(upbeat music) - Hey, new life church, Brunson Duke here. Thanks for listening in. The heart of our church is that you would know Jesus, that you would walk with Jesus if you would learn how to live like he lived. We hope this message equips you and empowers you on your journey walking with Jesus. - We're doing well? - All right, our hope was that this would be like, it'll be a little bit like youth campin' here every weekend, packin' into one service, and I'm feelin' that. Feel like it's happenin'. Well, hey, we've got, as I said, our founding pastor, Pastor Rick, he happens to also be my cousin. Through marriage, he messes with me, I shoulda taken Beza as the last name, and I said, I think Duke is all right, you know? But Pastor Rick, a lot of you guys know this, but if for somehow you don't, Pastor Rick founded New Life Church in 2001, and they had some families, Pastor Darren's here as well. He was with them, and at some point, they came up with this vision of helping young guys go out and plant churches in cities, and that they would be a family, that they wouldn't have to do it alone, that they'd have support, and six years ago, they took a shot on a 28-year-old guy, and a girl named Callie Duke, she got the upgrade. And we planted this church in this location, March, it was six years ago, this March, and so I'm thankful for Pastor Rick, I'm thankful for all that God's done across the state of Arkansas, and I'd love for you to give a New Life Church downtown welcome to my pastor, Pastor Rick Beza. (audience applauds) Well, God is good, isn't that right? And I am Rick, he told the truth, and I'm glad to be here, but I know I've been pastor in a long time now, I know some of you, I'm convinced that some of you, you may not be at your peak in your relationship with God right now, but you could be, and I know the Lord would like you close by. Always tell people when I go to different places, that I grew up in a church who was not like this, I grew up in a very legalistic church, and it was like, you had to be mean to go there, the meanest person there was my Sunday school teacher, and when I was eight years old, she would tell my class and me, she really hated me, I'll tell you why in a minute, that we were all going to hell. Her finger was 30 foot long, she could touch me from the front of the class, I've talked about her all over the world, and she would say, "Hell is hot!" She talked about hell like she was born and raised in hell. And one day she said, "Don't you want to go to heaven?" And I said, and this is where the relationship got tense, I said, she goes, "Don't you want to go to heaven?" I said, "Not if you're going to be there." And so we had some troubles, and but really the whole time, it's kind of funny and weird now to hear that, but the truth is, is I never knew that God wanted me around. I thought God was mad at me, my parents went through a divorce when I was in a seventh grade separation divorce later, and I thought it was because of me. So the question would have to be, how strong do you think my prayer life was then? Like how much time do you think I would open up the scripture and look at it if I thought God wanted me out and not in? It was zero. And now I've been pastoring all these years, I'm 62 years of age and pastoring for a long time, I don't even know the count, but I've noticed that the biggest deterrent of faith is shame and guilt. Like some of you, you kicked out over a weekend, and now it's 10 years later, and you still can't get back in. But it's not because the cross didn't pay the price, amen? What is it? It's shame. And Paul said, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but yet there's a lot of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So was the scripture wrong? No, scripture was right. It's illegally attached to you and you don't have to live there. So I want to settle our relationships with the Lord. I had a really busy week, had a lot going on, I got to speak to middle school camp, collide camp on Wednesday night, junior high students everywhere. It almost killed me. And so, and then we had a three day vacation in Hot Springs, Arkansas, family reunion with my family. I was able to leave that to come here, thank God, 'cause we have a lot of, here's a picture of my family. And I have nine grandkids now. I have so many grandkids. I don't even know all their names. And a year ago I had five, so that's it. So now just call them by the number. I just say number seven, come here. And whoever walks toward me, that's the one I talk to. But the truth is, I want us to reset all of us in Christ before I get into the word. Would you just bow your heads and listen? I think sometimes we're a little too loud in church. And I just want you to be quiet in front of Christ. - Sorry, Lord God, that I don't look at your word more. I'm sorry, Lord, that I've gotten bitter at people who have hurt me or heard a friend. I'm sorry, Lord, that the sound in our home, or apartment or house, whatever it might be you live in, even in our car, Lord God, that we don't listen to worship more. I'm sorry, Lord, that I only call on you at times instead of at all times. And we were repent and we're so thankful that you're quick to forgive in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. I do have a word for you. And how many of you like the word? You just like, raise your hand, you want to screen, just raise your hand if you like the word. How many of you hate the Bible? Okay, all right, well, let's go to scripture. If you don't mind, the first thing I think we'll do is turn to the book of Matthew. If you could just pull that out, Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, you can go to an app. You can look at your friend's Bible. Some of you have it memorized, so you don't have to even turn anywhere. And, but I'll deal with it in any way that you would like. Later on, I am gonna be talking to you and we're gonna have a chance to show you something that God is gonna do with Bronson and Kali. And I can't wait to tell you what that is. And, but at the same time, you know, you wanna be led by the spirit of God in your life. And I've noticed at New Life Church that some, you know, we sent and some just went. And we're sending church. And if you have something in your heart that God is asking you to do, we would like to know what it is so we can help you make it work. And that's a big part of our church. But about a year ago, I was flipping through the scripture after the pandemic and how many remember the pandemic? It actually happened. And man, I'll all some friends in that and I heard some friends in that. And I was just a crazy Tom. And, but I was going through the book of Revelation and one of the churches that I was reminded of then was the Church of Ephesus. And the Church of Ephesus, they were really good in the word. In fact, God bragged about him. He goes, you can spot heresy so quickly, job well done. And not only that, but your purpose, you get up every day and you work hard. If you're a hard worker, you love to spot hard work. You just love it. So God is saying that, but he goes, this is what I hold against you. And it wasn't like a point of condemnation. He wanted to reset them. So he said, let me tell you what I hold against you. And he said, you don't love me like you used to. And I want you to see the height that you have fallen and I want you to go back, repent and go back to that first love you have with me. My question is, are you at that point? And let's just go ahead and assume that maybe you're not at the peak of your relationship with God. But let's look at a verse that I think applies to this. In Matthew 16, 24, Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and do this, take up their cross. It doesn't say, take up the cross that he bore. It says, you take up your cross, the cross. And follow me, your cross, their cross. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life from me will find it. A lifeguard, I've never been a lifeguard, but I've been told by a lifeguard that they are taught not to try to save someone drowning until they give up. Because if you try to save them while they're saving themselves, the lifeguard will drown as well. And this is what the Lord is saying, that if you're trying to save your life, you're going to lose it. This is all about lordship. So let me just break this down and set this up. The word deny, everybody say deny, okay? What in the world does that mean? Deny is not a one-time thing. It's not even a many times thing. It's a daily thing. Take up the cross daily. So here's a question. Jesus certainly carried a cross. So let me ask you this. Here we go. Come on class. What happened to Jesus after he took up his cross and carried it? He died. That's pretty intense. But it cost him his life, and that is what denial is. It means to deny yourself. But in the Greek, if you look at that word, it really doesn't mean deny yourself. What it means is you deny your soul. And your soul, if you were to talk to a theologian, or somebody who really knows the word a lot, that they know that there are three functions to a soul. You certainly can break it down like this. Like part of it is your will. A part of it is your intellect. And then part of it is your emotion. So let's break this down. The will says, this is what I want. That's what I'm gonna get. The intellect says, this is what I think. So this is what I wanna do. And then the emotion said, this is what I feel. And so this is what I want. So when it says deny yourself, it's basically speaking about those three functions of your soul. But when you deny it, it's sorta like this. If I could just set this up, then we can move forward. Instead of you living what you want, according to your will, it becomes, and it's just an incredible place to live. This is the surrender, instead of what I want, it's what he wants. And I just wanna tell you, I struggle with that. Because I got stuff I want. I got a bucket list, I've got some wants. But when I deny myself, it's not really just denying yourself. It's denying your soul, and my soul has a lot of wants. So when I deny it, it's denying what I want. And then I have a lot of thoughts. Raise your hand if you ever think you're right, and everybody else is wrong, okay? I have thoughts, man, I love my thoughts. I don't know if I like your thoughts. If they agree with my thoughts, I'll like them. But Jesus is saying, no, I want you to deny your independent thoughts. And I want you to go to my word and line up with that, and then your emotions. I'm really not that emotional, but I have certain things that bring emotion to me, and they move me. And when it happens, it's like, man, I care a lot about that. This is an emotion that is moving me now. And so when the scripture says for us to deny ourselves and saying, you deny your will, you deny your intelligence, do you know how many people have deconstructed the word to whatever they think, and they no longer want to know what the word says, they just want to fit it into what they think. I mean, no, that could be a problem. But it's only a problem if you're not willing to deny it. And in the end times, the scripture talks a lot about the difficulty of that, that full surrender, the greatest prayer you will ever pray in your life is when you stand with your soul, with your desires, and you say, Lord, I surrender. I surrender it all to you. I'm just gonna tell you right now, I hate that. So through the years, I'm an optimist, like if you hang out with me generally speaking, whether you like me or not, you'll probably end up saying, you know, he seems to be positive, he's usually an optimist. There are times where I'm not, but that's generally the rule of who I am. How many of you like to be around positive people? How many, I just love to be around negative people who always are negative, no one. How many of you like to be around a hypocrite, anybody? Like I just being around like fake people all the time. Well, I don't know what I am, but I tend to be a little bit optimistic. But through the years, I've gotten to be a little bit more of a realist while I try to hold on to optimism. So, and this is how it goes. If you come to me and you say, Pastor Rick, I'm getting married, okay? I believe marriage is biblical. I also believe it's biblical to be single. Paul had the gift of singleness, but let's just go with marriage. If you go to me and you say, Rick, I'm getting married. I'm like, that's so good. But in the back of my mind is like, I hope they know the cost. Who I hope they know the cost. Or somebody says, man, I found a partner. I'm starting a business as a partner. I met him in church. And we're going to start this business, great idea. It's like, that's so good. But in the back of my mind is like, I hope they know the cost. Somebody comes to me, go, hey, I'm having a kid, man. I'm just so glad I'm finally having a kid. I'm so happy for that. But I'm thinking, oh, they know the cost. Like, just getting in out of the car is a cost. You ever notice that? So what I'm trying to do is for the next few minutes, I'm going to try to speak in such a way that you see everything a little bit different after we talk than you do now. So you can decide, do I need to settle any of this? Am I getting a little bit stingy? Here's the beautiful thing is that I already went through the sermon with myself. And I found some yuck. I found some weak spots. So I'm not preaching from a position of pride. But I want to talk to you about the cost, and here's why. And here's another angle that maybe you've never considered. If you decide that you are going to get in God's word every day, there is a cost to that. But here's what you probably never thought of. There's a cost not to. There was a cost just to come to church today, just to get in the vehicle, decide not to watch TV, not to go golfing, not to do whatever, just to sleep another two hours. There's a cost to go to church. And there's a cost not to. There's a cost to do devotion every morning when I look over and I see my wife with that devotion, that Bible, and that right by that little lamp. And she's just in the Word, and she, I can tell, and she's got her glasses on. They don't really look like the glasses are really not that nice, but she still looks cute. And she's in that Word, and is like, there's a cost in that. There's a cost not to. There's a cost to decide I'm going to be faithful to a church. I'm going to serve it. I'm going to be with it. I am there, and there's a cost not to. And then all of us really have to pay it. So with that in mind, what I'm going to do is go to a point of scripture that shows some ebb and flow of the life of Christ. And there's a lot of people here today, all right? So I'll bring it to this. Like this is sort of a crowd. It's not a crowd compared to some churches, but it's a crowd compared to one or two. Sometimes Jesus would have his 12, sometimes he would have three, sometimes he would have his one, the beloved. We know about that because John called himself the beloved. So we really don't know where he's like, he's always said, "I'm the one he loved the most." And it must have been true 'cause it made the can, and I mean, it made the cut in scripture, but gosh, man, he said it every time, you know? But sometimes he would have a huge crowd. And I just want to show you through scripture that when you would have a large crowd, he would get in a very direct conversation and then they would weed out. And then they would start building 'cause who doesn't want to see the miracles? If you knew Jesus was passing through here, wouldn't you want to go watch people walk who were unable to walk? Blind eyes would be open. Somebody raised him from the dead. I'm gonna go watch that. But you would just be part of the crowd, not necessarily a disciple. So when I read the scripture that talks about denying yourself, he's not saying that to the crowd. He's saying that to people who want to be a disciple. So the rest of this talk is gonna be for people who want to be a disciple. And if you want to be a part of the crowd, you can still listen, but I'm hoping that you'll jump in wanting to be a disciple. Amen, all right? So here it is. And by the way, what I'm about to read to you is one of the most bizarre scriptures. It's almost hard to read it, especially for people who are logical in their thinking and they see things, like when I read this scripture, it messes with my brain and then, but so don't freak out, don't leave because everyone loves the beautiful things of Christ, the miracles, his attributes, but not everybody who likes his absolutes. Like Jesus talked more about hell vividly than anyone who ever breathed on the planet. Well, people who want to just tell us you love us, sit down and talk about how much you take care of us. Well, he gave no other options, no way out, no way to the Father, but one, he was very specific. But this is almost ridiculous at first glance until you see what he meant. So look at this verse. I apologize for what it looks like at first, but then we'll explain it. Look at this, "Large crowds were traveling with Jesus." It does not say lots of disciples. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus and turning to them, and it's just a matter of time. Could you all look here? It's a matter of time. If you're just in the crowd, he's gonna say something to you about it. And this is what he says. "Turning to them," he said, "if anyone comes to me "and does not hate father and mother, "and he's gonna go on and say, "then you can't be my disciple. "If you don't hate your wife and children, "you can't be my disciple. "If you don't hate brothers and sisters, "you can't be my disciple. "Yes, even their own life. "If they don't hate their own life, "such a person cannot be my disciple, "and whoever does not carry their cross, "now we're right back to the other part, "and follow me, cannot be my disciple." What? Okay, so relax, all right. Let me tell you, he's doing a contrast. He's trying to reset. This is what he's saying so you can relax a little bit. He's not saying for you to hate your parents 'cause one of the commandments is to honor them. We know this, but what he's doing is a contrasting study. He's trying to get you to see that your love for him, like you're never gonna deny your soul and your desires and what you're all about until you see that he has to be number one. And the contrast after that is so expansive, or it's such a gulf, a distance between the two that it would almost seem like hate. For example, in this way I've taught our church for years, if I were to ask you, make a priority list of the way you think God would want it to be, you would probably say, okay, number one God. Number two, family, what's number three? Oh, my relationships, what's four? Work, what's five? My hobbies, and this will sound like heresy at first, but I'm still on track. Jesus doesn't wanna be number one on that list. Because if he's number one on that list, it's like, hey, Jesus is number one, and then I go and do my family, and then I go and do my friends, and then I go and do my hobbies. No, he doesn't wanna be number one on that list. He wants to be number one in every one of those categories. Number one on that list, but number one in your family, and number one with your friends, and number one in your dreams, and number one in your hobbies, are you guys out there? He wants to be the center of it all. And if you don't know that, then you'll just start loving something more than him. And that is really, really difficult. The person who's loved God the most in my life, I would have to throw Darren to law in somewhere in there, have to throw my wife in there. Certainly we have to throw my mom all, and my mom all bees at, she's a Cajun woman, and she could win more people to the Lord by accident than most people could deliberately. I'm a Cajun, which means I'm not as smart as you are, but you sure won't have a good time, and you're gonna eat a lot of Boudin. And my grandmother, she would answer the phone like this, Jesus loves you, I know that for sure. And she's, so when we went to start our church, I called her and asked her to come to pray over me before, but she was dying with cancer, and she said, "Oh, Rick, I can't come, I'm too sick." February the 4th, her very first service, I'm scared out of my mind, just like today. And I said, "You know, I want her to come." She said she couldn't, so I said, "Just pray from there." And right before the first service, there was a knock on the door. And I said, "Come in," and they opened the door, and it was my frail grandmother, eating out with cancer. I'm guessing 80, 90 pounds? Cali, you were there. And she said, "Oh, Rick, I just had to come." She put her arms around me, prayed over me, and then she went right back to Baton Rouge. And later that night, I thought, "What did that cost her?" To obey God. So with the cost, this is a Nile. Number one, it doesn't look for a bargain. Okay, real quick, I'm just gonna give you a couple things here, and then we gotta fly. Number one, it doesn't look for a bargain. When Jesus spoke about the end times, the disciples always said, "When are you gonna come back? "When are you gonna come back? "Tell us when you're gonna come." And he never told him when. What he told him is to watch. Why did he do that? Yeah, okay, we're watch. We know it's gonna be people who are gonna be deceptive, and we know there's gonna be wars, and we know there's gonna be a lot of, but when, and he wouldn't tell him when, he would say, "Watch." Why did he say, "Watch," and now when? Because if you knew when, you would bargain for the day. If you knew he was coming back August the 1st, think of your life today versus mid-July. How about end of July? How about the day before August 1st? It would be a bargain. And that's why he's not telling you when, he's just telling you to watch, pay attention. So watch the love of Maros to grow cold, pay attention. Number two, the denial is not one moment in time. I don't have to cover that, I kinda already did, but it is taking up the cross daily. And, but I wanna say something to you that I normally can't say at the campus that I'm always at. And so since no one ever invites me over here, I'll say it now. I actually have been here many times, but I usually sit in the back and just go, "Wow, this is amazing," and then I leave. But today, I'm speaking, but I'm gonna say something to you that's a little bit harsh. I'm not apologizing for it. I should say it even more abruptly, but I'll tell you what keeps us up at night as a pastor. It's not, if you lose your job, we don't like it. If you're depressed, that's a real pain. If you're sick, we wanna pray for you, but I'll tell you what keeps us up at night is wondering how many of the people who attend our church are gonna go to hell someday. And I don't know that stat, and it's none of my business. God's never gonna tell me. But you know, if you're right with God, and I ask you to go home and settle that account. My dad, he's the funniest person ever lived. He was dying, he didn't die, but he was dying one time. And I went to the hospital real quick in Baton Rouge. Dad, do you wanna know there's a clock right above him? Dad, do you wanna know when you're gonna die? He goes, no, I wanna know where I'm gonna die. And I said, why dad, never really anybody? Tell me that. He said, because if I knew where I was gonna die, I would never go there. (audience laughing) And I was like, Dad, that's creative. I'm gonna tell you where you're gonna die. You're gonna die when you start looking for a bargain, and then you start trying to meander around without being honest. Some of you, you receive the grace of God for forgiveness. You receive the grace of God to find your purpose, but you're not healed yet because you haven't been honest. If you see a pastor that falls, or you see a friend who falls somewhere along the line, they had a secret, it's called acherit in Hebrew, and they took something that should've been confessed, and they hide it. And I'm gonna tell you that's a weak relationship with Christ. Number three, the denial, it doesn't negotiate. Peter, when Jesus said, well, you're gonna deny me, three times before the rooster crows, he could've, Peter just could've said, pray for me, I'm weak, I don't wanna blow it, but he didn't, he just denied it's no way I would do that. We fall into this denial about three years ago, I wanted to quit ministry, not my relationship with Christ, but ministry, I said, I'm just too old, I don't know how to do this anymore. I just don't know what's going on, and I told Michelle, I just gonna quit. And she said, have you talked to God about it? They're like, why are you throwing that out there? (congregation laughing) And so I went and talked to God about it, you know what he told me? He said, Rick, you're just negotiating. I'm a non-negotiable. - Wow. - And then number four, boy, I have some stuff I could tell you, but I'm out of time, okay? Number four, that denial comes from the cost of authenticity. All right, I'm done, so let me describe this to you. I've already told you that a reason why a lot of people get into a lot of trouble is because they're not honest. They've never really taken their heart out, but I wanna talk to you about one person who did. There's a lot, some of you have. You're living for God. Job well done. The person that I admired the most in my life is Dr. Billy Graham. And I was preaching to his staff one time, and when I did, he was listening in, as before he died, obviously before he died. (congregation laughing) And I told you, I'm a cage in me. I gotta keep it simple. And they came to me afterwards and said, Dr. Billy Graham was listening, he would like for you to go meet him. And I said, I would love to meet him. And then they said, but he can't, he's too sick. You can't go. I was like, why'd you even bring this up? It's like, this is cruelty. And they go, but if you're willing to come back one day, when he feels better, I said, I'll be willing to come back. So it's a long story, but I ended up going back and went up to his house and they told me out, you go up there, just drop up there. I get out of my car and no one's there. It's his house and I knock on the door. There's no answer. And Dr. Billy, just no answer kept Dr. Billy. So finally I checked it and wasn't locked and I walked in, Dr. Billy, Dr. Billy. And so I felt like I was robbing Dr. Billy Graham's house. Just felt so wrong. So I'm walking, Dr. Billy, Dr. Billy. And I looked to the left and his living room was like, wow, this is Dr. Billy Graham's living room. I'm glad I got to see it before I get arrested. And then I went in a couple of weeks down, Dr. Billy. And there he was in his chair. And I said a lot of things to him. I wish I could tell you all about it, but I want to tell you about the end. At the end, I said, Dr. Billy Graham, you live for the Lord your old life, job well done. He goes, well, I'm about to die. And I said, I know, sir, I heard about that. And I said, would you pray over us? And he goes, yeah. He said, but only if you pray over me first. And I was like, yes, sir. But I don't know how to pray over Dr. Billy Graham. What you going to say? So I didn't try to act like I knew. I just said, I'll pray over you, but how do I pray over you? And he goes, this is a freak out answer. And I give it to you. He said, he just told me he was about to die. The important part, he said, pray that I don't ruin my first love in Christ at the last minute. Pray that I don't lose it. So I was thinking, if you don't make it, we're all going down. But I'll pray that way. And it felt like the most ridiculous prayer. Lord, pray that Dr. Billy Graham doesn't backslide. And I opened my eye on the light, looking. And he was so sincere. Yes. Please. And that's how you make it. OK? There's a lot of things you're going to move around in church, in life, vision shifts. But that's how we keep score. That is denying ourself. And I'll just tell you, right now, we can do this. But it's got to be a surrender. And Billy Graham told me he made that decision when he was a young man to live with the end in mind, because he knew the end would come someday. Amen? Let's bow our heads. I want to pray for you. If you hear right now and you've lost your way a little bit, maybe a lot, would you just look up at me and pray for you around the room? Got you, got you, got you, got you, got you everywhere. It's OK, got this. Leaders and different people, it's beautiful. I love knowing Dr. Fitz is praying for me in the back. It just helps me so much. I love him. He's a dear friend. All right, people around. All around. Remain seated, but I'm going to pray for you. Lord, I wonder if we fear and respect you enough. I wonder if we really understand eternity. I sometimes wonder if I care more about my will than yours. And I can't help but wonder if I think my intelligence is spot on, even if it doesn't measure with your word. And then I wonder if I care about my emotions more than what you've done. And then I wonder how to run back to you. We're so sorry, Lord, for these setbacks and these pauses. And I thank you, Lord Jesus, for getting us all on the same page. I pray that we'll run out of here to find what it is in you. That's what we want to be. And that's what we thank you for your grace who give us another chance. We're so sorry, Lord, for taking advantage of your grace is scandalous that we would do that. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, amen. Would you praise his name together with your hands? Those who praise his name. Hey, guys. Thanks for listening to-- I hope that this message blessed you and it helps you in your journey with Jesus. If it did, leave a comment, leave a review, things like that. Help us spread the message of Jesus. If you want to connect with us, the best way to do that is to follow us on Instagram and @NLCDown10LittleRock to follow along with the life of our church. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]
