Between Bethlehem & Bethany by Kevin Allen April 2, 2023 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Luke 2:4-7, Luke 19:37-41, Luke 24:50-53, Matthew 6:25-29, Ephesians 3:20, Amos 4:13, Exodus 14:29-31, Romans 5:6-8, Hebrews 7:25-27, Judges 16:18-20, Judges 16:21, Philippians 4:10-13 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--between-bethlehem-bethany Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ I'm going to go to Luke chapter two. I'm going to spend the first part of this message in the Book of Luke. And I hope that I can get this across the way I feel to today. You know, Palm Sunday, for those of you that don't know what we what we're referring to, is when Jesus is riding a donkey, and he's he's headed in. He's preparing for the end. He's headed towards Calvary. He's a week out. And this moment, it seems to be at the height or the pinnacle of his ministry. And he begins to instruct his disciples, and he gives them very detailed instructions for them to follow, about where the donkey's going to be and what he can do, and lose it and come in. And he gets on and he rides. And what he's doing is actually fulfilling prophecy that was foretold, that this was actually going to take place, that the Messiah was coming in this way. And and we we read in this moment where they are worshiping. His disciples have grown in number, and the crowd has gathered around him. And they begin to to sing Hosea, Hosanna, give him praise to him. And they begin to take off their coats and put down before him, and even take palm branches and lay before him as his donkey rides across, as a sign of of of of signifying who he is, and that that he is the the reigning King. And all this is going on. In fact, even the song we just sang plays in the part, because the Pharisees got a little bit upset and said, hey, you need to tell them to stop doing what they're doing. To which Jesus responds and says, well, if they hold their peace, these rocks will cry out and proclaim who I am. It's just it's this powerful moment in in the ministry of Jesus. And that's what Palm Sunday is about. And I'm gonna get to that in just a few minutes in my message. But as I was thinking about today, and and being sensitive as in my prayer time this week, I felt to to maybe tell the story from the beginning to the end. Now some of you may be like, well, my already looking at your watch now. I'm going to obviously give you a condensed version of that today. But I want to talk about between Bethlehem and Bethany. Between the beginning and the end, what goes on. See, here's what I know: I i i'm familiar with a lot of the stories that are in this room, but I'm not familiar with every story in this room. But here's what I know: every one of you have a beginning. Every one of you have a beginning in this room. I have a beginning too. And here's here's what I also know: every one of us have an ending. Now where we are, if you're still in this room, is we're between the beginning and the ending. That's where we are. We're between Bethlehem and Bethany. That that's our life. That's our ministry right now, is because we have already started and and, and hopefully everybody finishes this sermon and you're still living. We haven't made it to the end yet, okay. We're here. If you're breathing, then that means you're still here. All right, look at your neighbor and check them real quick. Are they breathing? All right, good, good. So let's talk about between Bethlehem and Bethany. Luke chapter 2. Now some of you may be going, man it's, it's Palm Sunday and he's going to the Christmas chapter. Well, we had to start, okay. Chapter two, verse 4: Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with the mayor, his betrothed wife, was a child. So it was, while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. So she's gonna have a baby. Everybody say beginning. We're seeing the beginning of Jesus here, okay. It's the beginning. Luke chapter 19 — that's where I'm gonna go next, which is what we're talking about today, is Palm Sunday, all right. Luke 19, verse 37: then as he was now drawing near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples begin to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowds: the teacher, rebuke her disciples. But he answered instead of them: I tell you, if these should keep silent, these stones would immediately cry out. Now as you drew near, he saw the city and wept over it. Then Luke 24:50: and he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them and carried up into the heavens. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and we're continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. It started in Bethlehem and it ended in Bethany. In both places we see that miracles were taking place, and there were angels, and there were believers who were there in the crowd. Bethlehem was the beginning, and Bethany was the ending. Bethlehem was the first hope. Bethany was the final glory. Two separate geographical locations in close proximity to each other. But I wonder — my mind always is asking questions as I read through scriptures — and my question is in my mind for today is: how far is it really from Bethlehem to Bethany? How far is it from our beginning to our ending? Does anybody else think about these things? Think about where you are in life. For we've all started — that's that's a given, you're here. You had a beginning. And we know that if we live long enough, there's going to be an ending. And we're in the between the beginning and the ending. But really, how far is it? How far is it from Bethlehem to Bethany? How far is it from my beginning to — man, I'll get it even narrow — how far is it from my beginning relationship with God until he comes and calls me home? How far is it from Bethlehem to Bethany? That question should be something that we think about from time to time. It should be on our mind: am I where I need to be on my own schedule? Am I am i in the place where God wants me to be? How far is it from Bethlehem to Bethany? Now we could ask the road builders. We could ask the surveyors. We could we could get out a map and a ruler, and we could do the math in our head, and we could come up with with a distance. But that — would it be better to ask the one who walked the road? Wouldn't it be better to ask the one who knows all things? I think if if you'll if you'll bear with me for a little while, I'll walk you through scripture, because he's telling a story. And if someone can rightly divide the word for you — and I'm going to do my best to do that today — I want to show you exactly what he's telling us. He starts his ministry out in a very powerful way. One of the greatest sermons that was ever preached is the Sermon on the Mount. We pick up in the middle of it, in Matthew chapter 6, verse 25: that is why I tell you not to worry everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear. Life is more than food, and your body is more than clothing. Look at the birds: they don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them. Aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can you, in all your worries, add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow: they don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon, and all of his glory, is not dressed as beautifully as they are. He starts out, and he begins to to teach in such a way that people begin to say to themselves, I've never heard it said like that. I've never heard it presented in a way. He had a point. He had a mission. He came to do something that had been set in motion long ago. And as you begin to talk, men's hearts begin to burn inside of them. They would say to themselves, we never heard words like this. We've never heard it said and things like this: not to worry about how to gather food every day, or what we're going to wear. Now you and I, we're very blessed. Even the poorest among us in the room are very blessed people. Oftentimes we find ourselves concerned with with what our menial task. But for them, some of them, all they thought about every day is if they were going to actually have a meal. But Jesus shows up and says, don't worry about the food. Don't worry about the clothes. In other words, he's saying, don't get so captivated in the everyday cares of life that you miss the bigger thing that's going on. The kingdom of God is here. That was his message: the kingdom of God is here. And you can get so caught up and captivated in the daily routine that you can miss that the kingdom of God is all around you. I'm here to tell you, nothing's changed throughout history. We can get so busy and captivated with the everyday task of life, we can miss the reality of the kingdom of God is around us all the time. That's what he came to bring our attention to. The kingdom of God is at hand. His message was strong. He was a man who was matched his message. This Carpenter's son from Nazareth was the creator of the universe. Yes, for us apostolics we, we know his identity. But do we know his nature? Do we know his nature? What benefit is it to know his identity, unless we know what he's really like? Ephesians 3:20 says: now unto him who's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. The nature of the one who walked the road from Bethlehem to Bethany was this: he always exceeds himself. He always exceeds himself. He breaks his own records. He goes beyond the good to do the best. That's the kind of God we have. And he came there at the very beginning to say, the kingdom of God is at hand. And he preached a message — it was beyond belief in some ways. Just look at the things he does. Go to the scripture with me and let me show you. Look at the way he creates. Amos 4, chapter 13 — and chapter 4, verse 13: for behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the Earth, the Lord God of host is his name. He created — in the beginning God created the heavens and earth. He spoke all these things into existence, because that's what he does. He is God. He's always out doing himself, time and time again. Look at the way he delivers. Exodus 14:29: but the children of Israel walked upon the dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on the left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead up on the seashore. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did unto the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses, because he is a deliverer. He is a deliverer. I don't care what you're held captive by today, there's a delivering God that's in this place. I don't care what's got you bound or chained up. I don't care what prison you're in, even if it's the prison of your own mind. There's a God who delivers, and there's a God who excels at always out doing himself, time and time again. That's the kind of God we serve. So I feel like it's important we go to the one who walked from Bethlehem to Bethany. Look at how he loves. Romans 5, verse 6: for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I don't know about you, but I love that. I didn't have to qualify myself. I didn't have to clean myself up first. I didn't have to start acting right. God just loved me. God just loved me. And God loves you, because that's the kind of God he is. He's a god of love. Look how he saves. Hebrews 7:25: therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the peoples. For thus he did once, and for all when he offered up himself. Oh, and I could go on and on and on, and time prevents me today to continue to walk you through the scriptures about his personality and who he is. It's one thing for us to know his identity, but it's another thing to know him. It's another thing to know his personality. It's another thing, you know, how he they how he thinks and how he operates. And I'm here to cry out to somebody today: do you really know him? Not do you know his name. We know his name is Jesus. And now, do we know who he is? But do you know him? Do you have a relationship with him? I'm talking about the one who started in Bethlehem and ended at Bethany, the one who walked that road every day. Do you know him? Because he's the one who can help you in your everyday walk with God. He's the one who can help you in your everyday life. Do you know him? So here's the reality: he could have stopped any time he wanted to. He he could have stopped us short of any one of these awesome miracles that I've read you in just a few verses, and we still would have marveled at what he had done. But the question still remains: how far is it to Bethany? How far from a great beginning to the grand finale? How far from an ordinary honorable mention to the grand prize? I submit to you that Bethany is beyond the good. To do well is good. To go beyond is great. But what does it take to be a champion? What does it take in your life? A common thread, a lot of times, when you begin to study people that we that we know or — or as the term is is popular now, the goat. You guys familiar with the goat term? Goat stands for what? Grace of all time. Jesus was the goat. I know for some of y'all you think it's Tom Brady. No, it's Jesus. Not Tom. Don't even know what time wants to do. Jesus has never been confused. What does it take to be the goat? You know what I what i read — and I've done a little bit of digging on this, and I ran across this this that I read here, and I thought it summed it up well what: what makes a champion? It's not the trophy. It's not the talent. It's not the salary, or the most points, or the fastest time or the, or the most records. It's not even being the best of the best. All these things are just benefits of what makes a true champion. You see, the real winners in life are those who have the courage to see the impossible. They are the people who overcome and persevere with all adversity. They learn from their mistakes. And no matter what, they never give up on their dreams, because a true champion has vision. Vision. See, and I'm i'm gonna get down in the weeds of life where we live right now, is that okay? Now, in other words, I'm fixing to step on her toes when i. When I think about those of us who have been given truth, what are we doing with what has been given to us? Do you still have a vision for your life? This is important. Do you have a vision to get from Bethlehem to Bethany? Or is your vision simply been to have an experience only with God? Because there's so much more than just an experience with God. There's a life committed to him. But that's not always what's being portrayed in our world today, is is that you can have God fit in to your schedule. God doesn't do so good about fitting in the schedules. You know, he, in a lot of ways — I say this often — he has this, the thing about acting like God, because he is God. And what he wants to do is to fit you into his schedule. He wants to fit you into his plan and his purpose for your life. But we've got to be careful, because if we if we miss out on the vision he asked for us — even the word of God says itself, well, there is no vision, the people perish. So it's important to have a vision for you in your life. How many of you know the Bible story about Samson? For those of you who don't know the Bible story about Samson — because I don't want to think that everybody just knows — but if you don't know the Bible story, I'm going to give you a little, small, just overview of Samson's life. From this very beginning, his mom and dad were approached by an angel who said that you were going to have a son, and he was going to be special, and he was going to be someone that was going to going to save Israel and and help lead them out of some of the oppression they were dealing with. But he had he had some certain things that were going to be very specific to him. He was going to be a Nazarite that's a. That's a kind of a funny word — we don't use that word a lot in our day and age — but he's gonna be in Nazarite. And and there were some some things that, if you were going to be a Nazarite, that you were set aside. There was stuff you didn't do. You didn't touch anything that was dead. Okay, that doesn't sound too bad, right? I don't typically like dead things, but that's one thing: he didn't touch anything that was dead. You didn't drink anything that was from the vine. No, no no strong drink that uh — that may mess with a few people — that there was just you. And he he never was to was to cut his hair at all from the time he was born. In fact, that's what the word of God says, that he was to be a Nazarite from his birth. And then there was a there was a few more about, oh, getting all the weeds, the details that are there there. But there you can see, hopefully, from the beginning, that before he was born, his mom and dad were given some very specific directions from God as to what Samson wants to do and if. And if he was going to be obedient in this way, God's hand was going to be upon him. And what we know by reading the story about Samson is that he had amazing strength, all right? I'm not talking about like these these big dudes in these in these competitions, strongest men competitions, he'll go around picking up big old boulders and setting up — I'm gonna stop us, you know, pulling trains and all that and all. Like, he was he was stronger than all that he, because his strength came from God. Now here's the deal — now you you, next time you're preaching you can do it your way, but since I'm preaching, we're going to do it my way. He he probably looked like me just, just your normal guy, you know. No, no, no, no, no. No huge biceps, right? You know, I don't think he was super flabby, but you know, just, you know, all right. For guidance, 40s, she's telling my way. And so I see it — when you teach, you tell it your way. Where I'm going with this is is, I don't feel like there was anything special when you just looked at Samson, because it wasn't about his physical abilities, but it was what God could do through him. Please don't miss my point there: it's not about his physical abilities, but it was, because of some submission and things he'd been taught, God did some amazing, miraculous things through him. Everybody okay with that? But here's the deal about Samson: his strength didn't come from his own commitment. It came from the faith of his mother and father, Menorah and his wife. Samson had a hand-me-down anointing. It was Mom and Dad's religion. It was Mom and Dad's experience. It was mom and dad's relationship that was there. was mom and dad's church. And if you're in this situation today, I want you to remember something: the blessings you have today are a result of a commitment that somebody before you made. And there's a whole lot of people who have experienced blessings because somebody went before us and stayed committed to God. But it's a very dangerous place to be in if we have no vision for ourself. Samson had no vision for himself. He only had a vision that his mom and dad had told him about. But somewhere along the way he got lost in the weed. Somewhere along the way he got to believe in his own press report. Somewhere along the way he thought he could use God anytime he wanted him to. It was a switch he could turn off and he could turn on. If he needed it, he would he would he would he would operate when God was there. But if he didn't want it, he could simply walk away and do what he wanted to. And before long, he started compromising things in his life that his mom and dad told him: Samson, God's hand will be on you as long as you do this, and as long as you do that. As long as you don't touch dead bodies. As long as you don't drink from the vine. As long as you let your hair go and cut. And here's the deal: we read about Samson pushing the boundaries in his life. We read about him killing a lion with his bare hands one day, and then he coming back by not too long after that, and there s there is a honeycomb, honey high, built inside the lion. Samson says to himself, I'm going to go over there and check that out. So far he hasn't broke a rule yet, until they decided that, hey, I bet that honey is pretty good. So here's the day — here's the deal: was there anything wrong with the honey? No. But where the honey was at was a problem. Please listen to me now. I feel god with me. Oh, I feel it right now. Who's strong? Somebody needs to hear me. He goes over, and he touches the lion, and takes the honey. And in that moment that, that act of disobedience, nothing changed in his life, seemingly. Nothing seemed to feel out of the ordinary. But he was told there was a boundary you don't go across. Please listen to me on this Palm Sunday. I'm going to bring it back in just a minute. And he stepped across the boundary. And when he got on the other side, God didn't come down and thump him in the head. He didn't fall over dead. And he still had some strength, because he's still operating in an overflow of his mom and dad. Much like the prodigal son, when he first left, he still had his daddy's money in his pocket, and everything was going okay, even though he was not living the way he was supposed to be. He had stepped across a boundary, and he didn't get smacked at first he it's just. It's just boundary stuff. It's not way out there in the deep. I didn't fall that over, over there to where I know I'm going to drown. I just got in the shallows a little bit and splashed around, and it's okay. It's not so bad. I don't know what Mom and Dad were talking about. Because I touched a dead carcass, and everything seems to be okay. I still killed a whole slew of them or the jawbone of a donkey. What happened is, it got easy to take one step. They got easier to take too. And then somewhere along the way, in the back of his mind, he began to think, maybe that stuff isn't really even necessary. I'll put it into Apostolic Pentecostal lingo: I don't have a conviction for that. I know that's what my parents did, but I've never really seen the need to do that. I know Mom and Dad said don't touch the dead thing, but I've never seen a need for that. I know sometimes our lifestyle convictions seemed like a lot. I just don't know. I mean, I'll do this, but I don't know about that. I don't know about that. And it's the same story that's played out time and time again. We see it in Samson. Here is my story for today. Until he finds himself in the lap of Delilah, enticed by the pretty of the world. The world's gonna look pretty, ladies and gentlemen. It's going to be enticing. It's going to have an appeal. There's going to be some fun stuff out there. There's going to be a whole lot of stuff that, in a moment of time, won't necessarily change you all that much. It's going to be real good. You're going to have — I don't understand, Pastor, why can't I do this? Why can't — nothing happen. Nothing's happened to me. I'm okay. But I'm telling you, if you don't learn to put a border somewhere, you'll keep drifting, and drifting, and drifting, and drifting, until you find yourself and Delilah's lap. Samson had an inherited commitment. He had an unappreciated anointing. And he had an unkept treasure. Samson had privilege without commitment, and power without conviction, and strength without suffering. Samson compromised his power in the lap of Delilah, and he became spiritually blinded by the source of his strength. And he actually thought to himself — which is one of the responsible abilities — that his strength and achievement was something that he had complete control over. But there's the very telling scripture to me. It's one of the worst ones in the Bible. It should grip your heart. And Judges 16, verse 18: Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth. So she sent for the Philistine rulers. He said, come back one more time, she said, for he has finally told me his secret. So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. And Delilah lord Samson to sleep with his head and her lap, and she called a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. And this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him. Then she cried out, Samson, the Philistines have come to capture you. But when he woke up he thought, I will do as before and shake myself free. But he didn't realize the Lord had left him. And that's what happens when you continue to step across the boundary, time after time after time. Maybe you don't have a conviction, but I'm here to tell you, some things are put in place because if you didn't have a fence up and you just ran free, you would run off a cliff. Samson, finally, he had his moment, thank God, because verse 21 says: so the Philistines captured him, and gouged out his eyes, and took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison. But it was only after the pain of a loss, a terrible loss, when he is poked his eyes, that'll understand his, what was taken from him. What was taken from his vision was taken from him. I'm not here to tell you his eyes may have been poked out, but he lost his vision a long time before that. It wasn't about physically seeing. There was something spiritually wrong inside of Samson. But grind into that meal day after day, going round and round in circles, he began to replay over and over again: maybe Mom was right. Maybe Dad was right. Maybe I maybe i took too many chances. Obviously I did, because I'm here. And but somewhere along the way, he got his vision back. He got his vision back, because there was more than just starting. There's more than just a Bethlehem in his life. There was a Bethany. He still had a moment. He still had an appointment. And eventually he had an opportunity to get back. And they brought him out for sport. And we, most of us, know how the story goes. They wanted to bring out the the great accomplishment, because they had captured uh Samson. So they bring him out, the Philistines, to parade him around. Look at him, he's weak. Look at him, he has to be led by a little child. But Samson got his vision back, and said to the boy, hey, take me to where the columns are holding up the roof, and just let me put my hands on them. And in that moment, he cried out and prayed one more time: God, I know that there was a time that I took for granted what you had done. I took for granted the relationship I had with you. I took for granted all the things that were put in my place for my good. But God, if you'll hear my prayer just one more time, I got vision to see that I can still do something great for you in my life. Because God never writes anybody off. God never writes anybody off. I don't care how much you've messed up. I don't care how much you've you've cast stuff away. I don't care how far you've ran across the boundaries. There's still a Bethany in your life. I'm here to say, get your vision back. Get your relationship back, and you'll do more in your end than you ever did in your beginning. See, ladies and gentlemen, Bethany is past pain, past regret, past shame, have bad decisions. Bethany's always further than you anticipated, further than you want to go, further than the flesh wants to, to buy in. Something has to die on the road from Bethlehem to Bethany. I'm gonna say that again, because you can't miss this point, otherwise the message doesn't make sense. Something has to die from Bethlehem. The lesson is not in the beginning, and really the lessons not even in the ending. The lesson of the ordeal is between Bethlehem and Bethany. You see, Jesus shows up. It's Palm Sunday. That's why we're here, right? He shows up at the pinnacle, the height of his ministry. He's got thousands following after him now. Things are going so good. Everything's set in motion. His disciples are — they're smiling big, they're like, yes. He's raising dead. In fact, he's he's doing all these things that I — I put a list — at this point his ministry, Jesus had already been born of a virgin, change water into wine, healed the royal officer son, took care of the possessed man and Capernaum. He healed Peter's mother-in-law — I don't know if Peter was happy about that, but he did. He he healed the sick during the evening. He caught a large number of fish. He healed the leper, the Centurion servant, the paralytic, the man with the withered hand, the widow's son. He called him the storm. He walked on the water. He cast out demon out of the uh the daughter. He healed the woman who had an issue of blood. He raised up Jairus daughter. Healed two blind men. Took care of the mute demon of possessed man. Healed someone who had a 38-year invalid, helped him get to — they have to go the water, just home to rise up and walk. He fed five thousand. He walked on the water. He fed four thousand. He healed a blind man. He healed a man born blind. He he caught a fish with a corn in his mouth he. And I could go on and on and on and on and on, and the miracles they did. Already at this point he was validated. Things were going very good for him in his life. It seemed like everything was there. His disciples are like, it's time. It's time. It's overthrow Rome. Let's get everything going, because this is how it's going to be, the Messiah. It's gonna — people are buying, and looking out, seeing thousands upon thousands that are around us. And all of a sudden, he's riding a donkey, and they're throwing their coach down, saying hosanna in the highest. And he's telling the Pharisees, hey, the rocks will cry out unless somebody proclaims who I am. It's it's the pinnacle. But it wasn't Bethany. If something had to die — do you hear me? From Bethlehem to Bethany, something has to die. If you and I were writing the story — be honest with yourself — if you and I were writing the story, there's no way we would have pin Calvary in. There's no way we would have — we would have had him ride in that day and and kick pilot out of the house, and overthrow Herod, and all of a sudden King Caesar Augustus out of Rome, and just take over and do — that's what man would have done. But I'm here to tell you, between Bethlehem and Bethany, something's got to die. Now you can find plenty other churches in this town preach you a feel-good message. I'm here to tell you, you can't purchase salvation, but it will cost you something. It will cost you your life, because something has to die from Bethlehem to Bethany. In geographical measures, Bethany is somewhere between one and two miles from Bethlehem. But if you only go one mile, you never get there. At the end of that first mile, just sitting on that donkey, hearing the crowd cry Hosanna on that beautiful day, Jesus was a great teacher. He was a miracle worker. He was a leader of men. And if the mission of Jesus would have been fulfilled by going halfway, one mile would have been enough. But he didn't just come to seek and not save — D, that wouldn't have been enough. He didn't just come to touch and not transform. He was all of those things at the end of the first mile. But at the end of the second mile, he started a revolution. It was the second mile that made him a savior. It was the second mile that made him the victor over death and held in the grave. It was the second mile that made him the ransom for mankind. And you cannot get your Bethany of Ascension unless you're willing to go to the Gethsemane of consecration in the Calvary of crucifixion. It's going to cost you something, ladies and gentlemen. And we shouldn't be surprised by that, because it's exactly what Jesus said: if any man going to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow after me. Jesus never does anything that — I never asked us to do anything that he doesn't do first. So what about us, Center Point? What about us? Are we just happy having a nice building, nice campus? We're just happy having having this? Or are we just happy to have nice people and some some connect groups, and just living out being good citizens and reasonably happy lives? You can have all these things at the end of the first mile. But I submit to you today that being nice is not what the gospel is about. You don't have to drive one of our buses to be saved. But somebody you pick up on that van may have a chance to be saved. You don't have to teach life class, or helping kids outreach, to be saved. But some child who doesn't have much of a home life may point to you as the reason one day they made it. You don't have to be an on fire prayer warrior, fastener, Bible reading, or burden caring saying of God, to be saved. But the people who are looking for you as a role model, are an example, may rise or fall based on how you live your life. See we, we have to get the mindset of, I'm not just living for myself. We were never called to just live for ourselves. We were called to live for the kingdom. We were called to live for the King. I know I talk a lot about that lately, but something's changed inside of me. I don't live for me. I live for the King, and I live for the kingdom. And whatever he says is right is what I'm going to do. There's more than just me living a comfortable life. I'm not going to be like the man who said, hey, I've done pretty good, I've built some bigger barns, and just call it a day. No, that's why not God is. See, we have so many blessings in this church, and so many things to be thankful for, so many things to rejoice and celebrate. But I don't want to get captivated where I am and forget that the kingdom of God is all around me, and I have a part to play. I don't want to just be comfortable going through this life, when I've seen my savior on Calvary, when he was doing that to purchase salvation. Yes, he was. But then he turned around and said, if you're going to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow after me. There's something that's got to die in us between Bethlehem and Bethany. I got to give myself to something that's bigger than just building me. Some of you have caught on to this. Some of you are inspiring me in this church. Some of you are doing things right now, and I'm telling you, I couldn't be prouder as a pastor at what you're doing. But some of you are worrying me, because you seem to be so content living in life without ever telling, or inviting, or talking, or doing anything for the kingdom. You're not a bad person necessarily. If we were going to look at things with human evaluation, no. You're not a ranked sinner. You're not cheating on on your spouse. And you you come to church on a pretty regular basis, and you pay your tithes. But you're not really doing anything there's not any. There's not any price really being paid in your life. You're not really buying in on any deeper level. And I know it's Palm Sunday. You think, what are you doing, Pastor? I'm reaching for you. I'm reaching for you. Because I'm here to tell you, there are going to be people who are going to sit on a church pew and die and go to hell, because they didn't understand that there's something between Bethlehem and Bethany. Two weeks two weeks from today will be served Sunday. It's our service celebration weekend. So many of you are amazing, that you're volunteering what you do around here. We're going to celebrate you on the Saturday a couple Saturdays from now. But on that Sunday, two Sundays from today, surf Sunday, we got Brother Dan McLeod going to be with us he's. I'm excited to have him. He's going to preach an anointing word. But that Sunday is all about a commitment, all right? I'm not gonna try to hide it. I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm looking for you. I'm looking for you. I'm trying to come at you and tell you that if you're truly following after him, then you got to do something for the kingdom. He got to do something for the kingdom. You can't just sit. You can't — I'm here to tell you he, there's so many — I don't have enough time to go in today — so many examples about how, when he has given, he expects something back again you you can't. You can't buy your way into heaven. You can't. That's not what it's about. But you can steward what's been given to you. And that would be no kind of pastor at all if I didn't tell you that you got to do something with it. So I'm making my appeal to you today. Are you willing to do more? Do you want your life to count more than has ever counted? It's not the challenge of the half-hearted. It's the challenge of the champion. My last verse I'll read to you today is simply this. Philippians 4, verse 10: but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, we're in you are also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Now that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, and whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be a beast, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Because I can do all things through Christ will strengthen me. As I end — musicians are going to come — on Palm Sunday, he's there, right? He's there. I mean, it's it's the height it's it's the. It's as big as this ministry got. He's got so much fame in popularity after after him raising Lazarus for the dead. The Pharisees are about to lose their mind. You go read it in the scripture — they don't know what to do with him they they they. The word of God says, if we don't do something with him, Rome is going to come in and take everything away from us. Everybody's going to follow after him. For you and I, that may be hard for us to believe like. Like, if Jesus is there and he's raising people for the dead, why would they not be on board with that? Because they were caught up and consumed with their own kingdom, so much so that they missed the King when he showed up. But there he is: everything going his way, raising people from the dead, open blinded eyes, healing lepers, casting out demons just. Just, they got it all. Thousands gather around him. They're singing Hosanna, glory to God, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. All the prophecies being fulfilled. Here's the people throwing their coats, throwing their palm branches. Everything's as good as it can be. And yet it says, when he gets to the city, he does what? He weeps. Or Bethlehem: how oft I would have gathered me like a hen gathers your chicks on her wings, but you wouldn't let me. The heart of a Savior. He knows, I gotta go, because something has to die between Bethlehem in Bethany. I'm so thankful that he continued his procession on. I'm so thankful that he went to the temple. I'm so thankful that he overturned the money change. I'm so thankful that he went to the upper room. I'm so thank — the, with his final supper. And I'm so thankful that he went to the garden. And I'm so thankful that he showed us it's not always easy — get in your flesh under control. So we shouldn't be surprised if our Lord and Savior took him three times before he was able to leave with his mind made up. Three times it took him in that Garden. Three times. But he knew how to pray. He prayed until he got his will in alignment with the mission. And what I feel like today in this place is, there need to be some wheel alignments, because I'm afraid some of you are not where you need to be. Listen, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not i'm i'm appealing to you. When I see the heart of the Savior who said, I would have gathered you in, but you wouldn't, listen. See, the people on this — this is my last thing I'm going to say, and I want — God's going to move. The people had to first recognize who Jesus represented. They did it right then. He was Lord. Blessed is he who comes. And they they recognized it. But listen, it had to be more. But notice shortly after that, what happened: those same voices cried, crucify him. All right, it's hard for you and I to get our head around that fact. How did we go — how did we go, and and not even a full week — how do we go from from, he's the one on on the donkey riding in, I'm throwing my coats — but see, there's a progression. You got to acknowledge him and Lord. You acknowledge him that he's your sacrifice. He's your sacrifice. But then, and only then, can Jesus declare, it is finished. It is finished. This time is such a wonderful time to remind of of the great exchange that happens. It continues to take place every day. We know must recognize that Jesus must be Lord in our life, and acknowledge the pride, the price he paid on the cross. See, Jesus has already done the heavy lifting. And all he simply ask of us is to give our life back. So in my final prayer today — and these altars are open — I'm appealing for you. I'm coming to you. I'm asking, where are you at between Bethlehem and Bethany? Where are you at? Because we're living between Bethlehem and Bethany. Have you been able to give your life completely to him? If not, today's your day. Today's your day. Are you living your life for the King and for the kingdom? Will you buy your heads with me? Jesus, I love you. So thankful. Early this morning your presence was here such a strong way. You met me, and I feel you here now in this moment. I pray, God, that we could do a little self-evaluation, a little looking at where we are between Bethlehem and Bethany. God, I've been able to give you my life. I've been able to commit myself to you, to your purpose, to your kingdom. God, if there's anything I put between you and I, I pray, God, you helped me see it in this moment. Remove it from my life. God, I want to fulfill your purpose, your plan you have for me. I don't want to be so caught up in the blessings that have come into my life, because others have sacrificed and afforded me an opportunity to be in a place where your presence is at, to not realize and understand that I too must make a commitment. Oh God, draw us in close. Change our lives, in Jesus name. Church, is prayer time. I invite all that want to come to an altar, to take a little evaluation, to see where you are, to make sure you're where you need to be.