This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. Thanks Dave. It should be an insert in your bulletin to follow along or take notes if you'd like to do that. It helps you. As many of you know, we've been in a study in the Gospel of Mark here all of 2011 and we're continuing here in this section. It's something big happened though last week. You missed it last week, last week, this entire book, this entire story that Mark has been sharing hits its climax. When Jesus asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And the response that Peter gives, Peter hits the home run and saying, you are the Christ. And from this point forward, remember we talked about the phrase on the way, Jesus does such and such, on the way, on the way, on the way, nine different times. So the rest of the book, you're going to hear Mark talk about on the way, on the way, on the way, where? Did Jerusalem. The whole first half of this book has been all about who Jesus is, he is the king. And not just a king, he's king of kings. And not just any king, he's a king that was there at the creation of the world that joined with the Trinity of the Father and the Spirit and saying, let there be light. And there was light. He's that king. He's the same king that the gospel of John starts off and says, in the beginning was the word. And the word became flesh and galtamungus. And we'd be held his glory as the only begotten from the Father. Full of grace and truth. The word became flesh. What? Jesus. The very presence, the very power of God in human form comes and it comes in man. And he walks around. And he's the king. And this whole second half of this study here in Mark, Mark is going to show you that he's a king on a mission. Not just who he is, which he spent all his time so far highlighting, but now who is this king and what he's done or what he has come to do? To give his life, to dine across. He was on a mission. And we begin to see that begin to unfold here as this story goes on. I've entitled the message this morning all in for a certain reason. I'll tell you why. This is a picture of a chicken and a pig, as you can guess here. But I wasn't familiar with the story that chicken and pig, chicken and pig, until Jerry Hurtster, one of our elders reminded me of this. We were talking at a recent elder meeting about different things and what we should do and should not do. And Jerry said in his own very profound way, like only Jerry Hurtster can say. He says, God, it's kind of like the pig or the chicken. You know, the chicken, when it comes to breakfast time, wants to make a contribution. But the pig, when it comes to breakfast time, well he's committed. He's all in. So Jerry, are you calling me a pig or chicken or what? And I'm not pig, thank you. Thank you. I was definitely the pig on that. What it was, which I appreciate very much here, is that there is something to it that you've got to have, especially when you're in the past or a leader of a church. You've got to be all in on this. We've been seeking and making decisions to do that. One decision is specifically that we're looking at the summer, as we're looking at different moving spaces and some opportunity to maybe get into space that we could possibly lease and build out. It was a big decision. We've been a big challenge for our church. His comment, which I appreciated too, is that he wasn't all necessarily thinking that we should necessarily do it. It's got to, you feel like you're committed to doing it. And then this is what God is calling us to do. And you're all in. I'll support you. And I was flattered about that. I appreciate that. That's the kind of hope and desire you want to have around people around you. If you're a leader or somewhere in some capacity to know you have that kind of support. But it got me thinking, because even though we decided not to go, we didn't think God was pursuing us to do the lease or build out a space option right now, it got me thinking. Am I all in? Whatever choice I make or feel God is calling us to make us a church, I've got to be all in. How could I, why would I want to be in any other capacity doing something that I wasn't all in for? If what I'm preaching every week, if what I'm reading my Bible every day, what my hope and trust in is that indeed the king of the universe has indeed come to earth two thousand years ago. Has indeed established and begun the mission of his church and building his kingdom and is indeed coming back. Not to lie in a little manger as a baby to coming back riding a white horse whose name is faithful and true. Coming in final judgment, coming to finalize the establishment of his kingdom to create a new heavens and a new earth. Read Revelation sometime in the last few chapters. It's very exciting. It's very hopeful. All of hope, all of life revolves around that issue. It got me thinking whatever God is calling us to do, I've got to be all in because he's the king. That's again me thinking about some of these things and looking at this passage, this falls right in line. The next passage we were going to be studying. I didn't pick this up or it pulled us out of the air. This is right in the sequence where the Lord has this and I think it's on purpose because I needed to read this this week. I needed to think about the fact that Jesus had a mission. As we look and we follow along here in this, there's three things I want you to come home with as you think about what it means to be all in. The first one is this, all in. Number one means embracing your call. All in means embracing your call if you were a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus embraced his call. Look at verse 31, right there at the beginning. He then began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders. Chief priest and teachers of the law and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. Jesus this wasn't sure about his call as being the king and the Son of God. He was sure that he was called to a task. He was called to a mission and the mission was to die and to suffer. All in means embracing your call and Jesus himself did that. We must embrace though our call as well. We are followers of our disciples of him. Well every March 17th we celebrate lots of different things maybe on that date but ultimately and historically we're celebrating this guy. I got him St. Patrick. This is going back here at 5th century. A guy who lived in a coastal city in England who was growing up just having a normal life was not religious, was not a follower Christ at all. But age 16 was abducted by Irish pirates and taken from his family with some of the servants left from them at age 16 and taken back up to Ireland. He was there in charge of, was bought as a slave and his job was caring for pigs day in, day out, feeding pigs, caring for pigs. He writes this in his confession. He says, I was 16 and knew not the true God but in a strange land the Lord opened my unbelievable eyes and I was converted. Patrick became convinced that the kidnapping and home sickness were actually opportunities to know Christ better. He went on to say, anything that happens to me, whether pleasant or distasteful, I ought to accept with serenity giving thanks to God who never disappoints. He came to faith in Jesus Christ as a 16 year old and slaved in a foreign land away from his family because he encountered the living Christ in this. After six years he escaped and was able to get back and return home. And in the process of doing that coming back home, being reunited with his family, the Holy Spirit began to burn in his heart a passion for the land that he had left. The land that he had been a slave at, the land he had been a captive to. His heart began to pour out with compassion for the people of Ireland. And as he began to share with his family that he felt God was calling him to go back, they were like going, you got to be kidding me. It took you six years to escape and get back here. What, you're twenty two years old now, you got your whole life in front of you. Why would you even dream of going back to Ireland? Where your captors were. But he was convinced that God was calling him to go back and with his own money he bought a boat to do just that, the sail back. And he spent the rest of his life there serving and leading many to faith in Christ. And again in his confession, he says this, he says, I am certain of this. I was a dumb stone lying squashed in the mud. The mighty and merciful God came, dug me out and set me on top of the wall. Therefore I praise him and ought to render him something for his wonderful benefits to me, both now and in all eternity. All in means embracing your call. Don't let in other St. Patrick's, they go by without remembering what we should be really celebrating about a saint like that. He embraced his call. You know, if we claim to follow Jesus Christ, we must also embrace our call as well. We're not called to be more moral than our neighbors. Instead, we're called to show them what a life of repentance before gracious Savior and Lord looks like. We're not called to condemn public sins while flirting with or tolerating private pet ones. Instead, we're called to hate all sin. And anything that stands not aligned with the character or the will of God. We're not called to be politically charged advocates for world change. Instead, we're called to be proclaimers of the one gospel that reconciles people to God and people to one another. We're not called to be seekers of comfort, power, or control. Instead, we're called to be seekers of the glory of God and spreading it through everything we touch and everything we do. We're not called to be Sunday, we're not called to be the Sunday morning faithful. And we're called to be faithfully living each day for His glory all seven days. We're not called to sanitize and soften the ways of the world. Instead, we're called to reject every philosophy and thought that it's not submissive to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We're not called to be spectators in the great cosmic war of good and evil while holding the hope of glory silently inside. Instead, we're called to be warriors in the kingdom of light, casting out the shadows of despair and condemnation through the gospel of Jesus Christ. All in means embracing your call if you're a follower of Jesus Christ. Let me ask some direct questions. First to you men. Men I'm talking to you. Ladies, you're invited to listen. Men, do you settle for the fantasy world of defeating enemies and video games or action movies over fighting the very real enemy of sin that lurks unchallenged in the depths and hidden places of your own souls? Men, do you settle for the fantasy world of sports to rally your heart around a victorious pursuit and goal over locking arms with other men to actually win the battle of finding meaning and purpose of life to do it together in real life circumstances? Men, do you fight boredom with your casual hobbies, activities or career pursuits when God has called you to use your gifts and design to serve God and to serve others? Now, those men who are fathers here today are you often more concerned with how your child performs in the athletic field, extracurricular or even curricular activities than how they perform in regards to character, purity and integrity? Men, do you feel the shame of weakness and gloss over it with false strength that either oppresses those around you or do you passively neglect those in need of your strength? Men, all in means embracing your call. Men, it's time to rise up. Ladies, let me talk to you for a moment. Men, you're invited to listen. Ladies, do you work tirelessly on the external beauty that fades over a growing, overgrowing a gentle and quiet spirit that God says He values most? Ladies, do you look for security in what you can buy, what you can understand, what you can control or possess while neglecting that real piece is offered as a free gift from your gracious father in heaven, who gives willingly to those that ask? Ladies, do you sell for the fantasy world of surface romance from the latest movie, book or TV show, over walking through the daily struggles of love and commitment that produce a depth of trust and respect over time? Ladies, those of you that are mothers here this morning, are you often more concerned with being needed and appreciated by your children than loving and serving your children so that they find that God is their ultimate provider and caretaker? Ladies, do you feel the shame of insecurity and lack of trust and gloss over it with false security that either refuses to rest under authority or fights for the position of authority that God has actually given to another? Ladies, all in means embracing your call. It's time to rise up. As Jesus pointed out, the question is, do we have really in mind the things of God or the things of men? Verse 33, but when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, who had, by the way, just spoken up and said, hey, I don't like your plan, Jesus. Now this dying stuff, what does Jesus do? He rebukes him. He says, get behind me Satan. He said, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men, all in means embracing your call. Whether you're man, whether you're woman, if you claim to be a Christian, you are a follower of Christ, you are a disciple, you're to be salt and light in the world. You are to look more and more like Jesus every day, and it is your call to be all in. Well, all in certainly does mean embracing your call, but secondly, all in means embracing suffering. It means embracing suffering. Jesus, in verse 31, lays her right out there. Must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, sheep, priests, and teachers of law, and that he must be killed after three days rise again. Jesus makes no bones about it. Jesus doesn't try to hide it. Jesus doesn't try to put it in the fine print. He says, this is the call that his father had on his life, and it is your call, and my call, if we are followers of Christ, to suffer. Now I know that's not popular. I know that doesn't sell. I know that doesn't necessarily get you excited, but the reality is that we are in a battle. In any real battle, as we learn right, in fighting battles in other countries around the world, is that there is suffering in ball. There is pain, there is cost, and there is in the cosmic battles well too. Like God's called us to be a part of. Jesus embraced suffering by one, having to give up common comforts. We don't think about it much. We think about Jesus suffering, we think about the cross, and that's totally legit. That was big time suffering, but if you ever thought about the comforts that Jesus gave up from the get-go, as soon as his public ministry began, he wasn't, didn't own a house at all. Didn't have a place that was his, really was rejected by his family for the first part of his ministry, didn't really have family support. Didn't have a career, but he could say, hey, this is what I do, this is who I am. Didn't have any property that he own, he didn't get married, he didn't have biological kids of his own. He gave up a lot of comforts. What about rejection? Gosh, that's one that he did throughout his ministry experience, rejection from other people, constantly from the religious experts, the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees. But even from people in his own family, people in his own hometown, he experienced that, and of course, ultimately, the death on the cross and the suffering that he experienced there. I like what Charles Spurgeon says, he says this, he says we must all learn to hear what we do not like. The question is not, is it pleasant? The question is, is it true? And John 15 says this, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first, Jesus spoke. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to this world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Elsewhere Jesus says, look, if they persecuted me, they are going to persecute you, you are going to suffer. And we are not just talking about suffering that comes through naturally through the world through sin, you know, in illness and disease and losing loved ones and so on. Those are all parts of real suffering that we all experience. Jesus is talking about the kind of suffering that comes because of righteousness, because of righteous choices, because of your faith in Him, because of standing for Him, living your life for Him. That is a whole other category of suffering, that you have a choice to either walk in and follow His steps and experience, or what is so easy to do to step out and go, you know, I like the Jesus thing, I like the heaven thing, I like the fruit of the spirit, give me some of that. When it comes walking faithfully with Him, aligning my life to His, and saying on a follower Christ, before I have a political position, before I take that promotion at work, before I choose what a group of friends I am going to sit with at the lunch table this year. If I am going to make Him Lord in that capacity, all in means embracing suffering, which will come over righteously seeking to follow Jesus Christ and what He has called us to do. Let me ask you, do you experience suffering? Have you given up common comforts for the sake of following Jesus? And how often do you give up common comforts just for the sake of following Him more faithfully each day? Not to earn righteousness before Him, Christ has already done that, but to love Him, to be faithfully obedient to Him, to be His servant. You know, just this past summer, a group of us got, I'm sorry we didn't get everybody pictured in there because some left for the high school trip, but a group of us went on the mission trip up to North Georgia, and we left comforts of home. We took many people, I think everybody in the group took personal money, vacation money they would have spent to go to a beach or somewhere else and they went here to work really hard day in and day out. But I want to tell you, it's hard for me even looking back and thinking about our accommodations, staying in a nice AC, cool cabin, thinking about thinking, man, do we really give up much comfort there? The food was great. Shoot, we all need to be exercise out there. As I look back here, I'm thinking, man, this is even such a small step in giving up comforts to be a part of that and doing that. Compared to what so many who have gone before us have done, compared to the need around the world, nothing wrong with these things, we need to be doing things like this, we need to be engaged with Biflow and things like that more and more. But is it even hard to talk about giving up comfort even on this scale? This is about as close as I get, you know, I went on a mission trip for a week up in North Georgia. You know, I got last summer, some of us went to Yucatan, that was a little bit more suffering, you know, or giving up comfort. But we give up so little, if we think about it, in comparison to who the king is, in comparison to the need and a loss in dying world around us. And the point here is not to feel guilted into it, the point is going, wow, when I stand before him one day and I have to give answer and account to my life, what do I want to be able to present and offer to him as an offering a praise and worship of my life? Giving up comforts, putting myself in line to be rejected by people because of my faith. Being able to lay it on the line and risk life or death, I think we will look back at that day and wish probably we had done more to faithfully follow and serve him as he's called us to do because he is the king of the universe and he is the one that gave his life for us. Well, one of the examples of this that I thought that hit me most, I was actually, I think it was a senior in high school when our family decided to take a trip. It's kind of the last time I was the youngest kid, we were leaving the home, my parents, my brother and I decided that we would go to Hawaii, kind of a fun, final hurrah before the kids leave the home. So I had a great time there, but I remember coming across a statue of a guy there whose name father Damien and some of you probably maybe are aware heard of him. He was a missionary there at the end of the 19th century, but what caught me about this statue of him out there and a little bit of a reading that you could read about him is that here's a guy that came and served what was a leprosy colony or that where he was primarily serving there right there in Hawaii. And he made this quote, he said, I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ. He served beside them faithfully for years and when the day came that he contracted leprosy himself, he rejoiced that God had given him the ability to share with the sufferings that those he's been ministering to over the years. And you can see him from when he started as a young man to him on his actual deathbed and you look at his left hand, you can see the leprosy is advanced, but it was nothing to him for this life to count for something that mattered for eternity. Because his hope wasn't in this life, his hope wasn't on this planet, it wasn't the old earth, it was in the new heavens and the new earth that Revelation talks about that is to come, that will spend eternity in. Being all in means embracing suffering. Revelation 12-11, I love, says this, says they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. That's what Father Damien was in the line of. Some hard questions, let me ask you this morning. Is our stand of compassion for the broken and needy drawing a rebuke from the self-righteous around us? Is our pursuit of truth drawing attacks from those who prefer to have their ears tickled with worldly viewpoints? Are we willing to walk in faith in a risky situation when we sense the Holy Spirit urging us to do so? Is our extension of love to those who are public sinners drawing fire from those who would say we are in danger of condoning their behavior? Have we quickly ruled out the possibility that God has called us to go to difficult challenging locations around the world or across the tracks to share the love of Jesus Christ? Is the faith we display one of power so much that it draws critique from those who would like to discredit it? Does the fruit of our ministry with new converts for Christ draw the attention of those around us so much so that they'd like to see us gone? Do we live in such a way that the forces of darkness believe we are threat that must be eliminated? Being all-in means embracing suffering. And lastly, being all-in means embracing the next world as really our home. Verse 34, then he called the crowd to him among us. His disciples said, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? Or what can man give an exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his father's glory with the Holy Angels. What's Jesus saying? Just saying, look, it's not about this world. Don't you know that this world is fading? Don't you know that this world has an expiration date? Oh yeah, and by the way, so do you. None of us here know the day that God's going to take us home. And some of us will no doubt be surprised. Much sooner than we thought, we were not made for this world. We've corrupted it. We've made it our home, but it's not our home. And Jesus saw that full well. Jesus lived like, hey, it really doesn't matter because this is not my home. I can put up with a suffering here now. I can put up with a persecution here now. Jesus does not going to put up a persecution for eternity. If you think he's a weak guy that just is kind of soft around the edges, you don't understand who the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is. He comes in compassion and humility, and he comes experiencing and receiving the curse of sin in our place. But one day every needle bound, every tongue will confess that he's Lord, and that day is coming. All in means embracing the next world. If you think about it, great athletes. One of the things that's so important that they understand is that they don't focus on the grueling practices, or the day in and day out training. They focus on the finish line. They focus on game day. They focus on what the competition day is going to be like, or their Olympic athlete, they're thinking all about that day when they are wearing the red, white, and blue, and they're running or they're swimming for their country. That's what motivates them. Scriptures are right along with that. First Corinthians 9 says this, don't you realize that a race everyone runs, but only one gets the prize. So run to win. All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. One that will not fade away. Now to keep our eyes on the finish line, the finish line is not this world. All in means embracing the next world. Hebrews 13, 14. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. This is not our final destination if we're a follower of Christ. Let me ask you some questions. What does that mean? What does that really look like? It's not living to climb the ladder of success when Jesus has already given you the only success that really matters. It means you live as if your money and possessions are on loan to you to invest for God since you won't take any of it with you on the day that you die. You got kids? Well it means instead of wanting your children to like you as a parent, you long more and more to love and serve them and introduce them to the King of Kings. That's top priority. It means the more you are blessed with, the more you take the light and sharing and giving away to others. Are you married? It means your earthly marriage is not central to your life because there is an eternal heavenly marriage between the church who is the bride and Jesus who is the bridegroom. That's why Jesus says there is no giving or taking a marriage in heaven because there is one. That's our future. It means that you see now the difference between temporal things and eternal things and your life choices demonstrate that you understand that. It means not living to make a name for yourself on earth but living to make his name great here on earth because one day it will be the only name that matters. All end means embracing the next world. Well let's be honest for a second. If we're really honest and I'm talking about those of us who are followers of Christ, some of you know maybe here is visiting and seekers and checking out all this stuff and saying hey I'm kind of just observing here. I'm not in that category of a follower of Christ. I'm talking to all of us here that would say we are followers of Christ. Do we not try to ride the fence? Do we not really kind of think let's get the good stuff and what I can out this world but I'm going to really try to say I'm living for the world to come. I don't know if you've ever tried to jump a fence and kind of only got halfway across. It's not a fun experience. I don't recommend it to anybody. But we tend to think of it as being just kind of a picture that the Bible describes trying to live in two worlds is like it's riding a fence like this. This is impossible. This is very hazardous to your health. You won't ride a fence like this. You will choose one side or the other if you land in the middle here. And you'll do it quickly. There is no riding of the fence of this. Luke 16, 15 says this, what is highly valued among men is disapproved by God. No, I don't say this fruit. What is highly valued among men is discouraged by God. No, it doesn't say that. Let me quote it. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. Does that paint the picture of the two different worlds, the two different viewpoints? The things of this world detest God. That's why Scripture tells us that Jesus says, I wish you weren't lukewarm. Be hotter cold. Because lukewarm, I want to spew you out of my mouth. He kind of gives you an idea about the lukewarmness. Be true to not live for him or be true to live for him. But there is no riding of the fence. We know that because Luke 16, 13, right before that says, no servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve two masters. It's impossible. You always serve one over the other. It's why Jim Elliott, missionary martyr in Ecuador, made that famous quote that most of us have heard. He is no fool. He gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose. If you could talk to Jim Elliott today, he would say, my life was cut short. My life was live for the king. And by the way, that tribe came to faith in Christ and follows him today, the very tribe that took his life and his friends. He would say, it was worth it. My question to us is, do we understand that all in means embracing the next world means embracing suffering, means embracing our call. So my question is, what are you embracing this morning? Is it God's call? Is it a call that the reality is comes with suffering? Is it a call that's about living for the next world, the world to come? And as I was asked to pose the question, are you chicken or are you the pig? Let's pray. God, we know that we are in desperate need of the work of your Holy Spirit here this morning. God, you tell us not to work up our fleshly strength and desires to try to make stuff like this happen. God, you tell us to come and die to ourselves. You tell us to come and to bend the knee at the cross. You tell us that he who began the good work and you were carried on to the day of completion, but you call us to you. You call us to fix our eyes on you. The author and finisher of our faith. So God knows so many of us like me are thinking here, all right, we've started this faith. How do we finish it? God, you are the finisher of the faith. You are our power. You are our strength. So God, as we come now, as even we come to your table, we remind us that it is your life imparted to us that transforms us, that changes us. And God, rather than upping our physical ability, effort and trying harder, God, it's a matter of yielding and believing and submitting to you, allowing your Holy Spirit to come to work. God, we need you to do that. We ask you to do that. We plead for you to do that for your glory and honor so that we might enjoy and share in your glory and share and bring in your kingdom. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.