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Heat. Heat. There's a bond that's really you can't explain except unless you're experiencing it here. You guys all start this young being in >> Oh yeah. There is a picture in my high school yearbook of me 6 months old in a Notre Dame onesie. So probably around then. >> I love them. I don't care what anybody THINKS. I LOVE THE BEATLES for them and I'll always love them. Even when I'm 105 and an old grandmother, I'll love them. And Paul McCartney, if you are listening, ADRIENNE FROM BROOKLYN LOVES YOU WITH all her heart. I love you, Paul. And please come to the window so I can just see you. I saw you smoking before I kissed the limousine. You looked at him. But I love you and I want you, Paul. Please look at And Ringo, you can look at too, cuz I like you. Good morning. >> Come on.
Whether you're at the North Campus, South Campus, online campus, question for you. Did any of what you just saw seem extravagant? Think about that word for just a moment. I looked it up in the dictionary and extravagant means unrestrained, excessive, unnecessary. We would say like over the top. Often we will actually say we wasted something.
Years ago, my son proposed to his now wife. I'm just going to tell you right now, he didn't just propose. He pulled off like a once in a-lifetime proposed all capital letters. It was a perfect storm that he orchestrated. He and his girlfriend where they were doing study abroad with her university in England. They did one of those little side trips to the Italian Riviera. And it was there his plan began to unfold. Man, he did a dinner at a vintage restaurant seaside. There was gelato. You can't get gelato in Abalene, Texas, right? There was gelato and then there was a walk on a lover's path. It wasn't just any lover's path. There were two seaside villages that in times of old had been at odds at each other, at times at war. And sometimes young people in those villages would fall in love with each other, but they could not be together because the villages weren't allowed to intermingle. And so they would secretly meet at night on the path of love. And there they would pledge their undying love to one another, Romeo and Juliet style, and then they would separate back to their villages, never to see one another again. It was there on this path of love known throughout Italy that they held hands and they got to a certain spot and he knelt and he pulled out the ring and he said, "Will you marry me?" And the entire time there are a group of girls that are on the trip with him and they are stalking them the whole way doing pictures doing a paparazzi thing and like 12 minutes later my wife showing me pictures on Facebook of the proposal. question. Was that extravagant? >> See, the ladies are going, "No, that's amazing." Is what that is, RIGHT? THAT WAS ROMANTIC. And the dudes were like rolling our eyes. It's like, I can't believe stuff like that, man. I mean, come on. Who can compete with that, right? I can't tell my proposal story anymore cuz I come across as an anti-ro romance doofus redneck from Pampa. Now, in my defense, listen to me. We didn't do a production of proposals back in 1984. I mean, our proposal was baby basically a dinner. I pulled out a ring and said, "Do you want to?" THAT'S KIND OF WHAT WE DID.
I understand the reality of stuff, but I've made a discovery. And that discovery is um something's only extravagant if you don't value that which is being celebrated. I did tell my son, by the way, when he came back, I said, "Dude, um you did a great job. You pulled off like a story like no one's ever gonna have. I said, "But there's only one problem, man. You set the romance bar way high in your relationship." And brother, you got nowhere to go but down. You're old man. I put it way low. Like, how low can you go? And I've been doing nothing but going up. You know what I'm saying, right? Something's only extravagant if you don't value that which is being celebrated. So if you don't value romance, a proposal story like that seems extravagant. If you don't value like a football team and fans and what you saw there seems to be exaggerated. It seems to be unnecessary. It seems a waste of time. And if you don't love the Beatles, most of you aren't old enough to remember the Beatles, but if you don't love the Beatles or someone like that, then someone pledging their undying love for someone they've never met in person seems to be wasteful in life. Extravagance seems wasteful unless it's something you highly value, you highly honor, you think is worth it, which is exactly the situation we find ourselves when we open our Bibles this morning to the 14th chapter of Mark. Mark chapter 14. The passage we're going to read is two days. Say two. It's two days before the day. It's Wednesday before Friday. Two days before Good Friday, before the day that Jesus dies. And something occurs in this moment that those present at the time, and I would challenge most of us, if we were really honest with ourselves and said, "Well, it's in the Bible. Therefore this we we don't think that way but if we're really honest with ourselves we would agree with those presents that what happened seems a bit extravagant. Mark 14:3 says that while Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the leper a woman came in with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured his perfume on his head. Some of those peasants were saying indignantly to one another, why this waste of perfume, it could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor. Notice this last ver statement of verse 5. And they rebuked her. They don't only rebuked her, they rebuked her harshly.
Now, if you have your Bible open, I'm not saying you need to, but if you have your Bible open, it's likely that you'll find at the top of this verse a heading. By the way, those headings that you find in the Bible in different sections are not original to the text. They're just the work of translators trying to help us understand the Bible. And your translation, your heading probably says something like Jesus anointed at Bethany, which is absolutely accurate, BUT IT'S NOT what we feel when we read the text. When we read the text, what we feel is that Mary goes extravagant. Now, I know you're reading through there, you say, "Well, hey, the text doesn't say it was Mary." Mark does not tell us it was Mary, but we have a parallel story in John. And John tells us it was Mary. Now, this is not Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is another Mary. The Bible, especially in the New Testament, talks about four Marys. Mary was a common name, Miriam at the time. We know this Mary as Mary of Bethany. She's mentioned three times in the New Testament in conjunction always with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus. Now, some of you were here last week, by the way, if you missed last week. Phenomenal. Grab the message offline. Pastor Jeffrey did a great job. But out of John 11, she's saying, "Well, this is the same Mary that was brother, sister to Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead." Exact same one that we know about.
We're in the last six chapters of Mark. The last six chapters of Mark deal with the last seven days of Jesus life. Just an interesting fact of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, onethird of them deal with only seven days. Onethird of the stories of Jesus deal with only seven days of Jesus life. You think those seven days are pretty important? You think we might ought to pay attention to them? Those seven days are called Holy Week. It's what we celebrate coming up at the Easter time. It's the week of the passion and such. Jesus knew heading into this week exactly what was going to happen. Matthew tells us going into this week that Jesus had finished saying all these things and then he said to his disciples, "As you know, the Passover is two days away and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified." Now, notice how direct that statement is. Jesus doesn't have a general sense of what's about to go down. It's not an idea like a feeling something bad is going to happen. The last week of Jesus' life wasn't a coincidence in any form or fashion. He knew exactly what was going to occur. It wasn't like an accident that worked for the ultimate benefit of humanity. Jesus came for this last week. Peter, who spent this last week with Jesus, who was at the home of Simon the leper, who did all this stuff, says later on in a letter, for you know it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. That, by the way, is a reference to the Passover lamb. Jesus was chosen when he was chosen when before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Listen, the last week of Jesus life, in fact, the totality of Jesus life was written in the original blueprint. It was part of the plan. Jesus was always the plan. Are we catching that? Some of us think, well, Adam and Eve messed up. Jesus God didn't know that was coming. He had to devise a plan B. No, no, no. Jesus was always plan A. Before God spoke one word that brought material things into existence, Jesus was in the plan.
Jesus has been telling the 12 just like he did in Matthew 26, "Hey, I'm going to have to die. I'm going to have to be crucified." But they don't get it. First time he told them, Peter actually pulled him aside and rebuked him. Peter rebuked Jesus for thinking such a thing. And Jesus actually calls Peter Satan. Things like that happened again and again. Even after this event we're going to read about in Bethany. Disciples still don't get it. We know that because when Jesus is arrested not too long after this, Peter pulls out the sword. He cuts off the ear of a servant. He is ready to go to war. The reason, and you've got to grab this, the reason is that the belief about the Messiah, about the Christ, that word Messiah is Hebrew. That word Christ is Greek. It just means the anointed one, the prophesied anointed king that was coming in the minds of the people. And he was going to come. He was going to set up a throne in Jerusalem. And from there, he was going to raise up a great army and he was going to overthrow the oppressors of Israel. By the way, something like that is going to happen when he comes back. When he comes back, when he cuts the sky and he comes down on that white horse, that white horse is a symbol of a king. He come out. He is going to rule and he is going to reign. Amen. But this idea of what we count as central. Listen, the cross, the grave, the resurrection, so outside the grid, so outside the paradigm of what they held to that day that no matter how clearly Jesus stated it, he said, "Hey, I'm about to be crucified." They could not get it. NO ONE UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN until Mary of Bethany. Mark 14 is the first time anyone gets it. And her response, it's intense. And it should say something about how we're supposed to respond.
I I did some looking this week. The median household income in Abene is $63,000. I didn't say individuals. Median household income $63,000. Let's hold that number for a second. Let's say that's a year for a house. The scripture says that Mary of Bethany brought out an approximate 12 bottle of perfume worth $63,000. and she broke it. All of it. And according to verse three, she poured it on the head of Jesus. And John gives us another detail when he tells the story because he says that Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume. I don't know about you, 63K is pretty expensive to me. And she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of her perfume. So what Mary does is she takes this perfume, she pours it on his head, she pours it on his feet, she does what would be unthinkable for a proper woman. She takes off her headcarf and she begins to wipe her his feet with her hair. LISTEN, DOES THAT FEEL EXTRAVAGANT? Maybe a bit wasteful. It did to the disciples. It did to those at the table. They did not only rebuke her, they rebuked her harshly for such an act of waste. And if we didn't know the end of the story, I think most of us would think Jesus is going to rebuke her, too. He's probably going to be nicer about it. He may just rebuke her, just not harshly. But he's going to tell her, "Hey, that's too much. That's too lavish. That's too extravagant." But Jesus said in verse six, "Leave her alone." Why are you bothering her? Isn't that an interesting question? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you'll always have with you, and you can help them anytime you want, but you will not always have me with you. By the way, that verse is not an excuse not to help the poor. Just a statement to that situation. She did what she could. Verse 8 says, she poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth. Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.
Can you tell can I tell you something? I've discovered in a life of following Jesus for almost five decades. Reality is if we truly love Jesus, it will always seem extravagant to someone. It will seem wasteful. It will seem unnecessary. It will seem to be too much if we love him as he's called us to love. I learned it early on when I was in high school. I know some of you thinking, you can't remember that far back. I get it. I can still remember part of the early 80s. And in high school, um, academically, God just graced me to do well. I I did well mentally in our academic system. It didn't make me smarter than anybody. I just fit our system. So, I made really good grades. And I had teachers who really wanted to encourage me because no one in my family up to that point had ever gone to college in the 80s. I mean, the idea was either you went to the military or you went to college if you wanted to move forward in life. Now, I understand paths have changed. There's a lot more options today, which I'm grateful for. But in that day, that was kind of the push, man. Everybody got pushed to college. And they were looking at me say, "That's not your family heritage, but you can go to college." And I I appreciate that. There was only one issue I had. Early days of high school, I did a fiveinut sermon in an event that our youth group led. I know some of you are skeptical right now. You're saying, "There's no way you did something that was only 5 minutes long. Listen to me. I can do five minutes if I want to. I just don't want to anymore. That's my reality." And so anyway, I did that. And when I did that little something, whatever it was, it flipped a switch inside of me. That's what I was supposed to do. That's what God wanted me to do with my life. I didn't have it all unpacked. I didn't know. I just knew I wanted to preach. I knew I wanted to go into vocational ministry. Now, don't mishar that. That is not a statement saying vocational ministry is more spiritual or a higher calling than any other calling. Being a missionary is not that. You want me to tell you what the highest calling for your life is? Whatever God calls you to. He needs men and women who will be salt in life wherever he calls them, wherever he puts you. That's the highest calling God has for our lives. My calling just happened to be this. It happened to be vocational um ministry. And so when my very encouraging teachers would look at me and say, "David, you've got the ability. You could be a doctor. You could be a lawyer, you could be an engineer, you can be whatever it is you want to be," I would look at them, tell them, "I appreciate that so much, but I have this thing inside of me that I want to preach." And there would be an immediate look of disappointment on their face. And these were church folk. And some of them would try to talk me out of it and tell me like you are wasting what it is God has given you. One of them was so intense one time I remember thinking can only dumb people be pastors. Don't respond to that. Okay.
When we truly love Jesus and are willing to step into what he has, there will be people who think it's too extravagant. It's an impossibility not to. Truly loving Jesus will be extravagant to some. It's not limited to just those in full-time ministry. I'll be honest with you right now. You get the general populace of our nation and talk to them about what we're doing right now. Sunday morning coming to church wanting to grow in our faith. And they're going to say, "Why would you waste your time doing such thing? We have such busy things to do, busy schedules, we have activities." And they say, "Because I want to grow in my relationship with God." And they will say, "Well, I believe in God." You know, 96% of our nation say they believe in God. And yet many of them will say, "Investing time in spiritual growth, investing energy in spiritual growth, it is just a waste. It's extravagant." AND THEN YOU ADD to the things God calls us to do that we think are foundational. Like we all have gifts like spiritual gifts that we're supposed to use in serving others. So not only do we come to church so that we can grow. Not only do we engage in life groups so that we can support each other, BUT WE SERVE EACH OTHER. IT'S A RADICAL CONCEPT. They're going to say, "Why would you do such a thing? We got so much going on IN OUR LIVES." AND THEN WE talk about the dreaded word money. And we talk about generosity. And we talk about generosity at big levels. Like we say a foundation of generosity. we're supposed to grow into is the tithe. 10% the first 10% of our income going to the work of God. People's like, "You done got move local, my friend. How in the world?" And they just think it's too much extravagant. Guys, I expect that at some level for people who don't join us in our faith. But you know what I see in the text that concerns me? It wasn't the outsiders that were bothered by Mary. It was the disciples. It was those that were closest to Jesus. It was the disciples that rebuked Mary. And Jesus didn't just offended her. Jesus looked at the 12, those that he was going to send to the uttermost parts of the earth. Catch this. We exist celebrating the hope that we have in Jesus in the big country because 12 men were willing to be obedient and go to the ends of the earth. And everywhere they went, they shared the hope. They shared the life of Jesus. And it grew and it grew and it grew. And then eventually a nation was formed and we're here. One of the first things established in our city was a church. It all happened because of the 12. But the 12 before they got everything, Jesus looked at them and said, "Hey, hey, whenever you go, wherever I send you, don't you forget her story. Don't you forget what she has done." Her story will be tied to my good news wherever you go. Why would Jesus say that? Remember, for multiple months, probably years, Jesus has been saying, "I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die." And they couldn't get it. They couldn't get it past the paradigm that was the norm of the day. Mary was the first one to understand he's going to die. Mary a few months earlier had watched him stand in front of the tomb of her brother and speak into that tomb Lazarus come forth to speak to those around him loose him and she began to grasp the words that he's going to say and she began to understand he's going to a grave he's about to die and he's about to die for me her response is the first response of worship to Easter. Her response is the first celebration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And if that's the first response, the foundational response, WHAT SHOULD IT SAY ABOUT our lives? Might it be that her response is to be indicative of how our lives are to respond to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? Might there be a bit of extravagant worship that we are called to? Mark 14:8 says, "She did what she could. No one else was called to do the perfume thing." That was her. Even if it seemed too costly, even it seemed extravagant to some, she was led to do just that.
Have you ever wondered what that bottle of perfume meant to her life? I mean, she was a single woman in a time when it was hard to be a single woman. Still hard to be a single woman and exist. It's really hard in that day. Can you imagine? Maybe that was her financial future. Maybe that was her retirement. Maybe it was a dowy that was left to her by her parents that was to be given um to start a new family. Maybe it was her inheritance. I can tell you this, $63,000 in any day and age would be a source of security at some level for the days ahead. And what did she do? She sacrificed it at the bidding of God. When God said, "Lay this down," she said, "I WILL SHOUT the worth. I WILL SHOUT THE GLORY. I WILL SHOUT THE HONOR OF HIM WHO WOULD GO TO THE CROSS FOR ME." SHE is the one that says when we know the EXTENT TO WHAT GOD WOULD DO FOR US, OUR NATURAL response is a life of worship that some will say is too much, some will say is too extravagant. Do you know that it's not too long after this that Jesus finds himself just on the other side of the Mount of Olives from Bethany in a garden called Gethse Gethsemane and he begins to cry out to God and he feels the weight of our failures and our sins come down upon him and it's there that he's saying God if there's any way let this cup pass from me. I wonder when he bowed his head if he sometimes didn't still smell the nard and it gave him some strength and it gave him some courage because somebody got it and somebody loved him for the way that he was going to love. Scientists tell us that one of the greatest triggers of memory is smell. I wonder when he was in the courts of Caiaphas, when he was at the whipping block of Pilate, when he was carrying a cross on the road to Golatha, while he was hanging on that cross, I wonder if there weren't certain times that he was going through something he just caught a whiff. He caught a smell of this sacrificial response of love that someone gave to him and it gave him courage and it gave him grace to move on. Come on, let this sink in to you and I. This is the first response to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in the Bible. She is the first one to get what we're going to celebrate in a few weeks. What we can just take for granted. Mary was the first to understand the lengths to which God would go, to give us an opportunity to be back in relationship with him. She was the first ONE TO GRASP HOW OUTRAGEOUS, how excessive, HOW EXTRAVAGANT THE LOVE OF GOD IS. He would leave heaven. He would become flesh and blood. He would live like us, no sin. And he took all our sins and the weight upon himself. And he paid the price on that cross. She was first to understand that God's extravagant love demands an extravagant response of worship from us. And I'm not just talking about our songs. Listen, we're going to sing songs here in a minute. Yeah, I believe in extravagant responses in these rooms. I believe in big responses. I remember when I was young and I started going to a church and they did this thing. People raised their hands. I thought that was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen in my life. Even though I knew the Bible said to do it, I'd keep my hands in my pocket. I wasn't going to be extreme. And I remember one time just feeling the leading of the Lord. It's like, "David, doesn't the word say you raise your hands?" And it's not about raising hands. It's more about I was like, "Well, yeah, I know the Bible says raise your hand." And it's like, well, if you're not willing in a room of friendly people to do something that seems a little extravagant, what makes you think that out there you're going to obey me when there's people who oppose you when people if you're not willing to be big, if you're not willing to take steps of faith in a friendly room, why in the world do you think you're going to do it out there? I was like, Lord, I want to live obedient out there, so I'll do whatever you tell me in here. And I began to grow on a journey. I just discovered that big worship in this room helped me big worship in my life. It's not automatic. It's just something that helped me in my life. And my question for us in our lives is are we encouraging this in each other? My concern is that we the church like the disciples at times discourage extravagant responses to Jesus.
You know, a little over a year ago, I told you guys that God had put a leading on our leadership and that I was to step out of the lead pastor role into another role called legacy pastor at Beltway Park Church. That God had been orchestrating this. It's time for a new chapter that pastor Jeffrey has called to this role for the next chapter of church which I not only still agree with. I more agree with it now than I ever have. But I had people not just around Abalene. I had people around the world contact me. They would question the wisdom of my decision which I get that. Some of them said they're wasting key years of your leadership. And I understand that because we're doing something that's outside the norm of what other people do. I mean, what you're supposed to do is go till you can't go and you retire. One, I don't feel like you're supposed to retire in life. But second, God has something else for my life. And I wrestled through it. I prayed through it. And in the end, you know what? I knew this was what God had led me to do. Even if no one else understood, even if some people thought it was extravagant, my almost three decade role as lead pastor was like my bottle of nard. And Jesus said, "Go do what you can do." And I gave it to him and I laid it at his feet. And you want to know the reason? I want to be in the center of everything God has for our lives. I don't want that just for me. I want that for you. In the midst of my imperfections and weakness, I want you to look at me and I want you to go, if that idiot can do it, excuse me, I'm not supposed to call myself, but anyway, you know what I'm saying. If that weak vessel can follow after some stuff, so can I. Scripture says, follow me. The Apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth, as I follow Christ, I want you to be able to follow me a little bit. I have an ache in my heart for you and for me. I consider everything a loss, the Apostle Paul says, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose sake I have lost all things. I consider all the totality of my life rubbish. I can count it as garbage that I may gain Christ. Listen to me. I want to gain him. I want more of him for my life. I want more of him for your life. I want more of Jesus. And if that means we lay down things that seem extravagant to others, so be it. There is a Jesus who died, but listen to me. He did not stay dead. Jesus who WON VICTORY OVER DEATH, HELL, AND THE GRAVE. And he offers that to you and I. He alone is worthy of worship. THAT IS EXTRAVAGANT AND BOLD AND GRAND BOTH IN HERE BUT IN OUR LIVES. COME ON. Are you hearing it? That is what the resurrection demands. I mean, think about it. If I think about all that he did, how can anything he calls me to do be too much? I will not be outw woripped by people at a football game. I will not be outw woripped by people at a Taylor Swift concert. >> Have fun at the concert, but man, look at the king >> again. And I'm not just talking about in here. I'm talking about our lives. Lives of worship and honor to him.
Now, don't mishar me. I'm not talking about being impulsive. I'm all about being wise. I'm all about making sure that we hear the voice of God. Listen to me. I didn't wake up one morning and feel like I supposed to become legacy pastor and announce it in an hour. There are probably times to be in the moment, but there are things that are weighty and costly that we really weigh through and we make sure we hear God. I absolutely believe we should have balance. We should make sure we hear God. But listen to me. In the name of prudence and balance, let us not miss opportunities to pour out extravagant love on the one who loved us in ways that we cannot begin to comprehend. We as a church should encourage each other. Be wise, but be bold. Be wise. But there will be times that he calls you to things that seem outside the norm of wisdom. Make sure you know how to hear his voice. And when he does that, lay it down. Sometimes the wisest thing to do is to save our money and sometimes you give it cuz he said to do it. We've got to be a people who encourage each other in wise spiritled responses to Jesus that declare his worth. We say that we carry the greatest news ever given to humanity. The God of heaven became flesh, died for my sins. The Bible doesn't make it clear, but I think he went to hell. But you can disagree with that. We know he went to the grave. And we know this. On the third day, he came out of that grave with the keys of death and Hades in his hands. And he opened his hands and offered those keys to anyone who would believe in him. There's nothing grander than that. And the world is just wanting to see us believe it. And the more we believe it, the more some will be drawn to him. But others, they'll say, "You're wasting it all. And my response is, if you tell me that I am wasting my life for Jesus, that's the greatest compliment you can ever give me, I will gladly give him everything more and more every day that I might know him better. And the joy of all joys is that as we do that, we actually find the abundant life that we long for. So, why don't we do this? Let's pray. Everyone, let's bow our heads. And I just want you to think of Mary of Bethany. And I dare I dare you. I dare you to say, "Could I become more like Mary of Bethany?" Again, I know we're about to sing some songs of worship, but I'm not just talking about the way we sing our songs. I'm talking about the way we live our lives. I'm talking about the obedience. I'm talking about the way we prioritize decisions. We read things in the word. It's taking time away from other things so that we can be in the word. It's being willing to fast things he tells us to fast. Whatever the Lord leads us to do, just getting in the place where I can be responsive to him and then having the courage to do that. And if there's some people that think it's too much, then so be it. Again, again, I'm not encouraging lack of wisdom. I'm not discounting the need for counsel from people. I'm just saying there's going to be times in our life, many times, that just being a person of integrity at the workplace will seem too extravagant. Everybody's cutting corners. Everybody's cheating. No, I don't do that. Whatever it may be, would you ask right now? Would we dare ask, I want to be like Mary. I want to be like Mary. I want to have a fresh revelation of what we celebrate at Easter and I renew my life to give and worship to you. And it may be that you have never made a decision to like follow Jesus. That's the ultimate first step. The first response to the resurrection is what Mary did. She not only gave her an arch, she bowed. She surrendered. She began to understand more than anyone at the time understood what it mean to become his follower. And she said, "Yes, I will live a life surrendered." Not just a life that believes you're the Messiah intellectually, but I will bow before you. I will watch your feet and I will follow where you go. I'll become your follower. Maybe you've never become his follower. You don't become his follower by coming to church some. You don't become his follower by just trying to get a little bit better. You become a follower by first and foremost just bowing and say, "My life I give to you and I will now follow after you. I become yours." And the moment you do that, you are born in kin and made a new person. You can do it right now. There's no magic set of words to pray. There's no prayer that you say in a certain way. You say, "Jesus, I commit my life to follow you. I surrender to you." And the moment that happens, you're not only forgiven, you're made new. You go from death to life. You go from outside the family of God and an enemy of God to being a child of the king. And if you did it, your first step, believe it or not, is tell other people you did it. Just like we saw here at the South Campus was a baptism. That baptism is a confession that I've given my life to Jesus and he's taken the old me and put me to death and he's raised me up to be a new person. You do that by using the QR code in the park news. I have decided you let us know that and we'll go on the journey with you. Father, we love you. I confess that my heart is challenged by this story. There's a part of me it still seems too much still seems too extravagant. Forgive me for that, Lord. I'm missing something. I want to be more like Mary who resided in Bethany. Whatever you say, whatever you call me to, the acts of obedience that you want for my life, I want to say yes to those now. I want people to see me, see each of us, and see a life that declares the grandness of what you have done for us. Worthy are you, oh Lord our God, to receive all glory, honor, power, and praise. You created all things, and by your will they exist. Holy, holy, holy are you Lord God Almighty. You who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, holy are you king of the universe. The whole earth is full of your glory. Give us a fresh revelation of the grandness of who you are and what you have done for us. And each of us, we surrender our lives in a fresh way to you. May we have lives that carry the aroma, the fragrance of him who alone is king of kings and lord of lords. We love you. Give us grace to love you more. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.