You
service started. If you'd grab a hymnal, our first hymn, number 356, I must tell
Jesus. Hymn number 356, 356, I must tell Jesus. 356, we'll sing their starting on
the first. I must tell Jesus.
with the word of prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for this day. We thank you
for leading us to those souls who gladly received the gospel of your son. I pray
that you would just help them find a good church and to serve you with their
life. Lord for this service this evening I pray that everything would be as
always done decently and in order. I pray that you'd incline your ears we sing
praises unto you and that you would open our ears to the message that
All right, our next hymn, number 200.
He's a wonderful savior to me.
Hymn number 200.
200, we'll sing there starting right on the first.
I was lost in sin, but Jesus rescued me.
Jesus, turn to me.
please raise your hand and Usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory passage
of the week late or sorry not Galatians Genesis chapter number one verse two on the inside
our service times are listed there Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening at 4 30 and our Wednesday
We do have all of our soul winning times listed below that and just as a reminder all those meet
here at the church building. Below that you'll see our year-to-date statistic for soul winning and
baptisms. The soul winners in the Philippines had about 180 salvations last week so they're doing
a great job over there and keep praying for them please. Upcoming events we do have July 27th
is our next men's preaching night followed by a potluck and game night.
There'll be a sign-up sheet for that in the back pretty shortly here.
August 2nd is a soul-winning marathon that we're going to be having in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
I'm just curious, who has ever been to this town? Can you raise your hand? Okay, three, four people?
All right, all right, but that's a lot more than I expected, so looking forward to going and checking that area out.
August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship.
Like I mentioned this morning, Pastor Shelley released a detailed itinerary of
the events of that conference, so make sure to check that out. I know there's
going to be a pickleball competition, which is really gaining a popularity, so
make sure you get your partner squared away, and if you're gonna be competing in
that, email steadfastbaptistchurch of your partner, that way they can get all
Picked brother Brandon steadfast. He's my partner. So I'm looking forward to that
And then we have after that October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas mission trip
I cannot wait for that. Really excited. On the right, we do have our prayer list. Like I said,
please keep our soul winners over in the Philippines in prayer and those other requests
as well. And if you have any requests, you could always email the church and I'll make sure to
add those for you. Or if you just want a private prayer, you could always get in contact with me
and I will pray for you right away. We also have listed information visitor card and online giving.
Our third hymn this evening number 182 wonderful story of love
182 182 wonderful story of love
182, we'll sing there right on the first.
Wonderful story of love
Tell it to me again
Wonderful story of love
Wake the immortal strain
Angels with rapture announced
you would to Matthew chapter number four. Matthew chapter number
Good evening Matthew for the Bible reads then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil
And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights
He was afterward and hungered and when the tempter came to him
He said if thou be the son of God came man that these stones be made bread
But he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone
But but by every word that precedeth out of the mouth of God
then the devil takeeth him up into the holy city and seteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
and saith unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written,
he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, it is written again,
into an exceeding high mountain and show with him all the kingdom kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and
Sayeth unto him all these will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship me
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship,
the Lord thy God, and him only, shalt thou serve.
Then the devil, leave with him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee and
leaving Nazareth.
which is upon the seacoast and the borders of Zabulun and Nephthilim that it might be fulfilled
Which was spoken by a size the prophet saying the land of Zabulun and the name of and the land of
Nephthilim by the way of the sea beyond Jordan
Galilee of the Gentiles the people which sat in darkness saw great light and of them and to them
Which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up
From that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and
Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee
Saul to brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishers
And he sayeth unto them follow me and I will make you fishers of men
And they straightway left their nets and followed him and going on from fence
He saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him.
And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments and those which were possessed with devils and those which were
lunatic and those that had the palsy and he healed them and there followed him
Great multitudes of people from Galilee and from the capitalist and from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan
That's by our heads for a prayer
You can say it for you, yes, that you feel closer to the Holy Spirit and help us to learn to work and do some great things.
All right, Matthew chapter 4 verse 18 is where I want to start this evening.
The Bible says in Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers, and he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
and they straightway left their nets and followed him.
The title of my sermon this evening is Follow Jesus.
Follow Jesus.
Here we see in this chapter the story
of the Lord Jesus Christ choosing four of his disciples,
two sets of brothers here.
And of course we know these weren't the only disciples
that Jesus had, but it is recording some of the disciples
that he chose.
And before we get into the sermon,
I kind of want to...
answer, ask and answer this question, you know, why would the Lord Jesus Christ even need disciples?
I mean, he's God, right? And some people might ask the question, well, why would he even need
disciples? Well, go ahead and go to Romans 10. Keep your place there in Matthew 4 throughout the sermon.
But Romans 10 is going to shed some light on this because the truth is that the work of God,
the work of the kingdom of God, is a joint effort between God
and saved believers some people today who want to act all hyper spiritual would act like we don't
need organized religion and there's a lot of people that kind of look down on an organized church
and like I said this morning there's a lot of people that think you're in church right now
when you're at your house but I want you to notice what the Bible says in Romans 10 verse 13
It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
Of course, we know you've got to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
And then these next couple of verses, it's going to give us kind of the process by which
someone gets saved.
Notice right here, it says this, and they shall, sorry, how then shall they call on
him whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear
And how shall they preach except they be sent, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
So notice, we need, of course, we need God in this equation for people to get saved, but we also need a preacher.
and without preachers today, without soul winners, without human beings that are willing to go do
the work of God, then the work of God will simply not be accomplished. You know, Jesus Christ was
here on this, in this world, when he was in the world, he was the light of the world. But he told
us, hey, when I leave this world,
You are the light of the world, right?
We are the salt of the earth.
We as God's people have been given
the ministry of reconciliation,
the entrustment of the great commission of Jesus Christ.
And look, Jesus is not going out knocking doors today.
Right, and if someone knocks on your door and they say that they're Jesus you need to close the door as soon as possible
Because it's not actually him. All right, Jesus isn't out knocking doors. He's not out baptizing people
He's not preaching sermons today. And so he left
Disciples to do that. He had to train men so that when he died on the cross when he went to heaven and left us here
That there were still men to carry on the work of God
So that's why he chose these disciples and I think there's a lot of great lessons
We can learn from the choosing of his disciples
here in Matthew chapter 4. Go back to Matthew 4.
I want to remind you of what the Great Commission is.
Matthew 28, 19, Jesus said,
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world, amen.
So notice, he entrusted us with his work,
and yes, Jesus Christ is with us today.
but he's not with us in the flesh.
He's not physically doing the work of God like we are.
He's entrusted that to us.
And look, in 2025, if we as God's people
are not going to take the torch
from previous generations who did the work of God,
then no one will.
You know, we have to realize that it's very important.
So lessons from this story here.
Number one, I want you to notice the call to follow,
the call to follow.
Matthew 4, verse 17 says this,
from that time Jesus began to preach
and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
So first, this verse is highlighting
the work that Jesus is doing, right?
So it's not talking about how he's gathered people
to help him, yet it's just the work that Christ is doing.
And what is he doing?
He's preaching the gospel.
He's telling people to repent.
Now, notice what this verse does not say.
It doesn't say that Jesus is going around saying,
repent of your sins for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
A lot of people like to insert the phrase
of your sins every single time
that they see the word repent in the Bible,
but repent simply means to turn.
So, he's saying, hey, repent, stop being a heathen, stop being a Jew that rejects Jesus,
stop being whatever pagan religion you are for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's like, hey, the Messiah is here, Jesus Christ is here.
Then it says in verse 18,
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee,
Saw two brethren, Simon called Peter,
And Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea,
For they were fishers, and he saith unto them,
Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,
And they straightway left their nets and followed him.
What I find interesting about this story is that Jesus,
it just says that he was just walking by the sea of Galilee.
So notice, Jesus is preaching.
He's doing his ministry.
He's telling people repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,
and he's just walking by the Sea of Galilee and he just sees two random dudes,
two guys that are just blue collar fishermen.
And he just says, follow me.
So notice there wasn't some sort of like special people that he was looking for.
He wasn't looking for certain people with a PhD or a doctorate or master's degree
or some sort of Bible college certificate.
He just saw two men.
that we're fishing, and he just told them,
follow me.
And to me, that just underscores the fact
that God is just looking for hardworking people today.
The people that God want to use today
are not necessarily people that go to Bible college,
though I'm sure there's some people
that go to Bible college that have a good heart
that want to follow Jesus Christ,
but he's looking for people that actually want to work hard.
And this applies to man, woman, boy, and girl.
Obviously, his disciples were all men, but the job of preaching the gospel, Jesus is
looking for all of us to do that today.
He just says, hey, follow me.
No special requirements, no degree.
Here was the qualification.
Are you willing to work?
And this is encouraging because I don't know about you.
I don't feel like I'm some special person with some special heritage or anything like
that.
I'm just a regular person, but it's cool to know that, hey, God wants to use me if I'm
And God wants to use you if you're just willing to go.
This encourages me about Anchor Baptist Church.
We don't have to have some special facility
or some long-standing 100-200-plus year history as a church.
We just need to be a church that's willing to work.
And Jesus is looking at us and he's passing by and he's just like,
hey, follow me.
The invitation's open.
He wants us to follow him.
Verse 20, I like the reaction that they have.
And they straightway left their nets and followed Him.
So who is it that actually ends up following Jesus?
It's these two brothers that are just regular fishermen.
And what I've noticed in ministry, just being in church,
is that the people who actually follow Christ
and wanna be a disciple and want to serve,
it's usually just regular people.
It's usually just regular blue collar families,
not necessarily the rich of our world
or those of a high degree, it's just regular people.
And hey, that's encouraging
because that's what we are here, right?
We're just a bunch of regular people following him.
You know, we go out soul winning
into the very, very poor areas
and they are ready to accept the free gift.
And praise God for that, right?
We want everyone to be saved, that's great.
But you know what, they're not really wanting to do as much
is to show up at church.
and to show up for soul winning,
and to tithe to the church,
or to volunteer their time or anything like that.
They pretty much just wanna take that free gift
and go to heaven and hey, I'm happy for them.
That's why we're there.
We want them to get saved, right?
But what I've noticed is that those who actually
wanna be dedicated and actually are willing
to follow Christ, it's usually blue collar working people.
You wanna know why?
Because the ministry is work.
Salvation is no work.
Complete grace completely free, but what are we doing as a church? We're trying to do some work
We're trying to go out into this community and do some work and get people saved. That is labor
Go to Matthew 9. I'll read for you Mark 1237 David therefore calleth himself. I'm sorry David
therefore himself calleth him Lord and whence is he then his son and the common people heard him
gladly. You know, what was the demographic that Jesus really appealed to? It was just the common man.
just the regular guy you know it's not like the Calvinist today where you have to be in some sort
of intellectual club to go to their churches and understand their sermons. No man the Bible today
just resonates with the common person. We go out souling and just the common man resonates with
God's word and it was the same thing when Jesus was around.
Now he uses this analogy. He says, hey, if you follow me, I'm going to make you fishers of men.
He uses another analogy in Matthew 9 as
laborers in the field. Matthew 935, it says this,
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them.
because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenious, but the laborers are few.
Now, this is a very sad reality, and it's something that just drives me insane, personally,
is that there is so much work to be done in this world for Christ, there's so much work
even just in this city to be done for Christ, and there's so much opportunity to do great
works for God, but what are we lacking today?
We're lacking labors.
We're lacking people where Jesus says, hey, follow me, and they actually forsake their
You know, a lot of people today, they don't even want to sacrifice a few hours of their week to go to church
or to go soul-winning, not to mention what these disciples did.
You know, they ended up giving a lot.
But hey, the harvest truly is plenty-us, but the laborers are few.
You know, I really am inspired by the work that our sole winners are doing over in the Philippines
Because what's funny is I didn't even tell them like hey go to the Philippines. Hey do this. They just kind of like hey pastor
I'm going on this mission strip to the Philippines. They're just on their own doing this work
And hey, that's awesome because look the harvest is just plenty us out there
I mean you could see the great work they're doing and the results that they're having but man the laborers are few
imagine
if everyone in this world had a tenth of the soul-winning zeal of those guys.
And, you know, it's good to just look at yourself and just ask this question, like,
what if everyone was like me? What if everyone was like you?
Like, how quickly would this world get evangelized and reached with the Gospel
if everyone was like Eric and Theo? I mean, this world would get reached pretty dang quick, right?
But think about yourself, like, if everyone was like you, would the whole world die and go to hell?
Because what Jesus is saying here, hey, the harvest truly is plenious.
There's labor to be done. There's opportunity to be had.
What's the problem? But the laborers are few.
That's the reality.
Is that though Jesus is calling, hey, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
He wants to use you. He wants to use regular people.
You don't have to be special, yet so many people are just not willing to work.
They're not willing to go.
That's why he says in verse 38, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.
And so we see that example, he calls them fishers of men.
In one example, he calls them laborers in another.
And you know, that's what we need to do
is we need to pray for more laborers.
Pray not just that this church is just filled with people,
but actually filled with people that want to follow Christ,
that want to be laborers in the harvest.
And then of course, yourself be a laborer.
Yourself set that example of being a fisher of men
and training others to do the same.
We'll go to Matthew chapter 21, Matthew chapter 21.
What are we talking about?
We're talking about Christ's call to follow Him.
There's another parable that highlights this
in Matthew 21 verse 28.
The Bible says, but what think ye?
A certain man had two sons and he came to the first
and said, son, go work today in my vineyard.
And he answered and said, I will not.
But afterward he repented and went sounds like this son needs a spanking, you know
When you tell your son go work today, he just straightly tells you I will not sounds like this guy needs a spanking
But hey, at least he repented at least he said you know at first he said no
I'm not gonna work in the field, but then he changes his mind
He changes his action and then he goes and works and like, Hey, I would rather the Christian that though he doesn't think at first like, Oh, I'm not really going to serve God.
I got saved.
I don't really want to go to church.
I don't really want to be a soul winner and then they repent and become a soul winner.
Like all that take that person over this guy where it says in verse 30 and he came to the second and said likewise and he answered and said, I go, sir and went not.
Boy, if I had a nickel for every time when I got someone saved and they're like,
I go to church, sir, I'll be there tomorrow, I'll see you on Sunday.
Oh, I'll see you for soul winning. Absolutely. You can count on me. I'll be there.
I would be a rich man from how many people say that. And that's kind of like what this
parable is saying. The second son, he's like, Oh, yes, sir, he's giving respect with his
lips. He's honoring him. I'll do that. I'll work for you. But he went not. Now, what's
for both of his sons, is what?
To work.
And so you know what that means?
What God's desire for all of us in this room,
every single saved person, man, woman, boy, and girl,
God is telling you, go work today in my vineyard.
Go labor today in my field.
Go be a fisher of men.
He's saying what?
Follow me.
Just like he said to Peter and John,
just like he said to these apostles, disciples, follow me.
Verse 31, whether of them twain did the will of his father.
They say unto him the first.
Jesus saith unto them, verily I say unto you
that the publicans and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you.
It's like, hey, the harlots are living a wicked life
and they're just living for their harlotry
and whoredom or whatever.
But hey, some of them got saved.
and they stop doing those things.
Of course, repenting of your sins is not what gets you saved,
but oftentimes when we do get saved,
we start walking in the new man and walking in the spirit,
and then you'll see a changed life
after you walk in the spirit.
Go to 1st Timothy 1.
I'll read for you Ephesians 2-8 the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves
It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship
Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them
So notice God's desire for all of his children is to work is to labor
we were created unto good works.
And it's so funny all the time,
you're trying to explain to someone how salvation's
by faith alone, that it's not of works.
And you show them Ephesians 2, 8, 9, they're like,
you know, yeah, but what about verse 10?
What about it?
You're not gonna find me disagreeing with the Bible.
Hey, we're saved by faith.
We're saved by grace.
But after that, God wants us to work.
What's the contradiction there?
We believe the whole Bible.
Yeah, you better believe that we believe in working.
Why do you think we're at your door?
Why do you think that we're out evangelizing this city?
We believe in doing good works.
We want to do good works.
We believe in repenting of your sins, by the way.
Just not for salvation.
You should be repenting of your sins every single day.
You know, I was trying to get us
to repent of our sins this morning in that sermon.
We need to do that.
First Timothy chapter one.
Look at verse 12 the Bible says and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
This is the Apostle Paul who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry
Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious
But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in
Unbelief and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all except
acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
How be it for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all
longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
So, why do I read that?
To show you that God really does want to use every single one of His children, every single
Christian, because even the apostle Paul, who was previously a blasphemer, a persecutor,
injurious, you know, God ended up using him to do great works for God.
And why is that?
It's because Paul was actually willing to follow.
Paul was actually willing to put the work in.
It's highlighting the fact that, hey, he had a terrible past, he had a terrible track record,
yet God showed him grace so that he could be a pattern to us, to those who would believe after
him saying, hey, if God could use the Apostle Paul, who has a really bad track record, then he could
use us. And sometimes people get this idea, like, well, I used to live a really sinful life,
I used to be involved in all sorts of terrible stuff, you know, I can't really be used that greatly
But it's not like that God just gives us this example of Paul and then Paul went on to kind of do some stuff for the Lord.
That would be enough to show like, hey, God still wants to use you, but it was Paul who lived a terrible life, who went on to do the most works of anyone.
And what did Paul say about himself? He said, hey, I labor more abundantly than they all.
So it's not like God's looking for that special person that's different than everyone else. He's just looking for someone to work hard.
You know, he's looking for pastors today that are going to work hard.
He's looking for soul winners today that are going to work hard.
That's what he wants.
1 Corinthians 15.
If you'll turn there to 1 Corinthians chapter number 15.
Notice what Paul says about himself in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 9.
He says,
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain,
but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which is with me.
Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed."
So notice, the grace of God was not bestowed upon Paul in vain.
why? Because he followed, because he labored, because he worked. And of course, for salvation,
the grace of God is not bestowed on those who believe in vain, because they're going to end
up going to heaven someday. But kind of from a profit and loss perspective, you could look at
someone who gets saved and they never contribute anything to the kingdom of God. If someone just
gets saved, they never tell anyone else about Christ, they never preach the gospel. Well,
So, from a profit and loss perspective, it's like, well, the grace of God was kind of bestowed upon this person in vain.
And I don't know about you, I don't want to be the guy that God's looking down from heaven and he's like,
man, I gave this guy so much grace, and what is he doing with it?
Because here's the truth, we've all been given a lot of grace.
We all need the grace of God every single day and I don't care whoever the best
Christian in this world is, whoever that is in reality, that person is just
racking up grace from God constantly because we are all sinners, our flesh is
super wicked, but here's the thing we want to take that grace of God and use it
to make a profit for him, not just taking the grace of God and being lazy on
top of that.
Go back to Matthew four. It's the number one. We talked about the call to follow. Jesus wants people to follow him today in
2025 he's not looking for anyone special. He just is looking for people to work for him
number two the cost to follow the cost to follow look at Matthew 4 verse 20
The Bible says and they straight way left their nets and followed him
You know, why is it that many people today are not following Christ?
are not becoming disciples of Christ because following Christ comes at a cost.
Salvation is totally free. No payment whatsoever, but following him actually comes at a cost and for these men
It was what leaving their nets. What does that signify? It's like leaving their career leaving their
Livelihood and especially at this time
I'm sure that it was probably a family business that dad did and the dad worked really hard on and I'm sure that they
Didn't have just all these different skills to make a living. This was probably like their thing
their skill that they went to make a living with and notice that Jesus just asks them to follow
and they just immediately leave their career. Now, for a lot of Americans who just glorify money
and live to make money, this is just unfathomable for them to think that someone's just willing to
walk away from their career to follow Christ. But why did God use these great men? Not because
they had some great pedigree, but they were willing to follow and they were willing to sacrifice.
And notice, it wasn't even like a hard decision.
You know, it's not a hard decision, Melissa, to follow Jesus.
It was just like, Jesus is asking, hey, follow me.
And they're just like, yep, let's get rid of the career.
No problem whatsoever.
Willing to give that stuff up.
And think about today in the world that we are living in.
I submit to you that today in 2025 in Oklahoma,
that we are not truly giving that much up
to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
I mean, let's just be honest.
you could be completely sold out for God, three to thrive, soul winning at a fire preaching church,
going on missions trip, doing all the things that God has asked us to do.
And you're really not sacrificing a lot in comparison of times past in the history of our world
or as much as will happen during the tribulation.
Like our lives are pretty easy compared to how humanity has lived throughout history.
Okay. And read some history books if you disagree with that statement because I'm just speaking
Our lives are really not that hard, whether you have a manual labor job or an office job,
compared to times past, our lives are very, very easy.
And so, though, don't get me wrong, we will still have to sacrifice stuff in this life,
in the time we're living in.
But many people today do not necessarily have to sacrifice their career to follow Christ.
Now, you may have to, because that's what these men did.
wouldn't really be conducive to being a disciple of Christ,
being free to thrive, all of those things.
You know, when I was a teenager,
I had dreams about some career fields
that I ended up just not pursuing
because I got saved as a young teenager.
And basically from right when I got saved,
I had a desire to be a pastor.
And so I made that decision
before I even got into those career fields,
like, hey, I would love to do this.
It sounds fun, I'm passionate about it,
but hey, I think serving God is more important.
So I'm just gonna prioritize that.
There's some people who get saved later in life, and maybe they're already in those careers,
and some people have changed careers to be able to go to church more and to go soul anymore.
And hey, praise God. There's a cost to follow Jesus.
Sometimes that is your job.
Go to Matthew chapter 16. Keep your place there in Matthew 4, like I said.
Matthew chapter number 16.
Look at what it says in verse 24 then said Jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me
Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me
What does denying yourself mean? It means to sacrifice
It means that you're desiring something of yourself, but you're denying that you're taking up your cross and you're following him look at verse 25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
You know, it's going to look different, I think, for every person.
Not every single person.
You're going to have to forsake your nets to serve Christ.
Not all of us are going to have to take career paths.
We're going to have to sacrifice in different ways, but here's the truth, regardless of
what time period you're living in, God calls us today to deny ourselves, to sacrifice,
to follow Him.
And He says this, whosoever will lose his life, for my sake, shall find it.
losing your life for the cause of Jesus Christ.
But I don't really even think that's
what that's talking about here.
Losing your life, I think, could mean sacrificing your desires, maybe your ideal will for your life,
and deciding to follow Christ, even if that comes at a cost.
Because, you know, just think about it for a minute.
Let's just think like the foolish atheists think for just one silly moment.
Let's just pretend that there's no God.
Let's pretend that Jesus Christ isn't real.
Well then, wouldn't it just make total sense to just...
try to make as much money as you can and just live as pleasurable of a life as you can and just
do all the things that you want to do in this life because this life is all you got and then it's
over forever. Now, of course, that's foolish because that's not reality. You know, if we realize, hey,
there is a God.
Jesus Christ is going to judge us according to our works some day
We are going to have an eternity in heaven that we're going to spend and all the works that we've done on this earth is
Going to determine our riches in heaven our rewards in heaven will now it makes sense to sacrifice everything
Now it makes sense to lose our life, to find Jesus Christ.
I mean, just think about it like, if God wasn't real and there was no profit to church and no profit to soul winning and no profit to reading your Bible,
we would all probably be living very different lives.
We would probably all be doing very different things.
But when we realize this is real, it makes total logical sense to say, nuts to everything in this world.
Nuts to all of my own personal desires nuts to all of my own personal dreams and wishes and wants and let's just lay
It all down on the altar for Jesus Christ
Let's just deny ourselves and take up the cross of Jesus because hey, that's all there is to really live for in this world
That's all that really matters in this world. He says hey, whosoever will lose his life
For my sake shall find it you know if you're going through a rough time in your faith or a rough time in your marriage
And you're just thinking like man. It's too hard to follow God's commandments
It's too hard to do things the way that Jesus said to do them just remember this
Why don't you just go ahead and just lose your own life? Why don't you just go ahead and lose your own life?
You know some people think like man, I'm at the end of my rope
marriage and I just don't know if I could hang on to what the Bible says of
never divorce well okay how about this how about you just lose your own life
and just say like nuts to how you feel about it why don't you just say like
hey even if I had a bad marriage for the rest of my life I God forbid you had
that I really hope you wouldn't have that but let's just play a thought
experiment even if your marriage just sucked the rest of your life and you're
in a bad situation why don't you just go ahead and lose your life then because
that's what Jesus Christ has called you to do
is to lay down your life and to pick up your cross and follow Jesus Christ and if Jesus says,
never divorce, then never divorce. And if Jesus says, go soul-winning and be a fisher of men,
then go soul-winning. And if Jesus says, be faithful to the house of God, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together, then why don't you just be faithful to church?
Why don't you just do sacrifice to the Lord? Romans 12, go to Romans chapter number 12.
You know what Romans 12 calls it? It calls it your reasonable service.
And again, the sacrifices that we make in our lives,
pale in comparison to other points of history
or giving our lives for Christ physically speaking.
But notice what the Bible says and how far the Bible goes
in what we should be sacrificing for Him.
Romans 12-1.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
What is a sacrifice? Well, it's an animal that you kill, that you're like consecrating or dedicating unto the Lord. The Bible is saying we should be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
So, a living sacrifice is saying, like, hey, you know, this body belongs to the Lord, my life, it belongs to the Lord.
And whenever God's will is for my life, I'm going to just pursue that, regardless of your own personal desires.
Verse two, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
You know, here's like a practical example of this I just thought of.
You know the Bible says in 1st Timothy 5 that it's God's will for younger women to marry, to bear children, to guide the house, to give none occasion to the adversary, to speak reproachfully for some are already turned aside after Satan.
So God's will for young ladies to get married, to stay home, to be a housewife as we would think of in our vernacular, and many women today probably have been told to go to college.
They've put a lot of time into their education.
They've worked really hard in their education.
They've spent a lot of money.
They've gotten debt in their education.
And maybe like that was their idea
and their dream that they've been brainwashed into thinking
is going into a career.
But you know what, denying yourself and being a living sacrifice
would look like for that lady is saying like,
hey, the Bible's saying I should stay home.
The Bible's saying I should bear children.
That I should obey my husband.
That I should be a keeper at home.
You know, her sacrificing that
could be difficult for her flesh, for her will, for her desire, but again, it's what is it about?
Losing your life for Christ, being a living sacrifice for Christ, the whole point of it
being a sacrifice is that it might hurt a little bit.
You know like I said, it's kind of a silly example, but there are some careers that I were really interested in as a child
Aviation, I don't know if you could tell that I like airplanes and stuff like that
But it's just not really conducive to being a pastor and to preaching the word of God
And so it's like yeah
I could just be selfish and try to just go fly airplanes all day and that just be my life
But what would I really be accomplishing for Christ then?
And you know, it's like, yeah, you could be your little boss, babe, and go get a super cool career and be all happy with yourself.
But man, your children are going to suffer, or you're just not going to have children like a lot of women are today.
Just forsaking families, forsaking having kids, forsaking the next generation.
And what is that? It's selfishness.
Go to Philippians chapter number three.
Philippians chapter number three.
But look, I think it's important to remind ourselves, you know, we it's real easy to talk about sacrificing something
It's real easy to talk about laying down your life for Christ and picking up your cross
But the whole point of those things is that it's going to be hard
It's not gonna be what your flesh wants to do a sacrifice is gonna be you giving up something that is pleasurable to you
But I love the attitude that the Apostle Paul had in Philippians 3 verse 7. He said this but what things were gained to me
Those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus, my Lord.
He's saying all things.
all things. He counts at all loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
That's why it's truly true for the Apostle Paul that Christ is his life.
You know that's all he's living for is the Lord Jesus.
Notice what he says, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but
that I may win Christ.
He's just saying like, hey, all my personal desires
and wishes and dreams and things that I had planned out
for my life and my comfort and me chasing money
or me chasing after whatever.
He's like, it's all a bunch of crap in comparison
to serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
And anything that you and I are excited about
in this carnal world that we live in,
when you compare it to serving Christ, it's like dung.
It's like a bunch of fertilizer.
It's like a bunch of crap.
You know, it's meaningless.
It's completely vain.
And it's like, hey, you know, flying airplanes
is kind of cool, but not as cool as getting someone saved.
Not as cool as changing people's lives, not as cool as reaching this city with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you don't think about yourself.
I'm sure that you have many things that just in your flesh you would like to do if you weren't serving Christ,
but remind yourself that those things are not actually fulfilling, you should count them all as dung and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 4, Matthew chapter number 4, let's go back there.
Notice another sacrifice that was made.
One we saw was money, his career.
Matthew 4, verse 21, the Bible says,
and going on from thence, he saw other two brethren,
James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother,
in a ship with Zebedee, their father,
mending their nets, and he called them.
So this is definitely a family business here.
They're fishing with their father.
But notice verse 22, and they immediately left the ship
and their father.
followed him. You know, like I said, your sacrifice for being a disciple of Christ
is going to look different for every person. For some people, maybe it's a
career, maybe it's money. For other people, you know what it could be? It could
be your literal carnal family. And man, there's a lot of people I know who
started serving Christ and because of the stance that they've taken on the Word
of God, because they want to be free to thrive, because they want to be soul
and some people's families have even separated from them.
And you know, thankfully my immediate family hasn't done that.
I'm close with my mom and dad and brothers,
but I have had some other extended family
who even just because of my stance on certain issues in the Bible
or certain controversies that have happened in the new IFB
where you just notice people start getting cold towards you.
people separating from you and distancing themselves from you and it's not
like you broke fellowship with them it's not like there was even any direct
conflict or direct fight but it's just Jesus divides folks and following Jesus
you know what sometimes that causes you to do sometimes it causes you to leave
your father you know think about Abraham he had to leave his native land he had
to leave his father's house it'll get away physically from his father you know
I love my parents but you know where my parents live they live in Idaho very
I don't have any immediate family in town.
I haven't since 2019.
And look, I'm not complaining because I count it all but done.
to sacrifice and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
And again, that's nothing in comparison
what other men have done,
but I'm just trying to give you a realistic picture
of what it might look like for you.
That if you want to get all sold out
and serve God, it could cause you
to even be at odds with your family.
Go to Matthew 10, Matthew 10.
Now, let me say this because I think sometimes,
especially people who are newly saved,
they get extremely zealous for the things of God
and it's almost like they're like inviting
the cutoff from their family.
And that's not the attitude that you should have.
You should try to be at peace with all men.
You should try, especially for your parents,
to honor your mother and father.
You shouldn't be ready to just cut off your family
at the drop of a hat,
but realize that they might walk away from you.
It's like, hey, hey guys, let's go to church together.
Let's serve God, let's go soul-winning.
And they say, no.
They say now you're in a cult now you're going crazy.
Let them walk away from you,
but really there's very few circumstances
where you should be walking away from your family.
You know, I guess if they're literal reprobates,
yeah, you can get yourself some distance from them.
Or if it's, if they're saved
and it's a first Corinthians five situation,
you're gonna need to separate from them as well.
But most of the time in most situations,
it's not us that are separating from our family.
It's the other way around.
And I don't want really people to have that attitude
where they're just ready to cut off their family.
Matthew 10 verse 32, notice what Jesus said,
whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I also confess before my father, which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men,
him will I also deny before my father, which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth.
I came not to send peace, but a sword.
You know, that's the real Jesus of the Bible.
So many liberal Christians today act like Jesus is some pot-smoking hippie
that wants to just rally everyone together.
And Jesus said specifically,
Don't think that I've come to bring peace.
I've actually brought a sword, and he defines that, verse 35.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father.
Now that's sad to think about you know thankfully I don't have that with my dad
I love my dad always have we've always been very very close
But you got to ask yourself like what if you know
Serving the Lord Jesus Christ and keeping his commandments and following him cost your relationship
With your own father. Would you choose the Lord Jesus Christ or would you choose carnal family?
You know a real disciple will always prioritize Christ above all else
He says in the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes
Shall be they of his own household now. That is a terrible situation. It sounds like a nightmare
That's why it's so important especially in the marriage relationship to marry someone who's equally yoked
Because yeah, this stuff can happen with extended family and mom and dad and that's bad, but man
That's nothing compared to
wives and husbands that are separated over Christ.
Wives and husbands that don't agree on the gospel
or wives and husbands that don't agree on serving God.
That would be terrible.
Verse 37, it says,
he that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me.
Now that is an extreme amount of loyalty that Christ demands of us because all of us have strong
Family loyalty and we all just naturally love our parents and parents just naturally
Love their children and look I'm all for extolling loyalty to the family. That's great
But these things can be taken too far
People can take loyalty to family too far, and any time loyalty to family is causing your judgment to be clouded with God's word and God's commandments,
or any time loyalty to family is causing you to get farther away from God or serving God less, you ought to be more loyal to Jesus Christ
than even your own father and mother and sister and brother.
Notice what he says,
not worthy of me. You know we actually need to have this mentality and this can
sound shocking especially probably to the world or to new Christians but we
should truly have this deeply in our hearts not just say it but actually
believe it that hey I love Jesus more than I love my parents, I love Jesus more
than I love my wife, I love Jesus more than I love my children, I love Jesus
more than anyone. That should be your mentality.
And some people, they're just so loyal to family, where it's like, the husband is all that's in the wife's world, or the wife is all that's in the husband's world, or it's all about our kids.
No, no, no, let me tell you something. You will have the best relationship with your wife if you love Jesus more than her.
And you will have the best relationship with your husband, ladies, when you love Jesus more than him.
And you will be the best parent God can possibly make you to be when you love Jesus more than your children.
And some people today act like you should just follow your children off a cliff.
And that no matter what your children's doing, you should always be on your kid's side no matter what.
And it's like, no, no, no, we should love Jesus above all else.
And, you know, if my children, God forbid this would happen, I'm going to pray every
day and work hard that this doesn't happen.
But if my children grew up and just forsook church and was just living extremely wicked
lives and let's just say they grew up in there in a bunch of fornication and drinking alcohol,
you know what I would do?
I would do exactly what 1st Corinthians 5 tells me to do.
That's crazy.
You should never do that for any reason.
No, no.
I thought that Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son.
He was asked to sacrifice his son by the way that example wasn't given us in the Bible for God to be like
Well, I wouldn't actually want you to do this though. No no no like Abraham was an example of good faith
And you know I heard about a pastor who said like well if God asked me to do that
I would never do that well sounds like you're a terrible pastor and
Sounds like you're a terrible Christian if you could just admit to us that God could come to you and ask you to do anything
And you would just tell him no
That son that just says, no, I'm not going to do it.
No, no, no, we should have the mentality that says, hey, whatever God is asking of us,
we are willing to lose our life for Jesus that we may find it.
Because you are going to find true life in this world and you're going to find true life
in the life to come when it's all about Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you, you're going to have the most rewards in heaven when you don't care
about your own personal wants or wishes or desires or dreams or hopes or plans and it's
just all about whatever Jesus Christ said.
when you're willing to sacrifice the nets, when you're willing to sacrifice the business,
when you're even willing to sacrifice family for Jesus Christ. Notice what he says. Read verse 37
again. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it.
And he that loseeth his life for my sake shall find it.
True life is found in serving Jesus Christ.
True life is in serving God.
Go to John 15, John 15, you know, you're going to have to sacrifice something to actually follow Jesus
and maybe it's the money, maybe it's the career, maybe it's family, maybe it's none of those things,
maybe it's just sacrificing being popular or being liked because you know what Jesus said?
He said that we are actually going to be hated. Look at John 15 verse 18.
If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.
But because ye're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you.
Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Hey, here's something that you're going to need to sacrifice in order to be a disciple of Jesus Christ to follow him.
You're going to have to sacrifice this feeling that is kind of natural in human beings to want to be liked by other people.
You have to stop caring about that because look, we're not greater than our master.
We're not greater than our Lord. And if Jesus Christ was hated being perfect, how much more are we going to be hated being sinners?
If Jesus Christ was persecuted, when he only did that which is right, when he only preached everything absolutely perfectly,
and he was persecuted and hated, how much more us who are just imperfect vessels following Jesus, you better expect to be hated.
You better expect to be lied about. You better expect people not to like you simply for the name of Jesus Christ.
I'll give you an example of this.
I don't know anything about the religious denomination of this camp that is in the news lately in Texas, this horrible tragedy where there's this girls Christian camp that this flash flood came in.
I think the death toll is over 60 right now.
just like little girls, 60 girls and of course some camp staff as well is dead from this flash flood.
And I'm seeing all these comments from atheists and just from scoffers just being like,
oh, these were all Christians. Where was God to save you? Oh, goes to show how much prayer
really works for you guys, huh? Where was Jesus? How come Jesus didn't come out of the sky and
save you all? What is that? It's just being hated for the name of Jesus Christ. What do these little
What crime did they commit?
What offense did they give against people?
Nothing but claiming the name of Christ.
And notice all these disgusting, debase, wicked people online.
They just hate these little girls just for the name of Jesus Christ.
And look, I don't know anything about their denomination.
I hope those girls were saved.
I hope that that was a good church that believed the right doctrine.
But here's one thing that I know is that they at least claimed the name of Christ.
And guess what?
The people criticizing them and saying these evil, disgusting things, it's not like they're
saying like, oh, you guys believed a works-based salvation.
They're not criticizing them for that.
They just hate them for being Christians, for believing in Jesus Christ, for claiming
the name of Christ.
we are going to be hated. And so be ready to sacrifice your reputation sometimes.
And let me tell you, I know about that. You know, I've had my reputation smeared a few
times over the years, but I don't care. Ask me how much I care about what people think about me
personally. I care about the word of God being preached. I care about the doctrine of Christ
going forth. Luke chapter number eight, go to Luke chapter number eight.
I want to read a portion here of the parable of the sower I think it relates to this Luke chapter 8 verse 14
It says and that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and
Pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. That is a lot of Christians today. They hear the word
They get saved, but they're not profitable.
They don't go out in labor.
They don't go out and become a fisher of men.
They don't sacrifice anything.
Oftentimes just because of riches,
the love of money, the cares of this world
just chokes them.
They're not willing to sacrifice those things.
Verse 15, but that on the good ground
are they which in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word,
keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
That's the profitable.
Servant there good a Matthew 4 again. It's number one
We saw the call to follow number two
We saw the cost to follow number three notice the compensation of following Matthew chapter 4 verse 23
It says this in Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of
Sickness and all manner of disease among the people and his fame went throughout all Syria and they brought unto him all sick people
that were taken with diverse diseases and torments,
and those which were possessed with devils,
and those which were lunatic,
and those that had the palsy, and he healed them.
And there followed him great multitudes of people
from Galilee, and from Decapolis,
and from Jerusalem, and from Judea,
and from beyond Jordan.
Think about this story from the perspective of the disciples because that's kind of what we're thinking about tonight is us following Christ
Us being disciples, you know, yes, there was that call from Jesus to follow and they chose. Yep. I'm gonna work
I'm gonna follow Christ. They had to sacrifice something. There was a cost for them to follow, but there's also rewards
There's also compensation to following Jesus Christ
And let me tell you, one of the greatest rewards
for following Jesus Christ and being co-labors together
with the Lord Jesus Christ,
is just seeing the fruit of the work of God.
It's not even about getting some sort of physical blessing
or some sort of paycheck or anything like that.
But you know what's cool?
Is teaming up with Jesus
and seeing him heal all manner of sickness.
I mean, think about what the disciples got to do.
They got to spend these three and a half years with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they're working together with Him,
and they get to see God in the flesh healing people.
Man, that's rewarding work.
Even if that was their only blessing and only compensation
to walk with Jesus and see the work of God thriving,
man, that's reward enough.
That's compensation enough.
And getting to see sick people brought to Him
with diverse diseases and torments and healed.
And getting to see people possess with devils be healed.
And getting to see this, his fame going throughout.
Man, that's rewarding in and of itself
is just seeing the name of Jesus Christ glorified.
It's like, man, I love soul winning
because what are we doing?
We're bringing spiritual healing to someone.
We're helping someone pass from death unto life
by believing in Jesus Christ.
But what we're also doing is we're seeing
the name of Jesus Christ exalted.
There's another believer in this world.
that looks at Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
And we're seeing His fame go throughout the land.
We're seeing the name of Christ go out.
We're seeing people being saved and lives being changed.
And look, that's the most rewarding thing about the ministry.
And I don't say that from like a pastor,
I'm just saying the work that we're doing here together.
The most rewarding thing about the ministry
is just seeing people getting saved and seeing lives being changed.
Seeing people getting saved and seeing people getting baptized.
And seeing people make changes in their life for the better.
you know I remember one of the most rewarding things that has ever happened to me as a preacher.
This was like way a long time ago. This was like 2018. I preached a sermon about being fruitful
and multiplying and just trusting the Lord to have children. I preached this sermon and I didn't
even think anything of it but about a year later I went back to this church that I preached at
and this lady who was like in her 40s came up to me and she was just like thanks for preaching
that sermon because here's this little baby that I decided to have with my husband because you
Wow, you know that is amazing just to see someone actually take the word of God into their heart and not just be a hearer of the word
but a doer
and allow that to change them.
It's like, here's this life that's in the world
as a result of the power of God's word.
And look, this stuff happens all the time
where people don't even tell me about.
I'm sure that you, out soul winning,
you're making a way bigger difference than you think.
Some people like to look down on soul winning
and say like, I think our numbers are way less.
I think our numbers are way more than we think.
And I think we're making a way
bigger difference than we often even realize and I think that sermons that preachers are preaching
today are making a bigger difference in people's lives than are reported back to us. You know it's
not very often someone comes up to you says like here's the exact change that I made from your sermon
when you hear that it's like that's great but I'm sure that's happening all the time when the
preacher's not hearing about it. You know I preach a sermon about despairing of life and I can't
tell you how many emails I got of people saying like I was thinking about suicide.
I was thinking about ending my life.
Thank you for preaching that sermon.
It's like, it's humbling.
Praise God.
It's the power of God's word.
But look, there is compensation to following Jesus Christ,
and it's not always in the form of a paycheck
or something physical.
Sometimes it's just seeing other people be blessed.
That's great compensation.
That's great reward.
And most importantly,
seeing the name of Jesus glorified is great reward.
Look at verse 25 again.
And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan
You know what I would love to see when I go to heaven someday is a great multitude of people there
because we've reached them the gospel. I would love it for our short little vapor of our life
that we have and the short little vapor of my life that I have as the pastor of Anchor Baptist
Church to make this church as influential in the lives of people as possible to where there's
a great train and a great multitude of people following Jesus as a result of our ministry
Notice what it says. Go to Revelation chapter 4. Revelation chapter number 4.
But you know what? You ought not to discount yourself.
and your importance as a disciple of Jesus Christ and your importance as a follower of Him
because you are making a bigger difference than you probably realize.
And the name of Jesus Christ is being glorified more by your existence in this church,
by your participation in soul winning than you probably even realize.
Notice what Revelation 4 verse 10 says.
The four and 20 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that live it forever and ever and
Cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthy oh Lord to receive glory and honor and power
For thou has created all things and for thy pleasure. They are and were created
You know, I love how the 24 elders here. What are they doing in heaven?
What are they spending their time doing nothing but praising God just praising God?
Just acknowledging his might and his glory and his majesty and just casting down crowns before his feet and it's like hey
That's a reward to be able to do that right there and it's rewarding. It is compensation
It is a blessing even in this life to serve Jesus Christ to see the name of God glorified
And you know what why we do what we do at this church is to see the name of Jesus Christ glorified
It's not about me or about us as individuals. It's about the work of God
Go to Matthew 19 Matthew 19, but you know what God is a great
Master to work for a great employer to work for because that's not the only compensation that we get now
That would be enough that would be a great blessing if that's all there was
But you know what think about in Psalms it talks about how the Lord daily load with us with benefits
There's all sorts of carnal blessings and spiritual blessings that God gives us and we do have rewards to look forward to in the heaven
Because look at Matthew 19 verse 27
Then answered Peter and said unto him behold we have forsaken all and followed thee
What shall we have there for that's a good question, right? He's like okay. You called us we
Sacrificed we paid the price. We're following you. So what are we gonna have? What's our reward look at verse 28?
Jesus said unto them
Verily, I say unto you that ye which hath followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory,
ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
So here's part of their compensation.
Hey, in the Millennial reign, you guys are going to be really powerful, basically.
You guys are going to be ruling over these twelve tribes.
And notice this in verse 29, and everyone, so this isn't just them, this is us, and everyone.
have forsaken houses. I know people who have literally forsaken lands and
houses to come to this church. Or brethren, yep I know people like that too,
or sisters, yep, or father, yep, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my
name's sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life.
Look, there's no reason to be afraid to just sell out for God and just to follow him and
just to be completely on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ because anything that he asks
you to sacrifice is going to pale in comparison to the rewards that we receive in heaven.
Even if you literally have to die for Christ, by the way, that's what Jesus would want you
to do.
If you were called to do so, he said, be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a
crown of life.
We're going to get rewards.
or your lands, all these things for Jesus' sake,
you're gonna receive a hundredfold
and shall inherit everlasting life.
Anything that you sacrifice for Christ
is not gonna be a loss at the end of the day.
It's all gain, just like Paul said.
How is it gain?
Well, this is how.
Because us giving up our carnal lands now
or our family now, God gives us those things
a hundredfold and way better.
And here's the thing, not only is this true in heaven,
oftentimes God does the same thing on this earth.
And oftentimes, I've seen people forsake family because they had to do so for a biblical reason.
And I see God give them a new family in the form of a church that loves them.
And that's God blessing that person.
You know, I've seen people forsake lands.
I've seen people move across the country.
And I've seen God bless their life in the here and now.
And that's not even to mention that which is to come.
The hundredfold blessing that we shall inherit in heaven.
Go to 2nd Timothy 1, 2nd Timothy 1. Ephesians 8 verse 6, verse 8 says...
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
You know, God is not unrighteous to forget our works and labor of love, as Hebrews 6 tells us.
He sees everything. He sees all the work that we do. And the Bible says that anything good that we do, we will receive of the Lord.
Now, that doesn't mean that everything we're gonna receive in this life, though God could
choose to do that, but for sure, the score will be settled someday.
And let me tell you what, you know, sometimes in our jobs, you know, you ever like clock
out and then as soon as you clock out, your coworker asks you to do something or your
boss asks you to do something and you're kind of like working for free for those moments
and you're just like not getting paid.
That happens from time to time in our careers and our life.
But you know what, there's never a time for Jesus Christ that you're putting in labor
for him, that you're praying, that you're reading your Bible, that you're loving your
brothers and sisters in Christ, that you're out soul winning, that you're out at church.
There's not one second that's going to go by that you're going to be not recompensed
Every God's not unrighteous to forget your labor and your work
Where'd I have you go 2nd Timothy chapter 1 2nd Timothy chapter 1?
I want to end with this idea and that's I think a lot of Christians if they heard this sermon
With their mouth what they would say is like yeah sign me up, right?
I want to follow Jesus Christ
You're not gonna walk up to Christian be like do you want to follow Christ?
And they're gonna say no like everyone with their mouth is gonna say like yes
I want to follow Christ
But why oftentimes do people not actually just take that step and do it?
I think it oftentimes comes from fear
fear of having to sacrifice something.
Fear of how is this going to affect my finances?
How is it going to affect my familial relationships?
How is it going to affect the friendships that I have?
But look at 2 Timothy 1 verse 6.
Wherefore I put the in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God
which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.
Some people are afraid to serve God.
Some people know it's the right thing to do and even in their heart of hearts they want
to do it, but a lot of times people are stopped by fear of the what ifs of life and not wanting
to give things up.
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
And he goes, you know what, Timothy?
Why don't you just not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord?
It's like, hey, Christian, if God has asked you, if Jesus has walked by you on the way,
he just sees you and he says, hey, follow me.
Why don't you just not be ashamed of him and follow him?
Why don't you be willing to pay the price?
And notice this, it says, but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God.
You know, we need some Christians today that are willing to go through some light affliction
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
If every Christian who is saved in this world would just be willing to put some light affliction on the line for Jesus Christ,
man, we'd have this whole world evangelized so fast.
But many Christians today are too lazy to even get their butt in church on a Sunday morning.
And how far is just the bare minimum of getting in church on a Sunday morning from being a true disciple of Christ?
What's the true disciple? They're willing to lose their life for Jesus.
They're willing to sacrifice all. They're willing to bear the cross of Jesus Christ. Whatever God demands, they're willing to do it.
Whether that's family, whether that's money, whether that's their life.
Go to Isaiah chapter number six. Isaiah chapter number six.
You know, I think every once in a while it's important to remind ourselves how important
it is to follow Christ and to remind ourselves that, hey, even in 2025, God is calling just
regular men and regular women and regular children to follow Him.
God's just saying, hey, follow me, follow me, and we ought to ask ourselves, are we willing
to follow?
Are we willing to sacrifice for Him?
Number one, we saw the call to follow, the cost to follow, and the compensation of following.
Let's close on Isaiah 6-8.
Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I.
Send me.
But hey, let us be Christians that are actually willing to obey the voice of the Lord to follow
him when he asks us to, to pay the price.
And look, don't be afraid, because God will compensate us as well.
Let's pray, Lord.
We thank you for the opportunity to serve you, a holy and mighty and wonderful Creator.
We love you, Lord Jesus, and I just pray that every single Christian in this room would be willing
to suffer for your namesake, would be willing to sacrifice, to do the things you've asked us to do.
I pray that you strengthen all of our faith and give us grace when we fail.
We love you, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Thank you.