I am the second of four children and my siblings and I all went to this little private school that was around the corner from our house growing up it was called Brook Hollow Christian School and kindergarten through about 8ighth grade or so we went to this little school it was a very conservative Christian School where they didn't allow you to wear pants to this school you had to wear a skirt and it was back in the day where the skirt better not be below the hemline of of your fingertips they would measure it to make
sure that it was the exact length that it needed to be it was serious business which also meant that our teachers didn't wear pants they wore skirt skirts as well and I remember every single one of my teachers from every year I was endeared to them and them to me the classes were quite small so we got to know each other very well miss Wright was my second grade teacher I loved Miss Wright and I can still see her clearly in my mind's eye to me as an 8-year-old in the second grade she seemed to
only have three skir that she owned they were in constant rotation it was a black one a Navy one and a cream colored one she seemed to have several different blouses she would pair with these three skirts and and they were about ankle length all of them or midcalf length and they were kind of folded and and um had Ruffles and folds in them when she walked past the desk I can hear it swish swish swish she had um dark black hair uh the only daring that she ever took with her makeup I recall was
that she had eyeliner that was dark black and it was kind of wedged up on the sides so that she had that enchanting cat eye look I was so drawn to the beauty of Miss Wright and man yeah that hair that was back in the day where women used to roller set their hair where with that wet hair you put it on those hard rollers and then you sat underneath the dryer for an hour or more and she would come into class and for the entire week she had that helmet of hair on her head
and she cemented it I mean cemented it with hairspray it was so thickly put on her hair that I remember as she'd walk throughout the classroom the the lights would catch the film of hair spray that was on the top of her hair that was Miss Wright of the second grade and I remember that to me and my friends this was the only dimension of her that actually existed maybe you remember feeling that way about your teacher it never occurred to you they have a life like it never occurred to you that they did other
things other than stand in this classroom in that skirt in front of that black board with that Chalk in their hands with the helmet on their head and teach this particular class which is why one particular day I was completely shocked when on this hot Texas Saturday I went grocery shopping with my mom and I was standing there queuing up in in the checkout line scanning all the Forbidden candies that were there on the racks trying to figure out which one I was going to beg my mom to get me on this particular occasion when
I looked over the top rack and saw Miss R standing in the next line I was completely Frozen in shock because this is the first time it occurred to me that she did other things other than teach the second grade there she was standing there and her hair was not in the same style it was always in it was kind of hanging Loosely and romantically around her shoulders and I remember she just had on a very light little Plastering of blush on her cheeks the eyeliner was not there I had never seen her like this
and she had on shorts what I'm saying to you is I didn't know Miss Wright had legs I was completely dumbfounded as I as I stared at her she was standing next to a man I assumed to be her husband standing next to a young boy that I assumed to be her son she had a family and she had knees and apparently she went grocery shopping on Saturdays it had never occurred to me that she had more to her beyond the one dimension in which I was used to seeing her I had relegated her to
this little box and it occurred to me through the years and by the way in the 40 years that have passed since then I don't remember if I even said anything to her because I was dumbfounded at the fact that I was seeing her and her niece and if somebody had asked me or any of my fellow classmates at the time who do you say Miss Right is we would have said she's a good teacher we would have said that's all she is she's a good teacher we would have put her in that one box
and by putting her in that box it didn't limit her life she still went to brunch on Sundays and went to church and took walks with friends and went grocery shop she had a life it didn't limit her the Box just limited my relationship with her it limited my experience of her my expectation of her my encounters of her were limited because I didn't know and understand and have an awareness of the full scope of who this woman was which is why one of the most poignant and powerful and necessary questions that Jesus asks in
the New Testament is the same question that he's getting ready to ask you today because in Luke chapter 9 in verse 18 and 19 and 20 he looks at his disciples and he says who do you say that I am it's a necessary question for you to consider because most often we have this tendency where we've put God in a box that matches up with our experience or it matches up with the denomination we grew up in or it matches up with the traditions of our family line where we've come from what our mama and
Grandmama and then them said that Jesus was maybe what the culture around you is declaring that Jesus is but Jesus asked the 12 disciples in the New Testament y'all and he asks us today so that we can consider for ourselves who do you say that Jesus is the reason why this question is go going to be so important in Luke chapter 9 for these 12 disciples that are following closely with Jesus the reason why it's going to matter so much is because in verse 23 of Luke chapter 9 he is about to give them one
of the most stunning and staggering invitations that they will ever receive that we will ever receive he's going to invite them to be disciples they're already Believers but he's getting ready to invite them to surrender all and here's what he's going to say to them in Luke 9 verse 23 if anyone wishes to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for what whoever wishes to gain his life is actually going to have to lose it and whoever is going to find his life is going to lose it
for my sake for what what does it profit a man who gains the whole wide world but loses his soul he's going to offer an invitation to discipleship to these 12 but before the invitation he asks him a question about his identity identity first invitation later because think about the gravit gravity and the weightiness of the descriptive words that Jesus uses to describe discipleship here he says things like deny cross lose follow me y'all think of how sobering these terms actually are that remind us that actually surrendering all actually being the kind of disciple that
Jesus describes here it really does require and necessitate a solid divorce from much of what society and even the Christian culture has begun to purport and promote that following Jesus actually looks like it flies in the face of a self-focused faith that celebrates excess and hustle and a life of ease and comfort as being the mark of what divine favor is on somebody's life it it's going to demand that re reorient the compass of all our religious activity back in the direction of Virtues that have been lost like Simplicity and discipline yeah and obedience and
Holiness and the restraint that the spirit of God develops within us it reminds us that we're going to have to recalibrate and reckon with what it actually means to surrender all to follow Jesus fully and completely cuz y'all there are many people who have placed faith in him but there are much fewer who have actually decided to follow him to walk in step with him and the question we've got to ask ourselves honestly and truthfully is will we pursue and surrender to this discipleship Christ's definition of discipleship or are we actually going to create our
own definition that coddles our flesh and esteems this Earth more highly than the kingdom of heaven but no on this occasion right here when Jesus describes what it means to surrender all he cuts the legs out from underneath the modernized politicized cliche version of discipleship that we've seen bubbling up to the surface and he defines what it actually means to follow him to live in step with him to walk with him to surrender to him he makes it plain and clear on this day that it looks more like selflessness than it does selfishness that actually
it actually requires that we trust him with our lives with our futures it means that we're more interested in being marked by the Holy Spirit than marketing ourselves that we trust him and surrender all to him and for that kind of invitation like to really be willing to surrender all we going to have to know who Jesus is because why would we surrender Our Lives to somebody who's just a good teacher why would we surrender to somebody unless we actually believe that he is who he said he is that he actually did redeem us that
he actually did pay a debt that we could not pay on our own that apart from the gracious gift of Salvation we would be separated from God for eternity and find ourselves in the pit of Hell if we really don't believe it then we won't actually follow him and surrender all so he deals with his identity first before the invitation our willingness to surrender fully and completely to him demands that we ask ourselves the question who do we say Jesus is I remember about two decades ago long time ago I had the opportunity to speak
in Upstate New York and I was there with three other women who were going to be ministering at this Women's Conference we all flew in around the same time and then one of the women from this particular conference that was on the board she came in this little minivan to pick us up and to take us to what we thought was going to be the hotel where we were going to be staying for this particular event and as we all got our bags and got into the car she with a bright bubbly smile on our
face as we began driving she started telling us that we actually weren't going to a hotel that we were going to be staying in the home of another woman who was on the board of this ministry that graciously had opened her home to us to stay with her for those two or three nights that we were going to be in town so we were going to a woman home and I remember feeling all of us feeling grateful and and excited to be able to be welcomed to This Woman's home but we were also a little
bit concerned cuz you know you you don't really know if the cat sleeps in the same bed they going to put you in you're not sure if the guinea pigs are allowed to walk on the kitchen counters you're just not always sure what you're getting yourself into and so we were kind of just bracing ourselves for wherever we were going on the drive the lady told us that this woman had a beautiful home she said you guys are going to be so comfortable I'm so glad that she's letting you come into her home so we
were just kind of getting more and more excited as she talked about it but we could not have prepared ourselves for where we ended up we drove down this beautiful winding street which we' got got off the freeway and we came to a gate with a huge fence line that seemed to go as far as I could see to the left or the right we were now very very eager to see what in the world was behind this gate when the gate finally opened there was a long winding driveway with huge oak trees that were
on either side of this driveway we couldn't even see the home when the gate opened because the property itself was so vast and so plush and so gorgeous our mouths were a gape our eyes wide open because we could not believe that this place was the place where we were going to be staying we asked her again are you sure this is not a hotel she said no this is a residential property we drove down this winding driveway and finally the landscape revealed a home I have never in the 20 years since then seen anything
comparable to what I saw on that day I would later find out this home was 20,000 Square feet we drove up underneath the portic cochet where the car went under to let us into the front door we were all stunned and grabbed our bags and sort of staggered out of the car eager to get inside to see what in the world you put in a 20,000 square foot house so you know how you're trying to act cool and collected but really you like I can't wait to get in here and see what's going on up
in this house that's how we felt that day the front door open and this slight woman small woman came to the door Rosy Cheeks a big beautiful endearing smile on our face she welcomed us into her home and we stepped into the foyer of her home and it was outstanding it took our Breath Away there was a foyer that we were standing in right at the edge of the door and you could see straight through to the living room where there were beautiful floor to se ceiling windows that Shone out to the back of her
property where there was more land and acreage and beautiful trees it was absolutely staggering we were just about to take our first step with our bags and toe into her Lobby I would say of the front of her home and she said oh oh oh could do you just do you guys mind taking your shoes off because we don't actually walk with shoes around the house and so we took our shoes off and and didn't mind at all because if I had a 20,000 ft house I can assure you y'all would be taking y'all shoes
off so we took our shoes off and we we began to to to make our way in well right in the center of the lobby of her home there was a beautiful European uh woven rug so we're just about to walk onto the rug cuz that's what you do and she said oh oh oh just I'm sorry one second this rug was imported from some place in Europe and and it was very expensive so you know we don't actually walk on this rug we just kind of walk around the sides of it so now we
have our bags we are Barefoot and we are walking around the margins of the rug seriously being careful not to touch the rug that was in the middle of the floor and this you know this wasn't like a 2x3 rug it's a huge rug that's in the middle of the floor so we get around it now we are standing inside the living area and she began to point out different things and just welcome us into her home she was such a gracious lady and she was pointing to different things took us through the living room
towards those windows we made a sharp left so that she could take us down the hallway to the elevator that was going to take us to the third floor where the bedrooms were so we've got our bags now we are tiptoeing through the house making sure not to touch anything and now we're about to step onto the elevator we were in complete disbelief and just as we were stepping onto the elevator she said oh oh oh so the walls in the elevator were Slots of beautifully burnished carved pieces of wood and she said these slats
of wood that had these beautiful carved Creations in them she said they were specifically made for the elevator and they were imported from a province in India and they're very expensive so we want to make sure we don't ever chip the wood that's on the walls cuz we don't even know how we would begin to get it fixed so if you could keep your bags tucked in really closely that would be helpful so I kid you not y'all we are Barefoot tiptoeing through the house with our bags like this we get up to the third
floor there are four beautiful bedrooms each one of us had our own bedroom to me they look like master suites they were big beautiful spacious rooms the beds were king-size beds with beautiful comforters that were laid on top of them and we've been traveling all all all day long from me from Texas all the way to Upstate New York it had been a long day and I kind of set my stuff down and was just about to take a seat on top of that that bed with that big beautiful com and she said oh oh
oh we don't actually use the comforters they're actually just here for decoration and even as she said it she was already pulling it off the bed and folding it up and tucking it away and putting it inside the closet she did that in each of the bedrooms and when she was done sort of sort of settling Us in she stood in the middle of the hallway in between the rooms and she just said I'm so glad y'all are here make yourself at home [Music] she didn't mean that she said it but she meant in theory
make yourself at home and this is what we say to the Lord we say come on in make yourself at home but ooh oh Lord there's this part that I treasure right here this entertainment choice there's a relationship that I have there is a habit there's a dream there's an aspiration and Lord you can come on in but don't touch that Lord don't renovate that part don't recalibrate that don't redecorate that don't re-align that Lord make yourself at home but but in theory Lord not fully and completely he says to the disciples then and to
the disciples today will you say make yourself at home to me and actually mean it that every single part of our Lives we will give him full and complete access to who do you say I am I'm either just a good teacher or I am master and Lord you either relegate me to the Sunday part of your life or you welcome me into the Monday through Saturday part of your life that it's not just for a meeting and a greeting on a Sunday but no it's in your decision making on Monday and your relationship choices
on Tuesday and your financial decisions on Wednesday and your political preferences on Thursday and your ENT entertainment choices on Fridays and Saturdays that every part of our lives are fully completely surrendered to him and to him alone I am who I say I am I'm not just a good teacher I pay too high a price to be relegated to a box like that so Luke's gospel when you take time to go through it you actually see that chapters 1 through eight y'all are really just a buildup to this question in chapter nine that right here
in this short little pocket of scripture that we've read where he asks the disciples who do you say I am and then gives them this invitation to discipleship the leadup to it has already been happening all throughout Luke 1 all the way through chapter 8 where he's been introducing himself trying to get them to understand that he wasn't just a good man that he wasn't just someone of whom the prophet spoke that he wasn't just another religious leader like they had seen before but every aspect of every description that Luke gives us of what Jesus
did the Miracles that he pronounced upon people of every message that he spoke was designed so to show his disin distinctiveness to authenticate his messiahship to introduce the the fullness of his IDE identity to these 12 so that when they were asked the question they would have a full description of who it was that Jesus is and so in chapter one we discover that no he was not just an average kid in chapter 1 and two but he was a boy in the temple who wasn't just lost and playing games he was in his father's
house and he was about his father's business and then in Luke chapter 3 no he was not just a man being baptized by John the Baptist but he was the one upon whom the spirit descended like a dove and a voice came from the heavens saying this this one is my son in whom I am well pleased and no he wasn't just a man fasting in the wilderness he was the one upon whom the Redemption of all Humanity rested the one of whom the prophets testified the anointed one who had come to preach good news
to the poor and to Proclaim release to the captives and no he wasn't just a helpless bystander hearing about and becoming overwhelmed by people's sickness and their lack he was the architect of the universe able to heal and restore and to banish Demons back to hell he was the one who could look at the winds and the waves and say peace be still and all of creation obeyed him he wasn't just another religious leader a mere teacher of the law he was the Fulfillment of it he had come to inaugurate it he was the one
that when he opened up his mouth he spoke with such Authority that people who had heard good preaching before realized there was something different about this man that he wasn't like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leaders of the day they realized there was an authority dripping off of every word and so wherever Jesus was a crowd followed because even if they weren't quite sure about this whole Messiah business they didn't quite yet believe that he was uh who he said he was that the kingdom of God was actually at hand what they
did know was that when this guy showed up blind people could see that's what they were sure of they knew that when Jesus showed up death ears could hear and and the the blind were able to see and the lame could walk and the dead were being raised they knew that people's lives were transformed everywhere that he was and so wherever Jesus went in the Book of Luke you'll see multitudes followed the thousands came to be around Jesus in hopes that they could be like that woman with the issue of blood who elbowed her way
forced her way through the crowd and got close enough where she could Reach Out And Touch the Hem of His Garment she didn't even have to touch him just touching the Hem of His Garment changed the course of her life and they wanted to be like that woman who was in proximity they just wanted to be in proximity of Jesus and so there were hordes of people that were always around him which is why before he asked the 12 who do you say that I am a couple of verses earlier in verse 18 of Luke
chapter 9 he'd ask them who do the crowd say that I am cuz you know they always here they're always in close proximity they're always marveling about what it is that I do but I have a question what do they say about my identity because it is possible to be a fan and not be a [Applause] follower and I fear y'all particularly in the western part of the World in which you and I live that we have hordes of people who have gotten enamored with production that we're fans of the business of Christianity that we're
enamored that our ears maybe are being tickled that we've seen what it is that Jesus can do in the testimony of other people that maybe we come to church because our mama and Grandmama and them said that's what we're supposed to do that it's just become come a part of the Rhythm that our friends are going to see this Jesus so we go too and maybe we read a verse a day to keep the devil away because that's just what we're supposed to do it's part of the checklist we're part of the multitudes that are
just coming because it's what the culture does but there is a difference between the fans and the followers and we have to decide whether or not we're going to surrender all to Jesus or just stand on the sidelines being enamored by him and so he says to the disciples who do the multitude say that I am and and they give Jesus a great compliment they say some say you're like John the Baptist and there are others that say you're like Elijah and these are would be great compliments to any regular man being compared to these
great revered names of old but for Jesus it's an insult because to even put him in the same category as other people is an insult because he is not just y'all a bigger version of us he's not just a better version of us he is in a class and a category all by himself he is without comparison and he is absolutely and completely without counterparts he is completely a singular being being all by himself he cannot be compared right and so they thought they were complimenting him but really their compliment had embedded within it the
biggest insult of all that Jesus is in a class all by himself and until you and I do business with his identity in fact one of the ways that you can know whether or not you you really believe whether I whether you really believe Jesus is who he says he is is how fully and completely we've surrendered Our Lives to him on and it's not just about what we surrender it's about the response time and how we surrender it come on come on oh man how long does it take us when the spirit convicts when
he challenges when he tells us to walk away when he asks us to loosen our grip and let go how long does it take how hard does he have to pry our fingers open to get us to let go of the lifestyle or the habit or the choice oh I'm preaching to myself right now Lord forgive us when we've played games with surrender because you have paid too high a price for us to not give all and so on this day I ask you to take personal inventory I'mma do it for me and you going
to do it for you and you can't do it for me and I can't do it for you you only you know whether or not you really believe he is who he said he is and if you do it will be easier for us to fully release to him every aspect our of our life because we'll know beyond a shadow of a doubt he's worth it he's worth it I have decided to fight follow Jesus no turning back no turning back lord Jesus we surrender forgive us for the places in our lives where we have
gripped so tightly and we have not been quick to let go and to release to you every aspect of our lives but Lord today we say come on in and make yourself at home you are worth it and you are worthy in Jesus name amen okay well I say I say we just have some church here so thank you today at all of our churches let's just continue in an attitude of prayer I want to talk to those of you that are followers of Jesus and you recognize that you've invited him in but you haven't
given him full control you haven't surrendered if there is an area of your life right now you recognize that you're rationalizing a sin you're explaining away something you know it's not pleasing to him you haven't trusted him with someone something you're harboring unforgiveness when he you know he calls you to forgive if you know you're supposed to serve when you haven't served you're supposed to be generous you're not being generous if there's some area of your life if you're are a disciple of Jesus and you're not you haven't yet surrendered that to him and you
want to surrender now would you lift up your hands just be honest today I'm lifting up my hand some area of your life that you want to surrender father we we do we recognize you're not just a great leader you're not just a moral person you are the king of all Kings you are our savior and whatever we hold back today by faith we trust to you we confess our sins we turn from our sins we choose forgiveness we choose your word we surrender we surrender all as you keep praying today without looking around there's
some of you that maybe like me you you grow grew up around the things of God I did I was um I believed in God but I didn't know him you might kind of say hey yeah yeah I'll go to church every now and then I I'll be around those things but you don't know them you haven't surrendered to him I I call it a Christian atheist you believe in him but you live like he doesn't exist if you recognize that's you today if you feel that conviction guess what it's not a bad thing it's
a really good thing it's because God loves you and he's drawing you to him right now and he's inviting you to let go of all to surrender all what does it mean to trust him to surrender all we step away from everything of this world our fears our sins our insecurity and we give it all to him our past our present our future our dreams we surrender all we say Jesus you be the Lord of all don't just save me be the Lord of all today there are those of you who recognize that you're not
walking in the fullness of everything that God has for you guess what today is the day of your salvation where you decide today I choose to follow Jesus I surrendered all if you recognize you're not walking with him today and the holy spirit's drawing you what we're going to do is just say yes we're going to step away from our sins we're going to call on the name of Jesus the name at which one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his lordship we call on Jesus and when you do God will
hear the Cry of your heart he will forgive your sins and he will make you brand new today at all of our churches those who say yes I'm ready not play not join in a church not religious language I surrender all I trust you I give you my whole life save me be the Lord Of My Life Jesus I give my whole life to you would you lift your hands high right now all over the place and say yes I Surrender Jesus I trust you lift up your hands and say yes I give you my
entire life online to say I am surrendering all I surrender all to Jesus would you pray with those around you pray heavenly father father I Surrender I surrender to the lordship of your son to the lordship My Savior Jesus forgive me forgive me fill me with your spirit fill me with your spirit be the the Lord of all of my life the Lord of all of my life I confess every sin I confess every sin I need your strength I need your strength your presence your power to do your will on Earth on Earth as
it is in heaven as it in take my whole life I surrender all in Jesus name I pray could you worship God in heaven as Angels rejoice and those more into the family of God are you enjoying book club we've got even more messages from this series ready for you right now so tap here to keep watching [Music]
