The Glory Prayer of Jesus, Part 1

And so for us, the gospel comes to overwhelm.

No one's ever gonna say, you know what?

I want to become a Christian, but I don't think God's chosen me.

Hey, you would not have a desire for God if God wasn't at work in your life.

Because you and I by nature are God's enemies.

We're not his friends.

This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grant Parkway.org.

Let's pray together.

Father, we are we are mindful today of the certainty and the eternality of everything that you do.

So when the Bible says that we sing that Christ is mine forevermore, we are celebrating the fact that we have a relationship with you that is as certain as your nature.

Our nature is very uncertain.

But because our salvation was your idea, our salvation is as certain as you are.

And so we can build and bank our lives on that.

And so today, God, I pray where fear is trying to exist in our life, uh, that we we would just say be gone in Jesus' name, and that hope is secure.

Fear has been taken away by what you've done, and hope has been secured, and so we have a secure hope.

That's why the book of Hebrews says that this hope is like an anchor for our soul.

And so, Lord, we've come today to anchor our soul to that which is unchanging, eternal, and everlasting, and to refuse everything else.

And so, God, infuse your people with a sense of certainty today from your word and by your spirit.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat if you got a Bible.

I want to open it, I want you to open it up to John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

I want to talk to you this morning uh about the glory prayer of Jesus.

The glory prayer of Jesus.

Let me let me uh explain the context of where we are.

Uh Jesus has just finished in chapter 16.

He he's given a long teaching section to his disciples.

This is one of his last conversations.

This is his last conversation with the disciples.

And he finishes the teaching and then he prays for them.

And in the next chapter, Jesus is arrested and he's moving towards the cross.

And so uh the context it ended in the last chapter with Jesus saying, In this world you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I've overcome the world.

And so they the disciples are fixed to have the experience of being prayed for by uh by Jesus who has overcome the world.

What must it be like to be prayed for by someone who's overcome the world?

Would that not be incredible?

Uh so I say all that because this is not a somber or sad occasion for Jesus.

Uh he's not, they're not singing friends are friends forever and crying on each other.

Uh Jesus is excited.

The closer he gets to the cross, uh the sovereignty of God, because he'll start off in chapter 17 and he'll say, Father, the hour has come.

He doesn't say that through gritted teeth.

He doesn't say, The hour has come, let's just get this over with.

There's not this fatalism about him, there's this joy that somebody else is running the world and it's gonna be great.

And so when I say the glory prayer, it's what I mean.

And by the way, uh, there's four points to the sermon, and I'm only gonna get to one today.

Hallelujah!

Yes, don't sound so excited.

Did you hear that?

You ungrateful weasels.

So we'll do like a six-part series on the glory prayer of Jesus.

But anyway, let me give you the four points of the sermon.

They are election, uh, eternal life, example, and exchange.

It's what you see in the text because that's what's in the text.

And so let me just read John 17.

Jesus is is is overcome the world, and he says, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

We'll just stop right there.

Uh uh and I want you to draw your attention back up to verse one, where Jesus lifts up his eyes to heaven and he says, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you've given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you've given me.

And so Jesus is not a universalist.

He doesn't say, You've given me authority over all flesh, and therefore everybody's gonna get in.

He says, No, you've given me authority over all flesh, and and and and and I'm here to give eternal life to all whom you've given him.

Now, what what why why do you tell us that?

Because this is where we get our first word and this our our first truth in this glory prayer of Jesus, and it's it's the truth of the doctrine of election, since this is the basis upon Jesus' request that the Father glorify him.

It would do us well to understand what he's referring to here.

And what we see is known nowadays, what we refer to as the doctrine of election.

So here I want to do three things this morning.

I want to give you a definition.

I want to point to some examples in the Bible where this truth, this doctrine is at work.

Now, I've said the word doctrine about eight times already.

Let me tell you what I mean by that.

Doctrine is just this core truth or teaching of Christianity.

Because this is uh this has affected us more than we realize.

Because we don't really, a lot of churches don't teach the Bible, they teach topics out of the Bible.

Uh, and so we don't really, a lot of churches don't teach the Bible, the whole council, everything that it says.

Uh, it's why we we we do we practice expository preaching.

Uh we've been in the Gospel of John for I don't know how long, seven years now.

Our students went to youth camp, and the speaker one night said, Hey kids, open your Bibles to the Gospel of John, and our kids are like, No! So anyway, uh uh so anyway, I mean we're we're in the Gospel of John, and and and and and the beauty is you get to kind of see things and you and you're like, oh man, uh, because love to ourselves, we would all, we don't read the Bible for for for education.

We read the Bible for reinforcement.

We we want the Bible to reinforce the things we already believe.

And so today the Bible kind of says, hey, let's aim our attention, our intellect, and our affections as we kind of think about this thing called the doctrine of election.

I want to give you a definition, some biblical examples so you don't think, oh, this is some obscure thing our pastor pulled out of nowhere.

And then I want to I want to finish by talking about your mental orientation, how you should orient your mind around this.

It shouldn't offend you.

It shouldn't be like, oh, well, I I mm-mm, not at all.

So let me begin with a definition.

I got this from a guy named Wayne Grudum, who wrote a big thick blue book called Systematic Theology.

Uh this is a very simple definition of what we mean by election.

It's simply this election is an act of God before creation, in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.

Let me say that again.

Election is an act of God before creation, which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them.

Mark that part, any foreseen merit in them, because for some people this doctrine is offensive, and so what they do is they sit down, they figure out how can we kind of, and here's what we come up with.

Well, God looked into the future and saw who's gonna choose him, and he chose them.

And that's comforting to a lot of people, but here's the problem with that.

Uh, it makes the basis of salvation works instead of grace.

Because God sees what you're gonna do, and then God responds accordingly to what you're going to do.

It makes you the author and perfecter of your salvation, not God.

Now stay with me, okay?

Uh, if you're a thinking person right now, you might be thinking, Are you telling me that you're a Calvinist?

Absolutely not.

I'm telling you, I am telling you, I'm a Biblicist.

I believe everything the Bible says and all its ramifications and implications.

And I think this doctrine should be a great comfort to you.

It shouldn't be something that's a little unsettling, says any uh foreseen merit in them.

Uh so, so, so we cannot biblically say that God looks into the future and sees what I'm gonna do and responds accordingly.

Because can God really be God if He's taking his cues from me?

Thank you.

I mean, look at the shirt I'm wearing.

You've already mocked me for that.

No, no, no.

And basically, we're not the initiator and God the responder.

The Bible says God's the initiator and we're the ones who respond.

Uh and also this here's why we can be smiling and relaxed when we talk about biblical doctrines like this.

Look at me.

If you hear anything I say this morning, hear this, okay?

Uh we don't know, the Bible talks about election and talks about the elect.

We don't know who they are.

We don't know.

And so for us, the gospel's whosoever will.

No one's ever gonna say, you know what?

I want to become a Christian, but I don't think God's chosen me.

Hey, you would not have a desire for God if God wasn't at work in your life.

Because you and I by nature are God's enemies, we're not his friends.

And so that that takes away all the, oh, this is exclusionary and no, it's not.

No, it's not.

I don't know who it is.

And so you preach the gospel to everybody, you share the good news with everybody.

We'll get more into that in just a minute, but this is the definition that I want to give you uh for for when we talk about the doctrine of election.

Let me give you some biblical examples.

By that I mean here's some places this doctrine manifests itself in the Bible.

Acts chapter 13, verse 48.

Acts 13:48

And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord.

And as many as were appointed to eternal life, believed.

Hear that last part.

And as many as were appointed to eternal life, believed.

In other words, it wasn't about the preacher or the speaker or the worship leader.

It's like, hey, this is what we did.

These Gentiles, they heard the gospel and they rejoiced and they glorified the word of the Lord.

And as many as were appointed to eternal life, believed.

These people that before the very foundation of the world God had chosen, they came to faith on this day.

Uh, here's another example.

This will be more common.

This is Romans chapter 8, verse 28.

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those who be predestined, he also called.

Those who he called, he also justified, those who be justified, he also glorified.

Now just stop right there.

Now, hopefully, what you see here is a much more consequential salvation experience.

What do I mean?

Uh this may or may not uh uh be off uh unsettling to you.

Uh do you know that uh a survey was taken of religious beliefs in America in 19 in 2015?

And in 2015, 75% of the people surveyed in America profess to be Christians.

75%.

Now, let's just unmine that and back up.

Do you ever look around the culture in which we live and think this thought?

Uh if three-fourths of the people in this country know Jesus, why is our country so jacked up?

You see, here's what happens.

Now, good news.

I am not the general manager of the universe.

I would never look at anybody and go, you know what?

I don't think you know Jesus.

No, that's not my job.

Uh but, and by the way, I don't lay the I don't lay the fault at people.

I think the church and preachers have done people a gross disservice because for years, I would say for generations, they preached from fear instead of preaching for understanding.

Let me say that again.

They preached from fear.

I didn't go to church when I was a kid because I just didn't see the point in it.

But the few times I went, it was just a guy down there screaming at you and not really preaching the Bible, but just telling you stories that made you not want to go to hell.

Has anybody ever got up a day in their life and thought, I want to go to hell?

And so we preached, you know, from fear instead of for understanding.

So here's what happened.

Stay with me.

People would walk the aisle, fill out the card, and the evangelists would say, I was in such and such, and we had 114 people trusted Christ.

And that person goes out.

God did not regenerate their heart at all.

They just had the hell scared out of them.

And about four months in, they're trying to read the Bible, they're trying to go to church, none of it makes sense.

It's like an arranged marriage.

They have no affection for this guy.

They're supposed to be loving and worshiping.

They read the Bible, they're like, this thing's broken, mine doesn't work, and they just give up.

They just give up and they just kind of walk away and kind of go, Something's wrong with me.

I didn't do it right, I didn't say the right thing, or I didn't do whatever.

And so they live with this deep sense of uncertainty about something that should be so certain.

And yet the Bible says, again, just reading from Romans chapter 8, and those whom he predestined, he also called, and those who called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Here's what I want you to see: that God has a plan.

I unpack this more in a little bit.

He's had a plan for your life from from from way eternity past all the way into eternity future.

And so when I say hopefully you can see a much more consequential uh salvation experience.

Here's another biblical example of a doctrine of election at work.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

That we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

Now, definition.

Here's some places in the Bible.

I could go on and on and read more and more and more and more.

I don't want to overwhelm you.

Uh let me get to the last part, just mental orientation.

How should you think about the doctrine of election?

Because the manner in which our mind is kind of oriented towards the truth determines how we see the world.

I I am having uh a conversation with a person right now that's not a believer.

Uh and and and he's very scientific and he's very, well, what about this?

And what about this?

And the Bible says this, and it contradicts it.

Brilliant man.

Uh, and someone said to me, You're very gracious, you're very patient.

How are you able to do that?

And I said back to them people, because God was very gracious and very patient with me.

And it would be the height of hypocrisy for me to be frustrated because this guy has a scientific mind and he comes at it through through the vehicle of science.

And they're like, Oh, wow.

I never thought.

Okay, I guess.

And so here's some some some some ways, here's four ways uh I would like us to think about this.

Number one, as a reminder of God's relentless commitment to his people.

Let me say that again.

By the way, that's not the air conditioner, that's rain.

Yes, yes, yes.

And if we ever build a new sanctuary, maybe we can build one where you can't hear it rain when you're in it.

Which is crazy.

Because if it starts raining hard, you're not gonna be able to hear.

Yes, yes.

Play Lotto, give God a chance.

Anyway, uh Joe.

Let me say this.

I'm gonna say this.

Look at me.

Everyone in this room, look at me.

If we never build a sanctuary and we stay in this building till I die, I won't be mad at you.

I want you to hear that.

It's not, I'll tell you what my golly, my book.

No, not.

I take a nap every Sunday afternoon.

You hear what I'm saying?

Okay.

Anyway, back to the Bible.

Uh when I say what and how do you think about it?

As a as a reminder of God's relentless commitment to his people.

What does that mean?

How does the doctrine of election play into this?

Just look at Romans 8, 28, and 30, we just read.

He says, Those whom he foreknew.

So if you look in the distant past, what you see is that God has been dealing with you since before you could even think about him.

Now, if you look into not into the recent past, you see that God called you and he justified you.

And if you look into the future, you see that God's prepared a place for you.

He's given you a perfect, glorified body so you can live forever.

So look at me.

Here's why we gotta stop looking in our experiences, our yeah, in our experiences and in our circumstances, we gotta stop looking for those places for what can only be found in our doctrine.

And so, uh, for example, I have a friend that lost his job this week.

And I want to comfort my friend.

What do I say?

Oh man, just sorry about losing your job.

Do your best.

Get back out there, monster.com.

How is that helpful?

So instead, because I believe in biblical doctrine, I say, hey man, I'm not throwing the Bible on top of this, but I just want you to know this is how I'm thinking about it.

When you look in the distant past, you see that God's been at work in your life for your good, and you look at the future, and God's gonna give you a glorified body, and he's gonna allow you to live forever.

Uh, okay.

And so when you look backwards and you look forward, you see that God has always been at work and God's always been faithful.

So, therefore, right now, the day you lose your job, let's train our eyes to see what this faithful God is doing.

There's a man in this room right now that has cancer.

And I would say some version of the same thing to that man.

I pray for his healing, I pray for his well-being, I pray that cancer be sent away in Jesus' name.

But I also say, hey, when you look all the way back, God knew you before you could know him.

When you look forward, this God's gonna give you a glorified body and you're gonna live forever.

This is what I mean when I say is a reminder of God's relentless commitment to his people.

What you and I need, what we were created for, and what we long for, we cannot find in our experiences.

We just can't.

Let me read, let me demonstrate by reading the rest of Romans chapter 8, starting verse 31, where we left off.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He says, What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us.

Just mark those five words in your mind.

If God is for us, now don't get all super spiritual all me and go, well, who would doubt that?

Hey, you're gonna be in circumstances in your life where it's gonna go through your mind, hey God, you for us?

Because it doesn't feel like you're for us.

We're sucking wind down here, God.

Come on.

We've been praying about this forever, nothing's getting better.

If God is for us, and how do you know God's for you?

You look back, you look in the distant past, and in the recent past, and in the distant future, and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

It may not feel like it, circumstance, but but but but the truth, the doctrine of Christianity tells me he is.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

How do I know he's for us?

Look at this next sentence.

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.

The cross is a reminder that God is for us.

He didn't spare his own son, but he gave him up for us all.

How we not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, those are all experiences.

As it is written, doctrine.

As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure, I am sure that neither death, see, this is what happens when you get your belief and your understanding from your doctrine, not your experiences and not your circumstances.

Paul says, for I am sure there's a surety, there's a confidence, there's a certainty that it only comes from good biblical doctrine.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here's a second way I want you to think about it as your pastor, as people who I love.

I want you to think about it this way, as a comfort in evangelism, as a comfort in evangelism.

Let me ask this question.

Have you ever been in a conversation with somebody and you realize, hey, I don't think this person's a believer?

And not only that, but you start thinking, and I think I'm supposed to say something right now.

Have you ever had that experience?

Can I see your hand?

Hello?

Yes, yes, put your hand down.

And have you ever just you you feel have the experience?

I this person's not a believer, or that doesn't line up with the Bible.

I think I'm supposed to say something.

And then the third realm is like, I don't know what to say.

And so you open your mouth to say something, and all that comes out is go to church.

Yeah.

Or or or this.

Well, you get you get frustrated.

You're like, well, you're gonna go to hell, and you just storm off.

Which I was told many times in high school, by the way.

And I was just like, is that really?

Is that the good news?

I live in hell.

We're on food stamps and I don't have a dad, okay?

Hell would be an upgrade from where I live.

And and no one could reason the gospel to me.

No one would say, no one painted a picture about a big God that was at work in my life way back there.

And way out there and everywhere in between.

It was behavior modification, shame, guilt, and avoidance.

And so it was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay.

I said, see, see, some of you start having a conversation with people and you get frustrated, then you walk away and you're like, oh, you forget.

I work with them.

I've got to see them again tomorrow.

Here's why you should have good biblical doctrine, because it provides a framework that you can just rest in and relax when it comes to spiritual conversations.

This is Acts chapter 18, starting verse 9.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Let me give you the context.

Paul's in the city of Corinth and it's not going well.

People are like, shut up, dude, we don't care.

Shut up.

We don't care.

Get out of here.

We're a bunch of pagans, man.

We're liberated progressives, okay?

We ain't got time for this.

We're too smart for that.

We went to Brown and Dartmouth, okay?

You went to community college.

Acts chapter 18, verse 9.

Acts 18:9

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, do not be afraid.

Because he was afraid, people.

Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.

And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

Where does Paul get the courage to stay 18 months in a hostile environment preaching the word of God to them?

I tell you where, from the belief that God revealed to him, the understanding of what God said, I have many people in this city and who are my I have many in this city who are my people.

I got people that belong to me.

They don't know it yet, Paul, and that's gonna be realized in their life because you're gonna keep on having conversations with them.

That's a comfort, that's a framework in which the pressure is off.

We're not gonna say the wrong thing and send anybody to hell.

All we have to do is testify to the truth and the reality of both God and gospel.

Here's another way I want you to orient your mind towards this is as a foundation for formative worship.

As a foundation for formative worship.

This is where it's most dominated by the experiential, is in worship nowadays.

We sing a lot.

I was in a church the other day, and they sang about climbing the mountain where God's glory dwells, and we're gonna dwell with your glory.

And I'm like, no, we're not.

No.

No.

Isaiah 48, God says, My glory I will not share with another.

Why are we singing about an experience that cannot be had?

Because it just makes us feel better.

But there's no substance to that.

What I mean is a foundation for formative worship.

I'd been a Christian about two months.

I didn't know the rules.

I walked into church in 1982 with a cup of coffee, and you would have thought I spit on the Virgin Mary.

A man cutting a suit coming over and goes, son, what are you doing?

This is the Lord's house.

So we're not in a barn.

You go outside and finish that.

I said, Can I just stand?

It was in the summer.

It's like August.

It was Africa hot.

And I was like, Can I just stand here in the lobby and drink?

No, no, this is the Lord's house.

So they made me stand on the front sidewalk with a hot cup of coffee in August.

You suckers walk in on a Sunday sloshing coffee everywhere.

There better not be somebody in my seat.

So I'm standing out there.

I'm out there just smelting like the wicked witch and the Wizard of Oz, just kind of like, what in the world?

But here's one of the things.

I wasn't mad.

I was like, I'm sorry.

One of the things that captured me, the preaching wasn't great.

It wasn't real deeply biblical.

It was more behavior modification.

Don't drink, don't buy lottery tickets, don't go to PG 13 movies.

Uh and all that's great.

I'm not against any of that.

Uh but it didn't stir the soul and engage the mind.

You know what stirred my soul and engaged my mind when I first became a Christian?

Hymns.

And so they had hymnals in the back of the pews, and they'd say, take your hymnal, open page number 200, and we're gonna sing the first, second, and last stance of the old hymn without him.

And they'd start singing.

And I didn't know this, and sometimes the organists and the pianists, they'd do a little dun, dun dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, and then we sing.

I didn't get that memo.

As soon as the music would start, I'd start singing.

Oh, oh, sorry.

Uh a thick stew of awkwardness would settle in on me.

And I'd be like, and they'd be like, oh yeah, he's he's he's the new guy.

Uh but I remember one day uh I we sang a hymn.

It was on a Sunday night, by the way.

We had church on Sunday morning and Sunday nights.

By the way, I'm personally glad we don't have church on Sunday nights.

Uh love Jesus.

I don't have to be here all day to prove it.

Amen.

Uh so we sang.

I was captured by this.

We we turned, I don't know what page it was on, but I remember the first time I've been a Christian about two months, had a sense that God was stirring something in me.

I sang these words.

Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my sovereign die?

Would he devote that sacred head?

They had the old school hymnals.

Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away.

It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.

And they rolled back into that second verse and we sang, Was it for sins that I had done?

He groaned upon the tree.

Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree.

Well, might the sun and darkness hide and shut his glories in when Christ, the mighty maker, died for man, his creature sin.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe.

Here, Lord, I give myself away.

Tis all that I can do.

Now look, why am I telling you this?

Forming a foundation, good biblical doctrine, like the doctrine of election, is foundation for formative worship.

I'm standing here before you this morning as your pastor because of something that took place that Sunday night, standing in that church singing these words.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe.

Here, Lord, I give myself away.

Tis all that I can do.

And it was the first inkling of calling that began to stir in me as I realized there was a bigger response than pity.

There was also participation.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe.

Translation, I can't just come to church and sing songs that make me cry and feel bad about what a bad sinner I was.

Here, Lord, I give myself away.

Tis all that I can do.

And I remember just being thunderstruck, to quote those great theologians, ACDC.

Just thunderstruck, like, whoo! And there's a man that went to that church, he rocked a cardigan, button up, Munzieware with the penguin before it went out of style and came back with millennials.

1982, people.

That brother wore that cardigan buttoned up back right there with his dress shirt under it.

Walked by me.

He he he also wore old spice.

Remember that?

Old spice?

I would swear he had a soap on a rope in his shower.

He was so old school.

Brother marinated old spice.

And he put his hand.

I was undone.

I was just kind of like, God, what does this mean?

I don't know what you mean.

I just want to cry and feel bad.

And he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, I want you to participate in what I'm doing to change the world, son.

And the man walked by and put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it and just said, hey, son, hey, hey, hey, hey, don't miss what God's doing.

Don't miss what God's doing.

And he went on to say some other things, but for me, it was, it was that first, hey, something stirring in me.

And this old man who smelled like old spice putting a hand on my shoulder and saying that was like, okay, it's not just me.

Somebody else sees that God's kind of stirring something in me.

This is what I mean by formative worship.

Here's the last thing I want to say.

How you should think about this as a deterrent to pride.

As a deterrent to pride.

What do you mean?

We want to think that we somehow did something to make all this happen.

That this was kind of our idea.

I let Jesus into my heart.

I accepted Jesus.

And let me just, this was awkward, but it was necessary.

When our oldest Madison came to faith, bless you.

She's about seven years old.

About seven years old.

And I walked by her bedroom and her and her mom were talking, and I could tell what was going on in there, and I just kind of kept, and my wife was kind of looking like, hey, you're the preacher, get in here.

And I was like, You got this, mom.

So I went and sat on the couch and just prayed.

About 20 minutes later, they came out, little seven-year-old Madison and her little Dora the Explorer nightgown.

She comes out and she's like, Daddy, I just want you to know that I just accepted Jesus in my heart.

And I was like, Oh, babe, that is awesome.

I'm so excited.

You know, mom and dad have been praying, blah, blah, blah.

We talked a little bit.

I didn't pile on my kid.

We talked a little bit, and I said, Hey, babe, look at dad.

Now, I understand what you mean when you say you accepted Jesus in your heart, but I want you to remember this, okay?

It's not like Madison accepted poor, pitiful Jesus into your heart.

And that's the language we use for it.

But what really happened is a great and glorious God accepted Madison into his heart.

And my seven-year-old said, That's even better.

And I said, Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because see, here's what we do.

We've got to be careful when I say as a deterrent to pride.

Our flesh always looks for something to take credit for.

Let me say it again.

I'll demonstrate and we'll be done.

You want to be done?

Please.

Look at me.

Let me say it again.

Because I know you're like, no, not me.

Our flesh looks for things to take credit for.

You say, how do you know?

Remember the last time somebody took credit for something you did and how you felt about it?

Sure.

And I'm not saying they should be allowed to do that.

That's wrong.

I'm just saying we have a keen sense of when we're not getting what we think we deserve.

Look at me, I'm done.

When it comes to salvation, only God deserves the glory.

Because if you did something, then you deserve some of the credit, some of the glory for it.

If God did everything and revealed it to you and you responded, then you can spend the rest of your life thanking God for what he accomplished on your behalf.

Let's pray together.

We like to teach the Bible.

We'll pick up next week where we left off.

We like to teach the Bible.

Spend a full Sunday today, not trying to overwhelm you with all this stuff, but let's just take a moment and just take a deep breath.

What do I walk away from?

I've never heard anybody talking about this in the church.

Okay.

The Bible's not for smart people, it's for willing people.

And if you hear anything today, take deep, deep comfort from this.

That the God of the Bible, the only God, a long time ago began working in you.

Look as far in the distant past and in the distant future, you'll see that he's still going to be working.

He still has a plan.

And everywhere in between.

It's not about you, it doesn't depend on you.

It's not for your fame or your glory.

It's not for my fame or my glory.

He accomplished all this and he says, you know what?

I want you to come to understand this.

I want you to rest in it.

I want you to receive it.

I want you to enjoy it.

I want you to talk about it to other people in ways that are compelling and alluring, that smell good and inviting, that don't smell like the religious, that's a stench of religious determination or behavior modification.

Philippians 1 says, He began a good work and you will continue it to the day of Christ Jesus.

Let's think about these things for a minute.

God thank you for days where we see babies and parents dedicate themselves and where our mind is provoked by the gospel, about the Bible teaches.

So much more than behavior modification.

So much more.

That reminds us and reorients us around the God who does it all and invites us to be a part of it.

Not just feel bad because we're sinners.

Come be a part of changing the world.

This is the Christian life.

And so, God, I pray for understanding.

I pray against confusion, condemnation.

You're not a God of condemnation.

You're the God, the Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

It's not about math trying to figure out who's in, who's out.

It's about music.

God, and everyone in this room that has a relationship with you, so tune our hearts, God, that we play music that other people want to hear.

That they go, oh, they don't know it's the gospel.

They're just like, man, you are so patient with your children.

How'd you get that way?

Oh man, because God is so patient with me.

Can I tell you about that?

So, Lord, we rest in everything that you've accomplished on our behalf and for your glory.

And we say thank you for it in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks, being part of our service.

Hope you had an opportunity to fill out one of those guest cards out of your seat back pocket in your row.

And as you leave here in just a minute, if you just drop it one of those wooden boxes, uh, we'd love to have a record of your visit.

We think it's important that you find a church uh that's a fit for you and your entire family.

We would love for that to be this place.

If it's not, we bless you.

We want you to find a place that feels like a fit, okay?

Uh we like to conclude our services with a spoken blessing, but let me say this before I have you stand.

I'll be available down front, Blake and some of our other pastors.

If you have any questions about anything you heard today, uh, come up and ask us.

If you're like, man, it'd take longer than I have time for.

We'll buy you breakfast, lunch, stop by for coffee or whatever.

Because what we don't want to do is we don't want to just preach to you.

We want to be your pastor.

I spent three hours with a friend of mine having lunch on Friday.

I got back and my neighbor said, Where you been?

And I said, I had lunch with a guy in my church.

I thought today was your day off.

And I said, It is.

And he's like, And so I back at him and I was like, What?

What?

He goes, I mean, I mean your day off.

People won't leave you alone.

I said, Oh, they're not a bother.

And he said, What?

I said, He ain't heavy, he my brother.

And he's like, I'll tell you what, you're the most confusing man I've ever met in my life.

Uh so when I say we don't want to just preach to you on Sunday, we want to be your pastor, that means when you need somebody to sit down and have formative conversations with you, we want to do that.

That's all it means.

All right?

Stand to your feet.

We'd like to conclude our service with a blessing.

So hold your hands out.

Your God is not caught off guard about anything about you.

He's had a plan for you since before you could you drew a breath.

And that plan is big and expansive and juicy and good.

And ask yourself why wouldn't you want to know this God?

Depart and think about that in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.