 For God so loved the world that he gave his own son. That whoever believes in him should not pay much but have eternal life. All right, good morning, Radiant Church. Good to see you guys awake, you're live, caffeinated. We're good. Portage, good to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning. My name's John. I'm the campus and teaching pastor here, or one of them at the Richland campus. And Pastor Lee is actually ministering this morning at a church in Indiana, one of our network churches. So it's a privilege really for us even to sow Pastor Lee into those environments and he helps develop the leaders and help the church overall. So I'm super honored to be here. I do wanna just reiterate what Pastor Zach said about the Big Give offering. It is such a, it's a miraculous thing honestly. And so I feel like you guys should know this, that this was not the result of hey, one person, we didn't email Bill Gates and he wrote a check for 180,000 of that. We had very few even larger donations at all but everyone almost gave. I mean the amount of people who invested something was supernatural and absolutely incredible. And so we just wanna thank you. That has been always the mantra of this church is just abundant generosity. And because of what you're doing, as we said, 654 students on Friday are going to experience the love of Christ in a tangible way. So thank you so much for that. Obviously we're not quite to our goal so please if you didn't have an opportunity and you still wanna give or be on board, you can do that online. You can write an envelope. The Big Give offering will be available for actually the whole month. So please do that if you'd like to. Turn in your Bibles. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna tell you to turn in the Bibles to Luke chapter two because I'm gonna go out on a limb and believe that we all have John 3.16 memorized by now. So if you don't, it's okay, we'll just play along. But turn to Luke chapter two. We're in a series called 3.16 and we're taking that obviously one of the most, probably the most famous scripture in the Bible and we're kind of breaking it down into these different sections and talking about it. So Pastor Lee started with for God. So loved the world that he gave and this week is his only son. Who's that? Nice job class, you're all getting an A so far. Okay, so let's say John 3.16 together and then we'll look in Luke. It's gonna come up on the screen. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Raise your hand if you grew up with me saying begotten and you wanna throw that in there. Okay, yes. It's the right way to say it. It's the Christian way, let's be honest. I'm just kidding. John 3.16 is again this powerful verse that encapsulates the heart of God. He's so loved that he gave and his only son. And so today we're gonna talk about Jesus and we're gonna look at his life and what that means for us today in 2018. I wanna read a little section of the Christmas story. So if you're in Luke chapter two, I'm gonna read verses eight through 11 and just sort of give you a glimpse into 2000 years ago. It says in that same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. Christmas is coming, it's December, it's officially Christmas season, right? I'm sorry if you celebrate it in like August, that's your problem, this is Christmas season. So as Christians, it's really almost a challenge for us sometimes to sort of navigate through a lot of the hustle and bustle and marketing of Christmas to remember, to be intentional about remembering that this is the season where we remember that Jesus was born. The theological word is the incarnation where God became human, he became a man. And it's a mind-boggling truth and fact that has impacted the rest of the world for 2,000 years and billions of people are still impacted by that one day and that one baby. And it's really a, it's crazy to think that, here's what I wanna say, if I was going to send God right into the world it would look a lot more like coming to America with King Joffrey, Geoffrey, you know? There's a fleet of Mercedes-Benz and then someone opens the door and he gets out and he's got these $8 million leather shoes and there's rose petals and he steps out and he's got that huge lion thing right there, I want one of those for Christmas. And he's like, no, and he's got the King Joffrey voice and that's how you would think, hey, if you're God, if you're that important, that's what it should look like, but he came as a baby. How many, how many of you know what a baby is? Okay, good. I didn't know what I was gonna say there and I panicked. If you didn't, I had three children and you see a baby and there's this miraculous obviously thing that happens when a baby's born, but then you look and you go, they're completely helpless, they're completely dependent on their parents. There's this vulnerability that's almost impossible to comprehend as a human, but then you have to think that was God. That's how God came to this earth. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and now we have Christmas music. Again, I love Christmas music in December. And I will say this, there's something great about living in Michigan when it comes to Christmas music because Kendra and I were in California once at this time of the year and we were listening, it was like, oh, the weather outside is frightful. I'm like, it's like 82 and sunny. This means nothing. So it is good to be in Michigan this time of year and then we have the beautiful Christmas songs that encompass what we're talking about. Josh Groban, Oh Holy Night, Anyone, right? I sound just like that in the shower, ask Kendra. True story. Silent night and here's what I bring it up. I think sometimes these songs almost do a disservice to what might have actually happened 2000 years ago. You know, you sing Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, All Is Calm, All Is, I'm not sure that all was calm on that night. I mean, you have a teenage girl who is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. That's different, right? And then the Bible says they have to travel to Bethlehem because there's a census and scholars believe that that was at least 80 miles away. So you have a nine month pregnant woman riding on a donkey, 80 miles. Shout out to Mary. You know, we drove eight miles in a minivan and that was hard enough when we had a baby. And so you know the story, there's no room, it's chaos because there's a census happening and they can't even get a hotel and they literally have to go into a carved out rock area, a cave that would have been placed where like animals gather to get away from the elements and stuff. So it's dirty, it's unsterile, it's scary. They don't know really what's going on and they're young and it's just this girl and there's no hospital, there's no, you know, bed. There's no medicine, there's no epidurals. Kenner was like, I'm not sure if I want to epidural. He's like, well, I want one, doctor. No. And she has this baby and it's God. And here's what, again, I just want us to remember that Jesus had to grow into the reality or the understanding of who he was. Just like we do as Christians, we grow into our identity in Christ. Jesus had to grow into his identity as the Son of God. Like that didn't happen right away. He wasn't like this, you know, man trapped in this baby's body, you know, like, this is so embarrassing, you know, I'm God and I'm wrapped in swaddling claws. No, he was, he was a real baby and the Bible says in Luke 2.52, he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with man. And then he lived his life and we know he had disciples and he walked and did miracles and he claimed to be God. And ultimately he was crucified and God raised him from the dead. And so as we remember Jesus, I think it's important that we don't only remember Jesus as a baby born in Bethlehem, as powerful as that was. If that's our only sort of knowledge or the only way we recognize Jesus, well, then we're doing a disservice too because as humble as his beginnings were when he was born, the Bible is clear that Jesus is coming back and he's not coming as a baby in Bethlehem, he's coming, Revelation 19 says, as a conquering king. That he's going to, the sky's going to split, there's going to be a white horse and the Bible says in him who sits on it is called faithful and true and he makes war with his righteousness and his eyes are like flames of fire and on his head are many crowns and written on his thigh and on his chest as a name no one knows and it says king of kings and Lord of lords and out of his mouth comes a sword with which he will judge the nations and on that day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's who Jesus is. And so I love that we celebrate his birth but let's not forget that Jesus is Lord of our lives. And so I wanna talk today, what does that look like? Who is Jesus? How are we supposed to respond to that miracle that happened 2000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem? And I wanna just give you a couple titles that Jesus was called in your Bible and scripture. Jesus was referred to as the son of God, son of man, word of God and lamb of God. Those are all titles that were used to describe Jesus. All of them used less than 10 times in your Bible that Jesus was referred to as savior in your Bible 20 times. Jesus was referred to as teacher in your Bible 60 times and Jesus was referred to as Lord in your Bible 740 times. So Jesus is more than a baby. Jesus is more than a savior. Jesus is more than your homeboy or your friend or your bro. Jesus is Lord of our lives. And I wanna talk today about what does that mean? What does that look like? How does that affect me as I follow Jesus? I wanna give you the definition of Lord. It's the Greek word for it, which is how your New Testament is written is the word Curios. And it means this, master, possessor, owner, controller. How many of you kind of bristled when I said that? You hear that and there's like this. Take it easy, Jesus, you know. Owner, controller, master, what does that mean? And that's exactly how Jesus reveals himself in scripture. As he says, I want to be Lord of your life. And Lord of your life doesn't just mean Lord on Sundays. Doesn't mean Lord when it's convenient. Doesn't mean Lord until the lions are on. So let's hurry up. Jesus wants to be Lord of every arena of your life. So as we talk today, I want you to think about if Jesus is Lord, owner, master, controller of my life, what does that look like for my marriage? What does that look like if I'm in a dating relationship? What does that look like when I'm at my job? What does that look like with my friends, with my future, with my finances? What does it mean to have Jesus be Lord over those things? Because if Jesus is in control, guess who that means isn't in control? Us. And let's be honest, we don't like not being in control. I personally don't have a problem with that. As long as everyone does what I say, the way I want it done, I don't have control issues, no, but we do. And it manifests itself. The car, how many of you agree, is a very place where you want to have control, right? How many of you don't even like to be passengers in a car, is there anyone like me? Not that Kendra's not a good driver, she is. But I got cut off the other day so bad and I was shocked at how quickly you can become un-Christian in your car, right? Cause I was like, how could you do that? What kind of a person are you, you know? And I'm like, because I'm in control. That was my space, that was my area. Like, don't come to my house and touch the remote control, right? That's mine. I control these things. And if Jesus is Lord, then we're not Lord. And here's what I want to say is I feel like we have in the church a misunderstanding of what Jesus as Lord of our lives means. And I feel like in the church, and not this church, but in the church, and we're not a perfect church, but we have watered down the message of Jesus. We have dumbed down what it means to be a Christian to the lowest common denominator, really so that we can make it more palatable, we can make it easier to swallow, easier to follow, and that people will be much more attracted to it that way. I fear that about this generation and about the trajectory of the church today as we want so badly for people to be here and to see us and we need our markets here and we're the best show that there is and we do this and do that and come and see and we don't communicate what it really means to follow Jesus. And we've kind of taken it to this place that looks like this and this is just my concern, my fear, honestly, is that we've said here's all you need to do is just pray this prayer. Pray this prayer, you're gonna kind of get out of jail free, you won't go to hell that way and then you just basically live your life and not much changes and it doesn't really cost you anything, there's no expectation. And I feel like there's much of that happening in the Christian circles of especially America today where we've said, look, we want you, come on, let's go, it's easy, it won't cost you. And I wanna tell you, there is a big difference between making Jesus Lord with your lips and making Jesus Lord of your life. But it's not, salvation is free, but it's costly. There's a price tag attached and I wanna talk to you about that today. What does it mean to make Jesus the Lord of our lives? How does that affect us today? I want you to turn your Bibles to Luke chapter nine. Luke chapter nine. And Jesus explains what it means. And listen, please hear me, I'm not saying it's not important to pray a prayer, I'm gonna talk about that, but I want you to know that Jesus had expectations about what it looked like to be a Christian. Jesus had expectations about what it looked like to follow if you wanna truly follow Jesus. He said, this is what it's gonna look like. Look at Luke chapter nine. Let me just give you a quick backstory. Jesus has just asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? And they said, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets. And then Jesus says, well, who do you say that I am? And Peter steps up and he says, you're the Christ, you're the son of the living God. And he has this revelation and Jesus says to him, blessed are you, Simon Bargiona, for flesh and blood hasn't revealed that to you, but my father, who's in heaven, the spirit of God has revealed that to you. And it's on that revelation that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It's this powerful experience and encounter with God. And then he says this, he says, the son of man after that must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. And on the third day he'll be raised again. So there's this powerful moment. And then there's like this huge Debbie Downer. Oh, Jesus, what? Why are you talking about that? That's the context that we have. So he tells them what's gonna ultimately happen. And he says this in verse 23 of Luke chapter nine. And he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and then follow me, for whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself or his soul? This is one of the most powerful teachings that Jesus ever communicated. It's in all four of the Gospels. This is not some obscure verse that I just dug up. It's in Luke nine, it's in Matthew 16, it's in Mark eight and it's in John 12. And he says this, if you want to follow me, this is what it looks like. He didn't say, hey, it's super easy, just fill this out or just pray this prayer and don't worry about it or try to come to church when you can, be a good person. Say God bless you when people sneeze and you're set. He said, no, if you want to truly follow me, you're gonna have to deny yourself and you're gonna have to take up your cross and then you can follow me. And so you have to ask, what is deny yourself? What does that mean? Here's what I want to say to you. It's not about God wants to make your life miserable or Jesus wants to be Lord of your life because he's like puppet and he's pulling strings and he wants everything to be hard in your life. He's not saying that, it doesn't mean you have to be a pauper or you can't have any nice things. You have to deny, here's what it means is that we're living in a world and Jesus understood this at his time and today where we are slaves to popular opinion, to comfort, to the praise of man, to ease. And he says, if you want to follow me, that's not what it looks like, you have to deny yourself and there's gonna be some times where following Jesus is hard, where following Jesus is difficult, where being a Christian means people might not agree with you, people might not like you, people might reject you and you have to be okay with that. We don't strive for comfort, we don't strive for ease in our lives. We say, no, I will deny that because I'm following you. That's what Jesus is saying there. That's what denying yourself means. And then he says, and then I want you to take up your cross, which again, we don't have a lot of vernacular for today. We look at the cross today many times and we see it as the symbol of love and of atonement and of sacrifice and it is those things. We wear it around our necks, but when Jesus said, take up your cross, he wasn't talking about that and he wasn't talking about having to endure something that is an infirmity or maybe a bad job you have or a strained relationship. Maybe you've heard people say, well, that's just the cross I have to bear. That's not what Jesus was talking about either. Do you know what Jesus was saying? And he said, take up your cross. He was saying, pick up the execution device and carry it to the place where you're gonna be killed. That's what Jesus was saying. Feel good message, right? You guys with me? That's what he said. If you wanna follow me, then you're gonna have to deny yourself and you're gonna have to take, everybody knew what he meant when he said, take up your cross and you carry it. That's what the Roman government made criminals do. No, you're gonna carry your own cross to the place of death and you're gonna be ridiculed and you're gonna probably be mocked on the way and it's gonna ultimately lead to a place where you die. And Jesus is saying, if you wanna follow me, there's something in you that's gonna have to die. There's something in you that's gonna have to declare, Jesus, your Lord, I'm denying myself and maybe my feelings and my comforts in saying, because of who you are and how you love me and what you've done, I'm making you Lord of my life. I'm following you in every arena of my life. That's what Jesus meant. And again, he wasn't doing it because he wants to be this, you know, hard, you know, slave, taskmaster, driver. No, he says in the following verse, listen, this is so important. This is the thread of all of Jesus' teachings. He says, for if you save your life, you're gonna lose it. If as Christians, we think, okay, I need to just come to church, prayer, prayer, I don't have to really get involved because it's more important to me that I have comfort, that I have money, that I have status, that people like me, that I'm popular, that all of the things that the world says, that's gonna fulfill you, that's gonna make you happy. If we're not willing to let that go, then we're gonna lose our lives. We're gonna lose what it really means to follow Jesus because this life, guys, is a vapor. It's here one moment and it's gone the next. It's a blink in the realm of eternity. And Jesus says, if you're not willing, if you can't let go of this life, you're gonna lose it. But if you will lose this life for my sake, because of Jesus, you'll gain eternal life. You'll find what it really means to live. You'll have significance. You'll have influence. I will come and I will be Lord and Savior and director of your lives, not in a way that I just wanna kind of be the puppet master, but in a way that shows you your destiny, your purpose, and your identity. And he says the same thing again in Mark and in John and in Matthew, try to save your life and you're gonna lose it. But if you'll surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, you'll find true life, eternal life, abundant life, and it's the hardest thing for us to do. And I just wanna remind you, I don't know what we mean, but we don't make Jesus Lord. You understand that? I know we use that word sometimes and I think I've even used it, but Jesus is Lord because God the Father said a long time ago, I'm gonna give you the name that's above every name and at the name of Jesus, every tongue, knee will bow, tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So we don't make Jesus Lord, no matter what, but we surrender to that reality. We give our lives to the fact that Jesus is Lord and it costs something. Jesus said, deny yourself, take up your cross, then you can follow me. And the third thing Jesus said about becoming a Christian, what does that mean? Is we have to count the cost, count the cost. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 14, just go over a few more pages. I wanna show you one more interaction with Jesus. And I know this is heavier and I know I'm more known for being jovial and encouraging and I do wanna encourage you, but I'm just telling you, my heart is breaking for what I'm seeing in America in particular, in Christian circles and I wanna just show you what Jesus said about what it means to be a follower. And so look at chapter 14, verse 25. Luke 14 verse 25 says this, now great crowds accompanied him. Stop right there. People are following Jesus. A lot of people are coming to him. How many of you think it's a good thing if a lot of people follow Jesus? It's not a trick question. Okay, most of us, I thought there would be more, I'm not gonna lie. How many of you think it's a good thing that a lot of people wanna hear what Jesus has to say? How many of you think that's good? Okay, that's what's happening. Great crowds are following Jesus. This is what we would call ministry success. Like Jesus, you got this. People love you. They're coming from all over. They're following you everywhere. This is amazing. Now what are we gonna tell them so that they come back next week, maybe bring a friend, maybe get up for the early service. I'm just kidding, you guys are good. I don't know. What are we gonna tell them? And Jesus says this. So he turned and he said to them, if anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he can't be my disciple. I'm just gonna tell you, that's not church growth strategy that you would use today. And he does it at another time too. He's got great crowds following him. He turns around and he says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you can't have any part of me. And the disciples are like, well, I quit. You're ruining the church, Jesus. Why are you doing this? We're popular. People like us. People wanna hear you. Why would you do that? And he says, he says whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And so he has these big followings. He has this crowd and he doesn't say, how are we gonna make this as easy as possible? How are we gonna make sure no one gets offended that this isn't hard for anyone? No. He says, unless you're willing to put me above everything else in your life, you can't be my disciple. He's not saying you should actually hate your mother or your father, but he's saying, look, if you're serious about following me, it may cost you some relationships. Your mom and dad might get mad at you. Your family might not understand why you're doing this. There might be people who persecute or mock you in the process. And are you willing to still come after me? That's why Jesus did that. He said, look, I wanna make it real clear. I'm not talking about patty cake Christianity. I'm not talking about just, you know, whatever works for you and you can follow me. He says, no, if I'm gonna be Lord, I'm gonna be Lord of all or I'm not Lord at all, is what he was saying to them. Are you willing to know that it might cost you some relationships? I'm telling you, this is what we need to tell young people today. Do you really wanna follow Jesus? It might cost you your friends. It might cost you your popularity. It cost something is what Jesus was saying. He had another one come to him in Luke chapter nine who said, came up to him and said, I will follow you wherever you go. How many of you think that's a good thing? Four of us, okay, whatever. I'm done asking you questions, okay. So again, I look at it from a past oral standpoint. Someone comes up to me. Do you wanna follow Jesus wherever he goes? I'm gonna be like, well, pot dog, hallelujah, let's go. And I'd tell him something, right? And it would be good and affirming and encouraging. Jesus has a man say that to him and he looks at him and he says, foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Basically, are you sure? He's literally almost talking him out of it. Are you sure that this is what you want? That you wanna follow me? And then he gives these examples, look what he says. So he's talking to the crowds and he says, for which of you desiring to build a tower, doesn't first sit down and count the cost? Whether he has enough to complete it, otherwise when he's laid a foundation and can't finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying this man began to build and wasn't able to finish. So he sees the crowds and he says, I wanna tell you something. This is like when you build a house. Imagine if you're in here and you build a house and you've got all the plans, you go through all the planning, the blueprints, and then they get the foundation laid and you're like, I didn't know it was gonna cost more than this, right? I didn't realize I was gonna have to finish the house. So honey, that's your room and this must be the kitchen. People would mock you, right? How do you start building a house and you can't get past the foundation? And that's what Jesus is saying. Don't say I wanna be a Christian, I wanna follow Jesus. And then when it gets hard, when it gets difficult, bail, and say, well, I didn't know it was gonna cost this much. That's what Jesus is saying. And then he gives another example and he says, well, what one of you, if you were a king and you were going out to encounter another king in war would not sit down first and decide whether or not he's able to 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000? And if you can't, well, the other's a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. He says, you're not going to go into battle without figuring out how are we gonna do this? What resources do we have? How much is this gonna cost? How many men do I need? What kind of arsenal do I need? He says, you count the cost ahead of time. So imagine if somebody joined the army or whatever and they're going out into war and you're sending them into battle and they come back a few hours later and they're crying, complaining, and the general says, well, what's wrong? They're shooting at us. These people are so mean, you wouldn't believe it. The general would say, what are you talking about? You're in a battle, this is what you signed up for and I'm telling you Christianity is a battle. It's a war and we don't war against people. Flesh and blood aren't our enemy, your ex-husband's not your enemy, your boss isn't your enemy. We wrestle against principalities and powers and darkness but make no mistake, you're in a battle and there's no DMZ zone. There's no, I just want to kind of hang over here. No, you're either taking ground or you're losing ground in the kingdom of God and Jesus says, are you willing to count the cost for what it takes to be in this army with me? Because here's the thing, if Jesus was in here, so I just want to say this, as a minister, I look at the crowds and as pastors we get excited. Right, there's a lot of people here that's great. And I just want to say, Jesus when he saw crowds he got skeptical. Isn't that interesting? Almost like he was saying, some of you maybe shouldn't be here. I just want to let you know ahead of time that there's going to be some battles. There's going to be some choices you have to make. And it's not always going to be easy. Do you still want to come? If Jesus was in this room and he said, hey, you want to follow me? I'm going out, I'm going out into the world. But you know what? Everything we believe isn't going to be popular. Everything that we do isn't going to be easy. So if you wanted to sign up for the chicken soup or the soul conference, that's over there. And you can go do that. But if you're following me, it means we're going into the world and we're going into battle and it's not always going to be easy. It's not always going to be popular and you won't always be comfortable. That's what Jesus was saying. I'm just going to tell you, I've seen this played out in many arenas. And here's what it looks like many times. This people will come to church, come to radiant and they love it. The church is great. So it's awesome. People are so friendly. I sense the presence of God. And they should love this church. It's a great church. It's in my top five for sure. No question. Top three, I'm kidding. No, it's where they come. And it's great. And it's great. And then something happens. There's a lordship issue. And suddenly they say, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you saying? That I'm supposed to serve? What I'm supposed to give? I can't do that. I'm too busy. I got bills. I got a mortgage. I'm here for, I'm here for what's in it for me. I'm here because this is easy, fun, great. It feels good. And suddenly there's an impasse. There's tension. And you have to decide, is Jesus Lord of my life? You say, and maybe you're here and you say, it's a what John? What are you saying? If I don't give, I'm not a Christian. I didn't say that. But I'll tell you Jesus isn't Lord of your life. And I'll say it with love. There are people who come in. Oh, I love it. I love the music. I love Pastor Clark. I love the overwhelming. Nah, we're all into it, right? And then a moment comes and say, wait, wait, what? So this church believes that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Everybody else is, what, they're wrong? That's not popular. I don't want to tell people that. People come in. I love Pastor Lee, all my word. He's amazing. He's so smart and smart and handsome. And his messages are so great. And I love, I love, I love listening to that. But I'm not going to stop sleeping with my girlfriend, living with my boyfriend. I mean, we're married in God's eyes. Just telling you. Saying, are you saying I'm not a Christian? I'm not saying that. I'm saying Jesus isn't Lord of your whole life. There's going to be some times when we're part of the body of Christ, it's not going to be popular. It's not going to be easy. Let me just tell you, tons of people here, and then all of a sudden we did a red hot series. And people found out, oh, this church believes that homosexuality is outside of God's will. You guys are homophobes, you guys are racist, you guys are whatever. That's terrible. That's not what I believe, that's not how I feel. And listen, I'm not judging anybody and I'm not saying we don't love homosexuals, we do. And they're welcome here. But the goodness of God says, come as you are. And the grace of God says, don't stay where you are. And many people were like, we can't go there. And it's not always popular. And I'm telling you from someone who's standing on this pulpit, there's going to be a day and probably not far away. We're not even be able to teach that. We're not even be able to say that because it's going to be illegal, it's going to be hate speech. And let me just tell you something I know from the bottom of my heart. Pastor Lee is not going to fold up tent and say, well, this just got pretty hard. I'm out of here. That isn't happening at Radiant Church. It's not happening. We're going to point people to Jesus and we're going to love everyone, but we're not going to make excuses for what we believe the Bible says is true. We're not. We're not going to water it down so everybody likes us. And I'm not calling anybody out, but churches do that. And they say, oh, no, no, it's fine. It's fine. You don't ever have to change. You don't ever have to be convicted. You don't ever have to worry about how you're bearing fruit or what's happening in your life. Just come on in. And we want to be come on in, but we also want to say, God has more for you. And there is truth. And his name is Jesus. It's not a philosophy. It's a person. And it gets difficult. And it's not always easy. And we have to decide, is Jesus Lord of my life or is he only Lord when it's convenient? I mean, that's the question I'm asking. And I'll be transparent. I'm not perfect by any means. And there's areas in my life that I struggle and my kids are in the front row, makes this a little more awkward, but I was a rebellious child and I had a tumultuous life as a young person. And the enemy comes to me and says, what if your kids don't serve God? What if they do this? What if they do that? And there's the temptation to take control and to say, well, I'm gonna handle this and I'm gonna make sure they don't do that. And this never happens. They're never in that. And I'm gonna dictate everything. It has to be that moment where I say, Jesus, your Lord. Doesn't mean I'm disengaged, but it means God, I refuse to let fear motivate me. The lies of the enemy come against me. I stand in faith and I say, Jesus, your Lord of this area of my life, I surrender it to you. That's what it looks like. It's a journey and it's because God loves us. And when you know God, you can trust God. And if there's areas that you haven't surrendered, it's just listen, it's because you haven't known God in those areas. You haven't trusted him and he's not mad at you. He's not coming down on you. He's saying, you can know me and you can love me. And when you do, you can trust me. But I'm gonna give you life. If you'll lay yours down, I'm gonna give you a life that you can never find with what this world offers ever. Salvation is free. I'm not saying that you have to earn your salvation or that it's by works, but it will cost you. And here's what I mean. 19 plus years ago, I bought Kendra, a 132nd of a carrot diamond ring. It was amazing. It was all I could do. And I, if I had a time machine church, I would go back in time and I would change one thing. It would be how I proposed to Kendra because I would go to like the Louvre or a hot air balloon or we'd find a fighter jet or something and it wouldn't be Applebee's. But either way, I love you. So anyway, I was so nervous, but here's what I did. I had this ring and I put it on her finger and this is what I said, will you be mine? Will you marry me? I don't wanna get to hear this. When I gave her that ring, it didn't cost her anything. I paid for it. But when she received it, it cost her. She belonged to me now. And when she put her ring on my finger, I didn't pay for it, she did. But then I belonged to her. She belongs to me, I belong to her and we belong to Christ. That's what covenant looks like. You might be saying, well, that's chauvinistic. She doesn't belong to you, well, she does because if you touch her, I'll kill you. That's basically how that looks. So, in love, of course. I mean, do you know what I'm saying though? Listen, you don't earn your salvation. You don't have to buy it. It's a free gift, Ephesians two says. It's by grace you've been saved and it's through faith, it's not by works. But when you say yes to Jesus, you're not just saying yes to serving a prayer as an eight-year-old in your room. And then going on with your regularly programmed life, you're giving everything to God now. To Jesus you are Lord and I want the trajectory of my heart and the way that I see my life and my family and my stuff and my finances to be through the lens of how does it impact the kingdom of God? Because I'm not gonna hang on to this life. I'm not gonna make it all about this. No, by faith I lose that and then when I do, I gain what life really looks like. That's what Jesus asked of us. That's what it means to make him Lord. Can you be a Christian and do those things I talked about? I don't know, but you can't follow Jesus because you deny yourself and you take up your cross and then we follow our Savior, our King and our Lord into eternity. We gotta stand up. I wanna just pray with you as we close and I've asked Pastor Ryan to sing for us and I wanna take this moment. Here's what I would normally do is say, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life. You need to surrender your life to God and that's what I'm asking you. Are there areas of your life that you know I need to give to Jesus? I've not allowed him to be Lord. And if there is, the Holy Spirit's gonna reveal those to you and all you have to do, you don't have to earn it, you don't have to work. All you have to do is surrender, submit those things and say, God, I give this to you. Maybe that's your life. Maybe you've never known Jesus as Savior. Do that. Do that in this moment. We're gonna sing this song. And I want it to be more than words on the screen. I want it to be a confession. And so connect your heart to it. Ask God, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you whatever he needs to so that every arena of your life is surrendered to his Lordship and then lay it down. And Jesus says, I'll give you life that you never thought was possible. It won't always be easy, but it will always be worth it. Let's sing this together. I have decided to follow, I have decided to follow, no turning back. No turning, no turning back. My cross, my cross I'll care till I see. My cross I'll care, no turning back. Father, we make that our prayer. And God, more than just our lips, but with our lives, we would determine to follow you. God, in every season, through every journey, we're seeing through the lens of Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, as the impact we're called to have as redeeming the time because the days are short that we have, God. Help us see beyond the temporary, beyond what this world promises to fulfill us and see into the goodness of God, the love of the Father, who is giving us his life as we lay ours down, Father. I pray that for this church, God, we wanna be a city on a hill, God. We wanna be a beacon for you, God. Not so many will come and look what we're doing, but that they would experience and know the love of God and the power of Jesus Christ in this place, God. We love you, we honor you, we thank you that your grace is sufficient for every one of our needs in Jesus' name, amen.