Encounters : Make Yourself At Home - Sam Kelly (Full Experience)

Let's stand to our feet. Let's praise God this morning. Come on, today's the day that the Lord has made. We're gonna rejoice. We're gonna be glad in it, and we're gonna sing. Come on, so put your hands together. Oh, yeah. ♪ I'm shaking off the heaviness ♪ ♪ I'm dancing out all my regrets ♪ ♪ I'm throwing caution to the wind ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Some would say it's foolishness ♪ ♪ But I would say it's worth the risk ♪ Come on. ♪ I can't forget what Jesus did ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that once held me? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, how can it be? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, good time, believe ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free ♪ ♪ Oh, come on. ♪ ♪ I found a friend that never quits ♪ ♪ No other love's as good as this ♪ ♪ And I don't care what anyone says ♪ ♪ I'll never be ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that once held me? ♪

♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, how can it be? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free ♪ ♪ You took a cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing, come on ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clear ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me, come on ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clear ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood, now the sinner can't sing, come on ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is clear ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me, come on ♪ You couldn't do it, you needed Jesus, let's sing. ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for me, I couldn't do it ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that once held me? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, how can it be? ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, thank God I'm free ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪

♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord, look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ Amen, amen. Thank you, Jesus. Can anybody else besides me say, look at what the Lord has done? Am I by myself? If you only knew, but thank God I'm free. He is so good to me and God gives all the glory. Not because of me and my works, not because of me. Only God. So this morning, give Him all the glory. ♪ All the saints and angels bow before your throne ♪ ♪ All the saints and angels bow before your throne ♪ They'll just cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing, You're worthy of it all. Jesus, You're worthy of it all. For from You are all things and to You are all things. You deserve the glory. Come on and praise God in this place. Give Him all the glory. Come on, sing this with us. All the saints. All the saints and angels. Even the saints and the angels.

All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing. Come on, sing. You're worthy of it all. Is it worthy? Is it worthy? Yeah. You're worthy of it all. Father, You're worthy of. For from You are all things and to You are all things. You deserve the glory. All the things You've brought me through. You're worthy of it all. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. For from You are all things and to You are all things. You deserve the glory. All the things You've brought me through. Just think about it. You took the cross for my sins. He took the cross for your sins. So living in His spirit is a reality that we can live in Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise. Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise. Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise. Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise Day and night, night and day, Let them sits arise

Day and night, day and night, love to you You're worthy of it all You're worthy of it all All things from you You deserve the glory You're worthy of it all You're worthy of it all You're worthy of it all All things from you You deserve the glory For from you are all things And to you are all things You deserve the glory You deserve the glory How great is our God Sing with me how great Come on, let's lift this up. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. Come on, let's lift up our voices. How great, how great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. You're the name above all names. You're the name above all names.

You are worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing, how great is our God. You're the name, you're the name. You're the name above all names. You are worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing, how great is our God. How great is our God. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. Sing it one more time. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God. Come on, give Him praise. You know, when you and I praise, it's like a reset for our heart. It reminds us that God is in control. His word tells us in Psalm 34, it says, magnify the Lord. Let's praise His name together. And the word magnify means to make bigger. And you might be thinking, how can you make God bigger? Well, you actually can't make God bigger. But what you can do is make Him bigger to you. And when you praise God, what you do is you see He's bigger than all the things that you worry about. He's bigger than all the things that keep you up at night. He's bigger than all your fears. The fact that you realize that God loves you and cares for you and has a plan for your life. That's the reason why we praise.

So come on, let's give Him praise this morning. Amen. Again, we want to welcome you to Fellowship Church. Welcome all the people that are watching online. On behalf of our pastors, Ed and Lisa Young, we are so excited you're here. And we've got something special for you. Because Pastor Sam Kelly, he's a global youth pastor. He's coming up to continue our series, Encounters. And it's all about the fact that when we encounter Jesus, He can change our life. We've got one more song for you. But I want to pray first. And let's pray for God to speak to us this morning. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for who You are. We thank You for the fact that You loved us so much, You sent Your Son to die on the cross for our sins. And that through You we have life, and life to that full. God, we just open our hearts to You. We ask that You would speak to us today. Speak to us in a way that changes our lives, that we leave this place different. Because we know nothing compares to You, God. There's nothing in this world that could satisfy us the way that You can. So God, help us to surrender to You in all ways. We love and praise You, and we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll be back with Jesus. Turn your eyes to heaven as we sing this song. Fix your gaze on him. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or homes. I'd rather be led by his name or pierced hand.

And to be the king of the vast open. And be held in sin's dressing. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. There's no one greater than Jesus. He's worthy of a whole lot of us. I'd rather have Jesus than worldly applause. I'd rather be faithful to his dear cause. I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. Yes, I'd rather be true to his holy name. And to be the king of a vast domain. And be held in sin's dressed way. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. This world affords today. I'd rather have you, Jesus. Just give me Jesus. You're all I want. You're all I need, Lord. Oh, would you lead us today? You're all we need, Jesus. Nothing but Jesus. Just give me Jesus. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing but Jesus. Jesus. Just give me Jesus. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever.

Nothing but Jesus. Just give me Jesus. Jesus. Oh, nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. And nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. You're all I want. Nothing but Jesus. Just give me Jesus. Oh, nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. And nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Don't wanna be the king of a vast open and be held in citrus way. You're the one that I want to build my life on the solid rock and never shake, we say. Nothing but Jesus. Oh, just give me Jesus. And nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Oh, nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing but Jesus. Just give me Jesus. Just give me Jesus. And nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. And nothing but Jesus. Put him on the throne of your heart today. Prepare our hearts for what you wanna do, Lord. And then we pray. Amen, church, you may be seated. You braved the elements to be in church today. Why don't you give yourselves a round of applause

for being here, and would you join me in prayer as we get ready to dive into the teaching of the Word of God? Jesus, I thank you for who you are. Thank you that you're in our midst, and because of that, our lives can be changed and transformed, and that's what we desire today. We wanna live differently. We wanna live more like you. God, areas in our lives that need to be challenged, I pray that you would challenge them, and our hearts would be open and receptive to what you want to do in our lives today. We ask all these things in your Son's name. Everybody, set. Everybody, set. Okay, I've gotta start by getting something off my chest this morning, and that is that there is a phrase that everybody uses and absolutely nobody means. You've said it, I've said it, we don't mean it. Here's the phrase. Make yourself at home. Mi casa, su casa. Now, I understand the sentiment. It sounds warm, sounds hospitable, even sounds Christian, but we don't mean it. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants a guest that is coming over to their house. Nobody wants them to actually treat it

like it's their house. Case in point, if the Kelly family did that at your house, within 13.4 seconds, my two boys would be doing jujitsu with your dog in the living room, like choking it out. My three-year-old daughter would be in your pantry eating every snack you've ever owned, and my wife would be baking sourdough bread on your kitchen counters, singing rather loudly to worship music, and flour would be everywhere. And most importantly, I would take full authority and dominion over the thermostat. I would not be asking, I would be adjusting, because in the Kelly house, the thermostat is not a decoration, it is my ministry. So we say it, but we don't really mean it. What we mean is, be comfortable within certain boundaries. Like, there are certain spaces and places that are off-limits, like that one closet in the guest room where everything just ends up. You know, I don't want you going in there, maybe don't go up to the attic or the garage, there's some stuff that I don't want you to see. And again, I get it, we don't mean harm by it, we just wanna be nice, but we say it in theory and not in reality. And I have this concern that there are many people that do the exact same thing in their relationship with Jesus Christ. We say, make yourself at home in my heart, Lord, but do not act like you own the place.

Lord, you've got it all. Oh, but that entertainment choice, that relationship that doesn't honor you, my finances, now don't touch that. So you can come in, but do not try to redecorate, renovate, or recalibrate this space. We want God on our terms. And so it looks like, hey, God, you can comfort me, but you cannot correct me. You can forgive me, but you can't form me. And we get to a very dangerous place where we want a savior without any surrender. And it's actually what I believe is the most dangerous place you could ever be in your faith. It's not far from God. It's actually close to him without ever fully surrendering to him. Because you'll find yourself in a position in life where you start to admire Jesus rather than truly follow Jesus. Why? Because the cost of following him is too high. So I'm gonna watch from a distance and admire, because again, following him means he calls the shots, he takes the lead, he doesn't just get an invite to the house, he gets the keys to the house. There's an obvious problem with that. And that is when Jesus came to earth, he didn't say, come and admire me.

He said, come and follow me. My wife and I have been married for 10 and a half years. We've got a decade under our belt, and that feels weird to say. We don't do it for the applause. Sam, stop it. 10 and a half years, December 30th, 2015 is the day that we got married. I want you to imagine for a moment with me that when we got married, the only thing that changed was my wife's last name, Laurie Young Kelly. We didn't build a house together, we didn't build a home. Family together. We didn't join bank accounts. Some of you guys are like, are you supposed to do that? That's another message We'll talk about that at another time But imagine imagine if the elect sincerely the only thing that changed was her last name That that wouldn't just be weird. I'd be missing out on the best parts of marriage and Yet I am concerned that for many Christians when they become a Christian The only thing that's changed in their life is the title the fact that they call themselves a Christian That's not just weird. You're missing out on the best part of a relationship with Jesus Because in our marriage while I look back to December 30th 2015 with great and fond memories the best part of our marriage wasn't just the wedding day It's doing life alongside of the woman that I cherish every single day The same is true with your relationship with Jesus. It's not just the day you prayed the prayer it's the reality that you get to walk in step in communion with the God that created you and his spirit dwells with Inside of you and is a help and an advocate for your life And so again, I just have this concern that maybe there's this version of Christianity that has been made that you can show up Sit in a seat sing some songs say you believe in something and still stay in full control of your life

That's not Christianity and what it turns into is this self centered view of a relationship with God where you walk into rooms and as worship starts you're like I didn't really feel it today It's like the goal of worship is not for you to feel something. It's for him to get absolutely everything And what I'm trying to help us understand this morning is that following Jesus is an all of life way of life It's the old preacher cliche he's either Lord of all or not Lord at all and I'm not saying that you surrender perfectly Obviously, we are choosing progress over perfection. But what I am saying is That you have a heart posture that says God you have access to every room of my life Here's why because I trust I know that what you will build with my life is far better Than what I would build on my own Which is why Jesus when essentially summing up what it looks like to be a follower of him in Mark chapter 12 30 and 31 says this Love the Lord your God with all somebody say all All your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength The second is this love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these now I don't know about you, but there's one word in there that makes this rather challenging and it's that word all Like wouldn't it be great if he was like some or most I can I can crush some I can even crush most But it's it's all the call to Christ is all and so I believe one of the greatest battles of our Christian faith is the Gap between some and all the call is All to Christ and we are all growing on this journey of giving him every room But I'm here to tell you if you're not stepping into this reality of going God. You've got it all you will find yourself in a place you don't want to be I Think a practical way to see this is if you were to think of a pie chart of your life It might look something like this So you've got your faith. You've got family friendships hobbies work finances marriage relationships You could put some other things in there, but I think sometimes we get it twisted

I think sometimes we think the goal of Christianity is like I'm gonna fight to make the faith slice the biggest slice of my life Like what if I got it to 50% like God people would look at me and be like wow He prays a lot and he reads his Bible and faith is such a big part of his life. It's like I don't it's 51% It's the majority of his life That's that's not the goal because nowhere in Scripture does it teach us that our faith should be severed and Separated from other aspects of our life I think the real picture Looks something like this where faith becomes the crust of the pie that holds the whole thing together So my faith informs my finances my faith informs my family my faith informs the friendships that I do and don't have My faith informs my hobbies my faith informs the way that I work in other words He has every room and piece of your life He gets the whole house There's this amazing story in John chapter 6 for time's sake we're not gonna change We're not gonna go there But it's the story many of you have heard of where Jesus feeds 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish pretty wild stuff and There's this there's this section of Scripture obviously like after that happens people They're like, I'm following that guy, that was awesome. And then off the heels of that, Jesus starts to teach some harder teachings. And scripture literally says they started leaving by the multitudes. And Jesus turns to his disciples, looks at them and says, what about you? You gonna leave as well? And Peter, classic Peter, looks at him and goes, where are we gonna go? Like, we've essentially left it all. Like, we really hope you're the guy.

We're staying here. So think about this for a moment. 5,000 people hanging out for the miracle. Then he starts teaching and they start leaving by the multitudes. He's got 12 disciples. How many go with him into the garden of Gethsemane? Three. By the time he's hanging on the cross, scripture records there's one disciple present. What does that teach us? The closer you get to the cross, the smaller the crowd becomes. Why? Because the higher surrender is required. Which brings us to today's encounter. We are in week two of a three-week series called Encounters. The tagline is the power of a divine interruption. We're looking at different characters that have encountered Jesus Christ, and we're seeing that these divine interruptions aren't just interruptions, they're actually divine invitations. And the goal is, as we look at these different stories, the goal is that we would have an encounter with Christ on our own, that we would see divine interruptions take place, and we would see them as a divine invitation, and we would accept the divine invitation. So last week, we talked about Mary and Martha, the fact that it's possible to be around Jesus

but not actually be with him. And today, we're gonna look at one of the saddest encounters I think that is in all of the Gospels. It is the one person, to my understanding, that comes to Jesus and leaves worse off than he came, known as the rich young ruler. We know that he's young because Matthew's Gospel records that, we know that he's a ruler because Luke's Gospel record that, and Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that he's rich. So if you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Mark chapter 10. We're gonna read verse 17 to 27, 11 verses. So those of you with short attention spans, I believe in you so much. Here we go. 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? Why do you call me good, Jesus answered. No one is good except God alone. It's important to note here, Jesus is not denying his divinity. He's pressing his definition of good. We'll come back to that. You know the commandments. Shall not murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't give false testimony, don't fraud, honor your father and mother.

He's reciting six of the 10 commandments. As a teacher, he declared all of these I have kept since I was a boy. Verse 21, Jesus looked at him and loved him. And then said, one thing you lack, go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. Don't worry, the point of this sermon is not for you to sell everything. You can exhale. The nervous laugh. I'll keep going. At this, the man's face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around, listened to this sentence, said to his disciples, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Here's what I find funny. We read that sentence and everybody thinks of someone richer than themselves. But here's what we need to know this morning. If you've got a roof over your head, a phone in your pocket and you know where you're eating lunch today, you're in the top 1% of wealth globally. That sentence is speaking to you and it's speaking to me. Ouch. Verse 24, the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said it again.

Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus is on purpose speaking to the largest animal in the Middle East and he is making a point. It's impossible for this to happen by yourself. We keep reading in verse 26. The disciples were even more. amazed, I love this, and said to each other, well then, who then can be saved? Like, who gets in? Because in this context, wealth was a picture of the favor of God. And so they're looking at this guy like, he's like, he's a good person, he's got the favor of God, like if he doesn't get in, who does? And I think they're kinda thinking like, what about us? And then Jesus continues. He said, with man, this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God. I love this text, because I think most people first read this, and they're like, okay, Jesus wants us to be poor and broke, noted, and that's not the goal of the text at all. There are so many areas and avenues that we could dive into, but for time's sake, we're just gonna take a look at three, but before we dive into those observations, one very important thing should be noted. This man ran to Jesus and knelt.

Why does that matter? In that culture and context, a man of that stature and status would never run. It would be a form of embarrassment to do so, which tells you and I that he is sincere and desperate. He's aware enough to know, I've got a lot of stuff, but I don't know if I have life. And so he comes to the right person and almost asks the right question. But I think that resonates with a lot of people, because you can have a lot and still know something's missing. I think it was Jim Carrey that said, I wish everyone could get rich and famous so that they could find out it's not the answer. And now some of us think, yeah, but at least you got to try, you know? But we all know it to be true, and here's how. Because right now, someone in the world is convinced that if they had what you had, they'd be fully satisfied. And you know something they don't. It doesn't do it, does it? It doesn't even promise happiness, let alone full satisfaction. So this man runs, he's desperate, and he kneels. And he says this, what do I have to do to get eternal life? This guy's life has worked this way his entire life. Tell me what lever to pull, I'll pull it, and I get the outcome I want. And Jesus is like, okay, look at the 10 Commandments.

Essentially what he's saying is, be perfect. The guy's like, I've done those things. Which is why the start of the text, Jesus presses back on his definition of good. This is what we have to hear this morning. Jesus is saying to you and to the rich young ruler, your good isn't good enough. Observation number one, you can be morally impressive and still spiritually bankrupt. This is one of the most shocking pieces of the text. He's not a bad guy, he's a good guy. Like, he's not a prodigal, he's not a thief, he's not immoral, he's the kind of guy you'd want your daughter to date. Like rich young ruler, good person, yeah, sign her up. Externally, he's winning in every metric, but internally, he knows something is missing. And Jesus brings a vital truth to us all here today. Your good is not good enough. There is none good but God. Why does that matter? Because the vast majority of Americans think that heaven is where the good people go, and hell is where the bad people go. And what they are carrying along with those assumptions are I'm good and so is everybody I love. And the easiest way to dismantle that reality is to ask them questions like this. Okay, well, how good is good enough? Who's the judge, who determines?

And does it sound like a good and loving God to leave your eternal state up into a guessing game, crossing your fingers at the end of your life? I hope I did enough. No, the Bible comes out of the Bible The Bible comes to burst your bubble today. You're not good. No one is good but God. Jesus says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. What's he saying? It's impossible for you to do it by yourself. Verse 26, impossible with man. But possible with God. He's pointing to the cross of Christ that is to come because good people don't go to heaven. God's people do. Those who trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ where he bore your sin and my sin and we get to receive the life he bore. he deserved. Those are the people who inherit eternal life. Second observation. Jesus didn't ask him to give up his money. He asked him to give up his God. The problem isn't that he had possessions. The problem was his possessions possessed him. Hear me today so clearly. He was convinced what money offered

was better than what Jesus offers because he was looking through the lens of the temporary, the now and not the eternal. Imagine for a moment you're traveling somewhere and you go pick up a rental car. Maybe it's a Toyota 4Runner. Some of you guys are like, I only rent Suburbans. Okay, have it your way. You get the Suburban. So you're driving this thing and you're driving it and you gotta do some work stuff but before you do, you've got some time to kill and you're driving the car and you're like, man, I feel like this car could be a little cooler. So you take it to the auto shop and you pull up and you're like, hey, find the owner. I wanna talk to him. The owner comes out and you're like, hey, here's the deal. I want my car to be cooler. In fact, can you, I just, can you pimp my ride? Like, I want it matte black wrapped. I want 22s. I want them black. I want it murdered out. I want it tinted. I want the sound system and I want the AC in the seats that's blowing cool air at your back. I want it all. Now, I'm sure the owner of the auto shop would take your money but chances are,

he'd probably look out and be like, hey, dude, there's a Hertz logo on that thing. Like, you really wanna spend that much money on something that's temporary? And hear me today. We live in a world that is obsessed with treating temporary things as if they're eternal and treating eternal things as if they're irrelevant. Don't make that mistake. I'm not here to tell you you can't enjoy your stuff. I'm just telling you to keep it in the proper perspective that it is A, temporary and B, a gift from God. So the question we have to answer today is, what have you convinced yourself is better than what Jesus offers? Take a moment to sincerely answer the question. What room in the house of your life have you yet to give to Christ? For some of you, it may be money. That may be it. It's become a God, lowercase g, in your life. And the easiest way to stop that and break that is begin to tithe, bringing the first 10% of what you earn. Why? Because it tells God, I understand this is a gift. It is not my God. For others, it may be sex on your terms, not on God's terms. Came across a statistic this week. 65 to 70% of young adult Christians

move in together before getting married. It's almost the exact same statistic for people who aren't Christians. And I love all of the excuses that get lobbed at this idea. Like, well, we're not gonna sleep together. It's like, okay, well, you got two options. Either A, you're not attracted to each other, or B, you're lying. Neither of those are good options. And hear me so clearly today. If you find yourself in that situation, I'm not here to lob shame on you. I'm here to tell you there's a better way. The problem isn't that we don't know what Scripture says. The problem is that many are convinced that God's way isn't better. And I'm here to tell you it is. Easier? No. Better? You better believe it. Every heart has a throne. One of the best things you can do with your life is decipher who or what is sitting on that throne. And I'm sure in a room here at Fellowship Church and our various locations, all of us would be like, God is. But if we took an honest assessment, do our lives actually reflect it? Here are four questions that I think

if you answer honestly before the Lord, you can start to assess what those things that might creep up and try to sit on your throne is. Question number one, what do I think about the most when I'm not doing anything? Question number two, what am I most afraid of losing? Question number three, what do I sacrifice the most for? Question number four, who or what gets the final say? say in my decisions. Last observation. Jesus loved him enough to challenge him. Jesus loved him, so he challenged him. Verse 21, Jesus looked at him and loved him and then challenged him. And that order matters because maybe here this morning some toes feel stepped on, minded in preparation for this message. You have to understand that correction is not the absence of love, it's the evidence of love. We live in a world that says, if you love me, you'll affirm me. Jesus says, no, no, no, no, if I love you, I'll correct you. And parents know this, coaches know this, and God knows this. Here's the tragedy of the text. The rich young ruler walks. Jesus didn't chase him, he didn't lower the standard. Oh, just 50% of it? He let him walk. C.S. Lewis says, in the end, there are two types of people.

Those who say, Lord, thy will be done, and those to whom God says, okay. Have it your way. Don't let your story end in sadness. Don't let it, because I'm here to tell you, Jesus will not settle for being a guest in a house that he died to own. And I had a moment this week where I was thinking about this rich young ruler, and this sounds weird, probably is weird, but I like prayed. I was like, I hope this young man heard that the guy he walked away from died for him so that he could do what he couldn't do with his money, with his influence, and with his morality. And I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Scripture doesn't tell us. But I stand on this stage today to say, don't make the same mistake. Don't walk away. Will it cost you something? You better believe it. Is it worth it? You better believe it. So what's the divine invitation this morning? Here it is. Can we all be people who say to Christ, make yourself at home, and actually mean it? If you do, you won't regret it. Let's pray.

Maybe you're here and you have yet to submit your life to Jesus Christ, to receive the free gift that he offers, and to not just make him Savior, but to make him Lord. I'd love to lead you in a prayer to do exactly that. You don't have to say it out loud. Just say it in the confines of your heart. Say, Jesus, today I admit the obvious. I'm not good, and you are. I believe you are who you said you are. But you died on the cross for my sin. Three days later, rose again from the grave. Today, I choose to follow you, and I choose to say, make yourself at home. I give you access to every aspect of my life. Lord, I pray for every single person sitting under the sound of my voice this morning. I pray that our stories wouldn't end in sadness. I pray that our stories would end in surrender, because your way is better. Lord, make yourself at home in our lives. We ask all these things in your son's name. Everybody said, amen. We would like to kindly ask during this time that no one stir, or please no one exit. This is one of the most critical times in our service. People are battling with the decision to follow Christ and to surrender their life. And we've learned that a decision that is maybe distracted or delayed rarely gets made for Christ.

Maybe you're battling with making the decision to follow Christ, and you're not sure if you're gonna follow Christ. Maybe you're battling with making the decision as Sam went through the life of the rich young ruler. Wow, there are many areas of my life that I've told God, you're not allowed in. Maybe I'm not even a believer because I've pushed him back so much, but today I would like to surrender. my life to him for the first time and to become a Christ follower. For us we want to celebrate that decision with you as a church. That's why all the volunteers do what they do and the people who give so generously is for this moment right here and to my left and to my right there are some tables with some trained volunteers who would love to lead you through that decision. We would also love to answer any questions you may have. Maybe there are some that are battling surrendering the relationships that you keep. You know their relationships that they don't allow you to reach your max potential for Christ. Maybe you need to surrender the idea that you can just do this life alone. I want to encourage you and give you an opportunity to surrender that just simply by reaching forward and in the seat back in front of you there is a blue Connect card. I would encourage you to pull that Connect card out right now as an act of obedience to God and surrendering your relationships. Fill that out and our staff will call you this week and we want to get you connected to a church that is alive and connected to people who love him and will encourage you. And as we continue in this time of worship through the opportunity of giving, generosity, maybe some of you battle with, man I really need to surrender the idea that I'm in control of my resources and it's me who earns everything I have and surrender to the idea that it's God that gives it all. Maybe you're battling this just like the rich young ruler did. You know as the CFO here at Fellowship Church I get an

awesome opportunity to sit in a front row seat to encourage people to surrender their resources. It makes me think about a gentleman who I've been friends with for years here at Fellowship. As we walked through this he decided to surrender his personal resources to the Lord but not only that he owns a company and he decided to start tithing off the revenues of his company. Not the net. He didn't play any games. He actually built a line item in his budget to tithe off the revenue. Why would someone do that? Because he clearly understood that everything he has and everything that is produced through his business is because of God. What a contrast between my friend and the rich young ruler. May we make a different decision today other than the rich young ruler. One of the ways you can be obedient to that is we put up a screen every week that simply shows the ways to give. I thought about this time as we were all singing he's worthy of it all. It's funny at times when the offering is passed or the opportunity to give through a digital platform pops up he's not worthy of our resources for some. May today you be encouraged whatever you're battling with to surrender. Please know what God can offer you is far greater than what you can offer yourself in those areas. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for today. Thank you for everything you've given us. Most of all, thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, Lord, that where we could not match the mark, Lord, you provided the way for us. Thank you for such a beautiful message today that reminded us of that truth. We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name, amen. You may remain seated as the offering passes. Let's take time today to respond, surrender, and obey. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be His than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. Yes, I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hands than to be the king of a vast opening and be held in sincerest way. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world before me. So would you stand to sing with us today? Our greatest freedom is found in the back end of our greatest surrender.

So would you tear your idols down, Lord? Tear our idols down So we can fully surrender to you You're all that we want, it's perfect. You're all that we want, it's perfect. You're all that we want, it's perfect. Just give me Jesus. We surrender nothing but Jesus, just give me Jesus. Oh, nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing but Jesus, just give me Jesus. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever. Nothing but Jesus. Give him a shout of praise. He's worthy of your everything, he's worthy of your all. Are you grateful that you came to church today? Come on, well next weekend, we're gonna be continuing our series on encounters and we want you to invite a friend. We know people that you know, but you guys know way more people that we don't know. And we all know someone that needs to experience the presence of God, amen? So invite a friend next week. And the Sunday after that is Father's Day. So if you didn't know, now you know. You got no excuses, so write it down, put it in your calendar, do whatever you need to do. But be here, we're gonna be starting a brand new series Pastor Ed is bringing us called Before and After.

It's all about stories that only Jesus could write. And one more thing before we go, we are sending out our first group to summer camp at Alaso Ranch today, come on. We are so expected for all that God is going to do at Alaso Ranch this summer. And we as a church are asking you to pray, pray for kids camp, mixed camp, all that God is going to do across the entire months of June and July at Alaso Ranch. So we wanna start that off by praying together as a church. So would you bow your heads and pray with me for Alaso? Lord Jesus, thank you so much for Alaso Ranch. Thank you so much for all that you do every single summer. And we are praying for you to bring revival through Alaso Ranch. Lord, we are expecting, do it again. We give you all glory for what you're going to do in advance. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus and everybody say, amen. Well, church, we love you. We will see you next Sunday. God bless you. ♪ Nothing but Jesus, just give me Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing that's good in this world lasts forever ♪ ♪ And nothing that's good in this world lasts forever ♪ ♪ Nothing but Jesus, just give me Jesus ♪