The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 24: The High Priestly Prayer

Episode Date: September 19, 2021

As Jesus prayed for us (those who will believe), He prayed that our RELATIONSHIPS with Him and each other would change the world. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

All right, church, here we go. If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, John Chapter 17 is where we are going to be. And happy saturated Sunday. We are in our fifth day of saturated. And if this is your first day of saturated, we're stoked that you're here. But you have come in at the end of the party, but we're really glad to hear. How many of you made it all five days? You're all five.

Good gracious. Look at you people. That's like a year's worth of church for most people. You know that? So, do you have one more in you? Do you have one more in you? I hope you do. I do have an agenda here as we look at the high priestly prayer.

A couple of times in Jesus' prayer in John 17, he's going to use this phrase, that the world may know. And what he wants the world to know is that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior. And as you've seen here, if you've been dissaturated, you've seen that we've got the baptisteries tubs up here ready to go. They're all warmed up. It took us five days to get them ready for you, but they are ready. And I have an agenda.

I always have an agenda. I just normally tell you what the agenda is. My agenda is this, that today you would get saved. You'd surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and then that the world may know you would make your way down and you would get baptized today. And you're going to be thinking, yeah, but I wasn't planted on it. We got you covered, man.

Don't worry about it. If you're like, I don't have on the right shirt. No problem, man, no problem. We got a shirt for you. This place has some T-shirts. We got a T-shirt for everything, okay? So we got a T-shirt to come. cover up your whole situation so you could do that.

In fact, if you got big plans right after this and you're like, well, I can't go dripping wet to brunch or whatever, we've got, we do have host closet. So we got some clothes. Used to be somebody else's, but not it going to be yours, okay? And we can get you all outfitted and you can get dunked in those clothes and then put your own clothes back on and go on to do whatever you're going to do. And I know what some of you're thinking, you're thinking,

yeah, but I rode with somebody. I promise you that person will wait. Hey, if you drove somebody here, tell them, we'll wait, say it. See, they just said it. and so go ahead and start getting ready. Some of you already knew we were baptized the people, so you showed up in your swimming trunks. Praise God, man, that's preparation.

I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I'm glad you're ready. Some of you brought somebody or you've been praying for somebody and you know that they need to get baptized. I want you to stare at them right now and just look at them. I do. Look at them hard.

He's talking to you. He's talking to you. And I prayed the Spirit of God just begins to break you free of any excuses. God did not give us a spirit of excuse. or fear, or I'll wait till next time. And we're going to have a party here. We've already baptized over 100 people today at all of our locations, and we're going to get after it again.

Okay, so here we go. Chapter 17, verse 1, Jesus, when Jesus had spoken these words, and the words that he had spoken is that he was going to send us a helper, and the Greek word for helper is paraclete. Ha, ha, ha, you may be so happy. Remember, we need help. Like when you play football, you need a pair of cleats to keep you rooted in the ground and help you change direction.

That's what the helper does in our life. But Jesus has just said, in this world, you're going to face trouble of many kinds. This world is going to hate you. But he says, I'm going to give you peace, but I don't give peace like the world gives peace. I'm going to give you peace. I'm going to send you the helper so you can experience the peace person for you at the cross because I have overcome the world. Those are the words that he's talking about here.

when he had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. Look, he's about to be betrayed. He's about to be put on trial. He is about to be beaten and flogged and crucified. And so he is going to pray. But before he prays, when he looks around and his circumstances are mounting up and he feels overwhelmed,

he lifts up his eyes to heaven. This is what we need to do. Don't look back and be feeling. up with the regret of what we should have done. Don't look to the left and to the right and get overwhelmed by the despair of your current circumstances. Don't even look into tomorrow and be filled up with fear of what might happen.

But lift your eyes up into the heavens and put your hope in him because he is the God of hope. This is what Jesus does. When he'd spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven. And he said, Father. A hundred and eighty-nine times in the Gospels, Jesus refers to the sovereign king of the universe as father. This was revolutionary. Nobody in the first century referred to God as father.

They called him Adonai. They called him Lord. They called him king. Jesus wants us to know him as father. And what Jesus is going to do now is he's going to pray the longest recorded prayer that we have in the scriptures. He's going to pray for himself. He's going to pray for the Christians around him. And he's going to pray for people that don't yet know.

and Jesus often prayed. He prayed silently, he prayed aloud. He prayed alone, and he prayed in public. He prayed long prayers. He would spend all night praying sometimes. He prayed short prayers. You can read the whole Lord's prayer in like gone in 60 seconds, quick. So let me ask you, if Jesus often needed to pray, then don't we need to pray?

How's your prayer life? How is your prayer life? And if you want to learn about prayer, if you didn't get to hear Dr. H.B. Charles preach last night. Good gracious. The man did a whole sermon on just a couple of words. It ain't even a sermon. But I don't have time for that. We go back and listen to it.

Because prayer is God's invitation to come into his presence, to bring all your cares and all your worries and everything that's going on in your world to him, the only one that can do anything about it. And when Jesus pushed up on his nail pier's feet and he says, it is finished and earthquake cracks right through Jerusalem, right through the temple. And the curtain was torn, and that curtain separated the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God from the people of God. And it was torn not from the bottom to the top as if man had something to do with it, but from

the top to the bottom. And it is an invitation of God the Father to his children saying, won't you bring it to me? And what Jesus is going to do is he is going to pray. Church, prayer should be our first response, not our last resort. and he says, Father, the hour has come. For three years, Jesus is saying, my hour has not yet come. And now this week, his hour has come. For what?

He tells us what his hour is. What he means is he's going to the cross. He's going to be tried, beaten, flog, crucified, dead, and buried. He says, the hour has come. Check this out. Glorify your son that the son may go. glorify you. Now, the way Jesus talks about glory and the way we talk about glory, they're just different. They're just different. Jesus says, glorify your son. When we say, if I were to say

glorify me, I would say, hey, make a big deal about me because I don't know if you know this, I'm kind of a big deal. That's what we mean when we say glory. Here's how I know this. I'm a Georgia bulldog, okay? Praise God. All right. I hear some Christians in the house. Thank you. Very much. Do you what our fight song is. You know what the song that we sing is? You know how the thing starts out? Glory, glory to old Georgia. And every time we score, which last night, 157 times, all right? And every time the band strikes up and everybody says that, glory, glory, glory to old Georgia. It's worship. It's idolatry, but get over yourself. Okay, we're having a good time out there. And you know it's bad. It's got cuss words about Georgia Tech in the song, all right?

but what we are saying is you guys are awesome we're going to make much of you when jesus uses the word glorify me he's not saying lift me up worship me make much of me he's talking about beat me bruise me use me crucify me do whatever you got to do to me for the glory of your name that's what he's talking about that's a very different kind of prayer is it not father the hour has come do whatever it takes to me in order to reconcile people far from you to you. That's what he's talking about. For your name. He says, glorify your son, that the son may glorify you.

Since you have given him, he's talking about himself, you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. Remember last week he said that he chose us. Of course, God, you didn't choose God. You're not that smart. No way. And he chose you before you were born. He had to because if he would have waited until you got born, you wouldn't be choosable. Do you understand what I'm saying?

He chose us. And here's what I want you to know today. He wants to choose you today. That's right. He wants to choose you today to put your faith in him as Lord and Savior. He wants you to hear his call in your life. And if you were to say to me, pastor, how in the world can you know the mind of God and know who the elect are and know that he wants to choose me? I can tell you, because you're here.

You think God drug you here this morning? Just so you could like listen to me, yell at you for 35 minutes and then watch 100 people get baptized? No, no, no, no, no, man. The empirical evidence is if you got ears to hear that he wants to choose you right now, all you got to do is just receive the fact that he's choosing you. It's a big old game of Red Rover or Red Rover, and he's calling your name to send you right over. happening right now. And he wants to choose you for eternal life. And then Jesus tells us what eternal life is, and this is eternal life. That they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Not church attendance, not be a better version of you. That's not what he says.

He says, this is eternal life, that they know you. Do you know God? That's what it takes to have eternal life. And here's what it means to know God. It means that you know that you were created in his image, that you were created by him and for him. When the very first man was created, and God breathed the life into him, and he opens his eyes, and he's face to face with God, and that has been imprinted on the soul of every image bearer since that very moment in creation. That's what you were created for. You were created by God, but you also know that sin has separated you from God. And the problem is not that you sin sometimes. The problem is deep down you and I, we are sinners.

That the heart of the problem is we got a problem with our heart and that sin separates us from an almighty, just and perfect God. And to know God means that you know that God so loved you, God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten son, his one and only son, on a rescue mission to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And to know him means that we know that Jesus lived a perfect. life. He fulfilled every prophecy. He fulfilled every law. And then you know that when Jesus went to the cross, he didn't only die for you. He died instead of you. And at the cross, God made him, who was without sin, sin for us, that for whoever would believe that we would be made the righteousness of God and to know God, to know eternal life means that you know that when Jesus pushed up on his nail-pierced feet, and said, to tell us that I paid in full, it is finished, that somehow that counted for me,

that's what it means to know. That's what it means to know. That's what eternal life is. It means to know that somehow, somehow, if I put my trust in Jesus Christ that my sin is paid for, my debt is forgiven, and that God adopts me into his own family. If you will remember all the way back to John chapter one, when we first started this thing 20-something weeks ago, John lets us know, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

No matter where you're from, what you've done, what you used to believe, to whoever would receive him who would believe in his name, we get the right to receive, to be called children of God. Oh, what manner of love the Father has lavished upon his children that we could know him? let me ask you, do you know him? You see, today, I want you, if you've never put your faith in Jesus, I want you to believe. I want you to trust that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for you, and when that happens, all of your sin has been paid for.

In that moment, you are justified before the Lord. In that moment, your name is changed. In that moment, the old you is dead. In that moment, you have been adopted into the family of God. And in that moment, your future changes for all. eternity and you were invited into the family of God. That's what it means to believe and receive. Jesus says, I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. That work was the gospel, his life, death, and resurrection. And now, Father, glorify me in your

own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. He says, Father, I'm ready to come home, and then he's going to shift prayers here. Currently, he's been praying for himself. Is it okay to pray for yourself when you pray? Jesus did, for sure. And then he's going to pray for his brothers and sisters. He says, verse 6, he's going to begin to pray for the Christians that are there with him. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me. And they have kept your word. Now, they know that everything. that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me.

I am praying for them. That Jesus is praying specifically for the people who have put their faith in him in the first century with him. Think about this. You remember the woman at the well outside of Samaria who was embarrassed about her parents?

He's praying for her because she surrendered her life to him. You remember Nicodemus in John chapter 3? He's praying for Nicodemus. He's saying, Father, I know he's kind of a secret disciple right now because he's afraid of what everybody was going to think about him. So I pray that you would give him courage. And he's praying for the 11 disciples that he called to follow him that he would make them fishers of men.

He's praying for Matthew and James and John and Peter and Andrew and Philip and all the boys. And you remember the official from Herod's pastor, Alice that had the son that was dying and Jesus healed him, even though he's long ways off. He's praying for that man because that man surrendered to him. And remember the invalid, the guy that was for 38 years sitting by the pool of Bethesda begging and making excuses of why he couldn't get it in. I think his name was Matt. That's why Jesus said, take up your mat and walk, right?

He's praying for Matt. He's like, God, would you be with him wherever he is and whatever he's doing? He's praying for that guy. And the little kid with the fishes and the loaves. Jesus is praying for that little kid. He's like, Father, this little boy's going to grow up in a world that wants to take, take, take, take. And God, would you please, would you please just guard that spirit of generosity that that little boy has? And that forgiven woman.

Some people call her the woman caught in adultery, but Jesus doesn't call her that. Because now she is forgiven and he is praying that she would not be condemned and that she would go and leave her life of sin. And he's praying for the man who was born. Blonde in John chapter 9 and he's praying for his friend Lazarus and his friend Mary and his friend Martha and all who already believe he is praying for them. That's what he's praying. And he says, I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them. Now, how is Jesus glorified

in the believer? Here's how. to the exact same way that he said, glorify me. That Jesus said, Father, use me however you need to use me to reconcile a lost people unto a holy God. And now when he's praying for believers, he says, God, I want them to be glorified with me in them. How? Here's how.

It's when you and I say the same thing Jesus said. Father, use me however you would use me so that other people could be reconciled to you. Jesus' work is the reason that God can work in us for others to be glorified to Him. Let me tell you what that means today. For some of you, the first step in taking the gospel to the ends of the earth

is today you put your faith in Jesus Christ and then you walk on down here in about 22 minutes and you declare, somebody's going to ask you in one of these tubs, who is Jesus Christ to you? And you're going to say some version of Jesus Christ is my mind, Lord and Savior. And as you declare him as Lord and Savior, other people are going to hear that declaration and think, well, that that Joker could be saved, maybe there's a chance for me too. And then they're going to get out of their seat and they're going to come down. And God is going

to use your testimony in this place to draw other men and women unto himself. And Jesus will get glory as people are drawn to him. And you think you're just getting dumped. That's how it happens. And he says, and I am no longer in the world. But they are in the world. and I am coming to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. He prays for protection and unity. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled. Jesus says, I have not lost one of them. People ask me sometimes, can you lose your salvation?

No, it's not yours to lose. It is a gift from God. It's not like your car keys. Where do I put my salvation? Anybody see my salvation? The question is not can a Christian lose their salvation? The question is, can God the father lose one of his children? All right, be honest.

You ever lost one of your kids? Just testify real quick. I'm the only one. You know why? Because you're a crappy parent, man. That's just true. One of my loss is here right now. I guess they're both in here right now.

I lost one one time in the little clothes rack. You know, some evil people built these clothes racks that circle all the way around, and kids think they're going to get the narnie up in there. You know what I'm talking about? And you lose them sometimes. The father doesn't lose his kids. Salvation is a gift from God. And so Jesus says, I haven't lost any of them.

Verse 13, but now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy. fulfilled in themselves after Jesus just told them you're going to face trials in tribulation the world is going to hate you but don't worry about it don't worry about it because we're not seeking temporary happiness based on our happenings but the joy of Jesus will never be stolen away from you because the spirit of God lives in you even in tribulation we have this unspeakable joy he says I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not

of this world just as I am not of this world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. He's like, man, we're not, listen, this is war. This is war. That you and I, if you were a believer in Jesus Christ, then God has placed us like a city on a hill, like a light that you don't put under a bushel, like salt of the earth. And we are behind enemy lines, and we are fighting for the souls of the sons and daughters of God to draw them unto him. Surely he's not going to pull us out of here early, that we're going to stay until the victory is completed,

and so we're going to need him to pray for us, and that's what he's praying. He says, they are not of this world, just as I am not of the world, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. He's saying, Father, I'm praying for him, but you've got a lot of work to do on them. That's what sanctification is.

It means we ain't there yet. Somebody probably should have said amen, okay? mostly in that section right there. All right. So he says, sanctify them with your word. This is why every single week when we show up in here, all right? This is not like Christian entertainment. This is sanctification.

When we gather together as believers, what we do every single week, no matter who's preaching, is we preach the Word of God. And so with the Spirit of God in you and the Word of God being preached over you, God uses it like a hammer and a chisel to chisel everything in us that does not look like His Son, Jesus Christ. That's what he's praying for right here. Then he says, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. That's why we're here.

That God looks down and sees a rebellious people, not misdakers in need of a life coach, but sinners in need of a savior. So he sends his son Jesus on a rescue mission. Jesus dies on the cross. At the beginning, only a few hundred people are followers of Jesus. And before Jesus leaves, he goes, you go tell everybody. and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. Everywhere you go, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, it ends of the earth.

And those few people, one at a time, one at a time, one at a time, they told people, and they told people, and they told people. Peter's filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. 3,000 people get saved, and wherever they went, the gospel went. And just one story at a time, one testimony at a time, one baptism at a time. The Word of Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, spread and spread and spread, and spread. Sometimes when we read those words to the ends of the earth, we think that's over there somewhere.

They said that over there somewhere. Jacksonville is the ends of the earth. And here we are. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people. We are here because Jesus said, just as you, Father, sent me into world, I send them. So if you're saved, you're sent to take the gospel. And one of the first ways to be sent, if you've never been baptized as a believer, is you get down here and you declare probably in front of the largest crowd, especially with our online crowd,

that you will ever get a chance to witness to, and you will get to declare the gospel to the ends of the earth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. This is what he's talking about. And he said, for their sake, I consecrate myself. That means set apart. That they also may be sanctified in the truth. Jesus is saying, I set myself apart for holy service.

And then this next line, so he prays for himself. And then he prays for believers in the first century. with him, contemporaries, and then he shifts his prayer, the last part of the high-pricely prayer. Listen to what he says. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Church, did you realize that 2,000 years ago, Jesus was praying for you for this moment right now? I'm just telling you, man, I was in the tree stand this week, and I've read this verse before. I've read the Bible.

and it just it slammed me in a way that I don't have words to express. You know what's going to happen next? You know what's going to happen next is Jesus is going to go into the Garden of Gassimony. He's going to feel the weight of the sin and sorrow of all humanity for all time,

heaped upon his shoulder, he's going to sweat, drops of blood, he's going to say, Father, if there be any other way, take this cup from me, not my will, but your will be done. And before he's arrested and betrayed and tried and beaten and floged, What he decides to do is he decides to pray.

And you know one of the people he decided to pray for? You sitting right here at Saturated 21. You. He had you in mind. Father, there are going to be some people that one day will believe in me. And he was praying for you in this moment right now. No matter who you are, what you've done, what you've believed up until this very moment. with all your shame and all your regret or all you, I got this,

he was praying that today, this would be the day that the scales would fall off of your eyes, that your heart would begin to beat for him, that your ears would be unclogged, and you would say, all right, God, I surrender. He was praying that that would be you this very day. And not only did he pray for you 2,000 years ago, the Bible would have us believe that he continues to pray for you even in this very moment right now. Paul says in Romans chapter 8, verse 34, Christ, Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God,

who indeed is interceding for us in this very moment right now. Not only did Jesus pray that you would believe, he is praying right now that you would believe. And if you don't believe, this prayer didn't count for you. A part of the way that you could agree with Jesus to fulfill this prophecy is this day you would say, I believe. This is what he's praying. And then he prays this. He says that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us. God is saying that believers, not just at our particular local church, but the believers all over the world that claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that we all globally would be as united as the Godhead, the Trinity, God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that that's how united that we would be.

Why is Jesus praying for unity in the church? Not for unity's sake. Not so we can just get together and sing we are the world and feel good about each other. There's a so that, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. God's plan to reach the world with the gospel is not dynamic preaching, though of course we herald the gospel. It's not incredible music. It's not incredible outreach or programs in the city.

God's plan to reach the world was the unity of the believers that claim him as Lord and Savior. And listen, we live in such a divided time. And church, I hope you know this, we were made for this moment. What is supposed to happen when the church does what she was called to do is that every tribe, tongue, nation, neighborhood, political affiliation, carnivores, and even you vegans are all united together. And when the world says we're divided over everything, we all say, well, we're united under the one thing that matters most in his name is Jesus. We were made for this moment. You know how to the church took over Rome? Rome was trying to, the largest empire ever, is trying to squish this little uprising led by a Jewish carpenter's son and some reject fishermen and tax collectors and some other nobodies.

and all of the power of Rome is trying to stamp this thing out. This is why Pilate agrees to have Jesus crucified. He thinks that'll put it into it. A couple hundred years later, 300 years later, the majority of the Roman Empire declared Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. How in the world does that happen? Marketing campaign? Mailers, pop-up ads on Facebook?

Nope. Sociologists and church's stories tell us four things. Four things change the world in Rome. that opened up Roman citizens' ears to have ears to hear the gospel. One is the way Christians did sex. It was revolutionary. Roman citizens would be like, all right, bro, seriously. You're a grown man.

You're a landowner, and you mean to tell me that your wife is the only person that you're going to sleep. You can sleep with anybody you want to in Rome. And this group of Jesus followers said, yeah, we think God does. that for something completely different. And so husbands would say, yeah, I'm going to love my wife like Christ's love the church and lay myself down for her. And it blew their mind. It blew their mind. Secondly, it was money. The way Christians did money. They didn't do money like

everybody else. Everybody else hoarded it all up for themselves. And not only did Christians pay taxes, but in addition to that, they took huge chunks of what everybody else called their money and they gave it to the church and they gave it to the poor. And all the Roman Empire said, no, no, no, no, what are you doing? And then the third one, this is huge, man, is the way that Christians cared for the dying and the hurting in two primary areas. One was diseased when the plague would hit and everybody left town trying to be free. Then all the Christians came in at great peril to themselves to try to care for the dying. And then also, in Rome, abortion was a really big deal, but the way they did it was by abandonment. They would take their kids, and if you didn't want one,

you'd just leave them out and expose them to the elements. And Christians were, would come along and just scoop and score every little baby they can find, regardless of the situation happening, boy, girl, regardless of there was any sort of special needs or whatever, and they would scoop them up, and Rome was like, are you kidding me? That's not even your kid. Why would you raise it? And they would say, I don't think you understand, because I was abandoned in my own sin and God adopted me, so that's just what we do. And then lastly, was the unity in the midst of diversity in the local church. There were Jews and Gentiles.

Every tribe, tongue, nation, every shade of skin, different accents and languages, different socioeconomic groups would all come together under the headship of Christ and what blew the Romans away, they'd be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you mean to tell me Monday through Friday, you to boss and you work for him, but at the church, because he's an elder, he works for you? And they'd be like, yep, because Christ is our king. and that's what changed the world. This is what Jesus was praying for, that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I and you,

that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. And it goes on in verse 22, the glory that you have given me, I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. I'm going to tell you, the most glorious thing you can do with your life, according to what Jesus is saying here, it is to be willing to lay down your life so that others could be reconciled to God. And sometimes that means that you lay down your fear

and you get here and get the camera is going to get on your face. You're hey, look how big your head's going to be. And I'm telling you, there's like 20,000 people watching this right now or something crazy like that. And if that makes you nervous, sweet. And you're going to say, God, use my testimony that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior for your glory.

That's what he's saying here. I and them, you and me, that they may become, perfectly one so that the world may know. Jesus is not praying for unity for unity's sake. He's praying for unity for the sake of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

What Jesus is praying, he's like, Father, God. when I come home to heaven, I don't want to go alone. I want to take all my brothers and sisters with me. That is the invitation of the gospel. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not. God is good. You are bad. Try harder.

See you next week. That's not. It's that God our father loves his kids and sent Jesus on a rescue mission. And the invitation is not quit being so bad and try to be better. The invitation is sin is trying to kill you and separate you. Jesus has taken care of that at the cross. It is finished. and he's inviting you, won't you just come home to the Father?

I go to prepare a place for you, and if it were not so, I wouldn't have told you. It's an invitation to be adopted into the family of God. That's heaven. Heaven ain't streets of gold and lots of food. Heaven is the fact that we forever get to bask in the glory of Jesus with Him and with one another. That's what it is. And that's his invitation. It says, O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you.

and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known. That the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. My question is this. Do you know it? Have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ

as your Lord and Savior? And if not, right now, right now. There is no time like right now. God loves you, and he sent his son not to give you a list of rules for you to try harder and do better. He loved you enough that he went to the cross and paid the ultimate price. He paid for your sin. He has canceled that debt.

And whosoever would believe in him, would trust that when Jesus died on the cross, then you would receive eternal life. And this is eternal life that you would know God and his son, Jesus Christ. And in that moment, you get adopted. The bills pay for it. He chose you. He changes your name, and he changes the trajectory of your eternity for his glory. That's what it means to surrender your life to him.

And then, and then, if you're saved, you're sent, and your first step of obedience is to publicly declare that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. That's what baptism is. Baptism does not save you. There's nothing holy about this water. It's J-E-A water. That's it, man. but what it is is it is a declaration to the world that you have died to yourself that Jesus has washed away your sins and that you are resurrected with him and just like he came out of

the grave that we get resurrected with him and if the tomb is empty anything is possible even the salvation of a wretch like me and when you get into that water that's what you're declaring for the world to see so paul says it this way in the book of roman chapter 6 he says this, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized, that word baptized by the way, in Greek is baptizo, it just means to dip, dunk, or submerge? So that's what we do. We're going to plunge you under because it says, do you not know that all of us who have been dip, dunk, submerged into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? And so what happens, If you've never been baptized as a believer in three minutes, I'm going to invite you to come on

and just get in line over here on the sides. And again, man, we got T-shirts for you. We've got to change clothes for you. Honestly, one of the coolest things you could do is go to brunch, just sopping wet. And somebody goes, what happened to you? And you go, let me tell you what happened to me, okay? I've been baptized. And somebody's going to ask you to give testimony, who is Jesus Christ to you?

And you're going to testify, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. and then we, as a symbol of you being baptized into his death, we're going to bury you into a watery grave. Now, we do not hold you under in line with the amount of sin that you need to be forgiven. We'd still be on the first guy from the last service, okay? It is a symbol. That thing, all of your sins were washed away the moment you go, all right, Lord, I surrender.

It's already done. You're saved in your seat, man. You just get up here to declare it for the whole world to see. and you are buried with him. And when that water washes over you, it is a picture of the blood of Jesus washing you as white as snow. And then, and then, and then, here's the good part.

And then as Christ is resurrected from the grave, then we too are resurrected out of that watery grave just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in a newness of life. So if you've never been baptized as a belief, whether you're surrendering your life to Christ right now or you did it a long time ago but you've never just taken this step of obedience I'm telling you that the world may know I

want you to come down here and I want you to declare that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior again your ride will wait we got changes to clothes listen no excuses man just do what he tells you to do and some of you say yeah okay hold on but when I was a kid in my tradition I was baptized the priests spring me and that's cool man the little the clamshell it was sweet it was so sweet and what your parents were doing was a great thing and what if you decided to get baptized as a believer today you're not undermining what your parents did you're fulfilling what they were hoping and praying for when they sprinkled you as a baby because they were hoping and

praying that you would come to the place in your life where you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and went public with that and so you're gonna declare it that the world may know now if you have have a up to fifth grade and you're up to fifth grader wants to get baptized i want you to see one of our kids ministers over here okay because we want to make sure that our kids know what they're doing but if you are ready to get baptized in just a second i'm going to start praying you can already see we're going to line up okay we're going to line up some people are prepared praise god but before we do that i want to give you an opportunity if you've never surrendered your life to the lordship of jesus

christ i want to give you a chance to do that right now so we're going to pray i'm hoping and praying that some of you hear God's voice calling your name that he is choosing you in this moment. She'll surrender your life to Christ. Then when I say amen, we're going to start dunking people. And listen, it's a party. And every single person that comes up out of that water, you better scream and cheer like you just saw a miracle because you did. Amen. Amen.

So, bow your head, close your eyes. Homemate, this as clear as I can. If you have never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and in this moment for the very first time, you were ready to admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe when Christ died on the cross, it counted for me. And right now, for the first time, I want to confess him as Lord. If that's you, right now, raise your hand in the air. Praise God. Praise God. Lifted high and say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you love this first. Lord, I thank you, and I praise you,

for those men and women, those students in this very moment that are being saved, they are being justified. their sins are washed away. Their name has changed, that their eternity has changed, and that you were bringing them home one day. And God, I pray for the man, the woman and the student right now, and Spirit of God, they know that you are calling them forward to declare you publicly for the very first time. Or maybe it's not the first time, but the first time they ever did it,

they didn't know what they were doing, and now they know God, and that is eternal life. And Lord, I pray that you would give him a spirit of courage. not fear not excuse but courage to step down to step into this water to declare you to be buried with you to be buried and the old them would be dead and today would be resurrected to newness of life we pray this in Jesus name amen church would you please stand to your feet and let's celebrate