This week we continue with week 5 of our sermon series, “Things Jesus Never Said.” It's nothing new for man to twist scripture in order to meet his own purpose and to add or take away from the gospel in order to make it more palatable to a heart unwilling to surrender. Sometimes we twist the gospel and the words of Jesus because we have convinced ourselves that the things we want must be the things He wants for us! Have you ever heard anyone claim, that if you give your life to Christ all your wildest dreams will come true? That it is His will for YOU to be prosperous, to be wealthy and for all your troubles to go away?! What a sad self-seeking promise that is. Jesus never said, “Follow me, and I will give you whatever you want,” but He DID say something quite shocking to at least one rich ruler… "go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Mark 10:17-23
“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before (Jesus) and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”