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[0:00] Please grant me the peace and all those things that I need to do. But it's always good to have her here and good to be with family. And good to be with our church family. So if you found your place there in the Gospel of Luke, chapter number 9, we're going to read verse 51 down through the end of the chapter.

[0:13] And the Bible says this, And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him.

[0:30] And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?

[0:44] And we're going to talk about this in a second, but they tried to spiritualize calling fire down from heaven on these people. And they were like, Lord, this just sounds like a great idea. And I love what, maybe you thought that this week with the co-worker.

[0:56] Lord, would you call fire down from heaven? But Jesus would probably have the same response that he did to them. But he turned and rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit you are.

[1:08] For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. And it came to pass that as they went in the way, A certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

[1:24] And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and the bird of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, This is Jesus, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

[1:39] Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead. Like, yikes. Man, that's harsh. But go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

[1:50] And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee. But let me first go and bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

[2:07] As we've seen here in Luke chapter 9, Jesus is really getting ready to move towards Jerusalem. He's always been heading that way. He's always been heading to the cross. Before the foundation of the world, he was heading that direction.

[2:20] But really in the gospel, this marks this moment where he is set towards Jerusalem. And he's been kind of getting his disciples ready. He's been letting them know, Hey, when you follow me, this is what it looks like.

[2:32] Discipleship is costly. If any man follow me, let him come after me and deny himself and to take up his cross daily. And so he let them know, Hey, I'm not looking for all these fans. I'm looking for true followers.

[2:44] So as we kind of come to this close of this chapter, Jesus is letting them know and he's reminding us today that when we follow Jesus, it's wherever, it's whenever, and it's whatever.

[2:56] That's what true discipleship looks like. And I think there's going to be some great truths we can take home with us this morning. But first, let's go to him in prayer. Father, thank you for this time together. Thank you for the songs that have prepared our hearts and reminded us of your goodness to us.

[3:10] Lord, thank you for those that are here this morning. And I don't know the needs. I don't know the situations. They may be facing their life, but you do. And Lord, I pray you would meet them right where they are, Lord, that you would speak to their hearts.

[3:21] I pray there is someone here that does not know you as their Savior that today would be that day. Lord, maybe there are those that do know you, but they're not following like you've called us to follow.

[3:31] And I pray you would help us. You would help us to respond and not just to be hearers of the word, to be doers as well. I pray you'd be with me now. You'd empty me of self, Lord. Cleanse me of sin, Lord. Help me say the things that need to be said and the things that don't I would not say.

[3:43] Lord, I pray you would just be with us now and I ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. There's two types of people here today. People that love sports and weirdos.

[3:56] Okay. Maybe you shouldn't have said that. I thought about not saying it, but it's just what it is. And you've been around me. Most of you have been around me enough that you know that I do love sports. And some of you are diehard fans like me.

[4:07] And, you know, I can't remember what my wife tells me yesterday, but I can name every player, every stat. I know when they were born, what's going on, all the situations. You know, important things in life. And, yes, we have a friendly college football rivalry here at Central Baptist.

[4:22] But, really, my favorite sport is basketball. I'm passionate about it. I was certain in the middle school I was going to the NBA. Did not quite work out quite like I thought it would.

[4:35] So, I did the next best thing. I just went all in on being a fan. And I'm a big fan of the Dallas Mavericks, Fire Niko. And I'm very passionate about the Dallas Mavericks. And I love watching the team.

[4:46] And I remember 2011, we won the NBA championship. And I take a lot of credit for that because I watched all the games.

[4:56] I cheered for them. I went to some of the games. I shouted at the television to inform the referees of the horrendous calls they were making at the time. You know, I wore the jersey.

[5:07] Kenzie was just born. So, she was my good luck charm. Not that we believe in that. But, in sports, we do believe in that. And when we'd win, I'd hold her up like Simba on the Lion King. You know, like this is how it goes.

[5:20] In conversations, some of you have even called me out about this and the Aggies. I do say we. I mean, like we need to do this and we just did that. And, you know, because I'm all in.

[5:31] I am a diehard fan. And I'm going to cheer with them. I'm going to cry with them sometimes. But the sad thing is, is when the Mavs won the championship, nobody gave me a championship ring.

[5:43] I kept waiting. I kept going and checking my mail, seeing when's the ring going to come in. My wife just told me, listen, you're not on the team. You're just a fan. You're just kind of, you're there.

[5:55] And I know it's a silly illustration, but I want us to see there's a big difference between being a fan and being on the actual team. Being a player that's on the court or on the field.

[6:07] You see, a fan gets excited when things are going well. And it was not going well for me the beginning of last night in the first half. And some of you, thank you for not texting me. My mother-in-law, I was going to call fire down from heaven.

[6:20] Let's just say what it is. I had to walk away. You know, if you're on the team, you can't just walk away. You've got to stay on the field. See, a follower stays faithful when things get tough.

[6:31] See, a fan sets in the stands and cheers. But the follower, the player, takes the field and moves forward in the mission. And that's kind of really what we've seen here in Luke chapter 9.

[6:44] That Jesus is, he's had these followers, he's had these disciples and there's been others that have come alongside. But Jesus wasn't looking for people that admired him from a distance. He didn't say, follow me and watch all the cool things I can do.

[6:58] No, he's looking for people who will walk closely with him. That are on the same page. That are on the same mission. And I think sometimes we can get it mixed up in our own life that Christianity is not about knowing about Jesus.

[7:14] No, that Christianity is about knowing him personally. That's where our life is and that's what it's rooted in. When Jesus says, follow me, when he was talking to the disciples, and by the way, the call still rings today.

[7:28] He's not saying, hey, just watch how the mission works. Sit back and enjoy it. Sit back and enjoy the show. No, he's saying, join in. That God intends for every single person, whether you're going to Italy or you're going to work tomorrow, to be on mission.

[7:46] And that's what he's teaching here. So the question that every person must answer is this. Am I a fan of Jesus or am I a follower of Jesus?

[7:59] Because there's a lot of fans and we're going to meet some fans here this morning in the text. And really that question, it sets the stage for the passage before us. See, here in Luke 9, what Jesus has been doing is he's drawing a clear line between the crowd that cheers him and the disciples who truly follow him.

[8:20] That's what he's wanting us to understand. And we begin our text here in verse number 51. And really, Luke is showing us kind of the turning point of Jesus' earthly ministry. See, up to this point, Jesus was, his ministry was centered in Galilee and he was teaching and he was healing and he was feeding thousands.

[8:39] He was revealing his identity through his compassion and his power and his message. And the crowd, the crowds have started following. Some out of curiosity.

[8:51] I mean, if you heard somebody's just making bread just reappear all over the place, you'd line up too. I would line up. If somebody said, hey, this guy over here, he just makes Texas Roadhouse Rolls just keep coming.

[9:03] And cinnamon butter just keeps coming. Y'all would all leave right now and go find where this guy is. But he's drawing crowds. Some are really trying to figure out who he is. But some are just thinking, hey, I'm hungry.

[9:14] Let's go see where this guy is. Hey, I want to see some cool miracle. And the curiosity has grown. But with that, the opposition has begun to build. And Jesus here in verse number 51, this is not just a travel note.

[9:27] It's not saying, hey, he's just kind of moving towards Jerusalem. No, the Bible says, when the time was come. You see, God does everything in his perfect timing. Because when you really read the Gospels, he would say this often, my time's not yet come.

[9:40] And when they would ask him to do something, he said, the time is not now. But the time is now. That he has set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. That he is locked in.

[9:51] That he is on mission. And that phrase is simply just a divine appointment. A moment fixed in time by the Father. And Jesus knows exactly where he's going and why he's going.

[10:03] He's going to Jerusalem not for a crown. He's going for the cross. And he's been trying to get his disciples on the same page. Because they're pretty sure they're about to be elevated.

[10:13] They're pretty sure they're about to gather all of these things and have a little bit of power and prestige. But that's not how it's going to go. And he's wanting them to understand the truth.

[10:27] But as we read these first few verses of our text. And we're going to walk through it quickly just to give us a little bit of background. See, on the way to Jerusalem, he was rejected by the Samaritans. And see, we look at Jesus' ministry and today we kind of have this, man, it must have been awesome.

[10:43] And it was. But Jesus received a lot of rejection as well. That not every time the gospel was preached, everybody was excited. Not every time somebody was healed, they think, wow, praise the Lord.

[10:53] No, many times they said, let's kill this guy. He received it a lot. But here he does as well. But he sends the disciples and says, listen, I'm going to Jerusalem. But let's stop in Samaria.

[11:04] Let's stop in these villages. And let's preach the gospel. Let's preach the message of the kingdom. And he goes there. And the Bible says in verse number 53 that they didn't receive him. Because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.

[11:17] Now to us, we kind of just read through that. And we're thinking, why did James and John just lose their mind and try to call fire down from heaven? See, the Samaritans were descendants of the Jews. But they had intermarried with the Assyrian foreigners kind of after the conquest a long time ago in the Old Testament.

[11:33] Right around 2 Kings. And many of the Samaritans, they believed, they would say they believed in the same God. They accepted the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. But they really rejected Jerusalem.

[11:46] They rejected the place that God had really set up for worship. And instead, they built their own temple on Mount Gerizim. And claimed that that's where God should be worshipped. If you remember the woman at the well, she said that when she's having this conversation with Jesus.

[11:58] She said, why do we need to go to Jerusalem? We have our own mountain here. And Jesus was speaking to her there. But really, because of all of that situation, because of their intermarrying and their religious views, by the time of Christ, there was deep hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans.

[12:17] In fact, so much so that Samaria was kind of located in the middle of Israel. If you lived in the north side, you would go all the way around Samaria to the south side, just so you didn't have to see a Samaritan.

[12:30] Just so you didn't have to talk to them. I mean, you talk about, like, hatred. You don't even want to see them. You don't even want to have a conversation with them. Because when a Jew walked through Samaria, they were asking for conflict.

[12:43] So that's kind of where this rejection comes from. So the disciples show up and say, hey, we're going to stop here. We're going to set some things up. Jesus is about to come preach because he's on the way to Jerusalem.

[12:54] And when they heard that, it was a direct insult. And they wanted nothing to do with it. Listen, they were not rejecting Jesus because they didn't recognize him.

[13:05] They were rejecting Jesus because he didn't fit their prejudice and expectations. That was the issue. And let me remind us, that's still the issue today.

[13:15] That we don't get to pick and choose what kind of Jesus we want. He's not some buddy that we put in our pocket to help us out. No, no, he is who he is.

[13:26] And they didn't like the expectation. They said, hey, if he really loves us, then he'll do what we want him to do. Listen, you don't want to serve a God like that, by the way. Because I know I get my own self in trouble because I think I know what's best for me, and I don't.

[13:39] And my wife says, see, I told you so. We all are there. But that's kind of where they are. See, their message to the disciples was essentially this. If he's going to Jerusalem, he's not welcome here.

[13:52] And James and John, man, they got hot. And they come to Jesus, real spiritual. Lord, you know, we've been reading our Old Testament. And we love Elijah. He's a great prophet.

[14:03] You know what I think we should do? Call fire down from heaven and kill these Samaritans. I hope we get to see this in heaven. I wonder, Jesus is thinking, you thought that's the best idea?

[14:14] Of all the ideas, you thought, here's what we're going to do. Kill them with fire. I wonder if James, well, it was actually John's idea. I mean, I'm just here. I'm his brother. I can't really get around that situation.

[14:24] But there's all this frustration. And the sad thing is, as we've walked through chapter 9, they just keep missing the point. He keeps saying, it's about following me. It's about denying yourself.

[14:36] No, they didn't want that. They felt like it was their job to protect Jesus. But what Jesus does in verse number 55 and verse 56, he rebukes them and he tells them, verse 56, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

[14:52] He's saying, guys, I have been drilling this home over and over. You know, it's kind of like when your parents, how many times do I have to tell you? Anybody ever heard that growing up?

[15:03] Yeah. Who heard it on the way to church this morning? Anybody? Husbands. I'm sorry. But that one statement is the heart of his mission.

[15:16] We're going to see later in Luke 19, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The disciples' spirit was retaliation, but Jesus is always redemption.

[15:28] They wanted to burn their enemies. Jesus has come to die for all the world. They wanted to win a fight, but Jesus wanted to win their heart and their soul.

[15:38] And if we're going to join Jesus on his mission, we must understand his mission. Because there's a lot of people when they hear about you, oh yeah, I'm for Jesus. Man, I'll cheer for him.

[15:49] I'm all about it. We need to make sure we understand what we're committing to. That when it comes to following Christ, it's not about comfort. It's not about conquest. It's really about the cross of Calvary.

[16:02] That's why we're here this morning. That's what we sing about. That's what we preach about. Because that's where the cross of Calvary is what changes lives. And right after this kind of instance in the Samaritan village, Luke introduces three brief encounters of people who say, man, I want to be on mission.

[16:21] I want to live for Christ. I want to follow him. But each one wants to do it on their own terms. Anybody like to do things on their own terms?

[16:33] Like, I'll do it, but I'm going to do it this way. Okay, you know, we'll say, all right, well, if we can move this around, then I'll be in that. But that's not how Jesus calls us to follow him.

[16:45] That's not what we see in our text here this morning. See, to join Jesus and to be on mission with him means saying yes to wherever he leads, whenever he calls, and whatever he asks.

[17:01] That's what he laid out there in verse number 23 of chapter number 9. And if we're going to do that, we must be willing to walk that same road. It's a road of surrender, not comfort.

[17:12] It's a road of obedience, not convenience. And it doesn't mean that your life is going to be horrible, but there are going to be things that we're going to have to deny ourselves and live for Christ. And he wanted them to know that.

[17:24] And as we walk through our text, we're going to see a few things. We're going to see what a true disciple looks like, how they follow. And the true disciples of Christ follow wherever.

[17:37] The test of location. They were willing to do that. We see that in verse number 57. And it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

[17:50] I think he was proud of himself. Jesus came and said, Hello, Jesus. I will follow you whithersoever thou goest. And it sounds noble, doesn't it?

[18:02] I mean, you think, yeah, sure, we should do that. I mean, we sing, I will follow, I will follow. We sing all the songs like that. And maybe he's seen the miracles and he wants in on some of that excitement.

[18:13] Hey, Jesus, I'm all about that right there. Hey, I'm excited. Wherever you want to take me, I'm going to go. And Matthew's account tells us that this man was a scribe.

[18:24] He was educated. He was respected. He was religious. And he's willingly offering all of his knowledge and all of his services to Jesus. But Jesus gives a weird answer in verse 58.

[18:38] And he said unto him, Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. What is Jesus saying?

[18:51] He's telling this man that was kind of used to a life of comfort and convenience, listen, following me is not comfortable. This was a man that lived in a plush life and he had the opportunities of education and kind of the upper crust of society.

[19:07] And Jesus is not pushing him away, but he's saying if you're going to follow me, you have to count the cost. You have to put in the work, so to speak.

[19:18] And here's the reality when it comes to our lives, that walking with Jesus, it sometimes means embracing uncertainty. I love uncertainty, said no one.

[19:30] Now you want to know what you're getting into. You want to know what's going on. You want to know kind of how it's going to play out. Sometimes it means embracing inconvenience. Americans love being inconvenienced.

[19:43] Just try it. I tell you all the time, when the light turns green, just sit there. I mean, it's five seconds and they are just laying the horn on you. We don't want to be inconvenienced in any way.

[19:55] Sometimes it means embracing rejection. He just experienced that. And what are we going to do when we feel rejected for maybe living for Christ at work? Call fire down from heaven?

[20:06] That's what Jesus is showing. That's not how we walk. Listen, Jesus didn't promise a pillow. He didn't promise ease. He promised a cross to these men that we're going to take it up and live for him.

[20:16] This man said, I'll follow you wherever. And Jesus said, what about there? And I think that's where the question comes to us this morning. Kind of where the rubber meets the road.

[20:28] Discipleship gets real when wherever turns into a specific place or a specific person. Maybe Jesus is asking you and I asked you this morning, where's there for you?

[20:42] Maybe it's at home. That God's calling you, hey, I want you to be all in there. Does your love for Christ shape how you treat your family? How you treat your siblings?

[20:53] How you treat your spouse? How you treat your parents? Does the love of Christ, does it do that for you? Because here's what Jesus is saying, I want you to serve there. Well, you say, well, that's where I let my hair down.

[21:05] You know, that's where I kind of just can clock out for just a few minutes. That's not what Jesus calls us to do. Listen, maybe there is work. Maybe it's school, young people.

[21:16] And you say, I'm going to follow Christ. It's real easy to say it on a Sunday morning. It's real easy to say it at youth camp. But tomorrow's coming. Monday's coming. Work's coming.

[21:28] School's coming. And that decision that you were so passionate about, Jesus says, what about there? He's called a service.

[21:39] I can imagine what Brother David wrestled with because I was there when the Lord called me to preach. Man, I had all my plans set out. I'm going to do this. I'm going to go to college here.

[21:50] I'll let you guess where that was. And I'm going to go to college there. And I'm going to do this. I'm going to do all these things. And the Lord's like, I want you to preach. I'm like, absolutely not. Preachers are old and no fun. That's what I said to him.

[22:03] But now they're awesome. Preachers are the best people I know. Maybe it's not Italy for you. But it is this situation.

[22:17] It is that workplace that you're trying to run from. But the Lord has actually placed you there because somebody needs the gospel. It's that person in class that you have to sit next to. And you've asked the teacher, can I change desk? I don't want to sit next to this person.

[22:28] But maybe the Lord has placed you in that desk for a specific reason. Maybe it's online. Does your testimony or that post, does it reflect the character of God? Because Jesus said, well, what about there?

[22:39] What about there? That's where God is calling us to. Listen, I love the song, I Surrender All. But sometimes, if I'm honest, my life hums, I surrender some. Lord, I'll give you this and this, but not there.

[22:53] That's my place. That's my thing. See, following Jesus wherever means that nothing is off limits from his lordship. Because he's in control.

[23:04] We're not on our mission. We're on his mission. And so we see that following Jesus isn't just about where he leads, but it's also about when he leads. See, the next man shows us the discipleship.

[23:17] It requires surrender of our comfort, but also surrender of our timing. Jesus not only wants our willingness to go anywhere, but he wants our readiness to go as well.

[23:29] That's what he's looking for. So we see number two, we see the whenever. However, the test of timing. Jesus offers the invitation himself. The first man, he came up and said this, but Jesus looks at another and said in verse 59, Follow me.

[23:47] This man said this, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. I mean, all reasonable people here think that's a pretty solid request.

[23:59] I mean, he's supposed to honor his father and mother. He's supposed to love them. He's supposed to take care of them. I mean, after all, these are God's laws that he's trying to follow.

[24:11] But there's something much deeper when you look in the context of this. In the Jewish culture, burying one's father was a phrase that could refer to caring for one's parents until they die.

[24:23] Most likely, most commentators think this man's father was probably in good health. He's probably there and it was more of a convenience thing.

[24:33] He wasn't saying, hey, listen, I'm going to follow you, but, you know, my dad's funeral's tomorrow. That's not what's taking place here. That is not the mindset. He said, in fact, he was probably just kind of enjoying the comforts that his father provided him.

[24:50] See, what the man was really saying is this, Lord, I'll follow you later. But I got some things that I got to take care of first. Lord, you know, I've read the Old Testament.

[25:02] I'm going to take care of my family. You know, that's what good Jewish boys do. He's saying, Lord, when the time is right, when my schedule clears up, then I'm all in.

[25:14] Hey, you write my name down in pencil because I'm going to be all in someday. That's what's taking place. The idea is that he wanted to follow Jesus on his own time, on his own timeline.

[25:30] Here's Jesus' response, verse 60, let the dead bury their dead. Whoa. Like, Jesus, can you say that? I don't think that's politically correct, Jesus, to let him know that.

[25:44] Jesus wasn't attacking his family. Here's what he was doing. He was confronting the spiritual delay. You know what Jesus knows? Well, he knows everything. But you know what he knew about this man's life?

[25:56] That someday discipleship was really disguised disobedience. That's what it was. And Jesus knew that. And let's just get real here for a minute.

[26:09] This man's heart mirrors ours so well sometimes. I've said it. I'm sure you've said it. Lord, I'll follow you.

[26:20] I mean, you know my heart, Lord. You know I love you. But just right now is not good. You ever been there? Right now is just, listen, I know it's a Sunday morning, but this is just where we're at in the gospel.

[26:33] And I think it's meeting us where we live. Lord, it's not that I don't want to. Lord, when I graduate, got some seniors here. We got some that are getting there. Lord, I'm just enjoying my time.

[26:44] When I graduate, I'm going to get serious. When I get married, I'm going to get serious. When I'm financially stable, I'm going to get serious. Don't wait on that one. When things slow down.

[26:58] How many of you said this every week this year? If I can just get through this week, it's going to get, we got some time. Do we not say that?

[27:10] And you found the same thing out. It seems to never clear up. Life seems to just keep marching on. And we just came, hey, I'm just going to do that. And I just want to remind us and what Jesus reminded us.

[27:21] That's not how the kingdom works. Following Jesus is not a video game where we can pause it over here and go do something else and then come back. No, we're to be all in wherever God calls us.

[27:32] All the time. See, the kingdom of God doesn't wait for convenience. It moves forward at the pace of obedience. You know what one of the greatest tools the devil uses in our lives?

[27:46] He doesn't use wicked, awful, sinful things. Here's what he does. Procrastination. Any procrastinators in here? My fellow procrastinators, raise your hand.

[27:58] There's always tomorrow for us, right? Don't look at me like that. I got some honeydew things that have been on the list for a while. When it slows down, okay? I mean, but when you really look at maybe your life, you look at people in the Bible, you look at others, procrastination has always been one of Satan's most subtle weapons.

[28:17] Because we got a lot of good people here this morning, a lot of good Christian people. We would never say, I'm denying Jesus Christ. He doesn't want to, he's not saying, you know, he wants you to come here on a Sunday morning, come here on a Sunday night, come here on a Wednesday, get plugged in a little bit.

[28:34] But he doesn't want to make us outright reject Jesus. He just needs to convince us, right now is not a good time to go all in. Right now is just not a good time for, it just doesn't fit my schedule really well.

[28:46] Once the kids get out of the house, once this, once that. Jesus said in John 9, 4, See, in other words, there is a window of opportunity to serve God that's not going to last forever.

[29:03] There's an urgency to his mission. The man wanted discipleship that could wait. Jesus says, that's not how it works. It's time to go in.

[29:14] And before we move on, I just want to, I just want to speak to you maybe this morning, if you're struggling, you don't even really kind of know what you're looking for. And you're thinking, is this Jesus thing real? Jesus is real.

[29:25] And he is God. And he came for you. And he loved you. And don't delay your decision to give your life to him. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 says, Behold, now is the accepted time.

[29:37] Behold, now is the day of salvation. Maybe God has been calling you and calling you not to be a better person. Not to come to church more, but to give your life to him. That's why he died on the cross.

[29:49] To die for our sins. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And what we deserve for that is death. But Jesus came that we might have life. Abundantly and freely and eternally with him.

[30:02] Don't delay. Maybe you're here and you know Christ is your Savior. I'd encourage you, stop saying, one day. One day I'm really going to get into my Bible.

[30:13] One day I'm really going to get plugged into church. One day I'm going to share my faith with that person. Sometimes, here's the truth, one day never comes. Because we keep just rolling that over. We keep just pushing it forward.

[30:26] See, the same Jesus who said, follow me then, is the same one that's saying, follow me now. How many hit snooze on your alarm this morning? Like, not me, I'm super spiritual. I did.

[30:36] You know what? God has maybe been calling some of you to get involved and to do something and get plugged in. And here's what you're saying. Nine more minutes is okay. Next week's okay.

[30:48] I mean, I'll be at church, but no. And we just keep snoozing Jesus and snoozing Jesus and snoozing Jesus. It's not that we don't love him. I mean, we know eventually we've got to get up at some point.

[30:59] You know, thankfully he got up and came. Eventually we're going to serve him. But that's not what, Jesus doesn't call for delayed obedience. He calls for decisive obedience. He calls now. As we hasten to a close, we see the first man struggle with comfort, wherever.

[31:14] The second struggle with timing. Now the third struggles with priority. See, the Lord, if Jesus is truly Lord, there can be no but first, Lord. We see the whatever, the test of priority.

[31:27] Verse 61, and another also said, Lord, I will follow thee. But let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. Once again, this man seems reasonable.

[31:40] His request seems like, hey, you know, he just wants to tell his family by. But these words, these words, but let me first really reveal his heart.

[31:51] He had priorities that were in front of the Lord. The Lord, listen, it doesn't matter what you do. He's our number one priority. That's where he deserves to be. But sometimes, Lord, Lord, I love you, but I have all these other things I have to finish first.

[32:07] When me comes before the Lord, something is out of order. And Jesus responds that way. He said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

[32:21] A plowman must look forward. If he looks back, it's not going to turn out well. It's going to get all crooked. It's going to be all out of line. You know, when you're driving your car, hopefully you're looking forward.

[32:33] You know, if you're from Oklahoma, you might be looking all over the place. I don't know. Sorry, Brother David. It's not directed at you. They know who they are. But if you're going somewhere, you need to look where you're going. And Jesus is saying, you can't say, I'm all in, but you're distracted and over here, and you're going and doing all these things.

[32:49] No, it's time to go all in. There's no plan B. There's no turning back. One of my favorite biblical examples is when Elijah called Elisha. 1 Kings 19. He said, Elisha, come on.

[33:00] It's time to go. He said, I know I need to do this, and I've got to do that. He said, no, no, it's time to go. You know what Elisha did? He took his oxen. He took everything that was kind of his fail safe, and he burned it. And he had a barbecue.

[33:12] He said, see you guys. I'm out of here. And he went and he followed Elijah. See, that's the type of surrender Jesus calls for. The one thing we refuse to release to him often becomes the idol that replaces him.

[33:29] That's what Jesus is reminding us. Because there may be something you're holding on to, and he said, well, what about that? Are you willing to let go of that? Well, but first I need to, but first I need to, that's what Jesus is addressing.

[33:41] For some, it's relationships. We crave approval more than obedience to God. For others, it might be possessions. We love the comfort more than the cause. For others, it's control. We trust our plans more than we trust what he's going to do with our life.

[33:55] And whatever it is, Jesus asked, what about that? See, discipleship means nothing before Christ, nothing instead of Christ, and nothing apart from Christ.

[34:07] See, these three encounters, they teach us one truth, that Jesus requires surrender in every direction of our life. That's what he's looking for. His mission is too great to follow halfway.

[34:23] The gospel deserves more than partial commitment. It calls for total devotion. And that's what Jesus is saying. It's time to decide, am I just a fan when things are going well, or am I all in?

[34:35] Whatever, and whenever, and wherever. As we close, I love the story that history tells of Hernan Cortes, who sailed to the New World in 1519.

[34:47] And he got there, and his men began to get kind of frustrated. And they got scared. And he heard whispers of retreat. And to turn back, and this is not for us. And so he ordered the command, burn the ships.

[35:00] Because he said, we're not going back. This is what we're here for. And that's the same call that Jesus says, maybe there's some ships in your life. And here's what Jesus says this morning, burn them.

[35:12] It's time to go all in. See, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem because he was on a mission to save sinners and glorify the Father. And if you claim his name, and you call him your Savior, the question that he asks you today, are you willing to go there?

[35:27] Are you willing to go now? Are you willing to go whatever that might be? And if you're here and you're still not sure about Christ, let me just remind you, he was going to Jerusalem for you.

[35:39] He was marching towards that cross. Jesus wasn't a martyr. No, he laid down his life willingly for you, for me.

[35:50] That we might know him. That we might have a life worth living. That we might have a mission to live for. So are you a true follower of Christ?

[36:02]  Wherever, whenever, with whatever. Would you stand with your heads bowed?