The Cost of Almost | Pastor Micah Berteau | Parable Series

You lost them. No, I'm glad. Hey, I saw yours. I saw yours. We're in week six of parables. It closes up. We're going to end it up finale next Sunday. The two weeks from today is vision Sunday. Now, I got a lot of reading today. I have about 25 to 27 minutes. How are you going to do that? I'm going to do some work today. You ready to go? You ready to go? Let's do some work. All right, so it's going to get into this. Matthew 19 is where we're going to live a little bit. Matthew 19 is the parable of the rich young ruler, an often misinterpreted parable of Jesus. Maybe one of the most misinterpreted ones. Now, there's a powerful message. What we did is that we collected another parable and we put them together. The other parable today, you get two for one today. You know what I'm saying? It's a double, double. Hey, come on. And we're putting these together is the wise and foolish builder, the one that built their house on the sand and the one that built their house on the rock. But for the moment, let's go into Matthew 19, 16th or 29. I'm going to read you the entire parable of the rich young ruler. Someone came to Jesus with this question. Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Why ask me what is good? Jesus replied. There's only one who is good, but to answer your question if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments. The rich young ruler asks, "Which ones?" And Jesus replied, "You must not murder, commit adultery or steal, testify falsely, honor your father or mother, and love your neighbor as yourself." Well, the rich young ruler said, "I've obeyed all those commandments." The young man replied, "What else must I do?" Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions, give your money to the poor, you'll have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me." But when the young man heard this, he went away set for you in many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth. It's very hard for a rich person in the kingdom of heaven." I'll say it again. You ever heard this analogy? It's easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. The disciples were astounded. Then who in the world can be saved? Because here's the deal. The disciples were taking it at face value. He was actually teaching a deeper lesson. But the disciples were living on Level 1. Jesus was teaching on Level 10. So they're like, "Wait, hold up. If he can't be saved, how can we be saved?" And this is what they're saying. Then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, "Well, humanly speaking, it's impossible. Ain't none of y'all can be saved. But with God, I love this statement,

everything is possible." The beaters said to them, "You've got to love Peter. Big mouth, Peter, man. We've given up everything to follow you. What is he concerned with? Look at this. What will we get? What's in it for me? You ever feel like that? Come on, God? What do I get? Jesus replied, "I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property for my sake." Look at this. We'll receive a hundred times as much in return and we'll inherit eternal life. That's huge because Jesus is not just only promising something eternal. He's also promising you an enhancement and an elevation earthly. He said, "I'm going to advance you a hundred times." So it never really was about you progressing and wasn't about the money. You know what this is? This is called a foundation issue. You have maybe one in your house. You get a crack in the foundation and the whole... There's a foundation issue. This is what it says in Matthew 7, 24 through 27, coupling the other parable just real quick kind of just a coupling with these two parables. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise, the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it's built on the rock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey is foolish. Like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rain and floods come and the winds beat against that house and will collapse with a mighty crash. Here's my sermon title for you. Let's do some work today. The cost of almost. The cost of almost. God, we thank you for your parables. We thank you God that we get to dive in and we get to learn the kingdom of God and what pleases your heart and how we're supposed to live and move. And I thank you that today is going to be another challenge and living in the way that you're calling us to live. May today be filled with almost will cost you I almost went to the gym Come on how many how many I've done that this way yeah People you don't want to admit it we can see The cost Preach son the cost of almost and I I I do realize almost is costly And I want you to know from the top that almost will cost you more than all in It's more costly than going all in it absolutely is even though the pain of discipline is

Something that you will feel The pain of almost accomplishing something is more painful than what you had to go through to see it happen in your life this this oh Okay, we just we went to Disney this week and to Beckham and Braylon because our five and three year old We love them to death, but it's it's tough when you take the five and unders But also they're gonna get their time, you know because our ten you know back and then ten and Braylon being nine now It's Braylon's birthday and we really want to focus on our older's. I don't know about you parents time goes fast man They are growing so fast. So what we do every year we take them on like one trip a year where we get away Just with the two older's and we pour into them why they keep choosing Disney for the love of God someone talked to my children So here we go it's just it's a really short trip We don't spend all week we go there for like a day and then so it's like that's all we can handle So we're there this week and I remember you're riding all the ride. There's this is what's crazy. It was crazy about that place People will stand in line for hours that Tron ride was a two and a half hour wait Do you know how long the ride is one minute and 30 seconds? So don't tell me you can't wait your expectation is just misplaced Because they will wait in line for one minute and 30 seconds and spend hours in the heat And let me just tell you ain't nobody happy to be there But they there because there's an expectation and so I remember we get into some Mickey line I don't know what line we're in brother one to ride it. So my gosh sure whatever we get into the line It's like an hour wait not thrilled not happy about it, but I'm doing it for my son So here we are we're waiting in line You know half the line is outside and then you make it to the second half and it's inside for the glory of God Where there's air conditioning so we're we're on the inside? We're 45 minutes into this line and I haven't I don't much expect it I'm just there for my kids and so here we are. We're getting closer and closer We're we're right at the door when you're about to walk in and then that's where you board the car that you ride The ride I'm like, okay, we're almost there 45 minutes in. Let's do this. Well worker walks out of the door He says I'm so sorry. We have to have maintenance done on this ride It is closed for the foreseeable future. I said bro. I've been waiting here With my children and some other children that are kicking me

Yeah, and you just go tell me after waiting almost an hour I almost get to ride the right you do know. I don't get that time back And it just let me know real quick that there is a cost to almost Getting something. I will never get that time back. I just stood there and wasted my day Just to have somebody tell me that I can't get through the door Did you know that the Titanic almost noticed the iceberg on time? Mmm almost did you know that there was actually another boat not far? I learned this recently. I didn't know about this the USS Californian was parked into an ice patch they parked for the night to sleep It was a few miles away. They said five to ten miles away, which isn't that far considering the ocean and so they parked for the night Five to ten miles away. Well Titanic does this thing iceberg ahead and then that happens, right? Well, they shot flares off Titanic did and all the sudden There's one person on the USS Californian that saw the flares and they thought it just was nothing So they didn't wake up the ship They just moved on and slept. They didn't find out till the morning that the Titanic had sunk almost Almost but I mean, you know the cost of almost there was we we have you know So you know what I'm saying? Maybe that one was worth it, I don't know. There was room on that door, by the way. That's the cost of greed. You know what I'm saying? Ladies, scoot over. The covers are not yours. So that went too far. So there's a level to this of like that, almost. I mean, I don't want to get too deep into this, it's too serious, but Des almost caught it. Why was that the worst one? Oh, not that one, not that.

A team I follow, I follow the 49ers, I like all football. And so, OK, we've lost the Super Bowl two of the last six years. Almost. There's a cost to almost. Blockbuster, almost, bot Netflix. You can't build a life off of almost. Almost is an impressive. Here's what I don't want to do. I don't want to get to the end of our lives. And we live the greatest what if story ever. Man, I can tell you, I would have, you ever talked to one of these guys? I could have been Division One. Yeah, yeah, I could have been out there doing that thing, but I tore my maniacal up down there somewhere. It hurt, I'm like, brother, that's not even a link of it. Yeah, it's down there. Just making stuff up. Thank you for the almost. But here's what we don't need. We don't need almost stories anymore. We don't need how you almost serve God. We don't need how you almost attend a church. How you almost raise your kids in the presence of God. Instead, it got too hard. I got too tired. It got too difficult. It got too tension out in the culture. And I just gave in too much.

Almost, we're all in. I almost gave God my full life. We don't need anymore one of stories. We need some more stories of people that are rewriting history saying, I went in and I did it God's way. And I kept doing it God's way. And I kept doing it God's way. And then I saw the outcome. And the outcome is that those that follow God, I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. That I've seen that God works all things together for the good of those who love them. And are called according to his purpose. Don't you know today? Don't live in almost time with God. Be all in, way God. This is where the challenge is with the rich young ruler. He almost had eternal life. Almost. He was so close. He was so close. He was standing in front of the one that could have given it to him. Almost. And let me just tell you, it is so dangerous to subscribe to this thought. Of I can live in almost life and still get what God has. I can just kind of inch by, you can't friends.

But here's what we learn from the rich young ruler as he approaches Jesus. With possessions, he's got the house, he's got the car, he's rich, he's wealthy in possessions. He's young, he still has all of his looks. And he's a ruler. He has authority. He's in a pretty good spot. Now me and you might see him from a social media profile and say, man, he's got everything. But here's what we learn from this story. Let me give you five quick points. Number one, you can have everything and still be missing something. You can think you have everything and still be missing something. Here was someone seemingly put all together that by worldly standards, we would applaud, hey, great job building that business, great job making that money. Now you're not even just wealthy, you're a ruler, you're a boss, you're in charge. That's incredible, man, I wanna be like him. Even he is admitting why, because when he approached Jesus, he said, what must I do to be saved? What it tells me is this, there is nothing in this world that you can gain that can replace what God can give. Did you hear what I said? There is nothing in this world that you can acquire, that you can attach your life to

that will fulfill you like Christ fulfills you. Nothing in this world. That's the first lesson from this story. It's before we ever get into the other part of it is realizing that the man had a God-sized, shaped hole in his soul. And he tried to fill it with everything. He tried to be a ruler, he tried wealth, but it's all what bad foundation. So this is not a story about wealth, but his question reveals that he was not satisfied. He had a busy schedule, Don't serve your busyness, thinking that that means purpose. Busyness does not equate to purpose. Just because you're running hard doesn't mean you're running right. Because you're going and you're moving doesn't mean God's with you every step of the way. What it does mean is that I need to take some inventory on some of the decisions that I've made and is God a part of this? Am I building a good foundation or am I just trying to acquire and am I just trying to get more and I'm just realizing that man I'm filling my own life and I'm not letting God be the fulfillment of my life and what you will realize you will have a day where you wake up and you're depressed and you're anxious. You know anxiety you know people get anxiety attacks and that's something that man I think we should pray and talk and get that thing out of your life but a lot of the things can we just be honest for a second a lot of the things that we are anxious about are things that we won't have when it comes to eternity. We are having anxiety over things that we can't take with us to heaven and we have to reframe it seeing different my life my marriage my kids I'm not trying to get to the end of the day I'm trying to get God in my day I'm not just trying to make it I'm trying to be purpose filled in this life because I can't afford it almost I can't afford it my kids can't

afford it almost I almost got free for you I'm sorry now you have to bear the burden of the bond I said I didn't want to get free from I almost did it but you're gonna have the weight of almost there's gonna be things in your life yet if you do not address them Jesus will and so all of a sudden he comes up what must I do to be saved because what I realize is this there's nothing else that can save me I tried it all I tried the alcohol I tried I tried it all it's it's a it's temporary reprieves as all the other stuff is nothing is real except for Jesus that's a statement you need to gravitate in nothing can do what God can do and so he realized that well they're having this conversation and Jesus is like God let's let's talk about this sell everything like why don't we have like a rolling to the conversation like let's start with like softer commands Jesus can we work our way up to big obedience do we have to start with sell everything here's what here's what you're number two Jesus will always challenge what you trust and here's what you learn what do you mean what am I trust you trust what you've built you trust what you've acquired you trust the money you made you trust the life you've built you trust that because it's easy you put your hands to it you did it it's hard to trust God because you don't know what he's up to I got I don't I'm not sure what picture are you painting what are you gonna do with every bad decision you said you're gonna redeem it but what are you gonna I got a trust God with my life that I could gain the whole world and lose my own soul but how do I find life is I lose my life in him so when I get to this place I'm like alright Jesus is he's a gangster because he's like I know the 10% the 5% in your life that you have not submitted to make he knows it he knows if if whatever it is for you he's got God's got my life it's all his but there's about five to eight percent of your life that you still make decisions upon God's like I'm gonna put my hand right on that because I want you to know this is God said I want you to know I'm in charge of that I want that because here's what's funny they went through the commandments right so they go through the commandments and he's challenged the rich young ruler he's like oh yeah I follow the command he's like follow the command I follow the commandments which ones will honor your father mother and Jesus tell them all these things like you know you don't steal don't kill don't commit adult treats it's all the commandments that are connected to other people which is funny because again he was probably trying to be a good guy but what you realize is that salvation

is not attached to be in a good guy you can't good your way into heaven are you here in me because some people think you're still saved by good works you're not you're not saved by good works you're saved for good works then your life should change. So all of a sudden, he gets to this place where he's like, all right, I obey all those commandments. What do you want me to do? Sell it then, sell your stuff. Let's see what happens. Crazy. Here's what Jesus didn't say. He didn't say the commandment that was connected to that command. He just wanted to see what you do to command. 'Cause you know the commandment that he's talking about, he's actually asking the rich young ruler to obey. There will be no other gods before me. There will be no other idols. Now we're starting to see the message in the sermon that Jesus is preaching. It has nothing to do with wealth. It has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with the foundation that this man built his life upon. Everything to do with what this man trusted. He's pointing right at it. And he's gonna poke it until you give it up. He's like, yeah, that area that you get sensitive about. Oh, honey, you think you can date? Have you seen your dating life?

Hasn't been good. You might need God to redeem the whole damn thing. You know what I'm saying? Because you think, man, I'm good with my money. You sure? Walmart working you right now. 'Cause at some point you realize I'm not good if you leave me to my own devices. But I'm going to need to trust God in the hard areas and put God above the areas that are hard. There will be no other idol, God. Come on, we need more believers that actually say that I don't need another idol. I don't bow to these idols. I don't follow these idols. I wanna submit to these, well, I don't have an idol. The thing in your life that you haven't given to God is your idol. Can I just be really, really right now? 'Cause a lot of people, maybe it's not money. But maybe, maybe it's your children. Maybe, look, I'm on a ball field every Saturday. And listen, it's fun watching your kid run another kid over for the glory of God. There is nothing that makes me wanna run around or a football field more than when Beckham absolutely trucked a kid yesterday. And I said, he can get healed tomorrow at church, but that was awesome. (audience laughs)

That was awesome. But here's what I also notice. There are some kids, some parents raising kids. There are some parents living through their kids. So we think that only noticeable things are idols. Your schedule could be an idol. You're living through your kids could be an idol. 'Cause here's the danger of it. You're living through your kids because you want them to achieve the dreams you found at. But that's projection parenting. We don't do that. We presence parent. We need to give them the prince of God not the projection of our failures. And may they see a heavenly father because we are frail fathers, imperfect ones. And so it gets to this place where we have to show them Jesus. I have to submit the thing that's running my life to go. Or number three, you serve what you refuse to surrender. You serve what you refuse to surrender. How do you make an idol right there? That's where idols come from. The thing you won't give God. I'm shouting it 'cause there are some things in your life that are shouting at you to not give me up. They're telling, take out, did you know that? Your vices are voices. Your vices have voices.

The alcoholism, don't give me up. That addiction, don't give me up. That money thing you got going on. Don't give, God's over here said give it to me. Give it to me because if not, it's becoming the idol. And here's what idols do. Even if 90% of your life is in the hands of God, you're actually ran by the 10% unsubmitted. The thing that's unsurrendered is the thing leading your life. The tragedy of the rich young ruler is that he wanted to keep his and get Jesus. The problem is when you meet Jesus, you gotta get rid of yours. Lay it all down. The tragedy is this. He wanted Jesus to be an additive, not the savior of his life. You know what I mean by additive? You ever go to Starbucks because you did 19 pumps of syrups. (audience laughing) Oh yeah, no, no, no, yeah, you want four pumps of caramel, you want three squeezes of white chocolate, you want extra hot, and then extra ice, and then you want three cups, and then you want venti, and then you want all the foams. You don't want one foam, you want all of the foams, and then you need another four pumps of vanilla, and nine pumps of mocha.

You're not drinking coffee. You're drinking syrup in a cup. Here's why you do that, it's an additive, it's an additive. It's additives to make what you couldn't drink by itself more palatable. I just connected the point for those that didn't follow me. It's for those that can't do it like it's supposed to be done. I can't drink it straight. I need more sugar, I need more sweetening, I need a lighter life, I need not to follow all the rules, I need a little bit of me, and a little bit of him. I need this to be softened up, and Christ said, "I came to die so you could live, "not so you can live your own life. "Give up your life." I don't know, I just like, I like sugary, sweet Jesus. No, you got pumps going on. You got caramel Jesus up here, and he's sweet sometimes, but he's firm. And he's gonna look you in the eyes and say that idle is gonna kill you if you don't give it up. That thing is gonna mess with your family if you don't give it up. It's gonna mess with your marriage if you don't admit it today. You gotta get it out, it's time to stop making Jesus a side piece on the passenger side of your car. It's time to say, "Jesus, take the whole life, it's yours." I don't wanna lead this life anymore. I'm not doing extra, I don't need the pumps, God.

I need to drink from the Word of God as it is. I don't look at the Bible and say, "Man, God, make it easier." I say, "Don't God, I thank you that I'm gonna do it "if it is hard, I'm gonna do it if it hurts, "I'm gonna do it if it's difficult, "I'm gonna do it because I know on the other side "of this obedience is a blessing and a word "and a breakthrough that only obedience can bring." Jesus is not an additive, but the man wanted him to be. He said, "I wanna do this and follow you." The problem was when he heard the command to sell everything, he had a choice to make. And that tells the entire story of who that man really followed. He wanted to be a fan of Jesus and a follower of his own devices. I wanna follow me and I wanna be a fan of Jesus. I wanna sit in the stadium and watch Jesus do miracles. Let's say what? Yeah, Jesus scored a touchdown, good job. I'm gonna go back to my own life. It's a whole statement of, are you following Jesus or are you asking Jesus to follow you? 'Cause at some point, Jesus is like, I'm not here to follow you. I'm here to redeem you, restore you, work on you. Say, the rich man, then he says, it's some difficult things. It's hard for a rich man to make it, he's not talking about wealth. 'Cause in the theological context,

the original words, he says he was wealthy in something. He was rich in something. He wasn't just rich. 'Cause some people, this is the dumb level to interpret scripture. It's to never look at the original context. Have the money, buy the boat. What do I always say if you come here? Buy the boat and then invite me. That's what I always say. (congregation laughs) Care? Like, let's go ahead and have the things. Have the stuff, don't let the stuff have you. Have the house, don't let it have you. Have the cart, don't let it have you. 'Cause the moment you do, you are serving a different spirit other than the Holy Spirit. He's not after your possessions and your things. I actually think if the man would have said, "Yeah, I'll sell it all." Jesus was like, "All right, cool. "There's more." And by the way, let's talk about that a little bit more. I don't know who I have to find out in heaven. There probably would have been an extra for him. There probably would have been a blessing for him, but we'll never know because the cost of almost cost him everything. It's actually not even just the fear,

the fear of almost. You're afraid of that, and so it's become an idol. What have I had, what have I given up? It's a part of my identity now. I've built this family and friends and only as I let it all go. And again, the original language, he was rich in possessions. He was rich in authority as a ruler. So Jesus didn't take offense that he was wealthy and money. He said, no, no, no, you're rich in the wrong things. If you were rich in faith, rich in your spirit, rich on the foundation of Jesus Christ, he doesn't care that you have this stuff because your foundation is built on the rock. That's for number four, what you build on determines what you can stand through. 'Cause now we have to bring in the rich young ruler, but yes, the foolish and the wise builders. So one decided to build his house on the rock and it stood through the storm. Here's what's funny. Did it say that the one that built their house on the rock, the storm wouldn't come? One of the promises of life is that storms come. Do not let it have you questioning the depths of who God is because you're going through a hard time right now. I'm going through a trial, I don't know, where's God, where's God, no, we are promised to go through a hard times, but we're also promised to have a God that won't leave us in the hard times.

He's walking with you every step of the way. So he says this, you have two choices. This is basically what he was telling the rich young ruler, you have two choices too. Build it on the rock and when the storm comes, you saw it. You good. The other one, build it on the sand. And I'm afraid that in this culture, we have a bunch of people being kings of their own castles, but they're actually just sand castles. We call them sand castles that have king, you're your king and queen of that sand castle. And the moment anything happens, it falls, it crumbles. The anxiety comes back. The depression is worse. The heaviness is heavier. Oh, precious, you deal with it all. It has nothing to do with that. You didn't defeat your demons. It has everything to do with, did you build it on the rock? Did you really build it on Christ? Is he just over here? Is he under your feet and in your heart and guiding your next steps and redeeming your mind? This is God, this is who he wants because how you build and what you build on will determine what you can stand through. And you can tell the level of a faith of a person at the moment they go through something difficult, they still stand in that.

Sometimes you know what winning looks like friends, you're just still standing. You know what almost looks like? That you got to that day and you just gave up and you were probably one day away from seeing everything shift in everything time and everything move in your favor. That's the danger of almost. Give God another day. Give God another month. Give God another year. How about this? Take the timeline off of God and let God just work at his own pace and watch him blow your mind. In that case, you won't almost make it. You won't almost get there. No, dream again. And this is maybe just more of a prophetic word for some people that you stop dreaming because you almost got the last ones and you almost and then they fell apart and then you almost and then you fell apart. You know the cost of almost for you is that you stop dreaming. You let your vision die. And what I want to tell you today, get the vacuum cleaner out and just vacuum up the ashes of yesterday's dream and dream again. He's a God who can do it.

He's a God who can redeem it. Today is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice. I don't know about yesterday, but today has new mercy. Today's got new grace. Today God woke me up. Dream again. (congregation applauding) And give it to God again. Don't create an idol today. Give it to God again. the end of the story. And Peter, who I love to relate to because he is a wild-mouthed Christian, just says some stuff. He's the guy who says what everybody's thinking. You have friends like that? Just says it. Jesus, that didn't make sense. We know you're not against money and wealth. What was that? Well, he didn't want to give up his foundation. That was the problem. He said, "But I'll tell you." So Peter then said, "Cool." That's what he said with man that's impossible, with God, everything's possible. So, well, Peter then said, "So, we came up everything. What about us? What do we get? Hey, God, I've been faithful. What do I get? Man, I see them being blessed. They ain't even in church. You ever do that kind of prayer? I'm over here praying. They don't even believe in prayer. Well, you don't know the storm that they're going to face. You just got to worry about you. So, Peter's over here like, "What am I going to get out of this?" He says, "Thank you for asking." For anybody that's a follower of Jesus, if he starts to go through it, whatever you lost, family members, he says, "Property." Because when you get to that point, property in that day was like, "Man, I gave money. I built the kingdom. I gave it away. My calling drew me away from places I thought I would stay. It costed me something." He says, "There's two rewards. And I never thought about it like this in the same parable." He almost reprimanded the man that was wealthy. He actually says, "If you follow me, I'm going to place this on your life." What is that? "Your life is going to increase a hundred fold." Hold up. Well, doesn't he just mean like my rewards in heaven? No, because in the next

statement, he said, "And hundred fold and eternal life." So, he said, "I already got you on eternity, but I also got you on earth." If you want to live a hundred fold life, you got to learn to give up everything so that rich man, you know what he missed out on? More. He thought he had enough, but he meant to God who has more than enough. This is why my last point is this. You got to realize about God. This is about God. He's not a poverty God. You know what that means? He doesn't run out. He doesn't run out of blessings. He can't run out of answers. He doesn't run out of ways to get you to where you need to get to. God doesn't run out on you. God is for you. What I mean by poverty has nothing to do with wealth, has everything to do with how you think about him. If he's not a poverty God, then why am I in a poverty mentality? Why am I in a lack of state of mind right now? Why do I think that if I give or if I go or if I do what God asked me to do, that I will end up with less than. That's a poverty mentality. Did you hear what I just said? Because the moment you have to give up your idol, you're going to feel like you're missing something, but you're gaining everything. You're gaining the promise of a hundredfold life. Man, everybody in the world is trying to figure out how to have a hundredfold life. You know how? Give up. Give it to God. Let him work. Let him use you. Submit your life. Surrender your sin. Repent. Walk with them. Watch what God will do with the life. Lay down to him. Amen. Can you stand your feet? I spent a couple extra minutes with you this morning because I want to make sure we got the word through. Give you bow your heads. I just feel an idol breaking anointing. God, break the idols. Break the idols. Break the idols. Anything that we are adoring that is not you, anything that we are serving that is not you. We let it go. We let it go. We let it go. Release it today. We lay it at your feet. God, the things that's taking our attention, that's stealing the motives of our hearts. life. God, I know this church is going to refuse to almost walk with you, almost serve you, almost give their life for you. So let today be a day of reckoning. You and now, Lord, remind us that you are our firm foundation. Thank you for your spirit in this room, God. Thank you that you're doing a mighty work in our lives.

And if you're in this room, and you don't know about your eternity, you're unsure about your eternity. When I get to three, I don't want you to hesitate, lift your hands because God forbid you live your whole life with you, almost got saved. You almost gave them your life. You almost went all in for God. No, no, no. Today's not a day of almost. Today's the day of all-in. When I get to three, if you want to pray this salvation prayer, I want you to shoot your hands up, ready one. You know who you are, too, with confidence. Come on. Three, lift your hands if that's you. You want to get saved today. Lift your hands. Thank you. Thank you. Thank God. I'll see him in the balcony. If you're watching online, just write in saved, saved. Come on, let's change if that's you. Come on. Do it with some confidence. Come on, come on, come on. You want to pray this prayer. You don't want to be like the rich young ruler who won't give everything to Jesus. Pray this prayer. Say Jesus. I'll say with some strength.

Say Jesus. Save me. Redeem me from all my sin. Thank you for your grace that is endless. Thank you for loving me. I believe in your cross. I believe in your resurrection. And today is my resurrection day in Jesus' name. Come on, a big amen. Come on. Give God some praise in here. Oh, come on. Give God a great praise. Give God a thunderous praise, give God a light like I got no idols on the praise. I pray God did something in your heart and your soul today. If you need prayer, our prayer team is down here. You need to get baptized. That's in two weeks. And let's read this declaration together. I believe what God has spoken over my life. His word will not return void. This year will reveal his faithfulness, this year will produce fruit, this year will be filled with miracles in his time and by his power. Come on. Come on. God's gonna do. Amen. Hey. We love you. I'll see you next Sunday.

The best is yet to come.