At A Crossroads - At The Cross pt. 1
Worship team is always man. I'm excited as Vanessa just put me on blast.
She said I was all for a couple of weeks. I'd better preach the walls of this building so I might want to get some. Get somewhere where I may be safe because it may not be safe today. My desire is to preach in such a way that that the Holy Spirit capture your heart that the Holy Spirit will help transform who you are, who you desire to be.
And if you're a Duke fan, transformation is already taking place. I just had to throw that in. I'm not I don't have a dog in a fight but man, I'm so excited just to be here today as we start a new sermon series today. And our services for the next several weeks is at the cross If I know how to hit a F note or a C no or whatever, those alphabets may be always seeing it, but I'm not I'm not going to bless you with that.
I'm reminded that at the cross most people say that's where it finished. But truth be told, that's where it started. It is at the cross where who we are and what God has caused us to become and what God has called us to do is what we as believers, we can take hold of And so today, if you have your Bible, which I'll be lifting up a passage in Luke Chapter nine verses 57 through 62 Luke chapter nine verses 57 through 62, and I'll be reading from the Navy version as there walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go Jesus replied, Foxes have dens and birds have nests
but the son of man has no place to lay his head he said to another man, Follow me. But he replied, lower. First let me go and bury my father. Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own there. But you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God yet still another said, I will follow you, Lord. But first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.
Jesus replied, No one who puts a hand to the plow, looks back, is fit for the service in the Kingdom. Of God Today's title is Standing at a Crossroad. Standing at a Crossroad.
There are certain events in Scripture throughout the Bible that truly shapes our faith the fastest, who we are as believed as believers. But even in that, there are major themes that we see all throughout Scripture that develops the framework of our Christianity the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible we can hear. God hears the cries of his people we see where God exposes the political system built on the backs of enslaved people.
God shows up. And the moment where the Red Sea, where He begins to question, where people begin to question what is impossible for men, is actually possible for God because we serve a God who who made a covenant, a promise with this people a promise with these people to bring them to a place of providence we see that in the Scriptures in the very beginning of time in the book of Genesis, we see where God formed and fashion men, and we see how God has displayed the original intent for His design he desires to have a relationship with his creation seen a very beginning there.
There was a time frame where men had a separation between God and themselves.
But then that's where he sets the story of redemption in place. He sets a time frame where we were, you and I, where we can have a relationship with God. The Father we see the original sin about not only about the creation of man, but also the the downfall of man. Then also we have the birth of Jesus Christ where 414 prophecies.
Think about that 414 prophetic instances throughout the Scripture tells the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior and see the events of the Scriptures outline where men were looking for a king coming in in a shape of true royalty, adorned in gold, in diamonds and jewelry, things that as such, but a guy came through an ordinary, simple, modest family.
They missed it another bit throughout the Scripture you can see it is that the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, where he begins to tell the Pharisees that the sad season, even the disciples said, I would tear down this temple and I will raise it up in three days. I begin to ask the question, how can such a man tear down this temple and then rebuild it up in three days?
And we know throughout the Scriptures he wasn't talking about the physical temple. He was talking about the body another event that we see throughout the Scriptures that really shakes in fast is we as believers, as Christians, is the call to follow Jesus sees another action that shakes our beliefs, our values, and even who we are as believers whether you follow Christ is strictly up to you is your choice to the call for many of us is very difficult to call what God is asking of you to live out of life in such a way we don't fully embrace it.
So we find ourselves standing at a crossroad. We see ourselves sitting in the middle where we have to make a decision, Which way do I go it's kind of like this picture that where it's on a screen where we're sitting in the middle if we go to the left, there's one direction. But if we go to the right, it can lead us to a different path and we find ourselves standing at a crossroad.
And as we look at this path, as we make a decision, we begin to try to to try to calculate which direction do we take? Which way does God want us to go? We we're sitting there wondering to the left. It's kind of dark in there, but to the right, there's there's a little bit more sunlight in the weather, maybe just a little bit better Honestly, if I had a choice if God has prompted me to go to the left where I may encounter some dark time, but out of my own physical and emotional mindset, I'm inclined to go to the right because that's where I can see the path like many of you and I were sitting at a crossroad the call to follow Jesus. So what do you do when you do not know what to do? What do you do when you're standing there? You don't know what God really wants for you.
I know what I want but my flesh wants something different to the choices that I make is detrimental to what happens next. The choices that I is faced with determines where I will go, even to the point where my circle of friends there, they're not going to be any help because they're not telling me what I believe, what God wants me to do.
So which way do I go? I'm kind of stuck in the middle so let me just make it real for you. Right? So let me just let me put it this way. If I wanted to be political, do I vote Republican or vote Democrat? Because either way, if I choose one or the other, I'm gonna lose some friends.
If you start posting on Facebook or Instagram that you start Snapchatting or tweeting, you may lose some of your political wealth friends will stop unfriending because of your political position.What about I want to roll this next Blunt because I'm on Tinder. I need to kind of just mellow out a little bit. Right. I'm going to keep your real you know what I'm talking about? Get the paper, grind it up, roll it up slow, you know? Come on, Puff. I've passed see what do you do when you're at a level 1082?
Come down some you're standing at a crossroad. How about when you feel like you might need a customer boss out? Because, you know, they keep asking me for these reports and these reports can't get done well, you're making these assumptions or you go to school when these kids are getting on your nerves or you want to just check out on them or you're Chris Rock and Wolfman comes up and just put his hands on you.
You cast him in a bad day. My cash has right. This is real talk. You're standing at a crossroad. What do you do when you're standing with the decisions of life? You don't know if to go right or go left. What do you do when you're praying, asking God? Which way do I go when God is now responding?
God, I'm crying out to you. Which way do I go?
Do I turn the other cheek or do I go toe-to-toe a national TV see, i'm stuck in the middle of a crossroad.
In my black enough and my white enough and my Latino and Asian enough. I'm standing at a crossroad or I've been eyeballing is this this man at work or this dream that I work in? Nobody would know if I go ahead and just have that extra relationship on this side. Because it won't hurt anyone. I'm standing at a crossroad I'm dealing with these homosexual tendencies, and I just. I just don't know what what this is and I don't know what this feels like because I'm confusing all the social media and things that I see on TV, on the news, and everything else on social media is telling me that it's okay for me to have this homosexual relationship. But God's design to say, you know, that is not my original design for you, but because of the fall of men, everything sin has entered into the world in God's original design is kind of gone by the wayside. I'm standing at a crossroad I like this church. There's something different about this church, but I can't fully commit because I've been hurt in the past and things just don't work out now.
I've been there before, and I've given it all before now, and I've done it over and over again. But I'm standing at a crossroad what do you do when you're standing in the middle? It's on the left. There's a dark path, but to the right, the path is a little bit more light so we base our decision on the appearance versus God tells us what to do. Let me put it like this Does our decisions line up with God's desires? Does your decisions line up with God's desires? See, the decisions that we make affect our lives and ultimately can shape our fate. So does our decisions that we make in life. Do they line up in such a way that Eliza, with God, desires for your life?
And I'm not talking about what to wear. No, that's that's that's minimal. I mean, if you're my, you know, conscious and social status brother now it's all good but what about who to marry, right? What if I married faith in God, told me to marry Felicia, right?
What if I was supposed to marry Felicia? But I married Faith. And before you guys are asking, I don't know anybody, Faith. So don't be trying to call my wife and tell her like I'm Ryan putting you on blast. Let me know when we text my wife myself, because y'all by trying to text and relate Ryan and talking about this, make this girl any faith I know how you do, Lindy.
And Vanessa and both my mamas are here today, too, so they would call it ultimately who you marry can determine the level of misery that you may encounter. Even it may even derail what god is calling you to do.
So the certain decisions that we have in life that we have to make sure that we line up our decisions with God's desires so how do you determine the providential will of God? So that way my decisions matches God's desires because many of us are walking in God's permissive will and that His providential will there's a difference, the permissive will of God.
So basically what He allows you to choose, it's best to free whatever He allow us to make decisions based on what we desire to do. Right. That's God's permissive, permissive will. But His providential will is that God or days that God designed will for your life that he has already pre pre described. This is what He desires for you to counter and fully walk out my
Again, those your decisions line up with God's desires. So what do you do when I'm standing in the middle? What do you do when you're standing at a crossroad? Now, if I was a Quaker, that would tell me to wait if I was a Pentecostal, it would tell me to run after it and go. If I was Baptists, they would say, Read my Bible, right?
Come on. Yeah, I know what I'm talking about.
But the Bible doesn't tell me everything how to live out very specific things for our lives. That's the role of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is I can tell you what to wear, who to marry. No, but the Holy Spirit will. What do you mean, Pastor? Right. Let's look at chapter six book. I'm kind of just give you guys a foundation.
Where are we going to go today? Actually, chapter six, verses six and verse seven says this Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of England, galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. Where they came to the border of Mesa. They tried to enter Bethania, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to
Scripture says that the Holy Spirit would not allow them to enter into Bethania Are you connected to the Holy Spirit in such a way that you're listening to what they're telling you, what He's telling you to do Scripture says that they pray that the Holy Spirit prevented them to go into Bethania the church. I went, You realize this sometimes God's know is louder than God.
Yes, sometimes God's know is louder than God's. Yes.
The Holy Spirit prompted Paul. I said, No, you cannot go to Bethania So yes, God's know is an answer. It gives you that design of what He's trying to tell you to do, where he's trying to tell you to go. The Holy Spirit here to give us discernment and direction. And sometimes we can find God's Word through His know, which will lead us to His Yes His know was a yes for you.
You have to begin to really realize that sometimes when God says no, His He's outlining His Yes somewhere else Revelation chapter three, verse seven says this What He opens no one can shut and what he shuts, no one can open All right. All right, guys. Yes, some guys know you guys know that we've been looking for buildings just to kind of transition so that way we can become just really good stewards of what God has given us.
Right. We talked about how this facility is just the operational costs and just the investment that it takes to really run this facility. If you guys don't know, our mortgage is about $50,000 a month. We've talked about that publicly is nothing that we know to hold anything secret. Imagine what we can do. A ministry for $50,000 a month. Imagine the number of lies that we can help change, the number of families that we can help out. So we begin to transition out this facility we, the elders and our leadership team, our pastoral team, we were actually looking at it at a facility. We went on site, we toured, it was about to sign a paper and I said, No, he said, I have something else for you.
He said, If you would just wait there's something else better and there's something else that I've designed for your church to have that I need you to walk into. Now, granted, we could have went down East Chester, moved to the whole different facility, would have been actually in there right now. But gas is no wait.
Are you okay with the guys? No. Yeah, Are you truly okay with guards? No. Sometimes I struggle with it. I'll be honest. Who wants to be told? No, thank you.
But God's know is leading to his yes. Here in Luke, chapter nine, we see Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. Let me just give you a backdrop Jesus ministry was on fire. He's beginning to kind of grow crowds around, and people are following him. He healed the man that was paralyzed. They caught a boatload of fish. He healed the man with leprosy. He healed the man on Sabbath he began to preach about Nero's. The gay straight is the path. Jesus begins to have followers and crowds pressing in on him from everywhere and Luke. Chapter nine, verse 57 says This as they were walking along the road a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. Think about that. Some random guy comes up and say, Jesus, what's up? Yo, I will follow you everywhere you go. This is okay. Foxes have dudes birds have this. The son of man has no place to lays it. Are you down with that? So, Jesus, what are you trying to tell me? That where are we going to go? We won't have no. No Hilton. No, no Hampton Inn, no Embassy Suites. No, no Marriott Courtyard. He's like, No, none of that.
We have a pile of leaves in Iraq. That's where you gonna lay your head? Are you okay with that? Yeah. No, I'm kind of bougie. Just live. Actually, my wife is bougie. Yeah, I'll tell her I'm talking about it. She can look at the video, watch her herself. Yeah, my wife does not like camping. She. Man, if, Vic, your mountain camp has just, you know, it just.
It just is not for I'm down with it. You know, my kids, my wife, my my son and my daughter. We love camping. You know, we don't mind it, but my wife, boy, she needs a pillow with a pillow, top mattress. Without I mean, she needs all of that. She like Jesus. Can we make some arrangement where I can see you every other weekend? Can we go? You know, she would like. No, Pastor Ryan, what are you trying to say? Your alignment with God is determined by your actions with God. Let me say that again. Your alignment with God is determined by your actions with God.
So how you align yourself with God is truly determined by your actions. If you are a true disciple, if you are to follow Jesus Christ, everything that you do, everything that you say, everywhere that you go is determined by your actions. In other words, that is your fruit. The fruit of who you are will show Jesus. Tell the young man foxes have gainsbourg's happiness, but the sun of may have no place to the lazy Jesus knew very well what he was talking about.
Jesus left his home and I'm not talking about his home in Bethlehem. Talking about his home in Heaven.
Think about that. He left his home for you. And I know that he would be rejected knowing that he would be spat upon, knowing that he would even be beaten he surrendered the comfort of heaven to come here to Earth to save you. And I back to the father to follow in Jesus is greater than your comfort following Jesus should be greater than your comfort. The comfort of your home. The comfort of where you are, just how you live and do life. That if you're truly following Jesus is greater than your comfort. So you have to make adjustments to our daily lives in our schedules and things of that nature.
Less of me and more of him. That means you might need to adjust your schedule you might need to adjust the way that you do things. You may need to get up an hour earlier. You may need to go to sleep an hour later. I was telling a team of our leaders, I think I was having a conversation with Jason and like Pastor Ryan, go get some rest.
I guess I was looking tired and there is I don't know. I said no. I said, there's too much to be doing. There's too much for God has me to do for me to rest. Why is that? And I begin to talk about my mentor. My mentor told me, like, if you're living in L.A. and you get up at 8:00 in the morning, he said the stock market is already open for 3 hours and you're missing out in the world.
He said you have to adjust your life to what God has called you to do. So I may get 6 hours of sleep a night and a good day. I may get 7.5, maybe eight for sleepy, but an average I sleep five or 6 hours a day. Because there's so much that has to get done for the kingdom that I am willing to make adjustments to my schedule so that we can impact our communities, so that way we can impact our lives, so that we can have a transformed community, a transformed church which leads to transform city point number two Following Jesus should be greater than your family. Got quite quick. Didn't follow in Jesus. CB greater than your family. Now let's let's look at this verse 59 says this. He said to another man, follow me he said to another man, follow me verse 57 says As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.
Did you guys see the difference in that? In verse 57, the young man said, I will follow you but in verse 59, Jesus gave the invitation to follow him There's a difference Some of us say, You know what, Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. That's great. And for some of you, Jesus has been calling on you for years. He's been giving you the invitation to say, Come and follow me.
And what was the young man's response But he replied, Lord, let me go first. Let me go and bury my father.
He replied, Lord, first let me go and bury my father Let me give you some some customary Jewish customs is built into this part right here Some of the theologians have two different perspectives on what's taking place right here. Some of the theologians believe that in a Jewish customs what is customary is that after somebody dies, the family for one more over that family member for seven days after the seven days they will they will wrap the body with in a tomb with cloth and spices and things like that, mourn them for seven days But the immediate family members, not the immediate family members, will remain close to the body unless they're going to the tomb
After that, seven days they will go back and take that body, leave it in the tomb for a year after the year passes and the body decomposes, the family will go back one year and take the bones and put them in a small box and put them back in to another tomb
So some theologians are saying that this family member has already going through the process either for the year for that son or daughter to go back into the tomb. And collect the bones and then bury the father or he had just died. That's that's the first view of some theologians. The second view is this that the father wasn't even passed just yet, but he was up in age What do you mean that the father was up, let's say 70 or 80 or 90, whatever the age may be.
And he had he was near death. And what the son or daughter wanted to do was to wanted to spend the rest of that time with that parent before they had committed to follow in Jesus Now, why is that important? It's two different thought patterns here. Some of us are waiting to follow Jesus and see we come to a place with our family has passed some of us are waiting to go back and bury the bones.
But either way, God is calling you to come and follow him. He's saying, let the dead bury the dead He says this still another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first go back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus replied, No one who puts his hand to the plow, looks back, is fit for the service in the Kingdom of God.
Point number three Following Jesus is greater than your desires so we have three points here. Following Jesus is greater than your comfort. Following Jesus is greater than your family. In the last point, following Jesus is greater than your desires.
Why is that desires? The desires to go back and see the pleasures of this world. The desires of reflecting back to where you used to be, the desires of the things that you actually how God is trying to pull you out of and take you away from Jesus. Say, no one who set his eye for the kingdom and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom. So many believers begin to walk out this life in this relationship as a disciple of Christ. And we begin to look back. I've done it anybody else? I remember going back like, Man, I miss going back to the club. I used to go, you know, miss going back, hanging out, up my boys. We we do what we do.
But I've gotten to a place in my journey with Christ that I've been walk with him for so long. Those desires, they don't even resonate with me anymore. Now, why is that? It's because of the community of believers that I've placed myself around it's because I changed my appetite I changed the things that I used to do, the things I used to feed myself, the things I used to surround myself with, the people that I surround myself with.Once you start doing that, your desires begin to change.
But if you want to keep having those desires, keep the same community, keep the same appetite, and you will still living, you will still begin to live that mediocre Christian life. Now you say you're going to heaven, but the beauty of being a disciple, fully committed disciple of Christ, that you begin to walk in every blessing that God has for you.Think about this as the worship team comes to get ready to close it The progression of Luke after this he talks about a scripture about sheep in Luke Chapter 15 you guys know about the scripture where Luke talks about the 99 sheep. But then there's one that's that's gone too far, that's lost now the beginning. Ask God, why did Luke put the Scripture after he called the disciples to follow him on multiple counts.
And we see it all the way through the Scriptures from Luke Chapter one to Luke Chapter 14, where Jesus has called not only the disciples who follow Jesus Christ, but He has called many other disciples after that the Luke begins to take and account for the 99 sheep, and he said, What would you do if one was to go astray and what Luke was talking about, this that many of us have been in, the CFO of the Great Shepherd that we follow, the High Priest that we have benefited from the table of our Heavenly Father, but during your course of life and you begin to walk and do things in, you've been a witness for a while, you've been a Christian for quite some time, and somehow you've kind of gone astray as the sheep. You kind of go into doing start doing your own little thing. And the next thing you know that you found yourself lost is separated from the 99 Luke begin to ask the shepherd, What would you do? Would you leave the 99 to go after the one says you're standing at a crossroad and if you're the one who's been lost for quite some time where you you're a believer, but you know what?
You've been out there by yourself, that you just been doing things on your own and you're not within the fellowship of believers, you're not in the fold of the 99 God is saying it's time to come back home God is saying that you've been outside of the pastures far long to look too long you said when you come back that you've been standing at the crossroad of which way do I go, that I've been following Jesus, but I don't know which way do I go now?
I'll be praying. God, I need an answer. I need some type of confirmation, Doug. Or right? Or do I go left? You do I begin to walk this thing out in such a way that I am fully committed to you we all get weary sometimes we've all been at that point. Where have you been? At a crossroad.
I just remind you today that our decisions is that line does align it with God's desires. The decisions that you've been making, the decisions that you've been living your life, the things that you've been doing many of us. Sometimes we place family over over ministry, if I can use that term. Because, you know, I definitely I we have a ministry where we focus on the family because we know that the family unit is important. But sometimes we we're so close to the family that we forget the ministry that got us called us to do and that's the Ministry of Reconciliation to follow. Following Jesus is greater than my comfort. Following Jesus should be greater than my family. Follow Jesus should be greater than my desires.Because I know my alignment with God is greater alignment with God is determined by the actions so today we're going to close with the song The Blessed Assurance. Yes, I was going to say the blessing. Something else. Yes. And today I'm just going to ask if you want to rededicate your life during this time frame. If you want to rededicate your commitment to the to the cross, maybe you've been going astray for quite some time.
You've been going rogue. Got to say, you know what? It's hard to come home it's time that you begin to take that path, even though that the path may be dark. Just no, I am with you. Because we are all at some point in our lives, we'll be standing at a crossroad in my prayers that you will have that assurance to know that he is with you, that he has never left you, he has never forsaken you.
He desires for you to walk this life out with him even when it gets rough. And guys, believe me, I know what it means to get rough. You guys heard my testimony. You guys know where I've church has been over the past year and a half to two years. But the beauty of what we've been able to accomplish how have you been able to touch the lives of our community and touch the families of our churches and what God is doing in and through you for me, that's enough to stay in the fight, to fight for each and every one of you here that's here today.