 We're going to continue our series in Matthew by looking at chapter 10 verses 34 through 42. I chose to entitle this installment of our verse by verse study of Matthew, loving God, and you're going to see what I mean by that in just a moment. But let's begin here in Matthew chapter 10 at verse 34. I'll read to verse 42. We'll get into our study. Jesus says, Matthew chapter 10, verse 34, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword, for I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. So see ladies, that's what happened. And a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me. He who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of water in the name of a disciple assuredly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Now as we've been going through chapter 10 here in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has been giving to us insight into what would be called the earmarks of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we've been going through chapter 10, we've seen that when Jesus is speaking concerning to his disciples, we've seen that a disciple is somebody who is teachable, a disciple is somebody who is sacrificial, a disciple is somebody who is committed to serving him. And every genuine follower of Christ will possess these identifiable qualities. When we looked at verses 32 and 33, those verses gave us another earmark and that would be our being open about our relationship to him. Jesus said, whoever confesses me before men. And as I was mentioning to you, the word confess there speaks of openly identifying with him. It speaks of affirming him. It speaks of agreeing with him. The Bible teaches us that Christians confess Christ. That means that we acknowledge him openly. We acknowledge that we have a relationship with him. We acknowledge that he is our Lord and that he is our Savior. We don't have this relationship in a closet. We're not hiding it from the world. We're open about it. We openly acknowledge that we have relationship with him. The way I can illustrate that about openness of relationship is just to cast my memory back several decades now to when a young lady by the name of Marie and I began to date. And I can still remember that I would go out with her and in the early days and I would walk with her and she would walk with me whether we're going to a restaurant or a movie or wherever she was willing to take me and pay for the date. When we would walk, I noticed something. I noticed it fairly early in our early dating life and that would be that when I would walk next to her, she would adjust her purse. So if I were walking on her right side, her purse I started noticing would be on her left side. And I began to wonder what that meant. And so I actually began to play games. I would walk with her. She'd have her purse on her left shoulder and I would slowly kind of just wait and then I'd get on her left shoulder. Then she would remove the purse and put it on her right shoulder and I would walk and her little hand would be doing this kind of thing like, oh, it's lost. It needs to be held, right? So I would look at that and then I wonder if she wants me to hold her hand. So I would slow down and then I'd get on the other side and then I'd see her moving the purse. And suddenly the right hand needed assistance and I saw that over several dates but I wouldn't hold her hand because I didn't want her to get the wrong idea. I didn't want her to think that I was openly identifying with her. It wasn't really her. It was, what if there's another girl around here that I'd like to rather be with? That's a fact. No, I hate me. But that's a fact. And I did that for some time. I never held her hand. Maria and I did not hold her. I did not hold her hand and I'm still to this day, I wasn't really openly affectionate. That's just a fact. But I began to think she wants me to hold her hand and yet at the same time I'd say, but if I hold her hand, especially at church, then any girls that might be available, seeing me holding hands with her, they may think that we got something going here and we really don't not yet. So I didn't hold her hand. For months it went on like that. One day we were in Fullerton. At Fullerton, J.C., I believe it was, there was a beauty contest that my cousin was in for Miss Fullerton. And so I invited Maria to go with me. And while we were there, my family was there. My cousin was there in performing in this and that, trying to win that particular incredible title. And Marie, I still remember, was wearing a red pantsuit. And Marie had long, her hair is actually naturally curly. And so her hair was just all curly and everything. And I was standing in the foyer waiting for her to come and there was this big old guy off to my left. I mean, he was a big boy. And when Marie came walking towards me, I still remember this guy looking at her with hungry eyes. And I'm thinking, do I want to die today? As I was looking, and then I looked at her. And then I looked back at him and he was following her as she was walking towards me and it hit me. He thinks she's good looking. I hadn't really thought about that. I'll be honest with you, I hadn't really thought about that. But I saw her through his eyes. So when she came walking up to me, I did something I didn't do. I walked up to her, she walked up to me. I took her by the hands. I pulled her close to me, put my arm around her waist. Bam! And I gave her a kiss. She has these big old eyes. She's looking at me like, what's that all about? And then I looked at Mr. Suave over there. What was I doing? I was marking my territory. Every man, you know what I mean. I was marking my territory. I was saying, she's mine, right? She's mine. I identified with her openly, committed myself openly. This is mine. And you know what? I learned a long time ago, that's what I have done with Jesus Christ. So I don't have a closet relationship with Jesus Christ. It's in the open. And that's what he says. You acknowledge me before men. You identify openly. You don't hide the fact. You don't become a chameleon. Oh, when you're with other Christians, oh, yeah, praise the Lord, God is good. But when you're in your college class, high school class, or with your family or friends who deny him, you don't say anything. You don't want to offend them, of course, and this and that. And what happens is, you get into the habit of denying him. But if you've got a relationship with Jesus Christ, it's to be open. It's to be known. And that's what he said. If you confess me before men, I will confess you also before my Father who's in heaven. But if you deny me before men, I also will deny you before my Father who's in heaven. There's a cost in denial. So a long time ago, as many of you came to realize that the Lord would have me to be open. And I'm open about my walk with God verbally. I speak about him. I openly will discuss him. I will share about him. I will witness like you do. I will talk about the Lord. That's what you do. You speak openly about him. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4, 15, if anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in him and he and God, I am open to acknowledge that. And I do so when I share with other people the faith that I have in Christ. And also when I'm born again, my life is gonna demonstrate that I have a relationship with him. So it's not only my words, it is also my works. It's the way that I live. It's my lifestyle. So I actually have a living testimony of a relationship with God. A transformation for the Bible has said to us, if any man be in Christ is a new creation. Old things are passing away. Behold, all things are becoming new. And so you have your words that you speak concerning him when you share. You have your works that you perform, the lifestyle that you have that demonstrates that you have relationship with him. In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse one, Paul said it like this. Paul said, finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God as we have taught you. You are doing this already and we encourage you to do so more and more. So not only do I talk, but I also walk. You talk the talk and you walk the walk. And that's what he's speaking about if you're gonna affirm that you know him. And when you're open in this way, you're not ashamed of him. You're not hiding him under a basket, if you will. You're not ashamed to identify with him. You're not embarrassed about being a Christian. And I realize, of course, that it's getting worse and worse in the society that we live in that openly identifying with Jesus for some people is an embarrassment. You're in your college class, your professor makes fun of, sometimes will mock your faith. I know that as long as when I was in my mid-20s and I was going to secular college I still remember one of my professors in one of my sociology classes who introduced the class by asking the question, the first day of class, asking the question, how many of you are born again Christians? And out of the 25, 30 students, there were three or four of us who raised our hands. And we said, we're born again. Three or four of us out of the 25, 30. The first thing the professor said to us is I feel sorry for you. I pity you. And that's how he began our session and our season with him as a professor teaching us principles of sociology. There's that attempt to make you feel ridiculous, stupid, embarrassed, to make you feel intellectually inferior or whatever it may be. And yet you don't back down because it's true and you're not embarrassed of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter two, verse 11, the writer of Hebrews said it like this. He said, both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He's not ashamed of you. We shouldn't be ashamed of him. You see, as mentioned a moment ago, the result of denying Jesus is that he denies that person before his father who's in heaven. He had said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven, verse 23, he said, then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. When Paul was writing to Timothy in second Timothy chapter two, verse 12, he said, if we deny him, he also will deny us. And so Jesus is speaking concerning the cost of discipleship. And he's been sharing some of the things that are related to that and has now come to what we call verse 34. And continuing has said, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. When Jesus was born, it's interesting to note, and we just went through the Christmas holiday. Remember, when Jesus was born, the angels announcing to the shepherds said on earth peace, good will toward men. And yet we have Jesus here in verse 34 saying, do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. So somebody says, is that a contradiction? Is the Bible contradicting itself? What we need to know is that when the angels said on earth peace, good will toward men, they were not promising instant peace to everyone. What they were doing was announcing the incarnation of Christ. Luke was saying that the one who is peace has been born on earth. When you read the Bible and you look at the book of Ephesians, New Testament book written by the apostle Paul, and you look at chapter two verse 14, Ephesians two 14 makes it clear that Jesus himself is our peace. So peace was incarnated is what the angels are saying. Peace on earth is Jesus's incarnation. In order to have peace of any sort, then we receive the one who is peace incarnated. But here Jesus is making it clear that devotion to him often divides instead of uniting. And that's clearly evident in the world we live in today. We know this, many people don't have a problem celebrating holidays. They don't have a problem celebrating Christmas. What they have the problem with isn't the holiday. The problem is the message that's in that holiday. They want to believe, and I understand why they would, they want to believe that this is a season of good cheer and joy and rejoicing. This is a season where we give gifts to one another and celebrate with family gatherings. I understand all of that. But when you take the message seriously, that's when it causes problems because you can go to your Christmas party with your coworkers or you can go to your Christmas dinner at your family. And as long as, in some cases, as long as you don't make too much of an issue over the reason that you're gathering, as long as you don't start saying things like, you know what a great time it is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. As long as it's just surrounding some meal and some fellowship around a table and teasing one another about family, things and all, everything's fine. But if you come on and you say, but I believe that Jesus Christ is the savior. I believe that he died on a cross. I believe he was buried. I believe he was resurrected from the dead. I believe he's coming again. Now you do that. You can create division there at that table. Grandma can get really upset at you and throw her false teeth at you. I can become a real bad thing. But the Bible says that the birth of Christ was with a purpose. Remember what the angel said to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem in Luke 2, verse 11, there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. When Gabriel, the angel, appeared to Joseph in a dream, he told Joseph something about the birth of Jesus. In Matthew 1, 21, speaking of Mary, he said, she will bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That's Christmas. You will call him Jesus, Jehovah is salvation. He will save his people from their sins. You see, only sinners need saviors. And that's not a message that is very popular for some. Jesus is saying when you actually believe that message and you proclaim that, then persecution and rejection will be part of the cost of following after him. He's made it clear that religious leaders and government, that society itself would be strongly in opposition to him, to his message, and to those who are proclaiming it. You see, when all of this is happening, when the government society and all religious leaders are turning against you, well, for some they'll say, well, at least I still have my family. But Jesus is making it clear that even our own families can and will reject us. Remember in verse 21 of chapter 10 here, how he had said, brother will deliver up brother to death, a father his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. He had already made it clear that coming to faith in Christ could divide families and not unite them. He says that in verse 35 here, I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's foes will be those of his own household. So they don't necessarily slaughter the fatted calf when you come and say, oh, to Christ, oh, the prodigal has returned. There are families that are Christian and you've been not following God and then you come to faith in Christ and they basically give a great celebration to you. But not all people do that. There are some who will say, I like you better the other way. Like I've shared with you recently, a woman whose son came to faith in Christ here at this church called the office and said, my son has come to faith in Jesus Christ and I'm having problems with that. I could handle him as a druggy but I can't handle him as a Jesus freak. And that's how some people are. They don't know how to handle that kind of thing. They get upset over it. This person is changing. My cousin Ray says to me, I liked you the way you used to be. How come you had to change the way that you have? And your family can turn against you. They can be divided. When he says, I've come to set a man against his father, that word against means to cut in two, to divide. It refers to complete and often permanent separation. Devotion for Jesus Christ can actually divide homes instead of uniting them. And so to be a disciple, you have to be willing to follow Christ even if your family not only refuses to but even begins to reject you. When Jesus was calling his men to be apostles, remember how it says it in Matthew chapter four verses 21 and 22, how that Matthew said, going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. He called them and immediately they left the boat with their father and followed him. Jesus is worth following whatever the cost may be. There are those who resist faith in Christ because they know it's gonna cost them. When I was in the army, I had a friend named Rich. We called him Big Rich because he was big and he told me to. And I would share with him, he was my closest friend in the army and I would share with Rich about the word of God. I still remember, I was memorizing scripture and I would have him there in the room and I'd say, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And I would share with him the gospel. There's none righteous, Rich, no, not one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. It's appointed unto men to die once and after this the judgment. And I would share with him. And I still remember and I'd say, Hebrews 927, John 316. And one day he turned to me and he said, shut up thy moutheth. Book of Big Rich, chapter five, verse one. And I remember I was talking to my friend Rich and I would share with him quite often about what God could do in somebody's life and one day he finally said to me something that was very eye opening. He said, listen, David, he says, it's not that I disrespect your faith in Jesus Christ. I think it's a good thing that you have it. He says, I was raised by a mother who has a devotion to God. And he says, if I were to embrace the message as you proclaim it about being born again and all, he said, I'd be turning my back on my mom. And he said, I have to tell you something. My mom's a good woman and she has never lied to me. And if I come to faith in the Christ the way you are saying, I would be in essence saying, my mother is not a good woman. My mother lied to me. I cannot do that. I'll never forget that conversation. On another occasion I was speaking to somebody and I said to them, you need to get right with the Lord. And they said, I know. And I said, why haven't you? And he said to me, because my mom has raised me to believe certain things. And I said, but your mom's wrong about those things. I said to him this, are you willing to go to hell for your mother? And he responded by saying, yes, I am. And I said, you know, that's the difference between you and me. I wasn't willing to go to hell for my mother. I wanted to bring my mother to heaven. And if you get right with God, you'll have a great opportunity and potential to bring her to faith to Jesus Christ that she might go to heaven. But there are people, guys, and some of you understand exactly what I'm saying. There are people who say, I cannot and I will not lose the love of my family. And Jesus made it very clear. He said, there will be division when you come to faith in him. You need to be willing to follow Christ even if your father or your mother does not. It's not uncommon to lose your family, by the way. Many lose their families when they follow the Lord. The Psalmists in Psalm 69, verse eight, said it like this, even my own brothers pretend they don't know me. They treat me like a stranger. So some are going to completely and finally reject you when you follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But that's what he's calling us to. He's saying, even in your own home, there can be division. Entire family separated because of this one thing. You are following me. You see, he made it very clear as we read this that his followers will have hard times, but they are never left as orphans. Jesus in John 16, verse 33 said this. He said, I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Now, some families will divide, but some families can actually unite. As you already know, I got saved. I shared with my sisters, shared with my mom, shared with my dad, shared with my brother. The family came to faith in Jesus Christ. You can win them to the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on and he says to us in verse 38, he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Now for us, we look at the cross now as a symbol of our faith. We need to put this comment in its context. When Jesus was speaking concerning bearing a cross, he was speaking to a group of people who knew that the cross was the implement of pain, torture, and death. They knew that because the Romans would use the cross to crucify and kill criminals. And so when you spoke about a cross to a Jew during the time of Christ, you were speaking about an implement of destruction and shame. It was something not to be identified with because it was a shameful thing to be crucified. And the thought of those who would die in the cross because when they died on crosses very often, if they were strong, they would not only die, but it would take two, sometimes three days. And they would be in such intense agony and pain over those days, they would be just up there on that cross naked before the world and they would put it in strategic places so that when people were passing by on the highway, they would see this man up there on a cross screaming insanely dying slowly. And so when Jesus said, pick up your cross and follow me, he was saying, this is an implement of self-destruction, be willing to identify with me even in the pain and humiliation of such a thing. That's the heart of following Christ, by the way. The cross represents absolute denial. It represents a full commitment to following Christ, no matter what the cost. To be a Christian isn't a Sunday morning thing alone. It's not a Wednesday night thing alone. It's a seven day, 24 hour day commitment to Christ. It's a forever relationship. It's not a part time, it's a full time. And Jesus said, pick up that cross and follow me. The cross speaks of being willing to endure shame. It speaks of being willing to endure pain to be his follower. And in the taken up of a cross, we're saying yes to the Lord, I will follow you. No matter what. Paul, when he was writing in Philippians chapter three, verse eight said this. He said, yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage so that I may have Christ. He says in verse 39, he who finds his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake will find it. Pursuing what we think produces life only ends up empty and devoid of satisfaction. The question is asked in the Old Testament book of Isaiah chapter 55, verse two, why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. Let your soul delight itself in abundance. We've all heard of King Solomon, the wisest man of his day. King Solomon wrote many verses in scripture, books in scripture. One of the books that Solomon wrote was Ecclesiastes. And in the book of Ecclesiastes, he began to outline what his life was like. He began to share with us what he had attained. And he says in Ecclesiastes he had attained wisdom. He had the latest inventions. He had material wealth. He had sexual relationships. He had the pursuit of pleasure, great accomplishments. He had outward religious practices and absolute power. These are the things he had. These are the things that many people would like to have now, the latest gadget, a lot of money, a lot of sexual relationships. These are the things that people want today. And yet when he concluded the book of Ecclesiastes, he summed it up like this in chapter 12 verses 13 and 14. He said, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is man's all, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil, everything. When I was a young boy growing up, I felt that what I really needed to make me completely whole would be a relationship with a young girl or a young woman as I was growing older, a girl or a young woman, that's what I thought. I thought that if I had somebody who would love me, somebody who I could have a relationship with, who could love me, that my life would be complete. And I was a romantic, I was a romantic kid, man. I mean, I think when I was born that I proposed to the nurse who attended my birth and it got worse from there. The first girl I ever asked to marry me was Bernadette. Bernadette Archuleta, I was four years old. I was in love with Sandy Martinez when I was six. I mean, there were girl after girl after girl in my life. Oh, you know, ooh. And I wanted a relationship, you know, Linda Lane, and I can name these crushes I had as a young boy into young adulthood. I mean, by the time I was in my teens, you know, any girl that would talk to me on the phone was a candidate to be my wife, 14, 15, 16. And I began to realize that I had this hunger for relationship and all. And there was just nobody who would put up with me very long. They just didn't want to be mine forever. And so what happened is I started thinking that that I just, I needed this so badly that it became the only thing in my mind for the longest time and eventually I came to realize that that wasn't going to be the answer. And so when I turned in my early twenties, I, it's about 23 or 24, somewhere in there, I began to realize that there's something wrong with me. I had gotten saved and I'd go to the Bible studies and the young girl would walk in, that little hippie girl with the long hair and I'd read the Bible. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. And I heard something about claiming, claiming that promise and say, here she comes. Here Jesus, there she is. I claim her in your mighty name. And then she'd buzz on by me and wouldn't even look at me. I'd say, well, you know, what am I gonna do? And I would, I really had this longing. I could go into it, you're not that interested but I will share a little bit. And finally one day I prayed and said, Lord, put me to sleep to my desires. Lord, I am pursuing relationships with people and I'm not pursuing my relationship to you. You put Adam to sleep to his obvious needs. You knew what he needed before he did. But your word tells me that you put him to sleep. And then you brought Eve to him. Lord, I'm asking in Jesus' name that you would do the same for me because I am so busy thinking that a woman is gonna fulfill those deepest recesses of my heart that I'm missing out on you. You can think that a relationship with somebody special will make you the complete person you want to be. I'm here to tell you that that's not true. Some of you dated and some of you married and some of you had such struggles because you thought that person was gonna complete and fulfill you but you didn't realize that no human being can fill the recesses of that dark and empty soul only Jesus himself can. And that's what I discovered because I said, Lord, may I be asleep to my desires and let me just serve you. May I seek ye first in your kingdom and your righteousness. And all of these things shall be added unto me. If I delight myself in you, you will give me the desire of my heart. So I wanna delight myself in you. And that's how it came about that one day, a young woman came to a Bible study that I was teaching in the city of Ontario. And that's how it came about that I met this girl at a Bible study. She didn't come the next week. She came the following week, my sister Madeleine led her to Christ. And then a couple months later, we went out on a date and we haven't been apart since because I was dead to my desires and God said, now you're ready. You're now responsible enough. It took years for him, by the way, I should go a little further and say this. It took years for me to realize how important that woman's love is because I needed to learn balance in relationship. I didn't tell my girlfriend who became my wife, Marie. I did not tell her that I loved her. I never used those words. You see, because when I was with other girls, that was the first thing that would come out of my mouth. Well, I love you. So I wasn't that way. I wouldn't, she would call me at work and she'd say blah, blah, and I'd say blah, blah, and then she'd say, I'll hang up now and I'd say, cool, and she'd say, I love you. And I'd say, yeah. And she'd say, say it back. And I'd say, you know. And she'd say, say it or I won't hang up. And my boss who had been married 25 years would turn to me and he'd say, just say you love her. She'll never hang up. But I didn't do that. I didn't use those words. I, you know, this may or may not be something that I should even share with you, but I just, those were not, that was not me. That's not how I am. I am not open with my emotions. You guys don't know me that way, do you? I'm not open with my emotions. They're very closed. There are only certain people can know them and God can only know everything. So I would not tell my girlfriend who became my wife. I didn't kiss Marie for five months. I didn't hold her hand for three. We are not that romantic couple. You know, we walk on the beach in slow motion with birds over us and waves. We're not those people. We just aren't. That's not me. You know, I love her. I tell her, she knows that, but I had to learn to do that. And let me give you one more thing about how the Lord does complete you and how he shows you how he uses people to, but they are not the ones that complete you. He is the one, but he brings somebody into your life to help you understand that that's what a helper is who is suitable for all your needs. And that is this. We were married. Marie is about to give birth to our firstborn child. I'm making minimum wage. I'm unable to provide for my family. I had to quit school because I couldn't afford to go to college anymore. And I was not the man who could show emotion. Believe it or not, I mean, I'm very emotional now. You guys think that, but that's not me. I couldn't show emotion. I kept it to myself. It was always within me. I would not share what I felt unless I drank. When I drank, you'd know my anger that I could be angry, or I might think I'm in love because I'm drunk. Baby, I love you. You're everything to me. But you ever go out? Somebody else, I'll kill you. I mean, it could be like that. I'm unable to pay my bills for school. I quit school. And there I am at home thinking my little apartment in Roland Heights. And I'm thinking, what a failure you are. What a failure. Can't even provide for a family. A family that's growing. You live in an apartment in Roland Heights. $175 a month of rent and you're barely making it. Making minimum wage. I didn't know how to show emotion so I went to the store and I went and bought some beer. I brought it back. Marie was making dinner and I started drinking. I went and bought some more. Started drinking some more. Before you know it, I'm getting a little bit high from the alcohol. She's never seen me that way. This is a woman who came to faith in Christ through my ministry. She only knew me as a Bible teacher really. She didn't know me, the old David, the way David was, the way David would be when he drank, the way David was when alcohol was consuming his life. I was an alcoholic. She didn't know me that way. She only knew the Christian David. And I wasn't a perfect kid. I was a young kid when we met. I wasn't a good man. Like I said, I was a real affectionate. I wasn't what God can make you into later. I was that at that point. And I've got all these tears in my heart and I don't know how to deal with it and I don't want to tell her. There she is making dinner in this little kitchen there in this little apartment that we had and there I am drinking and without telling her, I get up and I walk up the stairs and I go up to our little room upstairs and I close the door. We didn't even have money to buy a bed. We had a fold out bed of one of those couches that turned into a bed and I'm laying down on this bed and I finally just release and I start to cry and I'm crying so hard that I take the pillow and I put it over my face and I'm crying into the pillow with a broken heart. And I hear the sounds of her footsteps as they're stepping up the stairs until the door opens up and the light shines in and she's standing at the door looking down at me and she says, what's wrong? And I wouldn't speak to her so she comes walking and sits next to me on my left side. I still remember that and she sits next to me and she says to me, David, what's wrong? I compose myself and I, in between sobs, say to her, you made a mistake. You made a mistake. You married the wrong man. You deserve better than you got. I can't even make more than $3 an hour. I can barely pay for this apartment. I had to quit school because I can't afford the tuition. You're gonna give birth to our baby and I have nothing for you. You deserved more than what you got. And I wept and I wept. Some of you men know what I'm saying. I wept and I said, I'm a failure. I am a failure. You made a mistake. I am so sorry for you. This is a little girl in her early 20s. She's sitting next to this blubbering idiot. She puts her arm behind my back and folds me up to her and places my face next to her neck on her shoulder and rocks me like a child. I still remember her rocking me, holding me and saying to me as I'm weeping and sobbing. And I'm saying, I wanna be a pastor, but I can't show my emotions. I wanna be a pastor. I go to Bible college, teach Bible studies, look at me, look at me. I can't even share what's on my heart. Look at me. She rocks me in her arms. She says, you're not a failure. I believe in you. God is gonna use you, David. God is gonna use you. And from there, so yes, my completeness is Christ. Yes, he brings somebody who's just right for you. He brought this woman into my life because she spoke into my heart the things that he would have had me to know. And she was the voice he used. God can work in you too. You see, relationships are not going to fulfill you outside of the first relationship and that's Christ. Your family may say, I want nothing to do with you and sometimes that happens. Not all people will do that in your family. Some will embrace Christ by faith. But the bottom line is, is that there is a cost involved when you make that decision and you begin to say, I'm gonna lose my life. The things that I think are most important, I'm gonna leave those things behind so that the things that matter can take the forefront. He who finds his life, verse 39, will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives, you receives me. He who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of water in the name of a disciple, assuredly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. And so as you go out and you take the message, the people who are receiving the message in effect are actually receiving Christ. And when you receive Christ, you're actually receiving the one who sent Christ and that's how you connect with God. You have relationship with God through Jesus Christ who's the way, the truth and the life. In Luke 9.48, he said to them, whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. Whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. And then finally in verses 41 and 42, speaking about receiving a prophet in the name of a prophet, receiving a prophet's reward, God will reward those who receive his people from prophet to what he refers to as a righteous man. And any service done to any of his people results in a shared reward. I have a friend, his name is George Adams. George writes me every year. George is the one who when Arthur Blessed said, if you're afraid to stand by yourself, perhaps a friend will stand with you. It was George who reached over and touched my shoulder and said to me, if you want to stand, I will stand with you. And it was through the encouragement of my friend George that I actually stood and gave my heart to Christ that day, December 27th, 1970. And so George every year will write me. Every year he wrote me just last week and he said, Dave, I want you to know that I remember it's your spiritual birthday and I just want you to know I love you, my brother. And I write him and I tell him, George, whatever God has done in my life, you receive a share of that reward. You receive a share. You tapped me on the shoulder and said you would stand with me. But any accomplishments in the kingdom of God that I have, a portion goes to you. That's a fact. That's what the Lord is teaching here. He who receives a profit in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. You have a share of whatever reward the Lord may give to me. That is being given to you also. And finally, he speaks in this way, verse 42, whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of water in the name of a disciple assuredly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Little ones, there are no insignificant or unimportant disciples. You may not have a home Bible study. You may not be leading in any church functions. You may not have the kinds of things that other people would notice. But you are not insignificant. You are not insignificant. The enemy would whisper in your ear that you don't matter. The enemy would say to you, and some of you know exactly what I'm saying, they will say to you, he would say to you, if you're not there, they won't even notice you're not there. That's not true. There is no insignificant person in the body of Christ, every one of you matter to Jesus Christ. Every one of you do. If I were to ask you, lift up your hand and you would lift up your hand and I would say to you, which one of those fingers do you want to sacrifice? You would probably say, none. I would like to keep them all. Oh, but that little one, I mean what good is that little one? I mean you still got three others and a thumb, I mean you can do all kinds of things. No, I'd like to keep them all, thank you very much. So what portion of your body do you want to give up? What portion of your body, outside of the fat? What portion of the body do you want to give up? Nothing, I'll keep it all. Why? Because it matters. In the body of Christ, you matter. Never forget that. Because the enemy beat me down with that one. You're nothing, you mean nothing. Nobody notices when you're not there. Nobody cares about you, nobody listens to you, nobody likes you, you are nothing. I have heard that all of my life. And the enemy has whispered that into my heart, all of my life. That's one of the reasons I wanted a woman to love me, at least one person would. And then God said, no, I love you. And that's all that matters. If it's you and me, that's all that matters. This may not make sense to you, to some it doesn't, I understand. But if you can grab hold of that today, your life will change. Your life will change. You, and I'm not preaching some self-help garbage, I'm just giving you a fact. You matter. You matter so much that Jesus died on a cross to save you. You matter so much that he gave up the splendors of heaven knowing that his destiny was a lonely hill called Golgotha, where he laid down his life. For me, you matter. Don't forget it. And don't let the enemy lie and rip you off. You are useful in the hand of God. You are a mighty weapon in his hand. Open your mouth and watch what God will do through you when you're sold out to Jesus Christ. And don't be surprised when the enemy begins to mount an attack against you, when people don't like you, when they cast out your name as being evil, when your family says, what happened to you? Don't be surprised, but just look up because your redemption draws nigh. Jesus Christ is coming for you and be ready and be used by God. There's not enough time. We've got to go out and do what we can do. You are not insignificant. And I, again, I'm not Mr. Positive. Fact of the matter is, I think that God wants to do an awful lot more than what he's able to do with us sometimes. I know he does. But can you imagine as the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth just so that you can find one man who's completely his so that he might show himself strong on his behalf? How about you becoming that person today? How about you saying, God, here am I, send me. Here am I, use me. Here am I, I'm available. I want to be used by you. Why not you? Listen, one last thing. I'm 20 years old. I'm a drunk. I'm a doper. I'm a hippie. I didn't like to read anymore. I only liked to drink. And I liked to smoke pot. 45 years ago, God stepped in and said, I got plans for you, son. I'm going to use you for my glory. And yes, we've had some down times. Yeah, I've had some rough times. Yes, there were sins that God had to work and clean in my life. But every day with Jesus has been worth it. Every moment with Jesus Christ has been worth it. And God can take the trash and make it into a treasure. He can use you. Don't forget that. Please, God can use you.