Go a little deeper
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick opens with the observation that everyone is searching for significance, purpose, meaning, belonging and success, often in the wrong places, and that even getting what we long for can leave us unsatisfied. He turns to Mark 10 to introduce a man who by every measure was successful—rich, young and a ruler, compared to a modern influencer—who nonetheless seems to be missing everything. The congregation is invited to evaluate its own heart through the story.
After reading Mark 10:17–31, Pastor Keith notes that Matthew, Mark and Luke all include this encounter, whose combined details describe a rich young ruler who kneels before Jesus and addresses him with a flattering title for a rabbi. Jesus presses him on that title, insisting that no one is good except God alone, then lists commandments the man claims to have kept since youth. Pastor Keith observes that Jesus intentionally left out the first and last commandments, and that Mark alone notes Jesus looked at him and loved him—the motivation for everything Jesus says next. The man leaves sorrowful because he had great possessions.
Pastor Keith explores why the man was sorrowful: his wealth represented control, prominence and security, and Jesus asked him to release it. The sermon insists this is not a universal formula for salvation—the point is not to sell everything but to follow Jesus—yet control is the heart issue. The central point is announced plainly: Jesus always wants control. The message closes with the call to surrender, a prayer, response instructions and a transition to a final song.
Take this with you
Success can still leave you empty
The rich young ruler had youth, wealth, position and the respect of others—things many people pursue today. Yet something was missing, and he came running to Jesus with a question about eternal life in Mark 10. Pastor Keith asks the congregation to examine its own heart in light of a person who seemed to have everything but sensed he did not.
Good is bigger than our culture assumes
In Mark 10:18 Jesus challenges the flippant use of the word good, pointing out that no one is good except God alone. Pastor Keith argues that many people carry an unspoken theology that good people get into heaven, and asks what standard of good we are actually using—ourselves, others, or God's own standard.
Jesus saw him and loved him first
Mark is the only Gospel writer who notes that Jesus looked at the man and loved him before telling him what he lacked. Pastor Keith highlights this as the motivation behind the hard command in Mark 10:21: Jesus does not shame the man or call out every failure, and speaks from love rather than rejection.
Sometimes love gives you what you need, not what you want
In Mark 10:21–22 Jesus tells the man what he lacks, and the man goes away sorrowful because the answer was not the one he wanted. Pastor Keith draws a lesson from this: sometimes love makes you sad because it gives you what you need rather than what you want. Obedience to Jesus can feel like a risk, and following him may require courage in the moment.
Jesus always wants control
Pastor Keith states the single point of the message plainly: Jesus always wants control—of your whole mind, heart, finances and dreams. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 5:14–15, where Paul describes the love of Christ controlling his people and Christ dying so that they no longer live for themselves, Pastor Keith presents this not as a capricious demand but as the claim of a loving and sovereign God. Holding back one area of life means still playing the role of God, and giving everything to Jesus is not a sacrifice because he gives new life in return.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
you know all of us are are searching for something every one of us i think we're born to search for something and when i say something it's really the same thing but but it comes in different forms we're looking for significance we're looking for purpose we're looking for meaning we're looking for belonging we're looking for success in our lives somewhere and sometimes we we find it in the wrong places so sometimes we're looking for success and we think that one area will actually fulfill us only to find out that when you get the very thing you are longing for you're still not satisfied and today we find ourselves in mark chapter 10 if you have a bible you can join with me looking at a story in mark chapter 10 mark tells about the life of
jesus and in this particular story today we're going to look at a man who by all accounts is successful he would be what we call today an influencer you know kids today are growing up with different dreams than when i grew up when i grew up you wanted to be a rock star you wanted to be an athlete you wanted to be a movie star kids today don't talk about any of those things they say one word i want to be an influencer i want to be an influence you know what an influencer is it's an easy job it means you're young you're rich and a lot of people know who you are that's what an influencer is you you do
not need talent to be an influencer you just need youthfulness money and lots of people who are going to like you or follow you or share you if you can do that you're you're an influence people want to be like you and today we're actually looking at a first century influencer he's rich he's young and he's a ruler which means he influenced other people people knew who he was he was in a position of prominence this guy has it all and you know what the young people want to be influencers because it's not normal to be rich and influencing lots of people when you're young that's not normal so what the young generation is saying i don't want to be normal i want to be at the top and this guy today he has it all and yet
he seems to be missing everything so i want us to evaluate our own hearts as we look at this story it's mark chapter 10. i want to start with verse 17. i'm going to read the whole text so follow along with me mark chapter 10 verse 17. jesus at this point in his life is on a journey to jerusalem he's in the final weeks of his life he's on a mission to die to be buried and to rise from the grave in verse 17 it says and as he jesus as he was setting out on his journey this is the journey to jerusalem a man ran up and knelt before jesus and asked him good teacher what must i do to inherit eternal life and jesus said to him why do you call me good
no one is good except god alone you know the commandments do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witness do not defraud honor your father and mother and he said to jesus teacher all these i have kept from my youth and jesus looking at him loved him and said you lack one thing sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me disheartened by the saying he went away sorrowful
for he had great possessions and jesus looked around and said to his disciples how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of god and the disciples were amazed at the words but jesus said to them again children how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of god it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of god and they were exceedingly astonished and said to him then who can be saved jesus looked at them and said with man it is impossible but not with god for all things are possible with god peter began to say to jesus see
we left everything and followed you jesus said truly i say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now and this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life but many who are first will be last and the last first now this story is found in three of the four gospel accounts the gospel accounts refer to the life of jesus christ for he is the gospel gospel means what shout it out good news so we read about the good news of jesus christ and matthew mark luke and john matthew mark and luke all
three include this very story it's significant enough that matthew mark and luke all want us to know about this encounter this man has with jesus in the book of matthew he's called a young man we know that this is a person without life experience maybe he has no family he's a young man he's on a quest to to find the truth in the book of luke he's called a ruler which more than likely would be a position in the synagogue people from all sorts of places would come to be influenced by this ruler he would have had respect from everyone including his own family luke also tells us that he's wealthy
mark here says that he has many great possessions so here we have a rich young ruler who comes before jesus and he knelt down before him he's willing to get into the dirt to show respect he sees jesus as a person of of prominence of significance so here you have a person person of influence saying you have even greater influence and as he kneels before jesus he calls him good teacher this would have been a flattering term in this age the word teacher in the jewish culture is rabbi you're the rabbi you influence others and and this idea that he calls him good teacher is a it's really
a title it's a it's flattery saying you are above the rest you're the best of the best and he asked jesus a question what must i do to inherit eternal life that phrase eternal life could be translated a number of different ways some translations may say salvation real life in this particular translation the esv the english standard version it's eternal life what must i do to inherit eternal life now jesus flips the script and asks him a question why do you call me good what really is good
today we use the word so flippantly it's like the word love it just doesn't have a lot of depth to it my grandma was a good person i've got a good dog i'm a good person in fact the majority of people the culture in which we live in have actually bought into alive the enemy which is not in the word of god that the people who get into heaven are the good people that we've actually made our own theology that good people get into heaven and it almost makes sense until you really start to reflect on this wait wait what is the measurement of good are we comparing ourselves to murderers
because if so like i'm good i'm in are we comparing ourselves to each other if so i don't know are we comparing ourselves to our grandmothers if so i'm not in what is our metric of good and jesus asks that question and essentially makes a statement there's no one perfectly completely good but god so be careful with that word good because if we're referring to good we got to understand where am i getting my understanding of that and then he he answers the question by going through a number of the ten commandments six of the ten he said let's just see how good you are do not murder
this is just by a show of hands here today how many of you have not murdered just raise your hands all right look for those without their hands up come on look at that he just starts to go through this list and the guy is actually this is great i grew up in sunday school in the jewish culture the age of accountability where a child goes from boyhood to manhood is the age of 13. it's a significant time where you know it's time for you to rise up to understand that what you've been taught you're here to put into practice from my childhood i've done these things and by all measurements what we read in matthew mark and luke if we were to tie all three accounts together this guy actually was good
i mean if we went to his funeral there would be all sorts of people saying all sorts of good things and we'd be like this guy's better than me and jesus says he starts to list well have you done these things and the guy says confidently yes yes i've done those things because in the jewish culture they understood abiding by the law as the way to live that's the way to get real eternal life now let's just go back to understand what that is so that we can understand there's truth to that idea to obey god's law his commandments is the way to live and here's why that's true god gave the law on the journey from egypt to the promised land the israelites had been enslaved for
hundreds of years they understood themselves being slaves this is who they were they had an identity from generation to generation we are slaves this is what we do they were slaves of this world they were slaves to the government god steps in and provides a deliverer named moses it would be a foreshadowing of jesus the great deliverer of all time that you're not meant to be a slave and so moses takes them from egypt where they were slaves they were on a journey to the promised land but before they got there god had to teach them that you're not slaves you're my children i made you i've got a great destiny ahead for you and to do so god gave them his word which is called the torah that's the hebrew word it means the instructions the law the commandments of god
now the reason that god gave them the word is they had to understand who they are they had to trust god in his word not the ways of this world or what they knew and so the truth is if they followed the word of god they would live and that would be passed down from generation to generation do what god says and you will live hide god's word in your heart and you won't sin against god if you go outside of god's word you will die so in some sense jesus is bringing this man back to the reality that obey the word of god you will live now here was his mistake he actually thought he could attain abiding to the ten commandments and the reality is no one can do this not a single person
except jesus christ like jesus in the book of matthew tries to get the reader the listener to understand the law of god he says you've heard that it was said so you've heard the law but i say to you and what jesus is teaching us there's a spirit behind the law don't just follow the rule understand why the rule was given to you by the rule giver let me put it in perspective i've got three kids and if my kids are at each other's throats and i say don't don't be doing that and one kid hits the other kid and i said you shouldn't have done that would you apologize sorry so they obeyed my word but they did not understand the spirit of the word you're not genuine you're not repentant you're not really sorry for for for bruising your sister like that you miss
the point here if you just do the act and you don't understand why i'm telling you to do those things you're missing the point so jesus has actually given us a really great instruction here he goes through the commandments that actually many of us could look like we're doing i've not murdered i've not committed adultery i've i obey i i honor my mother and father okay i i i'm obeying these things but jesus left out a few in fact he left out the first few and then he left out the last one this was intentional because the first one is the most important ones when the lord started off by saying i the lord am your god there is one god not many god you're going to be deceived by the devil to think there are many ways there's one way you shall have no other gods that's the first commandment it starts there
you want to be a part of the 12 steps program it starts by saying there's got to be a higher power first of the 10 commandments says there's one higher power the second is similar when god says do not make create have any idols now now an idol is anything that you make that's greater than god in your life an idol comes in many forms we read the scriptures we say oh man these people were messed up they worshiped a golden cow we've got a lot of things today that are messed up as well your idol can be your kids it can be your car it could be your career it can be your stock portfolio it could be your sports team you ever seen a duck fan i'm just saying
anything that you make that's greater than god becomes an idol for some it becomes a lust it becomes uh sex for for others it just it becomes something we're longing for something and and the lord god tells us and says if you go after anything but me you will not be satisfied because when you get the thing that you're longing for that's not what you're made for and the lord went on to list a few others don't say my name in vain honor me because the moment i become flippant to you you'll miss me you won't fear me anymore you should honor the sabbath because if you keep working you're going to miss rest and pleasure and trust in me as the provider and then the very last one which jesus did not mention do not
covet now coveting is so clever because you can come to church and you can look totally good and you can totally be coveting and no one knows it you'd be showing up looking like you love the lord and you're like i wish that was my spouse i wish i had their house i'm walking out to my car i wish that was my car but i'm going to that car nobody's going to know that but deep down inside you're breaking the law you're wanting something that you don't have and deep down inside you're like come on god like i could totally take care of this stuff for you so i want you to note that jesus did not
mention these in mark chapter 10 verse 19 he says do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witness do not fraud honor your father and mother at this point it's sounding pretty good the young man answers confidently man i'm in this he's noting that this has become culturally this has become religious so he's actually going to make this young rich ruler squirm just a little bit verse 21 tells us jesus looking at him now i don't know how this speaks to you today but if you read the scriptures in its entirety from genesis to revelation the word of god says god god is god is all-powerful he can be all present he can be anywhere anytime and he is all-knowing
the fancy word is he's omniscient which means he actually sees you when no one else can see you he knows what's in your head he knows what's in your heart jesus looked at him and what is jesus looking at he's not like man you are fly with the way you're dressed today i gotta say no wonder people are following you he's looking at him looking up and down like where'd you get that it was the new nike air force like wow he was looking at him but what was he what was he looking at we start to understand it when you understand who jesus is if only god is good jesus is claiming to be the fullness of god 100 god 100 man and he's looking at him he's not looking at the outward he's
looking at the heart in fact mark is the only one of the three writers that says jesus was looking at him and loved him he loved him so the whole motivation in mark chapter 10 verse 21 everything that jesus did he looked at him and he loved him the motivation and what god does is love because what we're going to look at as we close the sermon today is god is love which means this god does not try to love he does not sometimes love he does not stop loving god is love now we have a warped theology that we actually think god loves a better version of ourselves and we have that because we we grew up with that your teachers give you an a
when you when you get all the answers right your coach gives you an attaboy when you did something well your parents are gonna reward you when you did what needs to be done but jesus looks at you and he just loves you despite you even if you think i followed all the rules except for one two three four and ten and jesus does not call that out he does not shame him jesus loved him he says i'll tell you one thing that will give you everything one thing how good is our god that he does not make it complicated here's 15 things you got to do to get into heaven today now one thing jesus said one thing go sell all that you have give it to the poor
and here's what's here's the key here and you will have treasures in heaven he doesn't say you're going to be poor forever he actually says you will be rich and here's the secret come follow me now those three words come follow me imply i am the rabbi the teacher you be the student now the term for that is disciple come be my disciple it's the mission of jesus to all of his followers that we would not only be disciples we would make disciples this is the mission of the church to point people to jesus christ now jesus is actually now saying you do not need to come up with your own conclusion you do not need to wonder what the world says about you i want you to learn from me be like me
and the one thing jesus asked him to give up is his wealth now of all the things he doesn't say give up your career he doesn't say give up your youthfulness he says give up your wealth now the wealth for this particular person would mean prominence a position security so all of the things that he thought he had figured out jesus says i want you to give those up and you're going to get something far greater now this guy goes from looking confident i've done all those things to looking terribly awfully sorrowful look at the vivid detail that mark goes into letting us know what was his response to jesus he wasn't elated he
didn't raise his hand say praise god preacher he didn't say amen rabbi i'll do whatever you have to say it says he went away sorrowful another text that says his head hung low it was visual for all those who were there this was not the answer he wanted to hear and the lesson i learned from this is that sometimes love will make you sad because sometimes love will give you what you need not what you want sometimes you hear something you didn't expect to hear so instead of obeying what you just heard which is the right thing you walk away come on someone help me out here so the preacher's not the only one being hurt by this text here
sometimes you thought you have it figured out and then all of a sudden you realize that love is much larger than you thought it was you're actually asking me to give up something to get something obedience to jesus is a risk and if you dare try to understand that risk you won't understand the risk because often you'll need the courage of the holy spirit right in that moment you'll try to predict it you'll try to plan it but that's when god laughs at you you're trying to take my job again now let's really look at what caused this guy to be sorrowful he had his wealth which means he had control of his life this does not seem to be a prerequisite
nor is it a prescription to what it means to be a christian so let's be really cautious here that everyone has to go sell everything to get into heaven that that's not the point of jesus jesus is saying what is it that's keeping you from full surrender to me and in this case it might be a prophetic picture of the american church your materials your things the things that give you security and prominence and position the things that make you look like you're successful might be the very thing that's stopping you from inheriting eternal life according to john when you believe in jesus and you receive jesus you become a child of god if you're a child of god that means he's your father if he's your father according to scriptures over and over and over and over again you get a great inheritance what is that great inheritance you get eternal life what is eternal life you get everything god has
including god now not many americans are real excited about that instead we've got notifications from zillow telling us you could have a better house you're not even looking forward to the place that jesus is preparing for you or we want to be healthy with these tents and paul says no those tents are going to fall apart but one day you're going to have a body that is so great it can walk through walls one day you're going to be so glorified there could be no sin no sorrow no doubt just pure light because you're in the presence of a god that is love and one day but it will require you to look at your life is there something stopping you this goes back to the ten commandments is there something in your life where you're playing the role of god
and you might look religious you might look like you have your life together but there's something stopping you from the very thing that you're longing for this requires a complete dependence on god jesus in the sermon on the mount start off the whole sermon just radically flipping upside down our perspective what it means to follow jesus he said this blessed now all of us at this point are leaning in like oh i want to be blessed go go jesus preach it brother blessed blessed means a deep happiness like this is going to be a good sermon today blessed are oh i want to be blessed tell me more blessed are the poor hey hey hey can we stop right there preacher because my understanding is god pours favor on those who are
prosperous and he curses those who are poor that just totally makes sense at least that's the way i judge people i made some right decisions look i'm not in your position look at where you found yourself you must have made some dumb decisions to get to that place we don't say that as christians we just believe it and jesus says here's the reality blessed are those who come completely dependent on me blessed are the poor in spirit poor in spirit means you're bankrupt you've got nothing to offer god he has everything to offer you you do not get into heaven because you were so good no no you get into heaven because of god so jesus just starts off his whole sermon say blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven you want what god has to offer the great inheritance you get it when
you realize you have nothing to offer when it's actually all his see throughout history god is constantly looking at his people saying what is it that's stopping you from me and he might ask you to do something so radical where it requires a full surrender remember abraham god says hey i want you to take your one and only child i want you to take him up on the mountain i want you to give them to me and he was crazy about abraham he did it and it was on that mountain that we read in the book of genesis a really important word in the hebrew that the lord is called jehovah jireh comes from the hebrew yahweh yaira now yara jirah and in the greek it means provider
because god gave a greater provision but what he was doing was testing abraham is there anything in your life that's going to stop you from full surrender to me for abraham there was nothing he gave it to god and god gave him something greater this is over and over again over and over noah would you would you like to spend your entire life and career building a boat for no place to put it it feels humiliating it's confusing god's going to ask you what are you willing to give up for something greater remember david david's like why is anybody fighting this giant or you're willing to do it you got to put on this armor that's someone else's armor god's going to ask you somewhere in your faith to say what is stopping you from
full surrender to me what are you in control of the one point for this sermon if you're taking notes which you should there's only one point today it's this point jesus always wants control jesus always wants control that's the one point of this if you miss everything else i want you to understand jesus always wants control and when i say that it stirs something inside of us because all of us start to think of just at least one two three ten things that maybe we don't want to give to jesus that part of our heart that part of our mind that part of our finances that part of our dreams it's like i don't want to give that to jesus because what if and that life starts to get built into children early where kids are thinking oh if i give my whole life to jesus i might be a missionary in africa like that's awesome you have been to africa the place is awesome it's like a great big hawaii in one continent like why would you
we've lied to you and said this is a bad thing now we need we need dreamers to go to africa and bring clean water because this is god's place we often just miss these we we make up in our minds if i don't give god control but man i just say god's plans are so much greater than your plans because you don't leave happier not giving that to god you leave sorrowful jesus wants all control your whole mind your whole heart every single sin all of your finances everything not some everything because if not you're still playing the role of god and giving jesus everything is not a sacrifice because you get everything he doesn't give you a better life he
gives you new life this is a key to us paul explained it this way to the corinthians he says for the love of christ controls us notice this it's the love of christ someone here is this sounds like a controlling god yep completely in control because he's a loving god he's sovereign which means he's perfect he wants full control because we've concluded this that one has died for all that's jesus therefore all have died and he died verse 15 says jesus died for all that those who might no longer live for themselves so you give up your life for his but for him for who for their sake died and was raised now this was true then and it's still true today this is kingdom it flips upside down the
reality of what we think in our lives is successful there is one provider and it's jesus christ he is jira he is jehovah jair which means if i'm unwilling to give him something i don't think he's the provider and if i'm willing to trust him with that area of my life that actually means it's the opposite of provision so what's the opposite of provision fear insecurity independence now we like independence in our culture and society but when it comes to jesus there's no independence he wants full control because at some point you'll realize you're not as healthy young wealthy influencer as you think you are things can flip on turn of a dime anybody ever had to happen it could be a car accident it could be a
cancer diagnosis it could be all sorts of things a person comes and says i don't love you anymore we're done where'd that come from at some point jesus is going to be the lord of your life or he's not at all you see when it comes to jesus you've got to understand this is why he wants full control there's no indifference with jesus we've made jesus so safe that you can come before him and stay the same no such thing he is almighty eternal god so you come before jesus there's one of two things there's actually really one choice you either surrender your life to him or you don't completely and if that sounds like that oh man that's still tough for me to understand the end result is when you leave change it's not for better because you got to keep the very thing you didn't want to give the lord you
don't leave a better person but when you give it all up you're actually becoming more like god let me just show you some scriptures to prove my point the wisdom of proverbs says this whoever brings blessing will be enriched and the one who waters will himself be watered another way to say this is you refresh other people you get refreshed you give your money away and god says come on i can trust you with that i'm to give you some more i love how you take care of the little ones i love how you take care of the poor i love how you take care of the least of these i want to make sure that i bless you even more jesus put it this way in luke 6 38 give and it'll be given to you this is not just financially in every area and your forgiveness and your kindness and your and your peace your shalom good measure pressed down shaking together running over will be put into your life jesus saying this what's inside of you will come out for with the measure you use it it will
be measured back to you when paul wrote to the church in corinth he was talking specifically about money when he said this the point is that whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully and then he says don't this is not a trick or a trap from the preacher each one must give as he's decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for god loves a cheerful giver and here's the great thing about god he's able to make all grace everyone shout all all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times you may abound at every good work so here's what starts to happen you start giving you start looking more like god because god created you you're made in his image and he actually has such a great life plan
for you that if you just go after him you're going to get everything he destined for you okay you're not getting this yet let me give you one more scripture john 3 16 jesus he's speaking to a religious man he's saying you got to be born again you can't understand god he's like the wind you don't know where he's going to go and jesus said this in john 3 16 you've heard this but let this be profound every time you hear it jesus said for god here's who god is he so loved the world not the republicans not the right side not the church he loved the world you he loves you so much that he what gave there's no greater giver than god he gave himself that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life you see when you start surrendering your life to the lord you start starting to
look a little more like the lord it just doesn't make sense to the world and the world when the world looks at you say this doesn't make sense that's when you have joy in your heart and you're like yeah that's because a lot like jesus when he gave his life when he headed to the cross because he loves us so much my friends this is not about money this is about the trap the temptation to take on the role of god paul wrote to timothy this morning he says but those who desire to be rich which are many people today those who desire to be rich fall into temptation into a snare this is a trap into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction divorce loneliness isolation all the things you thought you'd get with money maybe won't satisfy you for the love of money he says not money but the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil it is through this very craving that
some even christians have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs see jesus pointed to the solution in this text for every single one of us today the point is not sell your possessions the point is follow jesus learn from jesus i do not want you to think this is a formula today that if you write a check big enough god's going to bless you that's not the point this is a heart issue that when you give your life to jesus jesus is going to start asking you things that just don't make sense but because you love jesus so much you're going to be obedient and when you're obedient to jesus you get to see the fruit of what it means to follow jesus and it's amazing remember those three words come follow me and what do you get eternal life salvation the real life that you're destined to have and i'll tell you today jesus is enough
at journey we have a catchphrase that we say all the time it's all about jesus we have a big old sign out there you could take a picture of it and post it on google or facebook or whatever you want to put a snapshot tick tock whatever whatever place you want to the big picture it's all about jesus that has to be more than a phrase when that becomes a reality it actually changes you and it makes you a bit uncomfortable and you'll want to go back to your old ways but if you look to jesus you look him in the eyes you'll see he's looking at you and if you look carefully you're going to see he loves you and when he loves you he's going to ask you to live differently to think differently that word means the word for that is repent jesus used to preach that early in his
ministry repent the kingdom of heaven's at hand repent means change your thinking don't keep thinking like your parents taught you or the church taught you think the way that god wants to teach you and my my challenge days don't walk away sorrowful because you don't like his plan his plan might be a lot more different than you thought it would be you may not have signed up for something whatever that something is but he's going to work it together for good just love him i'll tell you why this is the last scripture today first john 4 beloved let us love one another for love is from god and whoever loves been born of god and knows god and whoever does not love does not know god because god is love
in this the love of god was made manifest among us that god sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him that's jesus and this is love not that we have loved god but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation he took on every single one of your sins he forgives every single one of your sins jesus is our propitiation it's a fancy word that he he took our sin in exchange for his righteousness he did it so what must i do believing him all things are possible through god not through you not through a good life but through faith and when you believe in jesus it changes everything i've got to ask you have you surrendered
your all to jesus there's nothing easy about that i wish i can come before you today and say man you say yes to jesus it's going to get easier from here i've been following jesus a very long time almost three decades and the longer i follow jesus the more i realize there's so much more to know about jesus i thought when i followed jesus like i might have it all figured out the more i read this book i'm like i've got a lot to learn i warned you today that this sermon was for me but i just want to make this personal for you that if you need to say yes to jesus there's no better day it's not another day you don't have to wait please don't wait please please please you do not know if you have tomorrow
that's not a scare tactic but you can know the love of god today that's the motivation and if you've never surrendered your life to jesus face your day i'm going to ask in just a moment if you want to do that you're just going to raise your hand up and the reason i'm going to have you raise your hand up is at some point you're going to on the outside have to say i'm putting jesus first in my life not my family not the person next to me not a preacher not my past my god is greater than everything in my life and if that's you i'm gonna ask you to do that just right now you right where you are you can throw up your hand and say yes to jesus just boldly confidently courageously praise god thank you someone else say right now your heart's
thumping you're saying hi i don't know what people are going to think of me who cares could you imagine what it looked like for that wealthy man to say yes to jesus he was probably thinking about everybody else my dad's gonna kill me if i do that jesus who cares someone else right now just raise your hand up if that's you you're saying right now i'm saying yes to jesus might seem strange to you to someone else my heart's telling me someone online right now is they're all by themselves raising their hand i want to say i'm proud of you [Music] the success in god's eyes is not like ours praise god so proud of you the lord loves you so much amen anyone else here today you're saying yes yes yes to jesus
it changes everything [Music] i heard a story just yesterday of a gal that was suicidal she had a plan to take her life she came to journey church and she said yes to jesus in a moment just like this this was several years ago i didn't know this person i heard this story from my wife who heard it from her parents she wanted to take her life she said yes to jesus from that day forward everything changed everything she changed her thoughts she met a christian man got married to this man has had a baby and a half is one cooking in the oven her whole destiny legacy everything changed by saying yes to
jesus not some things everything everything everything changed give it all every sin every fear every lust every covet all of it anyone else we've had a few bold people today i just want to make sure anyone else will say yes to jesus praise god so proud of you remember what jesus said the first going to be last the last whoever you are will be first we pray something like this in your heart you could close your eyes if you want to turn your attention towards heaven lord we just give you our lives i thank you for those who said yes to you lord they said yes to the forgiveness of sins they said yes to their past they said yes to their life and
they said yes to what you have and now i ask powerfully in the name of jesus christ that you would do more than we can dream thank you for the gift of grace it's free and it's a gift from you may we receive that and live in your grace for those that said yes to you today i pray grace upon grace the grace that never ends the forgiveness of all sins thank you for the gift of eternal life that we don't actually die we actually start living when when our heart stops beating and i thank you for the person of the holy spirit you god that dwells in us my friend when you said yes to jesus you said yes to one god and three persons and you're saying yes to the holy spirit that god now dwells in you you've been sealed by god himself that's how you get into heaven because of what was done for you and jesus
so lord may your spirit lead your church in such a time as this give us courage that if there's something stopping us we surrender it to you lord we surrender to you we give it to you you want all control and i'll confess that's been hard lord we give it to you in jesus name we pray amen amen [Music] i love you so much thank you thank you stormy hi listen [Music] what's important for you now is not to stop so if you said yes to jesus you got to take a next step there's connection cards and you see back we want you to fill that out you put it in one of the boxes before you leave we have a prayer team over here if you need prayer for anything anything ask god and it will be given to
you we want to respond to the lord now this is our hearts turn your attention to jesus if you're able to would you stand your feet we'll have one last song and pastor ryan will dismiss you after this song give your heart to god lord we lean into you we want your love to echo into us that love that you looked at this young man look into our lives today have your way today we pray in jesus name
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Who is truly good?
In Mark 10, Jesus responds to the man's flattering title by pressing him on what he means by calling him good, since no one is good except God alone. Pastor Keith argues that the culture carries an unspoken theology that good people get into heaven and asks what standard we are using—ourselves, others, or God.
Mark 10:18
- What standard do you tend to use when you judge whether you are a good person?
- Why does it matter that Jesus locates goodness in God rather than in human comparison?
- How would your view of yourself change if you stopped comparing yourself to others?
The spirit behind the law
Pastor Keith explains that God gave the law to Israel after the exodus to teach a people who had been slaves that they were now God's children. Jesus teaches that there is a spirit behind the law, not just an outward rule. Pastor Keith notes that Jesus intentionally left out the first and last commandments when speaking with this man, since those deal with God's place and with inward desire.
Mark 10:19
- What difference does it make to see God's commands as instruction for children rather than rules for slaves?
- Where might you be obeying a rule outwardly while missing the spirit behind it?
- Why is coveting especially easy to hide, and what does that reveal about the heart?
Jesus looked at him and loved him
Mark alone records that Jesus looked at the man and loved him before telling him what he lacked. Pastor Keith emphasizes that this love is the motivation for everything Jesus says and does in the encounter. Jesus does not shame the man or call out every failure; he invites him toward something greater.
Mark 10:21
- How does it change your reading of this story to know Jesus looked at the man and loved him first?
- When have you received a hard word that you later recognized came from love?
- What is the difference between shame and a loving call to change?
The one thing that holds you back
The man went away sorrowful because he had great possessions; his wealth represented control, prominence and security. Pastor Keith cautions that selling everything is not a universal prescription for every Christian, but the question remains: what is keeping you from full surrender to Jesus? The message closes with the claim that Jesus always wants control because he is a loving and sovereign God.
Mark 10:22 · 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
- What is the one thing you find hardest to surrender to Jesus, and why?
- How does Pastor Keith's caution against making the command to sell everything a universal requirement shape how you read this passage?
- What would change in your life if you trusted Jesus as provider in the area you are holding back?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
Why did Jesus tell the rich young ruler to sell everything?+
In Mark 10:21 Pastor Keith sees Jesus identifying the one thing that kept this particular man from full surrender: his wealth, which represented control, prominence and security. Pastor Keith explains that Jesus was not establishing a universal rule that every Christian must liquidate their assets. He describes Jesus as a loving, not a shaming, presence in this exchange, and says the underlying question in Mark 10 is what is keeping you from full surrender to Jesus.
Was the man actually good, since he said he kept the commandments?+
In Mark 10:19–21 Pastor Keith reads the account as presenting a man who, by human measurement, had kept the commandments Jesus listed. But Jesus intentionally listed only some of the commandments, omitting the first and the last, which deal with God's place and with inward desire. The point, as Pastor Keith develops it, is not that the man was a hypocrite but that he had mistaken outward rule-keeping for the deeper life God was offering.
Why did the rich young ruler go away sorrowful?+
In Mark 10:21–22 Pastor Keith explains that the man went away sorrowful because the answer Jesus gave was not the one he wanted. His wealth gave him control and security, and Jesus asked him to give that up for something greater. Pastor Keith draws a lesson from this: sometimes love gives you what you need rather than what you want, and obedience to Jesus can feel like a risk.
Is this sermon saying that all Christians should be poor?+
Pastor Keith explicitly pushes back on that reading of Mark 10:21. The instruction to the rich young ruler is described as neither a prerequisite nor a prescription for what it means to be a Christian, and the sermon cautions against turning the message into a formula. The point is not to sell your possessions but to follow Jesus; the man's wealth was simply the specific thing standing between him and full surrender.
What does Pastor Keith mean by "Jesus always wants control"?+
Pastor Keith identifies this as the one point of the message: Jesus always wants control—of your whole mind, heart, finances, dreams and every sin, not just some areas. He grounds this in 2 Corinthians 5:14–15, where Paul says the love of Christ controls his people and that Christ died so they would no longer live for themselves. Pastor Keith frames this not as a capricious demand but as the expression of a loving and sovereign God; holding back one area means still playing the role of God, and giving Jesus everything is not a sacrifice because he gives new life in return, not merely a better life.
