Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, first of all, I'll just say this I was a little bit behind schedule when it comes to understanding the new movies and the new shows that were created around the superheroes that apparently have existed for decades. When I was a kid, there was only one superhero that I cared about. It seemed to be the one superhero that was the main movie that everyone knew about, and that was Superman. Superman it was starred Christopher Reeves was the movie that I loved to watch. I love to. I anticipated watching Superman 1, 2, 3. I loved that movie and I didn't know much about any of the other superheroes until later on.

Speaker 1: 0:46

But I think back on Superman, as he came from a different planet. He came down here because the planet he was on, krypton, had been destroyed and his parents wanted to save the last living specimen of their kind and sent them to the planet Earth, what they thought would be the best home for him. And as Clark Kent was discovered as a tiny little boy by some farmers in Kansas from this what looked like a meteor capsule that came from outer space, he began to recognize the fact that he had powers that were unusual. The abilities that he had were very supernatural compared to the other creatures, the other humans that existed on this planet. And as he grew up he began to question why is it that I have this power? What is the reason behind this power? I don't quite understand it, and in the movie there's some great morals as to how you understand what you're to do with these powers. But he began to struggle all the way to just before his 18th birthday, when his father, the father that adopted him on the planet Earth, died, and he said in that moment I have all these powers and I couldn't even save him. He was struggling with the fact that he has all these abilities, these extra abilities, but he couldn't save the one that had cared for him and that had loved for him.

Speaker 1: 2:18

And then, when he turned 18, he's drawn to this crystal that came from his planet, that takes him off into the Arctic, where there's a fortress of solitude that miraculously is formed from this crystal and he learns from a hologram, from his father, from Krypton, who he is and why he exists. There's this moment in time where Superman, at 18th birthday, realizes that he needs to figure out who he is. And then, as he goes to this fortress of solitude over 12 years, he learns who he is. And then he emerges in the cape and the red and the blue and the S and he goes out and he becomes what we know to be Clark Kent. But there is this moment in time where everything shifts and everything changes For him. It came out of curiosity, it came out of lack of knowledge, it even came out of fear and a lack of understanding who he was.

Speaker 1: 3:23

But, unlike Christopher Reeves and unlike Clark Kent in Superman, we are about to look at a passage where Jesus, who also has great power, he's displayed great powers, where Jesus enters a moment where everything changes. But for him, this was the plan from the very beginning. He knew who he was, he knew why he had the powers that he had, he knew why he was capable of doing what he was doing. And it wasn't just something that happened to him or a moment that occurred that he had to go out and discover who he is or what he was there to do, but this was a moment in time that he, as one of the persons of the Trinity, had planned before time, that this was the moment that everything would change. And Jesus, in this moment in our passage today, announces to his followers at that time that the time had come to finally set in motion the mission that he was sent into the world to accomplish His purpose in his mind was very clear. He knew exactly who he was and what he was supposed to do was very clear. He knew exactly who he was and what he was supposed to do. He was fully aware of everything that this moment meant and all that it was going to demand of him. This moment that we're going to discover in our passage wasn't triggered by fear or a need for self-discovery. No, jesus was fully anticipating what was about to happen, and the world would never be the same again. Everything was about to change.

Speaker 1: 5:17

As we look at John, chapter 12, our next section, as we work through the book of John, we are told something that on the surface seems really insignificant. A small group of people come to see Jesus. They inquire about how they can see Jesus, and now that we've been following the story of Jesus through the book of John, it really doesn't seem that unusual and in a quick glance we might say what's the big deal? People seem to always be interested in seeing Jesus, or at least curious about him. But something happens here in this text that prompts something in Jesus that we haven't yet seen or heard. It's something that Jesus has talked about, he's made reference to, he's gave indication that it was coming, but until this point he has referred to it as something that is yet to happen. Is yet to happen. So let's look at John, chapter 12. In this text, when this small, seemingly insignificant group comes to Jesus, they come to see him. Jesus responds with a statement that is pregnant with much anticipation. He says this the hour has come. Let's read John, chapter 12, beginning in verse 20.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered them. The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified Truly. I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, and if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Speaker 1: 7:42

If anyone serves me, eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am there, will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice from heaven. Then came a voice from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

Speaker 1: 8:16

The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to himself or to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him.

Speaker 1: 8:51

We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the son of man must be lifted up? Who is the son of man? So Jesus said to him the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light. Believe in the light that you may become sons of light. This is the word of the Lord. You know, the anticipation has been building.

Speaker 1: 9:30

Jesus has been revealing himself. We've heard his teaching, as he has taught things that are revolutionary, that he has revealed things about himself and who he is and what he has come to do, and people have had different opinions on it. We've observed Jesus confront and be confronted by the Jews as he says what he has done. He's even been trying to. They've tried to stone him at times. We've seen Jesus do miracles. We've seen Jesus, even more recently, raise a man from the dead who had been in the grave for four days, and last week we watched people celebrate and praise Jesus as the victorious king.

Speaker 1: 10:19

And yet, in spite of all of these amazing occurrences, john, the evangelist who wrote this text, and Jesus himself, has made it clear that, in spite of all these things, we've already read about and observed that his hour had not yet come. If we go back to John 2, we see his first sign, his miracle, when his mother asks him to do something about the lack of wine at the wedding party and Jesus says to his mother what does this have to do with me. My hour has not yet come. In John 4, when he meets the woman from Samaria, the woman at the well, she brings up a debate that the Samaritan people have with the Jews about where they are to worship. And Jesus says believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. And he speaks of an hour that is coming but has not yet arrived.

Speaker 1: 11:21

And then in John 7 and 8, there are two different occasions where Jesus is teaching and he is revealing himself and things that he says sparks anger with the Jews and they pick up stones to stone him for speaking blasphemy Jacob's stones to stone him for speaking blasphemy. And yet John, who is writing this text, tells us that they could not stone him and that he escaped them because his hour had not yet come. So we enter into this text with great anticipation. Jesus has been talking about this hour. He is held back because it wasn't his hour and people have not been able to attack him and do anything to harm him because it wasn't his hour. There has been restraint both from him and towards him because of this, and now, in this seemingly insignificant moment of time, jesus announces to these people who are there the hour has come.

Speaker 1: 12:35

What I would like for us to see today from this text is this text is this when Jesus does what he came to do, everything is turned upside down and nothing will ever be the same again. When Jesus does what he came to do, everything is turned upside down and nothing will ever be the same again. The hour has come and he wants his followers to listen to what that means, and there are a few things that they needed to know that he communicates to them in this text that I believe that we need to know about Jesus and what he has come to do and what that means for us. So, the first thing, there's three things that I want to point out to you today that we should know, now that the hour has come. The first thing is this that Jesus runs an upside down operation. Jesus runs an upside down operation.

Speaker 1: 13:56

What does the text tell us that Jesus says is going to happen now, in this hour? What does it say? It says the hour has yet to come, that the Son of man in that hour is going to be glorified. Well, what does that mean exactly? He says the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. And then he goes right into this statement of unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. And in verse 32, he says this and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself, and he said this to show what kind of death he was going to die. So on one hand it he says that in this hour, the hour has come for him to be glorified. But then he starts talking about death. He starts talking about the elimination of his life, the execution of his life. So how is it that he can be glorified, lifted up and attention being brought to him, and yet, at the same time, he dies.

Speaker 1: 15:19

And I would argue this that Jesus, what Jesus has come to do, unlike any other superhero that you might read of, any other superhero you might come to watch in a movie or in a show, the superheroes are there to use their powers for good and to accomplish good things in the world. But my son and I have been working through the Marvel movies because I got way behind. I've not watched them before, so we've been watching them together and he tells me these spoilers. You know, I heard in this movie that we haven't yet watched so-and-so is not in it because they died and they died and so they're not in that movie. Well, it's a spoiler, but it's also like death is something that stops them from doing whatever heroic thing that they could do in that movie. But Jesus seems to indicate here that death is not going to have that effect on him, that actually death is going to be the mechanism by which he is going to be glorified, by which he is going to accomplish the purpose for which he has come.

Speaker 1: 16:22

You know, it's interesting, when we think about this metaphor, that Jesus gives us a seed, a grain of wheat. You know, there are certain. I'll put it this way. I was trying to find a really good illustration to use for you on this and I started looking up like special grains of wheat that exist, that should be preserved and protected, and you know there's a lot out there, a lot that I didn't want to read. It went so much further about agriculture than I wanted to know. But the reality is is that when you have a grain of wheat or when you have a seed, is that when you have a grain of wheat, or when you have a seed, like even if it's super special, like it doesn't give you any value if it just remains a seed, if it just remains alone.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Now there's different things that could happen to a seed. Right, birds like seed. They could eat the seed. A seed could be ground up. A grain of wheat could be ground up and part of a bunch of other grains of wheat and crushed into flour and be used for a bread, both of which eaten by a bird or eaten by us is gone and done.

Speaker 1: 17:35

But how is it that we realize the actual potential of a seed? Well, jesus gives us an indication here that unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will not produce fruit, it will not reproduce and it will not create flourishing and abundance. Jesus is indicating that there is something about him and who he is, that his kingship, that his messiahship, should not be something that is protected and preserved and held onto in a way so that he himself would remain in that form and in that way he actually is speaking that he himself, like a grain of wheat, he has to die, because it is only from his death that it will produce life that will grow and that will flourish and that will bear fruit. So Jesus is speaking of this upside down way of thinking. Instead of preserving something so special, instead of protecting something so special, it must die to accomplish the glory that he has come to reveal to us, that he has come to show. The glory of the seed is the potential that it has in dying and being planted and growing, and this is the glory that Jesus is pointing to about himself.

Speaker 1: 19:08

He goes on to speak more plainly. Look at verse 25. Whoever loses his life, or whoever loves his life, loses it. Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. That's different. That's backwards, right. I care about myself, I love who I am, I love my life. Well, jesus is saying if that's what you love, if that's who you are, if you are going to hold on to your life, then you're going to lose it. But he goes as far as to say you need to hate your life. Now, our modern day world would not handle that too well, because we're certainly there's a lot out there about self-love, right, and I think that there might be some good things there that we could learn from.

Speaker 1: 20:06

But what Jesus is saying in light of eternity, the life that we have, the life that we have created, the life that we are living. We need to look at it and realize this is not how God made us. This is not the purpose why we exist. There is a greater eternal purpose for us, and the only way we get there, the only way that we realize it, is we have to realize this life compared to the life that comes through Jesus Christ. I have to hate this existence in order to be able to achieve that existence. Through Jesus Christ, there is something greater that God wants to provide for us, that he wants to give us through his death. And we walk in those footsteps.

Speaker 1: 20:56

And then he goes on to speak of something that, in that society, would have certainly had an impact. He says you have to become a servant. Well, servants, you know how servants are treated. You know how they're viewed by society. They are the most dishonorable people in society. I mean, they're the ones that are the bottom rung, they're the ones that are being bossed around and told what to do and they don't have rights for themselves. And yet he says here, if anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be. But this is what he says If anyone serves me, the Father will what Honor him. If you desire to flourish and have fruit, you must, in Jesus' upside-down operation, you must die. He is speaking of himself here, but there must be death that goes into the ground, that produces fruit In his upside-down operation. This life is not a life to love because, compared to the life that he wants to give us in eternity, we ought to hate this in exchange for the condition and the situation that he offers us in eternity. And if we truly want to understand what it is to be honored, we need to learn to serve. And so, as we look at this and we understand what Jesus is trying to understand, what it means both to be glorified but also reconcile that with the fact that he is saying I'm going to die and I'm going to be lifted up and crucified on a cross. This is how it's going to work.

Speaker 1: 22:46

The second thing that I want us to see is this God, only God, can make sense of what he's doing. Only God can make sense of what he's doing. There's we have seen all through the book of John up to this point, where Jesus has said things and done things. And it's so funny how John notes and then they said this, and then some people thought this and some people thought that, and some people believed this and some people didn't believe him, and there's like differences of opinions all over the place. He has different. There's different ideas that opinions all over the place. There's different ideas that come from what he has done and what he has said.

Speaker 1: 23:27

And here is one of those instances where Jesus makes a statement the hour has come for me to be glorified. And then he starts speaking of death and they're like, and he anticipates what they're saying and he tells them my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, and it's for this purpose that I have come into this world. Father, glorify your name. He is looking at them and saying, yeah, there's something troubling about this reality. But what am I supposed to do? Because this is the reason that I'm here. This is why God, this is why I came into the world, this is why the Father has sent me into this world. This is the purpose that I have come to this hour Jesus fully acknowledging and fully accepting his reality. He offers a perfect perspective from this human position. And as he responds, he says Father, and this is a critical thing, this is the ultimate thing. He says Father, glorify your name. We've already been told that it was.

Speaker 1: 24:39

The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. And now Jesus is concerned and he speaks. What is most important, father, glorify your name. And what happens? The Father responds. There's only a few times when this happens in the life of Jesus. There's that as baptism. Or we recently observed the transfiguration in our liturgy, where the Father speaks and says this is my beloved Son, listen to him. But here Jesus is saying Father, glorify your name. And the Father speaks and he says to them. And he says to them I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

Speaker 1: 25:27

The father is speaking about Jesus and says this is what I have already been doing, it's already been actively at work and this is what I'm going to continue to do. What I am going to accomplish, what we have planned and predetermined, what is about to happen is for the glory of my name. Let there be no confusion. Jesus' life up until then has glorified, has brought glory to God's name. What he is about to do and what he does till his ascension is going to bring glory to the Father's name. There is no mistake that what he has done and what he is about to do is for the glory of God.

Speaker 1: 26:12

And then the people. Once again, john gives us insight as to how the conversation is sparked from there. Some of them say, whoa, that sounded like thunder. And some people said, oh, an angel was talking to Jesus. And Jesus tells them, gives them a little bit of an insight. He says, yeah, the voice that has come verse 30,. The voice has come for your sake, not mine. The reason the father spoke to validate Jesus and his operation was not for Jesus to be reminded. This is why you're here. Oh, yeah, thanks for the reminder. It was not for Jesus to stay on track, it was for the people who are there, who are constantly confused and constantly trying to figure out what's going on. It was for their sake that the Father spoke to say, yes, he is glorifying me and he is continuing to bring glory to me.

Speaker 1: 27:12

Now, when God does a work, when he is in operation through his gospel power and this is just a side note, a side application for us it is often we can often get distracted with our opinions. We can often get distracted with observations that we have about things that have been communicated or things that we've experienced things that have been communicated or things that we've experienced. But it is very important that when we are talking about things of God, especially as it pertains to God's glory and his name, it is very important that we let God do the explaining. It is very important that we look to his word, that we discover what he has said and what he determines about the things that we experience. We can get caught up in these other ideas, get caught up in these other directions, and we can impose our presuppositions on situations that we are in. But it is very important that we trust God, that we look to him for his understanding of what he is doing and what he is accomplishing.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Jesus then anticipates all the measures that were to be taken place for him to accomplish his mission. Look at this, verse 31,. He says now is the judgment of this world, now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself, will draw all people to myself. Jesus is really kind of giving a preview, an anticipated play-by-play about what is going to happen Now. The judgment of the world is going to begin and the ruler of this world is about to be cast out. And the ruler of this world is about to be cast out. The ruler of this world will no longer have the power and the control that it once had. And when I am done, he will be completely gone and banished forever. Paul writes about this in the book of Colossians and he talks about how he has destroyed. Paul writes in how he refers to this instance as something that has already been done. He's already cast out and he has already trampled the powers of this world. And so what, jesus, the hour that is about to take place is that through Jesus' death, through his death, the powers and the rulers of wickedness in this world are about to be crushed and he will be glorified. That is what is about to take place. And he says how is this going to happen when I am lifted up? But here's the result. Are you ready for the result? I will draw all people to myself Now if we go back to verse 19,. That was at the end of Pastor Ian's text last week. That was at the end of Pastor Ian's text last week, verse 19.

Speaker 1: 30:43

At the end of this triumphal entry story, the Pharisees said to one another you see, you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. Now, no doubt they were speaking with hyperbole. They were exaggerating the whole world's following him. We've got to do something about this. But Jesus confirms that when his mission is accomplished, that he will draw all people to himself. Now, this doesn't mean a universalistic idea where no matter whether you believe or do not believe that everyone's going to follow him. What this means is that Jesus' mission doesn't have its sights set just on the people of Israel, just the Jewish people, the people of Israel, just the Jewish people. It means that people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation, people around the globe, there will be people that will flood to him and flock to him, and they will believe in him and they will be saved.

Speaker 1: 31:57

We get this from the most popular, the most common verse that we know in the scriptures, when John records of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, he says for God so loved who, the world, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. And then what does he go on to say? He says for God sent his here. Let me read it real quick. What does he go on to say? He says for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. So John's use of the word world throughout his book refers to not every single person, but that people from every people and place and tongue and nation will come to him. That's why this story that seems so significant begins with a small inquiry.

Speaker 1: 32:58

It begins with a small inquiry. We want to see Jesus. Well, who is it that wants to see Jesus? It was Greeks. They weren't Jews, they weren't Pharisees, they weren't even Samaritans. The Samaritans were kind of a mixed breed. It was people from a completely different people group, completely separate from the Jews. And Jesus says the hour has come. People of the world are already starting to come. This is the hour in which I'm going to be glorified. It's here. And Jesus tells them that when this is done, when my operation is done, the ruler of this world will be destroyed, I will be lifted up and all people from all over the world will be drawn to me. Finally, the third thing that we need to know is this that those who join Jesus' operation will become just like him. Those who join Jesus' operation will become just like him. What is the result? I'm going to ask this question what is the result that Jesus wants from these people who are here when he is saying all of this? What's the result that he wants? Well, if you look at the very end verse 36, he says this while you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. Believe in the light that you may become sons of light. What is the result that he wants? He wants them to be his sons. He wants them to be his children.

Speaker 1: 34:52

Now, in that day and age, a son had a particular, special place in the father's family. He carried on the father's name. He carried on the father's business. He received the inheritance of his father's wealth. Everything that a son had when a father passed away was basically, in essence, given to him by his father, and he assumed that identity. He assumed that position. And Jesus is saying here in the end, what I want from you is this I want you to be sons, I want you to receive my name, I want you to have my inheritance, I want you to have everything that I can give you through my glory, through what I am about to do. He wants them to be his sons, his children, and they say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right. He wants them to take up everything. He wants those who become like him to live like him and walk like him.

Speaker 1: 36:12

Now, the moment here that Jesus' disciples are experiencing this was a unique moment, okay. So when we look at this and he says to them the light is among you for a little while longer, walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you, he's not actually speaking of something that we ourselves can engage in directly, because what he is saying is that I am here and he's already said a few times in the book of John I am the light of the world. And when he speaks of the light that is here, and now that's here for a little while longer, he is speaking about his earthly, physical presence. And so, in that moment, these people he was inviting them to say be close to me, spend time with me, do not depart from me, don't turn your heads for a moment, but be near me, Because the light is only here for a little while longer. And so he's speaking specifically of this unique moment. Jesus, who was the light of the world, was there with them and he wanted them to remove all other distractions and remove anything else that might take them away from being near him, and he's urging them to stay close. They had one primary job as long as Jesus was with them, and that was to walk with him. He is the light.

Speaker 1: 37:39

What you need to know, where you need to go, what you need to do, you will discover that because I am here when he is gone and there's just darkness. What happens in the darkness? You just wander. I remember backpacking. I've been backpacking dozens of times, if not more, all over the country and I have had several instances where we have a camp designated on the map that we need to get to and the sun is setting and I've got our backpacks on and we know we've got a mile or two left to go and we know there's elevation that needs to be gained and it's just like we've got to go. We've got to hurry, we've got to stay on this path, because if we don't do it, when it gets dark we're not going to know where we're going and then it's just going to be floundering in the darkness. Now we do have headlamps and you know I'm here today. I survived.

Speaker 1: 38:43

But what he's saying there is this as long as you have the light, as long as the light's in the world, you can see and you can understand and you can learn and you can follow. But he's saying when the light goes away, all you have is darkness. And if you haven't been following and if you haven't been alongside of me when it was still light, then you're not going to know where to go and what to do. You're going to bump around in the darkness. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. If you don't have the light, you're going to be lost. And so he gives us his last statement here in verse 36. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

Speaker 1: 39:35

Now I would say this. I would say that here today, obviously none of us have walked with Jesus, with his physical presence on this earth, in the way that these disciples did. I would want to say this that we are the great grandsons of light. We are the great grandsons, great grandchildren of light. What do I mean by that? Well, obviously, the disciples followed him closely, they were with him to the end, they learned from him and then, when Jesus went away, they carried on that light to the world and beyond and they passed that light off to other people. And they passed that light off to other people and they pass that light off to other people to here we are, 2,000 years later. The light has been the light of Jesus, and his glory has been passed from one generation to the next generation, to the next generation. To here we are reading this account, hearing the truth as we understand it from God himself, and we are sharing in the light so that we can walk and not be lost.

Speaker 1: 40:49

We are great, great, however many great grandchildren or grandsons of light, and so what does that mean for us? What does that mean for us? And so what does that mean for us? What does that mean for us? That we too must walk in the light. We must make it a priority that, when god's word is being preached and when god's word is being read, that we are to prioritize our attention on him. We are to let his word change us and illuminate us, so that we can see what it is that he wants us to see and learn what it is that he wants us to learn, and he wants us to walk as he would have us to walk, and in this we participate in his glory, we participate in his operation, his upside-down operation. So what does that mean for us? Well, I'm going to give this example and a little tag on that, and then I want to close. You know it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 41:56

If you've been around Redeemer Church for a little while, you know that we started an organization called Bayseed, and Bayseed the idea of Bayseed was given to us from this text, actually that a seed that dies and falls to the ground cannot actually grow and bear fruit without it first dying. And this came about because there was a church about 11 years ago that was closing its doors In essence, it was dead and the leadership of that church invited Pastor Bob and myself to come and try to start something new in that space and in that place. In essence, they had said we feel like the light of God, the gospel, is being darkened, but we want light to continue in this place. And so what actually happened was, at a point in time, several years ago, we voted as a church that we would officially close down what was Mission, peak Baptist Church and Redeemer Church would then take its place. But out of that we wanted to start an organization that embodies this idea of dying so that the glory of God might be exalted, might be shown, might be given in the world. And so we coined the name Bayseed, because we realized that in order to do the work of God, in order to carry on the work of Jesus, we must be willing to die. We must be willing to let those things that we have created, those things that we have built ourselves, die if it means that the glory of God and that the gospel will be sent throughout the Bay Area and around the world. And this doesn't just happen through organizations. We embodied it as an organization.

Speaker 1: 43:52

But here's what I want to tell you Each one of us, if we are sons of light, we are to live embodying this idea that we die to this self, that we die to this life, and we do it so that the light of the gospel and that the glory of God would shine wherever it is that we are and that we are able to pass the light on to the next generation. But at the heart of all of this, it's not what we do, and it's not what we've done At the heart of all of this. What we've done closing down Mission Peak Baptist Church and starting Redeemer Church and starting Bayseed all of that is pointless. All of that has no power in and of itself. All of that is meaningless If Jesus himself didn't give his life to die so that he would receive the glory that the Father wanted to give him.

Speaker 1: 45:04

By doing what he did, jesus gives us the power and the opportunity to be a part of a greater mission that he is accomplishing, and the result of that, the result of his work that he has invited us into, is that all people everywhere will come to know him.

Speaker 1: 45:28

They will come and follow him. The world, because of this day, because of this hour, the world will never be the same again. Lord, we thank you so much for your words, we thank you for your example, we thank you for your teaching, we thank you for your life, that you have laid down your life for us so that you would be glorified and so that people would be drawn from all over the world to you. God, I pray that you would help us to anticipate your mission, your vision, your desires, but that we would rely on you to help us understand exactly what it is that you desire for us to do. That we would be close to you. God, I pray that you would help us even now, as we partake in this table, that you would help us to be reminded that your death, that your death gives us and teaches us all that we need to know about how we are to live. So help us to turn our attention to you now. We pray this in Christ's name amen.