The B-I-G. Jesus John 1:1.5;14

The unfair advantage, I get to turn my page in

my Bible before I say the verse. All right, so

we are blessed today. It occurs to me that there

are two kind of conundrums that are going on

in the world, and we see the effect of that a

little bit after something like God showing up

and the gospel being saved, that kind of thing.

So one of the things that's going on in the world

is it seems that there are a number of people

who just don't know Christ. They don't know about

God. they don't know about Jesus. They don't

know Jesus was the Son of God or that he came

to die on the cross for their sins. Now, they

may have heard about God, Jesus, Bible, but they

don't actually have the personal knowledge of

what it is that God is trying to accomplish in

their life, to set them free, what's necessary,

that kind of thing. And for folks like that,

something like circular, that's sort of maybe

a little foreign concept. It's not uncommon for

people who don't know Christ to serve in some

way. In fact, it's out of counseling and like

that, when a person's in depression, they'll

tell you. The cheap way to recover from depression

is to serve other people with no hope of compensating.

So it's counseling, medication, and service are

the three primary ways that people overcome depression.

And a counselor will tell you, if you get medication

and you get counseling and you start serving

others, you will recover from depression. You'll

also recover from depression if you just get

counseling and serve, and almost as proficiently

as without the medicine. A lot of times you don't

need the medicine if you get counseling and serve.

And you'll still recover from depression even

if you serve. Percentages are 99 % of people

recover with all three, 97 % of people or something

like that recover with two of three, and just

over 90 % of people recover just by serving.

So serving is a thing that people do. People

start to feel good about it. They're like, this

is the right thing. They get a little pat on

the back. They start mentally thinking, I'm making

a contribution to the world. People serve without

understanding what we're about to learn about

Jesus today. The second one is that people, all

people who claim the name of Jesus Christ, they

can maybe do some pretty fancy things in the

name of Jesus Christ. Jesus said there would

be those who healed in his name and prophesied

in his name, but he was later saved. fancy things

in the name of Jesus Christ and they serve and

they give and they make a big difference. But

their Christianity doesn't seem to have any wheels

on it. It doesn't really seem to be affecting

or changing their life or making a big difference

in their spiritual condition and their minds

and like that. I saw a number of people that

I talked to over the last two days and said,

yeah, I'm a Christian. Yeah, I go to church.

And I wanted to say and talk to them, kind of

like, what up? What about it? What's coming up?

What's that doing in your life? And a lot of

times the answer is, not much. They say they

go to church and you talk to them a little more.

They go to church once a month. They go to church

every so often. They go to church on holidays.

They don't go to church at all. They don't serve.

They don't really give. They're not really making

a big difference in the kingdom. But they think

they're basically being a good person. And that's

what they think they're called to as a follower

of Jesus Christ. And so they think they're living

for Jesus. And it is something more than just

getting the wheels rolling, to get traction.

So as we look today, I'm going to submit to you

that the problem is... have missed out on the

B -I -G Jesus. So grab your Bibles and let's

look at what the scripture says about the B -I

-G Jesus in John chapter 1. We will be listening

John 1 · chapter mention

to exactly what it is that God sent us through

his word. Beginning in John 1 .1. I'm going to

read the first five verses and verse 14, and

then I'll come back and I'll do this. John 1

.1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the

word was with God, and the word was God. And

so right there we see the B -I -G Jesus, and

I'll come back. was in the beginning with God.

So now, if you hadn't figured it out already

when you said the word was with God and the word

was God, the he is a being, not just a speaking.

In fact, that word there that is translated word

is a Greek word called logos. And it's used in

all kinds of Greek writings, and they've studied

it a lot, right? And so theologians will make

a big deal out of it. It basically means two

things. It doesn't mean one thing, it means two

things. The first thing it means is it's the

spoken word. So when God speaks, that's the logos.

And we know that God inspired His Holy Word,

and so in some sense, this is the Logos. When

a prophet spoke for God, and then that was reported,

that's the Logos of God. When God gave in the

beginning, He created the heavens and the earth,

that's the Logos. So when God speaks, that's

the Logos. But also, the Logos is the personality

that is involved. And so, for example, you can,

and I kind of share a little bit about this,

you can say something and not really mean it.

And that's a problem, right? It's a problem when

people say things like, I'm a believer in the

Lord Jesus Christ, but they really aren't. They

just believe that Jesus existed, which isn't

any better than what the demons do, right? So

that's a problem. Just speak it, and it doesn't

actually mean anything. The logos is both the

spoken and also the... So I want you to think

about that for a second. In the beginning was

the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. And so we're talking about the

spoken Word of God and also the personality of

God. He was in the beginning with God. So we

see that he was essentially a male, and he was

like a person. We got that much in verse 3. All

things came into being through him. So now we

know that he is the originator of everything.

He is the progenitor. He started it all. All

things came into being through him. And apart

from him, notice these are all him, not it. Apart

from him, not even one thing came into being

that has come into being. Now there's an interesting

structure at the end of verse 3 and verse 4 that

Greek scholars struggle with. I'm going to give

you both because your translation might have

it a little bit differently there. So it goes

like this. And apart from him, not even one thing

came into being. Everything came into being that

has come into being, right? That's one way that

you can look at it. And then the next sentence

is, in him was life, okay? But in the Greek,

the sentences don't have periods, right? So they're

not exactly perfectly clear where the sentence

starts and stops. And the object here is really

all about Jesus, the him that's in question.

So it is possible to read the Greek this way.

I'll go back to the beginning. All things came

into being through him, and apart from him not

even one thing came into being, period. That

which has come into being in him was life. See,

it's possible to read it that way, so that there's

a crossover. That last phrase could fit with

the previous sentence or it could fit with the

next sentence. But either way, God desires...

clearly that we would receive from him what we

need to be alive. And if you're dead in your

trespasses and sins, you're not really alive,

right? That's how the whole concept of zombies

and vampires and undead all came about. In fact,

when Jesus was on the cross that day, people

rose from their graves and walked the earth.

We'll read that elsewhere. The bottom line is

we have this idea of people looking like they're

alive, they're moving like they're alive, they're

doing things like they're alive, but they're

not really alive. But all things that have come

into being through him are life. So that's another

way of reading that. Now verse 4 then begins,

In him was life, and the life was the light of

mankind. So it was Jesus' idea that he would

bring a light into the world and that people

could embrace what he was doing and they would

be saved. In fact, at one point in time in his

public ministry, Jesus said, I have come to preach

the gospel to the world. So it really was about

saving souls. All that extra healing, bringing

people back to life, overcoming paralytic, overcoming

blind, all that was... out of compassion that

he was doing kind of along the way. His real

mission was to bring the truth about God. Verse

5 says, And the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness, this version says, did not

grasp it. Another version said, did not comprehend

it. And yet another version says, did not apprehend

it. And so there's a word there that can mean

grasp, can mean comprehend, can mean apprehend.

then you know, without knowing the Greek word,

you don't need the Greek word, you know that

it means that it's a thing that the darkness

cannot get a hold of, cannot understand. So there

is a light that comes through Jesus that lost

people, if they are wanting to stay lost, essentially

they're not wanting to come into a relationship

with God, they can't grasp it, they can't figure

it out, they can't understand it, nor can they

stop it. nor can they turn it back. Which means

if you go into a house, you've got four people

sitting there, and one of them is receptive to

the gospel of Jesus Christ, one of them is receptive

to be saved, and you share the gospel, that person

will get saved, while the other three people

will not have a clue about what's going on. Or

worse, they may vehemently resist, because they're

trying to get a hold on what's going on, trying

to stop it, trying to make something happen the

way they want it to, and that person will get

saved. And I've had that happen. I had a woman

I was witnessing with who was very interested

in getting saved. She was struggling with demons

and evil spirits, and she was tired of it. She

wanted the authority to be free. Meanwhile, her

husband is telling her what she needs to know,

and every time I'm talking, he's talking over

top of me and trying to polish everything that

I'm saying. But some of what he was saying, he

was getting wrong. Finally, I had to tell him,

I said, just sit there and shut up. He was a

professing Christian. Whether it was his demons

and evil spirits that immediately responded to

me, or he responded to me by the authority of

Christ because he was a Christian, he sat there

and shut up. 15 minutes, she was praying the

prayer of salvation and asking God to leave her

life and become the Savior. Sometimes you go

into a family or into a crowd, right? There were

people out there, you know, people out there,

yes, I was preaching the gospel, giving me the

evil eye. But most of them were drinking it in,

very thirsty, very interested in what was being

said, right? So there are those who would apprehend

it. There are those who would grasp it. They

would take control of it. They would use it for

their own purposes, something that is not the

gospel truly, right? But you get it. warp it

and trick it into being something that they can

use, or shut it down so it can't affect their

faith. But there are also those who are receptive,

and we must find those who are receptive. That's

what Jesus came to do, right? And that's what

he now sends us to do, getting ahead of ourselves.

So, real quick, verse 5, And the light shines

in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp

it. That ends the first part of our text. We

just read 14, so we're super, super clear about

who we're talking about today. 14 says, And the

Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we

saw his glory, glory as the only son from the

father, full of grace and truth. All right. That

last phrase is really important. We'll come back

to it in a second, that glory that we're talking

about. But there it becomes painfully evident

that the being, the person that we are talking

about is Jesus Christ. And so we go back and

substitute. We got in the beginning was Jesus

Christ and Jesus Christ was with God and Jesus

Christ was God. It's very clear, right? Okay,

so let's look at the points here for a second.

We live in a world that clamors for attention.

So I get it. Even right now, there's things in

your mind. You saw stuff yesterday. You're thinking

about what will come this afternoon. The world

is always trying to get a hold on us, steer us

in a certain direction. The world demands that

we find our identity in our accomplishments.

So last night at the CERB tour celebration, and

nothing meant, no harm meant, it was a good thing,

but they were talking about... the people served,

things accomplished. It was all about what the

servetour had accomplished, and then they were

giving to God's glory for those accomplishments.

The world will stop just short of that last point,

right? This is what we accomplished. When I was

back at church every year, all the program employees

would march in the March of Dimes. What you do

in the March of Dogs back then, in that day,

was you'd get people to sponsor you for marching.

They'd give you just a dollar a mile, or an amount

for how many miles you were going to go, or whatever

like that. So if you go one mile, they'd give

you a dollar. So then if you go three miles,

you get $23, right? And that money then goes

to the March of Dogs to help them with their

ministry. So just a couple years in a row, I

did the March of Dogs. And I went to drive my

motorcycle out there, park it, and we would walk.

And we just walked. It was like a long walk.

It's a long, certain game process, but it wasn't.

And it was cold in the morning and hot in the

afternoon. Then afterwards, we could hear about

how much money was raised. And people would feel

good because their $40 or $50 or $60 that they

raised went into the $20 ,000, $30 ,000, $50

,000 that was raised by the walk, right? And

that was an accomplishment. It was a great thing

that I did, that we did, and we could feel good

about ourselves. But I always felt like it really

wasn't enough. What did I really do? And that's

the way it is. The world is... Once you define

your identity in your accomplishments without

God getting the glory. And then once you define

your identity in your worries. For example, it's

perfectly normal to worry about what's going

to happen to our kids when they grow up. It's

perfectly normal. It's perfectly normal to think

you need this or that to solve a certain problem.

There's ads for that subject. There's ads for

this exercise device. If they can get you worrying

about something you're concerned about, then

they can control your direction. The world wants

you to have your identity found in what you are

concerned about or in your status. Like, did

you get elevated? Did you get promoted? Did you

make enough money? Did you be considered upper

class or middle class or lower class? And status...

is another way that people define themselves

and the world wants you to be one. But John's

gospel pulls back the veil of eternity. We get

to see from the very beginning, and it introduces

us to the only one truly deserving our devotion,

our attention, our glory. If you do something

amazing, and you do, I see it, right? I can't

look around this room right now, except I've

been doing it for very long. But other than that,

I can't look around and not be able to go, just

how can you do that? We can do amazing things,

but the status is not ours. The accomplishment,

not really ours. Being worried about the outcome,

you can't control it. You just do your part and

the outcome is what it is. So today we're going

to look at the V -I -G reality of Jesus Christ

and get these things back in order. First of

all, the V. Notice in the beginning of the first

verse it says, In the beginning was the Word.

We already know, we see that that Word is Jesus

Christ. So, when was the beginning? The beginning

that they're talking about is pre -what we would

consider time. It's before atoms, before water,

before space, before stars, before trees, before

Adam and Eve. We're talking about the beginning.

We're not talking about how to start. Like, at

the beginning, God, boom, God existed. Now, so

did Jesus. It's not like that. God is in all

of these. We're talking about first cause. Is

that a phrase that's familiar to you? So, everything

in life, without getting ahead of myself here,

I don't want to spend too long on it. Cause.

Effect, cause, effect. Something happens, another

thing happens. You've seen the dominoes fall,

right? One domino, another domino, another domino,

another. The domino pushes the lever, which pushes

the bowling ball. The bowling ball falls around,

affects the opposite thing. The other thing comes

up, and the dominoes fall again, right? It's

cause and effect. And Jesus is first cause. That's

the bottom line. He is preeminent. He existed

before anything else existed. He is the eternal

first cause. Now, everything that we encounter

today is an effect. It may feel like a cause.

Like you're driving down the road and a nail

lands on your tire, the person's going flat,

and you're sitting on the side of the road. Why

am I sitting on the side of the road? Well, because

I got a nail in my tire. Okay, that is true.

And the reason you're sitting on the side of

the road might be because you got a nail in your

tire, but that's both a cause and an effect.

Because how did the nail get on the road? How

did you hit the road? How was the tire made in

such a way that the nail would go in such a way

that the nail was lined up in such a way? What

were the causes that caused the nail to be facing

up when the tire hit it so it would perforate

the tire? Why were you on the road in the first

place that you're going down? Why was the guy

who dropped the nail on the road in the first

place that's going down? Why did people use nails?

Why were nails invented? What's ever been done

with a nail? Why would a person have an extra

nail? The list just goes on. This is an effect

of a thousand things. Yes, it's the cause of

your flat tire, but it is an effect of a thousand

things. And you could go back a million ways.

You could become Sherlock Holmes. Like, how did

this nail get here? I want to know. I want to

smack that nail. the road, and you could sort

it down to who put the nail on the road, who

made the tire the way it was, who caused your

schedule to be, who aligned, you could do all

that and get back down to cause. And if you really

did it well, guess what you'd find? If you went

back to the very first cause in the chain of

why you have a nail in your tire, guess what

you'd find? Jesus Christ. That's what you'd find,

because he is the first preeminent cause before

nails, before cars, before roads, before routes,

before jobs, before necessity, and before pop

tires, Jesus Christ. So when you blow up about

the nail on the road, be careful. When you glorify

the nail on the road, think, that nail is super

important today because now I'm late. Now my

tire's flat. Now I've got to pay another 120

bucks to retire, whatever, to the sidewalk, right?

Before that happens, you need to realize that

none of that happened if it were not for the

preeminent cause, who is Jesus Christ. So this

causes a problem with people who are in anger

about what's going on because your anger glorifies

your situation or glorifies the person who caused

the problem. Anger is getting glory to Jesus.

If you get angry at lost people for being stupid

and ignorant and hurtful, and they will be because

that's the normal state of human beings, stupid

and ignorant and hurtful. That's the normal state

outside Christ. And I'm not saying every person

is a bad person. The bottom line is we have the

mind of Christ. You have a higher responsibility

because you have the mind of Christ if you're

a saved believer. So outside Christ, people will

do things that you won't like. And we'll be angry

at them who are glorifying them and their bad

choice rather than glory. Jesus who is the preeminent

cause. We would have still believed it. It could

be anybody who would lie to anybody, anybody

who could steal from anybody, anybody who could

murder anybody. Nobody could get an abortion.

Nobody could run their car and be proud of people.

No bonds could be strapped to people and blow

them up in a coffee shop. Literally none of that

could be happening if it were not for the preeminent

position of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so when

we get angry at people who are blowing up coffee

shops, remember, Jesus is the preeminent cause.

they don't deserve your glory. They don't deserve

you to glorify them by being angry at them. Jesus

deserves your glory. So when something happens

to you and you think about worry, you think about

panic, you think about blame, you think about

anger, when mourning is going on and you're cycling

through those cycles, maybe you should just turn

the glory back to Jesus Christ. You couldn't

be sad if it weren't for Jesus. You couldn't

be mad if it weren't for Jesus. You can't think,

feel, or do anything at all if it weren't for

the preeminent glory of Jesus Christ. He was

before. In the beginning was the Word. He's the

uncreated. Before the first Adam was born, before

history began, Jesus was. He is the first cause.

Everything else in existence, including our successes,

our struggles, our current circumstances, are

just effects. Yes, they'll become a cause if

time continues on. You understand that there

will be a last cause. Can you imagine? So, at

some point in time in the future, just the...

before Jesus comes again. Somebody will share

the gospel. Somebody will get saved. Jesus comes

again. No time for anything. They'll go home

and do their dishes. They'll go fix their car.

They won't ever get another flat. A moment later,

they'll be translated into heaven. And so the

gospel shared equals people saved, equals people

doing what people do when they're saved. The

gospel shared equals people not saved when they

refuse it or can't grasp it, and then doing what

they do when they're not saved. And it's cause

and effect, cause and effect. But there's going

to be a last effect, which also would be a cause,

and that cause won't affect anything. There's

got to be a moment in time in which it stops

and people just go to heaven. We often try to

steal the spotlight, believing our current events

are the main story. Somebody hurts us, we're

going to make sure they know. That's not going

to happen again. Or we isolate because we don't

like the way we feel at a certain time. We go

home, stay home, stay away, bury ourselves in

our phone, right? Watch some more sports, recreation,

or cat videos. Something like that. Rejecting

the focus that we are supposed to have. Because

our story matters so much, right? Because what

happened to you matters more than the fact that

your neighbor is going to hell. Because what

you're going through is causing you struggles.

Or that you could be going through. That you're

worried about going through. That matters more

than the fact that the guy that lives down the

block from you is going to hell. Right? Wrong

answer. Not true. Jesus matters more. Salvation

matters more. You don't have time. to get wrapped

up in glorifying the things of your life, you

only have one life to live, and it is meant to

be used to glorify Jesus. Jesus is the creator.

He alone deserves all glory. Colossians 1 says

it this way. It's Colossians 1, 16 and 17. Somebody

probably has it memorized, but I'll read it for

you to see. It says, for by him all things were

created, both in the heavens and on the earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities. All things have been

created through him and for him. Your situation,

as sucky as it might get at some point in time,

for you have... dementia as an 80 -year -old

or whether you're wetting yourself because your

bladder no longer holds back the flow of urine,

your situation when you take a bullet in the

chest and you've got a sucky chest wound and

have to stick a pen in the side like they do

on NCIS all the time to let the air out, your

situation, as sucky as it might get, has a single

purpose. One. And it is to bring glory. to the

God of the universe and his son Jesus. So before

you start to react to your situation, you might

want to remember that Jesus Christ is the first

cause. When we fret or we grieve in an ungodly

fashion, we are giving God's glory to someone

or something else, even if it's us. I don't like

it when I don't want that to happen. I'm all

about what the future's going to be. I want the

promotion. I want the problem solved. I want

him or her to say this or that or the other thing.

Jesus has the right to all the glory. He is the

eternal first cause, and he has the right to

all the glory. The I, then, is identity. Listen

back in John 1. In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God. He is distinct, separate,

if you will. Nor for me to be with Aaron, I have

to be a different person from Aaron. And yes,

the Word was God. So he has identity. God emphasizes...

that the Word was with God, maintaining a distinct

personal identity within the Trinity while being

eternally united with the Father, setting a standard

for the goal of mankind. This is what we're supposed

to be doing. We're supposed to be united as part

of God's faith. Hebrews 1 .3 tells us that Jesus

is the, quote, radiance of the glory of God and

the exact imprint of his nature. He is not merely

a messenger. He is God. Distinctly the person,

the Son, and yet also God. We often justify sinful

behaviors, anger, isolation, to pursue a worldly

status, because we think our problems are big

enough to excuse our beliefs. There's a story,

I want you to read it. It's terrible, but Jesus

told about a wedding feast, and there were some

folks who were invited to the wedding feast.

One man had just bought two oxen. come, because

right now, we had to go look at who actually

bought it. Another man bought a piece of property

and would take care of that. Another man just

married a wife and would take care of her, and

so on. And all of these seem perfectly reasonable

excuses for why not to come when Jesus calls,

but Jesus is very clear that none of them are.

In fact, he goes on to say, go into the highways

and the byways and invite all the worthless people

that you can find, the vagabonds, the dirty,

the thieves, whatever, invite everybody that

you can possibly come, because those worthless

excusers, if you will, those people who have...

Why? That they wouldn't come when they were called.

Those people will never see the way Jesus would

make sure that the house was filled with others.

It's a little dangerous to be a Christian who

knows that Jesus has a distinct identity and

deserves all the glory as the commandment of

the Creator and cause of everything, and then

to sort of just kind of hang him up there with

other stuff. Because here's what happens. He's

up there with other stuff, and sometimes the

other stuff is going to take precedent over what

it is that Jesus made. In fact, it's going to

take precedence over Jesus getting killed in

verse. But we justify. We say, well, he hurt

me, and I didn't mean to lash out, but I did,

because that's just what people do. We justify.

I feel alone, even when I'm proud of people,

so I'm just going to go away and be alone. We

justify. I need to get this promotion, so I'm

going to have to work a few extra hours, which

means I can't do a family devotion for my kids.

I need to pay my bills, so I'm going to get a

second job, maybe some more money. I need a better

place to live, so I'm going to go live there,

because it's a better place to live, even if

it makes it hard. We justify all of these different

choices. And you're preaching. In Christ, you're

preaching. But do not kid yourself in thinking

that they will not rear up their ugly heads and

try to draw you away, try to make it difficult

for you to do what God has called you to do,

or become your excuse for some kind of sinful

behavior. When we see the perfect identity of

Jesus, we realize that no earthly circumstance

justifies living. I have seen people. who were

so close to death that all they could get left

was barely breathing, and they were living for

Jesus. As you're young and strong, or younger

and stronger, right, than you were when I saw

those 85 -year -old people on ventilators in

their beds, still living for Jesus, I submit

to you it's possible that when they were 18,

they partially lived for Jesus, too, and probably

lived to regret it. What I'm saying to you is,

wherever you are, with whatever strength that

you have, there is no excuse. He is the perfect

representation. And he deserves your complete

loyalty. Excuses, distractions, looking back.

Jesus warns that Jesus will come again. And when

he comes again, it goes looking back, left behind.

What do you love on this earth? What are you

friends with? What do you care about the most

on this earth? When the trump sounds, will you

race back to grab your baby to make sure your

baby's going to go to heaven? Will you race back

to grab your pictures of your kids? Will you

race back to grab your checkbook in case you

need to buy something when you get there? Will

you grab a snack? money in case you need it along

the way. Will you be concerned about what's on

the TV? I've just got to find out whether Gibbs

solves the mystery or not, or what happens at

the new version of Endgame, or whether or not

the touchdown pass is caught, or will you just

simply say, because that's what you're supposed

to do. But don't think that's the integrity of

this world. In fact, it's so clear, so painfully

clear that it would be said, who is a friend

of the world? Because these things do have a

tendency. to raise up maybe good excuses or reasons

why you behave outside His will. And we must

see clearly that we must not act outside His

will whenever it is of us. That brings us to

the G then. It is simply God. It's a capital

G, and so it's God. In the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word

was God. It was in the beginning with God. John

leaves no room for confusion. Jesus is not a

created being. He is God. Titus would write it

this way. Paul would write it this way to Titus,

I should say. In chapter 2, verse 13, he writes

this. He says, and it's in the middle of a sentence,

but I'm just going to read the verse. Looking

for the blessed hope and the appearing of the

glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

who gave himself for us to redeem us from every

lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people

for his own possession, eager for good deeds.

The bottom line is, this kind of God, boy, he's

tough to swallow. He came and walked among us

as a man, and gave us an example of what it looks

like to be God in the flesh. So when we look

at our Bibles and read the Gospels and the story

of his existence, we get a good example of what

it looks like, this standard of greatness. Because

he is God, his kingdom standards defy our logic.

It is kind of hard to swallow. At one point in

time, two of the disciples go to Jesus and say,

Hey, if you want to sit in your right hand in

the kingdom of God, we want to rule with you.

And Jesus explained to them, it's not going to

be like they're thinking. It's like sinners who

are in charge, they have authority, and they

sort of lord it over others who do not have authority.

They're good bosses, but not great servants.

And Jesus said, it's not going to be like that.

The true greatness in this world will be found

in being a servant. If the Almighty God stood

to serve, how can we justify who we are trying

to keep from serving? And so yes, he's God, and

yes, that means he has all the authority, right?

God says, light. B, and light leaps out of non

-existence into existence. I don't know where

non -existence is at exactly, but it's there

somewhere. And God lightly leaps out of existence

just because he told it to exist. He has all

the authority. He can turn back anything that's

happening, and he can make anything happen. He

can wrap you in one face, and you'll never know

better peace. His kingdom standards were by our

logic, and he told them that instead, the greatest

amongst the kingdom would be their servant. I

think that's the problem. I think we're getting

to the crux of the matter. It's why some people...

Christians aren't doing so good in the kingdom.

It's because they don't really want to serve.

They don't really want to give. They don't want

to suffer. Jesus served, gave, and suffered.

What did he give? He gave literally everything.

He literally gave everything. He didn't just

die. I mean, that would have been bad enough,

right? He could have taken a bullet or a bolt

to the head, a spear in the neck, something like

that, and that would have been horrible. And

we could say, man, he died. That's terrible.

He gave to the earth, he preached the gospel,

and he died. He didn't just do that. He endured

the kind of suffer that they invented a word

for, crucifixion. And we say, that's excruciating.

I mean, it's pain of the cross. They invented

a kind of suffering just to kill Jesus. I never

endured that kind of suffering. I don't care

what you've been through. That's the standard

that Jesus set for a Christian. because he has

got his kingdom standards to apply logic, the

greatest amongst the kingdom will be a servant.

So that means when no one else is doing what's

right, you have to do what's right. When no one

else is carrying a load, you have to carry the

load. When no one else is speaking up, you have

to speak. When your life is falling apart and

you have not a thread to pull, you're not going

to come up with an extra spare piece somewhere,

you don't have any money to come up with, you

don't have any problem solution, there's nothing.

You don't have anybody to ask. In that moment,

you should be found serving. I'm not talking

about serving yourself, although you can do that.

I'm talking about serving others. That's what

Jesus did. While he was crucified, crying, Lord,

forgive them, for they know not what they do.

That's a pretty good example. That's the kind

of example that the Lord doesn't trust too well.

It's the Almighty God's spirit to serve. How

can we justify believing in our Father and refusing

to serve at some moment when we think our life

is so bad that we can't serve Him? We struggle

to find freedom because we're trying to be lords

of our own. True freedom comes when we bow before

the one who is God, surrendering our need to

be recognized so that we might reflect His. humble,

serving nature. This is nothing less than a call

to freedom. The gospel is a call to freedom.

The power of the gospel is that people can be

free. You're not subject anymore to lust of the

flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. If

you're a believer, you can now choose not to

go after what looks good to you, what feels good

to you, what you think will help you. You can

choose instead to go after what's right. True

freedom comes when we bow before the one who

is God. That's where freedom is. And then we're

indoctrinated, if you will, enlisted, if you

will, and bathed in the Holy Spirit as a member

of his family. People cling to, quote -unquote,

beneficial distractions. At the end of a hard

day, I like to sit down and have me some, insert

whatever. And when I'm done having me some, insert

whatever, I feel better. Then I get a good night's

rest, and I'm ready to go again. next day. Insert

whatever means you an idol worshiper. You like

to watch TV and watch the TV makes you feel better

at the end of the day? You're not an idol worshiper.

That's the reality. You like to watch football

or play sports and that makes you feel better

about yourself? You're an idol worshiper. Why

isn't it I like to pray? Why isn't it I like

to sing worship songs? Why isn't it I like to

read my Bible, memorize my Word? Why isn't it

I'm not meditating on the things that I know

about Christ or what He's doing in me? Where's

the TV in the Bible? How does that equal rest?

Last thing, I know this for a fact. I like to

watch TV. I like to watch a lot of different

shows. And I try to restrain what I watch that's

not pure. But I like to watch TV. I have nothing

against watching TV. But I'll tell you one thing

it ain't. Rest. Watching TV ain't rest. Because

you get drawn into the story. Your mind's active.

You're stressing just a little bit. That's why

people like it. Riding roller coasters? Not rest.

Playing football? Not rest. Playing softball?

Not rest. These things are not rest. We know

they're not rest. Are they enjoyable? Yes. Do

they provide some benefit? Perhaps. Should they

get some kind of glory or become the reason that

we may refuse to choose Christ? Absolutely not!

The reason some people are unwilling to choose

Christ is because they don't want to give up

their own glory. They claim to beneficial distractions,

work, status, emotional indulgence, recreation,

whatever, and those things keep them from the

cross. That happens to lost people, and then

it happens to sin. The original plan for your

life is not to be served, but to be a vessel

of the gospel. Jesus, the eternal God, became

a servant so that he could pay the debt of your

sin on the cross. He died, was buried, and offered

you new life. Will you serve? Will you give God,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all

the glory? And the next time you find yourself

by some twist of fate, some slip, or some struggle,

giving glory to yourself, or giving glory to

your house, or giving glory to your TV, or the

stars or actors thereon, or giving glory to your

favorite sports star, or giving glory to your

hobby, will you instead say, wait, I'm supposed

to give glory to God, to God alone. When you

surrender, you give God the glory that he is

due. When you make Jesus. Lord, you are liberated

to love, to serve, and to share the truth with

me. I know. If you were old enough when you got

saved, you know. You know that before you got

saved, a lot of times it was about what you wanted.

And you're finding a way to get it. And if you

can find a way to get what you wanted without

sin, without holding yourself to a risk of getting

caught, risking punishment for the law, then

you would find a way to get what you wanted.

If you can do it, fine. And society allows certain

things. It doesn't allow certain things. And

so whatever you're trained, coming up as a child

to do, probably affected what you thought you

were willing to do to get what you wanted. But

your life was largely about getting where you

want. That's how I got started. I'm on my closing

illustration. When I was five years old, I told

my dad to Bowling Green to buy a riding lawnmower.

Put it in the back of my dad's pickup truck.

His main reason he was there. That and because

my dad knew stuff about lawnmowers. Throw it

down there. On the way back... I now had a riding

lawnmower, so I wouldn't have to push mow my

lawn anymore, which was a pretty good size, and

I really didn't like push mowing. So I thought

that was a real achievement. I had a beautiful

wife. I had one child, and it just found out

my wife was pregnant with my second child. I

had a house. I mean, it was mortgage. I would

have banked a lot of money on it, but I had a

house. I was living in a house. I had a yard.

I had two cars. They both had loans on them,

but I had two cars. I had a motorcycle, and I

didn't want an RV, and I didn't want a boat.

So I'm like, guess what? I think this is it.

This was the final life. I had achieved literally

everything that I wanted. What would I do? One

day my motorcycle would break down a little too

much, I'd just replace it. One day one car would

go out, I'd replace it eventually someday. I'd

probably go on some vacations, but by that time

I'd been in 42 states and I wasn't super excited

about going on vacations because I'd seen a lot

of stuff. I felt like I had pretty much achieved,

25 years old, I had achieved everything in my

life that I'd ever dreamed of. That was it. Now

what? There isn't much left. And I realized everything

that I actually had was nothing at all. Mist

and vapor. So we started going to church. After

six months of debunking Christianity, I mean,

all worried about what things were true, weren't

true, and stressing over. I'd go home after the

sermon, and I would look up things, try to find

things. This is before you get all the super

easy stuff on, like, AI or the Internet, right?

So I would look up and try to find things, debunk

whatever the pastor said, and I did that for

six months. I bought books on apologetics. to

be able to try to disprove those arguments. And

so I started listening to the pastor and what

he was saying as if it applied to me. And I remembered

stuff from that six months because I'd taken

notes so that I could debunk it. I'd look them

back and look and I'd go, I tried to disprove

this, but it wasn't. And so now I know that's

true. So what am I going to do about that? I

started asking myself and then my dad said, it's

time. You can do it. You can collect cars and

houses. I know a man who collected, had 17 cars

and 21 houses. He had 17 cars and 21 houses.

He was married, had a kid and grandkids and he

was selling drugs. houses and the federal government

confiscated it all. There's a way that you can

get through to get whatever it is that you want

in life. Some of you are hard workers. You're

intelligent people. Bottom line is that is not

what you're called to. Getting what you want

is not what you are called to. What you are called

to is glorifying the living God. Existing in

a proper relationship with your Father. That's

what you're called to. And that means if it ain't

going right, peace. the first preeminent cause

that deserves all the glory. Back to him. I got

a flat tire on the expressway. Somebody in there,

I could get really upset about that. But listen,

I got a car and I was on the expressway and I'm

living, breathing, doing stuff and it wouldn't

be so and I'm saved as a believer and it wouldn't

be so and I'm going to have it one day when I

die and that wouldn't be so and I'm... telling

people about Jesus, and that wouldn't be so.

And I'm serving and being compassionate to others,

and that wouldn't be so. And I'm not driven by

my passions and desires and going after what

I want all the time. I'm free to make choices,

and that wouldn't be so. Oh my goodness, my God,

the God of heaven, deserves the glory. It's time

we got there. And when you get there, and you

recognize how B -I -G our Jesus is, you'll get

through day after day after day, putting him

first. And after 40 days, it'll be a habit that

every time something goes wrong, you glorify

Jesus instead of getting frustrated. Glorify

Jesus instead of getting angry. Every time something

might go wrong, you glorify Jesus instead of

getting anxious or worried or conniving or bragging,

trying to make it come out your way. Instead,

glorify Jesus. Jesus, thank you for letting me

have this problem so that in this dark and difficult

situation, I might glorify you. That's what it

means to be a Christian. And that's got wheels.

That'll get things done. And you will find yourself

like the God of heaven, serving the people around

you with no thought of compensation. You don't

even care if people say thank you. Why? Because

that's not the result you're looking for. This

life is temporary. You're storing up treasures

for yourself in heaven at that point. Or you

can keep going after the things that your body

wants, things that your mind wants. Keep thinking

about how frustrated, angry, worried, anxious,

upset you are with people quite the way you want

them to go. And your people have very little

traction. You'll do very little to change their

life. It's dangerous. It's dangerous. Let us

serve the risen Savior. Let us glorify the only

one who actually deserves glory. When you find

yourself glorifying someone or something else,

even if it's yourself, you repent. And again,

glorify Jesus. I hope you will glorify Jesus.

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