Why Jesus Calls Us to Come and Die | John 12:12-26

Why don't you go ahead and turn your Bibles to John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

This is one of those passages, guys, I'll be honest, when I was

studying, I felt like skipping just moving on to John chapter

John 13 · chapter mention

13. But the Lord would not allow me

to do that. And so I needed to study, be

faithful to it. And hopefully you guys will be

blessed this morning. But I I titled the message why

Jesus calls us to come and die. So it's not necessarily one of

those like feel good messages. I'll just say that on the front.

And that's probably why I wanted to skip it.

God would not allow me to do that because what I, I saw

something different in this passage that I, that I'd never

seen before. And I want to share with you

guys that as I was studying this morning, that I think will be a

source of encouragement, even though we're talking about a

hard topic called come and die. So you ready?

It's kind of one of those strap on the seat belt kind of

messages and we're going to go for a while ride.

All right, so the first, the first part, we'll just read

this, I'll read the whole thing and then we'll go back and look

at it. So verse 12, this is all in the

same context to remember John, he what he's doing is he's he

spends about 70 ish percent of more than the other guys, more

than his friends, right? Matthew, Mark and Luke.

This what's called the synoptic gospels.

So he's spending more time on the last week of Jesus than than

his friends. So John cares a lot about his

last, his last seven days of his life before he dies and raises

from the dead. So all right, we'll start off

with verse 12. So he's headed towards Jerusalem

like, like Tyler was saying, and he is coming and he's willing to

die in our place. So no one's forcing him.

No one took the life of Jesus. It's very important to know and

it's very important to understanding the love of God.

If you have a struggle in this morning, if you struggle, we're

like, man, I don't know if God really loves me.

He came to Jerusalem knowing he was going to die for who?

Not for himself, for you. So sometimes it, you know, we

all struggle with the love of God.

All of us do, every single one of us.

But it's silly at the same time because the Bible is so clear of

his love for us that no one took his life by surprise in in fact,

many times there people were trying to take his life and he

it was elusive, right? He just kind of duck out of the

way or, you know, people are trying to throw rocks at him or

throw him off a Cliff or kill him in some other way.

And it wasn't his hour. And we're going to see that he

now begins to say, now is the time.

And so that time is to die, and for you and for me.

And so verse 12, it says this. On the next day, the large crowd

who had come to the feast, and this is the feast of the

Passover, they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

So they took branches of the palm trees and went out to meet

him and began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the

name of the Lord, Even the king of Israel.

Jesus, finding it a young donkey, sat on it, and it was

written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is

coming seated on a donkey's colt.

These things his disciples did not understand at at first, but

when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things

were written of Him and that they had done, He had done these

things to him, that they had done these things to Him.

So the people who were with him, when you call Lazarus out of the

tomb and raised from the dead, continue to testify about him.

For this reason also the people went with him, or I met him,

because they had heard that he had performed this sign.

So the Pharisees said to one another, this is hilarious, you

see that you are not doing any good.

Look, the whole world is going after him.

That is good. They just were jealous.

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to

worship at the feast. These came to Philip, who was

from Besadia and Galilee and began to ask him, saying serve,

we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew,

Andrew, Philip, Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus, and

Jesus answered them, saying this is the tough part.

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

Truly, truly. I say to you, unless a grain of

wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

And he who loves his life will lose it.

And he who hates his life in this world will keep it to

eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must

follow me. And where I am, there my servant

will be also, if anyone serves me, the Father will honour him

and we'll stop there. All right, so first I got a math

equation that I got another thing to share with you guys.

I just want to, you know, when you, when you study the

scriptures, there's something so profound.

You want to look for Jesus, you want to look for the glory of

God. That's what Moses asks.

He's like, I want to see God's glory.

I want to see like I, I, I, I want to be, I, I want to see in

him and his in his glory. I want to experience God.

I want to know him. That's what he was saying.

And so as you're reading the scriptures, don't just read a

check off a box in the morning. Don't just fly through the

scriptures and then forget, right?

It's so easy to forget. And James says that right?

You look in the mirror and then you forget your appearance.

Slow down. And when you slow down and you

see the scriptures and you ask God, God, reveal yourself to me.

If you're new this morning and and you're like, man, I don't

really understand the scripture. I, you know, there was a time in

my life 25 1/2 years ago, I didn't understand it.

And, but I, when I opened up the Bible because God changed my

heart, I was beginning to change my heart.

I began slowly and over time to understand the Scriptures and

it's amazing. I mean, God's word is

incredible. And I want to show you this,

that when he came into Jerusalem, it was the 10th of

Nissan. We're not talking about

vehicles. OK, So that was, that was the,

the way the Jewish calendar was, right?

So the 10th of Nissan, that was April 6th, OK.

And we know that Passover, Passover happened on the 14th.

So this is Sunday. So if you're doing the math, OK,

and this is not the math problem yet, but if you're doing the

math that is, that is a Thursday.

So as I was reading this, I realized, OK, wait, Thursday

don't make sense. But didn't Jesus die on a

Friday? But wait, he died on a Thursday,

most likely. That doesn't change anybody's

theology, by the way. Everybody doesn't change your

salvation. You don't have to go through no,

OK. But I'm just, I'm just for the

sheer fact of showing you that this this happened.

The family would choose on the 10th, they would choose a lamb.

So the family would come to Jerusalem and they would choose

a lamb and then they would have to go get it inspected.

It's almost like your car, your vehicle, you have to go like

the, you know, you have to go get it tested, right?

To make sure that it for the emissions test at least up north

of you. How to do that?

But so they would be they would they would check for any

blemishes and it had to be the lamb had to be without blemish

in order for it to be killed for your sin, right.

So think about Passover, right? All these millions of people are

coming into town. You're hearing the bleeding of

sheep, right? It's noisy, it's smelly, it's

crazy, it's chaotic. And, and then the priest

inspected closely from the 10th and the 14th and then on the

14th, it was crazy like on the 10th, when, when the, when the

inspections would be happening, Jesus arrives as the Lamb of

God. I mean, I don't know about you

guys, but I just, I, I told you guys this last week, I think

we're not wowed anymore because we have AI it No, for real.

Like it's true, like you just know everything, right?

But if you slow down enough and just, you can have an encounter

with God every time you study the scripture, it's up to you if

you want that. It's just amazing when you think

about like, and here's what's more amazing, most of the

people, 99.9% of the people had no clue that the Lamb of God was

coming in the the true unblemished lamb was coming into

town and every, all the back, you know, like the whole like

just noise, noise, noise, noise, noise.

It's our world. It's literally our world.

Like if you don't understand, it's like our world, it's crazy.

But in the midst of like all the chaos, Jesus is right there

saying I want to meet with you. I want to meet with you.

And it's crazy to think about that.

Like if we if we could just put our phones down for two seconds

and just meet with God. You know, sometimes like I just

want to say this, you know, like we have the, the fear of the

fear of missing out FOMO. Like who's got FOMO?

Like all the college students, y'all have FOMO, right?

It's like some guys over there and you're over here and like I

want to be over there, but yeah, I want to be over here.

Like I don't want, you don't want to miss out on anything.

But what if FOMO, what if FOMO was literally like we have a, we

have FOMO a missing out on hearing God.

Like what if we actually live that way?

Like, wow, like because you're so busy, because you're like 13

times in one hour, you touch your phone.

So what if you're like, you bring out your phone because

you're bored, right? You're in line or you're on an

airplane or whatever. You're just sitting there.

You're checking something, whatever you check like you're

checking like again, you're like kind of like anxious or whatever

and you don't even know why you're anxious.

You don't even, but you're taking it out and you're like

you're flipping and you're doing whatever, checking e-mail or

text, sending a text. Nothing wrong with those things.

I'm not saying there's any inherently wrong, but we're

like, we're so upset, like missing out on a, some social

thing that what if, like what if you just got FOMO and missing

out? And what, what is God saying in

the moment? Because God's wanting to speak

to you through his word in your heart, through other people.

When's the last? I like the other day I was just,

I was sitting there and, and I was, I was like, man, I feel

like I got to, I, I want to read, I want to read this book.

I want to get, you know, like just, I'm a type A person.

So I want to accomplish things. I want to check things off and

and and and I was just sitting there and and I'm I'm reading

this book about just like kind of this left brain, right brain

thing while I'll get to you in a second.

If I forget it, please somebody remind me, Right, Brad, just

point to your head like this and I'll remember.

OK, So I want to tell you guys something about that, that I

think it would be helpful. But I'm sitting there and the

the this guy like just cut down his tree and you have no idea

how noisy. You have no idea.

Like the entire tree, like a big oak tree, fully grown mature

grandpa oak tree, the thing it's just, you can hear like it like

a big thought. I'm like, Oh my goodness.

Like the whole house literally shook.

I'm not no joke. And and so I, I'm as I'm seeing

that now, now he's got to like clean up the stump and stuff.

And, and so the whole week it's just been one big noise thing.

And I'm like, I don't want to be like, you know, a grandpa

neighbor and be like, you know, And so stop.

And I just sat down. I'm like, wow, like it was

beautiful out. You could hear the wind.

When's the last time you heard the wind?

When's the last time you were so bored that you enjoyed hearing

the wind? Dick, you like that, don't you?

Did you hear the wind this week? Yes, like and as soon as I heard

the wind saying, you know, and you you're like, oh, I want to

like get I want to get my phone out, you know, like I want to

check something. What am I going to check?

Just relax and look out the window, you know, And I'm like,

I feel like I'm at a nursing home or something.

You know, nothing wrong with that.

But just, you just feel like this, you feel wrong almost, you

know, by looking out the window, this guy like doing the little

stump thing, you know, But in that moment, it's like God can

speak to you, you know what I'm saying?

What if like instead of having fear of missing out on like

what's going on on the phone, you fear a miss out, missing out

on what's happening in heaven and what's happening in your

heart. Like God wants to speak.

Isn't that amazing? Yes, hello.

Does anybody have a want that? Because where we're about to go

is like man, we need to pay attention because God is about

to speak something new. Maybe not this morning right

now, but he wants to do that. He wants to do it in our lives.

And so anyways, that was like a huge detour.

I have no idea where I'm at right now.

OK, so Nissan cars. Yeah.

OK. No.

So anyways, so, and then not only that, but listen to this.

This is crazy. Now, this is where Pabon comes

in. OK, so he's a mathematician,

math major. What are you?

Stats. OK, so there's stats in the

Bible. I think you know this Jesus came

in at the exact same time of Daniel's prophecy.

This is crazy. It's going to blow your mind.

OK, so March 14th, 445 BC you're like what in the world?

So do you know when Daniel 9 you could go back and look at it

Daniel 924 to 26. It speaks of, see, it sounds a

little confusing, but hopefully this makes sense.

Seven weeks of seven weeks and 62 weeks.

So you saw about 69 weeks. I know that may mean nothing to

you, but you take the 69 weeks and you times it by 7 from that

prophecy and you go from 445 BC, which is when the temple is

being rebuilt. And this is, this is the the

prophecy to the time of the Messiah's arrival.

He predicts the Messiah's arrival literally from March

14th, 445 BC. If you do 483 years from there,

you get to April 6th, AD 30. That's when Jesus comes into

Jerusalem. Four days later, he dies.

Hello. Like seriously.

Better than AI. Like way better.

Like than anything else you can find out.

This is good news. This is amazing.

This is incredible. This is incredible.

Because this matters. This matters more than anything

else. Why?

Because the Word of God is true. You know, so many people

literally like trying to debunk the word of God.

You know why? The number one reason, number

one reason why they try to debunk the word of God so they

can live the selfish lives that they want to.

But when you know this word is true, you're like, the only

thing that's the only thing that you want to do in the morning is

get on your knees and be under the word of God.

And not only get then not, not to stand up and then let the

word of God go below you, but to be under it for the whole day,

24 hours. It's so good.

And if you're not, you cannot hear you will, you will live for

the glory of man versus the glory of God.

And I'll show you why it is so important that we come and die.

So he rides on a donkey. This is from Zechariah 99, which

is so cool in itself. If you read through Matthew, all

you do is see over and over and over again.

This happened because the scriptures were fulfilled in

order for the scriptures to be fulfilled.

And then in big block letters, I don't think that's, I don't

know, is it on the screen big block letters?

Is that verse 15? Is that in big block letters 15?

Nope. Nope.

I don't know where you're going. OK, John, chapter 12, verse 15.

John 12:15

OK, there we go. Oh, yeah, they are.

OK, so the big block letters means, OK, you that's Old

Testament. And so you're you got to be

thinking to yourself. Hold on a minute.

If you're not daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming

seated on a donkey's colt. What does that mean?

What why is that in big block letters?

You know, like, you know, when you text somebody something big

block letters, you really want them to understand what's going

on. Come home.

No, it's like, OK, so my wife does not do that to me.

No, she never, I don't think ever has given me block, big

block capital letters. Tyler writes in that like you

write in that all the time. That's just natural because

you're an engineer. But you should stop, pause and

say, OK, what is happening in this passage?

What is happening in this passage?

Well, Jesus is fulfilling something that happened hundreds

of years prior. He's here and nobody understands

what's going on. They're like, wait, why is he

not on a War Horse? Why is Jesus not on a War Horse?

Because he came as a lamb to be slaughtered.

They weren't interested in their sins being forgiven.

They were interested in conquering Rome.

They were interested in the glory of man.

They're interested in what we're interested in and being

successful. Our glory, right, everything

working out right, everything like like a utopia, perfect

perfection. We want to live in a in a

country that eat, drink and be merry all the time, never have

any problems. This is their mindset.

This is the crowd. This is the people.

This is a large crowd who had come to the feast.

They heard that Jesus was coming and they came because primarily

remember, they came to see the miracle.

They, they were still latched onto this incredible miracle

that happened with Lazarus. And that's amazing.

I mean, if anybody like literally, if John McKeon died,

which we don't want him to, but if he died and then all of a

sudden the next day, like he just somebody just prayed over

him and he rose from the dead, people would be like, this is

amazing. We're all going to Oviedo and

there would be like cars parked out here and it'd be amazing.

Like the seats would finally be full and it'd be incredible.

Like I think the, the buzz on the campus, we'd have to do like

5 services and I'd be exhausted by the, you know, the fifth one

and, and like, it would just be amazing.

And everyone like, and then when that kind of wears off, it's

back to normal. We were like, we're not

interested in the glory of God, We're interested in the glory of

man, right? So that's what's happening.

People are like, whoa, this is exciting.

I got to go, where are you going?

I mean, I'm going to Jerusalem for the Passover.

What's going on over there? Well, this is what we do every

year, But also there's something really cool happening.

Lazarus just rose from the dead. Never going to believe it.

And that's great. But so people left and then

there's another crowd here, right?

I love this. It says it says they, they were

with them because they performed the sign in verse 19.

So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are

not doing any good. Like, look, the whole world is

going after him. Like these people we're you have

the, you have the jealous people and then you had the people or

they're just after a miracle. And then there's a few people

that actually understood what was going on.

And so they put palm branches on the floor.

And I'm just trying to set up a picture that no one had a clue

what was going on. And like, they were just,

they're putting palm branches with just this symbolized

victory. It was just like this king is

coming. And it looked ridiculous because

the palm branches were on the ground with their coats on the

ground. And they're just waving in this

king. And it's this confused picture

because the guy is on a donkey, not a War Horse.

And you're like, this is a little awkward.

But maybe they couldn't find any horses.

I mean, maybe there was no horses, maybe they were gone and

they, you know, they instead of riding a Lamborghini, you know,

like you needed a Lamborghini and then you got my O 5 Toyota

Corolla. That's all they could find.

They're like, you know what, that works.

There you go. I mean, this will do.

As long as you take out Rome, we're good.

Well, he did not do that, but one day he is going to do that.

I want you to turn with me real quick.

All right, we're going to do a lot of flipping here.

But Revelation, I think you know where I'm going with this.

Revelation 19, verse 11, totally different scene, radically

Revelation 19:11

different. This says the coming of Christ.

And this crazy John, the same guy, he's at Patmos.

This guy, I don't know where he wrote this.

He probably wrote it Patmos too, but he he writes this, but

reminiscing about what Jesus did and he's like, man, now I get

it. You know, it says the disciples

did not get it. It says it right there in ink

black and white did not get what was going on.

And John later is like now he's banished in the island of

Patmos, very beautiful island. By the way, don't feel very

sorry for John. But verse 11 says this.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a White Horse.

Not a donkey, a White Horse. Who sat on it is called faithful

and true. He did it.

He. Did it.

He came as a. Lamb, He did not come for the

crown, but for the cross. There is no crown without the

cross. You have to understand that that

is the life that we are all called to live.

And in righteousness He judges and wages war.

His eyes are a flame of fire. And on his head are many.

Deodiums. It just means crowns, many

crowns. And he has a name written on him

which no one knows except himself.

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called

the word of God. And the armies which are in

heaven, clothed in fine linen, white, white and clean, and were

following him and white horses. This is the accompany of the

believers. The people have gone before.

From his mouth comes a sharp swords, the word of God, so that

with it he may strike down the nation's and he will rule them

with a rod of iron. This is what they're all looking

for. They're all looking for this.

They're like what? Come on, let's take out robe.

Let's do this. Let's get the sword come out of

your mouth. This is amazing and he treads on

the winepress of fierce wrath of God the Almighty, and on his

robe and on the high on his thigh.

Jesus had tattoos. And he has a name written, King

of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Isn't that amazing?

That's the scene they were all looking for, but that comes

later. We are looking for that day.

One day when He's going to come in glory, the glory of God will

come. But you know what it you think,

OK, then that is the glory of God.

That is what we want. Amen.

You know what this, what you see here, right?

Him riding on a donkey is the glory of God entering Jerusalem.

That is the glory of God. And I will show you what the

glory of God ultimately does in our lives when we can see, when

we can actually see, when the veil's taken off and we can see.

He instead he. Came and conquered his enemies.

Through what? How did he conquer his enemies?

What does Hebrews 214 say? What are you all scared of?

Death. He came to conquer.

That not through a sword and not in a Lamborghini.

He came to conquer that. By dying.

So that you would not. Fear death.

By him rising from the. Grave.

He defeated his. Enemies by dying and by Isaiah

53 by being a despised broken. Who cares about his?

Appearance. King.

He is the king he is. He is the king of the Jews.

He is the king of our lives. He came, but he came differently

and he's going to come back differently.

He came as a lamb, He comes back as a lion.

Ready to judge? And so in.

Verse 20 we move on, says this now there were some Greeks,

some. Greeks among.

Those who are going up to worship at the feast and these

then they they came to Philip. And why did they come to Philip?

Probably because he was from the Decapolis.

He spoke Greek that he was easy, you know, to talk to you.

Probably Peter, James and John and Andrew, they were, you know,

with Jesus doing something cool. But.

They came up to Philip, which. Is one of the 12.

It was from Visedia. Galilee spoke Greek and began to

say, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. So the Greeks wanted to see

Jesus. So they asked Philip.

They're like man, we want to see the glory of God.

We want to see like wow, like we want to see like the the raising

of the dead. Like can somebody die and raise

him from the dead? This would be amazing.

This is what Jesus tells him. He gives them this answer.

Which is crazy. When you think about it, we

don't know Jesus as much as we think we do.

Because as I'm reading this. I'm like this is not how I would

probably answer that but OK. Sir, we wish to see.

Jesus and Phillip came and told Andrew.

And Andrew. And Phillip?

Came and told Jesus. So you probably want to say

Andrew, because Andrew had an inside information.

So he's like, hey, look, let's go find out what's going on here

because he's a little confused because he understands that

Jesus had told him for so many months leading up to this point,

go to the Jews first, go to the Jews first, go to the Jews

first. So maybe he's like, I don't

really had fear, man. Maybe he's like, I don't want to

tell the guy, hey, Greeks aren't included.

And Jesus says. This.

The hour has now. Come for the Son of Man to be

glorified. Wow, what does that mean?

He's saying, look, I want to answer your question and how I'm

going to answer your question for the Greeks to see the glory

of God. My hour has come.

This is the first time we see now.

My hour has come. What is the hour?

The hour of his death, what Jesus is about to do and him

dying is going to go so far beyond the border of Israel that

the glory of God is going to go so far beyond the borders of

Israel, right? You're going to be my witnesses

to where? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and

the ends of the earth. You're sitting here right now

because of what Jesus just said and did.

Isn't that amazing? You're literally, I hope right

now the Holy Spirit by his mercy is opening up your eyes to this

beautiful scripture. Because when you're, when you

get to see this, you're like, wow, I'm included in like I, I

am the Greeks asking Philip, Hey, are we like, can we see the

glory of God? Oh, you will.

It's just that the way you think, I'm not just going to do

whatever you want. I'm not just going to give you a

boatload of cash and show you my miracles and show you my power.

I'm going to show you my glory, and that's through my death.

So that you Greeks. Might live.

I'm bringing both. Parties together in my death.

I'm breaking the barrier wall finally.

It was always my plan to save the whole world, but it's

through death to do that and I love this.

They still didn't really understand what's going on.

Luke 2425 to 27 says this. I'm going to kind of paraphrase,

shorten it a little bit here, but oh, foolish men, slow of

heart to believe all that the prophet spoke.

Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things?

This is after he rose from the dead and he's walking on the

Emmaus road, right with some of his disciples, some of his

followers. Isn't it right for the Christ to

suffer these things that enter in glory?

You know what he did? He used the Scripture starting

with Moses, the prophets. He used the Scriptures to show

them that all along. If you would have just, if you

could just humble yourself and not care about your glory and

your comfort and your life, you will see my glory.

It is always been. Prophesied that I'm coming to

die, but yet how did 90 some percent of the audience and

crowd there think he was coming to take down Rome?

You know, for the longest time. I'm thinking, oh, maybe that's

in the scripture somehow because, you know, how did 90

some percent believe that he was going to take out Rome?

I mean, how did they get that? Guys our.

Church can become like that pretty quickly if we get off the

rail of His Word. If we get off.

Track and all of a sudden we just start doing our thing.

We will become like the 90 some percent that had no clue what

Jesus was doing. We will.

So what did he say then? He says this truly, truly, I

say. And anytime you see truly,

truly, you want to pay attention to whatever is coming after

that. That's basically what that

means. That's the caps.

Truly, truly, I say to. You, unless a grain of wheat,

he's talking about himself, falls into the earth and dies.

It remains alone, but if it dies, it bears fruit.

He says he who loves his life, he's talking to the Greeks, he's

talking to us, but he's saying, look, if you want to see my

glory, this is how you find my glory.

You die if you love your. Life, of course, it's talking

about the world. If you love your life, you love

all the life, all that life has. You know, first, John, you know,

215 to 17, you can read that on your own, right?

The pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the pride of I mean

just like the world and all in office, you know every day of

your life. Every day I'm not.

Kidding. Every day of your life you are

told to love the world somewhere.

Do you know which advertisement you get in one day?

Even Sarah's kids are getting advertisement every day because

they sent me this ridiculous picture.

You know, the Todd Minor, you know, like the what is the

attorneys? The attorneys are like, you

know, Orlando's full of them. They're all like competing with

Morgan and Morgan, you know what I mean?

So Todd Minor is this bald headed guy and the kids are like

Papa John. It's Papa John.

See, they're even getting advertised for any in case mom

and dad get an accident or whatever.

Hey, call that guy. No, every day you are, you're

being told by the enemy you're a heart, the flesh, the devil,

whatever, love the world. And he's saying if you do that,

you will lose your life. But he who hates his life and.

I'll get to that in a second. What he means.

He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal

life. And if anyone serves me must

follow me and where I am my there, my servant will be also

and anyone serves me, the father will honor him.

So what does he mean by hating? Hating means this.

It's it's, it's a Jewish understanding of giving

preference for something over something else.

So it, it so there's let me let me rattle these off here because

if you're new and you're like, this is crazy.

I I, I, I just want to say come and see, come and see, come and

see. Just keep asking questions.

Come and see, come and see. But if you've been walking with

Jesus for a while, you understand to come and see.

And Jesus has a challenge for all of us in the room.

If we want to grow and see more of the glory of God, we must

come and die. There's no fruitfulness.

It's almost like the it's like we hit this wall in our

Christian walk and it's like, why am I miserable?

I have everything I'm. Going to bust this wall.

And I will find happiness, no? You can't go around it.

It's too tall. You can't go over it.

You must die. You must go into the ground.

You must die. To what?

What is he saying? He must.

You must prefer Christ over everything.

That's not an easy message. To digest.

I understand that, but what is he saying?

Choosing Jesus over what family if.

You don't believe me, I'll read a passage.

And you'll understand pretty quickly what he means.

Family desires, your desires, your plans, possessions.

Matthew 10393739 says this. He who loves his father or more

mother more than me is not worthy of me.

Are you supposed to call up? Like look at so Mother's Day

happens, Mother's Day comes and you know, your wife's like, hey,

you should probably text your mom me and say happy Mother's

Day. I'm not because Jesus said hate

my mother. No, do not take that.

That's not good. Mother's Day is coming up.

Do not do that. You say when it it.

Because your love is so intense for God, your life is literally

locked in for God that it almost looks like everything else is

almost looks like hatred, do you not?

Do you hate your? Mother and father, I cannot

believe you know and some. Of you guys have gotten that.

Right. I mean, like, whether it seems

like sometimes going on mission or maybe your loyalty to God and

his mission, his church. I mean, some of you guys have

such a contrast. You left as a senior in high

school, now as a freshman in college.

Your life's gotten rocked by Jesus.

I've seen it over and over again.

You know, parents are like, what?

What's going on here looks like? Do you hate your parents?

Do you not love your parents? Yeah, Yes, I do.

And maybe you need to show more of that love and that more of

that kindness and all those things.

But when you are locked in with God, it looks like everything

else is secondary. It looks like hatred.

It looks like that. And he's saying this.

He's like he who loves his father or his mother more than

me is not worthy of me. If you have.

Any other love? Including family.

You're not worthy. Of following Jesus.

He who loves son or daughter. Now parents Can you imagine?

Like This is why like some parents have made their kids

into idols. You've idolized your kids.

And God's saying no, no, no, no, your allegiance.

Your allegiance, which we should play that.

Song by the way, at the end, allegiance is to Jesus alone.

Otherwise you're not worthy. He who does not take up his

cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

He who has found his life will lose it.

He who has lost his life for my sake will find it very similar.

Do you know I'm doing this on purpose?

And I want you to see this all over.

Not in the same order. Literally.

I've had to cut a lot on the chopping block before writing

the sermon. He says this over and over and

over and over again. And all of us reading the

scriptures and wanting to know God, this matters to him, this.

Is the call to. Follow Him.

This is what it means to radically follow Jesus, and it's

for every follower, not just some.

Matthew 1624 to 26. If anyone wishes to come after

me, he must deny himself, take up His cross and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life, Self preservation, that's

what that means. If you are living your life for

yourself and you're trying to preserve yourself and your

health, to somehow live long or whatever, to be in control of

your life, that's what he's saying.

You'll lose it. It's elusive.

No one could add to their life one day from subtract from their

life one day. God is.

Completely sovereign over. Your life.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what is the profit? A man to gain the entire world

and lose his soul. Luke 1426 to 33.

I won't read the whole thing, but if anyone comes after me

does not hate his own father and mother, wife, children, brother,

sister. So he had some more family

members there. Yes, even his own life.

His own life. That means there are times.

Where you know, yes, your health might, might, might get the best

of you, but you got to keep going.

You have to keep going because what matters, right?

It's, it's, it's not the, the, the goal of this life.

If you look at the ads that like watch, watch the Masters, watch

the, watch football, the Masters, golf, whatever you want

to watch, just watch, watch the commercials.

Everything is meant to preserve your life.

I mean, outside the McDonald's commercials and everything else,

you know, but the, you know what I mean?

Besides those, right? And the cat commercials, my

goodness, you know, But the they eat better than we do.

It looks like sometimes I'm like yeah, but.

It's all to preserve. Your life, I mean, did.

You ever see the like the? What are those things called?

Like the pharmaceutical commercials?

My goodness, man. And then the guy, you know, it's

nice. It's always nice and slow.

It's like, you know, couple walking, you know, happy.

I'm like, what do they have? What problem did they have?

Did they not have now, you know, you know, just wondering.

And I never know the drug names because I'm not into that world

and I have no idea. And the dogs like all happy and

everybody's happy, happy, happy. And then at the very end, they

somehow, I don't know why they do this, but they somehow speed

up the guy's voice at the very end.

Why? Why do they speed up the guy's

voice? And I want you to know that

part. What is it?

What's the guy? What did you say?

It's like the. You might have sudden.

Bloating. You might.

You might, you might have like, he's like.

You're my sudden death. Wait.

Hold on a second. And then the commercial's done

and it's on to the next thing. I'm like, wait, hold on, slow

down. Why I I want to know what and I

want to I want to compare. Do I want to take the drug or do

I want to deal with these horrible side effects that might

cause death, death or death? And then everybody chooses the

numb. Out pattern.

You know, that's why we all numb out, right?

OK, OK. So Matthew 2312 it.

Says whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles

himself will be exalted. Key phrase, huge.

We're going to come back to that in a second.

Jesus. OK, so.

Kind of to understand this a little.

Bit you can't see this in the English, but in the Greek life

the love your life. OK, so if you look right here,

it says in verse 25 he who loves his life.

Loses it, and he who keeps. Hates his life.

Life and life, two different terms.

The first life, the one you're supposed to not love.

Is from the word. Psyche, which is means soul if

this all what this means is your aspirations, your plans, your

ambitions. Jesus is saying die to this.

If it is anybody in the room that has to understand this,

it's probably the 18 to 25 range.

You have to understand your. When you OK I the last time I

checked I could be wrong but on a UUCF application it does not

say surrender this to God. And if you have any issues,

please go. Talk to a pastor.

Is that on the application? I don't know.

I could be, I could be wrong. It's probably not on the

application. So here's the deal.

What you need to do is go to God right now and just say God, my

life is not my own you. Are the king of the universe.

You created this life and you're coming back in Revelation 19.

It's something totally different than what you wrote into

Jerusalem. I want to deal with the lamb,

not the lion. And what?

He's saying is if you. Take your life and be like, you

know what, I'm going to go to church.

But ultimately I am the controller of my own destiny.

You're a fool because you will lose your life.

The life he's saying that you get to keep is Zoe.

It just means eternal life. Do you understand this

incredible exchange? Who in their right mind would

not want to do this? He's saying, look, if you just

surrender your life, the life that you did not create, the

life that you did not save, if you surrender your life

completely, surrendering it fully to me, I will give you the

life you never dreamed of. Which is way better than what

you dreamed. Of.

He wants to give you life. That is.

The that is like the. Come and die is is not fun.

But ultimately we get to see the glory of God.

And none of those people in Jerusalem saw that in that

moment. Even the disciples, they had to

wait until afterwards. They're like, oh, now I think I

get it. This is our life.

This is our message now. First, John 26 says this.

The the one who says he abides in him ought to walk in his

ways. He's not looking for perfection.

Guys, but what he's looking for is direction and affection.

That's what Jesus is looking for affection and direction.

What do you what do you think is I want to I I'm not perfect.

I want to start. I want to make a conscious

effort. I want to move in his direction.

I want to say God, Jesus, you are the Lord of my life.

You're not just savior of my life.

You're the Lord of my life and I will follow you wherever you go.

Do you understand that is the only way that you will be

honored. That is the only way that you'll

actually receive life, the real life.

That's why we're all that's why most of the world is so

miserable. And I'm talking about not just

I'm not talking about the unbelievers, unbelievers

obviously they're on miserable. I'm talking about believers.

The people that profess Jesus in the church are still empty.

Because they're not fully. Surrendered.

They've and because. They're not fully surrendered.

There's a way in this way in which this works.

If you're not fully surrendered, you will not see the glory of

God. And if you do not see the glory

of God, he will not reveal himself to you in his plans and

what he has for you and his. And not only his plans and his

direction, but also his empowerment.

He gives you power, the Christian life.

Yes, it's to come and see, yes, it's to find rest.

You're like, well, wait a second.

Didn't he say like, come to me all who are weary and I'll give

you rest? Yes, but it's also to come and

die. It's to pick up the cross and

not build your own Kingdom, but His Kingdom.

It's not for you to live. Your life, it's always funny,

like I'm always asking people this, I'm always challenging

college students like, hey, what is God calling you to do?

And it's like they have this whole plan written out and then

they're like, I hope God blesses that plan.

That's not how it works. How it works is you.

Fully surrender and you bless God's plan.

George Mueller said this. They asked why are you so

successful? George Mueller had an incredible

orphanage where he just fed thousands upon thousands of kids

over the years and he had no money.

I mean he just get knocks on the door.

Who's that food just. Arrived and they were just

praying for that with nothing at the table.

I mean, he, God, God showed up in that man's life.

Like never a time before. Why?

And they're like, why is this why?

Why does he do? Why?

Why does George Mueller get that kind of life?

And I don't this is what he said.

There was a day when I died, died to George Mueller, his

opinions, his preferences, his taste, his will.

I died to the world. It's approval or censure.

I died to the approval or blame of my friends and I now I only

desire to show myself approved to God.

That is a life fully surrendered and I would say that is not a

life lacking any joy. You have to.

Understand that is the joy. Set before Jesus that he endured

the cross. It is always joy.

It is never to die so that you're miserable.

No die so that you have joy. Do you understand, like Jesus is

offering the fullness of life. I was going to tire this message

something totally different the the the life you always wanted

or you know that what why surrender matters?

You know, I, I mean, there's so many different ways to title the

deal, but ultimately the come and die is a great message, is

the message of joy and fruitfulness, you know?

When Nicole and I were first came.

To the church, we realized early enough, we said, look, if we

don't die, there will be no life.

Death in US life. In you.

One of the things that brings us.

Great joy is when we get to see this playground, you know, like

there's high walls, you know, theological high walls and

there's protection over the church.

We just came into the season saying May God and this season

of growth protect us from the enemy schemes.

And that's why we went through that whole series on spiritual

warfare. And it's awesome to see all this

fruit, the fruitfulness of a life, right lives laid down now

for the glory of God. So how can we follow him?

There's a few. Practicals, self denial.

Just surrender. Your time your.

Hobbies, whatever it is, just surrender.

Just fully surrender. Self denial is Galatians 220

says it like this, that it's not I who lived anymore, but he who

lives in it through me. Secondly, it's selfishly

sacrifice. Selflessly, not selflessly,

selflessly sacrifice and serve. And what I mean is it just

practically find ways to to serve the least of these.

I think you. Guys are great at that.

But just continue to do that in the people.

I just love what, you know, just all week people are serving one

another. It's incredible.

But just continue to do that. I love what?

Spurgeon says this a. Proud man has a desire to preach

a new doctrine, to set up a new church, to be an original

thinker, to judge, to consider, and to do anything but obey the

Lord simply. And then just set yourself.

Apart actually desire to become more like him like holiness and

then he promises this. What does he promise he has two

different promises and this is incredible and it just comes

from verse 36 right. If anyone serves and follow me,

do you understand that this is the life you die to yourself so

that you might serve who? The king.

The true king who's coming in, riding on a donkey and then

eventually coming on a White Horse, a War Horse.

But can you see this, this one now, who came riding on a

donkey? Humble.

Almost despising. Like what is wrong with this

man, you know? Like he could had the power.

We could have done this. Like, you know, Judas is like we

could have done this. Come on.

Like we could have taken this evil.

We could have taken Putin out. Let's go, you know.

What I mean it's like. That we could take him out and

the world would have peace it. Comes on a stupid.

Donkey. This same Jesus comes.

Back on a War Horse. But the same Jesus will reward

you and honor you for the sacrifices you make in following

Him. But that doesn't humble you.

I'm sorry. I.

Don't even know what will. As we close, I want to.

Just share a few thoughts. I I want to just say this, that

I think as a church that in the midst of success.

We could lose. Mystery.

We could lose. The mysterious we could lose

hearing him, that quiet place that only happens through

suffering, that only happens through when things aren't going

well. And I want to just share with

you guys one last story here, if you want turn with me to Isaiah

before we close. Turn with me to Isaiah 6.

Very familiar passage. I won't go through the whole

thing here, but Isaiah 6. It says this that.

In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on

the throne, lofty and exalted, with a train of his Rd. filling

the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each

having 6 wings. With two he covered his face,

with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and one

called out another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of

hosts. The whole earth is full of His

glory. And the foundations of the.

Thresholds trembled at his voice of him who called out while the

temple was filling with smoke. And then I said, woe is me, for

I am ruined. I am ruined because I'm a man of

unclean lips, and I live among the people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

This is the same king that rode on a donkey into Jerusalem to

die, the one who's coming back. Then one of the seraphim flew

with me, and with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken

from the altar with tongs, And he touched my mouth with it, and

said, Behold, this is it says, Touched your lips, and your

iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.

And then I heard a voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send,

and whom will go for us? And then I said, Here I am, send

me. And he said, Now go to the

people. Keep on listening, but do not

perceive. Keep on looking, but do not

understand. Render the hearts of the people

insensitive. Their ears are dull, their eyes

are dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with

their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be

healed. So what's going on here?

I don't think. I've ever saw this in the

passage before, but it says this in the verse one it says it says

this that in the year. King.

Uzziah's death. I saw the Lord sitting on the

throne and I thought to myself, well, why is that so important

that Uzziah dies before Isaiah gets to see the glory of God?

You know what I Uzziah? Stands for stands for the pride

of man. See in Chronicles chapter 26.

It shows a man who's 16 years old 16 becomes king.

Does everything right. Humbles himself.

Exalted. Until one day he.

Decides I'm good. I got this self-sufficiency,

selfishness, pride, He goes into the.

Temple which he. Had no business doing, no king

to do this. There's too much blood on his

hands. God never meant it for the kings

to go and burn incense. He decides I'm going to go do

that. We got to get the show on the

road. Hey, we're successful.

Got to get moving. Get the next thing going.

Come on, we're successful. We're Antioch, Orlando.

We got this. He says this, he sends people to

him, right? He God, with his mercy and his

love, he sends people to Uzziah. Valiant man, actually it says he

goes to me. He says Uzziah had no business

doing that, giving him a chance to repent, giving him a chance

to hear and see the glory of God.

Doesn't take it. I.

Got this. I got this.

I don't need. Hey, I've had.

My I've had my. Seasons.

I've had my sufferings, I've had my.

This is time for success. Do you understand?

I'm the king. I can do what I want.

Boom. Leprosy and all over his body

and he dies. Prideful people always want to

blame. Their problems on somebody else

always think everything's OK all it has to do right all I mean

all you have to do is recognize the time when somebody comes up

to you during a successful time or thing during things when

things are going well to say hey, have you ever thought of.

Doing this or have you? Ever.

Noticed that you do this. And maybe whatever it is,

whatever people are confronting you on whatever it might be,

you're like, wait, how dare you successful.

Dang good. I've.

Realized we have so. Much I've I've so much success

there's I'm good. No need to be corrected.

You know what Pride, ultimately. Blinds us from.

Seeing Jesus afresh. Again.

You know what? It's interesting.

Doctrinal pride happened two years ago, and so we are growing

in knowledge, growing in knowledge, growing in the things

of God. It was great.

It was in a sense it was good, but then it turned rotten,

right? Because it became about what we

know rather than experiencing the living God and obeying him.

So God had to take us to himself.

But it's when seasons like this, when things are going really

well and things are moving into place and it seems like wow,

things are happening. Things are couldn't be better,

couldn't be better. It's when we can't.

Hear God and the little things throw the net on the other side

of the boat. No, thank you.

People don't fall, guys. In dry and difficult times, but

in prosperity, do not forget this.

It is easy to lose sight what God wants you to do next when

everything is going well. What Isaiah saw and.

What Mary saw were the only two that people that I see in John

12 and in this passage when Uzziah dies, when pride dies,

when there's a life laid down like Mary.

And just throughout the all the scenes, it's almost like you

could see all the scenes in a movie, right where all like the

disciples are like Whoo high 5. We're going to change the world,

be awesome. And then Mary's like, you know,

the fools are all over there, you know?

Yeah. And I'm like, there's only one

person that has a clue of what's happening on that road where

Jesus is on his donkey riding on palm branches.

And she's like, yes, he is victorious.

They're going to be offended in about two seconds.

But I'm not because I understand why, because I'm at his feet.

We need more discerners. We need more Marys in this life.

We need more people that are not.

Interested in just success and building their own Kingdom.

We need people that are like I just want to see his Kingdom

build. I just.

Want to see what he. Does in my life.

I want to see what he does in other people's life.

And Mary is so beautiful. I'm just going back to the last

chapter, right? Because she's the only one.

Guys, this scene is so loud. It is so loud and there's only

one who gets it. Do you want to be that in a?

Loud world, do you want to be the one who's like, I think I

understand what this is all about.

Uzziah is God to die so I can see the glory of God and what

the next steps are and when he finally understood.

Who God was. Do you understand who God is?

The holiness of God means the otherness.

The other than this, the the wholesomeness, the wholeness.

There's only one who's whole. There's only one who is whole.

Do you understand that? There's.

No one in this room. Who's successful?

But God? If there's anybody who gets

saved, it's because of Him. If there's only one, if there's

only, if there's people in this room who've gotten freed from

sin, do you understand? It's Him.

Any success that comes? From this house is because of

God, not because of us. And Isaiah had to encounter this

God in order to move into his calling.

Do you know that? There's a few times in the Bible

that. A woe is.

Given to. Woes are given to who?

Evil, wicked people like if you study woe, go study woe, go

study woe because woe is the Pharisees.

Woe. Who are your whitewashed tombs?

You're full of dead man's bones. You're full of religion.

Woe. Do you know who else pronounced

woe over himself because he saw the living God?

Isaiah. He said, I am done.

I'm done. I'm you can say you can say it

another way. I am screwed.

I'm done for it. Have you ever met with God?

In such a way where you're like, I am done, O foolish man that I

am, who can deliver me from this body of death.

There's only one place. All of us belong and that is

under our Neath and what we need is an an encounter with God to

slow us down and say where are we going?

Where are we going? What are we doing?

What is happening right now? We won't even get close to send

me. We're so quick to there's God

send me. We don't like the middle.

The middle is when we're. Disintegrated on the floor,

literally it says, it says woe is mean.

That means to be disintegrated, that means to literally like if

you have a piece of glass on a beautiful piece of glass, like

an an ornate piece of a base boss, whatever you know on the

top and that thing falls to the ground and shatters.

That is what it means to come in the presence of God.

You do not come in hole, you do not leave hole after you've met

with God. You leave disintegrated, right,

or at least until he fixes you and then it's amazing.

Then the Seraphim came right and he just as when he thought like

I am done, I'm done, I'm done. He's like, I just go like I want

to crawl under this stupid thing because I don't even want to see

God. I I'm done.

He revealed who I really am compared to him, who I.

Really am compared. To him, it's crazy.

I just want. To crawl under something.

I I mean don't say one more word, God is.

That what your quiet time looks like.

Or you're so quick to be like and in that moment where you

felt like woe is me. No one pronounces that over.

Not one disciple pronounced that over himself.

And they met with the living God.

For 3 1/2 years and he literally on the floor the seraphim comes

and says look you know I know you have a you, you have a mouth

on you but I will cleanse him and he cleanses him and he.

Finally conceived. The glory of God, The glory of

God is death to self. So.

That he might live. Through you in a powerful way

that everyone in this room knows.

Oh, that's God. I think we've lost the mystery,

the problem with left brain and right.

Brain deal is, the left brain is.

All about facts. It's all about knowledge and

every time you look at your phone, you're engaging in the

left brain part of your brain. Right left brain, left brain,

left brain, left brain, left brain, distraction, distraction,

distraction. Facts, facts.

Loud. Loud, but as.

Soon as we just. Pause and say, God, I want the

mystery back. I want to engage in my right,

the right side of my brain, which, by the way, everybody has

a left and right brain. Unless you're not.

You're probably not living if you don't.

She has nothing to. Do with your right brain.

I'm left brain, everybody. Has a right.

Brain that you need to engage with God with so you can

actually have an encounter with him again.

And meet with him in. The mystery.

There's a mystery. The mystery is this, that when

you close. Your eyes even right now.

You can meet with them, Laura. I don't know how you're going to

do it. But I just know that.

That when you're in the room, something.

Changes and you are here. There's people in this room that

just just need a touch from you or I just pray, Father, right

now you would touch them, but would you reveal your holiness?

You're holy, holy, holy Lord. I pray, Lord, that whatever it

is, whatever distractions there are, whatever those things are,

Lord, would you, would you put them to rest so that we could

see, We could see what Isaiah saw, the glimpse of your glory,

so we could. See what the people?

In the crowds in Jerusalem did not see the glory of God coming

in. It is for this hour that I will

reveal my glory, and that glory is to come on a donkey that

headed towards death and he. Said Lord that.

You would never experience life without death.

Isaiah got to experience. Life.

Because he died. Woe is me, a man of unclean

lips. But we ask you right now to

reveal yourself. We want eyes to see.

We want to be like Mary. We're just in the chaos of life,

finds a space to meet with you. Isaiah, through the chaos of

Israel, finds a space to meet with you.

Jeremiah, who says if I if I don't speak, the fire will will

burn in my bones, found a space to meet with you, the disciples

eventually because they they were with you meeting.

With you got to literally. It says in Acts 17, turn the

world upside down. So Lord, we just ask you right

now, God, that we would meet with you, that we would be

seers, we would see the glory of God.

We would see we would be a remnant.

As it says in Isaiah. There were so many who rejected.

They were, their eyes were dull, their ears were dull.

They, they couldn't hear. They, they, they could hear, but

not hear. They could see but not see.

Lord, let us that not be us. I pray for a remnant in Oviedo.

I pray for a remnant in the US right now.

I just pray for a remnant right now all across this land, people

and services. Lord, I pray just for, for those

you just pick and choose, right? Even I pray for the whole room.

It'd be awesome. But we always know there's a

remnant. We always know there's a it's

always a few. It's always a few who get it.

It's always the Marys. It's always the few.

And I pray, Lord, right now, I pray that that would be me.

It would be us that. We would have.

This incredible insight into what you're doing because we're

with you. And when times get harder down

the road, we're like, we know what's going to come, that Jesus

is going to come back on a White Horse, a War Horse.

And he's coming back with a sword in his mouth and the eyes

blazing like fire. He's coming back.

He's coming back for us and we can see it clearly in the midst

of so much noise, so much knowledge and.

That we can retain that mystery. In this church that people are

like but God, but God but God. You want to see his glory?

Look at the nails in his hands, Church.

There's no victory without death, no crown without the

cross. His glory is His death, and

that's ultimately will be our glory of the death of our self.

For greater things, so he might live.

We're just going to continue to encounter.

God, but we're going to encounter him through communion

and just want to say if you have truly chosen to not only just

give your life to Jesus, but to surrender him yourself to him

both as what these guys did not understand and what we

understand hopefully is that Jesus didn't come to conquer

politically. He came to conquer your sin,

you. Need forgiveness more?

Than anything else the greatest need for everyone in this place

is forgiveness. That's what we need.

And that's the glory that came into Jerusalem that's the glory

that's in this room right now. The glory is that we need

forgiveness, and that's. What communion is all?

About you're taking the bread, He broke the bread, which he's

about to do in about a week. He broke it and he said.

This is my body. Which has been given to you.

And then he took the cup symbolizing his blood.

Blood would shed and literally that blood would wash our sins

away. And by taking this we remember

what he did for us 2000 years ago and in this passage what he

was about to do in a week. The glory of God and.

As we take the Communion. Just have the side aisles come

down, take the communion that you could dip the bread in the

wine and then go or the juice and then go back through the

middle. But don't take it quickly right

away. Just take a moment and do

business with God as it showed in Isaiah 6, and allow God to

really show himself to you to have that woe is me

disintegrated moment and let him touch your lips, forgive you of

your sin, wash you clean, and then send you out these doors

like he did with Isaiah to do the work that God's called you

to. That's what he wants to do with

everybody. Again, I believe that this

morning. Amen.

Let's die so that you might live.

Through us. So, Father, thank you for what

you've done this morning, Your word.

And Lord, we just ask you right now that God, that you would

move in power. We're revealing your humility to

all of us, what you did for us, none of us deserve forgiveness.

None of us deserve your kindness, Your grace.

We know that when we finally do encounter your grace and your

forgiveness, but we're ready to hear you.

We're ready to hear when pride dies.

We're ready to hear. We're ready to hear whatever you

have to say for us next as individuals.

Corporate lazy church. So that you might live.

In and through us, that we might die to our plans, our ambitions,

our selfishness, our self preservation, that you might

live in and through us. In Jesus name, Amen.