Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO No ifs, ands, or buts Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA November 9, 2003 Main Scripture text: Luke 9:51-62. The text says Jesus set out "resolutely" for Jerusalem. The time for the fulfillment of God's plan in sending Jesus to earth was near. Jesus knew He would not only celebrate the Passover Feast in Jerusalem but become the Passover, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. On his journey, Jesus encounters three aspiring disciples. The first pledged to follow Jesus wherever he went. No doubt, he thought Jesus, as the Messiah, would liberate Israel, restore her fortunes and establish her as a leader among nations. This would-be disciple thought he would be following Jesus to wealth, power and political prestige. Jesus makes it clear that following Him is no guarantee of financial or political gain, and could in fact result in just the opposite. The second and third encounters are particularly difficult to understand. Jesus response to both men seems harsh -- and in a sense it is. He is calling for a radical reorientation of priorities. Jesus isn't diminishing the importance of family. Rather, He is stressing the greater importance of what is happening in their very midst. The Kingdom of God is breaking into human history, and it takes precedence over every other things. Jesus is also drawing attention to the "passingness" of time. When this moment passes into history, it -- and the opportunities it affords -- are gone forever. Jesus is saying: "I'm going to Jerusalem. If you want to follow me you have to come now. I won't be coming back this way." Discipleship calls us to radical, immediate obedience to Christ, forsaking other duties if the situation demands it. There is no room for "ifs, ands or buts." When the moment passes, the opportunity Jesus wanted us to take advantage of may be gone. The bottom line: Obedience to Christ isn't just a matter of reading the Bible and trying to do what it says. Obedience also involves 1) being able to hear the Spirit of God speaking to us and 2) obeying now -- no ifs, ands or no buts. There are times when we need to reflect on what we think God is saying to us and pray over it for a long time. But we don't need to ruminate over every prompting of the Spirit. We just need to obey. To live that as people who obey right away we must be able to know God's voice -- and that requires that we spend time with Him. God made us for fellowship with Him. If we miss that we'll miss the incredible joy of living in immediate obedience to His voice. A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here. (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of this sermon is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 031109a: No Ifs, Ands, or Buts. © 2003 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us