancing. He said, guys, I want you to

know many of you don't know. I was a praising

worship leader for a healing evangelist by the name of

AA Allen.

This is brother Smith. He was in a wheelchair that

came to Brother A. Allen's me.

He was born cerebral posey, was born death and blind.

I said, I'll never criticize nor judge. Oh, someone expresses

their love to God because I don't know what God

has done for them.

Say that old song.

You can't tell it like I can what He done

for me. Come on, some old gospel singers in here.

You can't tell it like I can what He done

for me. Don't be putting me in a boxing category

telling me I can't do that limited in reserve.

You don't know what I used to be. You don't

know where I used to go. You don't know what

God saved me and delivered me from. So I gotta

break my alabaster boxer, and I gotta give him the

best worship that I can. Because I wasn't an average sinner.

I was a loud sinner. I was an ugly sister.

I was a nasty sinner. I was a no good center.

Now I'm gonna come into Christianity and just be average

and just be okay.

Oh no, I shut down the nightclub. I shut down

the oops, I almost set it. I shut down.

Anybody know what I'm talking about today? Come on, just

gonna sneak in and give God any old thing, break

your alabaster, boss, because he knows what your best is.

He knows what you gave out in the world, and

he's worthy. He absolutely is worthy of it. I just

love the fact that he didn't in this story. He

didn't ask her for it.

She just did it. God, why don't we you have

to ask us to do something. Why don't we just

do it out of our love for you? Well, you

didn't ask me, he said, I didn't.

Come on, he didn't ask her.

She just simply did it, just simply did it. Now,

I want you to know that Judas was in this room.

Judas was in this room. And Judas can't worship the

way a true believer and follower and disciple of the

Lord can worship. They could be in the room, they

could be in the crown, But worship separates and brings

out the Judas in us. And that's why this whole

thing about money is in this story. Money is in

this story. And that's why you and I have to

watch ourselves when it comes to money. Money has a

spirit on it, coveteousness, greed, and selfishness, and it'll hinder

and stop your relationship with God. And so I want

you to recognize that Judas is completely in this story.

But I want you to recognize Judas is in this relationship.

Judas is in this ministry. Jesus is in this game

for what he can get out of it, what he

can get out rather than what I can give to it.

And I'm not telling to tell, but there's a Judas

in all of us. Pastor Adam did a great job

months ago preaching on Judas months ago. Jud When I

read Judas, I don't think of Judas as the betrayer,

because if I think of Judas as the betrayer, I

won't identify with him. I think of Judas as the

disciple that walk with Jesus for three years, that guy

identify with because I can be.

That way and you could be that way.

How do I handle my money in relationship to giving

it to God indicate? How do I handle my worship

in relationship? It indicates the Judas what's in it? For

me is a Judas mentality. You're gonna give me a position,

then I'm state you're gonna give me some power. Then

I'm state you're gonna give me some fame and fortune.

Then I'm gonna say, but if you're gonna ask me

to lay down my life and say, I'm out of here.

And I've seen so many times in the nearly forty

years that I've been preaching, people come with motives, Hey,

passor can you promote me passor can you sell my product?

Passor networking? Networking? Can I come out here and sell

a booth over here? To have a booth out here?

Can I hand out my business card? Pasor Kenning knows

what I'm talking about. And the moment you tell him, no,

this is a church and we're gonna honor God. You

do your networking outside the church, They're gone there they

are the Judases are gone out of this church. And

we need to have that mentality that I'm not here

to take something from the church. I'm here to give

something to the church. And it's not Lord, what are

you gonna do for me? Mentality? Because we've said it

over and over. If God never answered another prayer request

of yours?

Would you still serve.

Him if he never answered, or get another miracle or

healing for anything that ever again in your life?

Would that be more than enough?

Based on what He's done for me dining on the cross,

the fact that I'll never go to and now I'm

going to heaven when I die.

That's enough for me? Or is it? What have you

done for me? Lately?

When Saul got off the ground, when he was knocked down,

he asked that question, Lord, what is your name? And

he told him and then he said, Lord, what do

you want me to do? What do you want me

to do? Not what are you going to do for me?

And we can't have that mentality. Peter said, thou has

the words of eternal life. Where am I going to go?

I'm not going back into the world. And so we

see perfect worship in the life. The third word, the

third word we get is the preparation preparing for Jesus

to do something. We're just going to read it just

a few verses that would show this one as verse

twelve as the well, let's just read it. On the

first day of the eleven Bread, when the sacrifice of

the Passover lamb his disciples asked him, where do you

want us to go and prepare the Passover? The satyr

pastor Adam has had a wonderful sayor for us before.

So we know what that is, the Jewish meal of the.

Traditional Passover that was celebrated thousands of years ago upon

the Exodus. They could still practice that now. So he

sent two of his disciples. And we don't know the

name of these two disciples that Jesus sent.

Could have been you.

Know, could have been John, It could have been Matthew,

it could have been Peter.

We don't know.

He sent two of his disciples and told them go

into the city, and a man carrying a jar of

oil will meet you. Follow him wherever he enters. Tell

the owner of the house. The teacher says, where is

my guest room? Where may I eat the Passover with

my disciples.

We'll just stop there.

You could read the end, but the point here is

preparing for preparing for Jesus to do something great. How

would you prepare for Jesus to do something great? Jesus

is going to do something great. It's called the Passover,

called communion. For the first time, He's gonna give this

old Testament symbolism of what took place into modern revelation

for them to understand that says, I am now your

passover lamb. That's which our people have practiced for a

thousand years or longer, is now going to be seen

to you.

I am gonna show you the blood.

That was spent on the door post that was a

passover with a death angel.

I'm that.

I'm the blood that shed so that death and judgment

in hell doesn't have to come upon you that would

be passed over. I'm the exodus that will redeem you

from deliverance and bondage of thousands of years or four

hundred and thirty years to be precise.

Here, I'm the one that's gonna tell you have your

belt on, have your shoes on, have your robe on,

and be ready because midnight is coming and I'm gonna

get you out of this world. Everything was very very

picturesque there. So what are you preparing?

What are you ready for?

What are you anticipating to happen in your life? For

Jesus to do something great? Sometimes sometimes it's the most

menial tasks, the most boring task, the non glamorous habits

that we do that have the most powerful significance.

Sick with me.

Okay, So Jesus tells these two disciples, go prepare the passover. Okay,

Now we could just read it very lightly and not

understand how much preparation it would have taken to perform that,

so that when they all showed up, it was all set.

Okay.

So they would have had to go by an unblemish lamp.

They would have had to roast that. They would have

had to get the bitter herbs. They would have had

to have the egg.

They would have had to get the unleaven bread. They

would have had to set the table up. They would

have had to go to the marketplace to do that.

That this was long. Now listen.

They could have said, listen, we signed up to cast

out devils, we signed up to heal people, we signed

up to be a follower of you.

We didn't sign up for these menial tasks.

And there's some Christians that think they only want the

big jobs, but when they have to do the ugly

cleanup jobs in the Kingdom of God, they don't want

those kind of jobs. And those are the jobs that

are the most impactful and significant. There's not big jobs

and small jobs in the Kingdom of God. They're just

jobs for the glory of God. But why do we

look at the menial like going home and being a father,

going home and being a husband as a menial job.

Yet it's a significant job to God. Those are significant

roles that we play. To work in the parking lot,

or to serve in children's church, it's not looked at

as a menial job. Well, I want a bigger job

where I'm known and where I'm seen. I want to

be on the platform. And that's great if you could sing,

But if you can't, we don't want you on the platform.

But I'm just trying to tell you that not everything

in the Kingdom of God is sexy.

My friend here in.

The front row, Pastor Garfield, goes where homeless people are

and helps him take a shower. Who is the last

person you told me about that that we talked about

over here?

A blind person?

I thought to myself, how do you take a blind

person to take a shower? How does a blind person

take a shower? He said, As we get in there

and we.

Help them, Oh, that's what Jesus would be doing.

Lord, When do you want me to preach next? I

don't want you to preach there. I want you to

go bath that blind man. Lord, can I sing next?

I don't want you to sing right now. The need

right now is to go bath that blind man. God,

when do you want me to use my gifts? Lord,

I'm really gifted with charisma and telling I got me

a reputation, a resume.

Well, I'm not right now. We need you to go

clean the.

Blind man, and we could all be servants of the

Kingdom of God and not look down as one job

greater than another, because what they're going to do is

very significance to Jesus, being honored and glorified as the

passover Lamb. Then he tells them something radical. This is amazing.

He tells him, go look for a man, got some water.

Follow him. He'll show you the upper room. Jesus is

like ten steps ahead of what you don't know. You

don't know how you're gonna make it. You don't always

know what to do. But he is in the details,

and if you just follow his orders, follow his directions,

he'll connect the dots and get you where you need

to go. He's not gonna make a fool out of you,

he tells him exactly. I loved you so precise, so detailed,

such precision. Just go to see a guy I do

a wearing a red hat, blue suit, purple tie red shoes.

I'm making it up. Follow him. He'll lead you to

a house. Guy's got an upper room.

Go to the guy in the upper room, say my

lord has need of it, and get a rent it

and go make your preparation.

I just love that.

I just love that that Jesus is in the details,

and he's gonna take care of every one of your concerns.

He's gonna take care of every one of your details.

He knows where the man is, he knows where the

water is, he knows where the upper room is.

He knows exactly what you need.

Then we get into the then we get into the Passover.

I love this story of the Passover because, again the

symbolisms are heavy of the Old Testament story of Exodus

and this amazing tenth plague that happened where the firstborn

son died. But it's interesting when you look at this story,

especially if you read it from the other gospel translations.

Five minutes I got is that Judas starts off in

the room, but he doesn't end in the room. He

can't finish the meal. The communion meal drives Judases out.

It drives him out. He's not going to finish the communion.

He'll start the communion, but he will He'll start the

pope pass overview, but he will not end. There's a

statistic done by Fuller Institute that says seventy percent of

the Bible characters in the Bible never finished their ministry.

I don't want to be a person that starts off

and that I don't finish.

And there's too many Christian.

Dropouts who start with Jesus but don't finish with Jesus.

And and and there are many There are many reasons

why people drop out, wrong motives, they get tired, they

get offended. But there are reasons why people stay.

They stay because of their love to Christ and their

commitment to Christ, and their faith in Christ, and their

friendship to Christ and their commitment to Christ.

But the reasons why, then.

I'm just fascinated by this story that Judas starts the meal,

but he can't finish the meal. The bread represents the

body of Christ that will be sacrificed for us, as

we know, and the cup represents his blood that will

be poured out for us.

And all that.

Is important to the words that you're going to see

in their theological words. I know they're strong words, but

I'm gonna put him on the screen because this is

what you saw in the Old Testament. The Old Testament

was temporary. Communion is now permanent. The Old Testament was

a performance of the Passover communion, and the Cross is

a person.

It's not a performance. It's a person called Jesus Christ.

So there's a vast difference between the Old Testament and

the Passover and the New Testament, the New Covenant, the

Old Covenant, New Covenant words that are exchanged around the Passover,

representing the Cross and representing communions. So here are the

words that I want to share with you on the

screen right now. No, remember the list the words. Okay,

it's all right, we're not going to get no. Okay,

it's okay. No.

I don't know what all that is.

There's words like atonement and righteousness, thank you, words that

were fulfilled on the cross communion that were pictured on.

The passover this exodus.

You don't need to fully comprehend them, but this is

what the Old Testament Passover was a picture of that

was fulfilled on the cross when Jesus died, and now

it is portrayed in communion. So when you partake of communion,

you are saying that Jesus is my atonement.

He is the payment for my freedom. He is my righteousness.

It declares righteous community represents or the cross rights. I

am now in rights standing with God. I'm no longer

an enemy justification. I am now declared righteous forgiveness. My

sins are sent away, and I'm acquitted reconciliation.

God exchange hatred for love.

Now in my life, propitiation satisfies the righteous demands of God.

The father of the judge substitute. He took my place.

That lamb took my place. Judgment, the consequences of wrath

he took upon him, and he became my sacrifice. All

those are locked up in the Exodus, the passover that

took place, and it's all locked up in the Cross

and all locked up in a community. That's why the

Bible calls it a great mystery. And only when we

get to heaven will we understand the full meaning of that.

And here's the last word. I have to give this thought.

Here Jesus served them communion. It wasn't self served. I

just love the fact that then he required them to

partake of it. He served every one of them. He

didn't just put it down and say you serve yourself.

I'm going to serve you with my life. Now you've

got to take it out of my hand as though

you partake of it. I love that personalness of it.

And then this last point that we see is found

here in.

These last few verses.

It says in verse number twenty eight, but after I

have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.

Peter told him, even if everyone falls away, I will

not truly, I tell you, Jesus said to him today

this very night, before the rooster cuos trice, you will.

Deny me three times, but he kept insisting, if I

have to die with you, I will never deny you.

And they all said the same thing. Now comes the prediction.

It's amazing how we can operate in self confidence. To think,

how many of you ever said I will never and

then you did. You did, Because right here is a

picture of Peter his self confidence in himself. His humanity

is frail flesh. Rather than putting his confidence in God

and say, Lord, I don't know if I can. I

probably will, but I need to draw strength from you

so that I could be faithful to you. We are

so quick to boast about our arrogance and our self confidence.

But I have a statement about self confidence here. And

my statement about self confidence is it's like a universal

studio front. It's not very strong. It just gives a

strong appearance and our self confidence. We have all the

good intentions, but without Jesus's strength, we're going to fail

and we're gonna fall. God doesn't need you to have

self confidence. He needs you to have god confidence in him.

Because you're frail and you're weak, and you can't last.

And though you have good intent.

Never to fail, never to fall, never to succumb to sin,

you probably are unless you're drawing your strength from God

and saying, God, I can't fall and I can't fail

as long as You're with me, and you sustain me,

and you help me, and you deliver me, and you

give me a strength that I never had before.

So God, I'm not resting in my self confidence.

I'm resting in dependence on you God, because I can't

in the moment under pressure I'm probably gonna give out God,

and so I don't want to have any self confidence

in me.

I want to have absolute God confidence in him. I

am with this.

I have a cell phone and it has all these

protectors on it, and a glass protector. Because I ride

my bike, I drop it all over the place. I

spill everything on it, you know. I have all that,

and so I don't know what the heck I did.

But over the last five days, I haven't been able

to use my phone. I type this, and it's something else.

I press an O and an eye comes up, and

then I can't flip my screen to change it. So

I take it over here to Verizon over here, and

I just tell him there's something wrong with my phone.

And he looks at it and says, oh, well, your

protector looks all smeared.

You need a new one. I said, no, that's not it.

Something mechanical and technical wrong with this thing. And I'm

trying to I'm trying to tell this guy that he's

wrong and I'm right.

I have a lot of self confidence right now that

I'm right and he's wrong. So he takes off the screen.

He looks at it in the light, and I say,

oh my God, I'm so embarrassed. Looked like nastiness, like

it was all filthy and dirty. He said, would you

like me to put a brand new one on? I said, yes,

put a brand new and my phone works perfectly. Now

It's amazing how much we could be so self confident

in ourselves, and yet somebody can expose the fact that

we are not as confident or as we should be,

and expose our weaknesses in areas.

Father, I just pray today that we learned a lot from.

These passages of scripture, the beauty, the beauty of worship. God,

that your plans are greater than the plots.

Of the enemy.

No matter how much the world is not smarter than you.

They think they're more cunning than you, but you have

all the answers. You are ten steps ahead of the world,

oh God, and ten steps ahead of the enemy.

Oh God. Father.

We thank you Lord that you have our tomorrow prepared,

our next, our next move, our next assignment. God, you

know where the person is that we're going to meet.

You know the answer that we need.

Oh God. And we just follow your.

Direction, God, to thank you for Jesus the Supreme Sacrifice,

and we will never know the depth of what He's

done for us. So God, and may we not rest

in self confidence, but maybe rest in God confidence. May

we never say I can't and I won't because we

probably will. But only in God can we really have

confidence that He's the keeper, He's the watcher over He's

the one that protects.

It's not us we can boast.

I've never cheated on my wife, and that's a quality

I have now. If God didn't put that in me,

then I probably would have. And the list goes on. God,

help us to not be so self confident and arrogant

and prideful in ourselves, because we will fail.

God you know us, So make.

Us strong in these areas, and we honor you in

Jesus' name. Amen, we're getting ready to dismiss. I want

to thank everybody for coming to church, especially on a

Wednesday night.

But here's what I could tell you.

You and I are one germ Iris went exit and

mishap away from Heaven's gate or house doors. Tomorrow's not

promised to any single one of us. You could be

young and fit and have your life prepared, and it

could be vanquished and gone and exterminated tomorrow tonight. Here's

how it usually happens. Every week. We average maybe one, two,

sometimes three funerals a week in this large church. And

they're not always ninety five year old people expected to die.

They're people your age. I'm not trying to bring fear

and gloom into your life. I want you to live

another one hundred years, but should that not happen. I

just simply want you to be ready to exit this

world and to enter into eternity.

Because sometimes we don't have time to repent, to get

right with Jesus. Here's how it happens.

People get on freeways are highways, after working a double

shift sixteen twenty hours.

They fall asleep at the wheel.

Yep.

Why do I say that? Because that's happened, I bury them.

We bury them. Good Christians come to church. How's it happened?

They gone on that freeway and a drunk driver smashed

into them, killed them.

How do I know that? Because it's happened.

People gone in for minor surgery that this is not

gonna be any complications, but they accidentally severed a vain.

They couldn't resuscitate them. They bled to death.

How do I know? Because it's happened, and when we

hear it, we are overwhelmed. Oh my god. I just

saw them on Sunday.

They were preparing to retire, they were planning to go

on a vacation, they were going off to college.

Here's how it happens. They're gonna do.

Something that they've done a thousand times with no risk,

but this time an accident happens and they're killed instantly.

We are overwhelmed.

I just simply want you to be ready, whether it's

tonight or whether it's one hundred years from now. I'm ready.

I know what my future holds. There's no mystery about it,

there's no hoping. I know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna

step out of this body and I'm gonna step into

each other in a life, and he will not be

a stranger to me. He will be my personal Lord

and my personal savior, and my security is guaranteed. If

you're ready to make that commitment, or and you've accepted

the Lord, but you're riding the fenceive compromise it tonight,

you just simply want to rededicate your life to the Lord.

God never left you, but you've run away from God.

Or last of all, everything's going great.

In your life.

You have the Holy Spirit, but you're not filled with

the Holy Spirit with the evidence to speak it. And

he says, I want everything that that early church had.

Jesus breathed on them.

When he walked on this earth for forty days and

then he told him terry until they be endued with

power on the Holy Ghost that came ten days later

on the day of Pentecost. You want everything that God

has for you for any of these three things.

Raise your hand and we're gonna pray for you very quickly.

Here we go. One two. Don't be a shame. Your

hand won't be the only hand.

One two, three, all the crosses out of taurum wherever

you might be raising up. Hie, there we go, There

we go. Good job, good job, several hands. I'm gonna

lead you in a prayer, and I want you to

mean this and say it from your heart and say,

Dear Lord Jesus, you know who I am. You know

my comings and my goings. You know everything about me.

You know my driver's license, my birthdate, and what type

blood I have. I thank you today. Then I make

a commitment in front of all these people for you Jesus,

to be my lord and savior. I can't save myself,

but you save me, and I thank you today.

I call you my Lord, and I will follow you

all the days of my life. Amen.

Past, who's coming forward? Alyssa is coming forward? Yes, sorry

about that. Alyssa is coming forward and she's going to

give you some final answer. I thank you a listen