A Call to Die | Lakepointe Church | David Nasser

Every week, release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon, it's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free, an episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Point YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now, enjoy this Bible teaching. (audience applauding) - Man, what a gift and a privilege to be introduced by one of my heroes at his church. Josh is not just a dear friend, but he is my pastor. I mean, there are just days in my life where I sit under his teaching and the Lord uses him to bring conviction and comfort and just to cheer me on in my faith. And yesterday we were hanging out, recording a podcast and he was just riffing. I mean, just from memory, just scripture passage, after scripture passage. And the thought that came to my mind was like deep well, just a deep well of just God's truth and God gets the glory, but I just want to honor my friend, your pastor and say, well done, good and faithful servant.

I'm so grateful for him. And man, just to honor you as a church as well. Josh was talking about how when he was a college student, this just ages us by the way. He went through this book called A Call to Die. I wrote it 25 years ago. This weekend we celebrate the 25th anniversary of this book. And so it's humbling to think through that. And I wrote this book when I had an encounter, a conversation with a young teenager, senior in high school at an event. They needed more counselors. And so I went back, I got them preaching and they were like, we need more counselors. I went back to help out and I ended up with him. And as we were having a conversation, it was obvious that this guy was a believer. He was a three year old Christian. Three years ago he had given his life to the Lord, but he wasn't a three year old believer in maturity. He was like a one year old believer in maturity who had been one three years in a row. Kind of a treadmill running nowhere, wasn't really growing. And out of that one conversation, I felt like God had kind of given me a mandate to write something. And so I would a 40 day journal that helps someone who's wanting to grow in Christ like this young man, like get out of a kiddie pool and to get deeper in faith.

And it's a 40 day journal where you fast from something for 40 days, you don't fast from sin by the way, you fast from something like TV, something that's not bad, right? And you fast from the internet. And then you open up the time and you feast, then you journal every day and go through the book every day. And while we were doing it, I felt like the Holy Spirit really gave me the title a call to die because this was about 40 days of dying to self, you know, and growing in God. And I remember we got done with the book, we go shop the book and they said to us almost every publisher that I met with in Colorado Springs and Nashville, they kept saying to me, hey man, no one's going to want to buy a book from an Iranian called a call to die. You know, that's just not going to play well for soccer moms, which is our demographic. And I remember literally the head of one publishing company saying there's a lot wrong with this book. He said, like first of all, it's called a call to die. And we're in an era where people want like their best life now. They want to know like, what's in it for me? And then he said, so this just feels like a takeaway and not a giveaway. And then he said in second, he goes, man, we can't get people in the church to read a one page devotional. And this is a 300 page devotional.

Like there's like eight pages a day, plus journaling, plus scripture memory. And he said, man, on top of that, you're asking people to fast? He goes, it's just not going to go, bro. And I remember saying to them, man, the obedience for me, the win for me in this is God gave me that title and we need to hang on to it. And obviously, he turned us down. And he told me, he said, just print a couple of copies for your family and almost 300,000 copies later. I've just been reminded that so often people speak for the kingdom, but they're wrong. So often people think of you as a people group, as the fish and wonder what you're biting on. And they get it wrong. They feel like you are going to be repelled by the idea. This is going to empty the room. This idea of, it's going to make people walk away. This idea of a call to die. And they just feel like, well, I know that's what Jesus said, but we need a kinder, gentler message so that we can be attractive to people. And they're wrong because I'm just convinced that's what God said and the people of God actually want God. The people of God actually want truth. And they want whatever he says, if he says it, it's good enough for me. And so often in life, we just feel like we gotta water

something down, we gotta make sure And the truth of the matter is that the God of this universe loves you enough that he has the wisdom to say, I know when I put it in Scripture and I breathed into it, that this is what you needed to hear. And the Christian life at its very core is nothing less. Why would we demoted? It's nothing less than death. It is a call to die. When God rings the phone of your heart and you don't, you don't, you don't put it on like no, you don't ignore you answer. He's calling you and I to something so much more than just religion. I got up this morning in the room and I was meditating on this. It's being the 25th anniversary. I was like, look, I, I'm never over this message in my own life. I don't want to write a prescription that I myself, I'm not using and I'm just sitting there with the Holy Spirit. And I'm just asking God, like what are the areas in my life that I need to die to and everything. And I, as I was just kind of praying and God was convicting me about being real self controlling honestly in my own marriage sometimes. And I can be such a jerk to my wife because I just have security like she's right or die. She's not going anywhere. Anybody else with me have a long leash of mercy for other people, but a such very short leash of judgment. And as the Lord was just convicting me and saying, like, I just, you need you to die to control your little me monster. And God was convicting me this morning. I just began the journal. I just wrote it. I actually posted it and I want to read this to you. I think it's a good way to start. And I just want you to know, this is me like I'm not telling you like this is you. When I say this is cultural Christianity, I'm not saying like shame on you. I'm just like, man, we, we know better. This is not who we are. Why have we demoted it to this? And I'm saying we, I think I stand in a long line of people where I would look in the mirror spiritually and say, like, I'm a part of this problem. So maybe you'll own it with me. Maybe you'll just come in the same posture as me available right now. Not like bow up and go, who does he think he is? But just be like, he's coming in saying, like, I don't have this figured out. I don't bat a thousand. The one thing I'm consistent in in this is being inconsistent in this. Anybody else with me? And so I just want to read this to you. Cultural Christianity has taken the most radical message ever. And I say cultural Christianity, I could just put David Nasser or you or me. This is what happens when we live in this culture and then God's culture comes head to head with everything that we've turned so much of church into. So often cultural Christianity has taken the most radical message ever preached and reduced it. We've simmered it down, right to a self improvement program sometimes in an effort to be user friendly. It has turned the message of the cross into upgrading life.

Like we want you to upgrade life. Go from coach to first class up in here. Go from a seat to a suite up in here. God wants you to upgrade your life. We've turned Christianity. We've reduced it to an upgrade to self improvement. We've turned it into a user friendly message instead of a message of crucifixion. We've turned it into cleaning up instead of giving up our best life now instead of the crucified life. And then Jesus looks at all of that and in love, he calls it whitewashed hymns. He's honest enough to tell you what we need to hear. Tell me what I need to hear. It might not be what I want to hear, but he says, you know what that is? You put another coat of paint on the outside of something that's still rotten on the inside. It's a whitewashed hymn. Jesus came on the scene. You know that, right? 1,996 years ago. God with us, Emmanuel. Jesus came on the scene. And God who's always been, who always will be, all of a sudden showed up here 2,000 years ago. And when Jesus showed up 2,000 years ago, when Jesus came on the scene, he had one call. It was a call to die. And it offended the religion, the religious people more than anybody else, because it threatened to put them out of business. See, you want to really hack off people with a call to die message? Preach it to the church. The lost world isn't afraid of it. They know there's something broken. They're the walking dead. They know, like they're zombies. They know they stink. You just go to the religion and it puts the religion out of business. Because they're selling a different bill of goods. It offends the religious more than anybody else because it threatens to put them out of business. But Jesus made it clear. Deny yourself. Pick up the cross daily and follow me." And then when I typed this, I erased it, but then I added back. The best thing that I can do for myself is to get over myself. Get over my pride, my self-sufficiency, my need for control, my stubborn need to do it my way, my own selfish ambitions, my own self-obsessions, my own need for protection, my own preferences, my tribe, my opinion, my centered world around me. I live a selfie life, not a selfless one.

Our stubborn need to do it our way with our own obsession, protection, and preferences over and over and over again. And so we soften it, we sanitize it, we repackage it, we domesticate it, we compromise it, and frankly we do what we can to reduce the gospel into a necessary. It doesn't become the main frame. It just becomes one more add-on to everything else about who we are. Yet Jesus keeps loving. His response, he keeps loving. He keeps giving. He keeps washing our feet. We're going to talk about that today. He keeps washing our feet. He keeps coming back with the towel and the basin. He keeps washing our feet and he keeps saying, "Come and die. Die." It can pretty much sum up the Christian life into this, that Christianity at its very core is not about cleaning up but giving up. Christianity at its very core is God's great invitation for you and for me to come to the end of ourself. One out of one people die, but you either die dead or you die born again. And God so loves you. He loves you just the way that you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. He loves you that he beckons you to come and give yourself away. You're taking notes. First of all, lower your expectations. This ain't Mike Broke or Josh Howerton. That's the deep end of the pool. This is the kiddie pool right here. I got two simple points for you today. If you're taking notes, point number one, when it comes to the crucified life, when it comes first and foremost, the gateway to the crucified life, if you're taking notes right this down, the crucified life begins with this reality. It's done. It is finished. It is finished to tell us die. It is finished. Now, I want to begin this conversation here as we talk about the crucified life and you're going, I thought this is about me dying. I want to talk about how this is about you dying. It's about me dying. It's about all of us dying in reflection to what he first and foremost did. We get to love him with this death because he first loved us with his death. Jesus never asked any of us to do anything that he himself didn't model and exemplify. You look at this, you look at this reality and you see how 2,000 years ago Jesus came and what did he do? He came and he lived. He lived the sinless, perfect, blameless, pure life. He lived a God life and then he who knew no sin, Jesus after living a sinless life died a sinner's death. Scripture says he who knew no sin, anybody says became sin. Wow. He didn't attach a little bit of sin on him. He didn't get it on him to look a little dirty. He who knew no sin became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. Wow. Have you ever thought about what that means? Let me ask you it this way. Anybody here believe that Jesus deserved to die on the cross?

Yes or no? Well, maybe the answer is a little more complex than that. Maybe the answer is no, he did not. That's a mock trial. I mean, he's not guilty of sin. He lived a perfect life. He badded a thousand. He never sinned. So maybe the answer is no until he who knew no sin became sin and took on my sin. Think about my sin. You know who the worst sinner is that I know? Me. It's not the IRGC in Iran. It's not the political candidate that's talking about something but then like a hypocrite about it. It's not the guy over. It's not. It's not bin Laden. It's not Hitler. I don't know them person. The worst sinner I know. I also know the stuff I thought. I've never physically murdered somebody, but I have murdered someone in my mind, and I have murdered the reputation with gossip. I've called the prayer request, but this was gossip. I know me, you know you? I don't know if you've got a funhouse mirror or a real one, you ever looked in the mirror spiritually? You know the things you think and the things you say and the make-up with the games we play. And he who know no sin became all of my sin. Forget all of my sin. What about your sin? Sitting right here in the front row, man, what's your name? Yeah. Christy, you look like you've done a lot less sinning than me, all right? But I bet you're still got plenty. Plenty on your account. All of David Nastra's sin and all of Christy's sin and all of a sudden all of your sin, Jordan. And then all of your sin, brother, and all of your sin, brother, and all of your sin, sister, and all of your sin. I mean in this room, like in this room there's about 4,500 people crammed in here, all right? And then you've got like, you guys have like 1,100 campuses every time I look. You're like, "Oh look, there's a Bucky's campus." And another one, you've got like fertile rabbits up in here, just giving birth to camp. So happy, so like the 97,000 people that come here, just late point alone. And I'm talking about a redemptive group of people, the Christians, all right? They just think about the accumulative effect of every sin that's represented in you as this church body, sister.

That's a lot of sin. He who knew no sin became sin, he became all of your sin. He became all of my sin. And I'm not just talking about, think about all the sin that was committed for this church body in all of its campuses, forget, and fellowship, and gateway, and potter's house, and the village church. And all, I forget even the church, all of Dallas Fort Worth area. Think about every sin that was committed last night in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And I know some of that was stirring up because both the Aggies and Texas lost, and there must have been some drunkenness going on. I know, there's a lot of sin, so think about all the sin in the last 24 hours in Texas, the United States of Texas. And then go outside of Texas, and go to the southeast, go outside the southeast, and go west to the Mississippi. Think about every sin that has been committed in the United States of America. Forget that you're not, in North America, I don't know if you know, but we've got a couple of countries around us. So think of all the Canadian sin, eh? And all the Mexican sin on delay, or whatever. Just think about it, all of it. So all the Mexican sin, and all the Canadian sin, and all the American sin in the last 24 hours that all of us have put chips in, contributed to. Think about all the, but not just the last 24 hours. Think about every sin you have ever committed in your life. And I have ever committed in my life, and not just all the sins that you've committed in your life, bro. Think about every sin you're ever gonna commit in your life. And so every sin in the weight of the world, you look at Hitler and you're like, that dude was guilty of taking the lives of 6 million innocent Jewish people. We call it the Holocaust. But you take his sin, and you take his sin, and you take her sin, and you take your sin, and you take my sin, and the weight of the world's sin. That's a pretty big bill. And Jesus says to that, I'll pay the bill. It is finished on my account. I've got this. The check won't bounce.

Buy my wounds. I'll take the hit. Give me the bill. I was thinking about this. It didn't make it to the Saturday night services, but I was thinking about this, and I wanted to read it to you. I was thinking about that moment in the garden. See if I can find it here. Here we go. Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, and we're talking about, we're not talking about one centurion having come to him and falsely accused him with a mock trial. We're not talking about one cat of nine tails whipping his body. We're not talking about one crown of thorns over him. We're not talking about one person slapping him, one person mocking him, one person ridiculing him. We're not talking about one nine inch nail going through his hand yet. Now one person has put one hand on him. He's in the garden at that moment, and in that moment he knows, in that moment, that any minute now they're going to come, and it's going to come. that nothing ever occurs to God, right? So God knew this is about to happen. There's no, this was a surprise. It wasn't a bait and switch and he's in the garden of Gethsemane. By the way, like symbolically, he's in the garden. The garden tomb, I mean, I'm sorry, he's in the garden. The olive presses there. The olive trees are there where they take the olives and they put them there. And the weight of the stone crushes the olive and the sweet oil pours out. And Jesus knows that he's about to pick the weight of the sins of the world. Your sin, my sin, all is about to he who knew no sin is about to become sin. And I love the language in John 12. You want to know how he felt? He's troubled. By the way, forget the accumulative stuff.

My sin is enough to trouble him. Anybody else with me on that? And then he says, now was my soul troubled. And what shall I say, Father? What shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? What is he talking about? He's talking about the hour where he who knew no sin becomes sin. He becomes a sacrificial lamb. He takes it on. Then he says, no, it is for this purpose. That I came to this hour. This was our plan all along. God, the father sent God, the son for this very purpose to live the sinners. I mean, that the sinless life and then die a sinners death. And then he says, Father, glorify your name. I love that because in that moment, Jesus says, I came because I'm the only one who can. I came and I'm not bailing. I came and I said, this is why I came. I came to finish it and after he went through the crucible of the cross, there's a moment where Jesus has paid the full bill. And in that moment, what does he say to tell us, I it is finished. Now, if you're going, why are you giving me that? I thought this is about my call to die. I'm just telling you the audacity of a God who would want all of you is only going to make sense when he is given all of him. And the sufficiency of Christ on the cross is why the insufficiency of me can find hope. Jesus says, I gave all of me. And so why would I want some of you? Have you come to the end of you or is Jesus just a necessary?

You know, it's a it's a it's faith plus works. Because it is finished as in like his part's done, but I got to do my part. What do you think you play in your salvation and the worth of your salvation? You think it's your work, plus his work. He he he he he got her done. Now I got to get her done so that we can get her done together. That's not faith. I was a I was doing a I was in a fundraiser, but he might as a baseball player. He comes and he says, hey, man, I've got I was going to write you a check for 10 grand, he's a famous baseball player. He goes, hey, I was going to write you a check for 10 grand. He said, but I was praying about it. And instead of a instead of a check, I want to give you something. He goes, I know you're doing an auction to raise money for children in the foster care system. He goes, I've got a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, which is my coveted, coveted prize. He said, I got offered one time a hundred grand for it. But I said, no, because I've looked it up. I think we can get a maybe a quarter million for it. This is just a swear. He tells me this whole thing about is it's from this one game and whatever, whatever I I'm glazing over. I don't know anything. But then he goes, I go, he goes, he goes, I think you're going to get like a maybe at more than a quarter million dollars for this baseball. So the day of the auction, he comes and he's got it in his hand. It's in this plexiglass, you know, this beautiful case and he gives it to me. And he goes, all right, I go, man, I said, but dude, we're going to lead with this. We got all these other stuff for the auction, but we're going to lead with this. We're going to see what we're going to want people.

And so there's music going on. Some worship music going on. I'm backstage. I'm getting ready to come out and like begin to. And then I'm holding this glass case, this plexiglass case that's got the baseball in it in my hand and I'm looking at it and I can barely make out the Babe Ruth. I can see the signature, but it's so old that it's a little dirty. And so I was like, people aren't going to, I can barely see it looking at it from here. And so I had like another minute before the song was over. So I split it, I took it out. I took the baseball out. I found a small point pen and I started to write Babe Ruth over it. And I didn't write my own. I just copied exactly, I just wrote it and then it was dirty. So I started cleaning it up a little bit because I wanted to make sure that I let it have. Of course, that's not what I did. That's something an Aggie would do. That's not what I did. Why would I not do that? I would not do that because I might think I need to help a brother out. I need to clean it up and I need to write over. No, no, no, I am devaluing if I try to help it. We are devaluing the gospel when we come to the cross and go. What you did is 99.9% good. But let me help a brother out. We pay the debt. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You pay the debt.

And so who does he think he is? You know who God, if you're like, "Who do you think you are that you want all of me?" God, you know who he thinks he is? He thinks he's God. You know why he thinks he's God? He's God! And only God can have a God-sized expectation. I don't know if you know this, but in your relationship with God, God gets to play the role of God. Guess what role you don't get to play? God! Some of you are like, "God's God, can you get off my seat?" That's my seat. And so it is finished. And so the question is, have you ever come to the end of you? Jesus gave it all. Have you sacrificed all? Have you given your all? Or is it like, "Well, Jesus can have my Sundays, "especially when Josh is in town." Not so happy that today Josh is not in town. And we got to settle for some Iranian guy instead. Some of you are like, "Jesus can have my Sundays, but tomorrow I'm gonna go back "to work and I'm gonna build hours

"that I didn't really work as a plumber "because he can't have my Mondays. "Jesus can have my songs, but he can't have my wallet." That's the selfiness. That's the me monster side where it's just like, parts of me you can have and parts of me. And Jesus says, "I gave it all on the cross and I'm asking for you "to come to the end of you. "Have you ever brought your life to him and said, "I am done. "The greatest thing I can do for myself "is to get over myself." By the way, how's it working out for you? If you're just, it's all about you. How's that working out for you? How's works working out for you? How was looking in the mirror and going, "I got this. "You really got this? "How's that working out for you? "You ain't got this. "He got this, amen?" So it is finished. First and foremost, it is finished. Now listen, if, and that's a big deal, if it is finished, if his completed work is finished in you, if you've ever come to the end of you, if you've been, like the Apostle Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live.

"I'm dead, I'm done, but Christ lives in me." If that is true, then guess what? If it is finished, point number two, then it is forming. Natural evidence that it is finished in your life is that it is forming. It is not in the work of salvation, it's one and done. In the work of justification, it is one and done. I come to him, I have nothing to bring to the table, right? And then he does it all in the work of salvation. And all I do is I receive the gift that he gave me. This wasn't a barter, this wasn't a negotiation, it's in like, I do my part, you do my part, he saves me. And then all of a sudden I have this new identity in Christ and in sanctification, then every day in sanctification, I become in practice what I became in my position. And that's the daily dying. It's not dying to become, it's dying because I already became. It's not doing to earn his favor, it's being because I already have been gifted his favor. And so it's the daily death, it's the daily death. We're talking about right before the cross, I love that story in the shadow of the cross where Jesus comes and he's in the upper room and he's hanging with the disciples. And right before communion, he decides it's time to footwash. And Peter bows up and Peter looks at Jesus and he's meaning well, he's like, you don't need to wash my feet, you're above us,

you're the authority, you're the God, you're not the lowly. And so Jesus is making himself lower. And Peter's like, no, no, no, no, no, you're not washing my feet, Jesus. And in that moment, Jesus looks at him and he says, no, a part of this relationship is, I am washing your feet and then Peter pivots. He goes, well, if you're gonna wash my feet, just wash all of me. And Jesus says to him, maybe this has been hidden in plain sight for you. He looks at him and he says, I don't need to wash all of you. I just wanna wash your feet, translation. I already washed all of you, it was called salvation. You don't need another shower, eternal security. I don't need to wash all of you, but I'm gonna wash your feet because you're gonna live in this world and as you're living in this world, your feet are gonna get dirty. And so you don't need a full shower, you already saved, but you're gonna need a daily death. You're gonna need to let me wash your feet daily because in this world, your feet are gonna get. And so the posture here is that daily dying, in one sense, also looks like Jesus comes to you and I. And he says, "Today, you're already a believer. This isn't about washing all of you. This is about like the journey, the sojourner. You're holding on to this and you're hanging. Will you let me wash your feet?" And by the way, this isn't about sin management, like wash my feet.

One more thing, you got to clean up. Sure, we get some of that. Sure, there's a lot of that. Go by a call to die and there are days in it where I'm like, "You missed the spot." And there are days when God's got to like, God has permission to like look at, you can't go not this compartment. There are some of that, but so much more than that, the washing of the feet isn't about sin management and making sure you got a good pedicure going on. It's not about washing feet. It's about intimacy, proximity. And it's not so much about God going, "No, no, no, no, no. Let me clean this." And this is you need to die too. It's about, "No, no, no, no, no, no. Listen, I want to make sure that your feet are clean because you got to race the rod." It's not so much about dying, just to be dying. And dying, just to be dying. It's about dying so that we can be actually truly living. Figure now why we belong here, our purpose in life. I mean, you've never truly figured out why you were fearfully and wonderfully made in your purpose in life. You know why? Because you've never truly come to the end of you. It's always been like in a partnership with God instead of in a declaration to God, it's all you. I'm the blank check. But then he washes our feet because it's not just like always get rid of this and get rid of this and stay clean and stay... Some of that happens, but it's also like I have so much I want for you as you run the race. I'm getting the sand out of your shoes so that you can run with perseverance so you can win. Go wild in this kingdom. I was at a camp a few years ago. I get to the camp and there was a young man at the camp that the youth pastor had warned me about before I got to the camp. He said, "David, when you get to this camp, this guy's going to be a camp and you need to leave him alone." I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, this guy is such a mean kid. He's going to talk during your sermon. He's going to make running commentary. He's going to sit in the front row so he could hear him. And during your sermon, he's going to say stuff like, "That's dumb. I don't agree. What is that from?" And he said, "Every year he comes to the camp. This is a senior year. And you just need to leave him alone." So I get to the camp. He's sitting in the front row. Sure enough, this guy is just mean. He's just saying things out loud. He's just being a big distraction. And I'm preaching like strong, but I am like striking out. I just 300 people there. I'm not preaching to any of them, but just him. I'm like, "Some of you tonight might need Jesus." I'm like doing everything, but putting a lighter under his chin ago is hot in hell, baby. Come on

home. I didn't do that, but you know what I'm saying? But first night, nothing. Second day, nothing. Third day, nothing. We get to the last day of camp. And he comes to camp and he's telling everybody. This is the last day I've never had to be forced to go to camp. I'm not going to camp. He's telling everybody this. And we get done with the morning session and everybody's leaving. And then I had an idea. I grabbed the mic and go, "Hey, can I get all the adult leaders to come forward?" They come forward. I said, "Hey, this kid's been telling everybody that this is the last day to ever come to camp. Anybody got any ideas or advice for me on maybe a word on what I could preach or what we could do to reach out to him? This is our last day with him. And this one lady goes, "We know where he sits. Why don't we pray over his seat?" So they signed up for 15-minute intervals. They all got a piece of paper to pray and ask God for a revival in his seat. And then this one lady, she was like, "Why don't we annoy his seat with oil?" The only oil we had was some Missoula from the kitchen for the popcorn machine because this was a Southern Baptist camp. But we went for it. All right. So we were just buffing the seat down. Dude comes in last night. He sits down. He's like, "What's this oil? It's awesome." All right. So I preached during the invitation, he steps forward. One step forward, flicks me the bird and then leaves. And I just felt defeated. You ever see just walking dead, the stink of a zombie? You don't have the spirit of superiority. You're like, "I used to be that, bro. I was a leper. I was the dead." And he just even wants to healing for somebody because they're not just hurting themselves or hurting everybody else around them. It's all we can. I'm down about it. I'm repressed about it. I'm just thinking about it. I go home the next day. On Monday, I go to work and my assistants like, "Hey, the youth pastor from the week before he's been blowing up our phone this morning, wants you to call him the second you get in." I call him. He's like, "Bro, I got to tell you what happened." He goes, "You went home after camp was over the next day." He goes, "But we had a seven-hour bus ride home." He goes, "So we're all piling on the buses the morning of camp. Camp We got like four or five big buses, you know, rented for everybody to go home. And he said, and this guy's getting on the buses. The guy I was talking about, he's getting on the buses, but nobody wants to be stuck with them for seven hours 'cause he's so mean.

'Cause they're all like, safe, safe, safe, safe. Except in the back of the bus, like, boss number four, there's this one teenager. You know how every youth ministry has that one teenager? The one who memorized Leviticus when he was four, Bible drill champion, always has the Roman road, beaded bracelet going, probably a homeschooler, that kid. I love that kid. So he sees him coming and he's like, "Hey man, you can come sit, mate if you want to." And this guy doesn't know that this guy has decided, campaign over yet, baby, I got seven hours. (congregation laughing) And for seven hours, for seven hours, this guy is relentlessly talking to this guy about the gospel. They're stopping at Burger King for lunch. He's like, he needs to be the king of Yerla. They're going to the bathroom. He's falling into the bathroom. He needs to flush your heart out. This guy is non-stop. And after six and a half hours and the seven hours, this guy blows a gasket and says, "Leave me alone." And he looks at his friend and says, "I'll leave you alone if you'll give me two minutes, five minutes and actually listen." And then the guy goes, "Okay, I'll listen." And then he says to him, "God so loves you that he gave his one and only son

that if you believe in him, you will not perish. You'll have eternal life to wish the youth pastor said to me, he looked at him and said, "How come no one's ever told me this?" Which I said, "That's what I said all week!" To which is a reminder that nobody reaches a teenager more than a teenager. And then the guy gives his life to Christ. So, God becomes a Christian. 24 hours later, the guy that became a Christian and the guy that led him to the Lord, they're at a movie theater. They're just hanging out. They're sitting there to watching the movie previews. The movie's about to start. Remember, this guy's a one day old Christian. So, the guy is discipling him and the film projector, while they're watching the movie previews, breaks down. And as it breaks down, this guy has been a Christian for one day. He looks at his buddy and goes, "Why do you think I just broke this projector?" This is the guy who's been a Christian for a long time, goes, "What do you mean?" He goes, "I think God broke this projector 'cause he knows everything, right?" He goes, "Yes, he does." He goes, "God wants us to maybe use this moment while the projector's broken to tell these people

to come to die, and then the projector starts back up again." And he's like, "I'm so glad you stopped me from embarrassing myself 'cause God would have kept the broken projector broken and longer, and then the projector breaks again." And he doesn't even ask permission. He just stands up, comes and stands in front of the whole movie theater and says, "Hey, excuse me, I wanted to take these few minutes while the fix and the projector to say that just yesterday, just yesterday, I died." I'm like one day old. Just yesterday, I became this thing called the Christian. My buddy over there, let me do the Lord. Stand up, stand up. He's like, "How y'all doing? Sit back down." And then he goes, "Hey, I don't even have all the verbiage. I just know what happened to me." The old man's gone, there's a new man. If you wanna know how you can find God, after this movie's over, my buddy will be standing there by the popcorn machine, and he'd love to talk to you. And I hear that story and I'm like, "Wow, 24 hours before he was repelled by the gospel, he wanted to have nothing to do with the gospel. 24 hours before he was avoiding the gospel like immigration." Well, that doesn't make sense to you,

but 24 hours ago, he wanted to have nothing to do with the gospel. 24 hours later, he's a banner for the gospel. Why? Why? Because the Christian life isn't, I get saved, and then I gotta stop doing this, and stop doing this, and start doing this. The Christian life is, I finally figure out why I'm made. I get to live. I get to live. I get to finally realize I was made for this. I was not made for selfie mode. I was made to be an arrow that points to him. When Jesus was on the clock, we just read it. When Jesus was in that moment in the garden, he says, "Father, what shall I say? Save me from this hour by no means." I came to this moment. This was our plan. And then what does he say, "Father, glorify your name." And everything about the Christian life is about you figuring out the best thing I can do for me is to not make my life about me. I'm not telling you, man, you gotta let him wash your feet so that you can get you cleaned up. I'm telling you, man, he wants you cleaned up because you gotta race them. There's so much you can do. This isn't about anything less than God must believe in us

more than we believe in ourselves. He wants to measureably more. So he loves us so much that he calls us Thank you, Lord, that you don't demote, you don't demote the Christian life to anything less than Christ. The one who lived the perfect life and then died of sin and stuff. Thank you, that it's not about trying harder, but about dying, surrendering. I hear that doesn't know you, has never come to, it has finished, I am finished because it has finished. I prayed it today, it would be the day you'd call them home. Deliver a matter of religion, out of duty, into delight, out of works, into worship. Out of trying to earn it, to just coming to yearn for you. My brothers and sisters in this room who are believers dying daily, I prayed that they would see the posture of a God who loves them, who says, "I've got the towel in the basin, will you let me wash your feet?" I prayed that that wouldn't be about sin management nearly as much as I have so much for you. I want more for you, I want you to live. You've got to race to run. Thank you, Lord. You're so good. Thank you, God. Thank you for being our very model, our example, bigger than that, our Savior. You prayed this in your name. Amen.