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00:00:01
Sacrifice It All For Love
20 Plays25 days ago
Series: Faithfulness to Jesus
Mark 12:13-44
Recommended
Transcript
Understanding 'All In' Across Contexts
00:00:01
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What does it mean to be all in? You've heard this term before. To be all in. In the game of poker, the game the Baptists don't know anything about, it's a card game which you bet money on.
00:00:16
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All in in poker means that you're willing to risk it all, sacrifice it all, push all your chips into the center. When it's used as an adjective, all in can simply mean all inclusive, where everything is included.
00:00:32
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You might say the all in cost for dinner and a movie is $100. In sports, athletes are said to be all in. Well, that means that there're they have this unwavering dedication, this unwavering determination to give it all.
Commitment in Relationships
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So what does it mean to be all in when it comes to love? Well, if you've ever been dating somebody early on, you know there comes a time in every relationship where you just say, I'm all in.
00:01:04
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It's an exciting time. it's It's a scary time, to be honest, because you're really you're putting yourself out there to be hurt. But you say to yourself, here here I go.
00:01:16
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Reckless abandonment, throwing caution to the wind, diving headfirst right into this relationship. I am all, everybody say it, in.
00:01:27
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It's a beautiful thing, it really is.
Being Fully Committed to God
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Can we say the same thing about our Christian walk? Are we all in? What does that even mean to be all in when it comes to loving God?
00:01:43
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Are you 100% committed? Are 100% determined? committed are you a hundred percent determined Nothing is left out. Every part of your life is thrown into this journey.
00:01:55
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You're willing to sacrifice it all. Some people these days say you're sold out for God. I kind of like that that phrase. Are you sold out?
00:02:07
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Are you all in? Or are you hesitant to love Him completely? Because, friends, if we're hesitant to love God to the utmost...
00:02:19
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if we're hesitant to be all in when it comes to God, we will struggle loving our neighbors. We'll see today that that love for God and love for neighbors are kind of two sides of the same coin.
00:02:33
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This is what we're going to look at today. Mark chapter 12. If you have your outlines, you'll see there we're going to step through three things. We're first going to look at whose we are, or God's ownership, if you will.
00:02:47
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As image bearers of God, what's our demand? That's the second part. Who or what we must do as image bearers. And third, why we can be confident.
00:03:01
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Why we can be confident to be all in when it comes to loving God. Turn with me, chapter 12. If you have your Bibles, open up chapter 12. It'll also be up here on the screen for you. You'll remember last week's sermon, we talked about the parable of the wicked tenants. Remember, if you're this is one of the benefits of coming week in and week out as we as we walk through the book of Mark, verse by verse, chapter by chapter.
00:03:27
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I had somebody, by the way, I'll just take a quick pause, who asked me, how's things going there at First Baptist? And I said, the same. It's going the same. We're still at Mark.
00:03:40
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We're still walking our way through every single week, every single Sunday, verse by first. ah There's a real joy and a real benefit in us doing this, and I hope you realize this.
Parables and Teachings on Commitment
00:03:51
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This is simply not a topical discussion today on loving God, but this is really straight from God's word. Sorry about that. That was just ah a segue.
00:04:02
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Last week the parable of the wicked tenants was all about God being the land owner and we said because he owned it all and he entrusted those who who had his good gifts, we were to bear fruit.
00:04:14
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and And the negative example was that was the religious leaders we saw of that day. They were not bearing good fruit. They were in rebellion. They were not giving back to God what was due him.
00:04:25
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And it's the same group, the same trio of people, the the elders, the scribes, the religious teachers of the time, this same group we're picking up with today in Mark chapter 12. So Mark chapter 12, if we'll start in verse 13, you'll see it here on your screen, please.
00:04:42
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Verse 13, you're heading for this says, or may say something, taxation for Caesar or taxes Caesar. paid to Caesar, and verse 13 starts this way. it says, Later the leader sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.
00:05:01
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Teacher, they said, we know how honest you are. You're impartial and you don't play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
00:05:15
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Should we pay him or should we pay them or shouldn't we? Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin and I'll tell you.
00:05:28
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And when they handed it to him, he asked whose picture and title are stamped on it. To which they replied, Caesar's. Jesus says in verse 17, Well then, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. And his reply completely amazed them.
00:05:48
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during Jesus's time, this particular tax this census tax or this poll tax was especially especially distasteful to Jewish people because they had to pay it with a Roman denarius.
00:06:08
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And the Roman denarius, if you've never seen it, one side has a picture of Tiberius. Tiberius was the ruler at that time. And above Tiberius' head was this wreath And above the wreath it read, Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus.
00:06:31
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Right? Blasphemy in the eyes of the Jewish people. To make things worse, on the other side of that coin, it simply read Pontiff Maxim, which means high priest.
00:06:44
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So not only does it show him being some type of divinity on one side of the coin, on the back of the coin it says he's high priest. And these Jewish people detested having to pay this tax.
00:06:58
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And so it's interesting when these religious leaders come and they try to trap Jesus. This this word is agreo, right? this is a This is a hunter's word where they set out a snare to catch the prey. And this is what they're doing. They're going to try to catch him in an error. And so they say to him,
00:07:20
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Tell us, do we have to pay taxes?
00:07:26
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And Jesus smartly answers them, well, give me this coin. And he and he takes a coin and he says, whose image is literally stamped on it? This is a word of ownership. Whose picture is on the front? And they say it's you know it Caesar's picture.
00:07:44
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So they're asking, do we have to give to Caesar what is owed Caesar? And Jesus says, yes, give him this Roman coin because it has his image stamped on it.
00:07:58
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You're giving it back to the right right owner, the rightful owner. He says, however, catch is, give back to God what is God's.
00:08:09
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It's quite ingenious, really, this this response. Who's God's property in this story? You and I. yeah those Those who bear his image, those who have been made in the image of God.
Reflecting God's Image
00:08:23
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and and God's ownership includes the entirety of our lives, the entirety of the disciples' life. All portions must be included. Everything. and and I like Augustine, or Augustine, whatever want to pronounce it. I say Augustine.
00:08:39
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Augustine has this fabulous saying, it and and I thought, how How great is this today, so I want to just read it. It says, we, meaning believers, we are God's money.
00:08:53
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But we are like coins that have wandered far away from the treasury. That which was once stamped upon us has been worn down by our wandering. It says the one who re-stamps his image upon us is the one who first formed us.
00:09:10
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I thought to myself how fantastic of a picture of this coin. you know We're all stamped in God's image. We all bear his image.
00:09:22
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and so I don't know if you're here today and you feel like you, maybe through your life choices, maybe through the the sin that you've committed through the entirety of your life, that you feel like that image has been worn out or rubbed down, it's not quite so sharp as it used to be.
00:09:42
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I'm here to tell you today, friends, that you are still His. You are His. You are divinely minted. It doesn't matter what road you traveled to get here. doesn't matter what sins you've committed in the past.
00:09:57
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You are uniquely fashioned by Him and for Him. And as such, you're not your own. you You don't belong to yourself. And if you are a Christ follower, we've been purchased with a price.
00:10:12
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And because we've been purchased with a price, we have to act accordingly. What's important I want us to to look at in this this first taxation picture, if you will, is knowing whose we are, that we belong to God.
00:10:31
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So perhaps I put here, if you are far from the treasury, today's the day you start making your way back.
00:10:40
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Imagine what it would be like if you saw your neighbor in the image of God. Imagine if you saw your brother or your sister, your literal brother and sister, if they were in the image of How about that irritating boss or that co-worker you can't stand to be around?
00:11:06
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That person too is made in the image of God. How differently would we treat them if we saw them that way? That regardless of their skin color kids' skin color or their gender or their job or their status or whether they're homeless or whether they're struggling with addiction, what if we simply saw them as made in the image of God?
00:11:26
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Would we see our neighbors differently if we chose to do this? Because if we indeed belong to God, and we do, and since He is our Creator and we bear His image, we have a responsibility as image bearers. Well, what's that responsibility, you ask?
00:11:46
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Starting verse 38, it tells us. Jump down to verse 38 with me.
00:11:52
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38 says, Jesus also taught, and He says, Beware of the teachers of the law.
00:11:59
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For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplace. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at the banquets.
00:12:12
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Yet, they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.
00:12:27
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Verse 41. Jesus sat down near the collection box in the temple and watched the crowds drop in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts of money and then a poor widow came and dropped in just two small coins.
The Widow's Offering as Devotion
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Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus...
00:12:55
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But she, poor as she is, has given everything she has to live on. What is the demand of those who are stamped with God's image?
00:13:07
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It is that we are all in. And this this is what this picture of the widow is illustrating here. It's in contrast to the evil tenant farmers that we saw last week who wouldn't give God his due.
00:13:24
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And it's in contrast to today's message that talks about these religious guys that are walking around expecting adoration. Hey, look at me as I drop my money in the plate.
00:13:39
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It would be the equivalent today of asking your neighbor, hey, can I borrow that pen while I fill out this really big check for my tithing?
00:13:48
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This is what they're doing. He says, in contrast to those people who are unwilling to give or who give in false pretenses, he says, look at this poor widow.
00:13:59
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And here's the picture that he gives. He says, she gives everything. She is all in. They are the pompous ones who are seeking adoration, giving out a surplus, but this poor woman, she's given the very last that she has to live on.
00:14:17
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And I think what a beautiful picture of sacrificial giving and generous giving this is here. What matters in God's sight is not what a person has, but the devotion which causes them to give at great personal cost.
00:14:34
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It's not the amount, you see, it's not the two coins. It's that she's all in, that she's giving everything. Now, what's the the basis for her action? What's the reason behind she gives what she gives?
00:14:48
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Well, back up a couple of verses to verse 28. By the way, i just I love this next section of Scripture. 28 says this, One of the teachers of the religious law was standing there listening to the debate, and he realizes Jesus had answered well, and so he asks, Of all the commandments, which is the most important?
00:15:09
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Which, by the way, most people trying to trap believers today will ask the same question. There's nothing new under the sun. Verse 29, he says, Jesus replied, The most important commandment is this. Listen, O Israel, the Lord our God is one and the only Lord.
00:15:25
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And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, everything. And the second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.
00:15:36
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No other commandment is greater than these. It's a beautiful picture. Why does the widow give everything? Why does she sacrifice everything?
00:15:47
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Well, because Jesus says these two things. What is the greatest commandment? He goes on to say here in verse 28. It's a close repetition here to the great Shema, right? Deuteronomy 6.4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.
00:16:07
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He says, the first side of the coin is you must love God. There's only one God, by the way.
00:16:16
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Which we had couple lovely gentlemen from the Mormon church come to our house the other day, and I was sleeping on the couch, and Kim says, oh, the Mormons are here. And I thought, why, of all the places, why do they come to our house?
00:16:31
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What I should have said is, invite them in. i have one question. Is there one God? Everything else rests on this one truth. But I didn't. I said, I'm taking a nap. Tell them to come to the church on Tuesday.
00:16:45
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Isn't that horrible? Your own pastor didn't take an opportunity to set those two straight. Something tells me they'll be back because we see him walking all through Cameron here. Friends, Jesus is laying an important truth here.
00:16:58
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He's saying on the first side of the coin is you must love God.
00:17:03
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And on the second side of that coin, if you simply flip it over, He says, not only do I require you to love God, you have to what? Love your neighbor as yourself.
00:17:18
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What does it mean to be all in, i put here today? What does it mean to love God with everything that you are, with everything that you have? Well, the first step in that, I believe, is loving other people, loving your neighbors.
00:17:36
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How did God first demonstrate His love for us? Well, Romans 5.8 says, While we were yet... Say it again. While we were yet, Christ died for us.
00:17:48
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While we were in full rebellion and unlovable, He came to us and He loved us first. 1 John 4.19 We love, we have that ability to love because He loved us first.
00:18:05
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In other words, God is saying to you and saying to me, if you truly love me, if you're truly all in you'll not only love me, which is easy because I loved you first.
00:18:16
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No, I want you to go out and love that neighbor, who, by the way, is particularly unlovable.
00:18:25
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It's that teacher you can't stand to be around in your classroom that you see in school and make a left instead of a right.
00:18:34
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It's that boss that's telling you what to do all the time that you can't stand. It is your literal neighbor next to you. He's calling you here today.
00:18:44
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Go out and love them. So if you want to be all in for God and all in for neighbor, how do we do that? Well, our application is right in the center. Don't get surprised today. I'm not wrapping up just yet.
00:18:57
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How do we love well? Our neighbor and God, well, I put first, I think actions speak louder than words. It's easy to tell somebody you're all in. It's easy to say I'm all sold out for God.
00:19:10
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To which I like to say, show me. Show me by what you're doing. Show me by your actions. Show me how you reach out to your neighbor in some type of loving, kind, empathetic way.
00:19:22
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Are you willing to help at all costs, by the way? I put a note here, see widow. See widow example. She gave it all.
00:19:34
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I'm just going to tell you right now, that was uncomfortable for her to give all. But she gave it all. And so I ask myself, if we step out in love and devotion, seeking to glorify God and love him and neighbor, maybe we simply go to that next door neighbor or that teacher or that boss and we say, hey, I'd like to invite you for a meal.
00:19:57
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Revolutionary thought. It's same principle, by the way, that was handled in Jesus' time. Let's get together for a meal. Let's associate together for a meal. We may be on completely opposite sides of the political table.
00:20:10
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Let's have a meal. You may not believe in God. Let's have a meal.
00:20:16
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You may yell at your spouse in the front yard while I'm standing out watching you. Let's have a meal. it's It's that type of reaching out at all costs to your neighbor that shows that we truly love them.
00:20:31
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Second, I put forgiveness and acceptance. Loving others with an all-in attitude includes forgiving their shortcomings and accepting them for who they are.
00:20:43
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This means loving others regardless of their flaws, their mistakes, their circumstances, their past sins. Their past sins in Cameron.
00:20:55
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Why do I say that? I say that with a loving pastoral heart, by the way. You know if you grew up here, you know everybody, and you know what everybody's done. It's hard to forgive that. Because you know that person has made that same mistake eight times.
00:21:10
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And every time you see them, you go, here they come, that person. And we put that label on them.
00:21:18
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That's the homeless person. That's the alcoholic. That's the drug dealer. That's the single mom. We put those labels on people and I'm saying, friends, God is telling us today we must forgive that person. You want to show them true love?
00:21:32
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You want to show them true compassion? Forgive them, accept them for who they are now. Believe it or not, they might actually be able to change. And have them over for a meal.
00:21:44
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Third, selfless service.
Putting Others First
00:21:47
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Loving others with an all-in attitude involves putting their needs first, not our needs first. This is what the widow did. would have been extremely easy for her to give just one coin, but you'll notice Jesus says she gave both coins.
00:22:02
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She gave everything. She wasn't 50% in, she was 100% in.
00:22:07
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And she demonstrated that all in attitude by giving sacrificially. And so I put, how do we do that today? How do we serve sacrificially today? How do we reach out to that neighbor today? Maybe it's, hey, we need to go clean up a yard.
00:22:20
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Maybe it's we need to bake them a ah meal. Maybe it's we bid the highest we possibly can on cake today. And instead of taking that cake home and eating it, we go donate it to the neighbor.
00:22:34
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It's just a novel idea.
00:22:38
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if we want to show our neighbors and God that we are all in it's gonna take action on our part nothing bothers me more than the person who says they're all in for God but their life doesn't demonstrate it we kinda talked about that Bible study a little bit today what we say we believe has to be shown in how we live our lives so I just put real quick because I know where we're at time wise I just want to show you why we can be confident in in being all in. Because I'll be quite honest, my notes the last couple weeks, when I talk about being all in when it comes to loving people, I understand where you come from. I understand the broken world that we live in. I understand you may have been all in in some relationship and your spouse
00:23:29
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wronged you, and that relationship ended. Or maybe you had this all-in relationship with your mother or father, and that person disappointed you. And so you feel reluctant, you feel hesitant to be right all back in when it comes to talking about loving God. But there's a real reason we can trust Him.
00:23:48
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with this all-in attitude. And it's this last section and it's verses 18 to 27. I'm gonna read it and then up and then I'm gonna give you for homework to go back and and and reread it because it's ah it's an interesting account, but i for time's sake, I wanna just tell you what it means.
Questioning Resurrection and Trust in God
00:24:07
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Verse 18 says this, Jesus was approached by some Sadducees, the religious leaders, who say there is no resurrection from the dead. And they pose this question. By the way, this is the third question in just this section all to Jesus.
00:24:21
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They love asking Jesus questions, trying to trip him up. Teacher, Moses gave us the law. If a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on his brother's name.
00:24:35
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Well, suppose there were seven brothers. right You can see this what's unfolding here. The oldest one married and then died without having children. And so the second brother married the widow.
00:24:46
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And he also died without children. And the third married her and so on and so on all the way through all seven. And so the question is posed to Jesus, whose wife is this?
00:25:00
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Right? when When they get to heaven, whose wife is this going to be? Jesus says you've you basically completely missed the point. Verse 20, 24.
00:25:11
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Your mistake is that you don't know the scriptures and you don't know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither neither marry nor be given in marriage. And in respect to this, they will be like the angels in heaven.
00:25:23
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But now as to whether the dead will be raised, have you ever read about this in the writings of Moses? In the story of the burning bush, long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died, God said, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
00:25:38
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So he is the God of the living, not the dead, and you have made a serious error. So what is he, what's going on in this section? These people are trying trick Jesus into saying, what happens in the afterlife? If there really is an afterlife, what happens with this poor widow who's been passed down from brother to brother to brother? You know, it's kind of a silly question, but whose wife is she going to be in heaven?
00:26:06
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Jesus says, you've completely missed the point.
00:26:10
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I'm over life and death.
00:26:14
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I extend beyond what you naturally think here. I'm not thinking about wives and husbands in heaven because it says right here that it well it won't be like that in heaven. You've you've missed the point.
00:26:31
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I put down here just as note, like these... ah feel like these religious leaders here in a third attempt are trying to trap Jesus, trying to thwart his plans.
00:26:45
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But because he is over everything and owns everything, he is not allowing them to do this. He's saying, I'm the one who is faithful, I'm the one who can be trusted, and if I can be trusted now, you can also trust me in eternity.
00:27:01
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He is in one word, trustworthiness. It's His very character. If you were here with us on our very last class on Wednesday, a Psalm 150 we talked about, we said we praise God for who He is and what He's done. right Those are the two things that we do.
00:27:19
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What has He done? He's redeemed us. He saved us. He created us. He stamped us. You're made in His image. what else what Why else do we praise Him? Because He is holy.
00:27:31
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He's trustworthy. He's dependable. These are the very attributes of God. He doesn't have to try to be trustworthy. He is trustworthy. What does that mean to you and I today? It means that you can be all in for Him and not be disappointed like you were with your own father, your earthly father, or your earthly mother, or your earthly spouse, who may have let you down at some point.
00:27:54
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Jesus will not let you down. he's He's begging you this morning I can be trusted, will you trust me? And the way you demonstrate that trust is you're is you're all in.
00:28:12
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Some of you here this morning may have already gone all in and been disappointed. Today is the day that you reset that. Today is the day that you flip that coin over.
00:28:23
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Today is that day that you begin trusting in Jesus once again.
Demonstrating Faith Actively
00:28:30
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And I put down, if you've already given your life over to God and you've already placed your trust into Jesus, what better way to demonstrate that trust to somebody else is to encourage them.
00:28:42
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Hey, I know you're far away from the church. Hey, I know you haven't been reading God's word. Hey, I know you don't know God. would Would you come back? There's nothing wrong, brothers and sisters, with asking the people you know in Cameron, will you come back to church?
00:28:59
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And if it's not this church, so be it. Let it be some other church. but But friends, they need to be in God's word. They need to be in church. Show that you trust Jesus by reaching out to that neighbor and inviting them over for a meal and telling them about Jesus and telling them about how trustworthy he is.
00:29:16
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Get them excited because you're excited because you're all in.
00:29:26
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My challenge to you this week is will you be 100% committed? Will you be 100% determined? Will you be 100% dedicated? Will you be sold out for the Lord? And if that's the case, may we love our neighbors well.
00:29:39
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Amen.