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We've been in a series called The Jesus Life. Okay? We're in a series called The Jesus Life. And the idea is that we would model our life after Jesus. That the longer you go at this, the more you would become like him, the more you would look like him. My four-year-old a couple weeks ago said, Daddy, and I said what? He said, Daddy, I just wish you were like, you know, well, he said, when I grow up, Dad, I want to be like, and I'm like, here it is. You want to be like what, son? He said, I want to be like Bluey's dad. For those of you not with the four-year-old lingo, Bluey is an animated cartoon, annoying TV show. And uh, I couldn't believe he said that. I I want to be, you know, when we grow up, how many of y'all remember what it was that you wanted to be when you grew up? You know? Uh there's this idea that we can model after something that we've seen before. In the Jesus Life series, really the heartbeat behind it is that when you grow up, you don't want to be like Bluey's dad, but when you grow up, you want to look more and more like Jesus. As we talk about this this morning, I've titled today's message. Listen, this is gonna offend you before it sets you free. Alright? Anyone come to church today to be offended? Come on, here we go. I've titled today's message, It's not about you. Turn to your neighbor and say it's not about you. Husbands, I sure hope you did not just say that to your wife. He's like, he's like, but the preacher said I could, you know. I I uh today's message is not a message on marriage and it's not a message on relationships, but I I learned a really good relationship lesson in life when a couple of years ago I went on a date with my wife, and and I I'm I'm a I'm a typical dude, okay? I talk a lot up here, but in my real life I don't talk a lot. I'm actually more introverted, and um, you know, I uh same as you guys. You go on dinner date, and and what do you think about that? Mm-hmm. You have anything to say? Nope, nothing. Okay. Like for me, going on the date, I'm like, like, where's the steak and the shrimp cocktail? Like, what dirt dessert are we having, you know? And uh I'll never forget one night we went on a date, and I I can be one of those guys that I don't say anything until I say everything. You know, one of you know, I'm I don't know if you've ever been there, but it's like you just kind of bottle some things up for a while. And this is a lesson on what not to do. Just I bottled things up, and one night we sat down for dinner and I just started talking. And I mean, I just talked, I talked all the way through the appetizer, I talked all the way through the steak dinner, I talked all the way through dessert, and and I just talked, and it's just like a fountain opened up. I didn't know what to think of myself. I I couldn't believe this was happening. And when the dinner was over and I was done talking, I stood up and I said, Well, that was nice, let's go. And my wife looked at me and she said, So do you want me to say anything about that? And I looked at her and I said, No, I'm good. How many of y'all know that wasn't a date? How many of y'all know that was a scheduled audience that I had on a Friday night at 7 o'clock? How many of you know a healthy, strong relationship cannot be all about you? Some of y'all, some wives, you're like, preach it, Pastor, come on, let's go. You know, I I had to learn that lesson in marriage. How many of you know I had to learn it once? I had to learn it twice, three times. How many of you know I lost all my hair, I'm still learning it? This is one of those lessons that I believe that we have to learn on a daily basis. A strong marriage won't exist when it's all about you. A strong relationship cannot exist. In fact, you see many relationships break down, fall apart because one party has become all about themselves. Today's message isn't about your relationships and life, it's really about you and the Lord. And so my question today is this has your relationship with God become all about you? I I want to ask you these tough questions today, and and I know it's like, hey, happy post-Easter, but as I got to reading this week, I thought, what greater message to understand what it means to follow Jesus than to lay yourself down the way that he did. And as we look at this message, although it could be offensive, although it can be hard, there is a freedom on the other side. And I think there's no person in the Bible who displayed this greater than Jesus Himself. But I want to read to you Isaiah chapter 43, verse 7. I want you to know scripturally where this comes from. Isaiah 43, 7, everyone who is called by my name, he says, whom I created, underline this, circle it, highlight it, do it for your spouse, put it on their phone as a screensaver reminder, they're gonna need it in the morning. For God's glory. Whom I formed and whom I made. Scripture right here is saying this that the very reason for your existence, the very reason God knit you together in your mother's womb, the very mission of your life, the very wiring and every fiber of your being is for one purpose, and that is to give glory to God. Period. When I think about a scripture like that, how many of y'all know sometimes it sounds easier on the ears and it's much harder on your life? It's one thing to hear this, and it's another to be like, I know, but I want what I want when I want it. I want the things in life. I want to have it my way. I know none of y'all, I'm not preaching to you guys. I'm just like, there are things and times in my life where I'm like, but Lord, can't it be about me just a little bit? And so here's my encouragement to you today. I I do want to give this one disclaimer. There are people in the room today, and you're saying, I got a lot going on in my life, and I really need God to help me. I want to tell you that's a great prayer, and you should pray it every day. Here's what we believe around here God can meet your needs. Here's what we believe about God. We believe that He's empathetic, He's compassionate, He has mercy, He He wants to be there for you. So let me explain to you what I'm doing today. There are messages that are felt need messages, and here's what that means. That means you're going through something today, and you need this word of encouragement today to get you through. And most of the time I spend my time preaching on felt needs. Today, this message is gonna come above all of that because here's the reality. At the end of your life, when you're 85 or 95 or 100 years old, you're gonna get to a place and you're gonna say, Why didn't anyone tell me? The idea is this that we have a lot going on in our world, and I want to encourage you, whatever petition or request that you have, there's no greater place than to take it to the throne of heaven. But in the midst of all of that, don't forget what heaven is all about. Because when we read this scripture right here, it says that God created you for his glory. And as we read that, here's what I want to do today. I want to bring your thinking up. I want to elevate us as a body of believers. As a two and a half-year-old church, we may be a big baby in diapers. Listen, but here's what I know. I know that God is always calling us to more. And the only way we can experience the abundant life we talked about last week, the only way we can experience more, the only way is if we're stretched. And if we're stretched in our thinking and our understanding of this matter, here's what we're gonna come to realize. The more I understand it's not about me, the more I can embrace that it's all about him. And the Bible does this. From time to time, Jesus would give teachings and and and he would he would tell you it's the law of first priority. Here's what that means. It means if you get the most important thing first in your life, every other area of your life will fall suit. Every other area of your life will begin to fall in line. And so the idea is this if your life is going to turn around, if the if the prayers that you have been praying are going to find their solutions and the resolutions in your life, if you're gonna find the peace and the life and the help and the strength, then you have to get this right. If you don't get this right, everything else will be messed up. Anybody come today for a messed up life? No, nobody comes for a messed up life. Everybody says, How does it get better? I want to tell you how it gets better. When you understand that everything in our world and everything in your life is for the glory of God, it begins to help put all the pieces of your puzzle together. It helps to begin to make sense of all the unanswered questions that you have in life. And I want to give you a story today of some people in the Bible, and I'm I'm backtracking. We we told the end of Jesus' life, and now we're going to the beginning of his ministry on earth when Jesus called the disciples. I think this is a great story of understanding how Jesus is teaching them by modeling this, by Jesus asking questions. Oftentimes Jesus didn't lecture, oftentimes Jesus would ask questions. What are you going to do with it? And so the question on the table today is Jesus, as he's coming to his first disciples and he's inviting them, will you come and follow me? Will you come and be a part of what I am doing? And the disciples had a choice to make. I want to read their story. Mark chapter 1, if you're ready, say I'm ready. Mark chapter 1, verse 16. Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were in their boats mending their nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with their hired servants, and they followed Jesus. I love the way Luke's gospel tells the same story. It says, they left everything and they followed Jesus. You may be wondering where I'm going with this passage. What does this have anything to do with it not being about me? I think it's I think it has everything to do with it not being about you because we're watching what the disciples did when they left everything behind. They left everything. I want you to understand how radical of a question it was that Jesus was asking them. This is not Jesus at the end of his three years after he'd done all the miracles. This is not Jesus at the end of the three years after he had taught. This is not Jesus after he had gathered crowds of 5,000. Come follow me. Lots of people like to follow me. This is Jesus before he ever even gets started. And he's looking at a group of guys, and listen, I'm telling you, they were fishermen. They probably didn't catch fish as big as this guy right here. I mean, just you know. You know. But when we think of fishermen, we think of a hobby. I just wanted to show them off, you know. Don't ask me what he did to his forehead when he fell on the concrete. Um, you know, it's like when we think of fishermen, we think, oh, what's the big deal? My wife asked me to stop fishing all the time. No, like this, these are, these are, okay, you can take it down now. These are, I don't like life-size image of me on the it's like, these are not people who are having a hobby of going fishing. This this is their livelihood. This is what they did. And this is not 2026 where you don't like your job, go find a new one, or you don't like your major, go to another college. This is for centuries, this is what their family has done. Like you don't break the family mold. This is not, there are a lot of other opportunities. This is live or die. This is how you eat. This is this is the way of life. And when Jesus comes to them, you have to understand how radical of a question he's asking them. Come and follow me, leave it behind. Based off what receipt yet, Jesus? Like, what's on the other side? Where are the benefits? I don't know about you, but if I was in their shoes, I'd have a lot of questions. Okay, Jesus, I just want to know a couple things. Are we gonna be staying at all inclusive or are we gonna like tent camp this thing? Like, I'm not really about the glamping thing either, you know? It's like I'd have a list of questions like, okay, are we gonna get paid at the end of this? Or um, you know, who's gonna take care of our family? And the story doesn't tell us any of that. The gospel account leaves us with the understanding that Jesus says, I have a big question for you. Will you leave everything to follow me? My greatest concern when I do an invitation at the end of service is that people think it's just raising a hand. It's not just raising a hand, it's leaving a life behind. It's not just an Easter event and a holiday. It's 365 days. He's the same resurrected savior all year long. So, my my question or my encouragement to you today is this Are you willing to leave everything behind? It wasn't easy. They left everything they had ever known. They had to cut loose their ties to security and comfort, they had to let go of what they knew, they had to believe Jesus for what he was saying, and they had to trust Jesus with their future. I don't think there's a greater act of understanding that it's not about me than making the decision to come and follow Jesus. We live in a world that says, again, have whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want it with, whoever you want it with, anytime, any place, Amazon can deliver. And then we read a message like this of a group of guys, of a group of followers of Jesus who had to make this conscious choice to resist the urge to make their life all about them. And while that message may not be popular, and while that message may not gather crowds, I will tell you that this is the message that when followed makes you more and more like Jesus. When I think of this passage, there's 1 John chapter 2, verse 5, Jesus, we get this idea or this understanding of living like Jesus, walking like Jesus, and here's what it says. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him, referring to Jesus, ought to walk in the same way in which Jesus walked. Jesus' first lesson was a question. Will you follow me? The implication, as we can now read the entire gospel narrative, is we know this, that Jesus then modeled for them the life that they should live and the life that they should walk out. So, how is it that Jesus lived his life? Well, he didn't have to preach it because his life emulated it. Here's what it says. How do we know how Jesus walked? Listen to this in John chapter 8, verse 50. We know that Jesus didn't make it all about himself. Interesting. Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Listen to what it says in John chapter 8, verse 50. This is in the Bible. It says this Jesus says, I do not seek my own glory. I don't seek my own glory. Hold on just a second. Because, like, if I'm just being a decent Christian and I'm just thinking some thoughts, and Jesus, I just want to throw this out here. You do know you are the Son of God, right? You do know it is all about you. And in this moment in time with the disciples, here's what he's teaching them. He's saying it's not about my glory, he says it's about the Father's glory. You may think, what's the big deal? Well, to Jesus, it was a big enough deal that of just a relatively few amount of words in all of human history to be recorded and written, Jesus finds it important to tell the disciples, and therefore by tell us, I'm not doing this for my glory. In other words, he had this mindset when he became a man and he laid aside his Godlikeness and he stepped into our world to become like us and he made it all about God the Father. Well, how else do we know that? He did this over and over. This is just not one scripture. I'm not taking one scripture today and basing my whole theology around it. There's multiple times that Jesus did this. You know what he said? Jesus said, Not my will, but yours be done. Have you ever met a selfish toddler who says, Daddy, not what I want today. Just whatever you want to do today. Jesus came and he didn't make it about him. Not my will, but your will be done. How else do I know this? Listen, here's what Jesus said. The words that I tell you, Jesus said, they're not my own. He says, Everything I've heard my father in heaven say, I'm gonna say to you. Y'all ever find it hard to bite your tongue? By the way, that date night didn't go so well. It entered into a marital discussion at that point. That's nice preacher words for we had an argument. Do you know how hard it is to hold your words? You know how easy it is to let your words be all about you? You know, I just met some people, I gotta tell them everything that I've ever done. I find myself time to time like, why am I even saying the things that I'm saying? What? Clayton, why are you bragging on yourself? And here's what Jesus is saying as he modeled this for the disciples. He said, The words that I've told you, by the way, I've only said them because I heard my father say them to me. In other words, what he's saying is anything that I would have said on my own, I decided not to say it because I only wanted to say the things that God would say. Talk about a life. And this is the life that the disciples, when they said yes to following Jesus and coming and following him, this is the life that they watched modeled right before their very own eyes. I think it's the greatest sermon ever preached. The greatest sermons that Jesus preached were the ones he just lived. He didn't even have to say anything about it. And the disciples are watching Jesus give all glory and all credit to God. Now I just want to ask you a question. If Jesus, I don't even really know theologically why Jesus really would have had to do that. I mean, it was God. I I don't understand everything that I'm talking about, but I do know this: that if Jesus found it important to make everything in his life about God, how much more important is it for me? How much uh more value is it that when I move and I live and I do my day-to-day, that everything in my life has to be for the glory of God. I want to paint it to you like this. Preachers often use this illustration, it's not new, but how many of y'all ever been on a cruise before? Y'all like going on a cruise? Listen, come on, somebody. You just get on that boat and you got all you can eat, buffet. Come on, at 11 o'clock at night, let's let's go. I mean, you got entertainment, you got great beaches. You know, I my grandfather took our whole family on a cruise when I was uh early teenager and 11, 12, something like that, and I'll never forget we got on the cruise and they put a little wristband on you. Anybody remember the wristband? At 11 years old, you think you're the king of that boat. The day you realize that all you have to do is just swipe that wristband and you can get all the snow cones you want. All the Dr. Peppers you want. Listen, how many of y'all know the bill came due at the end of the cruise? Sometimes I think we've made a mistake in our world thinking that God has invited us to join a cruise ship. All we want, however we want, when we want, get a nice tan while you're at it, and swipe the band. But how many of you know that you make it to the end of your life, and if you've lived your life like you were on a cruise ship, you get to the end of your life and you'd think, why didn't anybody tell me? Because there is a cost to pay. That's the whole credit card mentality of buy now, pay later. When I think about what God wants to do in our church and what I believe and where my burden and conviction is as a church, you've heard this said probably before, but God did not make the church to be a cruise ship. God made the church to be an aircraft carrier. I want you to think about the difference. Nobody right now in our service and military wakes up in the morning on that military cru on that military aircraft carrier and thinks, nobody made my bed. Where are the nice little animal towel creations they leave? Where's the buffet? No, they're they're they're doing it as a sacrifice for the sake of other people. There's a greater purpose at stake. And I just want to draw attention to the reality that maybe we've bought into the lie because we think that it's all about us. Maybe we bought into the lie that we just signed up. Yes, Jesus, I'll come follow you to the cruise. And the Lord is saying, No, no, no. I have something so much more. So if it's not about us, what is it about? If it's not about us, it's all about his glory. Listen to The scripture right here. This is what Jesus said. For this purpose, I have come to this hour. John chapter 12, verse 27. For this purpose, I have come to this hour. Here's what he says Father, glorify your name. Talk about a guy who didn't say much. But when he said it, when he says it, it punches Jesus getting ready to go to the cross. And he says, I want you guys to not be confused. I came here for this reason. And the reason he says that I'm about to do what I'm about to do is that the name of the Father would be glorified. Hours before the cross, he's saying, God, my end goal is that you're glorified. And that's the message that Jesus would leave to us. I love this scripture, Psalm 115, verse 1. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name, give glory. That's your version of saying the very same thing that Jesus said in John chapter 12. Lord, it ain't about me. It's all about you. Lord, I know I got some things going on in my life, but I just want to let you know, Lord, that if nothing ever comes of it, I just want you to know I'm still on this ship with you. Lord, Lord, I know I got some things happening in my relationships. I know I got some things happening at work, but regardless of what unfolds, Lord, I just want you to know, not to me and not about me, but to your name be the glory. That is a life to be modeled. When we look at the life of Jesus, our hope is that we could imitate what he did. Our prayer is that one day at the end of our life, we weren't perfect, but we said, you know what? I got one thing right. And the one thing I got right was not all the answers to the test in tenth grade. One thing I got right was not all the jobs I was ever on, and one thing I got right was not always my bank account, and one thing that I always got right was not always my relationships, but the one thing that I'm always wanting to get right is that God comes first in my life. To his name be the glory. That's what Jesus is teaching. If it's not about us, it's about him. So the last thing is this whatever you do, do it for the Lord. Whatever you do, do for the glory of God. Listen to what 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31. Many of you have heard this. It says this. It says this whatever you do, do it all for the glory of the Lord. My six-year-old daughter, Emmy, we were walking on a walk the other night, and as we're walking, she said, Daddy, walk with purpose. Yes, ma'am. What? My six-year-old daughter said, Daddy, walk with purpose. I was like, Where did you hear that? She said, My teacher at school. Come on, teachers, you know. You're gonna crowd 25 kids down that hallway. You're gonna be telling them, come on, kids, walk with purpose. Keep moving, keep going, walk with purpose. So now my daughter found out that I thought that was kind of funny that she told me that. And so now she says it for everything. We're driving out 1488, sitting in traffic. Come on, daddy, drive with purpose. All right, all right. How many of you know it's not my daughter talking to me? The Lord wants us to walk with purpose. What's your purpose? You were created for the glory of the Lord. Your life will only make sense. Your life will only make sense when you're doing whatever you do for the Lord. You know, Jesus said, Hey, you're gonna have some hard stuff. Jesus didn't come and say, hey, I'm just gonna wipe everything eevee, you know, every mountain, every hard place, every rock in your way, I'm just gonna clear it out. You just have a good time on this cruise ship. No, he said, in this world you're gonna have trouble, but take heart, Jesus says, because I've already overcome the world. And here's what he said I've already overcome the world, and in doing that, he made it all about the glory of the Lord. So guess what? When you make your life and whatever you do all about the glory of the Lord, I'm not telling you it makes your life perfect. I'm just telling you it gives you purpose, and you can walk with purpose in the places you would walk with pain before. You can walk with purpose in places where you're uncertain and you don't know which way to go, left or right, and the Lord is saying, if you'll do it for my glory, you'll you'll walk to places you never knew you could walk. There was there was a there's an old story, um old story of a guy who walked up on a job site and these builders were all building, and he looked down at three of them all in the line, and he went up to the first one and he said, What are you doing? He said, I'm I'm laying bricks. Get out of my way. He walked up to the next guy, he said, What are you doing, sir? I'm I'm I'm here, I want to know what's happening here. And the guy said, I'm building a wall. And he went to the third guy and he looked down at the third guy and said, Hey, what are you what are you doing here? And he said, I'm building a cathedral for the glory of God. How many of you know that's a different perspective? I'm laying bricks, I'm building a wall. No, I'm doing something for the glory of God. I just wonder, do you remember what it's like for your life to have purpose behind it? To know that whether it's your job or your marriage or your finances or your attitude, whether it's your character or your calling, that whatever you do, you do for the Lord. I love what Matthew chapter 5 says. He says this you're the light of the world, a city set on a hill. He goes on, he says this let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. That happens when a church on an aircraft carrier says, Hey, my job, we're gonna send some people to go plant a church. Why? Because we want to be a light to the world. We want them to know what it's like, and we want God to get all the glory for it. Uh hey, hey, us as a church, like we love our spouses and we serve our kids and we we parent our kids well. Why? For the glory of the Lord. And people look at our family and they say, I don't know how those crazies got it all figured out, but something's happening over there. And they look at our life and they say, What's so different about you? You say, you know what? Uh the glory of God has just filled my life, and I couldn't have done this on my own, but God's helping me. I don't know what it is for you. Maybe somebody comes to you at your job and says, You know, I hate this job. You say, you know what, I didn't always like it either, but you know what? I have something worth living for that means something. And if I don't like the job, that's okay. Because I like the people. You're like, but I don't like the people I know. Some of them are hard. But what if those people are in your life, not for the job and not for your paycheck, but because for the glory of God, you're gonna deliver the very thing that they need. I just would you bow your heads and close your eyes. I I want to end this just tonight or this morning for just a reminder today's message is not ten steps on how to have a better life. If that's what you want, you can find it on YouTube.