Jesus Isn’t Just Your Savior

0:01 Man, thank you, Zach, for sharing the word of God. That was so good. Did you say dad gum? Well, I've never heard a human say that live. That was pretty cool. We don't say that here, Parks. But that whole idea of 85% of people don't know the Great Commission. That is not 85% of people. 85% of Christians don't know what the Great Commission is. And, you know, Zach shared Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20, but the verse right before that, Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Okay, so someone rose from the grave and said, look, it doesn't matter what your parents say. It doesn't matter what your teachers say.

0:57 It doesn't matter what anyone says, because all authority is right here in heaven and on earth. Right. Someone rose from the dead. I mean, think about this. Think about someone you know, you knew personally, and you were at their funeral. And then they come back later and say, I have all authority in heaven on earth. Doesn't matter what all the other little people say. I just rose from the dead. And he goes, all authority is right here. So listen to me. He says, go and make disciples of all the nations. Very important. He says, go and make disciples. He doesn't say, just get people to believe that I rose from the dead. He says, go. This is his command to us. Remember, if there's one word I just want to get across to you tonight, It's the word Lord.

1:58 okay when jesus says all authority is right here this is why we call him lord you guys know what the word lord means master boss jesus is referred to as lord over 700 times in the new testament you know we always want to say oh he's our he's my savior he's my savior yes he's your savior but that was only mentioned like 15 times, over 700 times, his title is, I am Lord. I have risen from the grave and I am Lord. All authority and heaven and earth is right here. So I'm the only one you need to listen to. I am the Lord of your life. When someone explained Christianity to me, they did such a good job because they said, it's like you're driving your car in life and you see Jesus on the side of the road.

3:01 You don't just pop your trunk and say, Jesus, will you get in the trunk of my car and then I'll pull you out whenever I need you. You don't just invite Jesus into your car. In fact, you could open the back seat and go, look, just come into my life.

3:23 Jesus isn't getting in the back seat. You can even open the passenger side and say, look, you can be my buddy. He's not coming in. Until you get out of the car, you hand in the keys and say, you now run my life. I made it like what Lane was saying. I'm in a mess of my life. I want you to be in the driver's seat. Tell me what you want me to do. Tell me where you, this is the mission that Zach was talking about. I want to be on your mission. Jesus isn't someone where you're going, oh, I have all these dreams in my heart. And so I'm going to ask Jesus to help me fulfill my dreams. No, you don't stick them in the trunk until you need help. Jesus says, I am the Lord of your life.

4:18 and he says and now i want you to go and make disciples teaching them to obey everything that i commanded you and i'll be with you always even to the end of the age you need to understand this because maybe someone just told you hey you just need to pray prayer You guys, that's not in the scriptures. That Jesus says, you go and make disciples of all the nations and you baptize them. That's the idea of baptism is you're dying to the old you. Like I'm done. Like Lane's testimony. I'm done being Lane. I want to rise again to a new life. I'm done with that. I want to obey him now. I want to follow him now. there's a passage in Luke where thousands of people are following Jesus.

5:20 Okay, so thousands of people came to hear Jesus speak. Okay, like tonight, we've got a few hundred here. So picture 10 times this amount of people. Now, if there were 10 times this amount, or even tonight, if I said, hey, it's your turn to go speak, what would you say? If you were in charge of this thing, you'd probably be like, oh, man, so good to see all of you. Next week, bring a friend. Let's get more people here. Look at what Jesus said when the crowds came. It's kind of crazy. But in Luke 14, in verse 1, well, never mind verse 1, down to 25. 25. Okay. Luke 14, you can read one later, but in verse 25, it says, now great crowds accompanied him.

6:19 They've estimated scholars say thousands and thousands of people. Great crowds accompanied him. He turned and said, okay, I want you to hear his outreach message to the thousands of people that came. He says this. if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

6:53 Whoa. man shouldn't you come up and tell a few jokes couples no it just goes hey you guys are all following me you want to be one of my disciples he says well unless you hate your father your mother your wife your kids even your own life you can't be my disciple and jesus remember the Great commission, go and make disciples.

7:23 And I hear Jesus saying, look, you've got to understand, I'm Lord. I am master. You're one of the people that wanted to follow Jesus as well. Well, let me first marry my dad. Let me first do this. Let me first do that. And he goes, no. You can't put your hand under the plow and go back.

7:43 Look, is God gracious? Is he merciful? Is he loving? Absolutely. Praise God. That's the good news. He forgives us. He loves us. He's gracious towards us. But don't mistake the fact that he is Lord still. He is still your master.

8:06 And he says, look, now, obviously, he doesn't mean that we all go home and say, Mom, I hate you. Dad, I hate you. I hate my wife. Lisa, honey, I hate you. he doesn't mean that because scripture tells us in Jesus, it even explains like that's the first commandment is to honor your father and mother. But what he's saying here is look, but I'm the master. And if anyone tells you to do something contrary to what I teach, you've got to be willing to hate them. Even if it's your own flesh and blood, otherwise you're not worthy to be my disciple. Then he goes on. In verse 27, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

8:57 He goes, that means if you're not willing to pick up your own cross. Now, they understood what that meant back then. They understood the cross. They saw, I mean, people would walk around, you'd walk around, you'd see people hanging on crosses who were killed. So this isn't like some vague thing. This is the way they punish people. This is the way they torture people, kill people. And Jesus says, unless you're willing to pick up your cross and follow me, you can't be my disciple.

9:31 Okay, I want you to think about this tonight. Because I could say, hey, you guys willing to pray a prayer with me? All right, let's do it. But what if I say, what if Jesus is, hey, I'm going to walk out that door. do you want to follow me? Because on the other side of that door, there might be literal crosses right here. will you follow me to the cross?

10:00 Because Jesus here, what does he say? Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Look, I see people walk away from God all the time, but well, he didn't give me what I wanted, and I thought it was going to be easier. I thought this. Look, Jesus made it very clear this is not easy. because I'm worth it. and you have to decide, is he worth it?

10:33 Because some of you may have been taught a gospel that says, oh, if you follow Jesus, then you'll find a great spouse, then you'll have kids, and then you'll have great kids. You'll get all of this. No, Jesus says, if you follow me, you might get a cross, and you have to be okay with that. There's no promise of blessing here on earth. other than a blessing of, I'll be with you always, even within the age. 1 John 2.6 says, anyone who claims to know him must walk as Jesus walked. Did Jesus have a comfortable life? Did he have an easy life? This is what he's calling. But you guys, it is so worth it. if you follow him, you're not promised a great marriage. You're not promised great health.

11:32 You're not promised a great job. but you are promised Jesus. You promise to actually have the God of the universe with you and in you. You can actually speak to him, and you no longer need to fear death because you know one day you're going to be with him forever. He died on the cross. You understand this. Your master, your king decided to come down on the earth. He says, no one takes my life from me. I give it up my own choice.

12:14 And he was tortured at a cross to pay for everything that you did wrong. everything that has acted wrong, everything that Lane did wrong, everything that the other Chinese guy, you know, I get it. My son over there. Oh, you know what?

12:39 Everything, everything that we did wrong, this is crazy. Your master, your master was tortured so that you could be forgiven. That is so crazy. Your creator. All of you are made by Jesus. And all of you will be judged one day by Jesus. Jesus says the Father doesn't judge anyone. All judgment has been given to the Son so that all would honor the Son like they honor the Father. Okay, so your judge, your master, your creator died for you on a cross and says, I actually made you to know me.

13:33 And if you believe in me and you follow me, you can be with me. see the disciples that was the joys i get to follow him it's not something like i have to follow him the idea is i get to be with the king of the universe and be a part of this mission And the next verse in John 14, he says, verse 28,

14:50 So Jesus is saying to the crowd, he says, look, if you're going to build a tower, let's say, I don't know if any of you guys are replying about this, building a tower. Okay, what do you do first? Do I have enough money to build a tower? How much does it cost to build a tower? How big a tower are we talking about? You know, you don't start building. You ever seen those countries where they'll build like something halfway and then they run out of money and you go, wow, that's so stupid. That's exactly what Jesus says. That's so stupid. Who would start building a tower going, I don't know if I'll have enough to finish. Look, that's dumb. That's what he's saying to his disciples. He's saying, look, you got to make sure you're willing to go to the cross. because I don't want you, you know, you teenagers, you Gen Z or X or whatever you are. Why?

15:47 What is it called? Alpha. I'm sorry. Is that Alpha? Okay. Oh, Alpha? I don't know. Okay. It's the whole... What am I talking about?

16:08 Oh my gosh, I lost my train of thought. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, building tower. No, here's the thing. You guys. You guys. you guys that are younger here's his thing he's saying let me tell you you might lose everything if you follow Jesus. He's just being honest with you. Because he doesn't want you to get started, and then at some point go, I didn't know it was going to be hard.

16:45 There's all these temptations. And then you quit. He goes, that's why he goes, I'm telling you to count the cost now. You only hate your father, your mother, your wife, your kids. You ready to denounce everything you have? You ready to walk out that door and pick up a cross and follow him? Because it may come to these things. And he goes, that's why when you're building a tower, you start figuring out the cross. Do I really want to get into this? He goes, then he uses the illustration. He goes, what if you were a king and you had 10,000 soldiers with you? And what did you first think? Do I really want to fight that guy over there? He's got 20,000. so you have to decide ahead of time, am I in this for the long run? Because, look, I'm almost 60. I turn 60 next year. I know I look great, but it's the Chinese thing, right, son?

17:41 It's the whole idea is, gosh, I keep losing my train of thought. I don't even know why this is happening tonight. It's because it's past my bedtime, right? you didn't tell me i was preaching at 9 30. jeez um what was the army what's i got to do with oh yeah because i'm old okay look i made a decision look when i was your age i made a decision when i was in college i understood that I'll be supposed to be Lord, Master.

18:33 And that means I follow him no matter what. And that's why 40 years later, man, I love getting up in the mornings and just being alone in the word, talking to him. I even prayed just last week, oh God, I just love serving you, whatever. If you say the word, God, seriously, right now, Do you want to send me, even at my age, to some foreign country to just get tortured and end it all right now? I go, God, let's go. Let's do it. I'm ready.

19:09 I counted the cost when I was in college and now at this age. But where are all of my friends that made the same decision to follow Jesus that were at youth groups like this? They're nowhere to be found. I was grateful for people who pointed out the words of Jesus and said, look, if you want to follow him, he's Lord, he's master. He's not just your little buddy, your homeboy. No, he's your Lord. He's your king. And you've got to decide, do you want this? That's what Jesus is telling these people. Look, you don't build a tower halfway. Don't get started in this. Okay, this is not Jesus trying to draw crowds to himself. The people who followed him usually left him because he explained the cost. He goes, you got to give everything up for me or you're not worthy to be my disciple. So he says that, that makes all that sense.

20:06 So therefore, anyone who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. But then in the next section, I thought this was so weird. And I'll end with this. He says, salt is good. Like what? But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? I don't know. So the next verse is, it is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. and when I read that I'm like okay I understood all of that till we got to the salt part what's he saying and then the more I study I go oh this is actually awesome he goes salt is good okay I have some salt in my pocket I really do okay I don't know if you can see it on screen but Here's some salt.

21:13 See that? Why are you guys laughing? You don't have salt in your pocket. Okay. So let's say I have salt. Salt's in my pocket. Salt is good. Salt is good. But he goes, what if this salt had no flavor? what good is it okay let's imagine i brought some flavorless salt with me okay like what do you do with this what can you do with it yeah you can't i don't know you can't turn into clay you can't do anything he goes it's it's worthless he says salt is good it preserves things it adds flavor to things but if it loses its saltiness if it loses its flavor because there's no use for it he goes it's it's even like not good for manure because at least you can use manure you fertilize things with it throw it at your friends you have a pile of manure there's there's something you can do with it if there's still usage to it but here's his point he's telling these people he goes look if you're not willing to go to the cross with me you're like flavorless salt to me because i don't know what to do with you he goes so don't start this thing You're going to build a bunch of halfway towers.

22:45 You're going to start running towards his army. Oh, shoot, they're bigger than us. And you'll quit. You got to decide right now. Are you going to fight with him? Are you going to join this army? Even though it looks like these insurmountable odds. You go, no, I'm going to stand with Jesus. Let's go. Let's do this. He goes, if you don't have that flavor, he goes, I don't know what to do with you. He goes, you would ruin manure. So if I had a pile of manure, you would stand out. I'd be like, get off that. You're ruining it. Like, that's how worthless he's saying about these people.

23:19 Because, okay, here's the thing. Okay, there's salt right here. What would be the purpose of taking this flavorless salt and adding it to the salt? What's the point of that? just so you know look how big my pile is look Jesus is saying I don't care how many thousands of you show up if you don't have the saltiness I don't know what to do with you if you're not willing to go to the cross with me if you're not willing to go all the way with me I really don't have any use for you pile of manure you would ruin it these are the words he's using Like, I want followers. I want people who are willing to do whatever I ask them to do.

24:15 I'm Lord. And it's a great, great thing. I know some of you, it may be hard for you to fathom because you're like, gosh, to let someone else drive? To let someone have control of my life? But when you realize this is the king who died for you and rose from the grave, and you realize, wow, if I stand with Jesus, if that God is for me, who can be against me? He conquered death and he ascended into heaven far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion. And he says, I can follow him. Yes, I'm ready to die to myself. that's what those people did and asked you when they heard the message like what do we do what does peter say he goes repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the holy spirit his promises for you for your children and for those who are far off he says you gotta repent that means like i'm i'm heading one direction and I see Jesus and I go, 180, I will follow you.

25:35 When I met my wife, Lisa, you want to wave? I said, wave, okay. Wave to you. She was actually Miss Teen California. That's why she was like this. Yeah. It's pretty hot. So when I saw her, I was actually dating another girl. I wasn't as bad as Lane, but I just, I was, I was dating another girl.

26:15 And I didn't say, Hey, I met someone over there. You want to come with me and we'll go meet her together? No. What did I do? I'm like, oh, I'm repenting. I had to say goodbye because I knew who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. That's the idea of, and I'm sure the other girl, great. but the idea is like when you see Jesus when you get it you go gosh that's the king who's keeping me breathing right now and he says I can follow him and it might be difficult I might be going and sharing the gospel and in uncomfortable situations he may have me go speak to this person that person I don't feel like it But man, I get to be with the most powerful being in the universe forever.

27:21 And he will forgive me and take me as his son. God's with me right now. I don't know how much longer I have on this earth, but I'm not afraid. These last 45 years of walking with him, ever since my teenage years, I've been walking with him and growing more in love with him every year. I'm so glad I made that decision to be baptized, to repent of my sins, and to follow him, no matter what the cost. And I don't know how my life's going to end here on the earth. I really don't care, other than I want to be doing whatever God calls me to. That's the decision, to follow Jesus.