So I'll start with a fun fact this morning. Did you know that nothing starts with letter N and ends with letter G?
Nothing. Now if you just try to correct me in your head by thinking of many words that
starts with letter N and ends with letter G, the word nothing really starts with letter N and ends with letter G.
So it logically makes sense, right? And here's another statement
You've probably heard before, nothing lasts forever.
Well, it's kind of true, right? And if everything that you see, everything that you touch, everything that you can smell,
those are all gonna rot and die and burn and
yeah, it's true that nothing lasts forever.
But the Bible tell us there are at least three things that the Bible tell us that will last forever, right?
And one is a person.
People. One is a person, right? We believe that a person has a soul
that will spend eternity somewhere.
Depending on the decisions that you made this morning and I made this morning and the person that we we will talk to
this morning, that person will spend eternity somewhere.
And at the same time though, like I said,
nothing lasts forever and
we know that a person's life,
person has a soul and that soul will spend eternity somewhere. At the same time, we also know that
that a person's life, I'm talking about earthly life, has a limit. Go to Psalm 90, Psalm 90, Psalm 90 and verse 10.
A person's life has an expiration date and it's not a lot. In eternity's perspective,
it's actually very, very short, right? In Psalm 90 and verse 10, the Bible says
the days of our years are three score years and ten, that's seventy, and if by reason of strength they be four score years,
that's eighty,
yet it is their strength, labor, and sorrow, the Bible says, for it is soon cut off and we fly away.
So it's in eternity's perspective, our life here on this earth is not a lot. It's very, very short.
My point this morning is this, because life is too short, you won't be able to do everything that you set out to do.
Everything that you want to do, you won't be able to do all of them.
The day is too short, the week is too short, the month is too short, the years are too short.
Time is not enough for you to accomplish everything that you want to accomplish.
There's not gonna be enough time to do everything that you want to do.
You're gonna have to leave some things behind. You're gonna have to leave some things unfinished.
You're gonna have to realize that all tasks, goals, or even people, they're not created equally.
You can't spend all your time with everybody, and you can't spend your time with everything.
You'll have to prioritize what's important to you.
You'll realize that, you know, you're gonna have to leave some things undone, and you'll have to leave some things behind.
The question is, this morning is, what and who are those things?
The question is, the title of the sermon this morning is, what are you willing to forsake, and who are you willing to forsake?
You know, life is too short. Like I said, life is too short to do everything that you want to do.
You can't spend your time with everybody. You'll have to leave some things behind.
You'll have to ignore some people's calls. You'll have to say yes to some things, maybe to some things,
not yet to some things, and flat-out no to a lot of things, right?
Going back to Philippians chapter number 3 and verse 7,
Paul is basically saying that if you follow Christ, you will forsake a lot of things, and depending on how close you are to God,
or depending on how close you want to walk with God, you may have to forsake all things, like Paul said.
Paul said, I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but dung that I may win Christ.
Paul called everything that he had, and everything that he was, dung. And the thing about dung is, it's less than nothing, right?
Because in eternity's perspective, there are things that don't hold any value, and in eternity's perspective,
there are things that hold negative value, and those things are actually the things that take you away from God, right?
So go to Mark chapter number 8, Mark chapter number 38, or chapter number 8 and verse 36.
So my point is this, life is too short for you to spend it not following God.
The Bible says, in Mark 8, verse 36,
You know, when Paul said that, you know, he didn't care about those things, he didn't care what he was,
he said that he was the Hebrews of the Hebrew, he was a Pharisee and all that,
those things won't matter if he just died and goes, or went straight down to hell, right?
And here's the thing, Paul could have gotten saved and stayed away from Christianity, he could have just decided that he didn't want to do it,
and he would still go to heaven, because the Bible says, you know, all you gotta do is believe, right?
And he realized, but here's the thing, he realized that life is too short for him to spend it on things that don't have eternal value in them.
And he realized that there's God in heaven, go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12,
he realized that there's a God in heaven that, you know, he will judge the quick and the dead,
and he said that he forsook all and, you know, he followed God and here we are today.
Ecclesiastes chapter number 12 and verse 13, the Bible says,
let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
The Bible says, for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.
You know, God will judge you on how you live your life, God will see the things that you spend your hours on,
God will see the things that you had to forsake to follow him.
The Bible says God will judge every secret thing.
But here's the thing, it also goes with the unsaved, right?
Because there are two judgments that the Bible says,
there the judgment seat of Christ for the saved and the white throne judgment for the unsaved.
So here's another thought, because here's the thing, people can do a lot of great things by themselves,
they don't need our help, right? They can live their lives not caring about spiritual things
and accomplish a lot of great things that the world calls great.
You know, some religious people may even pick a Bible and read it and they can live a good life here on this earth,
because here's the thing, the Bible, it is true that the Bible is a spiritual book,
but it's also a physical book and it can guide you on how you live your life here on this earth.
So some smart, unsaved people don't really need you and I to tell them how to live their lives,
because if they use their God-given brain, they'll do the right things, right?
Sometimes they'll even do what the Bible says unintentionally,
they'll do what the Bible says accidentally and they'll be successful,
because they're doing some biblical principles in how they're living their lives.
But here's the thing, there's one thing that they cannot do without you and I.
You know, go to Romans 10, Romans 10.
There is one thing that they cannot do without you and I.
You know, they can do a lot of great things by themselves, but they can't go to heaven without you and I.
The Bible says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God,
but the Bible also says that how can they hear without a preacher?
They may even find themselves here on this church and they can walk out of this church edified tomorrow,
but if nobody speaks the gospel to them tomorrow and approaches them and asks them the question,
hey, do you know for sure that if you die today you're going to heaven,
you're going to walk out of here edified and they might even do something about the knowledge that they pick up from this church,
but that thing is not going to matter in eternity's perspective, right?
There are people who are looking and searching for the truth out there, but you have to make a decision.
What are you willing to forsake? That's the question this morning.
What are you willing to forsake?
I mentioned this morning that there are three things that last forever that the Bible tells us.
The first one is the earth, right? The Bible says, and I believe in Ecclesiastes 1,
that the Bible says that the earth will abide forever.
And also the word of God, the Bible says, forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.
And like I said, people, person, a person.
And here's the thing, two out of those three things, it's actually God's job to take care of those two.
You don't really need to take care of the earth, you just take care of what you can take care of.
And also it's the same thing with the word, with the Bible.
The Bible doesn't really need defending because the Bible will defend itself.
The truth is truth no matter what people say, right?
And the only thing that God cannot actually do by himself and people cannot do by themselves is to know how to go to heaven.
And so God gave us the ministry of reconciliation because God cannot save them without a preacher like you and I.
To preach the gospel to them.
So here's the thing, I'm not just talking about the people that we're going to meet this morning.
I'm talking about the people at your work, I'm talking about the people, your neighbor, your family.
You know, those people can do, like I said, those people can do a lot of great things without you.
But there's one thing that they cannot do is that to know how to go to heaven.
Because somebody has to explain the Bible to them, right?
How shall they hear without a preacher?
The Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
So the Bible says to open your mouth boldly.
Hey, you know the Bible says judgment is coming.
So the title of this morning's sermon is, you know, what are you willing to forsake?
You'll have to make a decision, what are you willing to ignore and what are you willing to forsake?
Let's close in prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for the opportunity to preach this morning, Lord.
Pray that you would help us, Lord, to realize things that the Bible tells you to do, Lord.
And pray that you just bless everyone with us and pray that you would help us this day.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.