The Danger of Almost Following Jesus

You believe in God, you respect Jesus, you try to do the right thing. But let me ask you something. What if almost following Jesus is the most dangerous place to be?I'm not talking about open rebellion or rejection, but just almost. Because for so many of us, almost feel safe. Hey, it feels spiritual. It feels like enough. But what if it's not enough?Hey, I'm really glad you're here today. My name is Ralph Estep Jr.I'm a licensed accountant, I'm a business coach, and I'm someone who spent years helping people find clarity, not just in their finances, but in their lives. And this show, Truth Unveiled with Ralph, is where we slow down and cut through the noise of culture to uncover what's actually true.Because, like me, the world is loud, isn't it? Opinions are everywhere, and it's so easy to believe something that sounds right but isn't rooted in truth.So every week on this show, we take real struggles, real questions, real tension that all of us is feeling, and we bring them back to what God actually says. And today, we're going to talk about something that doesn't get said enough, the danger of almost following Jesus. Well, let's talk about it today.We live in a culture that says, just believe, be a good person. Hey, God knows your heart. And it sounds comforting. Doesn't sounds inclusive. It sounds easy.But it's also incomplete because in my opinion, culture has redefined faith into something that requires nothing. No surrender, no obedience, certainly no transformation, just agreement. But Jesus never called people to agree with him.He called people to follow him. Here's the reality. A large percentage of people say they believe in God. That's a wonderful thing. I'm happy to hear that.Many say they believe in Jesus. Another wonderful thing. But far fewer have lived, surrendered lives. And that gap, that space between belief and surrender, that's where almost lives.And almost is dangerous, because it feels like enough, but it never leads to transformation. Now, I want to show you this through a real moment in scripture.If you want to open up your Bibles, we're going to go to the Book of Matthew, chapter 19, verses 16 to 22. And you'll notice I brought the microphone back into the shot.If you're watching this on video, I didn't think about the Bible is going to be right here in front of me, so bear with me here a second. But we're going to Matthew 19. And this part of the scripture is called the Rich Young Man. This is from Matthew 19, verses 16 to 22. And it says this.Now A man came up to Jesus and asked, teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied, there is only one who is good. If you want to enter.If you want to enter life, obey the commandments. That's a great question, isn't it? Now, at first, you might think, was this guy mocking Jesus? I don't think he was.He certainly wasn't rejecting Jesus. I think like so many of us, he was just seeking Jesus doesn't tell us in the story, but I think this was a moral guy.He was religious, but he was also close. And Jesus walks him through the commandments. And the man responds, I have kept all of these. What do I still lack? Do you hear that?What do I still lack? And on the surface, we could say, wait a second, he's looking for something.But I think if we go a little deeper down, even this young rich man knew something was missing. That's discernment. That's conviction. Let's talk about some context here. This was a wealthy man, a respected man.I think Scripture says he was a disciplined man, a successful man, the kind of person a lot of people would look at and say, hey, he's doing things right. And the problem is, you can look on the outside, you can look good on the outside and still be missing something inside.You show up, you do the right things. Maybe people would look at your life and say, hey, Dave, that person's got it together.You go to church, you're kind to people, you try to live right, but when it's quiet, when it's just you, there's something unsettled. It's this gap you can't really explain. You can't even put it into words. And no, you can't point to a single failure.But you feel like something's missing. And I think that's what this man felt. He knew something in his life was missing. Because, yeah, you can follow rules and still not follow Jesus.You can avoid the big sins. We could list those if we wanted to, the big ones. You can live and keep your life in order. You can check all the boxes.I'm doing all the right things. I'm a good Christian. But following rules is not the same as following Jesus. Now, maybe that hurts a little bit, but it's the truth.See, you can live a discipled and disciplined life without surrendering your heart. You can say all the right things and still be in control. Because rules don't require relationship and friends.Jesus didn't come to Give you a checklist. He came to take over your life, which is why you can be close. That's what we're talking about today.You can be so close to that relationship and still not be surrendered. You can be near him, I mean, super close to him, and still not be his.You can listen to messages just like this and maybe you're actually feeling something.And if I could see you right now, you're probably nodding your head, you're agreeing with me, you might even feel some conviction in your heart, but you still walk away the same. And that's what makes Almost so dangerous. It feels like progress, but it stops short of surrender. And the truth is, most people don't reject Jesus.Sure, there are people that reject Jesus there they exist, sure. But there's a whole lot many more people that just never fully follow him. And that's the tension we have to deal with.And Jesus says this in the scripture. He says, if you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, then come follow me. Yeah, Jesus laid it down, didn't he?And what does it say next? It says, when the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth. Now I think myself would. I've argued with Jesus. I might have.I'm an argumentative kind of guy. People tell me. But this guy didn't argue. He didn't reject Jesus. He didn't say, oh, you're crazy, you're full of crap. He never said any of that.What did he do? He just walked away. Just turned around and walked away from what I believe he knew was right.And Jesus had laid it down and the man was too wealthy to be able to set it down and walk away from it. So let me ask you right now, what are you holding on to that's keeping you from fully following Jesus? That's a tough question.What's that one thing that you won't surrender because you just don't. Don't want to do it? I'll give you a great example of this.And I've never really spoke about this on this show, but there was a point when I was a Mason. Masons is sort of a benevolent organization. Tripping over my words there a little bit, but a benevolent organization.And I got pretty high up in that and, and I found at one point it didn't really sync with Christianity. I felt like there was an objection to this.And I'll never forget my father in law, he's passed away since and he was really big into the Masons and I'll never forget the day I said to him, I think I need to stop being a Mason. And he says, Ralph, he says, you've invested so much in this. I said, yeah, I have.I had gone up through the degrees, I'd been this degree and that degree, and they do good things. I'm not sitting here talking about how bad the Masons are, they do good things. But for me it was a character and conviction issue.So I remember saying to my father in law, his name was Archie, and I said, archie, I want to say something to you. And I explained to him where I was at in that. And I said, how does, how do you feel about that? And I'll never forget what he said to me.He says, I'm just too invested in this. I've just put so much of my life into this. And I remember almost weeping when he said that because I thought, yeah, he's the one that's so close.But unwilling to surrender. What's that one thing in your life that you won't surrender? Well, let's look at our next Bible verse.It comes to us from the book of Luke, chapter nine. And it's Luke, chapter nine, verses 20 or verses 23. Let me get in my Bible here to Luke. And we are going to Luke 9 in verse 23. Let me get this here.And like I said, I always encourage you to follow along in the Bible or if you, maybe if you're not where you can get your Bible right now, get to it later. But this is Luke 29, Luke 9, 23.And then he said to them all, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me will save it. And I love this next part.It says, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit his very self? And I remember going back to that discussion in the kitchen and I thought to my father in law, you're losing everything.See, Jesus made it abundantly clear in the scripture there. Following him is not casual, it's not partial, it's not, well, I'm a Sunday Christian. It's not convenient. See, following Jesus requires surrender.That's a word that we don't like to use in common culture. Surrender, loss of control, removal of control. Following Jesus is not adding him to your life, it's giving him your life.Do you understand the difference? It's not, oh, I'm going to be a Follower of Jesus. I'm going to put him in the. He's going to be going to be one of my friends.No, Surrender means I'm giving him my life. And we'll talk a little bit later in the show about if you've never surrendered it. I want to encourage you to do that today, but it's not.I'll keep control and ask God to bless it. Fixing to step on some toes right now. How many times have you prayed about something, oh, oh, Lord, I just want you to bless this.But man, I'm going to control it. That doesn't work. Surrender looks like this, God, you take control and I'll follow you. That's different.It's something our culture doesn't really talk about in polite conversation. Because surrender means you don't call the shots anymore. Your plans, your timeline, your preferences, they all move under his authority.And that's where most people struggle. We struggle because we want Jesus as Savior. Oh, Lord, please save me. I'm worried about hell. I'm worried about where I'm going next.We don't always want him as Lord. Sure, we want peace, we want forgiveness, and we want our blessings, right? But surrender, that's where it gets real.And see, to truly surrender, it requires dying to self. Jesus never said, improve yourself. He never said, oh, here's a, here's the best self help book that you can buy. It's not what he said.What did he say? He said, deny yourself. It requires dying to self. Jesus never said, improve yourself. He said, deny yourself. And yeah, that's strong.Because dying to self means that your desires don't lead you anymore. Oh, I desire to do this, I desire to do that. No, you're dying to that. Your feelings don't decide anymore. Well, I feel this way or I feel that way.No, it doesn't work that way. And your comfort is not the priority anymore. Those are hard things. I see. This is where culture pushes back so hard.Because culture says things like, follow your heart. Whatever my heart leads me, that must. That must be where I need to go. Do what feels right. I'm so frustrated. I hear that all the time.Well, I'm doing what I feel is right. That doesn't make it right. Culture says, live your truth. But friend, there is a truth that might not be your truth.And Jesus says something very bluntly, says, lay that down. Why do you think he says that? Because your heart will lead you away from him if it's not surrendered to him. So let's talk about what?Dying to Self really looks like it looks like this. Choosing obedience when it's uncomfortable, when you're in that situation where this doesn't feel comfortable.But I'm still going to be obedient to God. It looks like forgiving when you don't feel like it. Somebody wronged you, somebody hurt you, somebody did terrible things to you.But what does the scripture tell us to do? Forgive them, man. I sure don't feel like it, Ralph.But that's what it means to die, to self forgiving even when you don't feel like it, and letting go of control when you want to hold on. I'm so guilty of that one. I've shared on the show before. I'm a controlling guy to. I am. But it doesn't work. And none of what I just said is easy.These things are really hard things to do. But it's where transformation actually happens. And it requires a daily commitment. Look at what Jesus said. He said, take up your cross now.He didn't say take it up once. He didn't say take it up once a year. He said, take up your cross daily. Not once, not occasionally. Daily. Because following Jesus is not a moment.I think so many people get hung up on that salvation prayer. Oh, I follow Jesus today. It's a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle that every day you wake up, you have a decision to make. Who's in charge today?Is it me or is it him? See that daily commitment looks like this. Choosing time with God, even when you're busy. I'm a busy guy.As I'm recording this right now, I'm in the middle of tax season. I mentioned at the beginning, I'm an accountant. I have my own accounting practice this time of year.I have clients every hour, on the hour, every day, for weeks. But a daily commitment looks like this. Before my day starts, I go to Jesus. Even when I'm busy, it starts there.It means aligning your decisions with his Word, not what you feel like it's true. Not living your truth or my feelings. What's the word say? Because the Word's going to spank you sometimes. The Word's going to feel uncomfortable.The Word's going to say, no, you can't do that like that. You got to do it like this. And it also means catching yourself when you start drifting. We've talked a lot about drift on this show.I really think that's one of the biggest cultural problems we're in right now. Drift is real. Because for so many of us, we don't wake up one day and decide to walk away from Christ. We're not like the young rich man.We don't just turn around and walk away. We drift little by little, decision by decision, day by day.But I truly believe that that daily commitment and daily decision every morning, it's kind of like a marriage. In a marriage, wise person once said to me, being married means that every day you make a decision to love this person more than yourself.That's a daily decision. Well, walking with Christ is a daily commitment as well. And when you make that daily commitment, that's what keeps you close.Now, you're never going to be perfect. Spoiler alert. None of us are perfect. But by making that daily commitment, you will be anchored.And that's why this almost following Jesus is just not enough. Because following Jesus was never meant to be partial. It was always meant to be everything. So let me ask you this.Have you reduced following Jesus to something comfortable in your life? Is it comfortable? I'm not sure. You're following Jesus if you're doing that. Well, let's move on.In Scripture, we're going to go to the book of Revelation. Let me get my Bible here. And we are going to go to Revelation, chapter three. And again, if you've got your Bible, I'd love for you to follow up.My grandfather used to always say, listen to what the preacher, he would call him the preacher man. He said, listen to what the preacher man says, but then you go home and verify it. And I want to encourage you all to do the same thing.But let's go to Revelation, chapter 3, verses 15 and 16. And let's see here. And I'm going to back up just a little bit. I'm going to go to 14. And this is to the church of Leodicea.It says to the angel of the church and Laodicea, I write this. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. And then it gets real.I know your deeds, that you're neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. That's harsh.You know, as I. As I get more into scriptures, I get a little bit older, a little bit wiser.I. I look at scripture sometimes and I man, scripture is kind of harsh sometimes. But I guess that's what Jesus wanted us to know. The Word is not easy. But what is Jesus affirming here? He's certainly not Affirming lukewarm faith.And that's where we have to be honest. Jesus is loving everything we hear about Jesus. Jesus is loving, he's patient. Jesus is merciful.These are all the wonderful platitudes you hear about Jesus if you go to church on Sunday. But he's also absolutely clear. He doesn't affirm lukewarm faith. He doesn't look at halfway commitment, say, oh, you know what? That's good enough.Oh, yeah, you're almost there. That's fantastic. I come on it, you're good. He doesn't look at divided loyalty and say, oh, I understand.You want to be in control and you want to give me a little control. Yeah, we can live with that. It's not what he says because he knows what it costs you. Jesus knows that lukewarm faith keeps you stuck where you are.It keeps you comfortable, but it doesn't change you. Sure, it keeps you near him, but never fully with Him. And that's not because he wants to reject you. It's because he wants more for you.He wants your whole heart. Listen to me right now, friend. Jesus wants you holy. He wants your whole heart. But you also have to think about this. Indifference is not neutrality.So many of us tend to think this. If I'm not against God, I must be okay. I'm not against God. He's a good man. He's a good guy. Yeah, but that's not how this works.Being indifferent is not neutral. It's a direction. And if you're not moving towards him, I hate to tell you this, but I say this out of love. You're drifting away from him.There is no middle ground in surrender. There's no pause button on obedience. There's no safe space. Well, I'll deal with this later. Because relationships don't grow through indifference.They just fade. And your relationship with God is no different. Indifference is not going to work. And almost is not safe. And this might be the hardest part.I really battled with even sharing this today because this is the hardest part. It's hard for me because almost feels safe. You're not too far from God. You're not rejecting him.As I said at the beginning, you're not living in open rebellion. You're just not all in. And because of that, it feels like you're okay. I'm doing all the right things. I go to church on Sunday.Hey, I even go to church on Wednesday nights. I. I do all the right things. I live a good life. But almost is not safe because it gives you A false sense of security.It tells you things like, oh, you know what? You're close enough. Just about there. I'm just about there. Hey, I'm doing fine. I'm almost there. Getting there. I don't need to go any deeper.Yeah, those are super religious people. I don't need to be like them. I'm right here with Jesus. Yeah, Jesus is my homie. But being close is not surrendered.Being near to him is not being saved. And almost is not following him. And I'm not saying any of that to scare you. I'm saying that because I care about you. I love you.Because I don't want you to settle for something that looks like faith. Maybe it feels like faith. It feels right to me. But never transform your life. Because, friend, Jesus didn't die for partial commitment.He wanted to go all the way. He died to give you a new life. And that life begins when you fully surrender to him. So let me ask you this. Are you fully in? Really? Are you fully in?Or are you just close enough to feel comfortable? Kind of like that fireplace in the winter.You can see there's a fire going and maybe you're in the room and you can feel the heat from it, but you're not in it. I want to share with you some truth right now as this show is all about truths. First one's, this almost belief is not saving faith.Believing about Jesus is not the same as following him. There's a lot of people that say, oh, I believe in Jesus. Oh, geez, a good man, God, yeah, he's a good one.But just because you believe in him doesn't mean you're following him. Here's the second thing. Comfort can disguise compromise. So easy to find ourselves in a slippery slope of compromise.Because if your faith cost you nothing, friend, that might not be biblical faith. See, when you really embrace Christianity and going to lose friends, you're going to lose people around you. Your faith will cost you something.Things that are valuable cost you something. Here's another thing. Number three. Your heart always has a competing king. Let's look at the rich ruler for a second. What was his competing king? Money.I built so much, Lord, I can't walk away from this. My father in law, same thing. Put so many years into this, Ralph, I've invested too much. Maybe for you it's control.Oh, I'm not willing to relinquish this. I got to be in control of my life. I've seen what it looks like when I'm not in control. And I Don't like that. Maybe it's pride.Oh, I got this all figured out. I'll throw men under the bus. I don't need a map. I don't need to stop and get directions. I don't need Jesus to tell me how to live my life.Maybe it's security. I think it's a false sense of security. What security do you have outside of Jesus? And maybe it's approval.Something always sits on the throne in place of Jesus if you allow it. That's how the heart works. What's sitting on your throne right now? Here's the fourth thing. Jesus doesn't ask for part. He asks for all.This is the stumbling block for so many people. He's not asking for your Sunday. He's not asking for your words. He's asking for your life. He gave you his life. Do you understand that?Let's just pause here for a second. Jesus gave you everything. What does he want from you? Everything. Here's number five. Delayed surrender is still resistance.You may not get the chance, friend. Don't find yourself making statements like, I'll get serious later. What if later never comes? Don't ever say, I'll deal with that someday.What if someday never comes? Those feelings, that's not surrender. That's postponement.And I believe there are a lot of people that postpone that decision to follow Christ, and they're not with them right now. Well, let me bring this home. Let me ask you point blank, where are you? Almost at home. Are you almost. Are you almost at work in your private life?Well, here's some things I want to encourage you to do this week. Pray about it and think about. I identify where you haven't surrendered. What are those points in your life that.You know what, I've given a lot of this over Ralph, but I'm not letting go of that. I'm not letting go of my finances. I'm not letting go of that TV program. I really like this TV program. But you know it's not right.You know it's not what God would have you put in your mind. Be honest about what's holding you back. We talked about pride and arrogance and approval and security and control. What's holding you back?And take one step of obedience this week, now, for you, that might be spending time in God's word daily. I'm going to encourage you every morning. Get in God's word. This Bible is a beautiful book. It's got it all in here.But the thing about books, if you never open them Up. You never see what's inside. You got to get into it. You got to live it. You got to look at this and say, what does this say to me?But I'm going say one other thing that's super simple and that's talk to God. Honestly, a lot of people get hung up on this. God is not asking you for some super spiritual prayers. I think he spoke directly against that.It's okay to look up to him and say, God, I don't understand this. It's okay to look up to him and say, God, I want to surrender, but how do I do that? You don't have to be perfect, but you got to let it go.You got to surrender. Don't live almost anymore, Friend. Maybe this is you today. Maybe this is hitting home. Close to home. Closer than you thought it would.You clicked on this video. I'm not sure where Ralph's going here today, but, man, he's saying something I gotta listen to.Because maybe you do believe Jesus a is a good man, but you've never fully surrendered your life. You've been close, been right there, but you just never committed. Yeah, you were living near to him, but you never transformed your life.And today, right at this moment, you feel it. You feel that pull. You feel that conviction, that knowing you know in your heart that almost is just not enough. Well, here's the good news.You don't have to stay there.The Book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 9, says if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be saved.So if you're ready right now, wherever you are, doesn't matter where you are, let's pray together, because your day of salvation could be right at this moment. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I don't want to be almost anymore. I surrender my life to you right at this moment. Lord, forgive me of my sin.Be my Savior. Be my Lord. I. I give you everything. From this moment forward, I choose to follow you. Amen.Well, if you just prayed that prayer, that wasn't a small thing. That was everything. And I truly believe that heaven celebrates that decision. And I want to celebrate with you as well, friend.You're not almost anymore. You're his. So here's what comes next in your life. I want to encourage you to start reading scripture daily. I love the Book of John.Get into the Book of John and just read it from front to back and really think about it. You don't have to read the whole thing in one day. Just think about it and talk to God one on one. Talk to God honestly every day.He wants to hear from you. Get connected to a Bible believing church.There are some great churches out there that believe in the Bible and surround yourself with people who also follow Jesus and I want to help you as well. We have a community and I would love for you to be a member of our community. You can go to truth unveiled with Ralph.com join.We'll put a link in the show notes but again that's truth unveiled with Ralph.com join and there's a bunch of free resources waiting for you right there. I would love for you to connect with me and hey, maybe you prayed that prayer.Just send me a message and say ralph, I heard what you said today and if you know somebody else that needs to hear this message, please share this show with them. Well, let's close in prayer together. Lord, thank you for meeting us here today.Thank you for loving us enough not to leave us in that feeling of almost. Give us the courage every day to surrender fully. We ask that you would strengthen our faith and draw us closer to you. In Jesus name I pray.Amen friend. You don't have to live intention of almost anymore. You don't have to wonder if it's enough anymore.Full surrender leads to real peace in your life and today you took a step towards that. And if today's message spoke to you again, share it with someone who might be living in almost.There's a lot of people that you know right now that are living almost and remember this, God isn't looking for perfect people. If he was, none of us would be in be able to do it, would we? What he's really looking for is surrendered hearts.And I'll see you next time on Truth Unveiled with Ralph. God bless you.