 Howdy everybody. I am your brand new holiday weekend preacher. How do you like that? How do you like that? So I got called off the bench. This week I went on vacation and we had a scheduling conflict with Johnny Vareken. He thought he was coming next weekend. We thought he was coming this weekend. Pastor John's on vacation. Caleb is, I don't know where. And it's the fourth of July weekend. And so they called me in and I said, put me in coach. And so nothing up my sleeve. Presto, I got a message for you guys. Ready for heroes this weekend? All right. So turn with me and your Bibles to Luke chapter nine. Luke chapter nine, by the way, Johnny Vareken will be here next weekend. And so we're very much looking forward to that. Then Rick Renner in a couple of weekends. It's gonna be fantastic. Jane and I will be here just to sit on the front row and absorb that. It's gonna be incredible. And then the first weekend of August, Mike Bickel from the International House of Prayer is going to be here. And so we've got some incredible, incredible weekends. You're not gonna wanna miss any of them. So look with me at the words of Jesus in Luke chapter nine. And it starts in verse number 57. It's talking about the cost of following Jesus. And it says, as they were going along the road, someone said to him, that's Jesus. I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. To another, he said, follow me. And he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. And then verse 61, it says, yet another said, I will follow you, Lord. But first, let me go and say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. It's very interesting that Jesus is answering three different people with three different answers in response to the three different excuses of why they could not radically and totally follow Jesus. And I know that we're in a series in July called Heroes. So we've been working through some well-known heroes. We've talked about John the Baptist and we've talked about Mary of Bethany, James and John, the Sons of Thunder, and we're gonna cover some more heroes. But when I was preparing for this weekend and thinking about a message that I hadn't prepared for, because I had pretty much laid out the whole summer series, I just kinda asked the Lord, Lord, what individual do you want me to highlight this weekend that I didn't plan on or I didn't have built into our summer series? And he says, what I want you to do is I want you to highlight those who could have been heroes. So the title of this weekend's message is could have been heroes. And what's interesting is all the other ones, you know their names. And in the story that we just looked at in the few verses, we see highlighted three different pronouns, someone, another, and yet another. These are pronouns that are referring to individuals and we don't know their names. And the reason why we don't know their names is because Jesus gave each of them an opportunity to become very, very significant followers of Jesus in their own right. They could have responded the same way that Peter, Andrew, James, and John did. They could have followed Jesus like Mary, like Martha, like several of the different leading women had followed Jesus. But in response to the invitation to follow Jesus, when they saw the price tag of following Jesus, they had excuses. Instead of sacrificially paying the price, they doubled down on the things that were significant and important to them instead of God. And therefore we never know their names. We don't see what they could have potentially done in history. We don't know the impact that they could have made. We don't see their names recorded or their stories or their interactions with Jesus. We don't know. And I think it's important because even on this fourth of July weekend, you know, just a couple of days ago, we celebrated our independence as a nation. And I know we focus on fireworks and hot dogs and brats and sitting by the pool and, you know, different things like that on the fourth of July. But as a nation, we look back 200 and, you know, a few decades ago to some of our founding fathers who made a declaration to the British crown that was exerting tyranny against the colonies. And they said, we are declaring independence. So they signed a declaration of independence. And when they signed it, most of these founding fathers, the signers of the original declaration were risking their lives because by declaring war against England, if they had lost, their lives would have been taken for treason. Most of these founding fathers, like James Madison and Monroe and Jefferson, Washington was by far the oldest with Franklin, but yet several of them who were 18, 19, 20 years old when they signed that declaration of independence. And now we call them our founding fathers. They're heroes of our American Republic because of the sacrifice and the courage that they exerted. They're heroes. Well, as we go through the New Testament, this summer we see all these people that were human beings just like you and I, dreams and desires that they had, but they were willing to do something that was extraordinary. They were willing to sacrificially obey Jesus. And that's why we know about them. And here's what I wonder this weekend. I wonder if the excuses that they gave Jesus of why they could not radically respond to his call to follow him. I wonder if these excuses are sometimes the very same things that keep us from being fully devoted to Jesus. I wonder if they're the same three battlegrounds. Turn with me over in your Bibles to 1 John. If you hopefully brought a Bible this weekend with you, you're gonna be able to turn over there. Others of you are gonna put it into your phone. Some of you are just gonna fake it till you make it and look like you're doing it and that's okay as well. But I wanna draw your attention to what the apostle John wrote in 1 John chapter two, verse number 15, all the way down to 17. He said, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, this is the ESV, but I learned it out of the New King James. The ESV says all that's in the world is the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life. I learned it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And it says, and all of these things are not from the father but are from the world. And this world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God, think about this, whoever does the will of God remains forever. I believe that in the story of Jesus interacting with these three individuals that we never hear about, potential prospect disciples, that each of them represents each one of the battlefields that Paul, or that John writes about in 1 John, that is universal across the board, that we all battle with desire. We all battle with, are we going to obey Jesus or are we going to give into the other paths, the off ramps that offer us an easier, more convenient way of living our lives? You see, in this story it starts off where Jesus is, he's just done some incredible miracles. He's been through Samaria, the disciples who we know are following Jesus and word is spreading about him. And because word is spreading about him, a lot of people are kind of writing, they're drafting off of Jesus and many of them want to be part of his entourage. When you read Mark's account of this same story, he describes one of them at least as being a scribe, which means he's a theologian, he's a lawyer. And so he knows the teachings of Jesus, he's seen the miracles, he's been around, he's heard that Jesus is multiplying the bread. He thinks that this is a messianic moment for all of Israel and you know what, when there are big moments in history, a lot of people want to draft off of those moments. A lot of people want to say, I want to be a part of that. I want my name attached to that. And that's what these guys were doing. They were coming up to Jesus and they were saying, hey, I'll follow you wherever you go. And Jesus confronts the first guy and he says, well, you need to know this, foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has absolutely no place to lay his head. What was Jesus referencing? What he was referencing was if you're going to follow me, it's going to be a journey that's going to lead you all the way to the last breath of your life. And you won't find rest until you enter into the heavenly kingdom. If you're going to follow me, then you're going to have to, you're going to have to give up and you're going to have to bypass the comforts of belonging in this world. The comforts of this world. Birds have high nests that are protected and are comfortable. Foxes have solitary dens that nobody can see where they can get away, where they have safety, they have protection. But if you're going to follow Jesus in this world, you're going to have to see yourself as a sojourner and an exile that is on a journey and your home is in heaven. You know what the world offers us? Comfort. John in 1 John, he makes a reference, he says, all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh. What does that mean? Or the desires of the flesh. The number one desire that our flesh has is comfort. We all want to be comfortable. The reason why we have nice padded chairs in both of our campuses is because we know that when people come to church, they want comfortable chairs. Because nobody comes in and says, I really wish we had those old wooden pews, you know that you slide on and can't get comfortable on. And then you gotta pinch your kids because they don't pay attention and they're just slouching. How many grew up in church where they had just had uncomfortable chairs? How many know comfortable is far better? That's why when we, you know, you go to somebody's house, they've got these nice padded upholster chairs. Nobody's got like lawn chairs or those like wooden chairs there. Cause when you come home, you want comfort. That's why you got nice beds. The first bed that Jane and I had when we were newly married, we, you know, it was given to us by her mom and dad. I think it was her grandmothers for like 25 years before we got it. And then we had it for 10 years and this thing was like a tortilla shell. I mean, you rolled to the middle. It was a Jane and Lee taco. You wrote, it was like rolled in a, and the bed just like formed around. And I remember when we got a new bed, it was like, oh, this is heaven. This is heaven. My back's not hurting. I mean, I was 26 years old and I'm having back issues. That's what's going on cause we're sleeping in a tortilla. And you get a new bed and it's amazing how comfort just makes you relax. You know, we want physical comfort. We want worldly comforts. We want to, we want to feel that if I'm working hard, if I'm doing the right things then there's going to be a payoff of comfort. If I work a long day, then when I come home, I want to relax. I want comfort. What Jesus was saying is if you're going to follow me, it's not going to be an easy way. It's going to be the best way. It's going to be a way that leads to life. But you've got to see yourself above all things as an exile and a sojourner. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2 11, he says, beloved, I urge you, urge you as sojourners and exiles. A sojourner is somebody who's on a pilgrimage or somebody who's on a journey. And an exile is somebody who has been excluded from their homeland and is trying to make their way back. You know what our tendency is? Is to get really too comfortable in this world. Now I'm not talking about, you know, that God doesn't want us to enjoy life. I mean, he's given us all things freely to enjoy, but we got to remember this world is not our home because whatever environment you determine or you believe to be your home environment, you will adapt to its culture. That's what comfort does. You adapt to a culture. If we put you in a culture, you know, that's totally different from the American culture, you would have culture shocked for a period of time, but eventually you would adapt. What Jesus is saying, your mentality, if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, is not working towards finding comfort or a place of rest, relaxation in this world. You're on a journey, you're on a mission. And you got to see yourself that way. Don't allow yourself to adapt. Don't find your comfort and your peace in the midst of this world and in this world system. You've got to be a citizen of the kingdom of God. And the way that we find our comfort is listen, it is through the invisible presence of God. It is spending time with the Lord knowing that in his presence, in his word, we find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. We find the fruit of the spirit. We find the presence of God in his word. Listen, if we're more comfortable in worldly environments, then we are in kingdom environments. We're not sojourners in the world. We're sojourners in the church. We got to be careful that our passport isn't stamped this world, that we continually resubmit the passport of our heart so that it's stamped by the kingdom of God. And we've got to see ourselves that way. This guy says, I'll follow you anywhere. And Jesus said, well, that's good, but you need to count the cost and you need to be willing to give up comfort. One of my favorite books of all time, I was just in Tucson, Arizona, where by the way, it's way too hot. If you are complaining about the cool temperatures of Michigan, it is so much nicer here. It was 110 degrees and they called it dry heat. I don't care. It was like a hairdryer on you the whole time. And so I'm preaching in this church and one of the guys who's on staff there asked me, he said, what are your like your top five books? Well, that's easy. One of my top five books that I've read almost every year for the last 20 years is a book written by a 16th century period and by the name of John Bunyan and it's the Pilgrims Progress. Anybody ever read the Pilgrims Progress before or seen the animated version of it when you were a kid? It's an analogy of a man named Christian who is on a journey to the celestial city. And at every stop along the way, he has to overcome the things of this world that are trying to hold him down from getting to the celestial city. And what I love most about the story of the Pilgrims Progress is that John Bunyan actually wrote the book while he was imprisoned in the London Tower because of his convictions of who Jesus was. And he wrote the story. So when I read it, we're not just reading some novelist who lives in Montana and has a good life in a cabin on the side of a mountain. This is a guy who's paying the price. He gave up all comforts. All he had to do was recant. And by the way, he didn't even have to recant Jesus. He just had to recant that the Bible was more authoritative than some bishop or some pope. And they would have released him from the imprisonment. And by the way, the prisons of medieval time were not like ours, where you get cable TV and steak dinners and can work out and get your PhD. We're talking about rats, cockroaches, ew. Where they change you up in a tower and forgot about you. And there is where he wrote the Pilgrims Progress. That attitude, that mindset is required in each of us if we're going to be devoted followers of Jesus and we're going to live like those who are our heroes of the faith. Who's the second guy that Jesus addresses? Well, listen, he says this to another. Here's another guy. He said to him, follow me, the very same words that Jesus called Peter, called James, called John, called Andrew, the rich young ruler. Follow me, two simple words, but they cost everything. Follow me, what's his response? Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Sounds legitimate, right? And Jesus responds and says to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Wow, Jesus, this is really harsh. I mean, let the guy go bury his dad. That seems legitimate. What you don't realize is the guy's father isn't dead yet because number one responsibility or priority of the oldest child in a Jewish family was to make sure that they lived in the family home until the passing of their father at which time they would receive the inheritance. Just like the story of the prodigal son, what was wrong with that? It wasn't that he asked for his inheritance, it's that he asked for his inheritance before his father died. And so when this man says to Jesus, well, hey, first, I wanna follow you, but let me wait around until my dad dies and then I get the inheritance and then I'll go follow you. That's what he was saying. It wasn't an issue of dads at the funeral home and I gotta go and take care of the arrangements and be a part of a funeral in a couple of days and awake and all those kinds of things. Now, we're talking about this guy, here was this issue, his convenience. It was inconvenient for him to forsake his inheritance of wealth and reputation and business in order to respond to Jesus' two words, follow me. Jesus, I want you and my father's inheritance. Let me put it to you this way. I want my cake and I wanna eat it too. I wanna follow you, I wanna be part of what you're doing, but I wanna do it from over here so that I'm securing both bases. You ever know somebody like this? I know nobody in our church would ever do this, but you ever know somebody who was keeping their options open when they're in a dating relationship? Right? It's like, oh, I really like you, but I'm talking to this girl over here or I'm talking to this guy over here and over here they're like, hey, are we committing? Is this gonna be, are we a real thing? I know we've been spending a lot of time together and I, listen, I really, really like you, but let me work on this situation over here. I'm talking to this person, I'm not really, yeah, I'm kind of torn and ah. Come on, if you're self-respecting, somebody does that to you, what do you say? If you like it, then you better put a ring on it. Cause, you know, or you need to make up your mind, who are you, which one are you gonna go? And I had a friend in college who was like this, he always wanted to keep his options open and whenever it came down to commitment, he was afraid to make a commitment. He's like, but what if I make the wrong decision? That's what this guy's saying. Hey, if I follow you now, I forfeit everything. I forfeit wealth, land, reputation, name, family business. So here's what I wanna do, Jesus. I know you want me to follow you, but it's more convenient for me if I wait and follow you after I get all this. What's that the equivalent of? First John chapter two. First one was lust of the flesh. Second one's lust of the eyes. It's possessions, it's inconvenient. There's a cost and the cost is convenience. A lot of us, it may not be money for you. May not be, you know, when Jane and I first dated and then got married, I told her I was gonna be a pastor and my experience with what most pastors endured was that you live very poor, very, very poor. And I kind of told her, I set her up for that. It's like, hey, we're going in the ministry. Probably not gonna make a whole lot of money in my life. I'm not gonna be a millionaire, billionaire for sure. And we'll be lucky if we have a double wide. I mean, that's gonna be that good. So, and she went along for the ride. Well, praise God, he's done a whole lot better for us than what I anticipated, but we did not go into ministry thinking, this is a means for me to get wealthy. I promise you. And when I followed Jesus, it wasn't, you know what? I can have my cake and eat it too, because I knew that not only the financial cost, but I knew that emotionally and spiritually, every part of me, it was going to cost me everything. And listen, there is nothing convenient about discipleship because it's not just the lust of the flesh, our appetites that wants comfort, but it's the lust or the desires of the eyes where this guy could see everything that he could have. He could see dad's car. He could see the business. He could see the land. And Jesus is saying, hey, I want you to follow me. And he's over here going, well, yeah, I got some, I got some other stuff here. This isn't convenient right now. For some of us, it's like, well, you know what? Jesus, I want to follow you, but I'm not ready to give up a relationship yet. Or you know what, Jesus? Yeah, I really want to follow you. I want to be a Christian, but yet I'm not willing to deal with some of the issues that I got over here that are my pet issues that, you know, they satisfy a longing on the inside of me, a desire that I want. And what was Jesus' response to this man? Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury the dead. There are a lot of things in this world that look like they will satisfy and bring fulfillment and bring life, but Hebrews chapter six calls them dead works, dead things, they're dead. Why? It's because dead things can't produce life. And there is nothing that is worthy to be compared to who Jesus is. Let me just tell you that in this world, it's alluring, it's like, hey, come on, if you give us just a tenth of your time, give me a tenth of your energy, give me a tenth of your devotion, give me 25% of your life, and you can have Jesus and the world. Listen, it says in first John chapter two, it says, if you love the world and the things in the world, then the love of the Father is not in you. It's not in you. You can't, you cannot be a obedient disciple of Jesus when you're living your life for convenience because there's nothing convenient about following Jesus. It's gonna inconvenience you every day along the way. In fact, if it doesn't inconvenience you, I challenge you that maybe you're just not following closely enough because in my experience of following Jesus, the cost associated with being a disciple of Jesus oftentimes is not a financial cost. It's actually what you have to say no to so that you can say yes to Jesus. But that's a cost worth paying. Here's what I think is radically different from what we're reading. And what Jesus proclaimed to be the cost of following him is that we have made being a disciple or a follower of Jesus or a Christian, whatever you wanna call it, we've made it all about what you intellectually believe instead of what you obediently practice. You see, we've made Christianity this thing that we mentally ascend to. It's like, well, I believe in the Bible, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, so I believe it. Therefore, I am a Christian and I believe that we're saved by grace. I'm not talking about us being saved by our works because it is solely by the grace of God. But here's what I know is that faith that is real faith, James chapter one, James chapter two and James chapter three kind of faith is so real to us that when we're saved by the grace of God, a transformation happens on the inside of us that then produces obedient actions in following after Jesus. In our American culture, we got a lot of people walking around going, I'm a Christian because I'll check the box and say I believe those things. But when you look at the way that they live their lives or the decisions that they make, you would have to go down the road and go that doesn't look like Jesus, that's not what Jesus said, that contradicts. This has more to do with their will than his. It shouldn't have had me come back, it's all right. The on ramp to following Jesus is obedience. It's radical obedience. Third thing is this, yet another said, I will follow you Lord, but let me first say farewell to those who are back at my home. And Jesus responded, no one puts their hand to the plow and looks back and is fit for the kingdom of God. Why did this guy wanna go home and say farewell to his family? Well, this is a direct quote out of Kings. I think it's chapter 18, where Elijah, remember the prophet Elijah, when he's handing off the mantle of ministry, the baton of ministry to his successor, Elisha. Remember the story that Elisha was plowing with the oxen out in the field when Elijah shows up and flings the mantle on him. And then Elisha's response was, before I go, let me go say goodbye to those who are at home. So it's a direct quote out of that. Elijah let Elisha do that, but Jesus said, if you set your hand to the plow and yet then you turn back, then you're not fit for the kingdom. What was Jesus saying? Jesus was saying, the call to follow me is even more radical than Elijah's call to Elisha to become a prophet. Here's why, it's because when you are plowing, by the way, I've never plowed, but when you are plowing and you've got animals that are yoke together, pulling, your plow is a wooden frame, it's pretty light, but on the end of it is an iron tool, a utensil, that turns over the soil. So as the oxen is pulling, you're the one who is controlling the line for the rows, for the soil to be separated so that the seed, you're carrying the seed in your hand and as the animals pulling and the plow is opening up the earth, you wanna keep your line straight so that you can drop your seed in and that it will hit the line. When you look back, what happens is you lose direction. And you're not able to direct the plow so the animals will get off course, but you keep dropping the seed and missing the ground. See this man, the reason why he wanted to go home and say goodbye, again, we have to realize all of these things that Jesus are talking about seem funny and seem odd to us because they are outside of our cultural customs but they made a lot of sense in Jesus's day and so when Jesus is talking to somebody here and they say, let me go home and say farewell to my family, why was that significant? Because his number one concern was he wanted to go home and make sure that those who were closest to him approved of his decision and that he wasn't going to reap consequences of leaving without saying goodbye. What is that? He cared more about the opinions of people back home than he did about Jesus who was standing right there. And you know what? This is one of the costs of following Jesus. There are gonna be people who do not like your decision. Hey, what happened to you? Well, one day you were partying with us, one day you were in the throng with us when we're out there and just, you know, we're out on the lake and I can't remember most of what happened and you used to be out there with us and then all of a sudden you just dropped off the radar, start showing up at that crazy church where everybody raised their hands. They got like drums up on the stage and some crazy pastor who calls people to obey. I mean, what in the world? Where you going therefore? You go to church on Saturday and Sunday, somebody. It's like, what happened to you? Where'd you go? How come you didn't come back and say to us? Because here's, if we did that, what we're doing is we're coming back and saying, hey, everybody, guess what? I really, I wanna become a follower of Jesus. Are you guys okay with that? Well, what's the world gonna say? Well, we're okay with it as long as you don't adapt an ideology in which you will look at us and tell us that we're wrong. If you wanna affirm us, if you wanna celebrate us, you still wanna hang out with us, hey, believe whatever you wanna believe. But as soon as your beliefs turn into convictions that radically alter your behavior, that challenge other people's behavior, all of a sudden you've become the problem instead of one of the bros. And that's what Jesus was saying. If you start by putting your hand to the plow and you begin to plow and you're making kingdom difference if you stop there because you wanna go back and get the approval of others because you're afraid of the consequences, then you're not fit for the kingdom of God. Paul says this to Timothy, he says, anyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Somebody said, well, I love the whole Jesus thing. I just don't like the pressure and the persecution that comes with it. One goes with the other because here's what we're saying. The third part of First John chapter two is this. Number one, desires of the flesh, that's our appetites, comfort. Number two, desires of the eyes. That's being willing to give up the things that we can see in this world for the things that we can't see in that world. And the third one is, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. What is that? It's our reputation. Can you die to your reputation? Can you die to what others think about you when it comes into conflict with who Jesus calls you to be? In all three of these stories, there were people that were unwilling to pay that price. They said, well, that's too much Jesus. That's too much Jesus. And that's why we don't hear from them. Jane and I on Fridays for the last 25 years have spent my day off. And we're not super sporty. Let's go mountain climbing and do those kinds of things. One of the things we like to do on our day off though is we like to go shop. So, and let me rephrase that. Jane likes to shop, I like to buy. You know the difference, right? I can do more damage in 30 seconds in a store than she will do in 30 days. Now, Amazon has changed the game. Can I just tell you that, that one click button is dangerous. It's like a nuclear detonator in our house. But what I have noticed for years is we will go shopping and back in the days when you would actually go to malls, we'd go into malls and we'll go into one of her stores and she'll go to the rack and she'll look at something. When I go into the store with her, I immediately like look around for things I think would look great on her. So I'm just like, hey, what about that? And I like to pull it off the rack and she's like, oh, let me look at that. I like it and then she looks at the price tag and goes, eh, hangs it back up. I'm like, you should get it, eh. I'm like, do you like it? And I really like this thing over here. So she'll go over and look at it and I'm like, oh, how much is that? And she'll go, I don't know, let me, eh. And I'm like, why don't you get that? She'll hang it back up and here's her. I'll keep my eye on it. I'll keep my eye on it. I'm just gonna keep my eye on it. That thing's on sale. I'll keep my eye on it. Does she have like some secret list? I don't know about all the things she's keeping her eye on because here's my reaction. It's not gonna be there. When you come looking for it next time, it's not gonna be there. And even if it was, how can you remember what it was you're supposed to keep your eye on it? If you like it, get it. Come on, somebody. But here's, she liked it until she saw the price. And can I tell you something? That's very important. You will never find discipleship on the sale rack. It never goes on sale. Radical obedience to Jesus will always cost you full price. A lot of people walk into the store of Christianity and they pull something off that they like about Jesus. But as soon as they see the price tag, they put it back on the rack and say, I'll keep my eye on it because I like what's waiting for me outside. Go over here and I, well, I definitely want to have a sense of purpose for my life. So they look at it and Jesus says, if anyone loses their life for my sake, they will gain it. I gotta lose my life. I'll keep my eye on it. Narrow is the way. If you are they who find it, turn the price tag over. I'll keep my eye on it. But to every single one of the heroes of faith, there's one common denominator among all of them. They were willing to sacrificially obey. When they came to an intersection where their will and their desires went that way and what Jesus was calling them to do went that way, they were willing to make the hard call. Here's what sacrifice is. Sacrifice is when you willingly give up what you want in order to give him what he wants. That's sacrifice and sacrifice is not something that can be taken. Sacrifice is something that is offered. It's radical obedience. So I wanna ask you this, and you guys go ahead and play. Would you rather be a pronoun that somebody reads about 100 years from now as somebody who looked at going all in on following Jesus? Or do you wanna be someone that they would write about and use your name? I think of men like Hudson Taylor, great apostle and missionary to inland China was told, it's impossible you can't do it, you shouldn't do it. But yet today, the gospel has penetrated every province of China because of one man's radical obedience. I think of John and Charles Wesley, who were told by the Anglican church, if you preach that radically, then you have no church buildings. We're gonna shut you down and shut you out. So they began to preach out in the farm pastures and 30,000 people would gather around to hear him. John Wesley's the one who said, if you wanna draw a crowd, let yourself on fire for Jesus and people will come watch you burn. I think of William Booth and Catherine Booth, the founders of the Salvation Army who saw needs in the streets of London and the established church was willing to overlook it because they were prospering and they didn't care about the needs in the streets but William and Catherine Booth began to give dignity and care to the poor without compromising the message of Jesus and they sparked a revolution and a move of God in the streets of London. The names could go on and on and on and on forever. Heaven knows them all. What's more important than the world knowing our name is him knowing our name and knowing that when he said, follow me, we said, yes with every fiber of my being with everything that it will potentially cost me my answer is radically yes to Jesus because in spite of the pursuit that we have in this world of wanting to be a hero the one who sacrificed and gave it all so that our lives could be changed so that we could receive eternal life he's the greatest hero of all. His name is Jesus and he's the one who went to the cross he was buried and three days later he rose again and because he humbled himself in the sight of God God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every other name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord he gave it all so that you and I could have life. And you know what? I can't think of anything greater or worth laying it all down for and saying yes to than that. Would you stand with me wherever you're at? I wanna lead us in prayer before we transition tonight. Heavenly Father, I pray this weekend that you would challenge each of us it doesn't matter where we are at some of us may be listening and we've never had a decisive moment where we've made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives I pray that today would be that day. Some of us are saying you know I've been shopping Jesus and I've seen the price but today I don't want the world's version of Jesus I want the real thing. And today I'm saying yes. I'm responding that today I'm offering my body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is my reasonable act of worship and many of us today are in a place where we're loved by God save but you're calling us even closer to live more radically obedient, to live more radically sacrificial. Just like you told the second person in the story that we would live our lives to proclaim the message of the kingdom. Lord, I pray that by your Holy Spirit you would speak to us, challenge us, call us to follow you like we've never followed you before. In Jesus' name, amen.