No Turning Back: The Cost + Beauty Of Real Discipleship, Luke 9:51-62

to today Um the heart that I would like

to go after is the concept of no turning

back What does disciplehip look like

when we look at the cost and the beauty

of the realness that Jesus gives us so

much of what we've talked about that

people are

coming relooking at the way of Jesus

culturally in our city and across the

globe in a fresh way is because the

secular story is failing The secular

story is trying to define meaning and

purpose with no need for

God True disciplehip starts with finding

our purpose our identity and our meaning

in the way of Jesus

And what we're doing this year is saying

how can we relook at this in a way that

disrupts our comforts disrupts our our

assumptions and takes us into a standard

that's not possible by striving and in

human

strength the first thing I want to talk

about is what does it look like to be

followers who flinch you and I how do we

flinch when we really look at what Jesus

has on offer we want to follow him You

wouldn't be here this morning if you

weren't interested in following Jesus

But convenience is the great decetor of

modern life Everything we do with our

entire life is built on how do we move

towards greater convenience how do we

get closer to our office in LA until we

put it in our living room or wherever we

put it how do we get more convenient in

terms of schooling how do we get more

convenient in terms of like life how do

I get my community group more

conveniently located to me

but the contemporary cultural

context is that we live in a culture of

absolute convenience distraction and

comfort Everything is designed to

minimize our commitments Ghosting is

normal Long-term sacrifice feels

optional When it comes to following

Jesus we tend to want a version that

fits around our schedules rather than

one that interrupts our lives

And Jesus demonstrated a lifestyle where

he was always willing to be interrupted

because he was always walking with an

awareness of the spirit of God on his

life That he was carrying something that

caused people to take notice and be

desperate for what he had But he would

give the challenge Do you know what this

costs

and if I'm honest I'm

continually humbled by the reality that

I don't

really take account of what it costs

When I

do it's not convenient It's not easy

It's just

glorious It gives pain a

purpose It gives waiting a purpose

It gives process a

purpose This isn't about coming to

church It's about becoming someone It's

about someone who's being formed into

the image of Jesus while a culture

around us is trying to form us whether

intentionally or unintentionally into

something or someone

else So we want to invite you today

What's on offer what hope does the

secular worldview offer you from a

secular perspective hope is grounded in

several things Human progress

self-fululfillment and personal meaning

community and compassion legacy and

memory What does that mean number one

human progress The secular perspective

the secular worldview is belief in

science technology and education to

improve

life And guess what you get all of that

in the Christian way of life too The

idea that humanity can solve its own

problems through innovation and

cooperation is not just a part The

Christian view allows that to to take

some effect to the secular worldview

That's the

ultimate that we can solve our own

problems Secondly self-fulfillment and

personal me meaning that live your truth

and follow your heart mantras are not

just a hope it's the

hope Purpose is self-defined You define

your purpose Therefore you are living

under the weight of discovering and

achieving your purpose that has to be

found in some sort of career or some s

sort of relationship or some sort of

creativity or some sort of impact Do you

feel the

weight to put your hope in achieving

some of those things our city does it

more than anywhere else Number three

community and compassion Many secular

people find hope in helping others and

building a better world together which

is a good moral standard Social justice

equality and kindness become the moral

beacons And then there's legacy and

memory Leaving a mark in the world being

remembered well or contributing to

something bigger than

yourself Those are all

noble but I would just argue a contrast

from the way of Jesus

Funny enough it doesn't

conflict It

just

contradicts And how does it do

that the Christian worldview in the way

of Jesus is says this "Hope is not

abstract It's a

person Jesus is the risen one from the

dead who's conquered sin death and the

grave and provides life and hope that's

eternal not temporary."

So secondly hope is eternal not

temporary It reaches beyond death Third

hope is given not earned It doesn't

depend on our strength but God's

strength and his grace His grace is

literally what strengthens and empowers

us That's what we've been given We don't

earn it And fourthly hope is anchored in

truth Not the truth that I've determined

but a truth that I've submitted to

that's bigger than myself and a bigger

story This isn't wishful thinking hoping

that it works but it's living a promise

that has been tested and

timetested over and over and over the

generations And the way of Jesus and the

gospel of the kingdom is the same today

than it was thousands of years before it

And it begins with the beginning of the

human story So if you're crafting an

idea of what is this what does this

secular worldview look like what's on

offer the secular worldview is a hope It

offers a hope until life falls

apart But the gospel the gospel offers a

hope because our lives fall

apart What kind of hope do you

want disciplehip to Jesus in a secular

age that's what we're going after It's

it's a for it's a counter formation in a

world that's constantly shaping us away

from God Disciplehip is the intentional

process of being reformed into the image

of Jesus It's not believing in

him It's becoming like him in thought

and heart and lifestyle amidst the

culture that's pulling the other

way So the secular age says this you're

to your own

authority Jesus says deny

yourself take up your cross and follow

me

I kind of like the secular age when they

when we get to certain things and I just

want us to be real with that I would

rather me be my own authority I like how

that feels better than take up your

cross That means die every

day and follow somebody else and trust

that it'll work out

better I would like to say that I can

just feel it out I can kind of look at

the options and I'll make a decision

because I'm really good at that in like

every other

way You want to tell me like I'm not

great with cars but if you want to tell

me exactly what I should do I'll be like

"Great You just give me the information

I still think I'm going to make a better

decision than you You tell me all your

options on how to make crepes great I'm

going to make it better than you After I

see all the options and I watch a few

YouTube videos I'm going to choose the

best one that's right for me." And it'll

probably be right for you too You can

decide I don't care

Mine's better I We can do that and it's

okay on a lot of things that are just

based on preferences But your

preferences are not going to fill the

void of meaning and purpose And

Christians have to discover this aresh

daily like everybody else because we're

so in process and we still want to look

at Jesus on what do you have on offer

today and so I pick up my my daily bread

and I go what do I need to hear from

Jesus today and I and I think I'm

scrolling through all the different

options in my devotional resources or my

books or even the scriptures And it's

one of the reasons why we encourage you

yes when you know you need to go

somewhere in his word or you need a

worship song that you know ministers to

your soul go there But you know what you

also need you also need the what's next

on my commitment to allowing God's word

to wash over me that I didn't decide I

needed to hear today Why because I've

just stepped a foot forward going I know

that if I'm just doing this based on my

preferences I'm only going to get my

preferences and I'm never going to get

the full offer of what he has for me And

so I want to invite you in your

disciplehip

You will get your preferences taken care

of and and most of those are

fine But where is it that you're

allowing things to disrupt you where

you're committed to a way that's even

when you don't feel like it even when I

don't feel like reading numbers or

Leviticus Even when I don't feel like

praying today Even when I don't feel

like Sabbath Even when I don't feel like

sitting in silence and solitude and

listening to the Lord and journaling and

letting his voice wash over me when I

would really just need a break I really

just need to kind of chill which really

means numb and check

out This isn't rules This is this is

about how can I allow a story that's

bigger than me that I'm trusting myself

to that's not based on my preferences

And I'm only on the first one And that

was meant to take 10 seconds So you're

your own authority It sounds good

Doesn't work I suck as my own

authority The good news of the gospel is

how's that working for you being your

own

authority jesus welcomes you He loves

you He's shown you that there's a story

that you can trust Truth is relative But

Jesus says "If you hold to my teaching

you'll know the truth Success is

everything." But Jesus says "Blessed are

the poor in spirit the persecuted the

peacemakers Happiness is the ultimate

goal says the secular age But Jesus says

"Seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness God is optional

Spirituality is a vibe." But Jesus says

"I'm the way I'm the truth and I'm the

life." So as secular age disciplehip

looks like resisting cultural narratives

that pull you away from kingdom values

Practicing spiritual disciplines not

just to feel better but to be formed

Living in community that reminds you who

you are in Jesus and nothing else

Carrying the presence of God into work

into school into your social media

accounts everywhere And suffering well

with purpose knowing hope isn't in

comfort but in Jesus So think of it this

way Disciplehip what we're going after

is a disruptive disciplehip that's a

slow quiet rebellion against the gods of

this age

slow quiet rebellion against the gods of

this age Just like that I love that I

don't know who said that It wasn't me

but I like it I need

that We're going after slow quiet

rebellion against the gods of this

age Can you feel the timeless power in

that it doesn't matter if you get

dropped in first century

Judea 13th century

France 21st century Los

Angeles a slow quiet rebellion against

the gods of this age just

works Make that the decree of your life

So here's some practical anchors for

disciplehip today Maybe this is just the

whole message Geez Okay that's supposed

to be my intro Scripture over scrolling

Sabbath over hustle silence and solitude

over the digital noise kingdom community

over individualism prayer and dependence

over

self-sufficiency mission and message in

a

world that may be post-Christian but is

very spiritually

hungry So if disciplehip in this moment

of our culture means resisting the pull

of comfort of self and of distraction

what does that actually look like in

real life how do we move from theory to

obedience from admiration to actually

following Jesus and Jesus doesn't leave

us guessing And here's what he says in

Luke

9 When the days drew near for him to be

taken up he set his face to go to

Jerusalem And he sent messengers ahead

of him who went and entered a village of

the Samaritans to make preparations for

him That was common in his practice send

guys ahead make way his entry into an

area But the people verse 53 did not

receive him because his face was set

towards Jerusalem We'll talk about what

that means What does his face set

towards Jerusalem mean it's talking

about his focus It's talking about what

he was looking towards where he was

going where he was headed but a whole

lot more than that In verse 54 it says

"When his disciples James and John saw

it these guys are called the sons of

thunder at different portions of

scripture

They said "Lord do you want us to tell

fire to come down from heaven and

consume

them?" And it wasn't a

joke It just sounds so silly when we say

it

today until you watch the news in the

exact same part of the world It's not so

funny anymore I'm not making fun of you

guys for laughing It is I laughed the

first time I read too I'm just saying

like it's really it's a chuckle until

you go and it's still

happening and before we go over

there It's the human

condition And you know

why it's

because the differences in their

faith were marginal

same

father similar

histories But then there's a a strife a

divide a wound doesn't get dealt with

and the generations pay a precious

price Jesus turns and rebukes them and

they went on to another village Put that

aside for a second Then the cost of

following Jesus in the next few verses

As they were going along the road

someone said to them "I'll follow you

wherever you go." Talking to Jesus And

Jesus said to him "Foxes have holes and

birds of the air have nests but the son

of man has nowhere to lay his

head." To another he said "Follow

me." But he said "Lord let me first go

and bury my father." And Jesus said

"Leave the dead to bury their own dead

But as for you go and proclaim the

kingdom of God."

It's amazing to me the world doesn't get

more offended at

Jesus Every everyone paints a picture of

Jesus that we all can love

Jesus And I know that history Christians

have misrepresented him

brutally

constantly daily I cringe at another

Christian who's trying to represent

Jesus And at the same time I don't see

any of the people that aren't fully

following Jesus or maybe are skeptics or

atheists or whatever they are they never

they never lean into quoting these

things of

Jesus They never go you know Jesus just

said "Lead the dead to bury their own

dead." And another said "I'll follow you

Lord." Verse 61 "But let me first say

farewell to those at my home." Jesus

said to him "No one who puts his hand to

the plow and looks back is fit for the

kingdom of God." Okay so before we get

into kind

of messing ourselves up from this why

why don't we just kind of acknowledge

the fact that two things are happening

here jesus is getting rejected in a

place that he's going that he should

have been rejected and Jesus still went

there The Samaritans and the Jews had a

longstanding divide Everyone's expecting

him to get rejected and he still goes

What does that demonstrate about his

gospel and his

message it's for the people that reject

him

Secondly what's happening here with

these people that are saying they want

to follow him but then he's reminding

them where he's going and they give him

a couple of but first I want to do this

or

that Jesus is going to show

them to be a true disciple and to really

follow me To understand the fullness of

what I have on offer you're going to

have to understand rejection on a deeper

level And you're going to you're going

to have to understand the

cost You're going to have to reshape

priorities and you're going to have to

look deep within your

soul I've given this example but I

haven't read this specific example

Dietrich Bonhaofer there's a movie about

him that's out right now He was a pastor

in Germany during World War II and he

had a moment of decision It was the fall

of 1939 and Bonhaofer had just been

offered a position uh in the United

States to leave all the danger of Nazi

Germany behind and he could have stayed

in America preached and lived a

relatively comfortable

life and many of his friends

did And one evening he sat with his

friend Ibar Beth don't judge my German

in a quiet dimly lit room The weight of

decision was heavy The tension was real

And on one side Bonhaofer had a clear

mission to confront the evil of the Nazi

rule On the other hand he had a safe

escape the comfort and security of life

in America And isn't that still a

dynamic that we have

today is the American dream about

comfort and security or is it

about or is it about

risk and pursuing a different kind of

freedom we've established a comfortable

freedom a secular

freedom But the beauty of what we have

on offer

here has to go beyond We have to go

beyond the secular and into the

sacred And so Bethy says this Dietrich

think of all the good you could do in

America You could write you could speak

you could influence thousands of people

from a safe distance Why return to

Germany now the danger is real You'll be

walking into the heart of evil Think of

your own

life And Bonhaofer pauses his eyes

reflecting a deep resolve as he stares

out the window at the cold dark

night And he says "I understand your

concern

Ebart But you must know this I cannot

stand by and do nothing The call of

Jesus is not about

safety It's about

obedience It's about following him

wherever he leads no matter the cost

I cannot turn

away I cannot turn away from my brothers

and sisters in Germany The cost of

disciplehip is not an abstract concept

It's something I must live out I cannot

follow Jesus and remain safe while my

people

suffer If I'm to follow him I must set

my face toward the suffering of this

world even if it means my own death

Bethy looks at him silenced by the

weight of his

words Bonhoffer stands up walking

towards the window his back to his

friend that he spoke softly almost to

himself And then he says

this When Christ calls a man he bids him

come and

die If I chose safety I choose comfort

over mission I betray my Jesus and I

cannot live with

that So this is the absolute essence of

this passage in Luke 9 The cost of

setting your face towards the mission of

Jesus Jesus didn't come to this earth to

comfort us or to give us security He

came for redemption sacrifice and

transformation

All of a sudden when we really seek what

our hearts crave it's not

safety it's

mission Because we know that this world

doesn't have safety on offer And so what

it does offer is can you give up your

safety for something that's worth giving

he understood that true disciplehip

demands the focus on Jesus not our own

safety or desires He returns to Germany

and within a few years he's arrested for

his involvement in the resistance

against Hitler He spent time in prison

and on April 9th 1945 he was executed by

the Nazis He lost his life but in

following Jesus he set his face towards

something

eternal the tension today and the

connection to what is on

offer Are we when we're faced with

comfort do we lean into the calling when

we're faced with safety do we lean into

sacrifice our modern secular culture

urges us to choose comfort to retreat

from conflict and to prioritize our

personal

fulfillment Jesus calls us to set our

faces towards a different way a way of

obedience a way of mercy a way of

sacrifice So the question

is sit with

this Will we follow Jesus to hard

places will we endure

rejection discomfort and the challenges

of being a disciple in a secular world

will we choose him even when the world

says it's easier to turn

away will we choose the ease of

discomfort the ease of disciplehip or

will we choose will we choose a

disciplehip that actually has meaning

sacrifice and purpose So what do we do

about it okay I'm going to crash land

this thing It's going to be

fun His face towards

Jerusalem What was Jesus doing with

that it wasn't it wasn't just the death

he was focused on We know that he's

going to the cross And last week we we

celebrate his resurrection The language

there from Jesus when he set his face

towards Jerusalem involves the ascension

and the resurrection It wasn't just

about this darkness going to death that

doesn't lead to life The Christian death

always has hope because it's never

connected to to just a the end the

hopelessness of death It's always

connected to the life the ascension and

the

resurrection We never just talk about

death

It's why we can sing about lambs and

blood and be happy about

it It's why we can chuckle at James and

John and their evil murderous thoughts

because we know that they're going to

get

it They're going to be

transformed His resolve wasn't just

about enduring death and suffering And

it was fueled by the joy set before him

by the glory of his ascension and the

victory that would bring us home Our

motivation for disciplehip is fueled and

has to be fueled by hope Has to be

fueled by hope It's not just a duty So

what this actually means of him setting

his face towards Jerusalem it's a

resolved determination This Hebrew idiom

of setting his face is all about making

a firm unwavering decision It's like

Jesus is saying "I'm locked in." He was

laser focused He's committed to the path

ahead Even though he knew it would lead

to suffering in the cross Jerusalem

always meant the cross When he says

towards Jerusalem it means he's going

somewhere He's going to give his life

He's going towards the sacrifice It's

symbolic It's the city of destiny Jesus

wasn't just going to Jerusalem for a

festival He was going to fulfill his

mission Suffer die and rise

again So in Luke's gospel everything is

headed towards this passion narrative

And third the prophetic fulfillment It's

a turning point Jesus is stepping into

his role as the suffering Messiah

foretold by the prophets and it's a

journey of obeying the voice and the

obedience of the father's will So in

this larger passage it's all about from

even from actually chapter 9 to 18 Luke

is going all in on

disciplehip And what I want to invite us

today is how how are you holding

something back from this way of life

from real disciplehip real following of

Jesus really

becoming someone that's been transformed

Now I'm not doing this in a way that

many of you in the room have given your

lives to this And some of you just need

to be reminded what you've given your

life to is worth it

This isn't like this slap in the face

like you're all a bunch of fakes We

wouldn't be here The church would not

exist with a bunch of fakes What what we

do though is we exist despite the fact

that we can't do any of this perfectly

We can't strive our way into achieving

this And so the only heart posture today

is how do I go allin again and for some

of you it's how do I go allin for the

first time

full surrender no excuses eyes fixed on

the

mission And why did these people of

Samaria not not receive him well there's

some deep Jewish and Samaritan tensions

we don't have time to go into And uh

what you need to know is that that Jesus

was willing to go to the people that

would reject him because they were

invited

to And there is a moment in his ministry

where the Samaritan woman responds and

there is hope in that village Jesus does

never writes anyone

off The seeds are there and they're

included And so the gospel doesn't allow

the Jews to write people off Doesn't

allow them to not be included in the

invitation So I just want to land with

three things The parallels to modern

life What prevents us here in Los

Angeles from living this out why can't

we do this what is what's what's holding

us back in our

fears first is our

focus Our focus Second is our

offense Third is the cost Focus Offense

And the cost And that's how we'll

land Jesus's focus was clear His face

was set on the

cross Modern example Look at an American

athlete We're

obsessed Our Olympic trials I mean even

what you see with youth sports is

absolutely insane The focus we give to

that If we could train our kids in

disciplehip the way that we train them

in athletic pursuits that are going to

lead to like eighth grade medals and

maybe an interest from a college coach

at a division three school or even you

go D1 and give like 80 hours a week and

then you make no money from that

whatsoever in your entire life and the

0.01% that are now in the NIL deals or

whatever it is It's just outrageous Our

system's

insane and I love watching it because

I'm flawed and I'm part of the

culture But what's the spiritual

parallel to that kind of focus what's

the kingdom focus and kingdom purpose

it's when people don't understand the

priorities in your life It's when you

stop compromising stop

entertaining every version of self and

sin Whatever that whatever that is I'm

not here to tell you your sin I'm here

to tell you if you're like me my natural

inclination is myself And so that always

leads me to a place where I end in guilt

and shame And I want to be set

free when I stop compromising and stop

stop entertaining those selfish pursuits

and I'm I'm realigned with my God-given

destiny and my God-given dreams It's

going to confuse some people in your

life Sometimes it looks like

separation But the separation when we

pull away from the way of the world

isn't so that we go do our own thing

It's so that we can then

assimilate and demonstrate a

counterculture Secondly the offense They

didn't receive

him Modern people their priorities you

can see them shifting away from the Lord

Maybe you choose sobriety purity

forgiveness or even you've just you've

chosen to to consistently be in this

community or another one Suddenly people

were you were close to may have judged

you separated themselves from you I know

many of your testimonies of finding

Jesus involved the

people even family members that that are

still with you They didn't cut you off

completely but it was like the closeness

was fractured in some way

My wife's beautiful story that she

shares often is one where her family

didn't cut her off but it it like had a

effect where it took decades to

restore what was severed when she chose

Jesus

Decades It's a

cost It's a

cost I watched her friendship shift

There's a

cost I watched the directives of where

she was aiming her career shift There's

a cost I've watched many of you that

have had successful careers make major

changes in the way you did things

because you realized the way that your

career was pulling from you was not

conducive to what your heart said you

had to surrender There's a cost

Some doors in life are going to close

when you open your heart to the way of

the

kingdom Sometimes we confuse closed

doors is bad bad doors bad

door and we don't realize who closed the

door Thirdly the cost Let the dead bury

their own dead

I wish I had time to flesh it out more

but the audience reading this gospel in

the original audience would have

understood that this guy's making

excuses He's not just doing what he has

to do to honor

family He's doing what's convenient for

him The language is that he's not just

going back for a funeral He's going back

for this elongated optional thing that

he doesn't have to do And Jesus is

reading right through it and say "You're

just making

excuses." And so Jesus just cuts to the

chase Let the dead bury their own dead

Who's the

dead he's not talking about the father

that

died He's talking about the man's own

soul

As we close I want you guys to just

think

of the ways that our hearts make

excuses I'm going to put up on the

screen seven excuses that keep us from

fullness I just want you to try to

identify where's my life in

this The first is the busyiness

excuse I'm with you

My life is

busy I've got so many responsibilities

amazing things God gave me all my

children He gave me this this role in

church He's given me so many amazing

responsibilities but they they take time

and I'm just really busy And I would

never tell God maybe

later But maybe that's how I'm

living If Jesus is is asking you how can

I take the fullness can I how can I

weigh the cost is there anything that

you're holding on to that he's asking

you just to surrender your grip

on what are your your

goals your personal brand building that

you're not even aware is taking

precedence There's always a reason to

delay radical obedience

There's a hustle culture that glorifies

busyness as a badge of

honor Would you join me in giving the

maybe

later excuse to the Lord

secondly I see this everywhere in the

church

It's a guilt and shame that you've got

to get your life your spiritual life and

your practical life together first

before you can be used before you can

have be someone that really lives on

purpose Really living out the true

disciple stuff You compare to everyone

else and you're really just taking

yourself out And Jesus isn't taking you

out You're taking yourself out I need to

get my life together first translation

Once I finish therapy once I clean up my

habits once I find a better friend group

once I get married once I finish

school but first but first but

first And Jesus

says "Let me take your mess Let me use

your mess Let me take your unfinished

business Let me take your unfinished

soul Let me finish this piece of artwork

that I've started in

you You're trying to clean yourself

up and he wants to show you off He wants

to show you off while he cleans

you No one wants to see your finished

work They want to see the mess of their

process so they can find themselves in

the

story Get rid of the I need to get

myself together first excuse Thirdly

what will people think of me

translation If I get serious about

Jesus people I've worked so far so hard

with maybe you're in the industry maybe

you're a teacher maybe maybe you've

worked hard in your neighborhood and and

you're just like not sure when can I

take that next step to actually be real

and raw with what who I am and what I'm

like and what I believe and who I'm in

love

with The fear of social rejection is

real Many of you could lose your jobs

lose your influence lose your

projects lose your

friendships There's a cost Don't let

anyone say there's no cost in the modern

day There's a massive

cost We give you the what will people

think of me excuse

Father Last few What about the excuse I

still want to experience some things in

life first

i've given you my life

Jesus Of course after I travel after I

build my dreams after I work myself to

death and barely keep myself together

then I'll take my relationship seriously

then I'll take my family seriously then

I'll take my spirituality my disciplehip

seriously Now hey I get it Some of you

are like your calling like is medicine

and you're in the middle of a two-year

program where they own you I'm not

talking about that Grace on you as you

get through that I'm talking about after

that when you said "Oh it'll be better

after that." And then it's

not And part of it was the reality of

the two years And part of it was you

haven't learned to actually fully go

allin

How about those of us that aren't really

ready to sacrifice comfort they're

constantly looking down the line of the

other options because we're we think in

the back of our mind this is supposed to

be easier Why is this so

hard why are these doors keep closing

why don't I find some easier ones and

Jesus is simply saying "Disciplehip

isn't convenient

Comfort is often the God we worship

without realizing

it How do we sacrifice the God of

comfort

today last two Those of you where your

faith is so personal that you don't need

community and you're resisting maybe

because you've been hurt maybe because

you have a mindset of how you're wired

that just doesn't fit in well with

community and you're just keeping the

community of Jesus lovers and followers

at bay and not going all

in I just want to I just want to welcome

you and challenge you in the most loving

way possible It's just not possible to

live the full calling of your life

without being ingrained in a deep

vulnerable known community that you know

them and they know

you Jesus can have access to my

Sundays but there are certain things

that are just off off limits Some of his

deeper relationships some of it's career

some of it's finances some of it dating

some of it's politics Jesus doesn't call

for partial

allegiance We give you our allegiance

today

Jesus Finally Jesus we follow you on our

on your terms and not

ours Would you stand with me

and as you

stand

just whether you need to put it on your

lips or you just want to identify it in

the deep core of your

soul where are the

excuses that are costing you the

fullness of the hope on

offer holy Spirit we invite you to

disrupt our disciplehip this morning

Disrupt our comforts

I feel that some in the room just need

the comfort of God not the world The

comfort of

God You've done well You've served well

You've lived well This isn't this isn't

a harsh rebuke for some of you It's it's

acknowledging that you've chosen well

And you can look at the forefront of

your life your legacy the generations

coming after you and say "This is why we

do what we do This is why I've lived my

life the way I've lived it This is why

I've prioritized the way I have This is

why I've given the way that I have Some

of you just need this morning to be

reminded of fresh It's all worth it It's

all going to be worth it And it's all

worth it right

[Music]

now Others are still holding on to

things

tightly And some of these

excuses just need to be put to

practice How do you step into a

disciplehip that says "These excuses

will no longer define me

Thank you Jesus for your example your

timeless examples of calling

out not sugarcoating what you have on

offer not of comfort but of the cost

Thank you that we do

not worship a

grave We worship a resurrected

savior that's put death in its

place and has given us a hope a life a

purpose and a meaning that no other

worldview has on

offer to invite you to respond in

worship with this team Our our prayer

team if you guys could go ahead and come

up on my left your right and as we

worship and respond I just want to

invite you If you want someone to just

pray with you about one of the areas

that you want to sacrifice to the Lord

one of the excuses that you know that if

you're being honest with yourself you

need to put before him and you just want

to partner with someone to do that Our

team would be absolutely honored to pray

with you

And those of you that are just sitting

and responding in your seat that's fine

as

well I just feel like some need to

respond by stepping forward today They

need to say it out loud and they need to

have someone else No one here is going

to judge you repeat and talk about it

later This is just between you and God

but with an accountable partner that

wants to pray with

you Some of you need to go home and call

someone and say "I've been making

excuses The Holy Spirit's just

pinpointed something in my

life There's a deeper cost that I want

to

give We give you permission and we

respond with surrender We love you in

Jesus

name Amen Feel free to respond in

worship We are