HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

VALERIE - Biopsy Result - Surgery this Wednesday - Treatment - FAST and PRAY!!

PRAYER ROOM - a place to sit with the Lord read and pray

YOUNG MARRIED FELLOWSHIP - Friday 7:00pm

RSVP for childcare/dinner orders

Old Married Volunteers

TOMORROW NIGHT - JOSHUA 5

Matthew 8:18-22

18Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 19And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 21And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

TO THE SECOND MAN Jesus said - “Follow Me.”

THE ENTIRE CHRISTIAN LIFE is summed up in this ONE command - “follow Me”

That is a FAR cry from merely attending a church

That is a FAR cry from merely belonging to a small home group

That is a FAR cry from merely believing certain doctrines

It is RELATIONAL / DIRECTIONAL

Here is a PERSON saying FOLLOW ME.

A PERSON to follow and a DIRECTION He is going

To FOLLOW Jesus meant LEAVING one direction and FOLLOWING Jesus in the way HE is going.

IT IS A LIFE in which you place JESUS IN FRONT of you and the WORLD BEHIND you SO THAT you can

Have a RELATIONSHIP with Him!

WALK with Him!

FOLLOW HIM…. All the way to heaven!

This morning we want to continue to look at the words of Jesus to the SECOND MAN

21And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

This is NOT to suggest that his father was dead.

His father could have been in perfect health.

In those days they didn’t have retirement homes/assisted living facilities

It was your responsibility to care for your parents.

What this guy is saying to Jesus is - “Let me go fulfill my responsibility towards my parents. When they die I’ll follow you.

WE NEED TO MAKE NOTE OF THE FACT THAT He was not disagreeing with, or rejecting the claims of Christ, BUT he was putting other things first.

He was intending to get around to Jesus later.

He was procrastinating in order to make best of both worlds.

Notice the RESPONSE of Jesus to this man.

(Luke 9:60 NLT) Jesus replied, "Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach the coming of the Kingdom of God."

THIS IS KEY - Jesus in essence said, “Let the spiritually dead do work which needs no spiritual life.”

You don't have to be alive to God to establish a home with great financial and social benefits.

BUT - Only those who are spiritually alive can save people from spiritual death.

Jesus wants this man to see that the priority of His disciples is NOT the same as the unbeliever.

The Christian has a job to undertake that ONLY a Christian can do.

THIS IS HEAVY -

The call of Christ to FOLLOW Him and SERVE Him MUST take precedence over EVERYTHING in our lives - even over family matters!

I wonder if this man took heed to that call or if he went home and lived with his family.

The Bible does NOT tell us the response.

It only records the challenges made to him.

But Jesus makes the same challenge to men and women today - and their response is often the same!!

“I have business to take care of first….

WHEN I get my home built…

When I get my retirement secured…..

THEN I will serve the Lord.”

“My business FIRST, THEN the Lord's work.”

FRONT PAGE OF LAST SUNDAY’S SAC BEE -

To reach these kids somebody is going to have to put Jesus FIRST

KEY OBSERVATION: This is NOT a call to FAITH in Jesus.

MATTHEW tells us that this was a DISCIPLE.

This is a call to SERVICE!

In response to this call of Jesus this man makes reference to serving other interests!

COMPARE the response of this man to the response of Matthew when he was called by Jesus.

(Mat 9:9 NKJV) As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.

Matthew didn’t even go to look for his Roman boss.

He just got up from the tax booth and followed Jesus.

COMPARE the response of this man to the response of James and John when they were called by Jesus.

(Mat 4:21-22 NKJV) Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother,

in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, {22} and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

They didn't say - “Let us see if we can liquidate our assets, or sell our business.”

They just LEFT.

BY CONTRAST - This man said, “Let ME FIRST.”

CRUCIAL INSIGHT: To FOLLOW and SERVE Jesus can NOT be on a me first basis.

It is on the basis of JESUS FIRST.

As we look at these two men it is interesting to notice the SIMILARITIES and the DIFFERENCES.

DIFFERENCES -

One of them VOLUNTEERED to follow the Lord.

One was CHALLENGED to follow Jesus.

SIMILARITIES -

In BOTH cases there was something about the HOME TIES that was the stumbling block.

To the first man Jesus had to say, “I don't have a home.”

The second man put his home ties first.

When it comes to following Jesus and serving Jesus it MUST be, “seek ye first the kingdom of God.”

KEY INSIGHT: Whenever you say Let me first….., whatever follows demonstrates that you do NOT understand serving the Lord.

Please do not misunderstand me -

This does NOT mean that You can NOT own a home

This does NOT mean that you can’t take your kids to soccer

It DOES mean that Jesus is FIRST priority.

It means setting the tone in your family where it is understood that Jesus, and His Kingdom come before everything.

It means having your kids grow up where “Jesus first” is just the way a family lives!

THERE IS APPLICATION for all of us here in regards to SERVING - whether FULL TIME or PART TIME

There are many people who think that the ministry would be a GOOD job.

“My boss is miserable….

It would be so great to be in the ministry.

I want to work around Christians instead of unbelievers…..

I want to be in the ministry.”

THAT is the first guy in our passage here!

This looks like a great start up company….

Good people…

A REALLY understanding boss….

And hey - GREAT medical benefits!

I want to follow you wherever you go Lord.

Jesus had to say to him, “Wait a minute, my benefit package isn’t stacked with earthly perks

KEY INSIGHT #1 - If we look at the words of Jesus to both of these men we have to conclude that FOLLOWING and SERVING Jesus means that you have NO permanent home.

EXAMPLE: When the Lord called us to Nor Cal -

Our oldest daughter, Deborah, was then in the beginning of her 5th grade school year

The Wednesday night that we got the phone call officially asking us to become the the new pastor of CCGV we heard her crying in her bedroom.

She grew up at CC Costa Mesa

Went to Pre-K… Kindergarten….. 1-5 with same girls

CRUCIAL INSIGHT #2 - (FULL or PART time ministry) - Being in the ministry means that your family might not get the prime time!

EXAMPLE: I have spent MANY nights away from my wife and kids.

There have been times when I have had WEEKS without an evening at home.

THAT is NOT my desire.

I love my home and family.

I love BEING home….. My wife is the BEST homemaker!

BUT a commitment to serve Jesus overrides what is a very normal and natural desire to be at home.

Some might say that being in the ministry will cost you what others might call a NORMAL home life.

Before moving to Grass Valley I had FIVE nights that were committed EVERY week BEFORE any outside requests came in.

That wasn’t always pleasant and wasn’t always easy.

NOTE WELL: It was not just a commitment on MY part but on my wife's part.

It was a JOINT commitment.

IF she was NOT equally committed I could NOT serve the Lord.

Some might say, “That’s really sad!”

The sad thing is that there are people who have sacrificed their home life for mere TEMPORAL gains.

CLOSINGWe can’t pretend that this man and these words of Jesus are not in the Bible….

Or that the aren’t meant for everyone!

To SERVE Christ is COSTLY.

You will find that MOST of the cost will be in your family.

One thing that I did NOT mention was NORMAL relationships.

Suddenly you can’t get lost in the crowd - you are around people and in front of people… and like it or not - you are being watched and judged BECAUSE you are serving Jesus.

IF you say, I do NOT want that, it does NOT mean that you are condemned or lost.

BUT if you say yes, it means serving at a COST.

If you are thinking, “Richard, I feel sorry for you, and Valerie” - please don’t!

Don't pity us. 

Our natural desire would be to have more time together and with our children

But Jesus has been so wonderful to us that Valerie and I are willing to wait so that we can get His work done now while we have opportunity

QUOTE: C.T. Studd - "If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."

So many of you have come and expressed tremendous gratitude for the ministry of Metro to your lives…

Gratitude for how the teaching of the Word has changed and enriched your lives.

In a very real way you have Valerie’s and my pastor - Chuck Smith and his wife Kay to thank….

Because of their commitment to serve Christ…

At the cost of a “normal” family life….

Valerie and I know the Lord and are serving Jesus and you today.

Christians (used to) like to READ the biographies of men and women whose lives touched the world.

Jim Elliot…. Hudson Taylor….C.T. Studd…. George Mueller

We like to read ABOUT them…. We like to ADMIRE them and QUOTE them…. But we don’t want to LIVE like them.

I’m not (necessarily) talking about you going to Ecuador… China…. India

I’m talking about LIVING like them right here in Roseville… Rocklin…. Granite Bay… Folsom… Citrus Heights… Auburn!

When you decide to FOLLOW Jesus and SERVE Jesus I guarantee that He won’t leave you and your family cheated for such a life.

Let me tell you what God has GIVEN TO ME AND MY FAMILY through all of these years of serving Him.

I look at the events of this past week.

I’m find out - literally minutes before Monday nights service - that my wife has cancer.

I come in and Sean says - “What’s going on? Was that mom?”

I tell him and then after I open in prayer he leads this packed out room in worship….

The next day I told him that He did great job… he said

“I couldn’t enter in!”

I said - “God met you in your weakness because He was all over you as you were playing and singing!

Then there is my oldest child, Deborah…

By the way - In that kind of dark moment God didn’t short change me…

He made sure my oldest daughter and son were both in town for the news we never dreamed we’d have to get.

Made sure that Aaron Redfield was here…. Had cancer surgery a few years ago and survived!

She just happened to get a NEW job as an account manager for Donna Karan and just happened to have the Nordstrom at Arden Fair as one of the accounts she manages.

Tuesday morning I take her to Nordstrom… It is her first time meeting with that account…

And I watched her very closely as she was trying to process the news of her moms cancer and hold it together for the presentation…

She was so amazing - so gracious - strong - so awesome!!!

Conventional wisdom says that because of all of our sacrifices for the ministry that our 2 oldest should be the quintessential Pastor’s Kids…. resenting mom and dad…. church and ministry and even God.

They didn’t FALL APART.

YES they were stunned but man - to see the way they lived and walked through those minutes and hours!!

QUOTE: BIRD - A Bible that is falling apart is often owned by someone who isn’t!!

I wish I could show you my wife’s Bible….

Our kids didn’t fall apart because her Bible is… and as a result of Valerie FOLLOWING Jesus and SERVING Jesus

Jesus is THEIR Jesus.

And then there is Valerie!!

Didn’t cry until Wednesday night while sitting with me on the couch…. “I just wanted to be strong for the kids (Val w/nathan while he is sobbing)

Working in the office…

“Now my surgery is next Wednesday so I won’t be able to be there on Friday for the YMF…. What are you going to order for the dinner, etc.!!

God didn’t say - “Richard, Valerie, Thanks for the sacrifice but you’re on your own with this cancer thing!!”

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other Christians, as you still do.

TOMORROW NIGHT - JOSHUA 5