Do You “Believe In” Jesus or Do You “Believe” Jesus ? | Pastor Bryan Jarrett | Northplace Church

pastoring North Place Church in the Dallas Fort Worth area for almost 20 years. We're one church that meets in multiple locations even on multiple continents and today you are one of those locations. The church is not about buildings it is about people and we have the privilege today of sharing the hope of the gospel with you right where you are. There is no way I can know exactly what you're going through or dealing with right now but for almost 30 years I have preached about a God who I know I am confident knows you your struggles knows the very hairs on your head and the thoughts that you think before you think them and he is passionately in love with you and our prayer today is that in our time together you feel our love for you and his presence and we pray that this time together gives you hope. Thank you for joining us. Morning North Place Church. Come on would you stand to your feet this morning as we worship and praise the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Amen. Come on. There is no shadow that has ever overcome your light. There is no rival back here never stand against your might. You've always been with us. Every battle you've already won. You've already won. There is no weapon that has ever left a mark on you. There is no army with the power to conquer truth. Always been with us. Every battle you've already won. You've already won. Show me one thing you can't do. Show me mountains you can't move. He's the God of the breakthrough and anything is possible. Show me one thing that's too hot. Show me waters he can't walk. He's the God of the breakthrough and anything is possible. It's possible. There is no kingdom that's advancing at the speed of light and in his kingdom. Every dead thing is found to rise. We've got our Redeemer. He is faithful to us. Show me one thing he can't do. Show me mountains he can't move. He's the God of the breakthrough and anything is possible. Show me one thing that's too hot. Show me waters he can't park. He's the God of the breakthrough and anything is possible. All of my fear I will turn into praise. Shake off despair as I sing out your name. A victory dance I will dance out and pray. I will crush disappointment and break every

chain. All of my fear I will turn into praise. Shake off despair as I sing out your name. A victory dance I will dance out and pray. I will crush disappointment and break every chain. All of my fear I will turn into praise. Shake off despair as I sing out your name. I will dance out and pray. I will crush disappointment. Show me one thing he can't do. Show me mountains he can't move. He's the God of the breakthrough. Show me one thing that's too hard Show me one as he can't part He's the God of the brain When anything is possible Is possible Oh, when the thing is possible Come on, can we begin to thank the Lord today? That there is nothing that is impossible for our God? As I prayed over you this morning, I just sensed the Lord wanting to inject hope into us today To remind us that there is power And that there is authority in the name of Jesus And whatever it is that you are walking through today You can have hope that there is joy in the morning That His mercies are new every morning So Lord today, we walk in the hope of Jesus And we walk in the authority as we speak the name of Jesus Over our situations, over our families And we put our trust in you today, Jesus We love you, Lord Come on, let me sing this Oh, Lord, I don't look at cross To selfless pain, anymore He breathed His final breath That I would be restored

By His body that was broken Precious blood, free lesion A smartness, a limb of heaven As forever conquered Jesus is my heel He is everything I move He alone has triumphed Over sickness and disease So feel where is your power All the cross is your defeat 'Cause Jesus is my healing sickness He has won the victory He has won it And do I'll grade alone I'll help my perfect peace He walks with me through violence Understands my suffering Every joy in every storm Every joy in every loss I know every link is covered By the shadow of the Christ Oh, if everything is covered By the shadow of the cross Jesus is my heel He is everything I move He alone has triumphed Over sickness and disease Feel where is your power All the cross is your defeat Jesus is my heel

He has won the victory Oh, Jesus is my heel He has won the victory Everything bows at His name Everything bows at His name Sickness, darkness, chains Break out the name of Jesus Can we sing this with confidence today? Everything bows at His name Everything bows at His name Sickness, darkness, chains Break out the name of Jesus ♪ Everything bows in His ♪ ♪ It bows, it bows ♪ ♪ Just crushing it bows ♪ ♪ Sickness it bows ♪ ♪ Change, break up the day ♪ ♪ Right here, right now it bows ♪ ♪ Everything bows in His name ♪ ♪ Everything bows in His name ♪ ♪ Sickness, darkness ♪ ♪ Change, break up the day ♪ ♪ In the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Everything bows in His name ♪ ♪ Everything bows in His name ♪ ♪ Sickness, darkness ♪ ♪ Change, break up the day ♪ ♪ Love, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus is our healer ♪ ♪ He's everything I ♪

♪ He alone, he alone has trial ♪ ♪ Over sickness ♪ ♪ So feel it right ♪ ♪ Feel where it is, your power ♪ ♪ All the cross is the art of me ♪ ♪ Jesus is my healer ♪ ♪ He has one of the men to reign ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus is my healer ♪ ♪ He has one of the men to reign ♪ ♪ Jesus is my healer ♪ ♪ He has one of the men to reign ♪ ♪ We thank you, we thank you ♪ ♪ Holy speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other name than Jesus ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over every heart and every night ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know there is peace within His presence ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ And I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ 'Til every dark addiction starts to break ♪ ♪ Declaring there is hope and there is freedom ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ 'Cause your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every strong hope ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ We're like a fire ♪ ♪ I just wanna speak the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Over fear and all anxiety ♪

♪ 'Til every soul is captive by depression ♪ ♪ I speak Jesus ♪ ♪ Your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every strong hope ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ We're like a fire ♪ ♪ Sing your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is power ♪ ♪ Your name is healing ♪ ♪ Your name is life ♪ ♪ Break every strong hope ♪ ♪ Shine through the shadows ♪ ♪ We're like a fire ♪ Jesus in the darkness over every enemy and Jesus for my family, I speak the holy name Jesus Come on, would you sing that out this morning? Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy and Jesus for my family, I speak the holy name Jesus, your name is power, your name is leading your name is light Break every stronghold, shine through the shadows burn like a fire and I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind 'Cause I know there is peace within His presence, I speak Jesus I speak Jesus shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy

and Jesus for my family, I speak the holy name Jesus Come on, would you make that person up, sing it out this morning? Shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy Jesus for my family, I speak the holy name Jesus shout Jesus, shout Jesus, shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkness over every enemy and Jesus for my family, I speak the holy name Jesus (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) (Music) Amen. I've heard from so many of you over the last few weeks that in our matter series whether it was in passing conversations or an email or from our small group leaders about how the last few weeks for many of you has been the deepest season of discipleship in your entire lives and I heard that so many times it got me thinking and I started asking questions like how do we move from just believing in Jesus to actually believing Jesus, how do we go from being a casual believer to a fully devoted follower or disciple of Christ because those are not the same things a lot of people would tell you they believe in Jesus even a lot of people that don't claim to be Christians would tell you they believe in Jesus at least a little good teacher great moral example a real He said He was. But listen to how James puts this in James 2. You believe there is one God, good. Even the demons believe that and shudder. Now think about that. The demons have perfect theology. Every time they show up in Scripture, they're the first ones to get Jesus' identity right.

For example, in Mark 1, suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." The demons could pass the theology exam. They could ace the doctrinal statement about Jesus' identity. Even they believe in Him. And over and over in Scripture, when demons encounter Jesus, it says they shudder or they tremble, which means demons might have more reverence for Jesus than the average American church goer. So apparently, it's possible to have all the right answers about Jesus and still not be His disciple. Because there's a huge difference between believing in Jesus and actually believing Jesus. Believing in Jesus says, "I believe you are who you say you are." Believing Jesus says, "I'm going to do what you say to do." One is agreement. The other is obedience. And Jesus drew that line clearly when He said in Luke 6, "Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do what I say?" He's referring to people who are in agreement about His identity. They believe in Him, but they are not His disciple, a true follower, because they don't obey Him. Dallas Willard pointed out that the word "disciple" shows up in the New Testament 269 times. The word "Christian" three times. And the first time the word "Christian" is used in the Bible is in Acts 11, and it's used as a nickname or a descriptor of disciples. In the New Testament, there was no such thing as a Christian who wasn't a disciple. And Willard's point was that a disciple isn't the deluxe model of a Christian, it is the standard model, it is the expectation. But somewhere along the way in the American church, we have split these two apart.

We have made believer the basic package and disciple the upgrade for the really devoted people. But today, we're going to put those two things back together again, because that is what Jesus attended. They were never intended to be split apart. Several months ago, I was in a focused time of prayer, and the Lord was burning my heart for a direction to lead the church in 2027. And honestly, I'm really excited about it, because I feel like God is going to do a deep work of spiritual formation, maturity, and discipleship in us as a church. And as I've been praying about that, and reading, and studying, and preparing my own heart for it, I've run across a few authors that I've never read before. One of them particularly is a Catholic priest, and I'm never read him because I'm not Catholic. But I read a lot of stuff from people that don't see eye to eye with me on everything. And I learn a lot from people that I don't agree with on every issue. And Father Ronald Rolhaiser is one of those people. He writes brilliantly about the soul, the spiritual formation of our souls. And he uses a different vocabulary, and his Catholic vocabulary. He writes about being a good person, becoming a great person. And for him, the picture of greatness, spiritual greatness, is Sainthood. And Mother Teresa is one of his primary examples. Sainthood is not our vocabulary around here, but what Rolhaiser describes as the journey of spiritual formation is what we're talking about today. But when he says good, I hear the word believer. When he says great, I hear the word disciple. And when he says Saint, I see a fully formed follower of Jesus. And when he writes, he's writing to people that already claim to be Christian. And here's his premise, the biggest obstacle to spiritual maturity usually isn't our sin. It's our goodness. His point is not to minimize sin. What he's saying is, deep down, people that know they're living in sin, they know they

need to change. But good people don't feel any crisis to change. We believe in Jesus, we're doing fine. We pray, we give, we serve, we're honest, we're kind to our neighbors. We keep showing up. And most sincere believers are going... We're generous, prayerful, and faithful up to a point. And for a while, that's okay. That's how it starts. That's where God wants us. But there comes a moment in our lives for every single one of us where there is an invitation to more. And that invitation usually comes right when we've gotten pretty good at being good. That's actually Mother Teresa's story. People forget this, before she was known as Mother Teresa, she was a good nun. For almost 20 years, she taught girls at a school in Calcutta, India, and she was loved and eventually led the place. And by every account, she was good. But in 1946, on a train ride to her annual retreat, she heard what she called a call within a call. She wasn't moving from bad to good. She was moving from good to all, from being a good person to giving God her everything. And that's the invitation I think the Lord wants us all to hear today. Not an invitation necessarily from bad to good,

but from good to all, from believer to disciple. And there's no better picture of that kind of invitation than the invitation Jesus gives to a young man who came running up to him one day. It says in Mark 10, "As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him." Good teacher, he asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Now we usually refer to this guy as the rich young ruler, and we talked about him a little bit in the last few weeks during our mattering series, but today I want us to notice something different about this interaction. We usually treat this guy as the villain of the story. Like he's the guy that loved his money more than Jesus because in the end of the story he walks away. But I think he's a better man than what we give him credit for. Look at what the text says about him. He runs to Jesus. In that culture, a man of standing didn't run in public. So he's undignified in his pursuit of Jesus. He doesn't really care what everybody thinks about him. He just wants to get to Jesus. And then he kneels in the dirt in front of Jesus. This is not arrogance. This is humility. This is a show of real spiritual hunger. And his question is sincere. He's not like the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus. He genuinely wants eternal life.

He wants God. And in response to his question, Jesus starts listing off the commandments. He says, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, honor your parents." And the young guy says, "Teacher, all these things I've kept since I was a boy." And this is where it gets interesting. Jesus doesn't argue with him. He doesn't say, "Oh, come on, man." He actually believes the guy. This is a good man, a moral man, faithful, generous, religious man in every sense of the word. And when Matthew tells us about this interaction in his gospel, he records one more question the young guy asks, "All these I have kept, what do I still lack?" I mean, this guy knew in his gut he had done everything right, but he could still feel this gap, this ache in his soul. Something was missing in his spiritual maturity. He was experiencing in this moment what Mother Teresa called the call within a call. He was being called from being a mere believer to becoming an all-in disciple. And then Jesus tells him how to respond to that call. Jesus looked at him and loved him. One thing you lack, he said, "Go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven." Then come and follow me. Now don't miss the first line.

Jesus looked at him and loved him, which means everything Jesus is about to say is said as an act of love. It is love talking. This is not Jesus finally catching somebody doing something wrong. This is Jesus seeing a good man and loving him and inviting him all the way in, moving him from a mere believer to a wholehearted disciple. Matthew records Jesus' response this way. Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven, then come follow me." When Jesus says if you want to be perfect, he's not asking the man to be flawless. The word perfect here, it means complete, mature, full-grown. He's saying, "Son, if you want to finish this journey Here's the last step. And in response to what Jesus asked of him, the Bible records this. At this, the man's face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth. Now picture that. You can almost see the dark cloud roll across his face. I've tried to imagine how this story would have ended differently if the young man had said yes and believed Jesus, not just believed in Jesus. There would have been an estate cell, there would have been tables spread out across the front lawn, every prized possession of his with a little price tag on it.

And then at the end of the day, there would have been that walk through the empty house with nothing but empty hangers in the closet and dust in the corners. I get why he walked away. And honestly, I think most of us would have walked away. Because like this guy, we don't have a problem believing in Jesus. But when Jesus said there's more, we have a problem when it comes to actually believing Jesus, not more, more than agreeing with him, obeying him. And notice this is important. The text doesn't say he walked away bad. It says he walked away sad, which means he was still good. He was still sincere. He was still moral and sad. That's the danger for us good people. Not that we're gonna end up wicked, that we'll end up sad because we're so close, but we're not all in. And we miss the joy that is on the other side of that last step, complete, total, wholesale surrender. So here's who this young man was. He was generous, but still withholding. He was ready to give up something, but not everything. He was essentially at peace, but still harboring a sadness. He was good of heart, but real spiritual maturity still eluded him. And friends, he is most of us. Now let me give you a concrete image.

I saw this illustration in a book I was reading some time back that helps you get a glimpse of this. Picture your own soul as a mansion that has 30 different rooms in it. And over the years, you've given 27 of those rooms to God. I mean, like totally giving him the key. You've given over 27 rooms. Maybe your Sunday mornings, your tie, your marriage, your kids, your language, your habits. 27 rooms fully surrendered, but you've kept three of those rooms back for yourself. Maybe it's a grudge, you haven't handed over. It's a way you prioritize your calendar or it's a habit nobody knows about. It's a relationship. It's the way you handle your money. Maybe it's your reputation. Maybe it's that one comfort you keep running to for escape instead of running to God. You could put it this way. I've given about 90% of my life to God. I'm only keeping about 10% back for myself. And that's a pretty good thing by American standards. 90% for most church people in America, that's good compared to everybody else. But that's the difference between being a good person and being a real disciple, holding back the last 10%, keeping those last three rooms.

That's essentially what the rich young man was saying to Jesus, I've given up almost everything to God. What more do I have to do? And Jesus' answer in essence is you've given up almost everything, that's good. But if you wanna move past the sadness into a place of deeper joy, give up everything. 90% isn't gonna do anymore. And that's where most of us are today. And like Jesus did with that guy, he's lovingly looking at us, inviting us all the way in to move from our version of good to his version of our all. There's a story from the early church, the season of the desert fathers, that era where these guys went out into the desert and spent time just connecting with God about 300 years after Jesus. And from that era, there's a story about a young monk named Abel lot who comes to an older monk named Abba Joseph and says, father, as far as I can and I keep the rule, I fast little, I pray, I meditate, I live in peace as far as I can, I keep my thoughts clean, what else should I do? That's really close to what the young man has Jesus. What do I still lack? And the story goes that the old monk threw his hands up in the air, stretched his hands

toward heaven and said, Not mostly flame, not flame in 27 rooms, all flame. It's a picture of complete wholesale surrender. Being all flame is being fully consumed in your devotion to God. Now, before anybody walks out and says, "Great, one more thing I have to try harder to do." Listen to what happened in Mark 10 when this all unfolded. The disciples watched this conversation and they were just in awe at what Jesus said to this young man and they asked among themselves, who then can be saved? Like if this is the way it is, who then can be saved? In the very next statement, Jesus says, "The very next verse with man, this is impossible, but not with God, all things are possible with God." Which means we cannot white knuckle or hard work our way to giving up those last three rooms. It takes the empowerment of the grace of God. This is Jesus saying, if you trust me enough to take that last step and go all the way in, my grace is gonna come along and empower your decision. An all in life is impossible with man, but not with the grace of God. Now let me take a few minutes and show you the biblical image of somebody who was more than just a believer. I'm gonna show you a picture of a real disciple and nothing, no picture could be more relevant of what we need as the Lord's people right now

in this season we're living in. This is what we need as the followers of Jesus. I want you to see something from the life of Mary. It's described at the birth of Jesus, but you see it really clearly at his death where Mary's at the foot of the cross. The one quality that describes her faith is a single phrase. The angels appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of the Messiah. They rushed to Bethlehem to find Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus and they wanted to tell all the experience they had had with the angels. And when Mary hears this, notice what it says, Luke two verse 19, but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Now when you and I hear the word ponder, we think this is what we're gonna think about. That's the picture, we get this idea of, you remember the thinker statue, the guy sitting on a rock with his chin on his fist in deep thought, that is the Greek understanding of what it means to ponder. Socrates said this, an unexamined life isn't worth living. You gotta think it through, you gotta analyze it, you gotta consider the angles, you gotta ponder it. But Mary wasn't Greek, Mary was a Hebrew, and the Hebrew understanding of pondering was much different. It was a deeper concept than simply analyzing or thinking hard in Hebrew thought

to ponder something meant to hold the unresolved tension, carry it and then transform it instead of giving it back in kind. Listen, because whatever negative experience we don't transform, while it's in us, we will transmit. And the clearest picture of Mary living this out, as a mature disciple, is at the foot of the cross. It says in John 19, 25, near the cross of Jesus stood his mother. Notice she stood. A lot of old paintings about this scene show Mary collapsed at the foot of the cross, fainting and undone. But John says she stood. And that's a picture of strength in the face of heartbreak. Notice what she's not doing. She's not screaming at the soldiers, she's not cursing the crowd, she's not attacking the guy with the hammer. There is an evil momentum and energy in this moment committing the most awful injustice against her son. But Mary stands there and holds it. It's as if in the silence she's saying, I can't stop the crucifixion today, nobody can. But some of the hatred and bitterness that is causing this moment can stop with me. I refuse to participate in it. I won't give it back the way it's being handed out. If she'd have started railing and screaming and cursing

because of what was going on, she would have just joined in the same energy that was being emitted by the crowd as Jesus is nailed to the cross. The hate would have passed through her and kept going and she would have transmitted it. Instead, it stopped with her. And she learned that from the example of Jesus. Peter describes Jesus this way in 1 Peter 2 when they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justice. it. He took it in, he carried it, and he transformed it. He turned it into Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Remember, the negative experience is we don't transform. We will transmit. We're going to pass it on. Think about this, an extension cord doesn't care what runs through it. Bad power, bad power, a surge, whatever goes in one end is what comes out the other. It's just a conduit. But think about a water filter. Water goes in dirty. It comes out clean because the filter holds what shouldn't pass through. Far too many of us in the chaos and the anger and the hate and the division of our world are too much like extension cords. Everybody's rude to us, we're rude back. Somebody gossips to us, we pass it on. The group tech heats up and we just add fuel. The social media argument starts, we wade in.

We walk into the house at the end of the day carrying the stress of the office and within 10 minutes everybody in the house fills our stress from the office. We don't transform it. We transmit it. But a disciple, a real mature disciple becomes a filter. They're the place where the hate stops, where the gossip stops, where the cynicism dies, where the bitterness in the family doesn't get handed to the next generation. And just so you don't misunderstand what I'm saying, pondering like Mary and Jesus is not passivity, it doesn't mean being silent about abuse or staying in harm's way. There is a time to speak up and stand against injustice. I'm talking about the thousand ordinary moments in our everyday lives where we're tempted to transmit rather than transform the environment. At the dinner table, at work, online, we get to choose to transform or transmit. Are we going to be accord or are we going to be a filter? I know we're running out of time, but there's one more thing you have to see before we close. Over and over, when Jesus does something remarkable in the gospels, the writers say the same thing about the crowd. The scriptures keep saying and they were amazed. You find that over and over again in Scripture, Jesus does something, the crowd is amazed. And when we see the crowd being amazed at Jesus, we look at that as a good thing and say, wow, everybody's impressed with Jesus. But if you follow that pattern, the word crowd in the Scripture is almost never a good thing. Crowd amazement almost never lasts. In Luke 4, Jesus preaches His first sermon in His hometown and verse 22 says, "All spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips." It's like fantastic, great first sermon. Everybody loves the new preacher, but six verses later, it says, "All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, took Him to the brow of the hill in which the town was built in order to throw Him off the cliff.

But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way." It's the same sermon. It's the same crowd, a five-minute difference. Think about Holy Week, Sunday the crowd is waving pong branches and shouting, "Hosanna, by Friday, in the same city, they're shouting, crucify Him." You know what that is? That's amazement. It's the extension cord again, energy flows in, energy flows out. Crucify Him flows through you just as easily as Hosanna because you get caught up in a crowd moment. Crowds don't hold or transform anything. They just conduct whatever current is being felt in that moment. That's why we have to understand the difference between amazement and wonder. With amazement, the energy of the moment flows through you. With wonder and awe, the energy of the moment stops you. It stuns you. It holds you. Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up. He is more than amazed. He is an awe. He is full of wonder because He says, "Woe is me." When Job finally hears from God in Job 40, Job says, "I put my hand over my mouth because He couldn't speak. He was more than amazed. There was awe and wonder. Amazement talks. Wonder listens. We live in a culture of fickle amazement. You've seen this. Somebody in your life listens to one podcast.

are now contemptuous about the church, about their spouse, about their parents, anybody who hasn't caught up with them yet. That is not spiritual maturity. That is fickle, crowd amazement. So the question isn't whether you've ever been amazed by Jesus. Most of us have been. The question is whether that amazement ever turned to all. Has it ever stopped you long enough to change you? Go back to that night in Bethlehem with Mary. It says in Luke 2, one verse earlier, "And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them, but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." The crowd was amazed, but Mary pondered. The crowd moved on to the next thing. Mary in her maturity carried that heart all the way to the cross. That's the difference between the energy of a crowd and the real maturity of a disciple. I would dare say most of us, men, women, young and old, we're decent people. We're just trying to be generous, good, life-giving people. As good people, we stand in two dangerous places. We stand in the same place the rich young ruler did, where we've given God almost everything. And second, we stand too much in the amazement of the crowd. We're caught up in the moment transmitting the energy that surrounds us, unwilling to carry it, hold it, transform the tensions that are in our world or our families or our workplaces or our communities into something more meaningful. It's got to stop with us. We can't keep passing it on. We can't be accorded. We got to be a filter. Spiritual maturity is within our reach, not because we try harder, but because God says all things are possible. He wants this for us, and our world needs this from us, and he wants it more than we do. We only have to give over the last three rooms. So let me ask you to do something with me today. Some of us, if we're honest, we've been in the crowd. We believe in Jesus. We've been amazed by him. We've never really followed him. Today can be the day you just stop believing. You just stop believing in Jesus. That's good. But you go a step further, and you actually believe Jesus. And for a lot of us in the room, we've been around this a long time. We've been Christians for a while, and we've given up 27 rooms, maybe 28, maybe we've given over 29 rooms of our house. But this morning, Jesus is standing at the door of that last room, and he's not here to shame you. He's looking at you like he looked at that rich young ruler. He looked at you and loves you. And right now, he is loving you, inviting you all the way in, to be all flame, totally surrendered. A New Testament Christian, not a modern American version,

all in. That's our invitation. It's my invitation today. The thing about the rich young ruler is, you know, that wasn't prescriptive. Like if you want to follow Jesus, you got to take this vow of poverty and give everything. Jesus knew the last three rooms in that guy's house. He knew what questions to ask. He knew where the idols were. Yours are different, mine are different. He knows what those last three rooms are. And it really doesn't matter. I trust you, God, I'll give you everything. I want to be all flame, fully surrendered. There's a song that was written at the end of 1800s, like 1896, I think, an old hymn of the church. A lot of us in our generation know it because it was sung at Billy Graham Crusades when people responding to the altar, giving their lives to Jesus. But I think the church needs to sing it again today. Not the first time, not bad people coming to grace, but people that consider themselves good, surrendering their all today. Would you stand with me in this room and across our campus family and let's sing this old hymn of the church for just a few seconds before we walk out of here today? Come on, would you sing I surrender all today? Oh to Jesus, I'll give you everything. All to Jesus I surrender whole, the ideas we write about Worldly pleasures all forsaken, take me, Jesus, take me now And I surrender whole, I surrender whole, to the My blessed Savior, I surrender 15 would you come and make yourself available to serve us today? Lord, a lot of us have gotten really good at being good. Our minds are always on them out there and the bad people that are ruining our world And that's a real good, easy scapegoat for us in the church. But your Word says that judgment must first begin at the house of God. It starts with us. So would you help me to spend less time talking about the bad people and focus on the veil of goodness in my own life? And would you call us to a place, Lord, where we give you more than our good? We give you everything. This is a church of being a crowd of believers to a movement of disciples all in for you. Lord, will you bless them and keep them? Would you make your face shine down upon them?

Would you be gracious to them? Would you turn your countenance their direction? Would you give them your real peace? In Jesus' name, amen, and amen. These altars are open today, God bless you. Hey friends, I just wanted to spend a second with you at the end of this message today and just encourage you if in some way you've made a spiritual decision. Maybe you've given your life to Christ today, you've recently given your life to Christ, you want to talk to somebody about giving your life to Christ, our team would love to help you. We're on the Pando app and have several ministries into various prisons because God has called us to you. We have a heart for forgotten people and forgotten places and that means we serve widows and we serve orphans and we serve special needs, kids, and God has given us a heart for men and women in the prison system because I believe Jesus died for you. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and we want to help you know that and discover that. There's an address on the screen that you can communicate with us. We have a team of people that would love to hear from you, especially if you've made a decision to follow Jesus so that we can resource you and point you to tools that can help you grow. Just know that we're praying over you and we're genuinely honored that you've taken time to watch our channel and these messages from North Place Church. (upbeat music) (gentle music)