Jesus Sacrifice and Desire for Man - Joel Schrock

Good morning. Appreciated that a song, that poem, that prayer

for the Lord Lord to speak, because if the Lord

doesn't speak, then you just end up with people up

front babbling sort of. So also, welcome back ah Dan

and family and all the ones that were that were

all the students that were gone. I think we I

think we've had about half of our teachers at school

for the last few weeks and so appreciated the work

the substitutes did too. But good to have people home.

So welcome back this morning. My mind has been going

in multiple, hopefully somewhat connected directions, and I struggled a

bit with a title. But if you need a title,

Kendall for this, I have Jesus Sacrifice and desire for man.

And a few things got me to thinking about this one.

In our in our devotions at home, we're reading through

some books with the family, the children and the I

think the last the Last Lessoner story we had included

quite a bit of Jesus prayer to the Father. It's

found in John seven teen, and there's quite a few

chapters right in a row there that John records quite

a bit of John is John recording Jesus' words the

day of right around the time that he got arrested,

so kind of from the Supper, the Last Supper to Gussemone,

we don't really know where they were, what they were

doing when Jesus said a lot of these things. But

Chapter seventeen then is a prayer that John recorded. The

other thing it got me to thinking along these lines

is something that I really haven't spent much time thinking

about other years. And that is so for those that

observe and practice in coming up to Easter. There are

quite a few people at practice what they call or

what we call Lent, and this is the second Sunday

for those that are observing that we don't collectively practice

Lent here, but I think there's some merit to the

practice or the thought behind it. And like I said,

I haven't paid that much attention to it in the past.

Sometimes somebody at work, Oh, they're skipping this for Lent

this year. As historically practiced, I think we could say Lent,

we could describe it as some version of prayer, fasting,

and reflection leading up to Easter where we commemorate and celebrate,

commemorate the Lord's suffering and death, and celebrate his Resurrection,

and early church records from the first couple hundred years

after Jesus would indicate that often people fasted, maybe for

a day or two in preparation for Easter. Over time,

lent turned into a forty day practice. I guess we

could say modeled after not strictly as we'll see, but

the idea is Jesus fasted for forty days in the

wilderness before his ministry began. At the beginning of his ministry,

And of course the practice has varied over time, and

nobody or very few people are fasting for forty days.

Some of the more stringe versions would cut out animal

products and maybe have like one meal a day or

something like that. Also, and maybe more recently it might

be giving up a luxury or a habit or a

something that's non essential, let's say. So those two things,

sacrifice and desire, have been on my mind, even in

Jesus' prayer to the Father there in chapter seventeen of John,

when he's when he's it's a beautiful prayer, he should

should read it. I thought about reading the whole chapter.

I'm not going to. I'm going to include some verses,

but they're in John seventeen. I couldn't help but notice

as he was speaking his desire to the Father about

his disciples, which include all believes. Jesus included that all

believers in the future, that Jesus' sacrifice came into the picture. There,

Jesus talked about the glory that he had before the

world was And so I'll be referencing. If you want,

you can turn to the Book of John. We'll be

referencing multiple chapters and verses. I'm not going to read

any long passages, so I'm going to kind of jump

around a little bit. And these words in John are

words to the disciples mostly. And then this chapter seventeen,

like I said, as a prayer, and then I think

of us, I think of us today and mankind in general.

I think of the rejection that Jesus faced in his

life and death, and since then the sacrifice. Then that

many godly men have made sense in our willingness or

my willingness to sacrifice for Jesus today. Now I'm not

suggesting in any of this. I'll probably bring that up

again that being miserable is a godly exercise. We'll see

today that Jesus' desire for us is joy and peace.

But I believe there is such a thing as sacrifice

with a purpose, and Jesus didn't go without food for

the fun of it. He went without food, I believe

to gain spiritual strength to face the years of ministry, rejection, suffering,

and death that were ahead of him. So the first

thing I like to look at. I don't know that

I listed what we're going to look at. That is

jesus sacrifice, Man's rejection, jesus desire for man despite that rejection,

and then man's sacrifice, our own sacrifice. So the first

thing I'd like to look at is Jesus sacrifice. So

what exactly did Jesus sacrifice? Well, we can think of

a few things right off the hand, probably, and an

exhaustive list would be difficult to put together, maybe impossible.

But here are a few things that Jesus sacrificed, again

with purpose, with us in mind. The first one I'll mention,

and this is not necessarily in any particular order, but

first one I'll mentioned here is glory. And with that

honor and position, we could say, now he never gave

up being God, I don't think, but he gave up

a lot when he became man and John seventeen verse five.

This is in his prayer to the Father and now,

O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with

the glory which I had with thee before the world

was And this verse really really jumped out at me.

Jesus had unimaginable glory before the creation of the world

that he gave up when he came to earth. And

I think in our minds, at least in my mind,

it's like, it's really difficult to think what was before

the creation? Right, how do you have a before time?

God created the heaven and the earth and the time

everything in it, And like, wasn't God just kind of

bored there by himself? And isn't that why he created us? Right?

I don't think we're quite that important, But that's at least,

and that's what goes on in my mind, Like it's

really hard to understand what was going on before the

creation before we showed up. Right. But God, being all knowing,

all powerful, all present, is complete in himself, I believe.

And as much as he desires the friendship and the yeah,

the friendship and the worship of his creation of us,

he desires that relationship. He is complete. I don't think

we could say that God is missing any aspect of completeness.

And Jesus gave up this unspeakable glory and honor to

become a man and come to earth. And we can

see Jesus in this human state looking at what was coming,

knowing cruci crucifixion was coming, death was coming, humiliation was coming.

He longed for a return to that glory. Now we

can see from reading Genesis one and John one and

comparing those that Jesus is the word of God, spoke

the worlds into existence. He was there with the Father

in the creation of the world, sun, moon and stars, lakes,

rivers and oceans, plants and animals, and finally the crown

of his creation, man and women. What humility and love

it must have taken for Jesus to lay his glory

aside and come to earth as a helpless baby, born

to a simple carpenter and his wife and a manger,

born as a slave to the Roman Empire, and born,

as many suppose, out of wedlock, born a humble birth.

Jesus sacrificed glory. Jesus sacrificed reputation. Philippians two verse seven says,

but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him

the form of a servant, and was made in the

likeness of man. So not only was Jesus born as

a man, he could have come to earth as an

earthly king, and even that would have been a significant

downgrade from the glory he had with the Father. The

difference between a peasant and a king, I would say,

is far shorter of a distance in between an earthly

king and the glory of God. He was born in

a group of people that were subservient not only to

the emperor of the vast Roman Empire, but they're so

called king, the king of the Jews at the time,

King Herod was a descendant of historical enemies and mixed

up genealogies as well. So in the author's time. This

is not in Jesus' time, but in John's time, the

author of the Book of John the Apostle John in

his lifetime, as records would state, well over one million

Jews were killed by the Romans in his lifetime, most

of them there was different. There were different events, some

where thousands, tens of thousands, one hundred thousand, over a

million were killed in one event in the destruction of Jerusalem.

And this is the group of people in the time

frame Jesus was born into. But Jesus wasn't even the educated,

middle or higher class of the Jews servant people. Jesus

was born to a carpenter, which was at least, according

to some accounts, similar class let's say, lack of better terminology,

or even a lower class than the peasant farmers. Jesus

was truly born with no reputation. Jesus, we see sacrificed

necessities at times. Matthew four, verses one and two. Then

Jesus then was Jesus led up of the spirit into

the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when

he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was

afterward and hungered. Now, the amazing thing to me about

these two short verses is that we or I can't

speak for all of us, but at least I so

easily slide over those two verses and get on with

the temptations. We know that Jesus was tempted in his

weakened state. We know about the humility of Jesus coming

to earth. We know about the suffering and death of Jesus.

But did you ever stop to think about the sacrifice

of fasting forty days in the wilderness at the beginning

of his ministry? And this is a sacrifice with purpose.

This wasn't for the enjoyment of not eating food. Jesus

not only gave up some non essential things, he gave

up something that's essential for life itself for a prolonged

period of time. Now, what happens when you don't eat

for forty days? And Jesus was a man. He was

he was born grewing to be a man. So I

believe these things affected him like it would affect us.

There's a few things here, and this is not from

personal experience. I have not fasted for forty days, but

as I understand, what would happen in the first few days.

Your body burns through any stores of carbohydrates in your body,

and you get quite hungry in this timeframe. A lot

of people do. Most people do get hungry because your

body wants that that reward gets some more carbs in there,

and let's go. Hunger can be pretty intense in that period. Next,

the next phase or stage, you get to some real

benefits of fasting beyond just weight loss. Right, You get

some weight loss going on, but there are some real

benefits to fasting. And your body begins to burn fat

fat stores for fuel instead of the carbs. That's known

as ketosis. Probably heard of that, probably heard of keto

diets uh, And cells begin to repair themselves through a

process called autophagy. All right, So there's there, there's some

there's a stage there of some real health benefits. But

eventually your body gets through with that and essentially begins

to consume itself, and your muscles shrink, begin to waste away,

and extreme fatigue sets in, and eventually your organs begin

to be consumed by your body. It's kind of a

rough way of looking at it, but that's what happens.

Your heart, being an organ, begins begins to be consumed

and can lead to cardiac arrests. There's a real dangerous

point in this process, and your brain function is impaired.

It's hard to concentrate, be dizzy, emotionally unstable. And this

is a long period without food. All right. Jesus did this,

I believe to prepare for his ministry, to have communion

with the Father, to give him strength for us to come.

And I believe that those last couple of things that

I read is probably the state that Jesus was in

when the devil came to tempt him physically, in a

very weak state, Jesus sacrificed necessities. In that story, Jesus

sacrificed comfort Matthew eight verse and Jesus said, into them

foxes have holes, and the birds of the air of nests.

But the son of Man hath not where to lay

his head. I believe that each one of us knows tonight,

Lord Willing, where we will lay our head to rest.

I have a good idea, least for a few minutes

before some little people start hollering. Rests for a bit.

But Jesus did not have this consistent luxury right He

moved around, And again Jesus wasn't miserable for the fun

of it, I don't think. But Jesus sacrificed for the

ministry for our salvation. Jesus sacrificed earthly kingship. John back

to John here John twelve, verses twelve and thirteen. On

the next day, much people that were come to the

that will come to the feast. When they heard that

Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees

and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed

is the King of Israel that cometh in the name

of the Lord. And that was quite a proclamation. Jesus

had what we could say, the heart of the mob

on his side at that point. The people disregarded This

was no small thing. The people disregarded the Romans, they

disregarded King Herod, they disregarded the Jewish leaders. They came

out and proclaimed Jesus to be King of Israel. And

this would have been perfect timing for Jesus to set

himself up as earthly king. And Jesus, being human, must

have been tempted with this outcome rather than crucifixion. There

must have been a part of it that seemed like

it would have been the easier route. But in Luke

we see that Jesus he allowed people to say this,

He defended it to the Pharisees to some extent. But

as he came over Jerusalem, instead of taking it over politically,

Jesus wept over Jerusalem and their fate Luke nineteen verses

forty one through forty four and when he was come near,

he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, if

thou hadst known even thou at least in this day

the things which belong to thy peace, but now they

are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come

upon THEE, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about THEE,

and canpass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

and shall lay THEE even with the ground, and thy

children within thee. And they shall not leave THEE, leave

in THEE one stone upon another, because thou knewest not

the time of thy visitation. Now this certainly doesn't sound

like a king getting ready to set up a kingdom,

and that must have been disheartening to some people. Jesus

sacrificed his body and his dignity prophecy in Isaiah Isaiah

fifty three, verses five through eight. But he was wounded

familiar verses here. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our

peace was upon him, And with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned

every one to his own way, and the Lord hath

laid on him the iniquity of us. All he was oppressed,

and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth.

He has brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and

as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he

openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and

from judgment, And who shall declare his generation? For he

was cut off out of the land of the living

for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken. This

is a prophecy of Jesus sacrificing his body and his dignity.

The beating he received, the flogging until his back was

torn to shreds, the thorns that were beaten into his head,

the walk to the place of crucifixion so weak he

couldn't carry his crossbeam. That was not nearly the end

of his public humiliation and shame and suffering. Jesus died

what is considered to be the most public, humiliating, tortured,

prolonged deaths that even the heartened Romans could think of.

And I mad as we get closer to Easter will

probably probably somebody may look at that closer. But suffice

it to say that this was an incredible, beyond imaginable

sacrifice that was made for you and for me, And

ultimately Jesus sacrificed his life. John nineteen, verse thirty says,

when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said it

is finished, and bowed his head and gave up the ghost,

the one that had unimagined glory with the Father before

the creation of the world, the one that from the

throne of God spoke the world's into existence, the one

who created man, now gave up his life in the

most inglorious way, by man and for man. Jesus gave

the ultimate sacrifice by his own definition. And John fifteen

thirteen he says, greater love hath no man than this,

that a man laid down his life for his friends.

Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice. Next, I'd like to look

at man's rejection. I'm only going to list a few

of these off. There are so many we could look at,

but we can see that Jesus sacrificed everything for the

salvation of mankind. And perhaps the most difficult part of

this sacrifice is the rejection of the men that Jesus

sacrificed for. Jesus was rejected by the religious leaders of

the day, John twelve. So I believe most of what

I will be reading will be from John at this point,

John twelve, verse forty two. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers

also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,

they did not confess him lest they should be put

out of the synagogue. And verse forty three, I'd like

you to pay special attention to May bring that up later,

for they love the praise more than the For they

love the praise of men more than the praise of God.

What a sad commentary. After looking at the tremendous sacrifice

that Jesus made, the chief rulers believed on him. Many

of them believed on him, but they loved the praise

of man more than the praise of God, and so

they wouldn't publicly come out and say anything. Jesus was

rejected by fairwell their friends. And I think we see

that in the mob. We see that in the people

that laid down the palm leaves in front of him

and cried, Hosanna, you know, blessed to see that cometh

and this king of Israel. And very shortly later I

would suppose some of the same people, some of the

same mob were crying crucify him, you know, as long

as as long as he was going to be a

king and set up a new kingdom. There were many

people that were interested in that. They lost interest when

it became a spiritual kingdom and the king was going

to die. But maybe the no, I don't think. Maybe

I believe the most we could say astonishing. It had

to have been astonishing the people involved. We know it now,

we read it now. But this is found in John thirteen,

verse twenty one, when Jesus had thus said he was

troubled in spirit, and this is at the last Supper.

Now chapter thirteen, this is Jesus with his disciples at

the Last Supper. Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified

and said, verily, verily, I sand to you that one

of you shall betray me. Now, Judas is Scaria was

there for jesus ministry. He was there for the miracles.

He was there for the healings, for the rising from

the dead. He was there for the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Likely in jesus ministry, he may have performed miracles himself.

Perhaps it was when he saw Jesus weep over Jerusalem,

and when Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, that Judas

realized that Jesus meant to be no earthly king. I

don't think we know. I don't think we know when

or why Judas decided to betray Jesus. But he did,

and it seems like it was in this kind of

tight window here. It wasn't like Judas was going to

be able to retire in luxury. From what I can tell,

Judas sold Jesus. And this is I believe meaningful. Judas

sold the creator of the universe for the price of

a slave. This this is the price that if you

had an animal, you had an ox, and that got

loose and ran over somebody's slave, you could pay the

owner off for this amount of money. It's about three

or four months wages from what I understand. So it

wasn't even like like this was some huge amount of

money that Judas thought he could retire with. Jesus was

rejected by his close friend, his closest friends. Again, in

John we have this discourse Jesus mostly speaking, But in

John thirteen, verse thirty seven, Peter said, unto him Lord,

Why cannot I follow THEE? Now? I will lay down

my life for thy sake? Jesus answered him, wilt thou

lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verrely I

send to THEE. The cock shall not crow till thou

hast denied me thrice. And we know that story. We

know the story well of Peter denying Jesus, of the

rooster crowing, of Peter realizing what he had done. And

we talk about that a lot. We give Peter a

lot of grief in many ways because he denied Jesus.

He denied Jesus not only once, not only was he

told he would do it, he didn't. He just in

the moment, he did it three times. He had he

had fair warning. But while that was a terrible mistake

on Peter's part, you might notice that, except for John,

who seems to have kept a pretty low profile here,

none of the other disciples seemed to have been anywhere

in the near vicinity. From what we can tell, they

were scattered, likely hid in hiding, hoping that they would

escape the awful fate that they were that they feared

was coming to Jesus. Jesus was forsaken by those closest

to him, and he was denied by we could say

the bravest of the bunch. Jesus was. I think we

covered that already. He was. He was not only rejected

by the religious rulers, he was rejected by the religious

people by the mob. Talked about that. And lest we

get too intent on criticizing the religious people or the

Jews over this, Jesus was rejected by the Gentiles. John nineteen,

verses one through three. Then Pilot therefore took Jesus and

scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns

and put it on his head. And they put on

him a purple robe, and said, hel King of the Jews.

And they smote him with their hands. And then verse sixteen,

then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified.

And they took Jesus and led him away. One thing

is clear than the suffering and death of Jesus. Every

people group, I believe I opened a correction, but was

in the wrong. The Jews were wrong, the religious people

were wrong, the Gentiles were wrong, The leaders were wrong.

In the wrong, the followers, the mob, we all, all

of mankind needs to repent for the sins that Jesus

died to take away from us. And I don't think

we can with any certainty put ourselves in the position

of any of those people and think we would have

done something different somehow if we were Peter, we went of,

we wann't have done that. I don't think we can

say that. The next thing I'd like to look at

is jesus desire for man now despite knowing the rejection

he was facing, and there is rejection he would face.

Jesus desire for man is supernaturally beautiful. And again I

mentioned this, I'd like to draw attention to chapter seventeen

in John. Reading through that the desire, the desire from

an in that chapter going to be jumping actually from

about John twelve to John seventeen, so feel free to

jump or to just listen either way. Not going to

be turning back and forth. I'm just reading a lot

of scripture here. Here are just a few things that

Jesus desires found in Jesus' discourse with his disciples and

his prayer to the Father. Mostly found here between the

like I mentioned before the Last Supper and gethsemine. I

could say I'm not going to comment much on this

section at all. These are quotes from Jesus, as John

remembered them, who as the word of God, can speak

for himself. But Jesus desires that all men would be

drawn to and spend eternal life with him. John twelve,

verse thirty two. This is all. This is Jesus speaking.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,

will draw all men to me. All men, that's Jesus desire.

John chapter fourteen, verse three, speaking to his disciples. And

if I go and prepare a place for you, I

will come again and receive you unto myself, that where

I am there ye may be also. And then John seventeen,

this is the beginning, and this gives a little explanation.

These words speak Jesus and lifted up his eyes to

heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son,

that thy son also may glorify thee has Our has

given him power over all flesh, that he should give

eternal life to as many as Our has given him.

So Jesus desires that all men would be drawn to

him and would spend eternal life with him. Jesus desires

that we would love one another, and that we would

be one modeled after the Godhead. John thirteen, verse thirty

four says a new commandment. I give unto you, that

ye love one another as I have loved you, that

ye also love one another. And then some verses from

John seventeen, verse eleven, and now I am no more

in the world, but these are in the world. So

remember this as Jesus praying to the Father about his disciples,

his followers. I am no more in the world, but

these are in the world. And I come to THEE

Holy Father. Keep through thine own name those whom thou

has given me, that they may be one as we are.

And then verses twenty through twenty three of the same

chapter the same prayer. Neither pray I for these alone.

So he has the disciples here. But this is where

we get included. Neither pray I for these alone, but

for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,

that they all may be one, as Thou Father art

in me and I in THEE. That they also may

be one in us, that the world may believe that

Thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me.

I have given them, that they may be one, even

as we are one, I in them and Thou in me,

that they may be made perfect in one, and that

the world may know that thou hast sent me and

hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Notice in

there a couple times, that the world, that the world

may notice that I am sent of you, because they're one,

verse twenty six. And I have declared unto them thy name,

and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast

loved me, may be in them, and I in them.

So Jesus desires that we would be love one another

and be one. Jesus desires that we would love him

and keep his commandments. John fourteen, verse fifteen says, if

ye love me, keep my commandments, And same chapter verse

twenty one, he says, he that hath my commandments and

keepeth them he it is that loveth me, and he

that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and

I will love him and will manifest myself to him.

In Chapter fifteen, verse nine, Jesus said, as the Father

hath loved me, so have I loved you, Continue ye

in my love. Jesus desires that we would receive the

Holy Spirit, the comforter, the promise of the Father. John fourteen,

verse sixteen. And I will pray the Father, and he

shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with

you forever. And John sixteen, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell

you the truth. It is expedient for you that I

go away. For if I go not away, the comforter

will not come unto you. But if I depart, I

will send him unto you. Jesus desires that we would

have peace. John fourteen, verse twenty seven. Peace. I leave

with you my peace I give unto you, not as

the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your

heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And there

is plenty to be troubled and afraid about in the

coming hours here. Jesus desires that we would abide in

him and bear fruit John fifteen, verse four. Abide in

me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear

fruit of itself, accept it, abide in the vine. No

more can ye accept ye abide in me. And verse

sixteen says, ye have not chosen me, but I have

chosen you and ordained you that ye, you should go

and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain,

that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name,

he may give it you. Jesus desires that we should

live in joy. John sixteen, verse twenty Verily, verily, I

send to you that ye shall weep and lament, but

the world shall rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but

your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And verse twenty

four of the same chapter, hitherto have ye asked nothing

in my name? Ask and ye shall receive, that your

joy may be full. And Jesus desires that we would

be kept from evil and be sanctified. John seventeen in

his prayer to the Father verse fifteen, I pray not

that thou shouldst take them out of the world, like

that seems to be the easiest way to stay away

from evil, right, just take them out of them, That's

not jesus desire. I pray not that thou shouldst take

them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep

them from evil. Two verses later, he says, sanctify them

through the truth. Thy word is truth, and so we

see Jesus desire for man mm hmm I'm sure you could.

You could find more, you could listen more. Brings me

to the last part here, and that is man's sacrifice.

We saw that that Jesus was pretty much rejected by

everybody in the time of his greatest need. And yet

many people since, including many of those people, have sacrificed greatly.

You know what is and what should be the response

of man to the sacrifice and loving desires of Jesus.

Many of Jesus' followers have since given their lives for Jesus.

The friends of Jesus who were nowhere to be found

during his trial and who denied him vehemently multiple times.

Those men, all with the exception of John who was

exiled on the island, which probably wasn't real pleasant, They

were all martyred. They were all killed for the sake

and cause of Jesus. According to history and tradition, they

were beheaded, they were burned, they were pilate alive, they

were crucified. This tradition would have it. Peter and Andrew

were both crucified. Neither one deemed themselves to be worthy

to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus was crucified.

Upside down, and one was crucified in an x instead

of an upright cross, and they were all They all

went willingly and joyfully to meet their savior. We know

the stories of the early Church and Anabaptists who were

killed by water, fire, sword, wild beasts for the sake

of Jesus. We read of people who gave up everything

to witness to people around the world. We read of

missionaries who died of disease and unfriendly warriors, let's say,

wild animals, shipwrecks, so on. Here's how Paul recounts his ministry.

He said of the Jews, five times I received forty stripe,

saved one, so five times he got last. Thirty nine

times thrice beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, and

they left him for dead. If you remember that thrice

I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day, I have

been in the deep, in journeyings off, and in perils

of waters and paerils of robbers, and perils by mine

own countrymen, and perils by the heathen, and perils in

the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in

the sea, in perils among false brethren, and weariness and painfulness,

and watchings off, and hunger and thirst, and fastenings often

in cold and nakedness. Beside those things which are without,

that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all

the churches. And that's Paul's a kind of recap of

his ministry and his life, how things went sacrifice. But

what of us today? Again, I don't want us to

think I don't want you to think that I think

that we should be miserable for the sake of being miserable.

I don't believe that brings us any closer to God.

Jesus desires that our joy may be full. But could

we sacrifice with a purpose? Think of Jesus fasting forty

days in the wilderness. Jesus gave up something necessary, essential

for life, for the very existence of humanity, and that

is food, for forty days, for the sake of his ministry,

to give him strength for what was to come for

us now in this time, anytime of the year, but

as we're approaching Easter, because or in this season, I'd

like to challenge us to think about ourselves. Could we

could you? Could I give up something that is non

essential for forty days for the sake of our relationship

with Jesus. Could we give up something up and have

more time to have a relationship with Jesus. And this

is not a condemnation of anyone. This is a challenge

to myself. This is something I've been thinking about. You

can ask any question and probably somebody can say, yep,

I can give that up, right, So you can think

of what that is. But for some people, you know,

could you give up social media for forty days? You know,

I'm going to bring up that verse in John twelve again,

for they loved the praise of men more than the

praise of God, and you could relate that to social media.

But I wonder if today it may be the case

that we love to praise men more than we love

to praise God sometimes. Could you give up podcasts for

forty days? Could you give up listening to music for

forty days? Just sing instead? You know, that's like eleven

percent of your year, It's not that much. Could you

do it for the sake of your ministry and relationship

with Jesus? Could you give up sugar for forty days?

I mean, you can think you can think yourself something

non essential that you're pretty attached to. Is there something

non essential that you would not be willing to give

up for forty days. And if there is something like that,

I would ask you, I would ask me, why are

we not willing to give it up? Like I said,

this is something I've been thinking about. Besides that, could

we in our daily lives and thinking of sacrifice for others?

For Jesus? Could we spare a little time to sing

for the lonely, to feed the hungry, or pray for

the struggling. Could we spare a little money, time or

talent for the kingdom, for the church, for the school,

for the different projects around, for kids club? Could we

spare a little love in our hearts and words from

our lips for the weak, for the needy, or for

the discouraged. Jesus has given and sacrificed everything for you

and me? What are we willing to give for Jesus?

Let's have a song.