Latest / REZ CHURCH Podcast / What Bothers You Reveals What You Want - November 2, 2025

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What Bothers You Reveals What You Want - November 2, 2025 · REZ CHURCH Podcast

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Oh my goodness, I had goosebumps.
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I had to hold back 'cause I was like, if I let it all out now,
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I'm not going to be able to talk.
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So let me ask you, have you ever witnessed someone worship,
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worship Jesus in a way that made you feel uncomfortable?
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Not because they were showy, because it, it stirred something
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up in you. Maybe you watch somebody give to
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the church and they, they were giving extravagantly and you're
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like, I don't know, man. Or maybe you heard somebody say
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a prayer. That was an absolute confidence
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that God is going to provide and be there in their life.
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And you're like, man, that seems a little bit naive.
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Or maybe, or maybe you've seen somebody take a radical change
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in their life to follow Jesus. And you're looking at it like
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you'd kind of gone a little bit too far.
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And you've convinced yourself, you convince yourself that your
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response is the mature one. It's the responsible one, it's
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the wise one. But what if it's not wisdom?
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What if it's something else entirely?
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I'll never forget when my wife came up to me and she was
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excited. She was being presented with a
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ministry opportunity and she had a chance to start a homeschool
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Group, A Christian homeschool group in Korea and, and in
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China. And this is a chance for her to
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impact lives, a chance for her to step into something bigger.
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And my first words to her were not, I'm so proud of you.
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They were not, wow, What? What is God doing in our lives
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that we could go on this journey?
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No, my first response was, have you really thought about how
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much time this is going to take? You know, our, our, our kids
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schedule. Our schedules are pretty busy.
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Are you ready for this, this kind of commitment, this kind of
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responsibility? Immediately I shut down the joy
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before it could even start to grow roots or take something
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simpler. She loves to bake cakes.
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She will bake a cake. She will create a beautiful,
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elaborate cake for a birthday, for a celebration.
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And every single time I look at that cake and I can't hold my
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mouth and I say, honey, you know, Costco's right down the
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street, $30 sheet cake. We could have this handled.
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She's pouring out love, creativity, celebrating, and I'm
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over here calculating, 'cause I don't see the glass half full, I
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see it half empty. And if I'm being brutally honest
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with you, it's empty because it's cracked, it's leaking.
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I don't leave room for God, I don't leave room for the joy He
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brings. I don't leave room for
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extravagant worship. And I'm realizing I don't have a
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practical problem, I have a cynicism problem.
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And when I see somebody wasting money, wasting resources,
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wasting time on Jesus, their carefully planned out lives, my
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first reaction isn't, wow, look at them worship God, it's
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criticism. I'm realizing I'm not the wise
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one in the room. I'm the cynic that gets in the
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way of the Lord. In John chapter 12, we're going
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to witness a dinner party, and at the dinner party there's
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going to be 3 different types of people's responses, how they
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respond to Jesus, and they're going to be completely
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different. One will be 1 worships
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extravagantly. The next will be one group
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watches skeptically and lastly, 1 criticizes harshly and Jesus
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reveals that the response, the responses that they are showing,
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it's really it's really about their hearts.
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That's our big idea for today. Your worship reveals what you
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truly treasure. Your worship, the things you
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worship. It truly shows what you
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treasure. And the question I'm going to
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ask now and I want you to think about this and we're going to
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get to this at the end. Are you more like Mary?
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Are you more like the disciples or are you more like Judas?
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So if you ever Bibles turn with me to John chapter 12, we're
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going to start in verse one. If you don't have your Bible, so
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it's OK, we're going to have on the screen.
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But some quick context. So what's happening, what we've
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been reading through for the last month or so is Jesus had
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just raised his best friend Lazarus from the dead, not
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freshly did not. Maybe he's kind of sleeping.
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Not like we could probably do CPR and get this guy back.
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This guy's gone. He's been dead for four days,
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body decomposing. This wasn't just another
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healing. This was a resurrection, an
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undeniable unstoppable proof that Jesus is and has power over
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death. This is 6 days before Jesus will
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be betrayed, arrested, beaten, taken, nailed to the cross as a
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perfect man willingly going to be a sacrifice for us.
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John chapter 12, verse one. Six days before the Passover,
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Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was the one Jesus had
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raised from the dead. So they gave him a dinner for
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him. There Martha was serving them
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and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
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Then Mary took a pound of pure a perfume pure and expensive.
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Nard anointed Jesus's feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
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So the house was filled filled with the fragrance of the
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perfume. Then one of his disciples, Judas
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Iscariot said the one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot who
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was about to portray him said why wasn't this perfume sold for
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300 Denari verse 7 Jesus answered, leave her alone.
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She has kept it for the day of my burial.
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For you will always have the poor with you, but you do not
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always have me. The table is set.
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Lazarus is there once wrapped up and clothed grave clothes.
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Now he's just sitting there enjoying the house.
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It's filled with people, it's exciting, it's loud, enjoying
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dinner like nothing ever happened.
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Martha's in the kitchen doing what Martha does best.
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She's serving, serving Jesus now.
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Now she understands what she's serving.
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For the disciples, they're there too, probably still whispering
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about what happened and why there's a dead guy in the room.
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In the culture, when you went to dinner with them, they would put
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a few drops of cheap perfume on your head and guests would have
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their feet washed. But Mary, she doesn't do that.
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In fact, she does the complete opposite.
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She takes the most expensive perfume a year, a year's worth
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of wages, 70 to $100,000. In this bottle.
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They see Mary take it out. All eyes are on her now.
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They know that this could have been a family treasure, her
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savings account, maybe even her life investment.
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And she does the unthinkable. She pours every last drop out.
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Then, in complete surrender, she undos her hair, let's it down
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and starts to wipe Jesus with her hair.
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The entire house goes silent. Everyone knows Mary just gave
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everything she had. She surrendered.
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She let it all out. Now watch these three responses.
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Response #1 Mary's extravagant worship.
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Mary's worship reveals a heart that treasures Jesus.
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Why, Mary? Why?
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Why would you pour out an entire year's salary in one moment?
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Here's what Mary understood. Jesus is worth everything.
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He's worth everything. Mary had just watched Jesus
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raise her brother from the dead. Jesus calling out Lazarus, come
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out, come out alive. And Mary's looking at this jar
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of perfume and sees, sees this jar and say this is an
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investment. This isn't a security.
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This is something I can give to the one person, the one person
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who actually made a difference in my life, brought my brother
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back from the dead. She didn't hesitate.
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She didn't calculate. She broke it open and poured out
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everything. Because when you truly, when you
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truly treasure Jesus, extravagant worship isn't
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wasteful. It's the only reasonable
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response. But notices Mary, she's not the
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only one in that room. The disciples, the disciples
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cynical caution because of the disciples faith reveals that
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their hearts are for safety and they're cynical.
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Look back at verse 4. It says one of his disciples,
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Judas, spoke up with criticism. But if you look at the other
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accounts, if you look at Matthew, if you look at Mark, it
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says this. When the disciples saw this,
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they were indignant. Why this waste?
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It wasn't just Judas. It was the disciples in the
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room, the inner circle, the ones who've been following Jesus for
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years, the ones who had seen him do miracles.
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They watched Mary pour out everything.
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They wondered why. Why this waste?
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The disciples were not like Judas.
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They weren't evil. But they were skeptical.
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They were cynical, they were calculating.
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They agreed this could have been sold for something more given to
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the poor. And on the surface that sounds
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noble. But what really is revealed is
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they didn't believe Jesus was worth that much.
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They'd follow Jesus, They'd serve Jesus.
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They even left their jobs to be with Jesus.
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But pour out everything. Come on now, let's not get
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carried away. And if I'm being real, if I'm
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being honest with you, I'm just like those disciples.
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When somebody gets an opportunity, a ministry
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opportunity, I don't say that's pointless.
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No, I say, have we really thought this through?
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I am not hostile to worship. I love worship, but I'm
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cautious. I'm skeptical.
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I'm practical. When I see somebody worship me
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in a way that I don't worship, my views start to change on
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them. And Jesus calls that cynicism,
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cynicism, Show, show. Cynicism shows up when you've
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seen Jesus do incredible things. But you hold back.
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You hold back your worship and your trust.
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You leave no space for him to work wonders in your life.
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The disciples, they've seen Jesus turn water into wine, feed
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the 5000, heal the blind, walk on water, raise the dead.
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And they still wonder. They still question, Mary, are
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you worshipping Jesus too much? Have you gone overboard?
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Because here's the thing about cynicism.
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It always assumes the worst. When I see the glass half empty,
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I'm not being realistic. I'm refusing to believe God will
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fill it up. When I kill my wife's joy.
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I'm not being wise. I'm refusing to God that God
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actually has a calling in her life in that area.
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When I'm calculating worship, I'm not being responsible.
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I'm refusing to believe Jesus is worth it.
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Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it's really just unbelief
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with a spreadsheet. And here's what terrifies me.
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The disciples are in that room. They're in there with Jesus.
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They're watching. They're watching this beautiful
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act, they can smell, they're experiencing it, and yet they
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still miss it because they're cynical enough to critique it.
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And some of you, like me or like the disciples not far from
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Jesus, you're in the room, you're in church, you're
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serving, You know the answers. But when someone else worships
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extravagantly, they give sacrificially, they trust
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recklessly, they pray expectantly.
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Your first thought isn't I want to be like that person.
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No, it's I'm not sure if that's wise.
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I'm not sure if that's responsible.
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I think that might, might be too much because I'm the mature one.
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But Jesus is about to show us that cynicism isn't maturity.
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It's a prison, a prison that keeps you from experiencing the
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fullness of God, what God wants to do in your life.
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Response #3 Judas Judas calculated criticism.
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Judas criticism reveals a heart that treasures something other
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than Jesus. It's treasuring money.
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Mary is on her knees worshiping. Everyone is in there witnessing
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this costly worship and the one person that can't keep his mouth
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shut is Judas. Verse four.
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He says this. Then one of the his disciples,
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Judas Iscariot, was about to betray him and he said why
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wasn't this perfume sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor
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six. He didn't say this because he
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cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.
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He was in charge of the money bag and when still part of it,
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what was put into it? The disciples, they questioned
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this worship, but Judas condemned this worship.
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He didn't think this was just wasteful, wasteful.
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He was angry about it. John opens up the curtain of his
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heart because he didn't care about the poor.
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He was a thief. Judas had been around Jesus for
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three years, seen every miracle, heard every sermon, sat with
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dinner after dinner, getting the teachings strictly from Jesus
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himself. He had Jesus, he had all of him.
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He had it all and he missed it all because his heart, his heart
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treasured more morning. His heart treasured money more
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than the Messiah. Judas had everything.
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He'd seen the the sick being healed, the storms being called,
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raised from the dead, heard every sermon.
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He'd be in the front row of the miracles of the Son of God.
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But when he looked at Jesus, he saw a means to an end.
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He saw a way to fund his agenda, a resource to manage your
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worship. Your worship reveals what you
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truly treasure. He never saw Jesus as a
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treasure. He saw Jesus as a tool.
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Verse 7 Jesus answered, leave her alone, she has kept it for
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the day of my burial. For you always have the poor
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with you, but you do not always have me.
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Jesus is not saying don't care for the poor, Actually he tells
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us He commands us to take care of the poor.
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But the hard truth is, what you criticize in others often
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reveals what you treasure in secrets.
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What you criticize in others often reveals what you treasure
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in secret. It's not a secret anymore.
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Some of you were thinking, this doesn't make sense.
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You're asking me to worship. You're asking me to do something
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that sounds irresponsible. And if you think about it
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practically, Judas wasn't wrong. That was a lot of money.
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But here's what he missed. This isn't about perfume.
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This is about the person. Three people groups in that
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room. 3 responses to Judas, to Jesus.
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Excuse me. Mary is our model.
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She's our model. This is the hearts we're aiming
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for. The disciples are the mirror.
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And if we're honest, this is where most of us are.
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We love Jesus, but we calculate. We follow Jesus, but we hold
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back. Judas is the warning.
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This is where cynicism leads. If we never surrender close to
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Jesus but miss him entirely. I asked you to think about that.
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Which one are you? Because I've realized I've spent
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most of my Christian life as a disciple in that room.
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Not hostile to Jesus, but not worshipping him in full
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surrender. Not betraying him, but not
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pouring out everything I have. I'm the guy who serves Jesus,
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but practicality is my first key.
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I'm the guy who worship worships Jesus, but only to the point to
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the That makes sense to me. If you're worshipping in a way
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that I don't know, I don't experience, I don't understand,
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it might not be the right way. The truth is, we all spend
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extravagantly on what we love, $200 concert tickets?
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Worth it. Driving 6 hours to go meet
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somebody that you think you might like?
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That's love staying up all night to finish your kids science
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board because you love them. That's the only reason I'm not
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calling Mary's worship over the top.
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Jesus just brought back her brother from the dead, so
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pouring out everything she had perfectly natural the most
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reasonable response to a resurrection is extravagant
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worship. What I'm saying is, my
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calculations often don't account for who Jesus is and what Jesus
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has actually done in my life. I'm over here doing math, trying
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to figure it out, but I'm not including the most important
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variable, Jesus himself. That's not wisdom, that's
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cynicism. Religion calculates, but
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relationships, Relationships pours out.
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Everything that you have. The disciples they're doing in
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religion. Mary, Mary is in a relationship.
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And Judas, I need you to hear this.
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You can be around Jesus and still miss him.
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You can attend church every week, you can serve on teams,
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you can know all the answers. You can do all the right things,
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but you can still treasure something greater than Jesus.
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And maybe Jesus isn't your treasure.
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You go to church. You go to church on Sunday
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because it's expected of you, You, your family.
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This is what your family does. This is a family legacy.
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This is a religious check box. I have to do this on Sunday.
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Or maybe you're hoping that Jesus will improve your life,
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give you peace, fix your problems, bless your plans.
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But what if? But what if he's not?
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He's not asking just to be your helper.
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What if he's calling? He's calling you to surrender
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your life to Him, to make him your greatest treasure.
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I asked this, 'cause maybe you're in the room right now,
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but and maybe you missed him. Three years Judas was with Jesus
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and he missed it. I bet you don't let that be your
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story. Understand what Mary understood.
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Her brother was dead and Jesus made him alive.
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That's why she didn't hesitate. That's why she poured out
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everything. That's why the cost was not too
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high. When you've seen someone you
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love be brought back from physical or spiritual death, you
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don't stop and ask, is this too much worship?
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You ask, what can I possibly do to worship the one thing that
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made such a difference in my life?
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And here's what Mary understood. And some of us are missing.
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This just isn't Lazarus's story. This is our story too.
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Listen to how the Paul, the apostle Paul describes every
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single one of us before Jesus. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 2
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says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which
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you previously walked, according to the ways of this world,
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according to the ruler of the power of the air, the Spirit now
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working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived
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among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the
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inclinations of our flesh and our thoughts, and we were by
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nature children under wrath, as the others were also dead in
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sin, chained to the world, living just like everyone else.
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That was me, That is some of you.
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Verse 4, The 2 greatest words. But God.
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But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love that
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He has for us, for you, for me, made us alive with Christ, even
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though we were dead in trespasses.
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You, me, we are saved by grace. You can't save yourselves.
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Jesus lived a perfect life, the life you can't live.
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He died the death that you deserved, and he rose to offer
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forgiveness and eternal life. That's why Mary worshipped
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extravagantly. She understood I was dead and he
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made me alive. If that's true, if Jesus has
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saved you from death, then what's too much to give him?
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The question I have to ask, I have to ask.
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It always is. Has Jesus made you alive?
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Or are you still dead in this room hearing about Jesus,
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watching others worship, but you've never actually
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surrendered to him? Don't be like Judas.
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Don't miss him when you're this close.
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Romans 10/9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
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Lord and you believe in your heart that God racing from the
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dead, you will be saved. It simply says, if you admit
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that Jesus, I am a Sinner, I cannot save myself, I believe
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you. I believe that Jesus died and
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rose again and I surrender Jesus be my Lord.
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If that's your heart right now, I suggest I urge you to
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surrender your life to Jesus. I'm going to give you a chance.
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Maybe that's something you want to do right now.
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If we all could bow our heads, if you're willing to ask for
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forgiveness and for salvation, pray this to God.
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Jesus, I know, I know. I'm a Sinner.
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I cannot save myself. I want you to save me.
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I want you to adopt me into your family.
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I surrender everything to you. I receive your promise of
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forgiveness, your promise of adoption, your promise of
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eternal life. Jesus be my Lord, with no one
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looking around. If you prayed that for the very
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first time would you be brave and raise your hand for me to
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see I see your hand. Anybody else?
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You can put your hands down in Jesus name, Amen.
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If you raise your hand, and I have seen raise hands in this
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room, welcome to the family of God.
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There are tables in the back of our sanctuary that have signs
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that say I raised my hand at those tables.
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There's people that they want to celebrate with you.
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They want to give you a Bible. They want to talk about what it
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looks like in their lives for them to surrender and what it
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looks like for you to give it all to Jesus.
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For those who've already known Jesus, if Jesus is truly your
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greatest treasure, then what does your worship look like?
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It's easy to sing on Sunday, but it's hard to live out on Monday.
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This week I'm challenging you. I'm going to ask you.
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I'm asking myself the hard question.
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What's the one thing? What's the one thing in your
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life that you won't give to Jesus?
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Identify your hold back. Your hold back is a thing that
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that you hesitate to surrender because it feels too costly,
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feels too risky, feels too important, too important.
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Tim Keller calls us the idols of our hearts, the things, the
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treasures that we're unwilling to give to God, that we can't
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give up. It could be your time, could be
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your money, could be your passions, could be your
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reputation. This week, I urge you to talk to
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God. Have Him reveal that in your
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life. Write it down.
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The thing I'm holding back from Jesus is this #2 take one step
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of extravagant worship. Don't just pray, Do something.
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This week. If it's time, sign up to serve.
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We have a lot of things happening right now.
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If it's money, set up your tithe.
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If it's your reputation, share Jesus with somebody this week.
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Break open your bottle and pour all you have out be.
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Here's what I'm learning. The only thing more costly than
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extravagant worship is withholding worship and missing
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out. What God wants to do in my life
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#3 the last thing is pray a dangerous prayer.
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Pray, Jesus. I have been treating this thing
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as more valuable than you. I've been cynical instead of
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expectant. I've been calculating instead of
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trusting. Jesus, I repent.
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I want to change my wise, my ways.
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I want to look to you. I don't want to run from my
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past. Show me what it looks like to be
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obedient and give me the courage to obey.
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Here is the key, you and I, we can't do this on our own.
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This isn't about our willpower. This is about the Holy Spirit
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transforming hearts, turning a disciple's heart that calculates
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into a merry heart that pours out everything.
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Ask him. Ask him to replace your cynicism
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with expectancy, your skepticism with trust, your caution with
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courage. I invite the prayer team to come
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out right now during our closing song.
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I encourage you to come and pray with them.
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Pray about anything. Maybe you've recognized that God
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is calling you to give him something.
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Come pray about that. If you all could stand right
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now, we're going to sing our last song together.
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As you stand, as the call, as the Lord calls you, as the
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Lord's asking you to move. Let him meet you.
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Let him transform your hearts.