Thank God for the Life of Jesus (North OC)

Dallas: So, as you can see on the screen, we're continuing

the series, Thank God for.

I was talking to some people earlier, it was like, it sounds like TGI

Fridays, but they're going bankrupt.

So I was like, I don't think I should really mention that, but Thank God

for is a series that we're going in.

We've talked about, thank God for the word.

Thank God for the spirit.

And last week Dan talked about, thank God for the church.

Um, but like I said, it also is Thanksgiving, so I feel like we need

to switch things up a little bit.

There we go.

Now we're in the Christmas spirit.

We're in the Advent season now.

Now, obviously.

Um, I want to actually, not obviously, I don't, I don't, I don't want to

assume things here, but if you did it already, you now have permission

to listen to Christmas music.

Christmas music, it is legal now.

Alright, alright.

Some of y'all were like, on Halloween, like, alright, when's

midnight, November 1st, here we go.

Mariah Carey's humming in the back somewhere, you know, like.

But it's okay, you can listen to Christian music now.

It's totally fine, it's legal.

I was praying for some of you that would be listening through November.

It's fine, but we're going to keep moving though.

But if you're joining us this morning, like I said, we're in

this series called Thank God For.

Just reminding ourselves about the season of gratitude, the season of

Advent, and today we're going to be thanking God for the life of Jesus.

Alright.

But before we get into it, let's pray.

We give ourselves center with God and our hearts prepared for today's Word.

Amen.

All right, God, thank you so much for today and just

the time to come before you.

God, I pray that today is a day that you are glorified and all days.

God, I pray that today in this lesson, in the sermon, God, you speak through me.

Use me as the best.

God, let your word carry more than my own words.

God, I pray that today we leave here feeling more, uh, feeling closer to

you, feeling more in depth and intimate with you because we desire to be

thankful and desire to be one with you, God, and what you have done for us.

And I pray that as we reflect and as we, um, As we, excuse me, as we, uh,

continue to gather and, and, and to dig deep into our hearts, God, I pray

that what's revealed is nothing more than just our love for you and your

love for us God, but we love you.

God, thank you so much for this day.

Please be at the lesson.

Bring Jesus.

Amen.

Alright, so I have a quick question though.

What are some things that you're grateful for, for the life of Jesus?

Why are, why do we thank God for life of Jesus?

I'm gonna get some handsome responses here.

Why are we thankful for it?

Yep.

Amen.

Awesome.

Thank you for sharing that.

Erica, I saw you had your hand up.

Uh, I thank Jesus for his patience.

I for recognizing me.

Yup.

Yup.

Right here.

And on Facebook, please stop me by that name.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Yup.

Right here.

I pray for a person to surrender.

Amen.

Yeah.

His surrender.

Chris.

Showing us a different way.

Good.

Love that.

One more.

Guinea.

Yeah, you can live differently.

You have a choice, right?

He's showed us how to live differently than the world.

And you know, this is, sorry, we're going to take no more

responses, but I appreciate it.

Go for it, though.

Sure, have more compassion, absolutely.

Thank you for sharing that.

But yeah, there's so many things, right, that we can all talk about that we are

thankful for the life of Jesus, right?

And so I just want to disclaim out here, I'm not here to

cover all that in one sermon.

Okay?

This is an ocean of content and I have two glasses in my hand I'm

trying to scoop up content with.

Okay?

So I won't cover everything, but I will, I do want to share though, how much

Jesus, I want to thank Jesus, uh, thank God for the life of Jesus in my life.

And that's his humility.

I think like you said, the surrender, right?

And I love that because that's exactly what we're going to talk about today.

Um, cause Jesus came to this earth to show us.

To how to live in alignment with God's will.

In other words, he showed us how to live a godly life.

Not a life for ourselves, but a life for God.

Amen.

So let's turn our Bibles over to John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

We're going to be in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

And this is a time, this is, uh, written, this is in the gospel of John.

Written by one of Jesus closest friends.

One of his most, uh, uh, in his inner circle basically.

A close friend of him.

Um, as this is written during the Last Supper, so basically this is

Jesus final hours before he's going to be arrested and taken to be, um,

accused, um, beaten, flogged, and then eventually crucified and died.

Um, so, at this point in the story, he is giving insight and direction

to his disciples, telling them, you know, that he's predicting

a betrayal amongst one of them.

That Peter is going to deny him three times.

That he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And that the Holy Spirit, the advocate, will come and replace him.

And so if you think about it, if you're a disciple during this time and the man that

you've spent three years with, the Son of God, is telling you all these things.

Man, I would be feeling personally confused, fearful,

discouraged, sad, dejected.

Like I just, I would feel so many things, even though he's trying to

give us these words of encouragement.

So as we read this, I just want to kind of give you and put you in the story

a little bit more and put ourselves there because I want us to be able

to feel the weight of these words.

Amen?

Alright, let's jump into the text right here.

John chapter 15 verse 1 says, I am the true vine, this is Jesus talking,

John 15:1

and my father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.

While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will become

even, it will even be more fruitful.

I You are already clean because of the word I've spoken to you remain

in me as I also remain in you No branch can bear fruit by itself.

It must remain in the vine Neither can you bear fruit?

Unless you remain in me You know the Christian life begins with abiding

in Jesus To abide means to stay connected, to draw strength, to draw

guidance, to draw nourishment from him.

Right?

Without this connection, we cannot do anything of eternal value.

You know, I find this reference to what Jesus is saying in his words, because

he's talking about being clean, right?

Earlier in chapter 12, he says, For I did not speak on my own, but

the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

I know that his command leads to eternal life.

So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.

Now here he indicates that his words are a means of clean, of cleansing for us.

Cleansing for us.

Now, Jesus himself doesn't need to be cleansed of God's Word

because he is the Word of God.

In the flesh, as it says in John chapter 1 verse 1.

John 1:1

But the word clean in the passage prior, in the passage prior here,

is translated into the word pure.

Thank you.

And in the word pure from an ethical standpoint, it's talking about free

from the corrupt desire, sin, and guilt.

And you know, when I think about that definition of pure, about being free

from the corrupt desire of sin and guilt, I think of the example that

Jesus had when he was in the wilderness.

You know, in Matthew chapter four, um, he was able, he was led, it says in some

of the, in some translations it says that he was full of the Holy Spirit, was

led into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights for fasting and for prayer.

But while he was there, he was also tempted by the devil.

Satan would come out and tempt him, asking him certain things like,

Well, turn these stones to bread.

But Jesus responds with God's word, says, Man shall not live

on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

That's from Deuteronomy 8, 3.

Satan also tempts him and says, Well, you know, throw yourself down and be saved.

It's like, he's trying to, he's trying to, now he tries to twist scripture, saying,

Hey, well, God says that he will come and save you, he will come to your aid.

But Jesus responds with also God's word saying, Do not put

the Lord your God to the test.

And finally Satan takes him to the highest place and shows him everything.

He says, If you just bow down and worship me, I will give you all this.

But Jesus replies, What does he say?

He says, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13.

Deuteronomy 6:13

You know, Jesus shows us how to be cleansed.

He shows us that as we are being pruned and clean, that we as, as we

are being, as we are being tempted, as we walk through this life, what are

we, what are we allowing God to cut off and God to prune, to clean, right?

I think what's important I think for me is do we desire to abide with the gardener?

Do we desire to abide with God's word?

'cause I think if we wanna be the freed from corrupt desires, I think for me

personally, you know, sometimes when I'm not doing the best spiritually.

I tend to be very prideful and not admit when I'm wrong.

I tend to be very selfish and not want to give to other people.

Or I tend to be very reluctant in who I forgive and how I

forgive and when I do it.

You know, but the question I have to ask myself that I say, that I've been

asking right here is, How much have I been abiding in the Word of God?

How much have I remained connected to God?

Cause pruning is a process, right?

And I don't know if anyone gardens here, but, I don't personally, but I had to look

this up, but pruning is important because it helps cut off unnecessary parts.

Parts that are dead, parts that are diseased, or that are not bearing fruit.

You know, when I'm able to abide and be pruned and cleaned by God, my

pride is cleansed by Proverbs 29, 23.

A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.

My selfishness is pruned by Philippians 2 chapter 2 verses 3 through 4 says

do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit rather in humility

value others above yourselves not looking to your own interests but to

each of you the interests of others.

You know my lack of forgiveness is pruned it's cleaned by Colossians 3 13.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if you have any grievances against

someone forgive as the Lord forgave you.

You know, I share these and it's not a flex to say, Oh, look, Dallas has

scriptures on standby, ready to go.

No, but it just shows you how much I desire to be cleaned and pruned by God.

And I hope in the same way as we look at Jesus, as he is, um, being tempted

by Satan to really give in and to, um, and this, and be, um, and, um, and be

dissuaded, um, away from the God's will.

He was designed to be pruned and cleaned by God.

He says this is not going to bear fruit.

This is going to corrupt me.

This is going to draw me away.

This is going to make me impure.

I need to cut it off.

But what, but what, by what means?

By the Word of God.

Being remained in, remaining in the Word of God.

And I think more importantly as we continue here, says, I'm

the vine, you're the branches.

In verse 5, If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me you can do nothing.

Amen.

If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers.

Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burn.

Now, I do have an example here I want to show.

Alright.

I feel like Marcel with all my props here.

This is a pretty good, this is an iPhone, right?

We all, I'm not saying we all have one, but we all have a smartphone, right?

Okay.

This is, this is a very useful tool.

This is a very useful tool.

We have navigation, we have entertainment, we have music, we have photos, we can send

text messages, we can make calls, right?

But how useful is it if we don't have this?

Paperweight right?

Just a brick in our pocket basically, right?

Some of you say I'm saying you got a brick in your pocket, no I'm kidding, no.

But the idea is though, the idea is though, this is useless

without a connection, right?

Right?

We can't claim for this useful and very prestigious and very

advanced technology to be useful to us if it doesn't get charged up.

If we are the vine, if Jesus is the vine and we are the branches,

it says we are useless if we don't have the connection to the vine.

You see that?

So as we continue, just as a smartphone needs its charger to stay powered and

to fulfill its purpose, a branch, us.

Must remain in the vine to bear fruit.

It, it, it emphasizes, because I think, wait, how often do we charge this?

Apple users, I would say.

Samsung users, you guys got better batteries, I'll give you that.

Yeah, there you go, there you go, there you go, you got one up there.

iPhone users, we charge this every day, right?

Probably every hour, right?

How quickly these things die out.

But it's the emphasis, right, of how much we need to be connected.

Because without this, we are nothing.

Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

We have to be remaining in the vine.

We have to remain connected.

Because thank God for the life of Jesus.

Why?

Because it's an example.

Here's the, here's an analogy.

To remain connected.

That's point number one.

Remain connected.

You can do nothing.

Apart from him, you can do nothing.

Let's continue reading.

You guys still with me?

Alright, come on.

So, in John chapter 15 verse 7, now, it says, If ye remain in me, and my words

John 15:7

remain in you, still Jesus, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

This is to my father's glory, that you bear much fruit.

Showing yourselves to be my disciples.

A healthy branch naturally bears fruit when it is connected to the vine.

you The natural result of abiding in Christ is fruitfulness.

Fruit that includes spiritual growth between you and God.

Good works that you do to each other and to others outside of this building.

And even leading others outside this building to Christ.

And you know what?

Bearing fruit is not optional.

It's a sign of genuine discipleship.

The fruit that we bear For shows ourselves to be his disciples, or doesn't.

That's what we're, that's what we're, that's the, that's the

decision that we can make.

What kind of fruit are we going to bear?

You know, I feel like Jesus demonstrated this with the Samaritan woman.

Now follow me on this, you're probably thinking like, huh,

what are you thinking about that?

Well, when Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman, he breaks three amazing barriers.

Cultural, gender, and moral barriers.

That's right.

Here, let's talk about this.

You know, Samaritans were considered ethnically and religiously impure

by Jews, and Jesus was a Jew.

And normally Jews would avoid Samaria.

They would, they would, they would take the long way around just so that they

wouldn't have to interact with them.

So culturally, from a standpoint, he's already like, he's already

cutting through the land.

He's already meeting with those Samaritan, women in Samaria.

Okay.

The gender role.

Now, most of the time, culturally, most men will not speak to a woman one on one.

Especially, Jesus being a rabbi, he would not speak to a woman,

especially since she wasn't related.

Okay, boom, that's barrier number two.

Barrier number three is now the woman was an adulterous woman.

She had five husbands, as we later find out in the story.

If you go back and read the story, I encourage you, it's in

John 4, it's an amazing story.

But, ultimately, she, we come to find out this woman has on her fifth husband,

she's been, you know, she's known for it, and she comes out in the middle of

the day, she just meets her at noon.

And normally, during that time, you want to get, she meets him at

a well, and normally you'd want to meet, go to the well to get water

either in the morning when it's cool or the evening when it's cool.

But she comes at noon, in the middle of the day when she knows no one's

going to be there, so that way she is not shamed for who she is.

She's outcasted.

She's separated, she's isolated from the rest of their community because of what

her reputation and what her background is.

But despite her background, despite her past, Jesus approaches her with

compassion and offers her what's called the living water, or eternal life,

as some of us know the story to be.

And he engages with her in this deep spiritual conversation.

And you know.

This is an opportunity for him to bear fruit to show her God's heart.

And not only does he bear fruit to her in order to show her who God's heart is,

but what happens afterwards is amazing.

It says, Then leaving the jar, uh, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to

town and said to the people, Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.

Could this be the Messiah?

She's already going and sharing the fruit that Jesus has bared

has now gone and multiplied.

To wow, to wear, to hear.

In verse 39, it says many of the Samaritans of that, from

that town believed in him.

Verse 41, and because of his words many more became believers.

In verse 42, we no longer believe just because of what you have said.

Now we have heard for ourselves what we know that the man, that this man

really is the savior of the world.

This encounter, this encounter glorified God.

By spreading the message of salvation to an entire town from one

woman, a woman that was outcasted.

I just think of myself sometimes, what if Jesus didn't reach out to this woman?

Where would that town be?

I don't know.

But ultimately we need to bear God glorifying fruit.

What do I mean by that?

Well, when I was a student at Cal State Fullerton, uh, cause I'm currently in the

campus ministry at that school right now.

Um, I graduated in 2022, but I was a student.

I found it very easy for myself and to, when I was sharing my faith and

to, and to invite people to church, to invite, to invite the people that

I felt was the most convenient for me.

People that were sitting down, not doing anything.

People that had a sports jersey of a team that I supported.

People that had a cross necklace.

It was easy for me.

I was comfortable.

I was like, oh yeah, this is, this is easy.

I, I would like looking, look, I can, I can go up to this person and be like,

Hey, you know, strike up a competition.

Yeah.

I like Dodgers.

You like Dodgers too?

Okay, great.

You should come out to church.

You know, like, it was very convenient.

It's very easy for me to be able to do stuff like that, but I, what I realized

is that when I look at this story with Jesus and the Samaritan woman, it broke

all kinds of barriers and the barriers and the restrictions that I put up for myself.

When I was a student, I realized I was limiting.

God's glorifying fruit.

Trying to think of what God could possibly do through people on my campus.

You know, and I think when I learned about this story and I, and I, and I continue

to dive deeper into it, it helped me not only realize how much fruit I can bear

in just my evangelism, but in just my love and my devotion to God and His will.

Because in turn, that helps me grow in my love and compassion for the world.

And helping them come to know Christ, helping them come to know Jesus, because

I think sometimes we can come up with questions like, well, you know, maybe,

maybe, maybe this person's too busy.

I don't want to inconvenience them.

Or maybe I'm too busy, so I just don't have time to do it.

Or this generation is so worldly.

How can they ever want to know Christ?

They drink, they smoke, they get high.

They hook up on the weekends.

Look at what they wear.

Do they look like people that want to come to know Christ?

They don't even believe in God.

They're from another religion.

Look at who they voted for.

I'm kidding.

Stop.

Stop.

But we get these thoughts though, right?

I know it's funny, but we can come up with these rationalities, right?

It's easy for us to put a limit on God's glorifying fruit when we are

the ones defining the barriers and the boundaries of who we share with,

when we share with, and why we share.

When we bear God a glorifying fruit, we break all the boundaries that we

set on ourselves as human beings and we allow God to set the standard.

God glorifying fruit has no boundaries.

It has no limits.

You know, when we stay connected.

We can have so many more encounters like the Samaritan woman.

People that are even outcasted, that feel unapproachable, that feel that

you feel like are unconvertible.

There are more stories like that in store for us if we desire

to have God glorifying fruit.

Matthew chapter 7 verse 20 it reads, you know, that Jesus is talking in the

Matthew 7:20

sermon of the mouth and he says, by their fruit you will recognize them.

And he's talking about true and false society.

Can people recognize God's glory by your fruit?

Or do they see your own glory?

Why am I doing this?

Sometimes we ask.

Is it for my glory?

Is it for the glory of God?

Who benefits from this?

Is it God and others?

Or is it just myself?

What's in it for me?

Will I get the praise, the recognition I deserve?

Or do I not care and I leave it for God?

I thank God for the life of Jews because it's an example of how

to bear God glorifying fruit.

How to love with no boundaries.

How to give compassion with no restrictions.

Because like I said, God glorifying fruit breaks barriers

within ourselves and for others.

Let's go back to the main text here.

Thank you.

Uh, we're gonna be in verse 9.

Now I can't finish the entire chapter or the first, this kind of entire

section of the vine and the branches, but I encourage you to go and read it.

I'm gonna read up to about verse 13, but I encourage you to read the rest of it

on your own if you have time this week, because it's an amazing, amazing passage.

But let's go back in the text real quick.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love.

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my

Father's commands and remain in His love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this, love each other as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this to lay down one's life for one's friends.

You know, in, in, in John chapter 15, Jesus, the love, the word

John 15 · chapter mention

love is mentioned so many times.

And I know that today in our day and age, we can throw the

word love around and everything.

So I love.

I love, uh, pizza.

I love, uh, my family.

I love my job.

Right?

Those are all different levels of love.

Right?

But the love that Jesus is talking about is translated into what's

called agape, which is this selfless and unconditional love.

The highest form of love is what it's, it's perceived as in the Christian faith.

And so Jesus is speaking also literally and figuratively in this text.

You know, he says that he's going to lay down his life.

And obviously, as we know, Jesus would go on to die for our sins on the

cross and lay down his life for us.

But I think he also references, figuratively, of something that

he did prior, in John chapter 13, when he washes his disciples feet.

John 13 · chapter mention

You know, in reference to that, you know, in John chapter 13, if you want

John 13 · chapter mention

to read it, it says, Jesus washes his feet, and after washing the feet, Jesus

tells his disciples, Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet,

you also should wash one another's feet.

I've set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master,

nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

You know, I'm going to pop up my thing real quick.

When I was in high school, um, my, I played soccer.

Um, I had a varsity coach, um, who was very adamant about

everyone being a team player.

And every time we step in the locker room, um, we had a sign on the door.

I'm sure some of you have heard of this, but it's leave your ego at the door.

Right?

This idea that you play for the name on the front, not the back.

The idea that just because you may be the all CIF, all accoladed player of the

week, whatever, stud on campus, whatever, when you put that jersey on, you are

no greater than the person next to you.

That we all contribute to building something great.

And that was a winning team.

You know, in the same way, I think when Jesus was talking

about washing his disciples feet, I think of this analogy here.

Make sure I don't hit this mic.

But, here I have an apron.

And when you guys think of an apron, what do you guys normally think of?

Cooking, right?

Yeah, I always think that.

So let's, let's pivot a little bit more.

Let's go, let's go my way a little bit.

When I think apron, I think of serving.

When you're cooking, you're preparing something to give to someone else.

Or for yourself.

Up to you.

I know some of you guys like to cook a lot of food for yourself.

I know Sung does.

But, the idea is though, that when we put this apron on, it's a

sign that we are willing to serve.

We're willing to work.

You know, the idea that for me as a, um, as a, when I was playing soccer,

this idea, this, this, this apron kind of became true for me in the last year.

You know, when I had this apron on, it's easy for me to pick and choose

when I'm giving and when I serve.

I choose when I want to take it on and when I take it off.

It's easy for me to kind of pick, say, ah, that's, that's, that's, that's beneath me.

I don't, I don't need to do that.

Or, that's, ah, that's not worth my time.

But I'll do this, though.

Oh, here, I'm ready, I'm ready to go.

You need me to preach?

Woo!

Give me the paper and I'm ready to go.

Oh, but you want me to go and serve in kids kingdom?

Oh, sorry, can't do that.

No.

You know, like, we, I, I was, it's easy to pick and choose what we do in the kingdom.

And you know what's crazy is that Jesus disciples went on to do amazing things.

They would spread the gospel, they would go to the ends of

the earth to preach the word.

But Jesus showed the importance of how much of this apron are you going to

keep on when you wash each other's feet.

Understand that there's humility and servitude in being a servant.

You know, without the apron, when we cook and clean, I'm a little

hesitant to get my hands dirty.

Right?

Because I don't want things getting on my clothes, I'm like, ugh, I

can't really fully commit to it.

Right?

And normally when we, when I put this apron on, it helps remind me of a time.

I'll share it vulnerably here.

Can I share a vulnerability with you guys real quick?

You know, this time last year, um, I was, uh, I was pretty much on track to

becoming where I'm at right now, where I'm currently a minister right now.

And, um, some things in my character were very much, uh, brought into the

light, um, that showed I was not ready.

And I remember, you know, just, I've been waiting for my shot to

go into the ministry and to serve and to give to God's kingdom.

But there were things that I had, um, I hadn't really dealt with that

were really hindering me from really experiencing, not just a relationship

with God, but intimacy with God.

And so I remember sitting down with Marcel and Eric and Kyle, I don't mean

to call them out, but I appreciate them because they were real with me

and honest with me and saying like, we don't think you're ready yet.

We don't think this is the time for you.

There's things that you need to work on and to really wrestle with in

your relationship with God that's going to require you to not really,

not to not be a minister just yet.

And I was like, man, okay.

That checked me.

And so I felt God handing me this apron saying, here, put the apron on.

Let's go to work.

And I hated the apron.

I hated having this on.

I'll be honest.

It was hard because I was like, man.

I'm trying to, I'm, I got, I'm willing to give everything for you.

I'm willing to do great things for you.

But when I really got to sit down and really wrestle myself and look

at my heart, I understood that it was for my glory that I wanted this.

I realized that my humility to serve was just so that way people

can give me the pat on the back, the applause in the crowd, the,

yeah, bro, you did a great job.

And it wasn't because I wanted to bring God glory and what he

wanted from me through my gifts and my talents that he's given me.

And so I, I, I hated this thing for a long time.

I had to, I had to be open, I had to be honest, I had to be vulnerable about my

intentions, about everything because so much of it had been skewed to myself,

skewed to how I wanted things to go about.

You know, I, it was, it was hard because I had to learn.

How to give and to serve and to be humble without the title.

And I, and I stand here today showing you this apron to

signify that it's still on me.

The idea, the desire to be humble and to serve God

wholeheartedly is still within me.

It doesn't go away once I got the title, just because I got the call

and the, affirmation from Marcel and From, and from Eric and Kyle that was

ready, this stays on for all of us.

I don't know for what you're at, at some point in your walk with God, but at some

of us, we may have taken this apron off.

We may have taken the desire to be humble and to serve regardless

of whether we get credit or not, regardless of anyone sees it or not.

And I know for me, it's hard because sometimes at the day, we have the

best intentions How can we, to wanna really bring God glory, but Jesus

always, always, always after the heart.

And I wanna leave you guys with this.

Like God wants to do amazing things with us.

He really does.

And each and everyone in this person is willing to contribute to that.

However, we have to be humble enough to do the dirty work,

even when no one's watching.

And that's the integrity that Jesus asked all of us to have is

are you willing to do Do the work.

To serve, to be humble when no one is watching.

When no one, no one is giving you the pat on the back.

I know sometimes our AV team can get some flack for not

getting the credit they deserve.

I love our AV team.

They're amazing.

Let's give it up for our AV team.

And I know that for me because it's easy for me to, it's easy for me to be

on stage and for everyone to see me.

But there's a lot of people in this church that do things behind the scenes.

That we don't see, that we don't know.

And they do it humbly, and they do it serenely.

I, I'm so grateful for these people in our church.

That people that, that go unseen.

The people that do things, but because they choose to continue to wear the apron.

They continue, they continue to choose to be humble.

And imagine if we were a church that we all wore the apron.

That we would look across the way, across the rows here.

And we would not put ourselves above or beneath one another.

Well, we can't be able to, we could, we could put ourselves

beneath in a humble way, right?

But in a way that's not saying, well, I'm not as valuable as that person.

I'm not worth it.

I'm not as important as that person.

Or thinking ourselves that we're higher than we ought to, I think

I'm more important than this person.

I have more to offer.

I've been in the kingdom X amount of years.

I've done this.

I've led these things.

I've baptized this many people.

No.

The idea is that we all as a church have to wear the apron regardless

of titles, regardless of status.

We have to be a church that is humble to serve and wash each

other's feet, as Jesus called us all.

Church, as we move forward, and for those that are in the Orange County

congregation, what it's going to take to move our church into a healthier

place is if we all put on the apron.

Leave your ego at the door.

And put on an apron.

I couldn't come up with another clever way to say that, I just had to put it up

there, so there's your point right there.

But leave your ego at the door and put on an apron.

Let's go to work.

Let's get our hands dirty.

Let's rub elbows, rub elbows with one another and get in the nitty

gritty to create a healthy church.

A Jesus's church.

The church that he aspired to want to see.

Because yes, our church is imperfect, full of imperfect people.

People that drive you crazy.

People that get on your nerves, that hurt you.

Say things that, you know, sometimes in the moment they mean,

but in the end they really don't.

Guys, we have to be a church that is willing to put on the apron.

Every single one of us.

To see each other as equals.

To be able to be willing to be humble and to serve one another as Jesus called us.

Amen.

So to leave you guys with this, it's just these three points.

Remain connected.

Be in the word of God.

Bear fruit that glorifies God and not yourself.

Leave your ego at the door and put on an apron.

And let's go to work.

Amen.

I want to leave us with this last scripture here.

Second, uh, Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 8.

Philippians 2:5–8

It says in your relationships with one another.

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature, God did not

consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant

being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

So church, let us thank God for the life of Jesus because it is a life of humility.

Thank you guys.