[0:00] And I pray that is what our church would say, not my will, but thy will be done. And thankful that those not only sing it, but believe it and live it.
[0:10] So we get to a portion of scripture that's often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. Just like when we got to the temptation of Christ, I realized we're probably going to be here a while. And so I think we're going to be in this portion of scripture for some time.
[0:23] In the book of Luke, there's a shorter portion than in the book of Matthew. Some people refer to this as the Sermon on the Plain. Luke 6, 17, and it came down with them and stood.
[0:35] He came down with them and stood in the plain and the company of his disciples. Stood there on a flat area and he began to teach. And as I mentioned, in Matthew, it takes over two chapters.
[0:47] And here it's a shorter portion. But the portion in which that we have in the book of Luke has a purpose in its context. In college, I would often show up to the class late because I was involved in a lot of things that had to do with everything but class when I was in college.
[1:02] And so I would show up to class and I would tell Stephen Cofield, who was just up there leading music, he would have the Cofield notes. Not the Schofield notes, but he would have the Cofield notes. And I would say, I don't need to know everything that this class has to teach.
[1:15] I just need to know what do I need to know today to make it to the next day. And that's what the Cofield notes would be. And then a pretty girl, my wife now, she would always have a pencil ready for me because I would show up to class without a pencil and not knowing what's going on.
[1:32] And so thankfully they helped me. And that is a story of my life. I've just always been blessed to be surrounded by people that know what's going on. And they direct me in the right direction. And so Stephen, I would say, tell me what I need to know for this class.
[1:45] Well, in Luke, there's no contradiction from the telling of the story of Matthew, but it's shorter. And it really centers around Jesus' calling of the disciples. And when he chooses the 12, what he says to them as they will begin their journey following him.
[2:02] And that's what we will be looking at here as we will meditate his calling of the disciples that aim at explaining. It's a full disclosure. You guys are going to follow me.
[2:13] Let me tell you what that's going to look like. Let me just go ahead and tell you what your life is going to look like. And everything that he said became true. They were tormented. They were persecuted. They were tried.
[2:24] They were happy. And they were blessed. And they were joyful. And all the things that Jesus says in this comes to be true. So we first look at this calling of the 12. Luke 6, 12.
[2:35] And it came to pass in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And continuing through the night, enduring through the night, consistently in prayer.
[2:46] Because Jesus was going to call 12. If you have a picture, you know, on a flannel graph, Jesus is walking. And there's only about 12 people with him because flannel graphs are expensive. All right? And so you can't have all the disciples.
[2:58] But when we spoke last week about Jesus walking through the cornfield. And there's other times where there's Levi. There's no reason to believe that it was just Jesus and 12 disciples. There was a large group of people.
[3:08] And we know in John 6 that we would see there was a group of people that left him and others that stayed. So we wouldn't know how many people would have been with Jesus. But there was certainly more than 12. But God, Jesus was going to call 12 of them to become apostles.
[3:24] And so he's praying. And it says in there, verse 13. And when it was the day, he called unto him the disciples. And of them he chose 12 whom he would also name apostles.
[3:35] So out of this group of disciples, he is praying to the Father all through the night. And saying, Father, I need to know of these disciples, who am I going to call them that will be the apostles?
[3:48] God speaking to God about this decision. Every one of us in here wanting to be involved in the ministry of disciple making. Wanting to teach what God has taught us to other people ought to see. That God spoke to God throughout the night as he prayed about that.
[4:01] First step in making disciples is that we would be praying to God and saying, God, would you lead us? I'm surrounded by many people that I have an opportunity to influence and teach. But who is it that I should be investing my life in?
[4:14] Some of you may know this song, all right? Maybe when I sing it, you won't know that you knew it because it's not the same. But if you think about the disciples, you know, if I go through the alphabet, I got to sing the alphabet song. If you talk about the disciples, I have to go, there were 12 disciples.
[4:27] Jesus called to help him. Simon, Peter, Andrew, James' brother, John, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus. That is Simon, Judas, and Bartholomew.
[4:40] Nobody know this? All right. Thank you very much. All right. But he, and then it says he has called us to, he, we are his disciples. I am one and you are two. And then he has a work for us to do.
[4:53] None of y'all know this song here? All right. You're like, yeah, different song, different pitch, different tone, different song altogether. Same disciples. And so Jesus is going to call these 12 men to be his disciples.
[5:05] And we find how common they are. It is not hid at all. The commonness of these men, the, the, the, the, how they struggle, nothing about these disciples are hidden.
[5:17] And aren't we just so grateful, right? Because we can just, we can relate with these men and see it. We know four of them were fishermen. More might've been because we don't know all their occupation. One of them was a tax collector and we've spoke about him.
[5:29] They picked him up recently on the road. Nobody seemed to be too happy about it, but they picked up the tax collector and that one of them will become a traitor. But what we don't find is any, none of them were religious leaders.
[5:41] None of the Sadducees, none of the Pharisees, none of the crowd that would have been expected to be part of the Messiah choosing a 12 is among the group. We know the Bible says in John 1 11, and he came to his own and his own received him not.
[5:56] But we know the power isn't short because it's going to take a Saul and turn him into a Paul and he will become an apostle. And so that it's not that God doesn't save Pharisees, but Jesus did not go to the place that people would have expected.
[6:09] Just like when they were going to call David's brothers out and they're saying, who's going to be the next King? David didn't even make the list, right? He was someplace else. When they said, who is the Messiah going to call to be the 12 disciples?
[6:20] These 12 men were not pushed to the front of the community and said, oh, we know you're going to choose these men. It's most obvious because of their position here. But God answers the question that's asked in 1 Corinthians 1 20.
[6:30] Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? God is going to confound the wisdom of this world and going to use people that are perfect in heart towards him, not perfect people that are completely given to him, but there are people that are common here.
[6:53] And just in 1 Corinthians 1 26, Paul one day says, why don't you just look around this room here for a second? Why don't you just look among us here and say, for you see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
[7:08] I'm not going to have you look around. It might get awkward in here, but I want you to know the same thing's true today, right? According to the wisdom of this world. I'm not saying that you didn't make great test grades in school. I'm not saying that you're not being advanced in your company, but I'm saying that in following Jesus, you're always having these moments where people are like, you're just not making the best decisions.
[7:29] You're not doing what's best for you. You're sitting still on Sunday morning and listening to God's word. When you can be climbing the ladder, you're sitting still here when there's so much that's going on that the world is always going to find the followers of Christ to be people that do not have that worldly wisdom.
[7:43] And we must love the way that God does this. I bring it up often. One of my favorite stories, Joseph knew that he wasn't the oldest, that he wasn't the most popular, but God chose him among his brothers.
[7:57] And then at the end of the life of Jacob, Joseph moves the hand off of the younger brother and tries to put it on the older brother. And Jacob said, that's not what's happening here. That God's always choosing the weaker.
[8:07] God's always choosing the thing that the world doesn't think is a value to use. And why? Say Chronicles 16, 9, his eyes go across this place in this whole world. And what is he looking for?
[8:18] He's looking for people that are weak in which he can show himself strong so that when he uses our lives, everybody says it is the power of God that is doing something in this world. And so this being said about them, these disciples, they struggle.
[8:32] Mark 7, 18, and he saith unto them, are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatsoever things from without entereth in the man, it cannot defile him. Are you without understanding?
[8:44] Jesus, he chose a group of guys that just struggled at times. He was constantly having to teach them, not just at the beginning of the journey, but even at the end of Mark, we're going to say that you guys, your faith is not where it should be.
[8:56] They lacked humility, Mark 9, 34, but they held their peace for, by the way, they had disputed among themselves. But who should be the greatest? Somebody asked, why didn't he choose some humble people?
[9:07] Because that's not an option. There's just different levels of prideful people, right? Unless Jesus teaches a person to be humble, they are not naturally humble. So Jesus couldn't go find 12 humble men because Jesus can only take the men and he can make them humble by the teaching of God's word.
[9:23] And so they weren't humble. Remember, two of them had their mom come and say, hey, when this is all, all this shakes out, can my son sit on your right hand? And then James and John, they got called the sons of thunder because they walk into a city and there's some opposition and they say, hey, do you want us to call thunder a fire from heaven?
[9:41] You want us to call lightning from heaven? Because we can do that, you know? And they say, calm down, sons of thunder, which is just so, so funny that Jesus referred to them as that. But they weren't a humble group.
[9:52] They were people that were growing, but they struggled. Even their faith, Mark 4, 40, and he saith unto them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Jesus was always having to teach them, these common men, an uncommon calling.
[10:07] And I am a disciple and you are one too, but there was something about this 12 and that Jesus praying that is unique, that isn't true about us. I am a disciple of Jesus, but I'm not an apostle.
[10:18] And if anybody ever stands here and tells you they're an apostle, don't change the church sign, change the pastor, okay? I am not an apostle. I did not see Jesus after the resurrection. I did not meet the qualifications to be an apostle.
[10:30] And we are sent out, but we are not an apostle that he is calling here. And so that you know that these common men, they're not just the first learners, not just the first disciples. Revelation 21, 14, and the wall of the city had 12 foundations and in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
[10:48] Heaven being square, New Jerusalem, there's the gates that are there. And it says that the foundations are the names of these 12 apostles. Isn't this amazing that these common fishermen who will follow Jesus, that their names will be commemorated for all eternity there on the foundations, there upon the ground, that God is going to do that.
[11:10] And if you think that's wild, a common man from Kentucky is going to walk through those gates someday and Jesus is going to say, that's my son. Isn't that crazy that God, that he would do that.
[11:21] And with the disciples here. And so they have a special role in the millennial kingdom. Matthew 19, 27, 28, then answered Peter and said to them, behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.
[11:32] You know, Peter speaks up the most, but he's usually speaking for everybody else, not only for the disciples in the room, but for you as well, if you would have been in the room. And he said, and shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you that which you have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of glory.
[11:49] You shall also sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Luke 6, 13 said that they will be named apostles. God had a very unique and uncommon calling for these men, but they were common men that what was going to make the difference in their lives.
[12:05] In Luke 9, there's going to be a power that's given to them before they will be sent out. He's calling them now, but in Luke 9, they're going to have power and authority over devils. And then Mark 3, 14 says that he is ordaining them, setting this 12 aside.
[12:19] And the purpose was that he could be with them. And then after being with them, they would be sent out to preach. Ephesians 2, 20 upon, and they are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, that the teaching of these apostles will be used to be a foundation for all the teaching that goes forward.
[12:40] But he's just starting with some fishermen and some common men, some early teachers that will be given unto the church. Ephesians 3, 5 called them the holy apostles, that their life of integrity and the way they lived it was to be an example to us.
[12:55] God is going to do a wonderful work with these people. And what is it that's going to make them so special? What is going to change them from being, they were called ignorant in the book of Acts. They're called unlearned.
[13:06] We see all the struggles that they have, but God is going to do this great work with them. Acts 4, 13 tells us, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.
[13:24] What is going to absolutely change the story for this group of men? It's going to change that they're going to spend time with Jesus. It's a common man with an uncommon calling and the difference is going to have time with Jesus.
[13:37] And then so out of this group of people, he is going to. All right. So with Thatcher and all that role, will you guys come up here for a second? All six of you. Okay. And am I working? Am I microphone working? Okay.
[13:49] And so let's see here. This will work. All right. I just feel like an 80s televangelist when I have a handheld microphone. All right. I'm coming back to this one here in a second. Can we have one of those big fuzzy things on this as well?
[13:59] All right. So we have the six disciples here. And so I want you guys to come close. And since I'm the only one who can grow a beard at this time, I'll be Jesus. All right. You stay right here. You come down to the ground. Let me stand up here on my plane.
[14:10] Come on, guys. Get around me here. All right. And so what I want you to see, and you know the portion, you know what the passage says here for us, but in Luke chapter number six, but he looks at them. Now look at me here.
[14:21] Okay. And this is what he says. Okay. I got to take this with me. Okay. I didn't think this through people. All right. And so here in Luke chapter number six, he is going to speak to these men. And I'll tell you, there's a whole group of disciples represented by you out there.
[14:34] Jesus spends the night in prayer. And then he chooses the 12, and he's going to call them out to be the future apostles that are here. And then verse number 20, and it says, and he lifted up his eyes on his disciples.
[14:49] And some say that it might've been like a circle, a consensual circle, one inside here, and then a bigger circle on the outside. We don't know, but he's standing there and he looks them. They lifted up his eyes on the disciples.
[15:02] All right. So you guys are representing fishermen. You don't smell like fishermen. Thank goodness. All right. You're representing these disciples. And Jesus is looking at them as I'm looking upon my son right here.
[15:15] And I'm thinking, Thatcher, you're called to follow Jesus Christ. And there's so many things that you've learned through life, but I don't want you to miss this. Okay. That's right. I don't want you to miss this. I don't want your friends.
[15:26] I don't want any of these young men to miss this. And this is what he did. He looked at them and he said this. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for you shall laugh.
[15:38] Blessed are ye that when men hate you and when you shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as an evil for the son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven.
[15:51] For in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. These men are going to die. These men are going to have a very tough life. They are going to be called to a hard life, and they're going to be hated.
[16:03] Jesus is telling them, hey, you've been following me up to this point, and you're going to continue following me, and I want you to know this is what I'm promising you. Poverty, weeping, being hated, loneliness, and reproach.
[16:17] And you know what I call that? Being blessed. And so we tell our young people in our church here, following Jesus brings many things in life. And being hated by this world.
[16:28] You guys can be seated. So there it was, Jesus at the beginning of this, giving that full disclosure to the disciples that were there with him that day. We good here? Okay. And so we have the distinctive mark of the followers to be different.
[16:43] That isn't often the way that you think about speaking to kids about the gospel. But all the things that are said in the Beatitudes are most certainly true. It's a different kind of disciple here.
[16:54] They've seen that we already spend time with people that are outcast. That's what we do. The other disciples don't. The disciples are the Pharisees. We already see fasting differently than everybody else.
[17:05] You showed us last time that you look at the Sabbath differently than everybody else, that we're going to find it's completeness in you. And now we're not only learning that, but fundamentally the things of happiness in this life are completely different than everybody else believes it to be.
[17:22] Jesus had turned everything upside down to them. And they told you that even though you're going to be hungry, you're going to be blessed. Even though you're going to be crying, you're going to be able to rejoice. And it's just amazing.
[17:33] He had called them to a hard path and one that they're going to be hated. Dan, one of my favorite dad jokes is when it's hot, I'll say, well, it's hot, but at least it's humid, right? You understand the humor in that, don't you, right?
[17:44] You say, well, it's hot, but it's also humid. So that's good, you know? And it's semi-funny, right? It's dad-level quality joke there. And so here's Jesus said, well, guys, the path is going to be hard, but at least you're going to be hated.
[17:57] You know, that's what's being said here. Is that following me, it's going to be hard, but at least you're going to be hated, all right? And so that's what Jesus told them as they followed him. And the more, 622, they shall hate you, they shall separate from their company and shall be a reproach.
[18:14] As I'm made more like Jesus Christ, the more I will be hated. John 15, 18, I know that doesn't even sound like what you would think, right? It's true. John 15, 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it even hated you.
[18:29] In your Bible, you probably have Matthew 11, 28 underlined. Come unto me, all you that are labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. But you probably don't have Matthew 10, 17 underlined, which says, and beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in the synagogues.
[18:44] Same book, same truth about following Jesus. And it should sadden and convict us to know that there may be aspects of my life that are loved by this world because they are not like Jesus.
[18:57] You know, there's an area in which being more Christ-like causes people to love and to like you. But being just like Jesus, what would being like Jesus do to us in this world? It would get you crucified. You would be killed.
[19:08] If you lived your life following in the steps fully after Jesus, you would not be loved and accepted, but you would be taken upon a cross and crucified and killed.
[19:20] The more I become like Christ, the more that this world is going to hate me. It doesn't mean that my brothers and sisters in Christ may not share a love that we would have together. But we're talking about the way the world would view us as Christians for being like him.
[19:33] And so we learned about fasting. We learned about the Sabbath. Now we're learning about happiness. And so I speak to these young men over there. Did that sound like happiness that I was selling to you? Did it sound like a path that I was trying to give you that was there?
[19:46] How was that happiness? And that's one of the great wonders of Christianity. He lifted his eyes to the disciples and said, Blessed are you the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 2 Corinthians 8, as we'll look at in our missions conference later in September.
[20:02] 2 Corinthians 8, Moreover, brethren, we do the wit or witness of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. How did in the great trowel of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded into the riches of their liberality?
[20:16] A group of people that were poor can be called generous because they are people that abound in something that's different than their own riches. What do they abound in?
[20:27] The graces of God. The grace of God upon their life. And how can parents make it through a tough time? Somebody that I'm close to sent me a text. His 19-year-old son, his life was taken last week.
[20:42] And I was writing him trying to encourage me. And this is what he wrote back. And he said, He, speaking of God, He was always, He was all we had.
[20:52] God was all we had when we had our son. And God is all that we have now that God has our son. That God was all we had when we had our son. And God is all that we have now that our son is in the presence of God.
[21:06] How do you do that? The world doesn't understand that. I trust that here you understand that. Completely different. That we can be blessed in poverty. Jesus wants his followers to have a true joy.
[21:18] John 15-11, These things I have spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. Jesus concerned about the joy of his disciples. That even on this hard and hated path they were going to be on, he says there are going to be tremendous joy.
[21:34] A couple weeks ago, Greg gave a t-shirt to the kids. He actually forgot to give it to them, but he gave it to them a couple weeks later. But he had a shirt that said, Built different, right? He gave them a shirt and he was reminding them that as a believer in Christ Jesus, You're built different.
[21:48] Why is it you pray before your meals? You're built different. Why do you not respond in this way instead of an anger? Because you are built different. What Jesus is telling the disciples here is that you're going to go through a path that most of the world would say would make them miserable.
[22:02] But you're going to go through it. And when you go through it, you're going to have incredible joy because you are built different. Jesus was preparing his disciples for the path that he was going to lead them on.
[22:15] And this is a wisdom from God for us today. Wisdom from God produces humility. Wisdom from the world produces a pride inside of us. Look as I read James chapter number 3 verse 17, how the wisdom that's spoken of that comes from above just is the same as we're seeing here in what we call the Beatitudes.
[22:33] It's a Latin word for blessedness, for these blessed truths that we're getting. James 3 verse 17, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, good, peaceable, and gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy.
[22:51] The truth that Jesus was giving the disciples was wisdom from above. And the world didn't understand it. And the world could have never taught it to them. But Jesus did.
[23:02] And so God is going to give this wisdom to them, which is far greater than a fleshly wisdom, that is going to answer even the critics of this world. In Corinthians, the Corinthian church of 1 Corinthians, they were being very cynical towards Paul.
[23:16] Many of the ministers they had in 2 Corinthians, they were accusing them of having improper motives for the way that they lived their lives. They were saying that Paul, he was not an apostle, that he was in it for gain of himself.
[23:28] But in 2 Corinthians 1, 12, it says, For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you, Lord.
[23:44] So Paul said three things about his testimony of his conscience. It had a singleness of heart, he was sincere in his purpose, and his conduct was not in the keeping of the worldly wisdom.
[23:55] Worldly wisdom says poverty means sadness. Worldly means persecution means you fight back. Worldly wisdom means that if there's trials in your life, then you have to be miserable. Worldly wisdom.
[24:07] But Paul said, I have a clear conscience. I'm not living according to the standard of this world. I'm built different. I'm living toward the standard of God's wisdom that he gave to me. And so even though it did not seem to be the most exciting speech that Jesus could have gave to those disciples today, and said, Jesus, you sure you don't want us to pack a bag and bring an extra blanket?
[24:24] You sure you don't want us to pack some food? Should we get another sword? He says, No, I'm going to prepare you for your journey, and let me tell you, we're going to live completely off script. We're going to not live by the rules of this world.
[24:36] We're going to live by a completely different set of standards and wisdom. And these promises are not just for later, they're for now. Luke 6, 21, Blessed are you that hunger, you shall be filled. Revelation 21, 4 says, And God shall wipe away all your tears someday.
[24:51] But even now in Matthew 5, 11, in the same passage of the same story, it says that you'll be rejoiced and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. So not just the future promise, that living according to God's wisdom is better, but a current promise, that living according to what God tells us is the best way to live our lives, brings rejoicing.
[25:12] And then he gives the reason in verse number 22, that we're going to do this. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they shall separate from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake.
[25:25] For the son of man's sake. That's why we're going to do this. What the treasure is more than anything else. The treasure that you are going to be set apart for the world, that is what's going to be defining to you.
[25:38] Disciples, you're not going to be known by your dietary laws, you're not going to be learned by the unique way that you hold the Sabbath, but the fact that you have been with me, is what's going to make you different. And so let me explain it to you like this.
[25:51] Jesus was to say, to summarize what he said, he says, You're going to be blessed even when you're poor, because you understand that I'm the real treasure. You're going to be blessed even when you're hungry, because you understand that I am the bread of life.
[26:05] You're going to be blessed even when you're weeping, because you know that I can bring joy, inexpressible, and full of glory. You're going to be blessed even when you're friendlessness, in your friendlessness, because I am a friend of sinners, and I will never leave or forsake you.
[26:21] You're going to be blessed even when you're persecuted for my sake, because frankly, I'm worth it. And that's what Jesus told them. The most defining characteristic of your life, disciples, is not going to be all these outward laws.
[26:33] It's going to be that you've been with me, and the great treasure of your life is going to be what defines you here. And so we know how to be abased, and we know how to be abound, Philippians 4.12.
[26:44] And how do we know how to be abased and how to be abound? Because it's not in our abasing or in our abounding that we find our treasure. Our treasure is found in the fact that Jesus is worthy.
[26:55] And so you can tell the disciples, you can say, if I'm there that day, and I can speak for them, and I know what I know now, I would say, Jesus, you can say whatever you want about the path. I'm going on it because you're on it.
[27:06] I just want to be with you. Heaven is heaven because Jesus is there. Following Jesus is all they wanted. And Luke 6.23, this is how we should respond today. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.
[27:20] For behold, your reward is great in heaven, for in that like manner that the fathers unto the prophets. And so I don't know how those disciples responded in that moment. And I don't know how those six men right here that just stood here in a moment, as they heard this, that you are going to live a life of poverty, and all these things are going to come in your way.
[27:39] But what should we do when Jesus calls us to do this? We should leap with joy. Those disciples should have been high-fiving. They should have been excited about it. David Du Bois' first Sunday at our church, we gave each other a high-five and we smacked each other in the face within two minutes of him being at our church.
[27:55] And what I think is amazing, not only are we that awkward, what I think is amazing is that within two minutes of knowing each other, we had already found something worth celebrating so much that we were giving a stranger a high-five.
[28:07] But it makes complete sense, right? Because as Christians, we have so much to celebrate. We have so much to do. Jesus called us to follow him. And you can throw whatever you want at us, but I know that the treasure is greater in him.
[28:20] I know that you can take my bread, but I will find it in him. I know that I can sorrow, but I can be heard by him when I sorrow. So there's nothing in this world that can take away the treasure that is found in Jesus. And one story in closing, and then I'm going to present a question to those of you in here that say, I'm on that path and I'm a follower of Jesus.
[28:37] And those of you in here that have not yet entered into that path to be a follower of Jesus. Richard Warnbrandt, a book, Tortured for Christ, may know this story. But Richard Warnbrandt, he remembers a class that he had in Romania.
[28:51] He took a group of 10 to 15 young boys and girls on a Sunday morning to a zoo. And before the cage of lions, he told them, your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith.
[29:03] Know that you also have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ.
[29:16] And with tears in their eyes, they say, yes, we do. I promise you, if you knew what we can know about Jesus from his scriptures, no matter what path he would take you on, you would say, I want to go with him.
[29:28] I want to be with him. If this is the path that the world offers and the worldly wisdom, and it has all the things that you could ever want, but Jesus isn't on it, no thank you. I will take the path that has Jesus on it because he is all that I treasure.
[29:43] And so believers in here, the greatest thing that you will ever do for your unbelieving friends is to recognize that what you found in Christ is far greater than anything that you could ever find in this world.
[29:56] So stop looking over your shoulders, stop looking down the road and wondering and coveting the things of this world because all that you have in Christ is far greater than all this world has to offer you.
[30:08] And so what's the distinctive mark of us disciples? We've been with Jesus. We're just common people, but we find our treasure in him. As Kristen comes to play the piano, I want to ask you in here today if you're not a believer is this.
[30:22] The greatest thing that you will do today is to hear about all the hard and hated path that Jesus has invited you to join him on and to leap with joy and say, I want to go with him.
[30:33] That I don't care what it costs me. I want to follow Jesus because following him, because I found the treasure. And our missionary, Nate Wilkerson, I don't think he would mind me saying, but what would he tell us today?
[30:44] Christ is life, right? Christ is life. And so following Jesus today, I hope you know that the love that you have for him ought to be the most distinctive aspect of your life.
[30:54] and we can rejoice. I want to pray for you today. On this path that you're on, are you treasuring Christ above all else? And if you have not put your faith and trust in Jesus, today is the day of salvation.
[31:07] Join us as we leap for joy on the opportunity to follow him. Heavenly Father, I pray that you'll be with us right now. Lord, in this world, we know there's only two groups of people.
[31:20] Those have put their faith and trust in you and those, Lord, who have not done so. And so, Lord, I first pray for those in here who have not put their faith and trust in you.
[31:33] And I'd ask that today would be the day of their salvation. Lord, I pray that they would make a decision to acknowledge that they're not a believer and that today would be the day that they find the answers to the questions that they need.
[31:46] With every head bowed and every eye closed, if that's you in here today, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're not a disciple, follower of Jesus, would you raise your hand so that I could pray for you this week, pray that you would reach out and we could have a conversation after the service.
[32:03] Those in here that are believers, ask you, do you treasure him above all? He's what makes this life so great. Kristen's gonna take some time and she's going to play and I'm gonna ask you to respond.
[32:15] I'm gonna ask you to do exactly what God would have you to do and speak the hymn and after we spend some time in prayer, we'll all stand and sing together. Amen. Amen.
[32:25] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.