The Trajectory of the Kingdom

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Amen.

Let's pray together, church.

Lord, we our prayer this morning is that you would Holy Spirit, you would illuminate the scriptures and let us see uh uh in granular detail the beauty of what you've been doing all along.

Help us to understand today that there's nothing random in the Bible.

There's no throwaway lines, uh, there's nothing, not a wasted word, not a wasted uh movement.

Uh it all is purposeful and intentional.

And so it's not history, it's really his story.

You've been telling your story for a long time.

Help us to see that today.

And cause that, God, uh, to cause us to trust you more.

Uh let our response to seeing what you've been doing on a big picture, even though you're surrounded by people who did not understand what you were doing, you did it anyway.

You knew what weighted you in Jerusalem, and you went anyway.

So if we're facing hard things today, we could do hard things because the outcome that we're seeking is the glory of God.

It's not save me, God.

It's not get me out of this.

It's God, get glory from this.

This is what we've come to do to increase our capacity today from your word and by your spirit to give you glory for everything we go through.

We're not here to be rescued, God.

We're here so you can be glorified.

And so, Lord, let our response to what you say today just be to lift our hands up and then lay our whole life down before you.

Anything less than that means we didn't we didn't understand something along the way.

So, Holy Spirit, aid us in the understanding today.

And we will lift our hands up and lay our lives down.

This is our prayer, make it our experience.

We ask in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

You can have a seat.

And if you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Luke chapter 19.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

And I want to talk to you on this Palm Sunday about the trajectory of the kingdom, the trajectory of the kingdom, because on Palm Sunday, we really typically uh uh we talk about the triumphal entry when Jesus enters into Jerusalem for the last week of his life.

Now, here's the thing I said it in the prayer, I think, that if you're facing something hard today, something difficult, like you got a hard meeting tomorrow, or you got uh uh something even bigger, more difficult than that, and then the next week or the next month, or even in the next year, I want you to know that you can face that and you can go through that, and you're gonna be okay, okay?

It's not gonna overwhelm you, it's not gonna crush you, life's gonna go on because this is what we see in Jesus.

He he comes uh uh riding into Jerusalem.

This is the last week of his life, it's fixing to begin.

And so I want you to understand the trajectory of the kingdom uh uh as demonstrated by the king.

Now, if you listen today, uh I I believe this will happen, okay?

So if you're 22 and you're not married and you want to be married, which I highly recommend.

It's great because when the NCAA basketball tournament is on, your crazy spouse says on Saturday, let's work in the yard.

What's your problem, okay?

Make daddy a sandwich.

But anyway, uh, but if you listen today, uh uh here's the thing: this will change the way you wait.

This will 22-year-old, this will change the way you wait for a husband or a wife, a job, test results, the right time to buy a house, or for that wayward adult child to come home to their faith.

Because what you'll see today in the Bible is that the moral arc of what God is doing is long, but it bends towards glory.

Let me say that again.

The moral arc of what God is doing is long, but it bends towards God's glory.

Luke chapter 19, verse 28 says this.

Luke 19:28

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem, when he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount of what is called Olives, he uh Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever yet sat.

Untie it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it?

You shall say this, the Lord has need of it.

So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them.

And as they were untying the colt, its owner said to them, Why are you untying the colt?

And they said, The Lord has need of it.

And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

And as they rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road, as he was drawing near.

Already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that 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 in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

The trajectory of the kingdom, what do you mean?

What do we see in this?

I think we see three things in the text today as it relates to the trajectory of the kingdom.

Number one, it comes in God's timing.

It comes in God's timing.

God has a sense of timing.

And let me just begin with a question.

If you want to have a great before you go to bed tonight, uh you should ask yourself this question.

What question is my life asking God right now?

What question is my life asking God right now?

Because when it comes to timing, often we relate to God as if we're asking the question, do you know what time it is?

Do you have any idea how bad I need this to happen?

And I mean happen yesterday.

But what I want it this morning is I want the triumphal entry to remind all of us today that God is a God of timing.

He knows what he's doing, and he works on his time and not ours.

Let me say that again.

God is a God of timing.

One of the things, if you read Old and New Testament, you don't just cherry-pick different verses out of context, you'll never have a sense of divine timing if you do that.

But if you kind of read the story that God's been telling all the way from in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth to the very end of Revelation, even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

God is a God of timing, and he works on his time and not ours.

And having said that, it's probably helpful if you understand uh the way Jesus thought about time.

There's two words in the Bible for time there's chronos, which is chronological.

It happens, you know, today's Sunday.

We went to church, and then chronological order, we had lunch, and then chronological order, we had a nap.

And then we watched the Houston Cougars beat the Aggies in the tournament.

Woo! Oh, there you are.

There you are.

If you're visiting today, if you ever want to know whether there's Aggies in this church, just mention A M and you'll get oh, come on, stop marrying your cousin, okay?

Quit.

Good night.

And don't send me emails, okay?

I I get it.

I'm I'm just yeah, anyway.

Uh uh, but but basically, chronological chronos is just chronological.

The other word for for time in the Bible is kairos.

Kairos.

And this is the kind of time that Jesus lived in.

Here's the way I explain it to people Kronos means time runs out.

Kairos means time fills up.

It's why Jesus was never in a hurry.

He never said to his disciples, we're gonna be late.

Come on.

Matter of fact, somebody came to him and said, Hey, your friend Lazarus is sick.

And Jesus is like, All right, I'll be there in a couple days.

He just didn't get in a hurry.

Why?

Because he lived in Kairos.

You should ask yourself, do I live in Kranos or Kairosh?

Jesus lived in this Kairos the sense that time fills up.

He he enters this is why he enters Jerusalem when he does.

He was never, ever in a hurry.

Ask yourself this question.

But he was always purposeful.

Oh, okay?

That's a balancing act there.

He was never in a hurry, but he was always purposeful.

Uh ask yourself today, when you have to wait, do you have more of a sense that time is running out or that time is filling up?

Because if you have to wait, if the way you think about time is time is running out, here's what you'll do: you'll take matters into your own hands.

But if you have a sense that time is filling up, you're just you're just just just chilling.

You're just relaxed.

You have sat down on the inside and you have this increased capacity to leave it in God's hands.

And so I understand that you maybe think, time running out, time filling up.

I can't really picture time filling up.

Let me give you a picture: the Panama Canal.

The engineers in the room were like, yes, finally, something we understand.

Everybody else is like, uh, what?

The Panama Canal.

See, I'm kind of a nerdy person.

I don't really enjoy TV.

I like it now because the tournament's on.

I watch that, I watch golf.

That's about it.

Uh, sports center and a documentary.

I watched a documentary a while back on the Panama Canal.

20,000 people died.

Excuse me, 25,000 people died in the building of the Panama Canal.

It was started by a French company, that thing went legs up.

Americans came in, took over, finished the project.

And I'm not saying because America's great, I'm just saying that's a little historicity.

But here's the thing I didn't know, fun fact about the Panama Canal, that there's these things called locks.

Think of it as a big long shoebox.

A ship comes into that, the door closes behind it, they pump water in there, and they can lift a ship.

And those basically those ships go uphill in the Panama Command.

I did not know that.

I was so fascinated.

I paused the TV, put on some coffee at about 11 o'clock at night and watched the entire thing.

My wife's like, Were you up late last night?

Yes, I was, and I was feeding the beast, lady.

Not only do the ships go uphill, but the lock system is so designed that the ships can go back down the hill.

And I was like, Shut up.

I mean, I'm just like pulled up a chair close to the TV, like, I wish I was a mechanical engineer.

It's fascinating.

When time fills up, basically in the Panama Canal, you go into this thing called a log, like a big shoebox.

The ship comes in, they pump water, it fills it up, and when it's up to a certain level, the door in front opens up and it just kind of floats into the next thing.

It can float uphill, it can float downhill.

When you live in Kairos, that time fills up, you're never in a hurry.

You're always just you because you believe, hey, when the time's right, this door's gonna open.

I don't have to kick it down.

I don't have to break in because God's not a burglar.

He doesn't break in.

He just kind of moves because he in the fullness of time.

Ask yourself, whatever situation and circumstance you're in right now, has time filled up and is it time to move to the next thing, or is time running out and you're beginning to panic?

See, it comes, the trajectory of the kingdom.

The first thing I want you to understand is that it comes in God's timing.

Allow me to demonstrate what I'm talking about from the life of Jesus, okay?

Just think locks.

Just this happened and then this happened.

He never was in a hurry, he never panicked.

People got mad at him, they picked up rocks to stone him.

They were so mad about, they so disagreed.

I mean, you talk about cancel culture today, it's like we're gonna say bad things about you on social media.

Ha! Big deal, losers.

These people put rocks and they wanted to smash Jesus to death.

And the Bible says he just walked right through the crowd.

Why?

My time has not yet come.

Kairos.

Everybody around him lived on Kronos, hurrying and scurrying.

Jesus just kind of moved everything through.

He wasn't phased, he was just Kairos, hey, in the fullness of time, my time has not yet come.

If you read, let me just read from the Bible.

This is Luke chapter 9, verse 51.

Luke 9:51

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

When the days drew near, how did he know the days were drawing near?

He lived with this sense of kairos.

He he he was moved not by external circumstances, but by inward understanding.

This is Mark chapter 9, verse 30.

Mark 9:30

They went on from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.

Hello is going to be, this hasn't yet happened, and I want you knuckleheads around me to understand.

Okay, they're fighting over who's going to set it as right and left hand of the kingdom.

And he is saying, Listen, I'm going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.

But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him.

If you know you were going to be delivered into the hands of men and they were going to kill you, would you still go anyway?

This is how you do hard things.

Because Jesus understood, I'm going to be delivered into the hands of men.

That's one thing.

They're going to kill me, that's another thing.

But after three days, I'm going to rise.

That's the best thing.

It goes on.

Matthew chapter 20, verse 17.

Matthew 20:17

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside.

Look at me.

He's always taking the 12 aside because he's trying to say to them, Do you understand what's fixing to happen?

And they didn't because they were thinking, hey, when we're going to have regime change, and I'm going to get to be the secretary of the treasury, and I'm going to get to be your VP, and I'm going to be the secretary of defense.

They're thinking, posturing about what this means for them.

And Jesus is like, hey, understand what I'm about.

Understand the timing that's taking place right now.

As he was going to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside.

And on the way he said to them, See, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.

Matthew chapter 16, verse 21.

Matthew 16:21

From that time.

Hello.

There's a timestamp right there.

It's called the Caesarea Philippi incident, because Jesus was in the air in this region of these two towns, Caesarea and Philippi, and he'd asked the disciples, Hey, who do men say that I am?

And they say, Oh, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah or one of the prophets.

And Jesus kind of sharpened the focus and said, Who do you say that I am?

And Peter's like, he got it right.

Peter's like, hey, you're the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

He said, Blessed are you, Simon Son of Barjona, flesh and blood, did not reveal that to you.

And then he picks up with this verse 21, Matthew 16, from that time.

Now that you understand who I am, you're going to understand the magnitude of what I'm about to do.

From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.

But Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan.

You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

This is, look at me, beloved.

This is a very clear picture of a man that lives in Kranos and a man that lives in Kairos.

The person that lives in Kranos is always trying to correct the guy that lives in Kairos.

Jesus lived in Kairos, and Peter's like, oh, that will never happen.

And Jesus is like, Yeah, because you don't understand the fullness of time, that's exactly what's going to happen.

You ever wonder if the issue is not God's timing is off as much as we can't be trusted with what we're asking God to give us.

A lot of people don't understand.

You say, Well, Kairos, Karnos, whatever.

Ask yourself this question.

Could your life, the way you actually live, who you really are when no one's looking, could your life support the weight of God actually answering your prayers?

Or, like some people, do you just ask God for things that you know you can't be trusted with?

Because when it doesn't happen, it just gives you another reason to keep trusting yourself and not trusting God.

One of the things you see all through the gospels is that Jesus lived with this sense of the fullness of time.

And when this happened, it was time to go on to this next thing and then this next thing.

This is why he's able to ride into Jerusalem, knowing fully well what awaits him there.

The trajectory of the kingdom, okay?

Secondly, it comes in keeping with history, it comes in God's timing.

Secondly, it comes in keeping with history.

Uh, God is very clear about history, he loves history, he's all about history, he doesn't contradict what he said in history.

So when I say it comes with a sense of history, it's one thing I want you to understand, and the Bible should teach us, is that God has a sense of history.

It's not like every day he's scrambling to say, What am I gonna do now?

No, he has continued to live off the same script.

It says way back in Genesis 1, where he says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And so before God created, God existed.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

Before God did anything about me and you, God just stood in the solitude of himself.

He was sufficient for himself, he wasn't sad, he wasn't lonely, he didn't look around and go, I wish there were some people I could talk to.

No, he's basking in the sufficiency of God.

If God's not satisfied with God, how can God's people be satisfied with God?

God is deeply satisfied with God, and he didn't create because he was lonely, he created because, like most things, he wants glory.

You don't have kids because you're lonely.

If you do, man, you are set up for deep disappointment because they leave.

And then they just come back with problems.

And you look at each other like, do we?

Yeah, yeah.

You say, What do you mean?

I again, it's not that God knows history.

We've got to stop thinking about what God knows.

God knows history.

He watches the history channel.

No, no, no.

This is his story, he's been telling it a long time.

Nothing is wasted, so you could do well to pay attention to all of it, okay?

And for some of you, nothing's wasted, pay attention to all of it.

For some of you, it's as simple as this.

Start reading the Old Testament.

Don't just be a New Testament Christian.

All right, somebody said to me, Reese, I'm a red letter Christian.

Oh my man, you're missing out on the historicity of the Christian faith.

No, I'm just all about the red letters, you know.

I saw this guy on the internet.

Stop right there.

There's your problem right there.

You see, because here's the thing uh if you read the Old Testament, you'll you'll see the trajectory of this story that God is telling.

And it began back in Genesis.

It did not begin when you were born or when you became the faith.

It started a long time ago.

I say it like this the longer your history with God, the greater your ability to trust his timing.

Let me say this again.

The longer your history with God, like if you're a married couple today, you should, before you go to bed tonight, you should, you, you, you should just have a conversation that says, okay, what's our history with God?

What's our history with God?

I mean, let's just put it out here on the table.

How has God been to us and how we've been towards God?

And I promise you, what you'll come up with at the end of the day, you may use different words, but what you'll come up with is God is faithful, even when we've been faithless.

God is faithful.

God is faithful.

We've been faithful a lot, but there were moments we're like, ah, time's running out, and we took things into our own hand and we gave birth to an Ishmael and not an Isaac.

So just ask yourself, hey, what is our history with God?

Because the greater your history with God, the more your your your ability, your capacity to trust God's timing.

You say, What do you mean?

It it comes with a uh uh it comes in keeping with history.

The New Testament is not God kind of.

Jesus is not plan B because plan A didn't work out in the garden.

Okay, it's one story, it's one historical narrative.

Allow me to demonstrate.

I'll reach way back in the Exodus chapter 12, verse 1 says this God's given them instructions about how to observe Passover.

Exodus 12:1

This is where it all got started.

This is why we observe communion today.

This is why when you were a little kid and you were in church, and if it was a Baptist church, they had a little table down front, and you were just looking around, picking your nose, and you were like, This do in remembrance of me.

It kind of engraved on the front of the table.

Okay?

This is why.

Exodus chapter 12, verse 1, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, Hello, in the land of Egypt, a long time ago.

Exodus 12:1

They're not in the promised land, they're still trying to escape bondage.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, in the land of Egypt, this month is to be the beginning of months for you.

It is the first month of the year.

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, they must each select an animal of the flock, according to the father's households.

One animal per household.

If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people.

You should apportion the animal according to what each person will eat.

You must have an unblemished animal, uh, a year-old male, and you may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

You are to keep it until the 14th day of the month.

Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.

This is where God initiates Passover.

They kill the animals, and God says, Apply the blood to the doorpost of your house.

When the death angel comes, he will pass over your house, and no one will die in your home.

Well, you're tracking with me so far, say amen.

And so this is God back in history in the land of Egypt saying, You select an animal, you keep it for five days, you select it on the 10th day, you keep it until the 14th day, total five days covered there, and then it's got to be unblemished.

So you're tracking with me, say amen.

Now I said that God's kingdom comes with a sense of timing.

It also comes in keeping with history.

Now you fast forward to Luke chapter 19, Jesus rides into Jerusalem.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

What's the big deal?

Let me give you four things that come up on the screen.

Number one, the day Jesus enters Jerusalem is lamb selection day.

People are done for thousands of years, are keeping what God said way back in Exodus chapter 12.

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

So the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that there was over 250,000 lambs being bought, selected that day from the flock.

People, so when Jesus rides in, there's a good chance all you hear in the background is there are lambs that go everywhere.

You're like, ah, I don't quite get it.

Remember in John chapter 1, about verse 29, John the Baptist, he's doing what he does.

John 1 · chapter mention

He looks up and says, Jesus.

Remember what he said?

Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

Because Jesus rises in as the Lamb of God who's prepared to take away the sins of the world.

Not by conquering, like we think of conquering, but conquering the way a real king conquers, laying down Life or subjects.

Secondly, they had to keep the animal for five days to inspect it.

This is what's called passion week.

They select it on the 10th, they keep it to the 14th.

What do you mean passion week?

Yeah.

This is what begins to happen during what we call holy week.

Thirdly, the animal had to be without blemish or defect.

Because way back in Exodus 12.

And so God acts in keeping with history.

It's timing and it's history.

What do you mean?

Well, you'll see if you read from here on, you can just call them today.

Put me to the test in this and just see.

Start reading right there in chapter 20.

This is what happens.

Jesus gets passed around from this person to Caiaphas to this person.

And finally they say to Pilate, and Pilate is like, hey, listen, I and so he washes his hands in public and says, I find no fault in him.

And what he's really saying, he doesn't even know it.

God uses people in the story he's telling that they don't even know.

He doesn't just use Christians, he uses non-Christians, he uses crooked politicians.

Yes.

He uses just men that don't even believe in God.

Remember, he said, Hey, you keep this thing for five days because you got to make sure it's without spot or blemish.

You can't be given some crippled sacrifice.

And so when Pilate washes his hands and says, I find no fault in him, what he is saying is, you people now have a lamb that can be sacrificed for your sins.

And he doesn't even know what he's saying.

But God does.

And God is like, I'll be in charge of this.

This little monkey man down here doesn't affect me at all.

I'm going to make him say what history demands that he says.

And finally, Jesus is crucified as the Passover lambs are being sacrificed.

Timing, the trajectory of the kingdom.

The moral arc of what God is doing is long, but it bends towards glory.

And if you don't understand timing, Kronos and Kairos, you're going to grab things, you're going to pick up your phone today, 15-year-old girl, and you're going to text some guy in your bedroom at your parents because you're trying to create something instead of receiving what only God can create.

And I ain't mad at you.

I've been there.

I'm just trying to rescue you from the heartache that comes when the baby comes out.

Oh, it's Ishmael.

It's not Isaac.

It's not the son of promise.

It's the son of adversity.

Your life is so hard, some of you, because you live in the wrong sense of timing.

The last thing about the kingdom trajectory is simply this: it comes because of a sense of purpose.

It comes because of a sense of purpose.

I want you to see down there, uh, it says in verse 36, as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road, and as he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives.

The whole multitude of his disciples began 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.

Now, except a little part of verse 38 where it says, Glory in the highest.

That ought to make you ping on the inside, like, oh, something just happened.

Glory in the highest.

Where have I heard that before?

Now understand these people didn't like the government that ruled over them.

They saw Jesus as a much-needed change, so it was easy to consume him and his entry into Jerusalem upon their lust for regime change.

However, Jesus comes with a different purpose in mind.

He is motivated by the glory of God.

This is why the people said, Glory in the highest.

This is one of the highest expressions of God's glory.

Yea, God.

Now, when you hear glory in the highest, does that ping in you like, why?

Where have I heard that before?

When Jesus was born.

Remember what the angels said?

Glory to God in the highest.

And on earth, peace among men on whom his favor rests.

So Jesus comes into the world, glory in the highest.

He prepares to leave this world, glory in the highest.

It said, here's what I'm saying to you, okay?

The Bible seems to be reminding us that the purpose of Jesus coming into the world and into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was to glorify God.

What do you mean to glorify God?

It's real simple.

To make much of God at the expense of making much of himself.

To make much, to glorify God.

There's a lot you can get a lot of definitions for.

It's real simple for me.

It's hey, I'm gonna make my life is about making much of God at the expense of making much of myself.

I submit to you this morning.

This is how Jesus thought.

It's the sole purpose of his coming, and it's the only thing that explains his life.

It's how he thought.

It's the sole purpose of his coming.

It's why he's here.

And it's the only thing that explains his life.

Now, allow me to demonstrate what I mean by that, okay?

He's approaching the cross.

I'm gonna read from John 12.

He's approaching the cross.

It's getting close.

He knows time is filling up.

The people around him don't.

They live out of sync with the times and timing of what God is doing.

It's helterskelter, willy-nilly, all over the place.

Today's decisions are made to compensate for the bad decisions from yesterday.

And so I got to text my friends and play relational Red Rover, Red Rover, Red Rover.

Let Susie and Lucy and Chenequa come over and agree with me in this little cat fight we got going on.

Meanwhile, over here in Kairos, this person just puts their phone up and says, I'm not worried about that.

I I'm gonna live my life so God gets glory.

Time is filling up.

John 12, some people have come to the feast, to the Passover feast.

And one of them says, We want to see Jesus.

And I'll pick it up there, John 12, verse 22.

John 12:22

Philip went and told Andrew.

Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them, The hour has come.

Look at me.

How do you know?

People just said, it's like somebody saying today after church or the lobby, hey, hey, where's Greg?

I need to see Greg.

You go, oh, he's right over there, getting some more coffee.

And you walk over to Greg and hey Greg, how are you?

Man, I need to talk to you.

The hour has come.

All right, whatever.

Can I suggest some decaf?

Cook.

Yeah.

Look what Jesus said, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it.

Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me.

And where I am, there will my servant be also.

If anyone uh serves me, the father will honor him.

Now is my soul troubled.

It's not easy.

I'm a little dysregulated here.

And my prescription's out at the pharmacy, and I only got three pills left.

What am I gonna do?

Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I've come into this hour.

Father, glorify your name.

And then a voice came from heaven.

I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.

When the Bible says, I have glorified it, you should think Jesus is life.

When he says, and I will glorify it again, think Jesus is death.

I have glorified, I hey, I have come, my soul is troubled, and what am I gonna say?

Save me?

No, glorify your name.

This is what I mean when I say this is the reason Jesus comes, okay?

It comes because of a sense of purpose.

Now, one of the reasons that a lot of people that go to church every Sunday do not experience things like this is because they that their sense of purpose is that the purpose of their life is, God, you gotta save me.

And if you don't save me, I'm gonna spit the bit on this.

I'm gonna become deceitful, I'm gonna become two-faced, I'm gonna live one life in public and another life in private because at the core, this all depends on me.

So I'm just here to manipulate you to get what I want.

And if you don't save me, I am not gonna serve you.

And it's just math.

It's pathetic and paltry math.

You with a pencil trying to make it all add up.

And meanwhile, God is playing this beautiful music.

And people that hear it, they move to the unforced rhythms of grace.

And they bug you.

You don't like to talk to them because you say to them things like, Hey, how was your weekend?

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glory.

What?

Did you remember I was a point this weekend?

You loser?

No wonder you have no friends.

No, let me just say this and we'll be done this morning.

The way you define glory determines the path your life will take.

The way you define glory determines the path your life will take.

Right there.

Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour.

If the way you define glory is you always being saved and safe, never losing, always winning.

Then that's what you'll ask for.

But if the way you define glory is I'm not here to make much of myself, I'm here to make much of God, then you can say, No, this for this very purpose I've come to this hour.

What is this purpose?

Father, glorify your name.

And then I don't want you to miss this, and I'm done.

Then a voice came from heaven.

This will be the voice of God.

I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

Here's a question that should keep you up at night.

Do you think God agrees with your assessment of your life?

Jesus says, Hey, don't save me.

Glorify your name.

And the Father says, Absolutely.

Is there agreement between you and God about the purpose of your life?

Are you trying to convince him yet another Sunday?

You don't see what it was.

So see, you know, I what yeah, okay.

Well, what let me tell you, let me explain.

I can explain.

Linda, Linda, Linda, Linda, no, no, no, no, no.

Or when you say, Oh, don't save me, glorify your name.

Okay?

Because I I I I lift my hands up and I lay my life down.

My whole life now is for you.

I tried it being for me, and that is like wearing something I wore in the seventh grade.

It don't fit anymore.

It used to be a letter jacket, now it's a midriff.

This is the fate of all of those who live outside of God's glory.

It's ill-fitting and never sufficient.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guest today, just what we'd like to do is teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.

So some questions come up on the screen.

Uh we talk about these in our community groups the next time they meet.

But for right now, just ask yourself what stood out to you and just take a minute or so and just say, Lord, what have my name on it today?

God, what why was I here today?

Because I I don't want to just be in a ritual.

I want this to be about a relationship.

I want to tune into the music so my my life moves effortlessly to the unforced rhythms of grace.

Woo! I'm synced up with the times and the time of what God's doing.

It's like getting in the river down there in New Broncos, just getting that inner tube, letting the current of God's sovereignty just carry me along and carry me away.

Or do you get up and come to church every Sunday to increase God's responsibility to save you?

Beloved, that's just math.

Jesus hears the music and he rides into Jerusalem, knowing full well what's gonna wait, what awaits him there.

But his life was about glorifying God, not being saved from hardship.

What about you today?

God, that's our desire today.

We want to be a led people, not a determined people, not a frantic people.

We want to just say, hey, but it doesn't matter what's going on around me.

I'm not in this on my own.

This is not providence, this is much more personal.

It's not some external uh uh object lesson.

This is an internal reality.

The moral arc of what God is doing is long, but it bends towards glory.

And I'm here today to bend every circumstance and situation in my life to God's glory.

And I want to be saved, I want to be sanctified, I want to be made to look more like Jesus, to represent Jesus more accurately and more clearly to everyone around me.

So, Lord, thank you for your example and your invitation today.

We're humbled by it and thankful for it.

So we say thank you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen, amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thank you for your presence.

You're always welcome here.

If you saw or heard anything today that makes you wonder, uh, I wanted you, you know, some of our pastors will be available down front as soon as you're dismissed here in a minute.

We'd love to talk with you, answer questions, pray with you if you're going through anything.

All we ask of you, if you're our guests, if you're just text welcome to that number on the screen behind me.

We'd love to know you're here.

We'll shoot you back a text.

We won't overwhelm you.

We let you move at your pace, okay?

There's always things going on in the life of our church.

And so we make you aware of those by way of our video announcements.

Plus, we have a little bonus this morning.

So when the video announcements end, just sit tight because you got a little something else coming that you're a part of and you don't even know it, and I want you to know it.

Let's check out our screens together.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.

Hi, my name is Gretchen Yak.

I'm one of the co-chairs for this year's Fort Ben Hike for Hope, benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

When my brother died by suicide 20 years ago, I decided that not talking about suicide is not the answer anymore.

So this foundation does grants, research, scholarships to help suicide prevention and really positive mental health.

So our walk, right here at Brazos River Park on April 13th, is a free event.

All the money raised by sponsors and donations, part of it goes to the foundation, the other part stays local.

AFSP provides lots of programs that are all free to help any business, organizations, school, church to help them learn about suicide prevention and positive mental health.

If you want to join us, hopefully another beautiful day like today, please go to AFSP.org backslash fortben to register.

Registering is free.

You can register as a walker or you can join the Grand Parkway Baptist Church team.

I hope to see y'all there.

Starting today, there will be a new women's Bible study series at 1030 a.m.

in room 201.

No registration required.

Come gather with other women eager to deepen their understanding of God's Word.

In this series, we'll explore Him as the God of freedom, delving into familiar passages from Exodus to discover how to live as women liberated by Christ.

This Tuesday is the last day to register for Good Friday's child care for ages zero through five years old.

You can find the link along with the Holy Week schedule on our website, Instagram, and Facebook.

Finally, Secret Church is a special one-night event streamed globally each spring, drawing tens of thousands of participants.

Inspired by persecuted believers, we gather for nearly six hours of deep Bible study and prayer.

It'll be on April 19th, so there's plenty of time to invite friends.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Now we're talking about Wilderness Branch Baptist Church.

It sits on FM 359 north of Richmond in Fort Bend County.

Keith Garvin shows us where this small but proud congregation has come from and where they're hoping and praying to go.

Wilderness Branch Baptist Church was founded in 1902.

In that time, they have had thousands of members led by eight different pastors.

Despite a cancer diagnosis and mistreatment from several dishonest contractors, their current pastor has put his faith in a brand new church for his congregation.

Scripture says the Lord knows those who trust in him.

The people of Wilderness Branch Baptist Church near Richmond would tell you exactly where they place their trust.

But for the past six years, they have been a church without a home.

In that time, they've been hosting worship at a nearby congregation that has graciously allowed them to hold one service each Sunday morning at 8:30.

This is where they are going, a new building on FM 359 near Richmond.

And this is where they have come from.

Down the road, just a few miles away at the old Foster Community Museum, sits the original building.

It was constructed 117 years ago, and as you can see, time took its toll.

The old church is in the same condition as when they moved it from church property in 2017.

For years, the Wilderness Branch congregation had worshipped in a structure that leaned, had a bad foundation, and a leaky roof.

Generations of families grew up here and called this church home until it became unsafe to hold services.

Pastor Bobby Lockridge has led the church for nearly the past 10 years.

He spearheaded a fundraising effort to build a brand new place of worship to help reach more souls in this part of fast-growing Fort Bent County.

Somebody gonna come just to see what it looks like.

And pray after the word of God will touch hearts and hold them here as members.

Since 2017, Pastor Lockridge says his small congregation has raised$350,000.

It has been a combination of bake sales, donations, and other means.

Unfortunately, their plans for financial freedom have hit a road bump.

Pastor Lockridge says they've lost close to$50,000 to contractors who never finished the job or took the money and ran.

The church has invested a total of$500,000 in construction to come this far.

But to complete the project, they need another$300,000.

We just need uh cash to move this plan forward.

Time and health are also factors.

Pastor Lockridge was cancer-free for six years, but it returned this year at stage four.

Doctors told him it's incurable.

Although I have it, that's not on my mind.

This church is on my mind.

Get my people back together and fellowshipping together in our own faith.

Amen.

In the meantime, he will keep searching for funds to finish the new church and like on Sunday, keep preaching the word to all who find their way to wilderness branch.

One of our members sent that to me, gosh, back in November when it came on the news.

I didn't see it.

Just said, hey, is there any way?

And so uh I went out, Wade and I went out, met with Minnie Cobbin, who's the only they've had two church secretaries in 125 years.

I'll let you do the math on that.

The other one was her mom.

Uh, and uh here's here's what I want you to know that God has some, God, you know the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, God puts him in a position.

Meanwhile, his family's over here doing all this, God puts people in positions where they can leverage the kingdom coming.

There's a couple businessmen in our church that work in different industries.

Anyway, we went out and met with them, and I said to Miss Mitty, I said, Miss Mitty, the white folk aren't here to tell the black folk what your church should look like.

We want to see the need and just we can't we can't meet everything.

Uh, but we say on Sundays, hey, you know, today's the day you you worship God through obedience or generosity when it comes to giving.

Obedience is the tithe, generosity is the offering you can put it in the box by the door, or you can give online.

Uh basically, we showed you that today because uh because of some of the money you put in these boxes.

Last week, uh a construction guy in our church sent a crew out to fix and finish the sheetrock, to install the back doors of the sanctuary and the doors on the bathroom.

And in the morning at 7:30, a carpet crew will come and carpet that entire sanctuary.

There won't be concrete on the floor anymore.

And you paid for that.

We just wanted you to know uh that Jesus doesn't ride into Jerusalem just for us, he rides into Jerusalem to make us the kind of people that see other people around us.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

I just want you to know we practice full disclosure.

Uh, and so if you went into Midi Cobb and uh she may grab you and hug you uh because she is over the moon.

They still got a ways to go.

They need a lot of plumbing and stuff.

Uh, but I just said, hey, we want to move the ball down the field.

And so, because of your obedience when it comes to giving, we're able to bless the Wilderness Branch Baptist Church.

If you go to foster high school, you see it, it's right there, okay?

And so just join me in praying for them.

Their cancer has stage, their pastor has stage four cancer.

It's incurable, and he wears a shirt all the time that says blessed on it.

It's a little convicted.

Uh, and and so I just want to say thank you to you for being those kind of people, okay?

We'd like to conclude our service with a smoking blessing if you would stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

When you lay down your desire to be rescued, it increases your capacity to glorify God.

Well, you don't have to be first, you can be second or seventeenth.

You see life from a different perspective.

You've been blessed to be a blessing.

Depart now and keep living out who the gospel says you are in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.