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Welcome, welcome. Good to see you all today. My name is Justin. I'm one of the pastors here of

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our church. And if you have a Bible, you can grab it now. We're going to continue worshiping God

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together by opening his word together. And so we're going to be in Luke chapter 14 today. Luke

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chapter 14. If you're using one of those Bibles under the chairs in front of you, Luke 14 will be

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around page 927. And as you're turning there, I just want to highlight a couple things that are

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going on in the life of our church this month, just want to make sure that you're aware of. And the

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first is that two weeks from today, we're going to be celebrating a baptism Sunday. All right, we have

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someone in our church who's going to be baptized. And what happens is after third service, we take a

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little bit of time to get lunch, to make our way down to Nimitz Beach, but we'll have a tent set up,

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we'll have our road signs out, and we'll all gather up. We'll hear the story of how God brought

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somebody from death to life and how Jesus rescued them. And then we'll walk down to the water and

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see that depicted in this act of baptism. And so it's one of the most exciting things we do as a

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church because of what it represents. And so Jesus commanded all of his followers to be baptized.

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And so if that's something that you've never done and you would like to obey Jesus in that way,

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we'd love to talk to you more about that. Jesus said that this confirms and nourishes our faith.

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and so if you would like to be baptized on the 21st two weeks from today shoot us an email at

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the top left of that info card and say I'd like some info on baptism and we can send you our

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baptism info packet and we can work toward getting you baptized on the 21st we'd love that that'd be

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awesome. Second thing on the 27th that next Saturday we have an all harbor church praise

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and prayer night. We do maybe one or two of these a year where all four of our harbor churches get

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together at Harbor Honolulu and we spend the night singing. We'll sing eight to ten songs just

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praising God together, but we'll also confess our dependence on God through lots of time in prayer.

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Specifically on that night, we're going to be praying for God's mission in the world, for our

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communities where all of our Harbor churches are. Kapolei and West Oahu, Waipahu, the North Shore,

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and Honolulu. We'll be praying that the gospel would go out powerfully in those places through

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us, God's church. But we're also going to be praying for where he has us partnered around the

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world, for Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan. We'll be praying for those countries, those pastors

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and church planters that we support, and asking the exact same thing. And so it's going to be a

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night of prayerful dependence on God for what he's doing in the nations. And so, man, we would love

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for you to join us. There is child care provided. You just have to sign up for it online. So you can

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find that on our mobile app under the events or on our website. Make sure you sign up if you want

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use the child care. So we have enough child care workers and snacks. Worst thing ever, kid would

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show up and there's not enough animal crackers. So let's make sure we get enough. Sign up if you're

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going to use the child care. All right, cool. It's going to be a party. It's going to be a great party.

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And I don't know what your thoughts are about parties, but you know, I think our thoughts and

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our feelings about partying and going to parties change over time. Like when I was younger, this

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looked great. This looked like a fantastic party that I would want to be at. Like, I mean, turn it

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up loud, make it as loud as possible. I would want it to go late. You know, when I was younger,

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it's not a party unless you have to spend a whole day recovering. But now that I'm in my early 30s,

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it's totally different, right? It's just a totally different thing. Like a couple years ago, I turned

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to my wife and I said, man, we haven't had a party at our house for a while, so let's throw a party.

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So we invited a bunch of our friends to come over for a Christmas party. Well, somebody showed up at

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our house. It was actually one of our friends who was invited, but I think had forgotten. And so they

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just dropped in on this house party that we were having. And they literally came to our door,

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poked their head inside and saw me and said, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting.

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And I was like, meeting? This is a party. Like, what are you talking about? And that's when I

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realized I party differently now. Like my views on partying has just changed. If you invite me over

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to your house and you bring out sparkling water, I'll be like, oh, I didn't know this was a party.

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I wish you would have told me. I would have worn different shoes or something. That's a party,

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right? The bar is really low. And so I don't know where you're at with partying in your life,

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but I do know this. In Luke 14, Jesus was at a party, and he was at a party with some super

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religious people, like the religious elite of his day, which means that it was a really lame party.

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That was more like a meeting, all right? And so he's at this party, and Jesus does some things to

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make it really awkward. But the things he does, the things he says at this party are super important

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for us today. So that's what we're going to look at in Luke 14, the party that Jesus goes to with

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religious people and what that means for us right now. So let's pray and then we'll see what happened

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at this party. And so Father, we pray that your word would come to bear on us today.

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You've said that your word is timeless and it is for us.

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And so we pray that we would be able to apply it rightly to our lives and to this world.

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You've said that when the Spirit applies your word, that it is sharp and powerful.

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And so we pray that it would be sharp and powerful for us today.

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Open our eyes to how you are at work in our lives and in the world.

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We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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All right, so here's one thing Jesus has already said to make it super awkward.

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In verse 12, he turned to the host of the party and he said,

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when you give a party, when you give a lunch or a dinner,

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don't invite your friends, your brothers, sisters, your relatives, your rich neighbors,

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because they might invite you back and you'd be repaid.

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Jesus turned to the host of this dinner party and he said this,

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all these other people here, you shouldn't have invited them.

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These shouldn't be your guests.

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You threw this party for yourself.

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You threw this party so that these people would be in,

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They would be in your debt and they would pay you back by inviting you to their own parties or do nice things for you.

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And so it probably felt pretty awkward in the room.

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And so this guy in verse 15, look what he does.

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One of the people who reclined at the table heard these things and said to Jesus,

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blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

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So this random guy just blurts out.

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He kind of looks at all of his friends around and he says, man, we are so blessed.

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We're going to party with God forever.

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blessed. We're just blessed people, right? Maybe he was trying to cut through the awkwardness or

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change the topic, but he just wanted to highlight like, man, it's kind of like that Paul Rudd,

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like, look at us, look at us. We're here. Here we are. And we're going to be with God forever

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at his party. And here's how Jesus responds to that. He responds with a story. A man was giving

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a large banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who

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were invited, come because everything is now ready. And so look, since Jesus is responding directly

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to this man's comment, he's likening God to the master in his story, right? The guy said, man,

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we're so blessed. We're going to party with God forever. And Jesus said, let me tell you a story.

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There was a master who threw a party. And so listen, that's important because that's what Jesus

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thinks about God. That's how Jesus views God. He says, you're right. God is throwing a party.

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You got that totally right. God is absolutely throwing a party. It's not a small party,

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a large party where many are invited. He sent out a save the date. He sent out this invitation.

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Many have responded and he's been preparing this party for a while. But when the invitation is

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finally ready, when the food is finally ready, he sends his servant back out to say, let's go. It's

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time to party. The party is happening right now. And why does he need that time in between the

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save the date and the party? Because he's preparing. It's going to be epic. This is going to be an

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amazing party. And here's my first question for us today. Is that your view of God?

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Is that your view of God?

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One theologian A.W. Tozer said that the most important thing about each of us

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is what comes into our minds when we think about God.

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The most important thing about you is what comes into your mind when you think about God

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because that determines how you view your faith, how you view how to live in God's world.

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It determines pretty much everything.

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And I think for a lot of us, when we think about God,

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the picture that comes into our minds is he's kind of like our elementary or middle school principal.

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like he's kind of up there looking like roaming the halls trying to figure out how we're breaking

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the rules how to put us in detention how to get us in trouble like God is just this holy authority

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figure that's just looking to be angry at us that's a lot of people what comes into a lot of

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people's mind when they think about God but what came into Jesus's mind said God is is the one

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who's throwing the party he's preparing this epic banquet with all this food and he's inviting us

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into it. That's the picture we get all over the Bible, that God's people are a people who party

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with God and there's lots of food there. That's the picture we get in Revelation at the end of it all

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when the new heavens and the new earth that God creates, we're going to be partying with him

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around a table, the marriage supper of the lamb. And so that's super exciting that that's who God

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is. He's the God of the party. But look at verse 18. But without exception, they all began to make

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excuses. The first one said to him, ah, I bought a field and I must go out and see it. I ask you to

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excuse me. Another said, ah, I bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to go try them out. I ask that

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you excuse me. And another said, I just got married, therefore I'm unable to come. He doesn't even ask

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to be excused. He's like, dude, I just got married. I'm not making it. I'm not going to be there.

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Like, you know, excuses. All these people who accepted the first save the date because now

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they're told it's time, you said you were coming, come into the party, they're making excuses and

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they're not going. In this culture, if you accepted a save the date, you were expected to show up

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because the host had to prepare all the food and it had to be eaten that night. You couldn't freeze

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it. If it didn't get eaten, it just got wasted. And so it would have been embarrassing for the host

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who prepared this epic party. And so these people who said yes to the save the date that are backing

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at the last minute, they're flakers. They're flaking out. They feel like they've got better

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things to do than party with God. One guy says he bought a field without seeing it. Another guy has

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these oxen, this heavy machinery for his job that he hasn't tested out. Another guy gets married all

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of a sudden. And man, I think these are just super silly, lame excuses. They're just lame excuses,

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right? Who would ever buy a house without seeing it? And if you did, you can wait another day

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right? Who would purchase heavy machinery for your job without testing it to know if it'll

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work? Would you not want to bring your spouse to the most epic party ever thrown? These are super

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lame excuses and it just shows us that we make super lame excuses as well.

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We let super silly things get in the way of us partying with God. We let our possessions rule us

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like the guy who bought the house.

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We become more concerned with getting more stuff

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and maintaining the stuff that we have

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than we are with spending time with God.

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We give all kinds of time, effort, and sacrifice

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to our jobs, our careers, like the guy with the oxen.

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Maybe we just give God the scraps

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if we have any time left over.

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But man, if something comes up at work

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that conflicts with church or with God,

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man, I'm doing that.

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I'm doing my job.

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I'm doing my career

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because that takes priority.

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We give all kinds of investment into relationship,

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even good relationships with our spouses,

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but we can even let those take priority

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over our relationship with God.

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And what Jesus is saying is this,

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if you're looking for an excuse to not party with God,

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you're gonna find one.

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If you're looking for an excuse to not be in God's party,

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you're gonna find one

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because each of us is either gonna go all in with Jesus

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or we're going to go all in with something else in life.

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Our passion, our pursuits, our possessions, our relationships.

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These guys here in this story,

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they probably thought they were good

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because they accepted the save the date, right?

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Anybody ever done that?

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Like you're invited to something that's going to happen

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in like three months, you get a save the date.

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And so you respond, you RSVP like, yeah, I'll be there.

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But you know good and well,

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like when the time comes, week of, I'm backing out.

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Like, right?

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Anybody ever done that before?

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liars. All right. Like we've all, we've all done, we've all seen something on the calendar. Like,

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yeah, I'll want to do that in three months. But then the time comes and I'm like, I never wanted

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to do that. I'm backing out. Right. And I think that shows us a lot of these guys heart. The

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invitation went out from God, be my people, come into my party. And they're like, ah, cool. Yeah,

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yeah, yeah. Um, I think we'll accept that save the date because nothing's required of me for the

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save the date. So yeah, yeah, I'm in. But what it actually shows is this. They never actually

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intended to come to the party. Their hearts were never in it. They never really wanted to be a part

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of this party. And, you know, sometimes we use a term for Christians like this. We say that, man,

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there's a lot of nominal Christians, a lot of people who call themselves Christians who say,

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well, I've punched my ticket to heaven. I've said, yeah, I want it. But I don't know. I haven't lived

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my life or follow Jesus at all and I'm just kind of going through the motions and when the time

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actually comes to get serious, I don't know. I don't know. That's what these people are who've

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accepted the save the date. They never really intended to come into the party and Jesus is

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teaching us that following him isn't about just accepting the save the date. It's not just a

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one-time decision. We make it some camp or a prayer. We pray in our bed one night when we're a kid,

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but it's a lifetime pursuit that involves all of who we are.

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And so verse 21,

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the servant came back and reported these things to his master.

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Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant,

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go out quickly into the streets and the alleys of the city

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and bring in here the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame.

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Master, the servant said,

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what you ordered has been done and there's still room.

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Then the master told the servant,

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go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in so that my house may be filled.

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For I tell you, not one of those people who are invited will enjoy my banquet.

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Jesus is showing us who the people are who are actually going to be in God's party.

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It's the poor.

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The people who know that they're bankrupt and they have nothing to offer God.

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It's the maimed.

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The people who know that they're on death's doorstep.

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They're dead because of their sin.

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The blind, those who know that they don't have life figured out,

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they're not seeing the world correctly, and they need God to open their eyes.

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The lame, the ones that know they have no power to come to God on their own,

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and they need to be carried to God.

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Those are the ones who are in the party.

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Those are the ones.

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Jesus is teaching us that we will never come to God's feast

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until we will see that we're in this group of people.

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Because the guy who made the comment in verse 15,

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He looked around at his friends and he looked around at a bunch of people who had their lives put together.

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They were the religious elite of the day.

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They were the impressive people.

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Okay.

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Those are the people that Jesus is talking about.

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Like, oh, you bought a house without seeing it.

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You're that rich.

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Right.

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You bought five oxen on a whim without even testing them out.

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You've got all these relationships.

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You're just getting married left and right.

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Right.

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These are the people you'd look at in the world.

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And man, you're impressive.

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You've got life figured out.

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And those people are like, yeah, God should want me in his party.

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That's what that guy thought.

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And Jesus says, no, you've invested in all this other stuff.

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You've invested in your possessions, your pursuits, and your relationships.

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But it's all actually kept you far from God.

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Because when the time came to actually party, they're the ones that flaked out.

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Jesus is saying that the only way to be at God's party is to first see ourselves rightly,

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to see that nothing earns us a seat at the table.

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God isn't combing this earth looking for impressive people.

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He's looking for people who will accept his invitation.

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It would have actually been a scandalous thing for this master, this host,

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to call a party and invite these people into his home.

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It would ruin his reputation in the community to associate with these people.

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And the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame, they know that.

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They know that.

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Which is why the master tells his servant, you're going to have to go out and make them come in.

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The word there is compel them, beg them.

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They're going to know they don't deserve to be at this party, that they're not worthy of the invitation.

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The news is going to be too good for them to believe.

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So beg them to come in.

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Maybe that's the place you're in.

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Maybe you're in the place where you're like, man, I don't know.

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If God is really out there and he's preparing a big party and he's inviting people to it,

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there's no way he's going to want me there.

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There's no way.

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I'm too broken.

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I'm too sinful.

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I've run too far away from him.

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I've ignored him for too long.

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I've kept him on the back burner of my life.

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I'm too broken.

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There's no way God wants to party with me.

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Listen, if you are in that space this morning, that is a really good space to be.

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because it was all the people who were out there broken,

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even the people in the hedges and highways who were hiding,

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who end up in the party with God.

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Who doesn't end up there?

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The ones who think they deserve it.

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The religious elite, the ones who hear the good news of Jesus

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and they say, yeah, yeah, that is for me.

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Yeah, of course God would want me in his party.

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God's throwing a party.

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Yeah, of course the invitation would come to me.

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I deserve to be there.

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I've been good.

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I've lived morally.

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I've been impressive in this world.

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Yeah, I should be at a party if God's throwing it.

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That's a really dangerous place to be.

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Because the people who think they deserve it and think they've earned it,

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Jesus says when the time comes,

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you're going to make excuses and you're not going to be there.

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But the people who know it's only by the grace of the master,

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it's only by the master compelling them to come in and saying,

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I have this space for you and the news is too good to be true.

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Those are the people who are in the party at the end.

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And so listen, if you feel like today you're too far away from God to ever come back to him,

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know this, we see here that God is begging you to come.

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He wants you in his presence.

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He wants you at his party.

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He wants to serve and bless you and he's begging you to accept his invitation.

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And when you do, when you accept God's invitation, we call that salvation.

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It's like a rebirth, like being born again.

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It's new life with God.

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And it's all made possible by the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus.

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Without Jesus, we have no way into the party.

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But with Jesus, we have full access into God's party.

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When you believe in Jesus, when you trust what he did for you and come into God's party,

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You're no longer just an invited guest.

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God, through Jesus, serves you, blesses you,

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and transforms you to be who you are always supposed to be.

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God transforms us to be Jesus' followers,

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his disciples, his servants in this world.

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Did you notice that character in Jesus' story?

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The master always sends the servant to get the other guests.

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How did that servant get there?

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00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,200
How does anyone get into the master's house?

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Well, they respond to the good news that they can come in,

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and they come in broken, hurting, sinful.

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And what does God do?

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He gives you new life.

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He restores you, and he empowers you to go out and serve him in this world.

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That's what he's doing with the servant.

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He's saying, you now go and bring others in.

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You see, when you accept God's invitation to be a part of his family,

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a part of the party he's throwing,

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he's going to give you a new purpose in this world,

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a new mission, a new life.

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You're gonna look at every relationship

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and every opportunity differently.

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The master tells the serpent,

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go and bring others into my party.

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And that's what God is doing in our lives.

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He's transforming us.

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He's changing us.

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This lifelong process of transformation

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where he's creating us to be more beautiful people

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than we could ever imagine.

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And Jesus goes on here in this passage

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to show us three ways that we experience that.

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Three ways that we experience God's transforming power

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in our lives once we've accepted

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his invitation of salvation.

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And now here's why this is important, guys,

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because the servant here is contrasted

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with the people who saved the date, right?

335
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They were both invited into the master's house

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to wait until the day of the party.

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The servant just comes in.

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He says, I'm a part of it.

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I'm in the master's house.

340
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He said, I'm a part of this.

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I'm being transformed by the master.

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I'm now serving the master.

343
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We're getting ready for the party.

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The others say, okay, yeah, yeah, save the date,

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but we're gonna still pursue our own things in this world.

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And what's happened is the one who came in

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00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:27,500
and said, I'm all in right now,

348
00:22:27,940 --> 00:22:31,380
he has experienced the transforming work of God in his life.

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And the others who pursued all their other passions in life have not.

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And so here's what Jesus wants us to see.

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He wants us to see how we experience God's transforming power in our lives

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as we wait on the party he's throwing.

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And so look at verse 25.

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Here's the first way.

355
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,200
Now great crowds were traveling with Jesus, so he turned and said to them,

356
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If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother,

357
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wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life,

358
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he cannot be my disciple.

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He cannot be a servant in my house waiting on the party unless this.

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00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:14,180
Now, when you read those words, maybe your eyebrow goes up and you think, what?

361
00:23:15,300 --> 00:23:16,400
This doesn't sound like Jesus.

362
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:19,640
This doesn't sound like anything I want to be a part of.

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00:23:19,780 --> 00:23:20,500
What's he saying here?

364
00:23:20,780 --> 00:23:21,480
Hate your family?

365
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,420
Hate the people you should love the most?

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Hate yourself?

367
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What is Jesus doing here?

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Well, when Jesus turns to the crowds and speaks to them, a lot of times he uses a speaking

369
00:23:31,940 --> 00:23:41,040
device called hyperbole. Hyperbole is a way of speech that is super aggressive, and it's aggressive

370
00:23:41,460 --> 00:23:47,400
to prove a point, all right? I speak in hyperbole all the time, and it may be my wife's least

371
00:23:47,620 --> 00:23:52,960
favorite thing about me, is that I'm always just going way over the top to prove my points. So

372
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:58,560
here's an example of hyperbole. If I remember this right, one time I was on the couch with my wife,

373
00:23:58,740 --> 00:24:00,100
and I don't remember the exact words I said,

374
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,540
but I said something like this.

375
00:24:01,830 --> 00:24:03,000
I think I turned to her and I said,

376
00:24:03,260 --> 00:24:05,100
I'm gonna gouge my eyeballs out

377
00:24:05,170 --> 00:24:07,420
if I have to watch one more episode of PJ Masks.

378
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:09,200
All right, I can't do it.

379
00:24:09,580 --> 00:24:11,020
I'm out, all right?

380
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:13,740
Now, did my wife turn to me

381
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,280
and like look for the instruments

382
00:24:15,540 --> 00:24:17,760
that I'm gonna use to rip the eyeballs out of my face?

383
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,200
No, she knew that I wasn't speaking literally.

384
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:23,800
She knew that I was using hyperbole

385
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:25,540
because I was saying it that way

386
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,080
to communicate what I was feeling.

387
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:35,200
What was I actually saying? I'm not watching this show anymore. I can't do it. I've had this theme

388
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:40,340
song in my head for six months. I'm losing sleep because I just play it in my head in my bed.

389
00:24:40,780 --> 00:24:45,880
I can't watch PJ Masks anymore is what I was saying. I was using hyperbole. I was being kind

390
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:51,239
of dramatic to prove a point. It's kind of like the message of all those shirts and mugs that say

391
00:24:51,600 --> 00:25:01,240
world's greatest dad, world's number one grandma, lies. Those aren't true. There's no rating system.

392
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:07,320
If your kid or grandkid ever gave you that, I hate to burst your bubble. It's not true.

393
00:25:08,860 --> 00:25:14,140
But you know what that mug or what that shirt is communicating, right? I love you. I think you're

394
00:25:14,260 --> 00:25:19,060
great. Or I only had $7 to get you a Christmas gift and this is what I could get. You know,

395
00:25:19,140 --> 00:25:19,960
One of those two things.

396
00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:25,980
But hyperbole is an aggressive way of saying something to prove a point that we want to make.

397
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:27,820
Jesus is using hyperbole here.

398
00:25:29,180 --> 00:25:32,720
He's saying, if you're going to come into my house, if you're going to be my servant, my follower,

399
00:25:33,100 --> 00:25:35,400
you have to hate those who are closest to you.

400
00:25:36,020 --> 00:25:39,800
Now, we know it's hyperbole because Jesus definitely doesn't want us to hate people.

401
00:25:40,420 --> 00:25:45,520
He commands us in other places to love our spouse, our kids, our neighbors, even love our enemies.

402
00:25:46,380 --> 00:25:47,500
He's not contradicting himself.

403
00:25:48,020 --> 00:25:50,220
He's using hyperbole, and here's what it means.

404
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,020
It means that your new love for Jesus,

405
00:25:54,780 --> 00:25:56,460
once you come into his family,

406
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:58,140
accept the invitation to his party,

407
00:25:58,360 --> 00:25:59,640
and start preparing for it,

408
00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:03,400
your new love for Jesus is so aggressive,

409
00:26:03,900 --> 00:26:06,980
it's so white hot, so powerful, so intense,

410
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:09,880
and so apparent to other people

411
00:26:10,300 --> 00:26:12,540
that when they see your love for Jesus,

412
00:26:14,340 --> 00:26:16,820
your love for everything else in this world looks like hate.

413
00:26:20,740 --> 00:26:28,560
by comparison when your friends start to talk to you about jesus your face lights up and your eyes

414
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:34,160
get big and you get excited and your voice escalates and maybe sports used to do that for you

415
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:40,700
or or buying new houses or making money or whatever but once you become a follower of jesus it's jesus

416
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:42,840
that excites you.

417
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:45,900
So here's what Jesus is saying first.

418
00:26:46,620 --> 00:26:49,140
The first way we experience God's transforming power,

419
00:26:49,580 --> 00:26:51,940
man, go all in loving Jesus.

420
00:26:53,500 --> 00:26:55,540
Go all in with your love for Jesus.

421
00:26:57,660 --> 00:26:59,140
Now here's what I don't believe this means.

422
00:26:59,540 --> 00:27:01,020
Our takeaway from this is not,

423
00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,520
let's go find the other stuff we're passionate about

424
00:27:03,940 --> 00:27:04,900
and try to love it less.

425
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,420
God doesn't want us to love his gifts less.

426
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:10,840
He wants us to love him more.

427
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,360
It's like when I started dating my now wife.

428
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:17,600
I didn't start dating Hee Jung and say,

429
00:27:17,750 --> 00:27:19,740
okay, I think I could marry this girl.

430
00:27:20,050 --> 00:27:21,420
And so the step I need to take

431
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:23,680
is to go to all the other women in my life

432
00:27:23,860 --> 00:27:25,020
and tell them that I love them less

433
00:27:25,670 --> 00:27:27,020
and start being mean to them.

434
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,800
I think I did that just naturally,

435
00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:33,160
but that's not the goal.

436
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:35,740
The goal isn't to love other things less.

437
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,700
The goal is to grow in our love for the one thing that matters most.

438
00:27:42,580 --> 00:27:46,280
And so in my dating relationship with my wife, what did I do?

439
00:27:46,460 --> 00:27:48,260
I didn't love other people less.

440
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,620
I put myself in positions where I would grow in my love for her.

441
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,720
I started spending more and more time with her.

442
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,460
I started talking to her into late, late hours of the night.

443
00:27:59,500 --> 00:28:03,120
I started to invest time and sacrifice and money.

444
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,400
I was living down in Ocean Point and she was in Hawaii Kai.

445
00:28:06,740 --> 00:28:10,300
And sometimes I would drive to see her and meet her on a work night.

446
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:11,220
All right?

447
00:28:11,530 --> 00:28:14,220
I look back at that now and I'm like, that had to be love.

448
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:16,920
No other explanation.

449
00:28:19,780 --> 00:28:23,340
And that's what it looks like for us to go all in in loving Jesus.

450
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:29,320
We put ourselves in spaces and places where we are going to grow in our love for him.

451
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:32,280
We prioritize showing up to church.

452
00:28:33,740 --> 00:28:34,380
This is a party.

453
00:28:35,140 --> 00:28:38,120
This is a rehearsal for the party God is throwing forever.

454
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,320
It's the smallest fraction percentage of what that party will look like.

455
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,680
But we all know that the dress rehearsal at a wedding, if you've been in one,

456
00:28:45,690 --> 00:28:48,760
is far less glorious than the actual wedding itself.

457
00:28:49,350 --> 00:28:53,240
But coming and gathering and showing up to the gathered church,

458
00:28:53,330 --> 00:28:57,740
the gathered rehearsal of the party is putting us in a space and place

459
00:28:57,990 --> 00:29:01,120
where we grow in our love for Jesus as we unite our voices,

460
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:03,640
as we come under the authority of God's word together,

461
00:29:04,020 --> 00:29:06,140
as we love each other and encourage each other.

462
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:08,920
That's why in Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says

463
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:10,900
that we don't neglect gathering together

464
00:29:11,090 --> 00:29:12,880
and showing up for each other

465
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,120
until the day that Jesus returns.

466
00:29:15,290 --> 00:29:16,120
We don't neglect it.

467
00:29:16,260 --> 00:29:16,380
Why?

468
00:29:16,670 --> 00:29:19,060
Because this is where we grow in our love for Jesus

469
00:29:19,330 --> 00:29:20,440
together and with each other.

470
00:29:21,300 --> 00:29:22,840
We commit to our community groups,

471
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,480
to the men's, women's things that are going on.

472
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,840
We commit to showing up and reading our Bibles on our own.

473
00:29:29,090 --> 00:29:31,540
We commit to serving when opportunities come up.

474
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,660
You see, Jesus is saying this hyperbole to get us to ask this question.

475
00:29:36,020 --> 00:29:38,080
Is there any place where you've been holding out?

476
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,340
Is there any place where you have not been showing up,

477
00:29:43,180 --> 00:29:46,340
but you know you've been investing more of your time, your energy,

478
00:29:46,940 --> 00:29:50,300
more of your love in some other area of life?

479
00:29:54,180 --> 00:29:56,700
Jesus is saying when the world looks at us,

480
00:29:57,340 --> 00:30:00,360
they should see such a white hot love for Jesus

481
00:30:00,380 --> 00:30:03,720
that it influences the places and spaces we prioritize.

482
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,360
The things we prioritize showing up for.

483
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,340
The people we prioritize loving with all that we have.

484
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,560
And so how are you going to experience the transforming power of Jesus

485
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:16,960
as you go all in loving Jesus?

486
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:19,360
Here's the next one.

487
00:30:19,700 --> 00:30:20,380
Look at verse 27.

488
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,000
Whoever doesn't bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

489
00:30:25,820 --> 00:30:29,560
For which of you wanting to build a tower doesn't first sit down and calculate the cost

490
00:30:29,580 --> 00:30:30,840
if he has enough to complete it.

491
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,020
Otherwise, after he's laid the foundation

492
00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:34,000
and cannot finish it,

493
00:30:34,060 --> 00:30:35,880
all the onlookers will ridicule him saying,

494
00:30:36,260 --> 00:30:38,100
this man started to build and wasn't able to finish

495
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,080
or what king going to war against another king

496
00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:43,000
won't first sit down and decide

497
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,480
if he's able with 10,000 to oppose the one

498
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:46,900
who comes against him with 20,000.

499
00:30:47,500 --> 00:30:49,180
If not, while the other is still far off,

500
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,560
he sends a delegation to ask for terms of peace.

501
00:30:51,940 --> 00:30:52,780
In the same way, therefore,

502
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,120
every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions

503
00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:57,760
cannot be my disciple.

504
00:30:58,540 --> 00:31:00,880
Okay, another really intense thing Jesus says.

505
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:02,960
He starts out this section by saying,

506
00:31:03,010 --> 00:31:04,600
if you're gonna be my disciple, my servant,

507
00:31:04,930 --> 00:31:06,960
you gotta pick up your own cross and carry it.

508
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:08,860
And he finishes this section by saying,

509
00:31:08,870 --> 00:31:10,700
if you're gonna be my servant, my disciple,

510
00:31:10,950 --> 00:31:12,620
you have to renounce all of your possessions.

511
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:16,240
Huh, what's that mean?

512
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:19,260
But here's what Jesus is saying.

513
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:21,140
Jesus is saying, if you wanna follow me,

514
00:31:21,580 --> 00:31:23,820
be ready to go all in and sacrifice.

515
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:27,620
Be ready to go all in and sacrifice.

516
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:34,820
But now, before we get to how we sacrifice, let's think for just a second about how God sacrificed for us.

517
00:31:35,700 --> 00:31:40,520
We can't overstate the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross.

518
00:31:41,740 --> 00:31:48,400
Jesus was tried, convicted, and then forced to carry the thing that would kill him to the place that it would kill him.

519
00:31:48,850 --> 00:31:55,860
He was stripped naked, nailed to the cross, pulled up to hang there so that people could laugh at him, mock him.

520
00:31:56,100 --> 00:32:01,300
He was bleeding. He had his bladder and his bowels emptied. He cried out. And then he took all of

521
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:09,220
your and my sin, failure, and brokenness on himself in the most epic, amazing, beautiful

522
00:32:10,090 --> 00:32:17,820
moment of sacrifice so that you and I could party with God forever. Jesus knew that it was the only

523
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:23,460
way you and I could experience true, lasting forgiveness of all of our brokenness and rebellion

524
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:28,780
and sin. And Jesus said, if that's the way, then that's the sacrifice I'm going to make. And a lot

525
00:32:28,780 --> 00:32:35,060
of times I look at my own life and I think about how Jesus who sacrificed all for me, Jesus who went

526
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:40,940
all in for me, how does he look at the sacrifice I'm making for him with my life?

527
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,940
Am I going all in with Jesus or am I giving Jesus my scraps?

528
00:32:49,140 --> 00:32:56,160
Jesus didn't give me his scraps. He gave me all of himself. And then Romans 12, 1, it says this,

529
00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:01,880
just as God has served us, he's called us to be living sacrifices here in this world for him.

530
00:33:02,980 --> 00:33:08,300
He said, as I've given you everything and poured out all of myself into you, so give your whole life

531
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:15,460
back to me. He says, take up your cross, take, to willingly take it. He's not forcing it on us.

532
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,700
He wants us to make a willing decision to sacrifice in his name.

533
00:33:20,170 --> 00:33:21,820
And he says, take your own cross.

534
00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:25,400
Your sacrifice might look different from someone else's.

535
00:33:25,740 --> 00:33:30,600
How you go all in pursuing Jesus and living a sacrificial life in his service is going to be unique.

536
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,420
Don't compare your cross with other people's cross.

537
00:33:34,780 --> 00:33:37,260
But just ask God, what is the cross you're calling me to pick up?

538
00:33:37,900 --> 00:33:41,080
How are you calling me to sacrifice for you in this world?

539
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:45,020
What you and I might have to do is what Jesus is talking about in these verses.

540
00:33:45,340 --> 00:33:50,620
He talks about a builder who sits down and plans for the sacrifice of building the tower.

541
00:33:50,910 --> 00:33:56,140
He talks about a king who sits down and plans for the sacrifice of going to war.

542
00:33:56,700 --> 00:34:00,260
And it might be that a lot of us just haven't sat down and actually said,

543
00:34:00,580 --> 00:34:03,260
how am I going to live a life of living sacrifice to God?

544
00:34:04,860 --> 00:34:08,020
I think that's something that a lot of us think that we're just going to kind of stumble into.

545
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:10,120
Well, I've given my save the date.

546
00:34:10,820 --> 00:34:11,720
I've said I'll be there.

547
00:34:11,820 --> 00:34:15,960
and then the rest of my life I'm just going to kind of have to figure out how I follow God and what that looks like.

548
00:34:17,340 --> 00:34:19,860
And I think what Jesus is telling us is that no, be more intentional.

549
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:24,940
Sit down and plan. Sit down and plan how you're going to sacrifice your finances.

550
00:34:27,020 --> 00:34:32,020
God tells us to go all in and sacrifice our whole lives and that includes every way he's blessed us so that includes our money.

551
00:34:32,540 --> 00:34:37,740
I think a lot of people don't give and sacrifice of their finances to worship God in that way because they don't plan to.

552
00:34:39,399 --> 00:34:43,840
They think, well, it'll happen one day once I'm stable enough, once there's enough gravy on top

553
00:34:44,540 --> 00:34:49,280
and there's excess. But listen, we don't do what we don't plan to do.

554
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,440
So a lot of us might just have to sit down and plan. If the washing machine broke down

555
00:34:55,860 --> 00:34:59,060
and stopped working, but we didn't have money for it, we'd sit down and make a plan. Okay,

556
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,700
here's how we're going to have to sacrifice. I'm not going to go get six Starbucks drinks a week.

557
00:35:03,740 --> 00:35:07,660
I'm going to sacrifice for a while so that we can get the new washing machine.

558
00:35:08,740 --> 00:35:11,880
I think what God is saying here is let's sit down and prioritize what's important.

559
00:35:13,220 --> 00:35:16,900
How are we going to put our living sacrifice to God as a priority

560
00:35:17,170 --> 00:35:19,800
where we say this is first and we'll figure out the rest?

561
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,020
We do that with our finances.

562
00:35:22,130 --> 00:35:23,180
We do that with our time.

563
00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:25,780
How are we going to invest our time and energy?

564
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,500
We do that with people who are the people that we are going to sacrificially love

565
00:35:29,850 --> 00:35:31,320
so much that it hurts us.

566
00:35:32,540 --> 00:35:35,800
When we go all in with living lives of sacrifice,

567
00:35:36,180 --> 00:35:40,740
We're going to watch and see how God transforms us to powerfully serve others

568
00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:46,440
and to be content in his love and care for us, even when we're sacrificing.

569
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:53,180
We experience God's transforming power when we go all in sacrificing for Jesus.

570
00:35:53,270 --> 00:35:55,720
And now last one, verse 34, real quick.

571
00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:01,260
Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty?

572
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,680
It isn't fit for the soil or the manure pile.

573
00:36:03,750 --> 00:36:04,520
They throw it out.

574
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,760
Let anyone who has ears to hear, let him listen.

575
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:08,900
I'm gonna unpack this quickly,

576
00:36:08,900 --> 00:36:10,060
but here's what Jesus is saying.

577
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:11,760
Salt does all kinds of things.

578
00:36:12,060 --> 00:36:14,440
It preserves, purifies, flavors, corrodes.

579
00:36:14,620 --> 00:36:17,040
No matter what it touches, it changes that thing.

580
00:36:17,420 --> 00:36:18,660
It influences it.

581
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,780
And that's how Jesus wants us to live.

582
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:24,720
The third way we experience God's transforming power

583
00:36:24,940 --> 00:36:27,260
is that we go all in with our influence.

584
00:36:29,260 --> 00:36:31,980
God has given you your family, your friends,

585
00:36:32,380 --> 00:36:34,540
your neighborhood, your workplace.

586
00:36:34,980 --> 00:36:38,020
God has given you spheres of influence in your life.

587
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,540
And he said, go and influence those places for Jesus.

588
00:36:44,820 --> 00:36:47,860
That's what we see the master telling the servant to do.

589
00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:50,820
Go out and bring more people into the party.

590
00:36:51,220 --> 00:36:53,240
And you and I now as followers of Jesus,

591
00:36:53,540 --> 00:36:55,080
if we're gonna go all in with him,

592
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,900
we have to recognize that Jesus has given us a new mission,

593
00:36:58,460 --> 00:36:59,120
a new purpose.

594
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:01,900
Your job is not a dead end job.

595
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:04,700
your job is your mission field

596
00:37:06,319 --> 00:37:08,360
your family is not hopeless

597
00:37:09,530 --> 00:37:10,940
your family has you in it

598
00:37:13,380 --> 00:37:14,240
God has given us

599
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:16,360
incredible eternal purpose

600
00:37:16,450 --> 00:37:18,280
to go out and tell others

601
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:19,380
that there's a party

602
00:37:19,590 --> 00:37:20,920
that they're invited into

603
00:37:20,990 --> 00:37:23,200
to compel them to come in

604
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:25,560
we can literally influence people

605
00:37:26,060 --> 00:37:27,640
into God's kingdom

606
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,620
as we speak to them about Jesus

607
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,920
as we show them the love of Jesus.

608
00:37:33,260 --> 00:37:34,980
We experience God's transforming power

609
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,200
as we influence others to come into his party.

610
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:39,840
Listen, guys, this is what it looks like

611
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:40,760
to go all in with Jesus.

612
00:37:41,580 --> 00:37:44,280
We go all in loving him, sacrificing for him,

613
00:37:44,740 --> 00:37:46,580
influencing others for him.

614
00:37:47,420 --> 00:37:49,980
But we do it because he went all in first with us.

615
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:52,940
He gave us his whole life.

616
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:56,480
He loved us to death, this meal that we're about to take.

617
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:58,920
And because he gave his all to us,

618
00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:05,620
When we are filled up with his grace and mercy, it spills out into us going all in with him.

619
00:38:06,180 --> 00:38:12,120
And we experience the transforming power so that when he returns to bring us into his party forever, we're ready.

620
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:24,720
But to not go all in with Jesus, to instead say, I'm going to go after my houses and my fields and my relationships,

621
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:29,520
could mean that when the day comes when Jesus returns and is ready to party,

622
00:38:29,900 --> 00:38:30,580
that you're not ready.

623
00:38:32,300 --> 00:38:34,340
It might mean that your heart was never in it in the first place.

624
00:38:36,460 --> 00:38:39,040
And so at Harbor, we're getting ready to do something that we've never done before.

625
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:44,040
We're getting ready to embark on a two-year journey where we take this really seriously.

626
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,860
We're getting ready to embark on a two-year journey

627
00:38:47,180 --> 00:38:52,180
where we're going to ask all of our covenant members and regular attenders to go all in.

628
00:38:53,300 --> 00:38:56,600
In two weeks, we're launching a new sermon series called Until the Day.

629
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,960
And that sermon series is built on the verse in Philippians 1.6 that says this,

630
00:39:01,340 --> 00:39:03,940
that the good work that God has started in you and me,

631
00:39:04,220 --> 00:39:08,660
the good work of inviting us into the party and making the way for us to be in the party,

632
00:39:09,060 --> 00:39:12,800
Jesus is going to bring it to completion until the day he returns.

633
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:14,760
That's what Philippians 1.6 says.

634
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:20,020
So here's what Philippians 1.6 means, that God is at work in those that he's saving.

635
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:27,760
He's at work in our lives to grow us, to help us take next steps in all the ways that we need to

636
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:31,920
grow to be ready for the party. And so we're going to go through a whole sermon series and we're going

637
00:39:31,940 --> 00:39:37,420
to look at six areas that we believe that every disciple of Jesus should be growing in. And we're

638
00:39:37,460 --> 00:39:43,420
going to ask everyone at the end of it on November 9th to commit. To commit and say over the next two

639
00:39:43,540 --> 00:39:49,379
years, I am going to go hard after this next step or these two next steps. I'm going to go hard after

640
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,580
getting ready for the party.

641
00:39:53,220 --> 00:39:54,920
I'm gonna renounce pursuing these other things

642
00:39:54,980 --> 00:39:55,940
and giving my life to them,

643
00:39:56,180 --> 00:39:57,880
but I'm gonna go hard after following Jesus,

644
00:39:58,220 --> 00:39:59,320
harder than I've ever gone.

645
00:40:00,500 --> 00:40:02,240
And we're gonna see what God does

646
00:40:02,240 --> 00:40:03,820
and how he meets us over the next two years.

647
00:40:04,100 --> 00:40:05,860
We have planned a party, a one-year party

648
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:08,620
in November of 2026 to just gather up

649
00:40:08,860 --> 00:40:10,480
and celebrate what God's done in a year.

650
00:40:10,700 --> 00:40:12,580
And then we'll throw another party at the end of two years.

651
00:40:12,940 --> 00:40:14,080
But you're gonna start hearing this language

652
00:40:14,460 --> 00:40:15,860
over and over at our church.

653
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,260
What's your next step until the day?

654
00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:22,520
we want to take this seriously

655
00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:25,680
God says he's throwing a party for us

656
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:27,180
and he wants us to be ready

657
00:40:27,620 --> 00:40:28,660
he says those who are ready

658
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,260
those who are experiencing my transforming power

659
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:32,820
by going all in with me

660
00:40:33,220 --> 00:40:34,880
they will be ready when the day comes

661
00:40:36,180 --> 00:40:37,660
and so may we not be like the people

662
00:40:37,720 --> 00:40:39,420
who are giving our hearts to other things

663
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:41,220
but may we be a people

664
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:42,960
who are going all in with Jesus

665
00:40:43,940 --> 00:40:46,160
because he went all in with us

666
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:48,500
let's pray together