All right. Good morning. Doing well. Let's get after it. Uh, we're in this series answering the call, and we're looking at, uh, some calls that Jesus has made upon our lives, uh, that we we need to answer. And we've looked at, uh, the call to follow me last week, we looked at, uh, the call to, uh, take my yoke. Uh, today we're going to look at the call to seek first. And last week, we did kind of say, it can seem like Jesus is making some contradictory pitches because on one hand, you get this, uh, take my yoke. It's light and it's easy. Like, come, come to me, and I'll give you rest. But then it's also, you know, take up your cross and follow me. Be willing to lose your life. So it's like, well, which one is it? And we made the conclusion that Christianity is hard, but it's not heavy. Uh, and last week was the it's not heavy message. And this week is the hard message, right? So last week, several people came up to me and gave me a hug and said, thank you. And it was such a relief. Probably not today. Um, but Christ's yoke is light, his burdens easy. His grace is sufficient. We confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us. Our sins, like these are wonderful truths. And we're called to him. And we do find rest in Jesus Christ. But that yoke is on the narrow road. It's not on the broad road. And we're called clearly in Scripture from Jesus to prioritize him. He's worthy of our priority, our devotion, our life, our death. This is the call upon us in our life. And it's a good call. It's a hard call, but, but it leads to life. It leads to everlasting life. It leads to the fulfillment of our souls, the final rest of our souls. Like we want to be on that road. And it's a narrow road and it's a hard road, but there's this clear call to prioritize this. And now some of you in this room can relate to this. Uh, others of you not. But you remember the landline days. If we're talking about calls like you got the phone on the wall, the long cord, but but here's how it played out for some of you. It's family dinner time, right? And everybody's sitting around the dinner table and then the phone rings. And usually dad, but maybe sometimes mom like looks at everybody like nobody's going to answer that phone. Right? We're having dinner. It's dinner time. If it's important, they'll call back or they'll leave a message. There was a clear, like, priority in that moment. Like it's family dinner time and we're not letting anything interrupt our time together. Now, I think it's hard today, not so much for people to make priorities, but to actually prioritize what we say like to be in that moment when the phone rings, like we're not answering that call because we're doing this. Like we can make priorities, but can we actually keep priorities or prioritize what we say is an actual priority? And there's so much competing for our time. So many good things, so many good options we have in front of us that we want to do, and we want to do them all. And, and we're often told that we can do them all. That's just not true. So rather than actually prioritizing life just turns into one big give and take series of compromises because we want to do it all and we can't. But, but this week we'll do some of this and next week we'll do this. And like, how do we fit everything on our plate? And how do we do a little bit of everything in the name of like a series of compromises of giving and take? You don't actually prioritize anything because you're trying to do everything is that you like, even if you wouldn't say it in those words, do you feel pulled in so many different directions that maybe, perhaps you're not giving the best direction, the best attention. If we don't have the right priorities in life or actually prioritize the right things, that is the recipe for a wasted life. And the irony of it is, we think in doing so many different things, we're going to have the fullest life with the most experiences. And you don't see it in the moment. But then when you look back and you're like, well, I didn't give the most important things, the most attention. And you can't go back and undo it. So let me ruffle some feathers a bit. I love you and I'm press in, especially in some cultural tensions in our world when it comes to following Christ. And I want you to know, like there's, there's what's best for us at the heart of this. Even when Jesus calls us in these such hard calls, it's, it's always accompanied with this amazing promises. It's like, yeah, sell everything you have and you'll find riches in heaven. Treasures in heaven. Lose your life for my sake. And you'll find life like it comes with a promise. So. So here are the hard things, like be challenged, but also know it's the gateway to what is best. So let me press in. I think the greatest threat to the church in America is not a secularized culture. It's not the eroding morality of our society. It's not LGBTQ agenda. That is not the greatest threat to the American church. The greatest threat to the American church is a domesticated Christianity, a lukewarm devotion to Jesus, and not heeding the call to lose your life for his sake and just kind of going through the motions. You see this in the church of Laodicea. So when John writes these seven letters to these seven churches and there's some critique of these churches, you get to Laodicea. And one of the the critiques and Laodicea is you're lukewarm, like you lack passion and devotion. And the critique is God saying, I want to spit you out of my mouth? Like that kind of devotion. There's an acknowledgement of Jesus, but not really a devotion to Jesus. And God is saying, that makes me sick. And I think that's a challenge that is often accompanied with prosperity. Laodicea was a prosperous country. They thought they were rich. They thought they were comfortable. They thought they had everything they need. And when you think you have everything you need, you don't really need God. And they lost their hunger. They lost their passion, their priority for Christ, and just kind of lived comfortably, right? It's Rocky three. He gets the title and all of a sudden he's just swimming in a pool with a robot maid. And clubber Lang whips him, right? He lost the eye of the tiger. And like in our comfortable Christianity, there's like three people that acknowledge it's an old movie my dudes at like, but there's, there's a sense it's like, have we lost the. I like that devotion that that drive that Jesus calls us to when it comes to Christianity. We made it domesticated and convenient. And here's the thing in our prosperity. This is what tricks church people. We don't reject Jesus. It just gets harder to fit him in. Like, I got a lot going on and I'm trying. And it's just like trying to find some space for you. And then eventually, because we think we can have it all, we take Jesus invitation to follow him and change it into the invitation to Jesus to follow us. Like, come, come, follow me, I want you, I need you, but I got a lot going on. Keep up. And if you could bless my agenda and be about my priorities and my passions and go with me wherever I go. But that's not the invitation, is it? And this is where the Bible can really mess you up. What we discover here is that Jesus demands, rightfully so, to be the priority, let's let's look at a verse that's probably never going to be the verse of the day on life. One hundred one point nine here we go. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. You can't. There's a clear call as to Jesus saying, I am the priority. Now, does that sound like a Christianity or any kind of Christianity that we're dealing with? If you're going to put anything above me, you're not worthy of me. If I'm not the Lord of your life dictating your priorities and your agenda, then we're not on the same page here because that's what I'm calling you to. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas wrote that people owe duties of piety, first to God and then to their family and then to their homeland. And since then the the phrase God, family and country is kind of made it into pop culture, right? God family country. Is that your order or is it family God country or country family God or, you know, like, is it there? And it's tricky because it's like, well, if all three of them are there somewhere in the top three, you kind of feel good, but the order matters. Of course, Jesus is saying the order matters. He calls us to seek first the kingdom he calls. It's like you can't love Mom or Dad more than me, son or daughter. More like he's wanting his rightful place as the priority in our life. Or maybe you have a different list. It's not God, family, country, it's career hobby. There's other things in there. My question is, do you actually prioritize God? Do you actually prioritize his mission? Do you actually prioritize his church. And I know you're like, oh, we're going to talk about prioritizing church at church. Surprise, surprise, because I get the same thing at work, prioritize work, and I get the same thing on my team. You need to prioritize my team. And I get the same thing at home. Why aren't you at home more? And everybody wants a little piece of you and everybody's pulling in different directions. But but doesn't Jesus actually have the right to make that claim like Jesus is not just one other thing on your plate? He's the King of kings. Like he's our Savior. He's our Lord, and he's wanting his rightful place as Lord of our lives. And we can kind of slip into thinking that, well, I can prioritize Jesus at work and I can prioritize Jesus on the ball field, and I can prioritize Jesus at home. And it's like, that's true. Yes. Please do. But if we are not prioritizing what Jesus is calling us to prioritize, are we actually following Jesus or have we asked Jesus to follow us? And it's easy to have this message with pagans because you can get to common ground right away. Prioritize Jesus. And they're like, well, I'm clearly not doing that. But when you have this talk in a room full of people that probably have God in their top five, that's a little tricky because it's not like he's neglected. He's right up there. Right? He, I mean, he's right up close to the top. And that's where idolatry can be the trickiest. But then he goes and says things like this. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. And then he says this as well, teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law? And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your strength. This is the great. And what First commandment, right? And then as soon as he rescues his newly people out of Egypt, he gives them this. You shall have no other gods before me. So as we establish this relationship, I rescued you. I went and got you. I'm your God. That's how it is. Nobody before me. And then on the sermon on the Mount, he says this. Therefore do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek what. First the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And when he says, the Gentiles seek after those things, he's like, that's how people who don't believe in God live. But if you believe in God, the logical conclusion that he's God, he's supreme and his value and his worth. And he is owed our allegiance. Now, this is a message, maybe for another time, but the paradox that you can see in that text is prioritizing God as what is best for everything else that matters. It's actually the counter to anxiety to not be so like, you know, navel gazing at our problems and our situations and what's our circumstances, but actually look and seek first his kingdom and trust him that he works out his plans. But another time. So listen, guys, we need Jesus following people at work. We need Jesus following people on the battlefield. We need Jesus following people at home. We need Jesus following people in our government. We need Jesus following people everywhere in our society. Yes and Amen. But here's what I need you to get Jesus following people. Prioritize the work and worship of Jesus. Jesus following people, prioritize the work and worship of Jesus. That's kind of a distinguishing trait for Jesus following people. You see the prioritizing of Jesus. And listen, church, I get it. It's really easy to make life about something. Life's not really about easy. It's like at our fingertips. It's inviting us to different things. So many things competing for our devotion. Why? Why does he say the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to seek first him like because there's other things competing for our loves and our passions and our devotions and our time and our money and our energy. Like we're getting pulled in so many different directions. And they're, they're not all bad things. They're wonderful things, but it's really easy to slip into making life about something life's not ultimately about, or being most devoted to something lesser than what we're called to. Let me tell you a little bit of my story. Not much. I, I grew up like, like a lot of kids, I just, I love sports, my dad's a coach. As long as I can remember. I was like a ball boy. Water boy. I was in the weight room with dad. I was on the field. Dad. Like that was what? Like everything. I had a dream. I'm going to be a college football player. And my dad's like, you know what that takes? Like, it's going to take a lot of work. It's like, I'm in. Let's do this. Like, and throughout my like, I just was so passionate about this wonderful pursuit. I'm not even knocking that like that. But that was like my drive in life. And, and in high school, I'm a follower of Jesus, but in, but in high school, um, there was an opportunity to go on a missions trip, uh, Estonia and they were going to be gone for more than two weeks. And I, I, I was like, I just can't miss that many workouts because I, I mean, I, I mean, it's tricky looking at me like I wasn't like an athletic specimen, uh, but I could work hard and we could get after it. And I was like, I can't, I can't be gone that long. I can't miss that many workouts because here's here's what I knew. You want to reach your goal. It takes sacrifice. It takes commitment, it takes hard work. And I would champion all of those things still today. But you should never let your goals distort your priorities. And if your goals require you to sacrifice something you claim is more important than your goal, it's a bad goal. Get a different goal, or it's really not a priority. And I would have said, oh yeah, Jesus is number one. Like he's like, and I'm not saying you have to go on mission trips. I'm just saying the reason I didn't was not a good reason. Like I didn't, I didn't really act. And looking back, it's like, oh, I wish, I wish I would have done that. And I think the lie or a lie we've been told is you can have both. You can make your life about you and your ambitions and your dreams, and Jesus will accompany you wherever you go to have your best life. And it's not the call. We're called to die to ourselves and follow him. We're called to a different path. And when we get this, this like, you know, watered down, domesticated Christianity that Jesus will follow you wherever you go. And it's like, well, that's half true. I mean, he does say, I'll never leave you or forsake you, but that was in the context of Joshua one, when he's saying, go in and take the land, right? He says, well, I will be with you till the end of the age. That's great. But he said that in the context of the Great Commission, when he says, go and make disciples of all nations. So fellowship is not found on the broad road because that's not where he is. Fellowship and closeness with Christ is found on the narrow road. And that's what we get invited into. And sometimes you hear stories of how someone was a mess and they found Jesus. They're just strung out on drugs and they just made a wreck of their life. And Jesus changed their life. And that happens. Praise God that happens. But more often than not, it's Jesus that is messing people up. I mean, look at his disciples. Despite what the chosen is portraying, Matthew is doing pretty well, right? It's a lucrative job. You look at the call to to the fishermen in in Luke five, Jesus gives them their best day of work. They catch more fish in one net than they've ever caught before. Then he calls them to leave and follow him like they had a life. They had an income. They had like things were going well. These aren't messed up people. And Jesus says, drop everything and follow me and my story from everyone else's perspective. My life was great. I'm living the dream. And Jesus messed it up in the most beautiful way. Because I did get to play college football. I got that opportunity in the Heights. I remember I grew up a Notre Dame fan. I've since repented. But like when I was a kid, it was like Lou Holtz, everything Notre Dame, Notre Dame. And I remember we're playing Notre Dame and I'm on the field stretching like we were there the night before. We saw them painting the helmets gold. Like this is all like touchdown, Jesus, everything. And I'm on the field and we're stretching. And like, I'm looking around like, this is this is awesome. And I look up and there's a clock and the clock is counting down to the start of the game. And it just hit me like, this can be over soon. Like the clock is ticking. Like it's so fleeting. And everyone is told to chase their dreams. You need to chase your dreams. Chase your dreams. But, but if you chase your dreams. Let me tell you what you'll find if you catch them. They don't last and they don't fulfill. But if you chase God's glory, you'll enjoy it forever. If you chase your dreams and you catch it, you're going to find out how empty they are. You weren't made for that. That's not going to fill the longings of your soul. You were made for God. And when you chase his glory, you will enjoy his glory forever. And chances are people have shared the gospel with you. You know of Jesus Christ. You know of the cross. You know of the resurrection. You know of your sins. And chances are in this room, a lot of people have responded positively to that gospel. You know your need for salvation. Maybe you've even invited Jesus into your heart to be your personal Savior. But have you answered the call to follow him, to prioritize him, to seek first his kingdom. Has that ever been pitched to you? Is that is that your response to Jesus? And what do you think might happen if you did? If you're like, he's my Lord, my life is about him. It's about his glory and his mission and his work. I don't know if we feel the demand of the call to follow Jesus anymore. I think we've domesticated it. And what I mean by that is when you make this benefits only sales pitch in evangelism, I just want to tell you about the forgiveness of your sin. I just want to tell you about eternity in heaven and everlasting life and peace and rest. And it's just a benefits only sales pitch. And it's never a are you going to die to yourself? Are you going to love Jesus Christ more than father and mother. Are you willing to lay down your life? Are you going to get on the narrow road? It's hard. Have you counted the cost? Like, do you hear anything like that anymore? This is how Jesus does it in Luke fourteen, because sometimes you read Jesus and he's like, I think you could have benefited from like a sales seminar or something, but he just kind of says how it is. He says, now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. We saw that in Matthew. He goes on to say this for which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it. Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish all who see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. It's embarrassing. Or what? King going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate. Whether he is able, with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand. And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, if any of you who is, uh, who does not renounce all that he has, cannot be my disciple. Like, what is he saying? It's like you got to count the cost. I mean, people are coming to Jesus. I want to follow you. And Jesus is like time out. You thought about this, right? Because if you start to build a house and you don't have enough to finish it, that's embarrassing. Right. And if you say you're going to be my disciple, but you're not really committed and you're not like bought in here and you're doing your own thing, that's embarrassing. Do you know what you're being called to? And does that pitch, does that sound like any gospel invitation that you've ever heard at church? Maybe we should do a better job at that. We'd be like, sign up. We're We can get baptized for like forty people getting baptized as we sit down like, are you sure? Do you know what you're doing? Do you know what you're saying? It seems like in the hope of evangelism, we lower the bar for people. Just just get over it. Just cross that line of faith. And with that, you may grow a church, but at what cost? Because here's the very next two verses in Luke fourteen, and you have to see these verses in light of what we just read. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Do you see the connection between the two? Like if you have a bunch of people saying they're followers of Jesus, but they never counted the cost. And they don't love Jesus more than father and mother and son and daughter. Well, what good is that? That's not salty at all. That makes no difference in our world. In fact, that's embarrassing. Here's an interesting encounter. This is Luke nine. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. To another he said, follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. This sound too sensitive. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back. Is fit for the kingdom of God. That's rough. Do we have our own version of this? It's tricky because we're not saying no. In fact, the people in that account are saying, I'll follow you. I'll follow you to the ends of the earth. I'll follow you wherever you go. But first let me do this, or I'll eventually get to it. But right now, you know, I'm young and I want to have some fun or I'm going to do it. But here's. I'm going to do it as best as I can. I just got a lot going on, right? Is that kind of our version of this? It's like a negotiation. Certainly. I want you, Jesus. I mean, I'm a sinner. You're a savior, I need you. However, can we work something out? Can it can it be on my terms? You know, I'm. I am no pastor to you to let us feel comfortable in lukewarm Christianity. To lead a church full of people that might hear. Depart from me. I never knew you. I want to know. Have you answered this call to follow me? To seek first. I love the analogy that Paul gives in First Corinthians nine. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath. But we an imperishable. Like doesn't passionate prioritizing makes sense. He's looking at athletes in his day. He's like, you know what? All the work that they do like this athletic devotion is not a new phenomenon like in the Greek. Like, do you see the dedication that they have to their craft and they do it to receive a re a literal reef. It perishes. We do it to have an imperishable life doesn't just passionate prioritizing makes sense. But what about people? That's like, it's not that they're not in the race, they're just not in it to win it. It's a fun run, right? What then? This is a warning. This is Hebrews three says this. Take care, brothers. Like pay attention. Listen up, lean in. This is important. And the warnings heavy at least there being any of you, an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. Because if you're on this race, you're being chased. But exhort one another every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. The warning in this text is like, you can't just kind of coast through this call. There are people that want to undermine your faith. There's there's a spiritual world that wants to undermine your faith. And that's after to destroy your faith. Like you can't just treat this as a fun run. So we need to. Pay attention to the warning. Doesn't this happen all at once? It's slow. It's it's tricky. There's there's an eroding of our devotion. It's not like I'm just going to neglect Jesus. I just become less and less devoted, leading you to fall away. It's leading you away. And if anyone thinks this warning doesn't apply to them, you're foolish and you're vulnerable. Now, don't miss this. The call to take this warning seriously is a call to have intentional, frequent and lasting Christian relationships. Intentional because what is he calling us to exhort one another like you need to exhort one another, challenge each other, spur each other on. Like this is the kind of relationship you need to have. And he says, exhort one another every day as long as it's called today. So frequently, every day, as long as it's called today and it's still today, right? That's that name stuck, right? So it's still like still we need this ongoing frequent intentional relationships. And it's not just that we need Christian friends to not drift away from God in this, this world, which is true, but deeper than that, we need Christian devotion to foster those friendships. Are you tracking with me on that? Maybe flip over a few pages because he continues to stress this importance. This is Hebrews ten says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Not what. I'll give you a big word neglecting to meet together as is the. What habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So we need to consider and think, how do we spur one another on to love and good deeds? Like how do we help each other be better followers of Jesus Christ? But he also warns us against forming bad habits. He's kind of neglecting. I'm just not in the habit of going. I'm not in the habit of doing. I'm just formed habits of not doing or choosing other things. It's kind of how we function. There's a neglecting of the gathering. And sometimes, sometimes I'll hear adults in church, they'll, uh, they'll say, I don't know anybody here. I don't really have good church friends. It's so hard to get connected. And I just don't have many friends here. And I just want to say like, you're hardly ever here. You don't come like you come a few times and then you're like frustrated that you don't know a lot of people. Like there's a neglecting of the gathering that's behind that. Or I'll hear a parent say, I really want my kid to go to church, but they would much rather hang out with their their sports friends than than their church friends. I'm like, no kidding. Because for the last fifteen years, you've fostered those relationships and these relationships. They spent about every weekend with them. Of course, they want to be with them. Like there's a consequence to bad priorities according to this verse. Like, what are we supposed to be doing considering how to spur one another on? Well, if we're neglecting the gathering together, guess what's not happening? Spurring one another on to love and good deeds. But don't think you're not getting spurred on to something somewhere. And this is a serious warning that the writer of Hebrews is giving us. Guys, listen, I'm a sports guy. I always feel like I got to, like, defend myself, but I don't care. I'm I think there's so much value in sports competition, uh, devotion, teamwork, learning how to deal with, you know, losing. It's a wonderful life lesson, but let me let me press in a bit. What if you saw church like a team you were on? What if you saw church like a team you were on? Because here's what you hear. If you're a team. I was a coach. Here's what you hear. You made a commitment to this team. Your teammates are counting on you. This is a team sport, and our success depends on a collective commitment. That's true. Like that quarterback can work all he wants. But if that left tackle misses his block, it didn't work, right? Like it all. We all work together. It's a team sport. And you hear this like you made a commitment to this team. This team is counting on you. It's a team sport. It depends on collective commitment. That's all true. But aren't those true statements that also apply to ministry? And isn't ministry a bigger deal? Like you made a commitment to this team. You joined in a covenant with this church, that you belong to this body and your teammates are counting on you. They need to be spurred on and and loved and encouraged and rebuked and challenged and chased. And like all of those things, your teammates are counting on you. And this is a team sport. Like our success depends on collective buy in. Because what does Paul say? We're the body of Christ, made up of a lot of different parts and each part doing its work. My guess is that if most people treated their sports team like they treat their church, their coach would be upset. And I'm upset. I'm upset. But if you could imagine being a sports team and telling your coach, hey, I'll be late to the game, I got church, hey, I won't be at the tournament because we have a youth event. Hey, I won't, I gotta leave at halftime, coach, because we're having a church prayer night. How do you think that's going to go over? Why do we so easily treat church that way? And which one is the perishable crown and which one is the imperishable crown? And isn't our godliness more important than our athletic success? And isn't having a church that that is salt and light in a community and reaching into dark places and seeing lost people found more precious than winning state? I mean, you get a banner. That's cool. I pick on sports because it's a prevalent issue that has invaded the Lord's Day. But you can imply anything that leads to neglecting or devaluing gathering together. We're not actually prioritizing Christ and his work and his mission and his church. And listen, go hard. Like if that's your thing, go hard, work hard. Be the hardest worker. But. But don't neglect. And if going hard means you need to neglect, then what an opportunity to make a contrast and be salt. If you treat the gathering of believers as not that big a deal, it won't make that big of an impact. If you treat the gathering of believers as not that big a deal, it won't make that big of impact. But if you are devoted and you don't neglect and you show up and you lean in, it is one of the most talked about means of grace. What I mean by that is, it is a means that God has chosen to work through, to change your heart and to shape you and develop you. And as a means which he has chosen collectively to use us to spread his kingdom to the ends of the earth. He works through his means. Listen, church, we do not want to be a lukewarm megachurch. I want you to hear that we desperately do not want to be a lukewarm megachurch. We do not get excited about a room full of people and attendance. If that room is dominated by people that aren't that into Jesus. We definitely do not want to be this lukewarm megachurch, and Jesus calls to be the priority. He rightfully calls to be the Lord of our life because that's who he is. And as his church, we are calling. Buy in, invest, commit, prioritize. And we got work to do as a church. For the last couple years, we've said we need to gather and pray together as members once a month. More than half our members never come to that. About a third of our members, around three hundred people, don't serve anywhere in this church. Our average giving is low. Kids ministry. We have a fairly large church. Kids ministry struggles every year to get enough volunteers just to run our ministry. We sent out one hundred emails a few weeks ago looking for volunteers. We heard back from no one. We need thirty one more volunteers just to run kids ministry. Why can't we do that? And this isn't this isn't a message, a message that's building up to trying to get thirty one more volunteers and kids. You're like, Jake, why don't you just lead with that? That would have been easier. This is a message trying to get us to break the mold of American domesticated my comfort Christianity. I don't want you to go through life, especially in this church, thinking you're a Christian when what your life is still built around is yourself and your priorities and your passions, and you've turned Jesus into this personal Savior you've put in your back pocket whenever you need him, when he's the King of kings. I don't want I don't want a pastor that. But man, if if you would answer the call. To see him as the Lord of your life. To make your life about his glory. Let me tell you something. It will be hard. You may not start. You may not fit in. You may get rejected. It will be difficult, but it is not heavy. His grace is sufficient. He will never leave you or forsake you. And it is the road to life, everlasting life. And on that road, it would make us one heck of a salty church. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I just in corporate confession, want to seek forgiveness from not treating you as Lord and only treating you as Savior. Wanting the benefits that you provide but not answering the call that you extend. Trying to have it all and do it all. And neglecting you as King. Father, I pray that you would stir up by your spirit in our hearts a joyful devotion. That we would see you as the treasure. That we're willing to sell everything else to buy. And the irony is, you freely offer it. So, father, I pray that you're pleased with this church, that we are not lukewarm. You do not look at us and want to spit us out. But you're pleased. Not with our numbers, not with our facilities, not with our music, but with our worship, with our devotion, with our love to you. Pray this in your name. Amen.