You are invited to examine what you are holding back in your life today. When the world calls your obedience a waste, remember that Jesus is worth every sacrifice you make for Him. Take a moment to surrender your plans and trust His worth above all else.
*God is good*. All the time. And all the time. Might as well. You guys did that.
Okay. So, I'm excited about the message today. About 3 weeks ago, I heard this song called Alabaster Box. You guys ever heard of that song before? And as I heard it, this line in the song stood out to me.
You don't know the cost of the oil. And it continued throughout the day to reverberate through my my mind. And then the next day and the next day, I couldn't get this line out of my head, you don't know the cost of the oil. So finally, got it through my thick skull. Wait a second.
*God*'s probably speaking to me here. Okay. You want me to Lord, what's the cost of the oil? You know, when you don't know something, you ask your daddy. Right?
You realize you can have a relationship with your heavenly father where you ask your daddy, and he speaks to you in a real way. It's beautiful. Well, what what's the cost of the oil? What what is the oil? Before I dive into that, I want you guys just to be in the same place I was when I heard this song.
So you guys listen to the song, let the Lord speak to you as he began to speak to me.
As she made her way to Jesus. She stumbled through the tears that made her blind. She felt such pain, some spoken anger, heard folks whisper, there's no place here for your kind. Of alabaster. So I've come to void my praise on him like a war from Mary's alabaster past.
Don't be angry if I "wash his feet" with my tears and I dry them with my hair. Without measure into a little treasure box. I thought I'd found out until the day when *Jesus* came to me and healed my *soul* with the wonder of his soul. So now from Mary's alabaster past. So don't get angry if I wash his feet with my tears and I dry them with my hair.
Oh, no. You weren't there. The naughty because of the oil. Oh, you don't know the cause, the cost of my praise. No.
You don't know the cause the cost of this oil from my alabaster.
*Lord God*, we just thank you for who you are. We thank you for what you've done. Lord God, we thank you for what you're doing. Thank you that we get to be a part. We get to play a role.
You invite us after you paid your life for us, so that we could know you, you invite us to participate in your plan, in what you're doing throughout the world. What a joy. What an honor. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We praise you.
Father God, I I I can't speak a word that will change anybody's life except for your presence. Apart from you, I can do nothing. But I can do all things through you who strengthen me. So Holy Spirit, I ask you to speak today. *Lord*, I pray that everybody under the sound of my voice, whether in here now or on the podcast later, are forever changed and drawn into a deeper level of *relationship* with you and understand more deeply than ever before what that means.
Thank you for your presence, God. Oh, God, I pray that you would open the people's hearts, Lord, that they would be careful how they hear. Lord God, that they would make the commitment in their heart right now to be a doer of the word and not just a hearer. To pay the price of the oil no matter the cost. In Jesus name I pray.
You don't know the cost of the oil. Man, praise the Lord for that gift that God gave Dolores. Even more than the gift, praise the Lord that she's willing to pay the price for the oil. You experienced an anointing, as she sang. Let's go to the story in Luke-7:36.
In in my bible, it's titled, a "sinful woman" forgiven. It starts in verse 36. It says, 1 of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. So, that's 1 of the Pharisees asked *Jesus* to eat with him. And, he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
So, you know, I just wanna paint a little bit of a picture for you, so you can see in your mind what's happening. Because in today's day and age, when you eat at a table, you sit with your legs under the table, and maybe when you read this and you think reclined at the table, does that mean Jesus is leaning back like this? What does that what does that look like? It's it's kind of important for you to understand so that you know what's going on in the story. This is like a Middle Eastern Asian type table that is on the ground, so there's no room for you to put your feet under it.
It's maybe about this high or so, and then there's pillows around the side for the guests to recline at, but they recline forward, not back. And, the pillow's around 3 of the sides. 1 side's left open for the servers, or the servants, or whoever's of the house that's bringing the food to come and present the food to the guests that are at the table. You guys see that in your mind? So, when Jesus reclined at the table, he would have actually been leaning or laying down on a pillow, leaning forward into the table.
They rested on their left elbow, so that they could eat with their right hand and make gestures as they're talking and things. And then, their feet. Right? America is the only nation that I know of where we walk in our house with our shoes on. Most nations think we're crazy, and they take their shoes off at the door.
And, they did that 2000 years ago too. So, they took their sandals and stuff off at the door. They would've You know, somebody may have washed their feet at the door. So, Jesus' feet then would have As he's reclining at the table, he's reclining forward, his feet would have been diagonal or to the back. Everybody's feet would have been like that.
You guys see that picture in your mind as I'm saying that? Okay. So, 1 of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house. So, Jesus went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. We got that picture in our mind.
Verse 37. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster flask. NIV says ointment. Let's talk about this verse too. We're gonna do a little bible study with Pastor David.
Okay? A woman of the city probably means a woman of the street. She was a prostitute. She was a sinner. That's who she was.
*Luke-7*. She learned Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house and brought an alabaster box of The Greek word for this, it says ointment here. Some translations say perfume. It can be translated either way. Perfume makes the most sense, which would have been an essential oil.
Okay? You guys follow me so far? So so, *Jesus* had a following. Jesus was relatively or very famous back then because he had been doing miracles, people had been being set free, forgiven of sins, some crazy stuff's happening. So it is quite possible, especially maybe, have you guys watched The Chosen?
How many of watched The Chosen? You see how people are clamoring to get to Jesus? It was like that back then. So, it's quite possible that when Jesus went into the Pharisees' house, the following couldn't all get in there, so maybe even some of them were looking through the windows. It's possible.
Because they heard there was a rumor going around that Jesus was reclining at the table. And this somehow got to this prostitute, this woman who sold herself for sex in order to make money. And despite what the Pharisees would have said about her, she didn't care what they said, she went and got her alabaster box of perfume and brought it. She burst into the Pharisees' house and brought it anyway. You guys follow me?
Now, why would she do this? We'll get there. Perfume would have been an essential oil. We know from Song of Solomon that women of the street, prostitutes usually used myrrh or 1 of the perfumes that they used was myrrh in order to draw in the men. Right?
To make themselves stand out and smell good in order to draw in the men so they can make more money. Could have been another perfume. I don't know if she had the money from her or not. We're not a 100% sure. Regardless, it was an essential oil.
The way and I just want take you through the process of how essential oil is made. It's it's important. I'm setting up something for the rest of the story. Myrrh comes from a small tree, foot to 9 foot in height. In order to extract the myrrh, they cut the bark.
And when they cut the bark, the the essence of the tree, the resin would bleed out. I guess a side note, when you're cut in life, what do you bleed? When you're cut in life, what comes out of you? Yes. But when you're cut in life, what comes out of you?
When it gets hard and life tries to break you, what comes out of you? The essence of who you are. Your intrinsic nature comes out. It overflows out of you. So, they take that resin that comes out and it hardens in the air.
So, in order to get the perfume or the essential oil out, what they do is they add heat to it. Okay? So, the boiling point of water is 212 degrees. It turns to steam, and then you cool it down and it condenses into water. Well, in order to make an essential oil or the essential oil of myrrh, what they would do is they'd add heat to it, and so the oils that are in the myrrh would begin to boil the boiling point of 398 degrees, which is much hotter.
Different heat to extract different things. And, it would boil, turn to steam, and then it would cool, condense, and they would have the essential oil of myrrh. You guys follow me? The essence of what was in the tree. The essence, the intrinsic nature of what it was.
Very important. So she brought this alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Remember, he's reclining at the table, his feet are back. She's behind him, wetting his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and anointed him with the perfume, with the myrrh with representing. She was pouring out the essence of who she was on Jesus.
And who was she? She was a prostitute. She was a woman of the street, a sinful woman. And so, she must have heard or had hope that this Jesus could impact her and could change her. She must have heard the testimony or the stories of others because when she heard he was there, she went and got this thing that represented her life and her lifestyle, and she brought it and she poured it out on Jesus.
She gave her life to him. The essence of who she is. I was sitting at the table with a couple a couple of days ago, and I said, what does it mean to be a Christian? What do you think it what does it mean to be a Christian? And 1 of them said, well, you don't have to really give it all.
I'm like, what? Wait a second. There's 2 words in the English language that don't go together. The word know and the word Lord. A lot of people want Jesus to save them, but they don't want him to be their Lord.
And, you don't get saved without him being your Lord. It costs your life. It costs your everything. But, pastor, you don't know what I've been through. You don't know what I've done.
No, you're right. I don't. But, I have a good idea of what she had potentially been through and what she had potentially done. See, a lot of times, not every time, can't say a 100% sure, but it is quite possible, prostitutes back in that day, they probably lost their husband due to some sickness or death or war or something crazy happened. So, they had no way of making money for themselves, or some other crazy catastrophe in their life left them thinking the only logical decision that I can make in order to make money and take care of the kids that I do have is to sell myself on the street.
Sex for money. You gotta get to a pretty low place. And so, by her pouring this perfume, which was her likely her livelihood on Jesus' feet, she was declaring that all of my pain, all of my hurt, all of the stuff that I've been through, Jesus, I'm pouring onto you. But not only that, this is my livelihood and my future moving forward. It's the only way that I can see that I can have a future, and I'm giving that to you too.
I'm entrusting you with my past and my present and my future. The cost of the oil was her life. It's the cost of knowing Jesus if you find it. There's no other way to come to Jesus. It must be a heart that screams full surrender.
And, I know that she was declaring that because of what Jesus said in in Luke-7:48. And, he said to her, your sins are forgiven. Then, who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, who is this that even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
Everybody say, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
Go in peace.
See, we're **saved by grace** through faith. Right? Grace is not just a concept. Grace is a person. And, his name is Jesus.
And man, he empowers you to be who you could never be on your own, and to live in a way you could never live on your own. We're saved by grace through faith. It requires faith. And what is faith? Hearing his word.
Faith comes by hearing, believing what you heard enough to take an action step. faith without works, faith without obedience is dead. Some of that obedience is repentance. It's pouring your life out onto His feet, regardless of the cost. Cost you everything.
By grace through? Faith. Faith comes by hearing, requires believing, and is completed by obedience. So, she somehow likely heard, like, we know she heard that Jesus was there, but likely heard of the testimony of what Jesus had done, and it gave her enough hope that I could get out of this dump of a lifestyle and experience the life that I was created to in *relationship* with my Father in heaven because of this man, Jesus Christ. Pretty awesome.
Right? There's something else that's very interesting. She poured her life on his feet, she washed his feet with her tears, and wiped his feet with her hair, and when she was done, the fragrance that she had poured out filled the room. Like her act of repentance, her act of laying her life down despite what the pharisees and the religious people in the room thought and like scoffed it like, oh my gosh, can't She did it anyway, it didn't matter. And, her act of *obedience* filled the room.
Not only that, she was the only 1 that walked out of that room smelling like Jesus. When you give your all to him, there's something that happens in that transaction where you walk away different. When you finally entrust the essence of who you are to him, you lay your intrinsic nature at his feet. He puts the "essence of who he is" inside of you in such a way that you're forever changed and your life has the capacity to "smell like him". Jesus' comment, your faith has saved you.
This is more than a walking of an aisle and raising your hand and 1 time emotional experience. It's a heart posture that overflows with the an act of confessing him as Lord. It's salvation. And, that heart change that happens, being born again results in you confessing him as Lord for the rest of your life. And, when you fall, you fall forward, you get back up, and you keep laying your life down in obedience to him.
That's Christianity. It's a 1 time 1 time decision that affects the rest of your life in the way that you live. And, if it doesn't, then you didn't really mean it that 1 time. Amen? That's my good friend, Sorry.
I got distracted. Squirrel. A mentor of mine who preaches when he when he goes on a bunny or he sees a bunny trail coming, he just Instead of saying anything about it, he just goes, bam. Shot that bunny. Let's keep going.
Bam. Shot that bunny. Let's keep going. So, we're saved by grace through? Faith.
The Bible says that, and that's good, and that's amazing. But, it also says, we continue in the same way that we started. That means, we continue by grace through faith. Amen? Amen.
How did we start? We started by seeing the fact that Jesus gave his life for us and rose again, so that we could experience his life. So we started by this receiving that, hearing that, believing that enough to give him our life, And, we continue the same way. No man can be my disciple unless he first deny himself, pick up his cross, and You guys following me so far? Alright.
Let's keep going. I have a hypothesis, this thought. Right? So this alabaster box and alabaster box is mentioned in all 4 gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In Luke in chapter 7, it happens early in Jesus' ministry, so it's very likely, it's I would say a 100% positive that the Luke-7 instance that we just read is not the same instance that happened in Matthew-26 or Mark-14 or John-20.
But, I do think that those instances are the same instance. Now, personally, I'm just gonna tell you my personal opinion on this. I think it's the same woman, different times in her life. Regardless, it doesn't change the principle of what I'm about to tell you, but that's just my personal opinion. Okay?
Fair enough? But, we'll notice in in the first time Let's just read. Let's go to John-20. *Lord*, help me to communicate this clearly, because I can't without you. *John-20*.
No. John-12. Sorry. Not 20. John-12:1.
6 days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So, they gave a dinner for him where Martha served and Lazarus was the 1 reclining at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment, once again, I would say perfume, made from pure nard, this is spikenard, we'll talk about it, and anointed Jesus' the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. Very similar. Sounds like the same woman to me.
But, the house was filled with the fragrance of this perfume. Now, I want just to kinda draw some parallels here. In in the first time, the woman And, this was her first act of giving her life to Jesus. This was where she was saved. Jesus said, your faith has saved you, and she gave the essence of who she was.
She poured it out on Jesus. That first time, she had an alabaster box too. It doesn't say the expense of the ointment, so it was probably the type of perfume that she used while she was in the street. But this time, it specifically says what type of ointment it was, what type of perfume it was. It was pure nard or spikenard in the original text.
That is like the "gold standard" 2000 years ago. It'd be like having a Tiffany's diamond or something that that when you have it, it means status, and it means like you're the it. Like, it's In Mark or Matthew, it says that the bottle, the alabaster box of ointment cost a full year's wage. Like, full year's wage. I'm talking The average wage around here is like $56,000.
Okay? So, imagine a bottle of perfume that costs $56,000, and Mary comes in, and she doesn't just open it and pour it. And, Mark, it actually says she bursts it. She breaks the whole bottle and pours it on Jesus' feet. Why would she do this?
At first, like the first act in Luke-7, when the lady poured her life on Jesus' feet, it caused the Pharisees to say, why would you do this? This doesn't make sense. But this act of obedience is a bit deeper. We know that Mary has been following Jesus for some time. Mary's been sitting at the feet of Jesus.
She has a deeper level of understanding of the worth of Jesus. Because she knows his love. She knows what he's been doing. She knows how he's been healing. She knows that he's the Messiah.
He's worth more to her. So her level of obedience is deeper. It costs more. Still the essence of who she is, the very best that she had. But she didn't just pour it out this time, and it wasn't her past life.
She had grown in who she was because she knew Christ, and now she's pouring out something that's even more valuable. Something that looks more like Jesus, but she's still giving it all at the feet of Jesus, even further into a relationship with him. You'll start by giving it all, and then just take back half of of it 2 weeks later, or 2 years later, or 20 years later. That's why people lose the joy of their salvation. They don't know what it means to continually lay their life down for Christ.
It's worth it. The cost of the oil is your life. It's obedience. Obedience is your life. So, we pour the essence of who we are on him and there's a great exchange.
*Jesus* died on a cross and rose again so that he could pour the essence of who he is on us. It's good that I go because I'm sending a helper, a comforter, a Holy Spirit, the essence of who he is. In the Old Testament, in Psalms, you know, we see, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me light out in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflow.
In the context of a shepherd and sheep, the shepherd would anoint the head of the sheep with oil in order to protect its eyes and its ears from the parasites and bugs that would try to get in it to prevent it from seeing and hearing. When we give our life to Jesus, he anoints us with the Holy Spirit, the essence. We we give out the essence of who we were, something unworthy, sinful, and nasty. We say, God, I'm entrusting my life to you. And he died and rose again, so he could entrust his life to us, the Holy Spirit, anointing us with the Holy Spirit, putting His Spirit inside of us in order to protect our eyes and our ears.
No man can see the kingdom of heaven unless they've been Can see the kingdom of heaven unless they've been born again. Our capacity to see and hear the Father comes after we give our life to Jesus, after we've laid our life on His feet. He puts the Holy Spirit inside of us so that we can see and experience and hear the kingdom of heaven. We can see and hear our Father moving around in this world and join in with what He's doing. We have the capacity for a relationship with Him that impacts every aspect of our life.
We pour out the essence of who we are, and He gives us the essence of who He is. It's pretty cool. And, it goes deeper. There's more. Deeper level of obedience, deeper level of following him from deeper levels of relationship with him.
See, there was also not just the anointing of sheep, there was the anointing of the prophet, the priest, and the king. And, when they would anoint them, like, about when Samuel anointed David, it says the Holy Spirit came on him powerfully. The Holy Spirit came on him to empower him to live out the calling that God had put on his life supernaturally. And, that didn't all just happen in an instant. He grew in his capacity to live out that anointing.
He grew in his capacity to experience the anointing, for others to experience the anointing through him. You follow me? Like, he didn't just go to being king in that moment, he went back to being a shepherd boy. But first, he killed the lion. That's supernatural.
And then, he killed the He's growing in his capacity to hear and believe the power of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Holy Spirit that God put on him, not just in him, but on him. It represents the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The empowerment to do the calling of God with power that impacts the world around you. The essence of God, not just in you, but on you. Overcame the lion, overcame the bear, then comes the Giant.
Giant. He defeated the giant, but he wasn't done. God's still stretching his faith and stretching his capacity to hear and believe and follow the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So then, he begins to lead armies and and shift, you know, those that were indebted and broken into mighty men of valor who were following the life that he lived, anointed by the Holy Spirit. It was contagious, and it began to impact others.
And then, he became leader of the kingdom, "walking in the fullness" of his calling. Are you willing to go through the process? What does that process look like growing in the anointing? The cost of the oil. That oil, the cost, the original cost was Jesus' life.
He paid his life so that we could experience the gift of the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. The cross was the price. The Holy Spirit, the prize. Pretty cool, Yeah. Let's talk about it for a little bit.
*John-14*. I'm gonna show you how to grow in the *anointing* to understand the cost and see the the difference between Luke-7 when she gave her life to Jesus, but then John-12, Matthew-26, Mark-14, when she she still gave her life to Jesus, but it was deeper. *John-14:20*, in that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. It's Jesus talking to his disciples. That's a statement of identity.
There's a lot of people that aren't secure in the fact that they're in Jesus, and Jesus is in them, and what that means for their daily life. First, you have to understand that. Jesus is in you, and you're in him, and it's a big deal. And, that impacts every aspect of who you are. Amen?
What comes after that? Whoever has my commandments, verse 21, and keeps them, that's obedience. Whoever has my commands and keeps them. Obedience. Those who love me, obey my commands.
Those who love me, obey my commands. Whoever has my commands and keeps them. Right? That's someone who's loving *Jesus* back. Now, first John, we love because he first loved us.
Right? So, we're not the initiators. He is. He first loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Jesus, the Father, demonstrated His love first.
We have to hear it, believe it enough to respond in love by saying, yes, you're the Lord of my life, and I'm gonna follow you, not just confessing it with your mouth, but meaning it with your heart so much that your life begins to follow. Then, what happens? Watch. Verse 20 or verse 21, whoever has my commands and keeps them, he is the 1 who loves me. Watch this.
And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and **manifest myself** to him. Your relationship with Jesus should daily be growing deeper and deeper and deeper. Why? Because you initiated your relationship when you gave your life to Jesus. You laid your life down because he first laid it down for you.
And then, he shows you a little bit more of himself. I will love him, the father will love him, and I will manifest myself to him. He doesn't show you everything. *Jesus said in John-16*, I have much more to tell you, but it's more than you can now bear. He shows you what you're ready for.
I haven't told my son everything I wanna teach him, but I've told him what he's ready for. And then, what shows that he's ready for more? I'll show you. He shows us a little bit more of himself. Wow, you love me this much?
This is who you are? That means this is who I am in you because I'm supposed to be an imitator of you as a dearly loved son? Man, this is amazing. Okay. Now, I'm accountable for what I know.
Now, I am required out of relationship, out of love, not out of this servitude duty even though I see myself as a servant of my father. I'm a friend too, and I'm required out of love in order to put that into practice in my life. So I heard his new command to me because him revealing himself to me is a new command for me to imitate. If he shows me his peace, I'm supposed to exude peace in every aspect of my life. If he shows me his joy, why don't I have joy?
It's because I'm too focused on myself instead of focused on him. I'm supposed to begin to exude joy in other aspects of my life, not because I'm doing this, but because I know him. And as I begin to walk in relationship with Him, I begin to put into practice the things I know about Him. I'm obeying His word. And that obedience is costing me more, not because I didn't give my life before, but it's because I've grown as a person, so I'm giving more by giving my life.
The *obedience* is going deeper. And what does he do? Oh, you're ready. My father my father is gonna love you by show allowing me to show more of myself to you. So I show more of myself to you.
Now, I see it. I'm like, wow, this is amazing. Oh my gosh, you're calling me into a deeper relationship with you, more holiness, more purity, more obedience. Now, I get to lay my life down in even deeper ways. Praise the Lord.
You don't know the cost of the oil. The cost of the oil is obedience. You don't know the cost of the oil for my life, and I don't necessarily know the cost for you. But, do you have a life of obedience? Do you have flasks of oil that you're carrying around that demonstrate the history of your relationship with God because you've been consistently growing in your relationship and saying, yes, Lord.
Or not. *Matthew-25*. Thank you, Jesus. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins, who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 5 of them were foolish and 5 were wise.
Just to let it sink in, I'm gonna say it again. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 5 of them were foolish and 5 were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But, the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight, there was a cry. Here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then, all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourself. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. Lord, Lord, Meaning, they thought they were friends.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not do all these things? Prophesy, heal the sick, cast out demons, and he'll turn to them plainly and tell them, I never knew you. There was no relationship. What happens here?
Afterward, the virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. Verse 12, but he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. There was never any relationship. I suspect they had fire from some oil that they had been in the habit of getting from the others. There's a lot of people that come and sit in church and get oil from the pastor, and they look like they have a lamp in a relationship with Jesus.
There's a lot of people that go to small groups and get oil from the leader of the small group, or have those friends that they get oil from those mentor friends in their lives, and it looks like they have a relationship with Jesus because their life is contagious. But the question is, do you have your own oil? What's the cost of oil at your life? Starts with obedience and continues that way. Yes, *Lord*.
Yes, *Lord*. If you don't know the cost of the oil. In my life, I think about *John-12* when Mary poured out her oil. Right? The spikenard, the most expensive, amazing stuff that was worth a year's wages.
I mean, representing the essence of who she was, which had, I believe, grown because of her relationship with Jesus with a deeper level of obedience. Right? She poured it out on the feet of Jesus. In the first In Luke-7, in the first 1, it caused the Pharisees to scoff. Oh my gosh.
Why would you do that? And, the second 1, the level of obedience was so deep that it caused the disciples to be indignant and angry. Not not not just Judges because Judges was 1 of them, but many of them. I don't know if it was all of them, but many of them. It caused him to be angry.
Why? Because she was calling the standard testimony in her life was calling others to deeper levels of relationship and deeper levels of obedience to the master. And they said, what a waste. He's worth the waste.
Yeah. When
I told my friends I was getting married at 20, out of obedience to God, they said, what a waste.
I said, Jesus is worth the waste.
When I told my extended family that I was getting out of the Navy, when it was time to get out of the Navy, and not taking an engineering job, but going into full time ministry, having to give up my dream home, my extended family said, what a waste.
*Jesus* is worth the waste. When
I told my family I was gonna my extended family I was gonna pick up my family and my wife and kids and move from Louisiana to Florida to an area where I knew no 1 because God told me to go there and plant a church.
They said, what a waste.
*Jesus* is worth the waste. It's a life of obedience. When God told me I'd go to some of the most dangerous nations in the world, and I said, what about my kids and my wife? And, he said, do you trust me? And I said, you're a better father in my absence than I could be in my in in with them.
I trust you. When I went to Pakistan, people thought what a waste.
*Jesus* is worth the waste.
I'm not telling you this so you can say, oh, about me. I'm telling you this, *Jesus is worth it. No matter what he's asking you to do, no matter what he's asking you to say, yes, Lord* to, he's worth it. Some of you may be sent to crazy nations, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan. Praise the Lord.
Is he worth it to you? Some of you may live the rest of your life till you're 96 year old years old here, when your flesh wants to be somewhere else? Are you willing to say, yes, Lord? Is he worth it to you? See, here's the cost, your life.
Not to some point where you're not willing to say yes anymore because that means you never knew him. If you really know him, you're always willing to say yes. You may struggle with it. You may fall. Fall forward, get back up.
He's gonna challenge you again to say yes. See, Revelation-12:11 says, they, being Christians, overcame him being the enemy by the blood of the lamb, what Jesus did, and the word of their Testimony. And then, it says this, they did not love their life unto death. He's worth it. I wanna live my life for the rest of my life with actions out of obedience to my heavenly father, to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to follow my Lord Jesus, that declare he's worth it.