OCT 22 2017 | John 4:7-17

Sea Change Church · "John 4:7-17" · Adam Stadtmiller · October 22, 2017
John 4:7-17
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Reading from the first epistle of John, chapter 4, verses 7 through 17. I was just counting, it's the word love, loves, loved is used 17 times in 11 verses here. It probably has something to do with love. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

By this, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time.

If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know, that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and He in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.

God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so also are we in this world. Jesus did not come into the world on His own accord, but rather was sent. The Word of the Lord. Good morning. Good to see you all this morning.

Awesome to be here. I was, by Wednesday I was looking forward to getting to church. I don't know about you, I just, I love coming to church. I'm not just saying that. You know, I wouldn't lie in church, right? So, I just so look forward to getting here. I look forward to being here, seeing the people as they come in. And I love teaching about the Word of God.

And we are in a little mini-series. I do it a couple times a year. It's called Things Adam Wants to Talk About. It's one of my favorite series. And my daughter loved that. I showed that to her. Jeff made that for us. And the reason I do it is because as I'm listening to the congregation, on occasion I just need to say, okay, there's some things that we need to talk about as a church.

There's some things that I've heard or whatever it is. Or just things that I think are important in regard to culture. So, you know, I've been talking about evangelism. I spoke about revival last week. And then I'm teaching today on the purpose of Jesus coming into the world. And I've got about one more week of this before we go into a series called Blood Money, which is about thanks and giving.

And we'll be talking about it in November. And the whole thing about Jesus and how money was used for the purchase or the transfer of Jesus to the Pharisees. And we'll be talking about that. Some really intriguing thoughts that God's been giving me in regard to money. That money is a product of the fall. So we'll get into that. Money wouldn't exist without the fall of man.

We'll talk about that and our love sometimes of money. So we'll be speaking about that. But first today, I want to talk about this idea of Jesus and who he is. And this weekend, I was up in Big Bear. Our in-laws have a cabin up there. And we go, and I don't know if you've ever gone to a cabin, but there always tends to be this like archaic DVD collection now, okay?

And you're looking, and there could be 600 of them. And, you know, sometimes it's hard to find something. But I've been waiting for years for my daughter to get to an age where I could show her some, a little bit of edited, a little bit of pausing here and there on certain points, but some movies that I thought were important to the culture. She's 15 and a half now.

We watched The Matrix not long ago last year. I thought it was a really pivotal movie in regard to the thinking of our culture, especially at the turn of the millennium. We talked, we watched this weekend, I watched Dead Poets Society with her. And that's a movie that was really impactful for a lot of reasons, about purpose, carpe diem, you remember, and all that.

Really heavy movie. And we watched that. And halfway through it, she's all, Dad, this is pretty boring. It's pretty slow. And at the end, she's like riveted. She's like, oh, that was amazing. I'm going to watch it again. It was awesome. But we also watched Titanic. And perhaps you remember the movie Titanic. There it is. There's Leo. Wait, there's Celine.

Got a little Celine on there. How many remember that movie? Hey. Oh, yeah, feel it. I want to go to Vegas right now. Just go watch Celine. There we go. Swipe it. Oh. Leo. There was some, trust me, there was some selected editing in that movie. But nonetheless, we watched it and we talked about it captured that movie really. And movies do. They have the ability to capture us with story.

Perhaps you've heard that there's seven or eight archetype, archetypal stories and themes. And one is the idea of a savior. One is the prodigal. And there's all these different story types. But movies capture us. And I would say that in the top probably five ways that God speaks to me or ten ways that God speaks to me, obviously the word of God and prayer and others.

Maybe in the top ten, God uses books, movies, popular culture to say something. And he's not beyond using the secular to speak to the world. And I believe sometimes the secular doesn't even know that they're using or have been inspired by God to have these themes and these ideas. Now, I don't know if you're currently watching Hollywood at the moment.

It seems to be in a process of devouring itself at the moment. I mean, I'm not, yay or not. Human beings have the ability oftentimes to devour ourselves. You look at, there's a lot of things that are in culture. I won't name any more for the sake of applause. But there's other ones in our culture that are devouring themselves. And as I was watching, something struck me as I was watching.

And I'd seen it before, but I saw it in a new way. As I'm watching Titanic, I cried again. I didn't think I was going to cry. Carrie and I saw that in Mammoth. We went into it, didn't know what the movie was about. And we came out and it was no snow. And we came out, there was like four feet of snow. There had been a blizzard and we watched it. I was all teary-eyed.

And at the end of the movie, remember you remember the woman who was played by Kate Winslet. She's an older woman at the time now. She's in her hundreds, I think. And she has this diamond. No spoiler alert. We should have all seen it by now, if you haven't seen it. And she has the diamond at the end of the movie. And as she's telling the story, she says, Jack Dawson.

That's this, this, this. I love Jack Dawson. He's just a great character. So pure. Just shows you don't have to have all this money to enjoy your life. And he had freedoms that she didn't have. And she says this thing that is an ultimate lie from the pit of hell. And she says, Jack Dawson saved me in every way a human being can be saved. And it hit me.

I get it. Finally. Humanity, humanism believes that we can save ourselves. That's the gospel of humanity according to humanism. That you, that we can save ourselves. And in fact, that's what I'm going to be speaking. When I speak about humanism coming up in January, I do it two weeks in January. Two weeks on human sexuality every January. Because I think they're really key topics.

Because secular humanism is a religion right now in our culture. And we need to understand that it's a religion. A religion based on faith. But it believes that you can save yourself. And that we can save ourselves if we have love. Now this completely parallels with the gospel. Love, love. But the Bible, the thing that secular humanism doesn't want is sacrifice.

They want salvation without any sacrifice. That you can be saved, but you can have whatever you want. And the most important truth is your truth. That truth is dependent, is subjective to what is your truth. And so as I watch this with this movie, I realize that this was the exact same thing that was said to Jesus when he was on the cross. Save yourself.

Do you understand that that's the temptation that Satan offered to Jesus? One of many. And our culture today believes if we just love each other. Even though 6,000 years of human history has proven this not to be true. That if we just love each other a little bit more, we will find that utopia. You will be able to do whatever you want. You can do whatever you want.

And you can save yourself. It's antithetical to the message of the scripture. And that's why Jesus is a stumbling block. Jesus says you can't save yourself. You need a savior. And as somebody argued with my wife in high school. And she on the bus back and forth to school. She told me this story. She would have this discussion with this girl in high school.

And the girl said, why do I need Jesus? I don't need a crutch. Isn't Jesus just a crutch? Absolutely. And I'm paralyzed, by the way. I need more than a crutch. And so the gospel, according to Jesus, is that the world needs a savior. And that we can't save ourselves. Because there's a problem when a person who is not sin free tries to save everyone else or themselves.

We have our own self-interest at heart. See, Jesus didn't have that. He was completely giving. Completely open. And was willing to give it all. Humanity will never be able to do that. And we will never be able to save ourselves. We're going to talk about the purpose of Jesus. Look into your notes. I love Jesus. I've always, I've been a Jesus guy. I identify with Jesus.

I, when I was in college and I rededicated my life to God, I dressed like Jesus. I got a white outfit and I wore, I did. No, I was into it. Extremes. I had to get something as extreme as my cocaine addiction and running through PB and Mexico and all over the world. I had to find something extreme. And so we tend to find the balance as we swing from one extreme to the other.

And so I grew my hair out. I had a beard. But I was also having some of the most productive spiritual time of my life. Working with the homeless. Working in AIDS hospices. Before anyone really thought about that issue, I just thought people are dying of AIDS. And so we would go and we would paint the AIDS hospice up in North Park and different places.

And I didn't think about theology or how it mattered. I just wanted to follow Jesus. And it was awesome. And I often ask myself, how do I get back to that? Or how do I rediscover it in a new way where I'm having that same radical understanding of making a difference and not corporatizing, my word, my faith. Where you can just get so into just, you know, lock and step, do your quiet time.

We were radical. The trees that you see planted as you go into OB. There's all these palm trees on the right by the basketball courts and the soccer fields. Because Point Loma Nazarene, we and the city went and we planted those. I have video of it. I'll come in and show. We made a video back with big VHS tape and the whole thing. It was radical. We were following Jesus.

And Jesus mattered. And Jesus just resonated with me. Because of my relationship with my pops, you know, God the Father was pretty far away. You know, he wasn't really like Jesus. Jesus is the cool guy. And then when I'm in my 20s, I end up at this vineyard church. What's a charismatic church? Not Pentecostal, but charismatic. There's a difference.

And I got there. And all of a sudden, I got introduced to the Holy Spirit. That was cool. All of a sudden, Jesus, yeah, just hang on. I'll be back in a minute because I'm a Holy Spirit guy now. So I put my Holy Spirit shirt on. And I'm just going for it. And the problem with it is God began to validate the works of the Spirit in my life. And I don't think I was equipped to deal with him.

Even though he was giving me this incredible ability to minister in his name in what I would call is the power of the Holy Spirit. And I was a loose cannon. But yet he was like, I'm going to give you my toys. Go play with them. You know, it's like giving your four-year-old the china or the keys to the Ferrari. If you have a Ferrari, I don't. The keys to the Toyota Tacoma, 2002.

254,000 miles. Thank you. No car payment for nine years. Dave Ramsey, debt free. Okay. We must be careful, as your notes will say, not to practice Trinitarian favoritism. We all have our favorite guy, right? Jesus, God, whatever one we resonate with. I got to say, mature Christianity, mature Christ following looks at the entire scape of God, of who he is, and how he has decided to explain himself to us.

How can I say this? And you're free to email me. God is, I'm not going to say God's not a trinity because he is. So be careful. Elliot's crashing right now. God is more than a trinity. He is eternal. God has decided to limit himself into understandable bite-sized portions so that we can get it. Because if God spoke, that's why Jesus says, I am the word.

Why does he mean that? Because I am every word, eternal word that could be spoken. I'm not a word. I am all the words. And if God were to speak to you, you would be blown over. And you see this in scripture. When he speaks, it sounds like a thousand oceans or streams or all these waters. If he said, let me tell you about myself, it would just be a wall.

And it would blow you away because he's eternal and huge and massive. But he has decided to put confines upon himself so that we might understand more about him. And we are obliged to follow the confines. And so God is a trinity. He presents himself as a father. He didn't present himself as a mother. Now, maybe he could have. Because God is everything.

And if he would have decided, and maybe I'm blowing your mind, but I was taught in seminary to realize that God is bigger than he explained himself to be. But because he explained himself to be a certain way, we follow the way that he explained himself to be. Is Jesus more than the name of Jesus? Yes, but the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

And it will be the name that is above all names, the scripture says. But Jesus is more than just the name Jesus. Jesus is far beyond that. I hope you understand what I'm saying. This is not heresy. This is saying that we are following and we confine ourselves to the scripture of how God explains himself. So maybe this is a new thought for yourself.

You're going to have to chew on it. I've been chewing on it for about 15 years since I started getting into this idea. But God is a trinity. And we need to be careful not to pick one particular portion of the trinity that most identifies with us. You know, not me, but you could say I had an abusive father. And I'm not going to hang out with God the Father.

He doesn't make any sense to me. To begin to expand that and to look beyond it. And so the scripture says that there's God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And God intentionally limits himself in the explanation of the trinity to give finite humanity a handhold in understanding the eternal. That's really key. God could have expressed himself if he had decided.

It's a big thought. God could have expressed himself as a Google entity. Once again, my word, but a very cool word. I like it a lot. God could say, I want to show you another part of me. I want to show you another. And when we get to heaven, God will continue to show you elements about him for eternity. He will continue to show himself. But in that we might understand God.

He says, this is how I will express myself. Why does God not give Abraham a name at first? Why? Because he says, there is no name that comprehends me. There is no name. And in the end, that's why the Jews won't write the name of God. You get that. That the Jews will not, they believe they won't even speak the name of God. Because there is no name that can represent God.

So this, what I'm telling you, has very good historicity and biblical context to it. But that we might, God wanted to make himself known. He not only gave us his name, he sent his son that we might know him. And he gave him a name. Because when you have a name, as I was taught in seminary, someone can have control over you. Adam, what? Because all of a sudden they can call you.

And they have the ability to call you and to get your attention. That is the ability to offer control. And so God makes himself known. And so he limits himself. And he expresses himself in the person of Jesus. This is also true, like I said, with naming God. You cannot give eternity a name. But we want to follow the breadcrumbs. We want to see what God is trying to say to us.

And how he did explain himself. The Bible is an amazing book. And it speaks about the author of all truth. But all truth is not in the Bible. And when we get to heaven, God will begin to give us all truth. But it points us to the maker of all truth. Some of you are tripping right now. And the look on your face is like, what are you saying? But it is true.

So we want to follow the breadcrumbs and stay systematically in line with how God has explained himself. Our job isn't to go beyond and say, well, you know what? If God's more than a trinity, then he might be this. He might be. No. Then we're getting into subjection. Then we're getting into our own idea. God has given us the rule of authority of the word of God.

He says, this is how I'm explaining it. And this is how I ask you to follow it. And so at this church, we will follow it according to what has been explained. Knowing all the time that God is far beyond anything that we can understand. But he had to limit himself. Even to give himself the name Jesus, he had to limit himself that we might be known.

So why did Jesus come? To understand, as you'll see in your notes, the organic nature of God, we must be able to explore the systematic nature of God. And let me say, you often hear people say, I'm not religious. I'm not religious. I just have a relationship. Let's say religion is this. Religion is the organizing of your spiritual life into action.

Religion is the organization. That's all religion is. It's impossible to have a relationship without some organization to it. So you can say you're not religious. And that's fine. It makes us feel better. And we're not going to be held down. But I can say I have a relationship with my wife. But if I don't occasionally organize our relationship to a date night, to a conversation, or whatever it is, then all of a sudden the relationship breaks down.

And so what I want to give to you is we want to be a church that not only has a trellis, a structure for what we do, but we also want to have a vine. And there's a book called The Trellis and the Vine. You might want to read it. That speaks about letting God be organic in your life. Beginning to explore this eternality, again my word, of God and let it grow.

But a vine without a trellis does what? It grows all over the ground and it's a mess. God wants to have an organic relationship with you. He wants to meet you in the incredibleness of who he has created you to be and say let's run. Let's explore that. But at the same time, God wants to give you a trellis to be a part of. And coming to a congregation and saying I'm willing to be part of a fellowship, willing to adhere to Christian community is part of the religious nature of it.

I've got to say there's nothing wrong with religion. The Bible speaks about religion. And it says true religion is what? To look after the widows and whom? The orphans. We're trying to do that. And hopefully you'll be part of our shoe drive for Joe's orphans, unity of orphans who we take care of. Many people want the trellis without the vine. While God is beyond anything that words can explain, we must stay within the confines given in order to follow God's truth.

So why Jesus? Why Jesus? Why did Jesus come? Now, I got myself, I might be in trouble again today. We'll see. I got myself in trouble a few weeks ago because I said Jesus did not primarily, did not primarily come to die for your sins that you might be saved. That is one of the reasons, perhaps top three, okay, of why Jesus came. But Jesus' primary reason for coming was not that.

Jesus' reason for coming was to be obedient and to bring glory to his father. Dying on the cross was something Jesus did. But everything we do is meant to do what? Give glory to God. If it was all about Jesus dying on the cross and resurrecting and it stopped there, that work on the cross would not be a mirror to the goodness and graciousness of God.

What Jesus did on the cross reflects the nature of who God is. That God is a loving God who shows himself to be a father. Father, the only religion that I know of besides Judaism, that shows God as a father. Shows God as a father. And then he lets our society, our humanity, he gives us the keys to the Ferrari again. He says, I'm going to actually let you be fathers.

But God, why would you do that? Because we're going to mess it up. And we're supposed to be the ones who show what it means to be a father and what it's like to embrace and love our children. And, you know, why? But God wants us to collaborate. He wants us to experience the things that he experienced in the rescue of humanity. And Jesus definitely came with a great love in his heart.

But let me tell you why he came. He didn't come of his own volition. We'll see that in a minute. He came because, as this verse says, he was sent. Now, God and Jesus are one. We know that. I and the Father are one. And so we don't understand the Trinity, even though he has given it to us to understand. But if we could break it apart, if we could decompartmentalize it, we could say that it wasn't Jesus' idea, even though he knew.

It wasn't his idea to come. It was his dad's. It was his father's. That is basic, systematic Christian theology that is saying that there's something more than just humankind. I've got to say, it's amazing. But if Jesus came that we might be saved, then humanity is the focus of eternity. And once again, it makes it all about us. It's not about us.

We are, while we are the, you know, a prize in heaven and God sees us as his workmanship and there's all these amazing things God says about us, we are not the primary reason for heaven. God is the primary reason for heaven. And Jesus was sent to save us because God so loved the world. It doesn't say for Jesus so loved the world. It's for God so loved the world.

Now, Jesus loved the world. I mean, obviously we know that. But Jesus died on the cross that his father might be glorified. Because Jesus' job is to introduce you to his father. I used to love this verse. It says, at the end of all time, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Full stop. And I was like, yes. Jesus, you are going to be the jewel of heaven.

You are going to be the top of heaven. And I saw that word for 20 years like that. Until two years ago, I looked at it and I finished the sentence. And it says afterwards, to the glory of God the Father. And I was like, oh my goodness. I made heaven all about you, Jesus. And trust me, he's going to have a big spot in heaven. But heaven's all about the love of Father.

And a loving Father that says, I would send my very son. Do you see how we identify with that? Pick movies, talk about this in such a profound way. But that is the nature of Christianity. That we have a loving Father that is willing to send his son. And we have a son who is willing to be obedient to his father. And do what his father asked. That his father might have glory.

So why did Jesus come? There should have been a footnote here. It somehow got erased. But I looked it up and I found, you can probably Google 31 reasons Jesus came to earth. And find the article I found. And there's scriptures for each of these. But let me just give you a few of the reasons. Because the Bible has a multiplicity of reasons why Jesus came.

And every one of these, Jesus says, I have come to do this. I have come to do this. And if you are to proof text it. Which means taking one little scripture out. And making the entire Bible say what that one scripture says. Then you can easily say, well, Adam, you're wrong. Jesus came to say this. But we need to see scripture in its entirety. This is why it's so important to have these 66 books.

Written by so many different people. At so many different times. That never knew each other. If you look at the history of how the Bible came together. It is the odds that they would say the same thing. Even ones that were hidden that these other people didn't know about. Because these books were hidden and in caves. When you find it, the Bible was an incredible book.

And it speaks about one thing. The love of God the Father. The love of God the Father. But it says he came to do the will of the Father. He came to save sinners. To bring light. To become like those he would save. That is a humanity. To destroy the works of the devil. To become a servant. To bring eternal life. Bring great joy. Preach the gospel. It even says he came to bring a sword.

What's that mean? Look into that this week. To give his life as a ransom for many. To die. To reveal his and the Father's glory. When I say Jesus, as we said, did not come on his own accord. We have to stop. When we see Jesus. And look, I did this for 20 years. When we misunderstand Jesus being sent. As opposed to Jesus coming on his own. We miss the entirety of the gospel.

Gospel is not about Jesus dying on the cross. It is. The gospel is about a father who sent his son to die on the cross. And who was willing to do it. And who actually in the end didn't ask to not do it. In the Garden of Gethsemane. Right? But what did the father say? No. And Jesus said, I'm willing to do whatever you ask. And I will go. That's the gospel.

I was set. I had so much Trinitarian favoritism. That I never. That I left. I was missing the entire. The entirety of the gospel. Matter of fact, two and a half years ago. I laid in bed. And God began to show this idea. Because Pastor Jim. And he's such an amazing man of God. And he's such a great support and help for this church. And for myself. He said, I think you're.

And I'll paraphrase it. I think you're overstating Jesus. I was like, what are you talking about, professor? What are you talking about? And I began to think about it. And I began to realize. And God began to show me these verses about the father's love. And so I went on a retreat for three days to a friend's house in Rancho Santa Fe. They were gone.

They let me stay at their home. I basically spent three days in bed. I was just burned out. Worn out. Terrified. I don't know. I was just. I was not in a good spot. And I knew I needed to get away. And I laid in bed. And I believed like the father spoke to my heart and said, I want you to worship me. I began to worship the father and tried to worship the father.

And I had a panic attack. Terrified. And I laid in bed. And I began to try to worship God. And I said, I have to push through this. And I don't know why it is. And maybe it was my relationship with my dad. Like I've said, I told many of you. German father. Never beat me. You know, anything like that. I made a pretty good backhand on occasion. Didn't know when it was coming often.

So a little twitchy on occasion. It's bad when you don't know they're coming. I was just. But I'll tell you one thing. I was. I was terrified of my father. Deep down. I mean, I love my father. And he was. He was. He did a lot. I mean, I don't want to besmirch him. He's been gone a long time. And in any way, we would not be where we are as a family. And he made a decision for Christ.

My mom led him to Christ a day before he died on his deathbed. And said, follow Jesus. And we were raised Catholic. But it's a long story. Let me just say, I was terrified of the father. Terrified. And as I tried to worship the father, it was the. I broke through something. And I won't explain everything that happened on that weekend. But it was powerful.

And over the next year, I began. And I spoke. And we preached about the father's love here for a long time. And all of a sudden, everything snapped into place. And I realized. And yesterday, I gave you guys this assignment last week. And I did it this week. I thought, I just need to sit during prayer for a half hour and let the father love me. And I have a hard time doing that.

I want to get to work for Jesus. And so I have to keep, like, not praying for people. I have to force myself not to pray for people. Just to sit there. Not to be me-centric. But just to let the father love me. Because it's part of the gospel. And so I sat there for a half hour in Big Bear. I'm working on simply our Joshua Project group that I'm leading right now.

I'm leading a discipleship group. We're picking spiritual disciplines for the year to practice on. And I'm picking prayer, simplicity, and solitude. So my goal is to spend five hours a week by myself. Not all together. So I spent 35 minutes in the yard. Not with my phone. Not with my dog. Not with the Bible. Not in prayer. Maybe in prayer. But just alone.

Five hours a week. It's not that hard to do. You set your timer. You do it a half hour a day. It adds up pretty quickly. I just need to be alone and experience the love of the father. And so this was such a powerful understanding in the gospel of why Jesus came. Jesus came for all the reasons he said he came. He came to save mankind. He did these things.

But we cannot fail to miss the number one reason he came. Was because he wanted to introduce you to his dad. That's it. He wants to point to the father. Yeah, you know, people follow me. Where is Jesus leading them to? He's leading them to eternity to meet the best father anyone has ever known. The most beautiful savior will lead us to the most amazing father.

And like it says in Psalm 23. In Psalm 23, it says that I will spend, the sheep ended up spending their lives. It says in the house of God. That he will lead them to the house of God. And they will end up spending their time in the house of God. Let me just read a couple verses to back this up scripturally. 1 John 4, 17b that we've been speaking about today says, Jesus did not come into the world of his own accord.

Did you ever know that? He didn't come on his own accord. He didn't make the decision. I'm going to come to earth. Jesus did not come because he decided. Right there. But rather he was what? Sent. Wow. Is that part of your gospel message? I mean, for God to love the world, we kind of skip over that really quick, right? Because we got to get to Jesus.

He's the meat of the gospel. Who would send their son? Who would send their daughter? I got to tell you what, I'm not sending my kids. I'll go. I don't care. I'm just not to that place yet. I'm not sending Lily or Lucy for anyone. I'll go. You can take me out. I'm just not sending them. End of story full stop. I'm sorry. But I'll go. Well, but God will.

That is the message of the gospel. Have you missed it? I've missed it for 20 years as a pastor. And I'm not missing anymore. I got to say the richness of my life in Jesus now. The goodness of a father. The trust that is opening up. I feel like I'm opening up. You know what? You know like a NASA finds a new galaxy? It's like that. It's like, you know, they find a galaxy.

They're like, wow, we found a galaxy. Woo. New moons. Woo. So what? You know, you can do that for eternity. The space goes on and on and on. But when God gives a revelation from his heart, just one nugget from his heart, that will actually last into eternity. Because there's going to be a new heavens and a new earth. So great. Keep discovering them. You know what I want to discover?

I want to discover the heart of God. I want to discover something that I'm going to actually be able to manifest in eternity for God. And so since I've had this understanding, and hopefully you'll have it as well, that you'll begin to see God as a loving father. That you can't save yourself. That we can't save ourselves. And we are in need of a savior.

And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It says, as you continue on, Jesus' mission and purpose was not determined by him, but rather given by his father. This means Jesus acted in obedience. I've said that. Had a primary purpose other than an intended mission. Jesus came because the father bid him to come. And in his coming, he sought to bring glory to the father.

Jesus in this passage says, I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me now to do. Because dying on the cross was a work. Do you see that? It was work. It was the thing that he told him to hear. Go do this. It was work. And granted, it had an amazing purpose. But Jesus dying on the cross was a work. He was trying to get beyond the work.

So that we could live in the eternal. And so we see that here. It says in verse 5, Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Philippians 2, 9-11, For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I came out of church when I was in sixth grade. I raised Catholic. And due to divorce, I became a Christian mutt. We went back to the Protestant church. My mom did. And have been a mutt ever since. I've been all over. And I've worn all the uniforms. And they all hang in the closet now. And I just try to wear that Jesus uniform now. But I came out of church.

And the one thing I liked about Protestant church is they had donuts, which is cool. Note to any Catholics here, tell the children's ministry, if you haven't already, get some donuts. It worked. It was a keeper. And so I was one weekend at the largest Catholic church in San Diego, Mission Day Alkala, with my dad. And I was one week at the second to first largest Protestant church.

We were at Skyline Wesleyan. College Avenue Baptist at the time was pretty large as well. But those were kind of the first two San Diego megachurches. There might have Phyllis Place and a couple other ones. But it was phenomenal growing up like that. One weekend sitting next to my dad with my dollar waiting for the offering and sitting in a message and being told you have to be quiet and being reverent.

And something about the Catholic church I liked is I felt like God lived there. When I walked in, I was like, oh, God must live here. This must be his house, you know. Whereas a lot of times in modern Christianity, I'll walk in, hey, we turned the sports bar into a church. It's like, hey, that's awesome. It's cool. I mean, I know it works. I know pubs and hymns.

I know it's super cool. Very hipster. But God, for me, God lived there. And I still, you can't take the Catholic out of the boy, just saying. And I resonate with Catholics a lot. I speak Catholic. If any of you are Catholic, I speak it. And I did my graduate work in Protestant Christian similarities. And so I have a real heart for the unity of the church.

Because one of the things it says in the end times, that you'll know that the church will be unified. And so let's be praying for that as opposed to, like, not building bridges for that. But I came out of church. And I was with my mom. And the first Sunday we went there, and my mom was on the steps, weeping. Not a lot of crying in Catholic church.

I mean, maybe in Italy. But not here, okay? Like, there wasn't a lot of crying. And I saw my mom crying. I had my donut. And everything was backwards. I mean, it was completely backwards. And I didn't know it. But my mom heard a sermon about a father. And you know her story of her relationship with her father and the abuse and the different things.

That's part of her testimony. She shares. I'm not breaking any confidences there. And they said, do you want to know the father? Do you want a father? And that touched her in such a deep way that we came back that night. And they said, if anybody wants to come forward, my brother and I went forward. And a guy named John Maxwell grabbed my hands. And he had a southern accent then.

And he said, boy, do you want to ask Jesus into your heart? My brother did it, so I did too. I had no idea what it meant. Literally. I don't. I don't. But it's stuck. Weird, right? We don't always have to understand eternity to follow Jesus. Like, you know, we question. Some people question the question that they questioned that they questioned. And I guess it took me 20 years to get to the place, 25 years.

And I pastored maybe more, 35 years to get to the place where my mom got the first day. And I pastored. I led huge movements. I've been a part of global works. And I didn't have a father until a couple years ago. I want to just offer you the opportunity today to have a father. I don't know. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one.

I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm not the one. I'm the one.