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Everyone say, never unnoticed. This is week number
two in that series. Taught me not to use double
negatives. But that's okay. She's in heaven.
She's going to be glad that I'm preaching today,
right? Never unnoticed. The reason why we named
it this instead of just naming it always noticed
is because so often many of us feel unnoticed.
We feel unnoticed. We feel like no one sees what
we're doing. Especially when we think we're doing
something good. We're like, do people really
notice? You know, this past week, you know, was
my birthday on Friday. So I got like almost 300
happy birthdays from a lot of different locations.
So it was kind of hard to keep up with, but I'm
pretty sure that I went on every single one,
almost 300. I'm pretty sure I went on every one
and typed thank you. Because I did not want them
to think, someone who sent me happy birthday,
who took the time to send me that, I didn't want
them to think that it was unnoticed, that they
told me happy birthday. It was noticed. I felt
appreciated. I felt celebrated. Sometimes we
feel unnoticed. Even when I put happy birthday
on people's social media walls and then they
just never reply to it. It's just like, well,
did they read it? Do they care? Some people even
block all that on their birthday because they
don't want all those messages coming in. So they
change their profile on their birthday so that
they won't have to notice because it's not available
to leave, to write on their wall and say, happy
birthday. But this series is about this. If you
ever feel like you're unnoticed by God, I want
you to know that you're never unnoticed. Never
unnoticed. So that's why I have a double negative.
All right, back to my funny story. Let's see,
this was off the air before you guys were born.
Has anyone ever seen the show Candid Camera?
Used to be a TV show. We could call it one of
the first reality TV shows. Unlike modern -day
reality TV shows that are all scripted and have
nothing to do with reality, somebody wrote out
the script and how people are going to act and
respond, and they're just acting this pseudo
-reality. Does anybody believe what I'm saying?
I mean, it reminds me of watching Lawrence Welk.
I know that was older than some of you. Used
to watch Lawrence Welk every week. Anybody watch
Lawrence Welk every week? There were only three
TV channels, you know. And it was like an orchestra
and a sissy and a Bobby. One of you got that
joke. Anyway. Here's the funny thing. Ghana thought
that they were singing all that stuff. Live.
But they weren't. They were lip syncing. It was
like the first Milli Vanilli, you know. They
were just lip syncing all that stuff. They'd
recorded it. And then they were lip syncing it.
And then we'd gone back and looked at it later.
And I said, watch your lips. Their lips aren't
matching what you're hearing. They were lip syncing.
But candid camera was genuine reality TV because
they would set up these scenarios where it would
make people very uncomfortable. And they would
have the cameras going. But the cameras were
hidden. They didn't know they were on TV. And
the situation that they were in and how they
were responding, I mean, it was making everybody
very uncomfortable. And then when it just, like,
freaked them out, All of a sudden they would
say, smile, you're on candid camera. You were
on the TV show and you didn't even know you were
being recorded at the time. So I want to tell
you today, smile, you're on candid camera. If
you turn around and look behind you, there's
a camera right there and there's a camera right
there. There's cameras everywhere. You are on
camera coming here. Have you noticed that every
traffic light has a camera on it? There are different
shapes and different sizes, but I mean, it's
rare to find a traffic light without a camera
on it. Most of them are just watching traffic.
But then some of them are red light cameras.
And if you run a red light, you're going to get
a ticket in the mail. And they're even going
to show you a video of you running the red light
so that you can't contest it in any way. It's
like, yeah, you caught me. If you came to church
on a toll road today, I don't know if anyone
came on a toll road today, but there are toll
cameras. They've closed all the booths. You can't
pay if you want to. They're either going to send
you a bill in the mail or you're going to...
Get a discount by getting a sun pass or something
like that. But it's all done with cameras. I
found out a few weeks ago that now there's such
a thing as a speed limit camera. Have you seen
one? You sell them. Go get the rocks. Don't have
to stone. Only inside HOAs. I heard they're legal
on regular roads. And I heard that they set up
one in Polk County about three weeks ago, and
in one day, there was supposed to be 8 ,000 tickets,
speeding tickets, in one day. Now, I don't think
they did. I think they're still trying to figure
it out and work it out because... 8 ,000 tickets
in one day? JT has his hand up. Really? See,
here's a question I have now. I've always been
told if you stay at least... nine miles an hour
under the speed limit, you wouldn't get a ticket.
But if it's a camera, I don't know. If it's one
mile an hour over, maybe you're going to get
a ticket. Who knows? And then there's the school
cameras. Like I said, there's one right there,
one right there. They can see my face. The principal,
I'm sure, could open up her cell phone and see
what's going on here. Polk County schools, the
people in charge of facilities. and the superintendent
of schools, they could open up their camera and
see what's going on here today. So, I doubt somebody's
watching us, but they could be. They could be.
So that's why I need to keep smiling, because
you're always on candid camera. Last week we
talked about this, and I think we're going to
talk about it every week, in Genesis chapter
16. We see a story. We see the story of Abram,
Sarai, and Hagar. If you weren't here last week,
hopefully you're familiar with the story of Abraham,
but even if you aren't, I'm going to fill you
in very quickly. Abram later is named Abraham,
and he's known as the father of our faith. Because
he followed God. God told him to leave and go
somewhere that he would show him. He didn't even
know where he was going, but he just trusted
God enough to just follow God. Well, he's married
to Sarai, who later becomes Sarah when God changed
their names. But when they went down to Egypt
during a famine, they were given a servant. Her
name was Hagar. And she was Sarah's handmaid.
Now, God promised Abram something. God promised
Abram something. One night he took him outside
and told him to look up at the stars. And he
says, your descendants are going to outnumber
the stars. He said, you're going to be the father
of many nations. God's promise. Everybody say
promise. Well, there's a problem. When he first
got the promise, he's 75 years old and he doesn't
have a child. Not one. And as time passed, he
and Sarah still didn't have a child. How are
your descendants going to outnumber the stars
and you're going to be the father of nations,
father of many nations, and you don't even have
one child? So, Sarah, his wife, Had this big
idea. She said, well, you know, God's made us
a promise, and the promise hasn't been fulfilled
yet, so obviously God needs some help. How many
of you know that's not going to be a good thing
for you to think? Well, God's not doing what
He said He was going to do, so He obviously needs
my help. So Sarai said, Abram, I have this handmaiden.
I have this servant. I have this slave. And Abram,
we need to help God out. And I want my handmaiden
to be a surrogate mother to fulfill God's promise.
Well, not long after, Hagar is expecting. And
here's the problem. The Bible says when Hagar
became pregnant, all of a sudden she developed
an attitude. Everybody say attitude. She had
an attitude. She began to treat Sarah with contempt.
She began to like, you know, I'm having a baby.
You can't have a baby. I'm having a baby. How
many of you know that probably didn't go well
with Sarah? Didn't go well with Sarah. So Sarah
began to make her life difficult, the Bible says.
It's like, really? You're going to act that way
towards me? Sarah made her life difficult, and
Hagar ran away out into the wilderness. And God
met her in the wilderness. It says the angel
of the Lord. But this is a theophany or a Christophany.
This is not just a regular angel, not just a
regular messenger of God. This is God Himself
appearing in human form. He didn't take on human
form at this time, but He appeared that way.
Just like an angel can appear like a person,
And the Bible says we can entertain angels unaware.
Sometimes we may be dealing with someone who
we think is a person, but it could be an angel
that God has sent. Well, this is the angel of
the Lord. This is God Himself appearing as a
human to Hagar. And He says, Hagar, I want you
to run away. You need to go back. You need to
go back to Abram and Sarah. And she did. But
in this encounter, we found out one of God's
names. Now, if you've been here through the months,
you know, we did a series on Hello, My Name is
God. And we talked about so many names of God,
how God has revealed Himself to us through the
Word of God by... telling us who he is, identity,
relationship, and activity. Who he is, what kind
of relationship he wants to be in with you and
me, what he wants to do in our lives, who he
wants to be, the activity that he wants to do
in our lives, we find out through his names.
But we did not study this name. We find out that
God is El Roi. You pronounce it R -O -H dash
capital E -E. Go figure. You pronounce it however
you want to. El Roi. As good as I can come up
with. Or you could say El Roy. El is an abbreviation
for Elohim. We talked about this last week. Which
means he is the supreme and mighty God. And roi
means he sees. So he is the supreme mighty God
who sees me. That's who God is. That's who he
is. He is the supreme mighty God who sees you.
So you are never unnoticed by God because God
sees. God sees you. The supreme and mighty God
sees you personally. He sees every tear. He sees
every act of obedience. He sees every sacrifice.
He sees every act of faithfulness. Nothing goes
unnoticed by God. Nothing. Now for us to find
out that God is the supreme and mighty God who
sees me, you may say, there's some times when
I'm hoping He doesn't see me. I hope He doesn't
see me when I'm responding poorly. I hope He
doesn't see me. You know, when I'm not being
obedient, when I'm wanting my way more than His
way, I mean, I hope He's not really paying attention.
Come on, somebody. Smile, something. Just go
ahead and say, I'm glad He's talking about that
person sitting beside me today. Hallelujah. They
need this. But He sees you. He sees you. And
I want this to be not frightening, but encouraging.
He sees when you obey. He sees when you sacrifice.
He sees when you trust Him and act in faith.
He sees it. He sees it. 2 Chronicles 16, 9. It's
been one of my favorite verses for a long time.
When I was on the road, preaching, I would use
this verse almost every week. Not as the message,
but as hey, we need to be aware of this. For
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout
the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf
of those whose heart is loyal to him. What an
amazing verse. It tells us that He's the God
who sees people. His eyes are going back and
forth through the whole earth. And what's most
important to God? When He looks at you, is He
most concerned about what you chose to put on
to wear today? I mean, He knows that. He sees
that. Is he most concerned about your hair? Herb
said, thank God. Is your hair styled? Is that
what he's concerned about? No. The Bible tells
us that God doesn't see like we see. Because
when we look at each other, we look at the appearance.
We look at the outward appearance. Because that's
what we can see with our natural eyes. So we
look at the natural appearance. But the Bible
says that God doesn't see like we see. He looks
at the heart. So He can look right through us,
whatever we look like on the outside, and He
can see the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
And God's eyes are running back and forth throughout
the whole earth, back and forth between each
row of chairs in this gymnasium. God is looking.
He's searching. He's looking for something. He's
looking for hearts that are loyal to Him. He's
looking for hearts that are committed to Him,
fully committed to Him. And when He finds it,
when He finds somebody who has a heart that's
fully committed to Him, I think he smiles and
he says, I'm going to show my goodness and my
faithfulness and my favor through them. I'm going
to show myself strong through them. He's the
God who sees. Notice what God's looking for.
He's not looking for talent. He's not looking
for influence. He's searching for hearts that
are fully committed to Him. When we're fully
committed to Him, we're going to experience His
goodness and favor. God doesn't simply look and
observe and calculate. He responds. Look to the
person beside you and tell them God responds.
And throughout this series, we're going to be
studying several biblical accounts where God
sees the hearts of people, and then He reveals
what He sees to us. How many of you are thankful
that God's not always revealing the thoughts
and intentions of your hearts to everybody in
the room? Or everybody for the next 2 ,000 years
is going to... Even after you're gone, people
are going to remember what your heart looked
like. Well, that's what we're seeing in these
stories. Today we're looking at Mark 10. I can
preach louder than her. She's fine. Mark 10,
verses 17 through 30. Mark 10, verses 17 through
30. As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem,
a man came running up to him, knelt down. Listen
to his posture. He ran up to Jesus and he knelt
down before Jesus. This wasn't just a casual
walk by. He sought Jesus out. He ran up to him.
He knelt down. And he asked him a question. Good
teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
That lets us know that he's heard Jesus talk
about eternal life. What do I have to do to get
this eternal life that you've been talking about?
What do I have to do? Hey, good teacher. And
then Jesus replied. He said, wait a minute. Why
do you call me good? Why do you call me good?
Only God is truly good. Why do you call me good?
I mean, obviously, if you run up to somebody
and kneel down in front of them, you have some
great respect for them. This wasn't the first
time this young man had been around Jesus, even
though the Bible doesn't say. Now this guy who
had been hanging out, this guy who had been up
on the mountainside listening to Jesus, this
guy who always walked where Jesus walked and
wanted to hear what he had to say, this guy who
was astonished with Jesus' words, the Bible doesn't
tell us that. But how many of you know it's okay
to read between the lines a little bit? Based
on him running to Jesus, falling on his feet,
calling him a good teacher. This man had been
around Jesus. He recognized something. He recognized
that Jesus was different than any of the other
religious teachers. He knew that Jesus spoke
with some authority that he had never heard before.
You know, that's one of the outstanding things
about Jesus that we see in the Bible is his words.
How he spoke differently than everyone else.
This guy respected Jesus. Now I'm not sure if
he had already come to the point where he believed
that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised one
from God. I'm not sure if he had gone that far.
But I'm sure he at least considered Jesus a prophet
of God who was speaking. On behalf of God. Are
you with me? Then Jesus goes on. He didn't allow
him to answer. Why do you call me good? Because
only God's good. He just kept on speaking. He
said. But to answer your question. You know the
commandments. Good Jewish boy. You know the commandments.
You must not murder. You must not commit adultery.
You must not steal. You must not testify falsely.
You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father
and mother. So Jesus said, okay, you're looking
for something. Here's your question. You're looking
for something you can do to get eternal life.
So you're asking me what you can do, how you
can work for it, and get eternal life. So let's
just go through these questions. How many of
you have never murdered someone? Raise your hand.
How many of you have never committed adultery?
Raise your hand. How many of you have never robbed
a bank or stole something out of a store? Raise
your hand. Some of you's hands aren't up. Hey,
somebody sit beside you. Tap your wallet. Make
sure your wallet's still there. How many of you
have not testified falsely? You haven't said
something about someone else that was not true?
Some people take this and say, how many of you
have never told a lie? Raise your hand. How many
of you have never, ever cheated anybody? Raise
your hand. How many of you have always, always,
always, every day, every moment, honored your
father and mother? We started out pretty good.
What do you think? You think he's always honored
you? Every time you've... He was raising his
hands. I'm just going to call him out. Every
time you've asked him to do something, he's always
smiled real big and happily done it. Oh, when
it takes you an hour to wake him up. Did he kind
of hear you and respond to you the first time,
but he just didn't get out of bed? Okay. So,
Jesus goes through these commandments with this
young man. What do you want to do? What can I
do? How can I work for it and have this eternal
life that you keep talking about? Now listen
to what he said. Teacher, the man replied, I've
obeyed all these commandments since I was just
a little boy. I've obeyed all these commandments.
How many of you think Jesus could have went,
liar? Right there in front of everybody. You
lying. no, you haven't kept them all. That was
a bold and a prideful response. Let's give him
the impossible, reasonable doubt. Let's say he
kept them all, which we know that he didn't.
Here's a bigger deal. Here's a bigger commandment
that Jesus knows He hasn't kept. Here's the way
we can put it. Honor the Lord your God and don't
have any gods before Him. Don't let there be
anything in your life that's more important to
you than God. Don't let there be anything in
your life that you trust more than you trust
God, because that's an idol. It's not a little
statue, but it's an idol. Looking at the man,
listen to this. Jesus felt genuine love for him.
Jesus loved him. And he says this, there's still
one thing you haven't done. And here's what he
told him to do. Go and sell all your possessions
and give the money to the poor. And you will
have treasure in heaven. Then, after you do that,
come follow me. Listen, sometimes the greatest
expression of God's love for you and for me is
exposing the thing in our life that is keeping
us from having His best. I'm going to say that
again. If you're writing notes, you need to write
this down. Sometimes the greatest expression
of God's love is exposing, after we are in Him
and we're in Christ and we're following Him,
Sometimes the greatest expression of His love
is exposing something in our lives that's keeping
us from having His best. We don't like things
being exposed in our hearts. It's not always
the ooey -gooey feelings of love, but it's important.
Because God wants you to experience His best.
And He's saying, if you'll just deal with this,
you can experience my best. This confrontation.
And I believe things like this need to happen
regularly in our lives. We need to be confronted
with the Word of God. We need to be challenged
by the Word of God concerning the things that
are in our lives that are keeping us from His
best. We get confronted and then we can either
be offended or we can respond because the confrontation
is an invitation. His confrontation is an invitation
for you and for me to come up higher. And for
you and for me to take hold of something better
than what we've been dealing with. So the confrontation
to this young man was an invitation. Here's how
he responded. Verse 22. At this, the man's face
fell. He's like, good teacher. What must I do
to inherit eternal life? Yeah, I've kept all
those commandments. What else? Sell all I have
and give to the poor? That's what he did, right?
At that word from Jesus, his face fell and he
went away sad because he had many possessions.
It's like, if that's what it takes, I'm not going
to have it. Nailed it. Jesus. Jesus nailed it.
Because this young man trusted his possessions
more than he trusted Jesus. Remember, this story
didn't take place in a vacuum like we talked
about last week. I mean, if he's been following
Jesus around, he had been to the synagogue, he
had been to the temple, he knew that God made
promises to people who gave. And if people give,
when God leads them to give or commands them
to give or His Word tells them to give and they
give in response to that, there's always a blessing
attached. I'm not sure if I've got it in here
or not. I might go ahead and say something that's
coming up. But if I do, just forgive me because
I can't memorize every slide. Last week, the
widow... put in her two mites, which equals about
$1 .88 in today's money. And I've got a question.
Didn't Jesus say she gave more than anybody,
even though she only gave $1 .88? And the reason
why Jesus said she gave more than anybody is
because she gave all she had. So it's easy for
us to sit here today and say, well, you know,
it wasn't a big deal for that widow to give away
all she had. But it's a big deal for this rich
guy to give away all he had. Look at the person
beside you and say, no, it's the same. It's the
same. It's the same level of trust. No difference.
He knew the promises of God. He just didn't trust
it. He trusted his possessions more than he trusted
Jesus. There it is. I couldn't remember if I
had it there or not. I'll go ahead and read it.
Last week, we looked at the story of the woman
putting $1 .88 in the offering. That was all
she had. And we talked about this, how her offering
demonstrated her complete trust and confidence
in God. If you weren't here last week, I'll ask
you the same question as last week. Do you think
she went hungry? Some of you are not sure. Do
you think she went hungry because she gave all
she had? If you think she went hungry because
she gave all she had, then you don't trust God.
She trusted God. We talked about, she knew about
the widow that only had a little bit of flour
and oil. She was going to make her last meal.
But God said, through the prophet, the prophet,
God sent him there and he said, make me a biscuit
first. She only had enough for two biscuits,
but the prophet said, make a biscuit for me first
before you make one for you and your son. She
was going to make two biscuits. That was all
their food. She was going to die. Her son was
going to die of starvation. It was a time of
famine. And God had the audacity. To tell her
to give the first portion to the prophet. And
like I said, in our culture, it's like, really?
I'm offended. Why didn't you go to the richest
person in town? Well, the richest person in town
didn't need the blessing as much as the widow
who was going to have her last meal and die anyway.
She needed some help. She was in desperate need
for a miracle. Or either she was going to die.
But the miracle came when she obeyed God and
gave first. And then the Bible says her flour
and her oil did not fail for months and months
and months and months. Even though it was just
enough for two little biscuits. A miracle every
day. Because every day she made the first biscuit
for the prophet. Even though it looked like she
only had a little bit. How many of you know God
didn't want to take what she had? God wanted
to multiply what she had. Hallelujah. I'm going
to tell you the same thing. God does not want
to take what you have. God wants to multiply
what you have. He's the same God. He didn't want
to take everything this rich young ruler had.
We're going to find out right in line with the
text. He wanted to multiply what the rich young
ruler had. That's who God is. God's not a God
of subtraction. God's a God of multiplication.
And if you get mad because I say that, it's because
you don't trust him. You've never proven Him.
You've never tried Him in this. Put Him to the
test like the Bible says and discover that He's
a good God. Sometimes you've got to wait a little
while but stay in faith. Stay in faith. Listen,
this young man missed out on a couple of things.
The first thing is He missed out on being one
of Jesus' disciples. I don't know if you've ever
considered this or not. I know I'm not the only
person who's ever said it, but Jesus told him,
he said, come follow me. It's the same call to
other disciples. But this man missed out on being
one of Jesus' disciples because his possessions
were more valuable to him. than obeying Jesus
and following Jesus. 1 Timothy 6 .10 says this,
For the love of money is the root of all kinds
of evil. And some people, craving money, have
wandered away from the true faith and pierced
themselves with many sorrows. Now you might have
heard somebody say before, money is the root
of all evil. But that's not true. The love of
money is the root of all evil. I'm going to go
ahead and throw this out there. You can love
money and not have a quarter in your pocket.
Just like you can love money if you have... A
trillion dollars in your bank account. The love
of money doesn't depend on how much you have
or how much you don't have. Some people who have
nothing are just always thinking about money.
When they don't have anything. Our words reveal
the passion of our hearts. Our words reveal the
treasure of our hearts. Our words reveal what
we love the most. What we desire the most. The
love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
How many of you know the widow who put in the
$1 .88? She didn't love money. This guy, Jesus
said, follow me, and he's just like, can't do
it, Jesus. I love my stuff more than I respect
you. The story continues. Just like Jesus taught
His disciples from the widow's offering. I mean,
He was standing there watching the offering.
And after she put in the offering, He says, Guys,
come here. I want to tell you something. I want
to point out something to you. I don't count
the same way you count. Heaven doesn't count
the same way you count. It's a lot of rich people
put in some pretty big offerings. But this little
lady who put in $1 .88, she gave more than everybody.
Insignificant to us. But exploding in heaven.
We're still talking about it 2 ,000 years later.
So just like Jesus taught his disciples from
the widow's offering, now he's going to teach
his disciples again. He says, hey guys, come
here. Jesus looked around. Come here. I want
you to get something. I want you to know something.
Hey guys, it's hard for rich people to enter
the kingdom of God. How hard is it for the rich
to enter the kingdom of God? And they went, what?
What? It's amazing. But Jesus said it again.
Dear children, it's very hard to enter the kingdom
of God. It's hard to enter the kingdom. To enter
the kingdom of God, you've got to come to the
point where you trust Jesus more than you trust
yourself. You've got to trust Jesus more than
you trust your stuff. Hello? To enter the kingdom
of God, you have to confess Jesus as Lord. It's
like, Jesus, all that I am, all that I have is
now yours. I am yours. I yield myself to you.
You are now my master. You're now my boss. You're
now the one in charge of my life. And since you're
in charge of my life, that puts you in charge
of everything, every part of my life, every possession
of my life. Jesus, you're in charge. Then he
said this. In fact, it's easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
person to enter the kingdom of God. We need to
start making a big needle if we're going to put
a camel through it. I'm not going to go there.
Anyway. Some preachers have come up with the
idea that there's a gate and the camel has to
get on its knees and be unloaded to go through
the gate and they call the gate the eye of the
needle. Maybe you've heard a preacher say that.
I've said it before. There's no evidence. It's
just a nice little illustration that some preacher
came up with, and he must have been pretty influential
because a lot of preachers find out about it,
and a lot of preachers repeat it, and I found
out about it, and I repeated it, and then somebody
challenged me on it, and I'm like, well, I can't
find it. So Jesus was talking about a real camel
going through the eye of a needle. Well, remember,
Jesus counts differently and Jesus sees differently.
The disciples were astounded. And they said,
then who in the world can be saved? I mean, just
open up your mind a little bit. Jesus had a treasurer.
Do you need a treasurer if you're broke, busted,
and disgusted? There was enough going through
the Jesus Evangelistic Association that he had
to have a treasurer. and that the treasurer could
be stealing the whole time, and there's still
enough to do what they needed to do, even with
him stealing the whole time. Hello? So keep your
mind open. Poor old Jesus, he didn't even have
a place to lay his head. Whew! Somebody smile.
I mean, right before the disciples left to go
with Jesus, they caught more fish than they would
normally catch in a month's time. It was a huge
payday. Huge payday. Got a month's pay in one
day. How many of you would like to get your whole
month's pay tomorrow and then still work the
month out? Listen, they were astounded. They
didn't consider themselves poor beggars. Who
in the world can be saved, Jesus? Is it only
the widow that can be saved? I mean, do you have
to be poor to come to God? Is God against people
having abundance? Is God against people having
abundance? If you think, He is, and if your former
pastor thinks that he is, tell him to read his
Bible. Abraham's the father of our faith. Try
to read your Bible and see how much he had. He
had enough people, he had enough servants working
for him that he suited up an army and defeated
a nation. Just with the servants in his household.
Had so much that he and Lot had to split. God
blessed them so much, they had to split. They
couldn't even stay in the same region. What about
David? A man after God's own heart. You think
God's against Abraham? No. Look at the person
beside you and go, no. You think God's against
David? I mean, he called him a man after his
own heart. But he had so much abundance, he gave,
in today's money, he gave over $1 .4 billion
of his personal money towards building the temple.
If you're broke, busted, and disgusted, you probably
can't come up with a $1 .4 billion offering.
Solomon. He's known as the wisest man who ever
lived. But just read your Bible. Even Jesus referred
to Solomon. He said, Solomon has the best. Solomon
is dressed the best. I mean, he's wearing Louis
Vuitton. He's wearing the best. All the time.
Every day. Look how he's clothed. You think God's
against Solomon? No. And then Jesus told them
this. He said, hey guys, you're missing the point
here. He looked at them intently. Humanly speaking,
it's impossible. What I just told you, camel
going through an eye of a needle, humanly speaking,
it's impossible. But don't forget, That what
you think in your little brain, what you think
is impossible, it's not impossible with God.
Everything's possible with God. If God wants
a camel to go through an eye of a needle, just
stand back and watch. He'll show you how He can
do it. Then Peter began to speak up. Peter likes
to talk. Sometimes he puts his foot in his mouth.
Sometimes he says great things. But he's always
saying something. Peter began to speak up. We've
given up everything to follow you. He said. He
said, Jesus, you just pointed out this guy. You
told him to give away everything and come follow
you like you told us to just drop everything
and come follow you. But he went away sad. We
didn't go away sad. Hey, Jesus. Are they telling
the truth? Yeah, they're telling the truth. He's
not just talking about himself. He's talking
about all those guys. We've given up everything
to follow you, he said. Listen, when Jesus said,
come follow me to Peter, Andrew, James, and John,
they walked away from their boats. They walked
away from their nets. They walked away from their
family to follow Jesus. If you don't believe
me, let's read it. Matthew 4, verses 18 through
22. One day as Jesus was walking along the shore
of the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon,
also called Peter, and Andrew, throwing a net
into the water. For they fished for a living.
They were fishermen. Jesus called out to them,
Come follow Me, and I will show you how to fish
for people. And they left their nets at once
and followed Him. A little farther up the shore,
he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting
in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing
their nets. And he called them to come too. Come
on, guys. Come follow me. How did they respond?
They immediately followed him, leaving the boat
and their father behind. Peter, Andrew, James,
and John, they changed the world. Look to the
person beside you and say, these guys changed
the world. The world's never been the same since
they followed Jesus. All we know about this young
rich man is that he walked away sad. We don't
even know his name. He didn't change the world.
We still know his story, but we know it because
of bad reasons. Because Jesus saw his heart and
then he said, alright, here's his heart on display
for everybody for ages to come. Here's this guy's
heart. And then Jesus replied to Peter. He said,
yeah, Peter, you have. You and Andrew and James
and John, when I called you to follow me, you
dropped it. You dropped your nets, walked away
from your boats, walked away from your family
fishing business. You left all that to follow
me. Yes, you did. Listen. He says, I assure you,
I promise you, that everyone who has given up
house, our brothers, our sisters, our mother,
our father, our children, our property, for my
sake and for the gospel, for the good news, I
assure you, That these people will receive now.
Everybody say now. Other translations are saying
in this life. It's not just heaven. Even though
heaven is amazing and it's awesome and it's worth
it all. Jesus is saying, no, now, in this life,
before you die, you're going to receive. In return,
a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children, property, along with some
persecution. And all of them except John died
for their faith, were murdered, martyred because
of their faith. So they faced some persecution.
But I'm here today to tell you that they weren't
broke, busted, and disgusted the rest of their
life. Listen, this man not only missed out on
being one of Jesus' disciples, he also missed
out on having a hundred times more than what
he started with. How many of you believe Jesus
tells the truth? How many of you believe He keeps
His promises? Chances are, chances are very high
that Jesus is not calling you to leave your house
to follow Him. To leave your business to follow
Him. Chances are very high. He's not going to
do that. Listen. In 1991, Gannon and I were married
in 85. In 1991, we built our dream home in Greenville,
South Carolina. There weren't many houses at
that time with two bedrooms on one end of the
house with a bathroom and another master bedroom
on the other end of the house with a bathroom.
That wasn't the common floor plan. But that's
what we wanted. So we had an architect draw it
up, draw up the plans just for us. And on December
24th of 1991, we moved into our brand new house.
What we always wanted. Moved in. Now there wasn't
nothing in the house but a bed and a couch. Because
it's Christmas Eve. Did we put up a Christmas
tree? A Christmas tree. A Christmas tree, a couch
that Ganna's daddy made for us, and a bed. And
we built this house while Ganna was pregnant.
Because Jeffrey was born a month later after
we moved in the house. Talking about having nesting
issues. You don't even have a house. So you're
building a house and you can't get the nursery
ready until you move in the house. And then you
move in the house a month before, a month and
one week before he was born. So, why did I tell
you all this? Well... In 95, April 15th, never
forget it because it was tax day. April 15th
of 1995, we followed Jesus by moving out of the
house, selling the house, and moving into a motorhome.
Listen. When I talk about stuff like this, I'm
not just presenting theory. I'm presenting theory.
Chances are very high that God's not going to
call you to leave your house to follow Him. Or
to step away from your family, to move away from
your family. I mean, almost immediately we moved
to Alabama with family in South Carolina and
North Carolina. But I'm here to tell you something.
We've received way more than a hundredfold return
for family. Because we're going to be dancing
on the streets of gold with at least, I mean,
if I took my last breath today, I'm dancing on
the streets of gold with about 10 ,000. I mean,
you know, we walked away from 21 family members.
How many of you know 100 times 21? What's that?
2100? 10 ,000 people. Brothers and sisters. And
listen. The hundredfold return on the house itself
and land. Part of that is going to be. Galatian
church land and Galatian church building. Because
I haven't given up on the promise. Because I
believe God keeps His promises and I still trust
Him as much as I did then, I trust Him today.
Because I was living in Myrtle Beach in a house
that was almost twice the square footage as our
dream house on the ocean. And you know what?
God said, I didn't own it, but I could have lived
in it until I couldn't preach anymore. For free.
God said, let's do it again. Let's do it again.
In a 2 ,400 square foot house that I could almost
hit a golf ball into the ocean, let's do it again.
Yeah. You think I'm crazy. I'm glad God sees
different than you do. Let's do it again. And
then look at this family. There's more family.
So when I talk about this, I'm not talking about
some kind of theory. Right? All of our possessions
were laying on the ground behind the house. There
was a stack to put in storage and a stack to
give away or throw away and a stack for the sale.
Garage sale. Yeah, the funny thing is, our friends
decided to help us with the garage sale. So they
just priced everything. They just came and picked
it up and took it to their neighborhood that
was having a big garage sale. They priced everything.
By the time we got there, almost all of our junk
had already been sold. This ain't about me. I
don't want you to leave thinking it's about me.
I'm just telling you. God's faithful. God's going
to keep His promises. You can trust Him. He's
not wanting... to receive from you, to subtract
from you. He's wanting to multiply you. The Bible
is evidence. My life is evidence. There are people
in this room who could say, my life's evidence
too, and I'll tell you that testimony. Here's
another consideration. Maybe the rich young ruler
wasn't as greedy as much as he was afraid. Maybe
he believed that surrender to Jesus, selling
all he had and following Jesus, maybe he believed
surrender meant loss. But faith sees surrender
as gain. Trust sees surrender as gain. Hebrews
11, 6. I'm almost done. It's impossible to please
God without faith. You're not going to please
Him without faith. Without a confident expectation
that He's going to keep His promises. You're
not going to please Him. Because anybody who
comes to God must believe that He exists. And
we're real cool with that. I believe God exists.
I believe in God. Sometimes we get squirrely
on this. I believe God exists, but we also have
to believe that He rewards those who sincerely
seek Him. Sincerely means with the right heart,
with the right intent, with the right motive,
we're seeking God. I didn't read that verse and
say, well, Ganna, let's sell the house and move
into a motorhome and never own a house. Let's
do that because God's going to owe us a hundred
times. That was not the motivation. The motivation
was, God, if that's what you want us to do, we're
going to do it. We're going to do it. We've got
to believe that God rewards those who sincerely
seek Him. Jesus still invites people to follow
Him. And He still exposes with love what... for
our hearts. He will expose that to us. As long
as you're breathing, you haven't missed your
opportunity. He still rewards surrendered lives.
He still does. Whatever you place in God's hands
is never lost. But whatever you refuse to surrender,
Can quietly become your master. So God speaks
to all of us. He speaks to all of us. He challenges
all of us. He wants to pull all of us out of
our comfort zone. Every single one of us. To
say something, to give something, to do something.
If we'll listen, He'll challenge us. What you
don't want to happen is, you don't want to hear
it and then say, well, no, God, that's just too
much. That's just too much. Not going to be able
to do that, God. It's what this rich young ruler
did. Listen, your sacrifice, your displays of
trust, your actions that reveal your trust in
God, your obedience, your generosity, your worship
will never go unnoticed by God. Never go unnoticed
by God. God always sees. He is El Rohi. He always
sees. And your faith response to whatever He
calls you to, that's what activates His promises.
His promises are there. He's already paid for
them. He's already provided for them. They're
already yours. But in my life and in my experience,
it always takes some kind of response on my end
in order to receive it. Some type of obedience.
Some type of act. I believe that's in line with
the Word of God. And I'm telling you that it's
in line. With my experience too. This online
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