"Crossfire" John 12:9-26

Thanks for choosing this podcast by New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.

Listen during the sermon entitled Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus

has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

The Crossfire for the greatest bargaining tool that Jesus has ever given us.

Someday you are just a good man, someday you are kind. Someday you are a friend, someday you are kind.

Someday you are just a friend, someday you are a friend. Someday you are just a friend, one day you are a friend.

I will take you for all we are, and I will live today all night. In the world of your grace, I will travel.

Through the doors of time, through the gates of my glory, I will tell you that you are the only way. Jesus, you are God, you are my God.

I will come today and take you for all we are, and I will live today all night. In the world of your grace, I will tell you that you are my God.

I will come today and take you for all we are, and I will live today all night. I will travel the world of your grace.

I will live a life that shouts your name. I will live a life that shouts your name.

Jesus, right inside, lives a life that shouts your name.

Jesus, right inside, lives a life that shouts your name.

There is an endless road, and the land I know. I hear the music in the air.

And from the cross where we go, I am born in hope, for children like me.

How can I be so free in your grace? How can I open in love? How amazing your love? How can I keep from shouting your name?

I know I am born by the sea, and it makes my heart want to scream.

It's my life to be parted from my love, my Savior near. And I will walk with you, and you will see me through.

The clean water flows through me. How can I be so free in your grace? How can I open in love? How amazing your love?

How can I keep from shouting your name? I know I am born by the sea, and it makes my heart want to scream.

I can sing as I move my step, and fall down again. I can sing as you take me out, sing as you're there.

I can sing as you carry the horse, and I call to you in prayer. I can sing with the love of Christ, sing for us now.

And I'll sing with the angels, and saints around the world. I can sing as I move my step, and fall down again.

How can I open in love? How amazing your love? How can I keep from shouting your name?

I know I am born by the sea, and it makes my heart want to scream.

I can sing as I move my step, and I call to you in prayer.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I just want you to know, just for the record, my voice was not hired until I said hi.

I'm one of those people that I can't have notifications across the top of my phone.

It makes me crazy. I have to clear them. I have to leave them and clear them.

So I have two things. One, the verse of the day that I read.

And sometimes I've been really good with it. I've backed up to hundreds of days.

I got almost to a year and then I missed it and it did. Don't be crazy.

So I now have it popping up at me at noon as a notification and I don't take it off until I've read it.

And so I see it all day but I don't have time to read it. So I can't take it off until I've read it.

So that, it works for me because I can't. I do the same thing with calendar appointments for work.

So that's what I've done. I've got a workbook that I've started doing.

And I made myself a calendar appointment and do it three times a week.

And I can't clear it until it's done. So it's going to sit there on top of my phone until I read it.

Yeah, I think that's called the slither in my paw method.

Yes.

So it'll be driving you nuts until you do it. And that's good.

Those are methods that we can use to discipline ourselves and make ourselves do it. That's very good.

All right, anybody else got one?

Yeah.

I'm just going to do it the first five minutes of my lunch break every day.

And it'll be like before I get up to go get my lunch or whatever.

I'll be already sitting there not having work to do.

I'm on my break and you should be able to have a couple minutes to focus on it every day, every weekday.

That way it's part of your lunch.

You get an hour for lunch?

Yeah.

Is it? And you do it roughly the same time every day?

Or whenever you need for that?

Well, I choose it. But it's kind of between noon and 2.30 usually.

Okay. But either way, you get an hour in the first five minutes. That's cool.

So you're putting it at the beginning. And so if you're hungry, you're going to be like, I need to study that.

That's good stuff. All right. Who else?

Anybody else got a method that you're using to keep yourself encouraged?

Got something?

It's not nothing I've been doing. But I just look through my Bible.

And Matthew is one of probably the most spoken, like, verse that came out to me for Easter.

Okay.

It really talks to me about, I forgot what I was going to say.

All right. We'll come back to you. Okay?

Go ahead and look at it again if you want me to come back.

All right. So those are the methods that some folks are using to kind of encourage themselves to follow through with their plans.

And you already heard some plans, right?

So we've got a plan for part of lunch to study, plan first thing on the way home to study, a plan locking in notifications and a Bible study book.

All right. So what are some other things somebody else said, well, I'm going to, this is going to be my method of study.

Somebody else give me an example.

You know mine. So mine is I, 80 days ago today.

80 days ago today, I made a commitment to do it first thing every morning before I do anything else.

So I grab my phone and I go into you and I go into you version Bible app and I post and publish comments.

You can't hold notes are in there and I have missed in 80 days.

I have missed twice and by missing, I say I did something else.

I accidentally did something else first.

I still did it, but I actually did something else first.

Like the one time I caught myself, I was clearing the notifications on my phone.

I'm like, oh, wait, I forgot to do Bible study.

I went to get my Bible study and the other time I got up and like went to the bathroom or something and I was like, oh, I guess nature calls.

You got to do what you got to do.

But anyway, point is so other 80 days I've done it first thing and then I thought what's neat about it for me is that I found that that has encouraged me.

I did it first thing in the morning.

Then later in the day, whenever I have time, like I would say one day I was sitting in the doctor's office at the NT and I have nothing else going on.

And I went, oh, well, I can do some model study.

I put my book, my Bible out.

I did like three more public notes on different verses and stuff.

So having done it first thing in the morning puts it in my head and then I do it throughout my day whenever I have spots that are empty.

My goal would be that I think I'm going to see it already.

My goal would be that I would look back at it after a period of time and I know my Bible better and better and better.

You don't have to know your Bible better and better and better to be a follower of Jesus.

In fact, there are people who know Bibles way better than I do who are not Christians at all.

Right.

But I just think I would like to do that.

I would like to be becoming my own version of an expert in the Word.

So I think any of these plans will do that.

So that's mine.

What about you?

Anybody else make a decision to do it at a certain time of day or a certain way or a certain number of days or anything like that?

One once.

One twice.

Okay.

Then we're going to share what have you seen this week?

What popped out at you?

What inspired you?

What did you think God would say, hey, look at that or something like that?

Got something?

I got one.

I'll go up here.

It's actually something you said last week that sparked me and I went back through my phone and found a list of verses that I had compiled over the years.

These are all verses that go along with songs that we sing and worship.

So I listen to a lot of music and so I add to this every once in a while.

I'm going to read a couple, just a couple of them, not all of them, and see if you can pick out what songs they might be.

Okay.

Maya, this is all on you, babe.

Oh no, you'll get some of it.

Any of the songs that you do in the verse that it comes from, so.

Or at least the chorus maybe.

But see, I could know the chorus and still not know the song very easily.

Okay, so this is 2 Chronicles 7, 13, and 14.

I started with 13 because 14 is an older sentence.

13 says, If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, and my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, or forgive their sin, and will heal their lands.

I heard the chorus. I don't know the name of the song.

If my people pray?

Water.

Water.

Did we get it?

Yes.

I heard the chorus.

It's in a couple of songs, but what if my people prayed it in there?

This one also.

Okay, thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever.

That's in like three art songs.

Can we name one of them?

One of the three?

His love endures forever?

The title is just forever again.

Yeah.

They should name that one better.

I don't know, it's pretty well the most important word there.

Love endures forever?

Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you.

Better than life.

Woo!

Okay, wait, I got one.

I'm super excited.

For a day in your quarters is better than a thousand outside,

I would rather stand at your threshold of the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wickedness.

Better is better.

There's one here.

I need one more.

This is the one I need.

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will take his stand on the earth.

Redeemer lives?

I got three.

Yep, my Redeemer lives.

And you never let go is in here.

Every day is in here.

There's multiple songs that we do that come specifically from Scripture

and the Word of God.

That's pretty neat.

I'll bet you, it might not be the exact words,

but I'll bet you you could actually find a verse behind every song.

The challenging ones would be the songs that we do that you go,

I can't, I don't know, and find it in Scripture.

That would be fun, exciting to do.

For anybody who could actually remember the names of any songs,

it would be fun, but not so much for me.

Anybody else got something?

Okay, Brother Tony Tate, would you pray for us at this time?

And then we're going to do tithes and offerings

and a little bit more worship and less.

Jesus, we thank you.

Do believe it's Isaiah 55,

but you say that your word will go, it's supposed to go.

Just like the mountains, the snow comes off the mountains,

and it goes to the plants, it's crop, so is your word.

It will go to olive void.

And so God, we just thank you for your word.

It's in the music, the word will be today.

Give me the word, the words that we share every day.

God, the originality of the word, that it's your truth,

it's your hope, it's your love.

All the promises of God is yes and amen.

And so God, we just thank you for this time.

And God, the times and offerings because you gave,

God, we're giving today, giving of ourselves,

and just so thankful for what you're doing now and forever.

In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so we're going to do something a little different.

We've got the offering first.

Oh, yeah, offering first.

Can we do that next?

We're going to do the song first, then the offering.

Changing it.

Changing the order.

Because I can do that.

I'm stuck.

I'm stuck.

So I can talk while we do this, right?

We have sort of an epiphany.

So the three of us are sort of in charge of choosing music.

And if you look at this room, we have proved already this morning,

we have more children than adults in this room.

So that being said, as worship leaders,

our basic goal is for the congregation to be able to worship.

And if the congregation is mostly children,

then we're going to do some children's songs.

So we need some children on their feet.

We need some preschoolers up in the front here

because they should know this one.

Right.

Come on up here, Kyler, Zaden.

As soon as the offering is through.

Put up there, Jason.

We're going to go ahead and get started.

Mommy.

Should they know this song?

Yeah.

My mommy.

I love this song.

I'm going to be a preschooler again.

Yes.

I am going to do emotions like a preschooler.

So.

I think I know that one.

Oh.

I may never.

Yes.

I.

Never.

Yes.

I.

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Let justice and grace, let people by your grace,

To love you from the end I hear.

As the fire of day, you light the shed, when I love you,

You will end in a glory, you'll see I love you,

When the cry of my heart, comes to bring you back to me,

I know you don't want to break up.

My heart and my soul, I give you control,

Consume me from the inside out.

Let justice and grace, become my embrace,

To love you from the end I hear.

As the fire of day, you light the shed, when I love you,

You will end in a glory, you'll see I love you,

When the cry of my heart, comes to bring you back to me,

I know you don't want to break up.

Let justice and grace, become my embrace,

To love you from the end I hear.

As the fire of day, you light the shed, when I love you,

You will end in a glory, you'll see I love you,

When the cry of my heart, comes to bring you back to me,

I know you don't want to break up.

Music

Oh, over mountains and seas,

Your river runs with lovely,

And tethers open round the heart,

I'm gonna keep myself free

I'm happy to be with you

And I will take you in my hand

For I will always sing of when you're looking down

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

Oh, I feel like dancing

It's foolishness, I know

When the world has seen the night, they will dance with joy like we're dancing now

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I could sing of your love forever

I could sing of your love forever

I could sing of your love forever

I could sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

I can sing of your love forever

So you know that Jesus has to get himself into Jerusalem in order to get crucified.

And that's the part of the story we're at, where he's literally about to go into Jerusalem in a sense from which he will never return.

Of course he will be resurrected and then be alive again and he will travel the area again for a while, but his physical body will never come out of Jerusalem the same again.

So we're going to start reading in 9. Before we're done, we'll look at a little bit before, but I just want you to see from 12-9 on.

The great multitude, therefore the Jews, learned that he, that's Jesus, was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus whom he raised from the dead.

So this story is after John chapter 11 in which Lazarus was raised from the dead. That's all you've got to really worry about there.

John 11 · chapter mention

And they were coming out to see Jesus, but not only to see Jesus, they wanted to see Lazarus alive again.

But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also. So now they're going to kill Jesus and all the time Jesus is public ministry, they've been off and on, waffling, deciding whether or not to kill Jesus.

And now they're committed, in John 11 it says they're committed, they've got a plan, they're going to figure it out, they're going to kill Jesus.

But they also say they're going to kill Lazarus. That caught my attention.

Verse 11 says, because on account of him, that's Lazarus, many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

There's a lot of Jewish people and they were supposed to believe in Jesus, that was the way it was supposed to be.

And a lot of them were starting to believe in Jesus and they believed, the others believed it was because of Lazarus.

So since Lazarus has been brought back to life, if this one has power over death, that's really something.

And people were starting to believe in Jesus and they thought it was because he had brought Lazarus back to life.

Did you get a pad?

How's it going?

I need his notes because he does a really good job taking notes.

Thank you so much.

I slapped off on that apparently. Maybe you weren't in your seat or something.

Back on task.

So anyway, people believing in Jesus because of Lazarus.

On the next day, the next day, the great multitude who had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began to cry out, we'll stop there for a second,

so Jesus is getting ready to go into the city, into Jerusalem, and they heard that he's coming and a lot of the crowd

come out and they take the branches of the palm trees, this is Palm Sunday, where we celebrate Palm Sunday technically next Sunday.

It's the Sunday before his crucifixion.

And they went out to meet him and began to cry out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

Obviously that's Old Testament, right? But the word Hosanna has a special meaning, we'll talk about that in one second.

Blessed is he, well spoken of, laid out his path before God, God has laid out his path, he who comes in the name of the Lord,

the one coming on behalf of God, that Lord is creator God, Yahweh, the God, the God of heaven, Jesus was coming on behalf of God.

Even, they said, was he the king of Israel, he was the king coming on behalf of God.

Hosanna, pray Lord save us. The word Hosanna essentially means pray Lord save us.

So in other words, here is a man coming on behalf of God and we are appealing to him to save us.

See they were recognizing Jesus for who Jesus was, some of them believed in him, some of them didn't, but they saw him coming into Jerusalem,

maybe this is it, maybe this is the coming of God's kingdom, we're going to throw off the yoke of the Romans,

or we're going to see God do amazing things and change us as a people, they were looking for that.

Pray God save us, pray Lord save us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it as it is written, fear not daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.

Again, a text from the Old Testament and elsewhere in the other gospels you can read a little more detail,

we may do that next week, I don't know for sure.

It's also another song that's related to a verse.

Yep, absolutely. So Jesus is riding it on a donkey and they're laying the palm fronds, that's what that's called, from the trees down in front of him.

And then it says in 16, these things his disciples did not understand at first, in other words the disciples who were following him

and had been taught by him and stuff, they didn't quite get what was going on there, they didn't realize that it was the fulfillment of prophecy.

But when Jesus was glorified after he was crucified, after he was glorified, after he was really lifted up,

then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things to him.

So they realized they were fulfilling prophecy after they had already done it.

They didn't go, oh let's get palm fronds and lay them down, let's get a donkey's colt, they didn't do that.

They went, oh, ha, now I see it. In the Old Testament this was explained. Now I get it.

Verse 17, and so the multitude who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were bearing him witness.

So there's a lot of people who were there when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and he brought Lazarus back to life

and they were walking around and they were saying, yeah, this is the one, this is the guy that brought Lazarus back to life,

this is the Messiah, this is the anointed one, right? Verse 18.

For this cause also the multitude went and met him because they heard that he had performed this sign.

There's a lot of people coming out because they heard that Jesus had done this amazing thing.

The Pharisees therefore said to one another, you see that you are not doing any good.

Look, the world has gone after him. Now that's an out of place statement, isn't it?

Who are the Pharisees talking to? I read this the first time through and I went, I'm not sure I fully understand.

All of a sudden in the middle of this text it says, you see that you're not doing any good.

So they're talking about the people that are praising Jesus or are they talking to the people that are spreading the story about Lazarus?

And that seems to make sense, doesn't it? It says, look, the world has gone after him. So many people following him.

Verse 20 says, now there were certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast.

So these are Grecian people, they're traveling up to. These therefore came to Philip. So some Greek people came to Philip.

Now remember Greeks are Gentiles, they're not Jews, they don't have the Old Testament teaching about Jesus, right?

So they're getting it from the outside a little bit.

These therefore came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and began to ask him saying, sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip came and told Andrew and Andrew and Philip came and they told Jesus and Jesus answered them saying, now this is Jesus speaking,

the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. So there's a moment in time in which God is going to shine a light.

Whenever you see that word glorified in the New Testament, always think of shining a light on something.

Remember the spotlights in the old days, if you ever go to theater you see they shine a light on the main person talking or on the main singer, right?

So glorified, always think of like shining a light on. So now has come the time for the Son of Man to have a light shined on him to be glorified.

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

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

I want you to think for a moment if you had a little ziplock baggie and a single grain seed enough to grow one stalk of grain, right?

If you kept it all your life in that little ziplock baggie, how much grain would you have in the end?

You'd have exactly one little grain seed in a ziplock baggie. That's what you'd have.

But if you could take it out and plant it in good soil, it would grow up. When it grows up and it grows to a certain point, it does what they call, it goes to seed.

How many seed will that one stalk of grain produce? Hundreds if not thousands.

Now let's say you harvest that seed and in the next season you plant all of those seeds, again, in good soil.

It grows up and each one produces hundreds of thousands. The math has already gotten beyond what we can easily calculate, right?

Millions of seeds from that one little seed in that one little baggie.

But unless it goes to ground and when it goes to ground it breaks open and begins to grow the roots of a stalk of grain, unless that happens, it cannot multiply like that.

But if that happens, it can multiply. Now we know that Jesus is talking about His death.

Verse 25 says, He who loves His life loses it.

And He who hates His life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.

So Jesus could be saying about Himself, let's start there, that if He would hold back His life, if He would not allow Himself to be crucified,

then He would not fulfill God's plan for Him, go to heaven, be in glory, be at the right hand of God, etc.

But clearly by the tense He's talking about not only Jesus, He's talking about other people too, right?

So in other words, if you're wrapped up in, if you're very concerned about what you're going through, who you are, what you're like, if you become,

and I don't mean, not in a really bad negative way do I mean to say this, but if you become self-centered, if you're concerned about this right here,

Jesus said, He who loves His life loses it. The more time you spend concerned about this right here,

the more likely you are to get to the end of that right there and have nothing.

But He says, But He who hates His life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. Now we know we're not a people of hatred.

He doesn't mean hate it like as in I'm going to go commit suicide or something stupid like that.

It doesn't mean as being self-destructive or jumping out of planes without parachutes to prove you can do it, that kind of thing.

No, He means ordering your life accordingly. What is the most important thing? What is the least important thing?

Now you take it for what it's worth, but I'm going to explain this to you. And everybody needs to be listening.

Girls, you listen. This is really huge. Whatever you want, whatever you really want, that's the least important thing.

Whatever drives you, whatever you're pursuing, whatever you're after right now in the moment, that's the least important thing.

The only way that's not true is if you're allowing that want to be informed by what God wants.

Now, if for example, you say, Well, what does God want the most? And you think about that, you meditate on it, you study on it.

You say, Well, what God wants the most is for people to become Christians, for people to have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ as Lord.

And so you then decide that what you want the most is for people to become Christians, to be followers of Lord Jesus Christ,

to be saved, right? Now that want can become the most important want in your life because it's a want that God wants, right?

So we're wanting what God wants. If you want what God wants, OK. But if you want what you want, Oh man, I'm hungry.

I really need a good sandwich or, you know, I got to have some money to put gas in my car.

Are you driven by whatever your circumstances are? Those wants are the least important things.

We make them out to be the most important. We say hierarchy of needs, right? When a person needs to eat, listen to me.

If you never ate a bite of food ever and literally starved to death, you shouldn't.

But if you did from this moment on, don't, by the way, because if you would, I will make sure you eat.

But the bottom line is if you did do that and you starved to death from here on out,

the want that you have for food between this moment and your death is still less important than what God wants for you,

even though you will die at the end of that time, it's still less important.

So when you get wrapped up and you say, well, I can't tell you about Jesus because I got no food.

I got to put food on the table. When you get wrapped up and say, well, I can't tell you about Jesus because I've got bills I got to pay.

You got to realize you're moving those life wants back in the hierarchy of needs, moving them back up to the top above what God wants.

The Bible says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.

What was it talking about? It's a food, sustenance, job, income, etc.

Put God's desires first, the needs of the kingdom's first, and the rest of that is subservient.

But I know what you're going to say.

There comes a moment in time where it's either I die doing what God wants me to do or I live working in my own wants and desires.

So somebody puts a gun to my head and says, if you profess the name of Jesus right now, I'm going to pull this trigger and blow your head off.

And you're like, well, all I got to do is just lie and Jesus will forgive me anyway, right?

So I'm just going to lie and I'll get out of this. And then you lie and they pull the trigger anyway.

And then you stand before Jesus and he says, but wait a minute, your last act on the earth was to deny me.

So you say, but there's going to come, you want to take it to the nth degree? I'll take it there.

At the moment of your death, whatever God wants has to be greater than whatever you want or you're going to hell.

You want to take it there? I'll take it there. That's what Jesus said.

I didn't say it. He said he who loves his life loses it and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.

If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Come on.

The greatest thing you could ever have. God himself says, come follow me.

And he's going to get it right. And where I am, there shall my servant also be.

Wherever I go, whatever I go through there shall my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him.

I'm going to read 27 just so you get the complete thought. Now my soul has become troubled.

And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.

Faced with his crucifixion and his torture, Jesus was able to say, God's wants are greater than my own.

Alright, so there's three things in here I want you to see. As I said, a couple are going to go by pretty quick so hang on.

The first one is the Hosanna blessed as he.

We come in the name of Jesus.

So if you say Hosanna, blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord, that could be us.

But that Hosanna, it's a sticky wicket, isn't it? If somebody comes to you and says, pray Lord save me, you say, I can't save you.

Pray Lord save me, you say, I can't save you. Jesus can save you.

Anyone who would say that they can save you didn't come in the name of the Lord.

And there will be those. In fact, Jesus says there will be those coming in the end times.

And some of them are out there already right now who profess a lesson, a teaching if you will,

that if you embrace their teaching and follow them the way they say, then you'll be saved.

And if you won't, you won't be. It has nothing to do with Jesus.

If you'll come and confess your sins to a certain guy, then your sins will be forgiven.

But if you won't, then you won't be forgiven.

That's Hosanna. Pray Lord save us. But we can't save them. But Jesus can.

He is the King of Israel. He is the creator of the universe in flesh and then resurrected.

Nothing was made except that which was made through him.

Pray Lord save us. When you're talking with someone, they need to know, I need to know,

we need to remember that it is Jesus who can save us. He is Jesus Lord.

If he is not Jesus Lord, he cannot save us. But he is Jesus Lord and therefore he can save us.

So say to the Lord, pray Lord save us. Please Jesus save us. That's our prayer.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. How do you become someone who comes in the name of the Lord?

Pray Lord save us. Decide that you are a follower of Jesus.

Decide that you want to go where Jesus is going and do what Jesus is doing.

And as a foreshadowing, sometimes it's going to suck.

You're going to go places and do things that you never wanted to go nor do.

But you're going to do it with Jesus. And then ultimately you're going to go somewhere that you always wanted to go

and always will.

Notice that Jesus was nothing more than pleading by his very existence for people to recognize that he was Lord

and King of Israel. And I submit King of the church, King of all people, King of all mankind, King of all humanity.

And not King for a day or for a year or for a lifetime, but for an eternity.

He was the Davidic King promised. He would sit on the throne forever.

He was not coming to free them from the Romans. He was coming to free them from death.

Pray Lord save us. Save us from the Romans. We want to tax ourselves.

Save us from the Romans. We want to generate our own army.

Save us from the electric bill. Save us from the broken down car.

Save us from the broken relationship. God is Lord of way more than that.

We're so worried about our concerns and praying Lord save us from our basic concerns.

Because number one, we know he has the power.

But because number two, we're concerned about this life.

In shackles they sat, in stocks they were, and they sang the praises of Jesus into the middle of the night.

And all the prisoners sat listening to them.

And an earthquake shook the jail and the chains broke off.

And the jailer rushed in going to commit suicide. And Paul said, no, no, don't do that.

We're all still here. None of us have left.

And so he didn't. And he said to Paul, he said, what must I do to be saved?

They were in shackles singing praises because they were not concerned about this life.

They were concerned about the next one. They were concerned about the God of the universe.

The one who rules, who is king.

They were giving glory to the one who is bigger than their situation.

They were praying Lord save us.

And then the earthquake came and instead of them running free and possibly being caught on another day

and causing the jailer to lose his life and all that, there they were, saving the jailer.

And he was going to commit suicide. And they said, no, don't do that.

And he said, what must I do to be saved?

And he said, believe and be baptized and you and your whole household will be saved.

And so they could have been, they said pray Lord save us.

And they could have used their salvation to escape jail and go on witnessing for God.

But instead they used their salvation to save the jailer and his whole household.

Pray Lord save us.

I would add to that, you've got to stop praying to yourself.

You've got to stop praying to your TV.

You've got to stop praying to your money.

You've got to stop praying to the people in relationship with you.

And pray Lord Jesus, King of my life, save me.

And when he does and he decides to use you for whatever he's going to use you for, you'll be willing.

Foxhole conversions are a very real thing.

Down in the pit in the ground, mortars are dropping.

Lord if you just, if you save me, I'll do whatever you want for the rest of my life.

And some of them stick and some of them don't.

You're so very concerned about your life, concerned about what God is going to do.

Concerned about what things are going to be like that you'll go to God and say, God help me.

Please help me God. I'm sorry for what I did wrong.

You say, well I won't do that anymore if you'll just do this for me.

And then God does his part or better.

And a week later, a month later, a year later.

You may not go back to doing the thing you said you'd never do again.

But you're doing other things that dishonor him just as much.

Because we're concerned about this life.

And what we really need to be is concerned about the Lord of this life.

Pray Lord save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Now if you are, as a side note, if you are indeed coming in the name of the Lord,

realize that you are subject to friendly fire.

You're traveling with Jesus.

Sometimes Jesus might use you.

God forbid. I don't want it to be so. I don't want it to be so for me or any of my family.

But Jesus uses people to be martyred, to spread the gospel.

Some seed does fall.

If we all serve long enough and Jesus doesn't come again,

I would almost guarantee you that somebody who calls themselves New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Littles

will lose their life serving Jesus.

We've had several who almost have already.

Hosanna. Pray Lord Jesus. Pray Lord save us.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Second thing I want you to see in there is the truth about what Jesus did.

The truth that we want to spread, that makes sense.

But if the truth is spread, we cannot lose.

If we just keep spreading the truth, we cannot lose.

Our core values, our verse as a church is 1 John 1.3.

We proclaim what we have seen and heard.

That you may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

That's what we do. Just tell people what you have seen and heard.

I've stood up here and I've told stories to you from my life.

If you can't come up with a story to tell from your life, then you tell one of my stories.

My pastor tells a story of how God did this.

We saw a woman come to the church and this happened in her life.

You don't have to only tell your own story. You tell what God has done.

If the truth about Jesus is spread, it will happen.

Amazing things. And the gospel will continue to grow.

And the kingdom will grow and people will get saved.

But the truth about Jesus is not being spread because we're too busy talking about the things of this life.

Philippians 1 in verse 15 it says this.

Some to be sure are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill.

The latter do it out of love knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.

The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives.

Thinking to cause me distress and my imprisonment.

There are those who are talking about Jesus and they're doing it for the right reason.

There's those who are talking about Jesus and they're doing it for the wrong reason.

And Paul says, I'm good with either one. At least Jesus is being proclaimed.

If you're a follower of Lord Jesus Christ and you're not telling people what Jesus has done,

my question to you would be, number one, why?

If God has done something in your life, God.

If there's something you could say that God did, not I did it.

But God did it for me.

If you can say that, why would you not literally tell everyone that?

And you're like, well, but the only thing that really happened to me was when I prayed, I felt different.

Nobody cares about that. Yes, they do.

Because everybody in the world that doesn't know Jesus is very concerned about how they feel.

Their thoughts are wrapped up in this life.

They will want the feeling that you had when you tell them that you had a different feeling.

They want the feeling.

But I submit to you, if there was a feeling and it was a sign that you were saved,

then it wasn't the only thing that he's ever done.

Now, some people try to make everything that's ever happened in their life out about God, what he did.

So I was on the side of the road, you know, and I forgot my gas and I ran out of gas.

And then when the state farm truck came along, gave me a gallon of gas,

I would say, thank God, God made me run out of gas.

Thank God, the state farm truck came along, got me a gallon of gas.

Thank God, I got to get to the gas station, bought some more gas.

Thank God, I got a job.

Everything in your life is not necessarily God did a miracle.

We're talking about the things that you can attribute God did.

Now, the fact that there was somebody there to come along and help you, that could be a miracle,

but you can't really testify to that. You don't really know.

The fact that you ran out of gas, it could be a miracle.

Maybe you ran out of gas so you wouldn't get hit by a truck, right?

It could be, but you can't really testify to that.

But there are the things that we know that God has done and we proclaim what we have seen in her.

We tell about what we have seen God do so that others can have fellowship with us

and our fellowship is with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

If we proclaim the truth, we cannot lose.

People were coming because they had heard the truth about Lazarus' resurrection.

They just wanted to see for themselves.

Don't expect that everybody you tell that Jesus did something for you is immediately going to get saved.

You've got to plant a seed sometimes. You've got to tell them what God has done.

Then you plant the seed, tell them what God has done, and they start thinking about it,

and they're laying in bed at one night at one o'clock, and they're going,

man, I feel so alone. You know, Whitney told me about how she prayed to God,

and she gave her life to the Lord, and she suddenly had a different kind of a feeling.

I wonder if I could have that feeling.

God, are you there? And God testifies in their heart, yeah, I'm here.

And they say, God, I want to live my life for you just like Whitney told me.

Okay, this is what you do. And they're saved, just like that.

Nobody's there, but they heard about it, and they went to God.

I submit to you, as much as I wish it weren't so, that more people have gotten saved by finding God,

by going, I wonder if God's there, and searching for him, and he impressed upon them

that he was indeed there and saved them, than ever got saved by an invitation in church.

The invitation, as we have it, we're walking forward,

that would have been going on for a little over 100 years.

So more people got saved that way, praying somewhere in a dark wood, praying somewhere beside their bed,

in front of the wine cooler, or on the bar room floor.

More people got saved doing that than ever got saved in an invitation in church, I guarantee it.

So real quick, I want you to follow the story with me of how this developed of them telling the truth,

because this became really important as I was studying this passage.

Go back to 1146, if you're following along in your Bibles.

It says in 1146, but some of them went away.

So first of all, in 45, it says, many therefore of the Jews who had come to Mary and beheld what he, that's Jesus, had done, believed in him, that's Jesus.

So a lot of them saw him bring Lazarus back to life, and they started believing, like, wow, this guy's really something, and they believed in Jesus.

But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Then 47, therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council.

So some of them went away, told what Jesus had done.

Chief priests and Pharisees get together, and they were saying, what are we doing?

For this man is performing many signs.

If we let him go on like this, all men will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing at all,

nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish.

Now this he did say, not on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,

and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one, the children of God who are scattered abroad,

so that from that day on they planned together to kill him.

So the high priest prophesied about Jesus. He didn't know Jesus. He wasn't a follower of Jesus, but he was a follower of God.

And he prophesied in his role as high priest that Jesus would die and bring together all people from everywhere in one nation.

And then down to 57, now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.

Go to 12.1, Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus has raised from the dead.

Go to 12.9, back to 12.9, and this is part of our text for today, the great multitude therefore of the Jews learned that he was there,

and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus whom he raised from the dead.

Skip ahead to 17, and so the multitude who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were bearing him witness.

And then 19, the Pharisees therefore said to one another, you see that you are not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after him.

Listen to me. If the world, if people who do not know Jesus begin to say those people over there are like that because they say Jesus did this in them,

they will be evangelists for us. The lost people of the world spreading rumors, thinking they're slandering us.

Well, that guy, he gets up every Sunday morning at 7 a.m. and studies his Bible because he says that God did this in him.

He preaches or teaches or serves the Lord because he says that God did this in him. What a freak he is.

But that very word right there is going to reach people, and they're going to go, is he a freak?

But I've always known I was missing something. What if Pastor Dan, the guy at New Heights, really isn't a freak, but what if he really is into something?

What if he really has figured something out? God, are you there? You see how that works?

And so those people that think they are working against us, so when you're real afraid, I get it, I am too, my normal person, I'm real afraid of people talking bad about me,

thinking bad about me, doing bad things to me or to my family if I stand up and serve Jesus the way Jesus wanted me to.

Nobody wants to see their kids or their friends or their fellow church members or whatever treated badly because they're standing up for Jesus.

To my knowledge, every one of my children has been treated badly in public school for standing up for Jesus at some point in time.

Right, Aaron? Aaron was a Christian in like fourth grade or whatever talking about Jesus, and there was a kid outside and they were just messing around.

I know there was a kid that had been kind of bullying him, pushed him into a barbed wire fence. Remember that?

I didn't know it, but they had a science teacher in junior high that was, the funny thing is she started, she was a Christian,

but then her husband cheated on her and she got a divorce and whatever and she kind of walked away from the Lord.

And every one of them persecuted her, she persecuted every one of them in their science class as they came up, and I didn't find out until Arden.

Every one of them went rounds with her because she's a purely an evolutionist and she believes that creationism is a lie, and if you believe creationism, she'll come after you.

One of my daughters, I forgot if it was you or Amalia, one of them told me that it was the only deed they ever got in high school because that teacher persecuted them because they believed in Christ.

But that teacher that was doing that was witnessing for Jesus by doing that. Now I don't want that to happen, you don't want that to happen, we don't want that to happen.

But every time the world comes against us because we stand up for Jesus, we win. You've seen it on social media, right?

So you put something out there on social media that says, you know I love Jesus so much and Jesus did this for me and whatever, and all your atheist friends, right?

All your atheist friends go and cross promote that on their page and say something nasty about it, right? No, they don't.

However, if your atheist friends post something nasty about God or whatever, your Christian friends will get provoked and they'll post it so that all their Christian friends can see it and that they're standing up for it.

Now what's the problem with that? Because when Christianity stands up against atheism, all we're doing is witnessing for them.

And when atheism stands up against Christianity, all they're doing is witnessing for us, except they're smart enough to know it.

So they don't repost the stuff about Jesus because they disagree with it and they don't want anybody else to see it.

But Christians post stuff and it's not just the stuff that's atheist but stuff that promotes agendas that are not godly and they repost the stuff and speak against it so everybody can see it. Stop it.

Generate stuff about Jesus and if they repost it, fine. But if they generate stuff that's anti-Jesus, you don't repost it.

Also, by the way, that means if there's something in their name like, you know, F me I'm a funny guy, but it's spelled out.

I don't care how funny what they post is, you don't repost it because the F word has no place on Facebook.

You've got to decide who you are and who you're witnessing for. It's got to be about Jesus. I'm all Jesus all the time.

That's who we are. And these people, they came back and they were told they should, right? They were told, come back and tell us.

And they came back and they said, well, Jesus was just over there, Bethany, and he brought Lazarus back to life.

And they were telling everybody, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. Jesus brought Lazarus back to life.

And finally the Pharisees said, what are you doing? Shut up. Don't you realize? If everybody finds out who this guy is, the whole world's going to turn to him.

And the Jewish nation is going to be essentially no more. They're not going to have the prominence that they currently have.

They're not going to have the power under the Roman government that they currently have. We're going to lose all that.

And it's going to be all about Christians all the time.

See, day one, they figured it out. If everybody goes to follow Jesus, then all the rest of this crap goes to the wayside.

It's all gone. And we actually get the earth that we were supposed to have in the first place, as long as it lasts, because we've already dealt its death blow.

The truth about Jesus must be spread. And if it's spread by me or you or a non-Christian, so be it.

So if you, here's what you do. If you're witnessing to a non-Christian, you share the gospel with them and they won't get saved, tell them a couple of fantastic stories.

Stories that, like, you'd go, I wouldn't tell a lost person that because there's no way they're going to believe me.

Like the time I was driving in my car and the needle went below E in the middle of a snowstorm with my two little children in the back,

my wife asleep in the passenger seat, and I drove for another half an hour. And I'm driving and it's like 15 degrees outside.

And literally I'm driving like five, 10 mile an hour on the expressway because it's snowed so bad.

And I finally sit up because I'm falling asleep and I look and the needle is below E and the low fuel light's been on all this time.

And I can't imagine we're 25 miles minimum from a town, 45 miles from the next gas station.

And I'm thinking, OK, here we go. Running out of gas on the side. Nope. Nobody's ever going to come and help.

No cell phones. Nobody's ever going to come and help because we're going to be sitting on the side of the road.

Visibility is five foot. A tow truck could drive right by, not even see us. Right.

So we're sitting on the side of the road, broke down 15 degrees, soon it's going to be cold in the car.

My little girl's three years old in the back, no blanket, no coat, you know how that is. Right.

And I'm in trouble. And I wake up and I say, Sherry, I got to tell you something.

And she's like, what? And I said, I've been driving with a low fuel light on and I cannot tell you how long I've been driving.

I guarantee you it's been at least 45 minutes. That's when I put my seat down.

I can't tell you how long I've been driving with a low fuel light on.

And she said, what are we going to do? How far are we from a gas station?

I said, well, this town is 25 miles ahead. But in that town, I happen to know the gas station is like the only gas station they have is like 10, 15 miles away from the expressway.

So the next is Mason. That's where we lived. And like it's like 40 miles. I said, I don't think we're going to make it.

And she said, what do we do? And so you know what we did. Right.

Hosanna. Pray, Lord, save us. And the gas gauge went from below empty to three eighths of a tank while I watched the needle go up.

Did you tell them that story? They're going to go, no, that never happened. Or you could tell them the part of the story where I got up the next morning and I was late to work in the daycare and the kids are all going to school and everything.

And I go to jump in the car and I get in there and the daycare was like a block and a half from my house.

And so I said, well, I'll get I got to get the gas because it was so bad last night. I said, well, I'm going to go to the daycare.

So I parked in the daycare and then I get done at the daycare and I drive to the gas station. Still got gas to get there.

But when I get there and I go to turn the car off, I notice the needles below empty.

I go to put the gas in the car and it takes like 15 gallons of gas or whatever to fill the tank.

I thought that's odd. You know, Ford, 99 Ford Contour. I'm like, that's odd. It's a big tank.

I bet you they replaced the tank that explains everything, you know, 15 gallons.

So then I go look it up in the owner's man. Now, 13 gallons or whatever it was.

That's weird. So then I then two weeks later, I take it to get two tires on it. So I had the mechanic.

I said, I want you to look at the gas tank for me, will you please?

Because I think they changed it out at some point because I put over 15 gallons of gas in that gas tank just last two weeks ago.

And he said, now it's got the original gas tank and there ain't no way you put over 15 gallons of gas in that tank.

I said, yes, I did. I swear I stood at the pump and I watched it tick off.

He said, no, you didn't. And I said, well, let me tell you what happened the night before.

You're like, even now you're saying it's incredible. It's an incredible story.

Do you believe the feeding of the five thousand or not?

That's an incredible story. So tell them one of your incredible stories.

The guy that won't believe in Jesus, he's going to scoff at you. He's going to mock you.

He may say some nasty things. And when he says some nasty things to somebody else, he's going to they're going to say, why are you so mad at Dan?

Oh, why are you so mad at Dan? Well, because let me tell you the story that Dan told me.

And as the story spreads, somebody is going to go, but but what if?

But what if he really did put 15 and a half gallons of gas in a 13 gallon tank?

And what if he really did pray? And what if it really did go from way down below empty to three eighths of a tank and they drove home?

We didn't stop at the gas station. We got the Mason because at that time we still had over a quarter of a tank of gas.

So there was no reason to stop. And it was late and it was cold.

And so we went to our home in the next day, the daycare and then back to the gas station and then put in 15 and a half gallons of gas.

And a 13 gallon tank. I share your story.

Yeah, God is amazing. God does amazing.

Find an amazing story and then share it and then watch what happens.

But we won't because we're afraid of being laughed at.

We're afraid of being mocked. But don't be.

Because if you're afraid of being laughed at or mocked, Jesus says you love your life and you will lose it.

Not me, Jesus.

The third thing I want you to see and hear is that Lazarus had become a target. Did you catch that?

Listen, all he ever did was die. I mean, like he got sick. He died.

You know, who's walking around today going there was this guy. He's in the hospital sick.

I've been thinking about going up there and offing the guy, you know.

Why bother? Lazarus dies of an illness. Jesus brings him back to life.

People start to hear about it and they're going, we should off that Lazarus guy too.

What did he ever do? Oh, he did what he did was die and get resurrected.

He literally never did anything to anybody except maybe spread the story of what happened to him.

But if he's dead, then the story is discredited.

They can say, well, no, that Lazarus guy, he died and Jesus never brought him back to life.

Well, what about the thousands of people that say they saw him?

Yeah, they all faked that. All of them. Every one of them. They're all liars.

Want me to show you his tomb? I'll show you where he's buried.

I think we're showing where he's buried because they killed him.

So they're going to kill Lazarus to stop the story of Lazarus being brought back to life.

It's a question as to whether or not they can kill Jesus. They're working on it.

They get around to it, but they're adding Lazarus on.

Before we're done, I'll explain to you why Lazarus wasn't on one of those crosses.

Curious, isn't it? Lazarus had become a target.

They wanted to kill Lazarus because through Lazarus, because of what had happened to Lazarus,

many people were believing. They still thought death was an option to stop us.

Did you think I was going to say to stop Jesus or to stop Lazarus?

The world today still thinks that death is an option to stop Christians.

You can't stop me. You can't. If you kill me, I go straight to heaven for an eternity.

That's where we should be living. That's who we should know we are.

When you own the greatest thing that can tip the odds, you put it on the table.

Anybody here play poker in the olden days?

Yeah, I play a little bit of poker. I'm not good at it.

That's why I'm not offering to play with anybody and I don't gamble.

Actually, I will say he's not in the room, so I can say this proudly now.

He would razz me. I would whoop the pants off Ricky playing poker on vacation three times.

Stupidest luck ever. I just kept getting all the right cards every time.

So you're playing poker, right? You win some, you lose some.

You know what a bluff is? In your last bet, you go all in.

You got a good hand, maybe, or maybe you're bluffing. It doesn't matter.

But you really need to win that pot. It's called all in.

You take everything you have and you put it out there.

Now they only have to match whatever you put out there.

Let's say you got a hundred bucks left. You put a hundred bucks out there.

They only have to match the hundred bucks. They don't have to bet all their chips.

They only have to bet what you match.

But let's say you know you're going to win. I mean you know you're going to win.

You put your hundred bucks out there, they match your hundred bucks.

You say, well, will you take my car? How about if I put my pink slip in my car too?

If you go like this, you say, okay, I've got the hand. It's done. It's dealt. It's all there.

I got a hundred bucks here. I'm going to go all in.

I want to put my car in and my house in. I'll put my life in.

You know what they're going to do?

You think they're going to match that? Their car, their house, their life?

They're going to fold. And that's what the enemy is going to do.

When we realize that Jesus Christ has given us the ultimate battling chip,

the ultimate bet, the ultimate winning method, put your life on the line.

You will win. That's what Jesus said.

If you love your life and are unwilling to bet it on this thing we call Christianity,

you will lose because the enemy is going to call your bluff every single time.

He's going to say, but wait, if you do that, you'll be mocked.

You'll be like, man, I was going to do that too.

We can't be mocked. Try something different.

And that's going to come down to here's a soul that leads to a thousand souls.

You tell somebody, this person about the gospel and they get saved,

a thousand people are going to get saved.

And the enemy is going to come and he's going to say, don't you talk about Jesus today.

Whatever you do, don't talk about Jesus.

I'm going to talk about Jesus. Talk about Jesus, going to be mocked.

Like the pastor said, I got to not worry about being mocked.

When you talk about Jesus today, you're going to be late.

Oh man, the boss said I can't be late.

There's a boss, be late. Pastor, not be mocked.

I'm going to take it. You know, I can get another job.

But you may die. You might die.

You tell this person about Jesus, you lose your job, no food on the table.

Your kids may be going hungry. You won't go pay your bills.

You get mocked. One day you may die.

You may die because you tell somebody about Jesus.

Satan's going to say that to you and you're going to say, oh well, you know,

dying for Jesus is too much.

No. Jesus has given you your life as the final bet.

It is the topper, the capper. It's the golden star.

You can put your life on the line knowing that you will not lose it.

If you give it, you will not lose it because He will ensure you have it for an eternity.

That's why martyrs so often, in fact, you know how many Christian martyrs in all the history of mankind,

you know how many Christian martyrs have been recorded as the moment they were being burned alive,

crucified, whipped to death, run under chariots, put in the Coliseum.

You know how many of them went, wait, wait, no, wait, wait.

I was just kidding. Not actually a Christian.

You know how many of them have done that? Very few.

None have ever been recorded historically.

And I submit to you the ones that did probably weren't Christians at all.

Look it up. Find out how many Christians went to the stake and as they were about to die,

they were accused of being Christian, tried for being a Christian, and then was they're about to die, said, oh, no, I can't.

Very, very few.

And if you could examine that person's life, you'd see they didn't understand who Jesus really was.

And I submit to you, that may be where we're living, where most of the church doesn't realize that they get to be like Lazarus

and lumped in with Jesus and their life is on the line.

And you never did anything to deserve that compared to the rest of humanity, right?

There should be nobody out there that's trying to kill you.

But if you're walking with Jesus, Jesus says, you will wind up where I am.

And if you wind up where Jesus is, where did he wind up again?

On the cross, then resurrected, then heaven for eternity.

And they didn't kill Lazarus. This is our conclusion then.

After that, they didn't kill Lazarus.

They still believed that they could stop Jesus by death and they didn't kill Lazarus.

But in killing Jesus, they did exactly that which was prophesied to start the gospel reaching all the nations.

Then Jesus came back on the third day, spent 40 days with the disciples, the beginners of the church,

prophesied that they would be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to go and spread that word to everywhere in the world.

If the gospel has reached you, then you have been lumped in with Lazarus and Jesus.

So all I did was ever live my life. I died because of sin, but you're dead in your transgressions and sins, trespasses and sins,

depending on your translation.

So I was dead. He brought me back to life.

Why should people hate me for that?

Because if you really have been brought back to life, you'll be bringing people to Jesus.

And when you start doing that, you're going to be in the crossfire.

But the crossfire against Jesus looks a little different than it does in the traditional explanation,

where it's God and evil spirits, for example, firing at each other and we're somewhere in the middle.

This crossfire is us with Jesus in the middle and everybody's shooting at us.

That's why the church stands together. That's why the family of God stands together.

That's why we love one another, even up to the point of death.

And we wind up, you're going to wind up, if you do this, I'm asking you to do exactly what you probably would wish you would never have to do,

which is stand up despite persecution.

Stand up despite somebody being mad at you for doing so. Share the gospel despite disagreement, mocking, whatever.

If you stand up, you're going to wind up where Jesus wound up.

Now my soul has become troubled.

And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.

But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.

And when you arrive there and you've got your life in the pot, you're betting who you are, all your wants and concerns and desires.

When you arrive there and you're all in, then you can guarantee resurrection.

God will get the glory because you won't be doing it because of you, because you'd have to be a sadist to want to be mocked or persecuted or hurt for the cross or otherwise.

You'd have to be a masochist is actually the word. Sadist is when you want to hurt other people.

So you have to be a masochist to want to be hurt.

But if you stand up for Jesus and you go all in and you risk your life, he who gives his life will save it.

And he who serves me will be there with me. That's what Jesus said.

So I'm asking you today to take every opportunity to spread the gospel, to tell people about Jesus, to live for the Lord.

Pray, Lord, save us and really believe that nothing else will save you.

Nothing else.

And then in following Jesus, spread your crazy stories of what God has done and other people's crazy stories of what God has done.

Because as those crazy stories of what God has done circulate, the gospel is circulating.

And when people start to believe or think or doubt or have an inkling and they go, maybe I could look for God. That's all it takes.

Because he was never far away in the first place.

But what's actually happening, unfortunately, is that God orchestrates our lives so that we will come into contact with people who have come into contact with Jesus.

And the people who come into contact with Jesus are so concerned about their life that they're not so concerned about making sure the truth about Jesus is getting out.

Doesn't mean that that person won't hear it some other way. I'm not saying you're their only chance to be saved.

God guarantees every person an opportunity.

He says that if someone would die and has never heard the gospel, they'll hear it before they're judged.

So everyone will get an opportunity to be saved.

But if we love Jesus and if we're willing to pray, pray Lord save us.

And we're willing to come in the name of the Lord. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And when this truth is spread, we will win. And we will become a target.

But in becoming a target, God has given us the very tool we need.

You can take your own life in your hands and say, I will not be stopped.

We're going to have a song of invitation at this time.

Ask the praising to come and lead us. Such as we are.

But if you're here today and you realize that you've been held back by worldly concerns.

Maybe you're afraid to give or serve or step out because you're afraid you won't have enough.

Maybe you're afraid to speak up for Jesus and tell us because you don't know enough.

And somebody will ask a question you don't know the answer to.

Maybe you're afraid someone will mock you.

If you live that crazy life of commitment that has you in church every Sunday and every Tuesday

and serving two, three, four days a week outside of that, serving God whenever you can, wherever you can.

People will go, you're nuts. You don't want people to think you're nuts.

Or maybe you've been praying for the last several weeks for that promotion, that money, that outcome in court,

that event to occur in your life rather than praying for God to use you.

And you realize you need to repent.

But I'm asking you to repent today.

I turn back to the Lord and let him give you your very life and all of its concerns

so that you can put that on the table and you can win the ultimate reward.

Would you stand with me and sing this song and then as we're singing if the Lord has spoken to your heart today

then you respond.

You come, come share with us whatever it might be.

All to Jesus I surrender all.

Don't skip the all in that verse.

All to Jesus I surrender.

I will never love and trust him in.

His presence daily live.

I surrender all.

I surrender all.

All to thee my blessed Savior I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender.

Make me a Savior only thine.

Let me feel thy holy spirit truly know that thou art mine.

I surrender all.

I surrender all.

All to thee my blessed Savior I surrender all.

We're going to sing one more verse.

You make this your prayer to God today.

If you're not singing, you say the words right where you're sitting and mean it.

This is our prayer to God.

All to Jesus I surrender.

Lord, I give myself to thee.

Fill me with thy love and power.

Let thy blessings fall on me.

I surrender all.

All to thee my blessed Savior I surrender all.

I surrender all.