Loved To The End

- Okay, so there was a survey a couple of three years ago. These were, according to this survey, like the top mistakes that people make in the modern world. Well, you just leaned over to the person next to you and admit if you've ever made one of these mistakes. Go ahead, there's a lot more that we could've put up there. Like, one of them would be your phone going off in the wrong place, that would be another one. Okay, so for me, I just gotta say, just real quickly, anybody here ever accidentally ordered the wrong thing at a restaurant? I don't think I understand that. Like, you accidentally ordered the wrong thing? I don't know how, okay, all right. I mean, I've ordered the wrong thing before, but it wasn't like an accident, I just was like, okay. How about, have you ever just greeted somebody that you knew and then the closer you got, oh yeah, I don't know you at all? Has that ever happened? It happens to me like at airports where everybody, and they'll kind of give you a look like, oh, I think I know you from church and I'm like, hey, how are you doing? Come to Newark often? I mean, it's just, it's so weird, it's so weird. Is it hard for you to admit that you've made a mistake? I mean, with these kinds of mistakes, whatever. By the way, if you have a hard time making admitting that you make these kinds of mistakes,

that's a bit of a character flaw, we should talk later. (audience laughs) But it's hard to admit. Now, James 3-2 says that everybody stumbles. But we've got to get to this place where we can admit, and I think the higher the stakes, the more difficult it is to go, ooh, I'm struggling with that. Or I'm like on the edge of like really making a big mistake. See, when you get next to Jesus, things become a little clearer. And I just wanna tell you now, as we open his word, we're gonna come face to face with the Lord of all. He is the most important person in the room. He is the most important central person in all of eternity. And when we get up next to him, things begin to clarify. We're gonna start a new series now. It's entitled Words to Hang Onto. I said this in the socials this week, just so we're clear, not my words. We're not hanging onto my words. These are the words of Jesus that we're going to look at. And really, it's all gonna, we're gonna focus on five chapters, just five chapters in the New Testament. By one count, less than 4,000 words, 155 verses. That's what we're going to look at. But these words are so powerful, so good and so timely for us. Now, these chapters are in the middle of the Gospel of John. We're gonna look at chapters 13 through 17.

We're like parachuting right into the middle of the Gospel of John. Just so we're all in this together, those of us here, those of us online, those of us at Fenton and Mid-Rivers and Grants Trail. I want us all to now understand the Gospels. One, two, three, four. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. These are the first century accounts of the life of Jesus. John, we think, was probably the last to be written, probably around 70 AD. Ancient tradition says, it's the John, the Apostle John. This would have been one of the hand-picked disciples of Jesus that wrote this. And it's a little bit different. It's a slower pace in places. It's got a real BTS vibe to it. You guys know what I'm saying when I say that? I'm not referring to the K-pop boy band BTS for a couple of you out there. BTS, BTS, behind the scenes. This has a real behind the scenes kind of a vibe to it. Now let me just explain to you how we get there 'cause we need to know the context. New Testament scholars will often break the Gospel of John down into four parts. Maybe you've heard this before, but let's just look at it. First of all, there's the prologue. Now in the prologue, this is most of chapter one. John tells us who Jesus is, and I mean from the beginning.

He says Jesus was there in the beginning, as in the beginning. And he says Jesus was and is God. He was with God, and he was God. He tells us right up front, I believe Jesus is co-equal with the Father, he is the transcendent son of God. John says, I know the one who spoke the universe into existence, and his name is Jesus, and I walked with him big claims in this prologue. Now why would he say that? Well, if you go to the epilogue, where at the very end of the Gospel of John, he says there's so much to this, I could have crammed so many more details into this book. But I did this so that you would believe that Jesus is Messiah, the Son of God, The life that you long for, you believe in Jesus. That's the whole point of this thing. Now, in between he makes his case in kind of the first half and the second half of John. The first half, people, these scholars that kind of break this up would call this the book of signs. John doesn't call them miracles, he calls them signs. He only lists seven of them. Each one of them is very specific and points to something about the nature of Jesus, who is God. The last of these is when he raises up his friend Lazarus from the dead. Now we get to the end of the book of signs.

Chapter 12, at the end of chapter 12, that's kind of done. To be honest with you, some believe, some don't believe, and some people really want him dead. Now, Jesus knows this. Chapter 13 begins the book of glory, and it starts rather abruptly, really. Now, you're thinking, well, book of glory, I don't get that, why call it that? The people who study this say that the closer you get to the crucifixion and then the resurrection, the more God's glory just comes shining through the person of Jesus. And I just want you to know, starting in chapter 13, we're close. We're close. I mean, the nightmare is just about upon them. And these words that he now shares are not just words that those disciples would hang on to, they're words that we want to hang on to. I think they're timely. I think in the coming weeks, you're just gonna be astounded at how God has put all of this together for us today, but right now, right now, we're gonna ask him to help us understand what it is that we're reading. I believe he'll do that. You see, here's the thing I told you this last week. I believe the central figure of all eternity is with us now in a supernatural, mysterious way. I believe Jesus is in the room. Let me pray for us.

Heavenly Father, we come before you now and we are asking for your help. We're asking for you to help us to enter into this night that we're going to look at, that the disciples couldn't imagine. Lord, we're gonna have a hard time imagining, but please help us now to pay attention to details. Help us now to take the risk of stepping into this story with you even further. I thank you for sending your son, Jesus, we thank you. For all that you have done for us, we need you. We are confessing that out loud. We want to hear your voice above all the rest in these coming weeks, but on this day, we wanna hear you, spirit, we need you to help us now. Would you please move through this place, these places, our words, our conversations. We want to, by the time we get to the end of this, Lord, please, may it be an act of worship that maybe some of us didn't even, we didn't even see it coming. All of this for your glory, all of this for your praise, you deserve every benefit in Jesus' name. Amen. Chapter 13, the Gospel of John, verse one. It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Now, this is Thursday of Holy Week. We usually study these things in the spring. This is after Palm Sunday. This is after a lot has happened. It is Thursday night. They're in a room, an upper room above a house, probably a bigger house, most likely in one of the nicer neighborhoods in ancient Jerusalem, but they are in this home to have a meal together. Now, many of you are familiar with this last supper and this upper room, but I want us to feel the weight of it now. You see, what I'm gonna ask you to do in the coming minutes is to pay attention to the details. I believe the details is where this thing starts to spark. I think that's where you're gonna go, wait, I, ooh, okay. So here it is, first of all, it says that he loved them to the end. Now, scholars will tell you that this can mean a couple of different things. It can mean that he loved them to the utmost. He loved them in a way that was so profound, so deep and so intense. It can mean that or it can mean he loved them to the end of his life. How come I can't be both? I think Jesus is loving them to the utmost all the way to the end. And the end is near now.

It says that he knew the hour had come. If you read the Gospel, you will see him say, the hour is not yet come. The hour is not yet come. The hour has now come. You see, this time tomorrow, Jesus is dead. I want you to keep this in perspective now. This is Thursday night, not even 24 hours later. Not even 24 hours later, he's being taken off of a Roman cross, he's already in the tomb 24 hours from when they're having this meal. You think about that for just a minute. Think about how that sense of closing in had to have affected these words in this setting. Now I talked to our, some of our staff a couple of weeks ago and we kinda went through a thought exercise. I'm not gonna make you go all the way through it, but just like on your own without talking to anybody else. What if you knew you had tonight and that was it? That's it, this time tomorrow, you're gone. What do you do? Think about it, who are you with? What do you say? It actually became kind of emotional for many of us and we talked about how, man, I wanna gather my loved ones. There's certain people that I gotta see. What do you say? I want 'em to know I love 'em. I want us to remember some things. Many people said, I really do wanna have a meal.

I want us to laugh, I want us to cry. I want us to tell stories. I want them to know that God is enough and not to worry. Yo, I'm telling you a lot of that is what Jesus is doing with these guys. He's preparing them for what is to come. I love you. I'm going away, but don't worry. Don't be troubled. There's so many things that are gonna fall out of the mouth of Jesus in the coming weeks that we're gonna look at, but we must understand the intensity of this as he loves them to the end. Verse two, the evening meal was in progress and the devil had already prompted Judas. This has been going on for a little while now. The son of Simon is scary to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Now again, this is a familiar part of the story. Pastor Kimberly, this summer did a fantastic job of walking us through this passage. I just want you to know, if you weren't here to hear her kind of break this passage down and show us the greatness of Jesus

as he served these men, I would highly recommend you go back to that message in July and take a look at that. We are not going to now repeat all of the beautiful points that she beautifully made on that day. We're gonna keep leaning into the story and look for some other details and see what else we can pull out of this. The first thing that we see is that, well, Jesus knows that Judas is the betrayer. If you look at some other verses and we'll get to them in just a second, Jesus knows that Judas is the betrayer. Maybe one of the first things to kind of just tuck away is, Jesus is not some hapless victim here and all of this is just kind of happening to him. Remember, the Father has given him charge of all of this. Jesus is now in charge and Jesus is going to see this thing through. Jesus is Lord of all. He's the King, I'm telling you, he's the King. And the King in this moment does the outrageous and he puts a towel around his waist and begins to wash their feet. Kimberly told us that in the ancient world, this would have been the lowest of the jobs for any house servant. Usually if you came into a nice home like that, there would be somebody there to wash your feet and we know why they washed their feet in a world

with open sandals and hot weather and dusty roads and big animals walking on tight streets, leaving certain things behind. You wanna wash your feet before the meal. Can the preacher get an oo? 'Cause I'm telling ya, you don't clean those bare feet and then you have a meal with the tables loaded the ground, everything starts to, I don't know. Tastes like gym socks and regret. It's not good. So you have to do it, but nobody's doing it. It doesn't even occur to them to wash the feet of Jesus. Much lesser they're gonna do this for each other. I'm not washing your stanky feet. Now Luke tells us that they're actually arguing about who is the greatest among them. I'm not washing your feet, you should be washing my feet. And in the middle of all of this, Jesus, he's loving them to the end. But you gotta just picture, like Jesus in the middle of all that is gonna get up, put the towel around, pour the water and begin to wash their feet. And again, details, details. Awkward silence. They gotta feel embarrassed at this point. How did we let this happen? Nobody says anything. Except, Peter, who wants to jump in and basically debate Jesus.

You're not doing this, "Yes, I am." "Oh, no, you're not, oh, yes, I am." I mean, we're not even gonna go into all that's going on. I would just say, "Peter is missing the point." But Peter thinks his point is the point, so he's pushing the point. Have you ever done that before? I completely missed the point, but I think my point is the point. So I'm gonna keep pushing my point. That always works out, people. Always. Said no one, ever. You see, Jesus keeps teaching them about his greatness, but about humility and what it's like to serve each other. And this conversation back and forth with Peter becomes even something even bigger. And it's like, "Peter, listen, "you gotta let go of the pride and the stubbornness. "You gotta let me help you." And they're talking about way more than the dirt between Pete's toes at this point. You let me forgive you, I'll be the one. We'll come back to that in just a second, but there's one more detail that I want you to notice. And this is the detail that we're gonna pivot off now. You probably did, but this is the one that's been driving me to my knees this week. Y'all, Judas was in the room.

That means Jesus washed the feet of the betrayer. What do you think that mama was like? What do you think? We don't know, we gotta be careful here. But what do you think is going through the mind of Judas? Is this when he's gonna expose me to the rest of these guys? Do you think he's like indignant? Is he overwhelmed? Is he thinking back to all the times that Jesus loved him so well? Is he doing everything he can to not make eye contact with him? You ever notice with little ones, we've talked about this, but little ones, they get to a place where they are beginning to sense right and wrong. You know when that happens. It's your kids, other kids, grandkids, you know that. And when they know right from wrong, right from wrong, there then comes that moment where it's like, I really don't want you in the room 'cause I'm about to do some serious wrong. Have you ever noticed that before? They don't want you watching them do wrong. Dallas Woolard used to tell the story of a little girl two and a half year old that was like doing wrong with her nana. And she kept saying, don't look at me, nana. Now, she didn't stop doing what she was doing, but it was, don't look at me, nana. Don't look at me, nana.

Don't look at me, nana. And then Willard writes this. Can you guys put that quote up there? The tender soul of a child shows us how necessary it is that we be unobserved in our wrong. We love to think we can do this in hiding, but we can't. Judas is there, what do you think Jesus is thinking? Jesus knows what's going on. Listen, Jesus is not shocked by this betrayal. But I do, well, let's do this. And I don't wanna, let's do this. I don't wanna get too heavy. I'm gonna give you two outs, three outs. The first is, this assignment, when you're gonna talk to each other, the first is to just go, I'm not doing it at all. What do you have in for lunch? You can do that. The second one is, if it's too much, just keep going back to that idea, what would it have been like for Jesus to wash the feet of Judas, okay? So that's your second one. But really, the assignment is this. Without naming names, would you just talk to some people around you? What is it that makes betrayal so hurtful? You don't have to give big examples, I'm not asking you to point to other people, but what is it that makes betrayal so hurtful?

Go ahead, talk to each other for just a minute. We'll come back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) I wish I could hear some of the conversations at the sites. Anybody here, are you willing? Again, no names. We're not asking for specifics here. Anybody willing to tell me what makes betrayal so hurtful? Anybody in these sections? Yeah. [INAUDIBLE] So it shakes your foundation of trust in that person or just everybody. It's like, I don't know who or what to trust. Yeah, who? Yeah. OK. Yeah. What else? Anybody got anything?

What makes betray-- yes. Say it one more time. So it's purposeful and intentional. It's like, wow, you did that to me. Took thought. That. Anybody over here? Somebody said in a previous service, I thought they loved me as much as I loved them. You know, I'm not trying to stir this all the way up. I am trying to keep us in the room. Jesus was not shocked by this. A lot of times our betrayals were like, whoa, where did that come from? So Jesus is not shocked. But I don't think that kept him from being heartbroken. Like a couple of these answers here, like, intentional. This took time. This took planning. I thought you loved me the way-- I mean, there's a heartbrokenness to this. Now, some of you are like, ooh, I don't like us making Jesus so vulnerable. Go to verse 21. In verse 21, we read something really interesting. It says that after he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified very truly. I tell you, one of you is going to betray me. That term troubled in spirit is really powerful in the Greek. What that means is it means unsettled.

It means stirred up, visibly agitated. Sometimes you think of an animal that's kind of bristling. It's someone who has deeply moved. The last time John used this phrase was when Jesus was standing at the tomb of his friend Lazarus. This is more than sorrow. It's wrong. The injustice of all injustices. Jesus is staring down the barrel of darkness. But not just darkness. The dark twistedness of what is about to happen. Death, absolutely. But it is a different death because of what now is going to happen within the Trinity. It has never happened before. It will never happen again. But there's a god forsakenness on the cross that we hear Jesus crying out about. You think he's thinking of that? I do. But I think it's more. I think it's even more. I think there is the relational aspect of trust that has been broken. Of somebody who is intentionally doing this. It's personal for Jesus. In Genesis 3, this is after the first rebellion. The first sin of our first parents. God's walking in the garden. And he says, Adam, where are you?

Now, we've made this point. Let's just be really clear. God did not misplace Adam in the garden. This is a question. He's inviting Adam to come back to him. Where are you? He's inviting him. Well, you admit what you've done. Will you come back to me? But even in that, where are you? As a longing and in that is this, you feel the break. You feel the distance. By the time you get to the prophet Jeremiah, God is in a very vulnerable way, expressing his thoughts and his anger and his heartache at Israel who has run away from him and is now chasing after idols that will never satisfy. They will never satisfy. But he frames himself as a jilted husband who's been betrayed. And in chapter two, what we read is God saying, what could I have done that was so wrong, so unfair? Why did they pull away from me? Do you hear it? There's anguish. This is personal for Jesus, and it's visible. They could see it, John could see it. And so Jesus says, one of you is going to betray me. Awkward silence. They don't know what to do.

His disciples stared at one another at a loss to know which of them he meant. How about another detail here? So what do we need to notice there? They do not immediately all look down the table and go, "I knew it. Judas!" Nobody's doing that. Peter of all people doesn't stand up and do something stupid here. Jesus, you want to take Judas out and betray him a little back? I mean, no, none of that happens. Nobody's pointing to Judas. You know why? Here's the sobering, terrifying thought. Because he looked like the rest of them. He was doing the same things. He was going to the same places. He was receiving the same blessings. Again, I don't want to go too far with this. But I could see Judas laughing and celebrating when the thousands were fed, when the storm was calmed, Judas was there, man, he saw God land. He was close enough to be familiar with Jesus. But he never allowed Jesus in close. So in the 1600s, there was an author named Matthew Mead who wrote a book, a Puritan author, who wrote a book called The Almost Christian. And the point of the book is that one of the most dangerous places to be is when you're familiar with the Christian faith. Like you're close enough that you kind of know how things work. You're close enough that everybody knows you and you know everybody and you're in and you look like everyone and you blend in and you're familiar with this.

But Jesus isn't calling us to be familiar. Jesus is calling us to know him and to trust him and to in a vulnerable way say, "I can't do this on my own. I don't want to blend in. I don't want to just be one of the crowd. I need you, Jesus." That's what changes your eternity. So the disciples are confused. They're bewildered. They have no idea who this is. So Peter says to John, "You've got to ask him. Now how do we know it's John next verse? One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him." What does that mean? Well, first of all, the one whom Jesus loved. That's the way John refers to himself in this gospel. He never uses his name. He always refers to himself as the one whom Jesus loved. Now I don't think this is like one of those humble flexes where it's just like, "Huh, let's just do what I was." Quick question. Don't raise your hand. Did mom play favorites? Were you her favorite child? Or not? Some of you could text her favorite child right now and say, "He's talking about you, couldn't you?" Yeah. Okay.

All of the moms everywhere are going, "No, no, no. I love all my kids the same." Listen, we've got counselors afterwards. Just come down. We'll talk about it. I need you to know Jesus was not playing favorites here. John is using this as a title. I think it's very personal for John. He's saying here is, "All I know is I never got over how much he loved me. I'm undone by his grace. I'm the one that he loved." He's not saying that to the exclusion of others. I don't think they thought of it that way. But he's reclining next to Jesus. What does that mean? Well, first of all, now you've got to jettison the whole da Vinci, you know, everybody on this side of the table. That's not what it looked like. You shaped table, probably lower. If it was a formal meal, there would have been like these couches. And so what you would have done is you'd lean on like your left arm, your left elbow table here, feet away from the table. We're not going to go over that again, right? Toes away from the toasted ravioli. It's always the best plant. So feet away, you're leaning on the left elbow and you would eat with the right hand. Okay? You with me? A U-shaped table. You've got the host at the middle of the -- you've got the guest of honor to the left.

You've got the other guest of honor, like number two on the -- to the right of him. This is where John would be. And so Peter, someplace else at the table, goes, "You've got to ask him who he's talking about." So John, he's reclining next to him. I mean, that's everybody's -- that's what it is. He didn't have to go far. He's just leaning back. He says, "Who are you talking about?" And Jesus says, "The one to whom I give this bread that I'm going to dip." Now, if this was a Passover meal, this would have been Keraset. This would have been the sour wine and raisins and dates. It would have been kind of crushed up. The one -- the old King James says, "The one I give the sopp to." So you're soppin' this up. What he's saying is, "You'll know the one I give this bread." He gives it to Judas. Judas is sitting next to him to the left in the seat of honor. Now, was this a gesture to John and then Peter to go, okay, it's him. Yeah, it was. Was it more than that? Yes, because in ancient tradition, when the host would do that and offer the bread, it was a sign of friendship and love. Now, stay with me. What if this was Judas' last chance? What if this was the moment? You're like, well, great. He's already said that he's going to be, but yes, I know the sovereign mind of God. I know he knows all of that, but there is agency and there is free will. And someplace in there, there's some play. Jesus knows he's going to reject this, but there are many.

I mean more than a few theologians that believe this is the last chance for Judas. This is it. It is an act of love. Leslie Newbing calls it the last act of affection. This is it. Keller one time said, it's as if Jesus is looking into the eyes and the soul of Judas and saying, I see you and I still love you. I'm saying he is looking at Judas and saying, you don't have to do this. D.A. Carson says, Judas received the stop, but not the love. And that's it. Now we are past the point of no return. Now his heart has hardened. This is it. And if you read the next verse, when he takes the bread, Satan enters into him. This is the language of possession, not demonic possession, satanic possession. The evil one himself moves in and takes control of this guy. And that's it. And Jesus says, whatever you're going to do, just do it quickly. Now the rest of these guys are clueless. John said they don't even know what's going on. But he says, when Judas had received the bread, he gets up and he leaves. That's it. He's gone. And then one more phrase. And it was night. And it was night. John loves a good symbol. John wants you to know it was night. Well of course it was night.

But John wants to call that out. You see Jesus has been saying, there is a night that is coming. I'm warning you about that night. Y'all were there. When the people who come to arrest him just hours from now in the garden get there, what does he say to him? This is your hour. The darkness has come. That's the first scene of this series. And there's already a lot there making us think of a lot of things. But what's the takeaway? How do we now apply this to our lives? Y'all we've been in the room with Jesus. But I want to suggest to you one more time that Jesus is in the room with us. So here we go. I am not in any way suggesting to any of you that you are Judas. But I want to carefully and respectfully say that every one of us have moments of choice and decision where we get to deal with it, whatever it is, or we don't. Think about it. In verse 2 Judas was like Satan had put this into his, like he's got, he's playing with the thoughts of Judas. We already know he's been preparing for this. There is some intentionality to this. That's verse 2. He's prompting Judas. But it's not until verse 27 that he has taken hold of Judas. I'm saying there's a lot of time and a lot of choice between verse 2 and verse 27 in each of our lives. And I don't know what it looks like. I am not saying, man if you don't do this you're going to be demon possessed.

That's not what I'm saying. But I am saying between verse 2 and verse 27 there are lots of times and lots of places where Jesus is saying, look at me, come back to me. You don't have to do this. And when we tolerate, when we look the other way, when we minimize, when we rationalize, it will eventually lead to a trap that is set. And just about every preacher at this point, in fact I've heard people preach on this passage and even while I'm listening to some preachers, this is years ago, I immediately went here and sure enough he did too because it's just, you go back to Genesis 4, so now you've got Cain and Abel. These are two guys who are living their lives, very different. The offering, nothing wrong with either of these offerings because they both later in God doesn't look on the offering, he looks on the heart and when Cain is there he looks sour, it's angry and essentially what he is saying is you need to face this, you've got to deal with this. And then these famous words, sin is crouching at your door. I mean, it wants to have you, it desires to devour you. You must rule over it. A couple of things there, the imagery is of a beast. Sin is a beast that is waiting, crouching, wanting to pounce on you and devour you. Do you ever think of sin as a beast or a predator that is just waiting to? And I don't even know if it was hidden right here in this story. God's saying, man, it's right there, it's just outside your door, deal with it. Side note, you don't have to face that alone. I'm not saying you wrestle this beast down on your own. I'm telling you the Lord, God comes alongside you when you could admit that you are powerless over this on your own and he will join into this with you. I'm telling you, but we still have to face it. Ernest Hemingway in the Sun also rises. Kind of one of the most famous quotes really of that book, maybe of his.

There's a character that asks another character, so how did you go bankrupt? And he says two different ways. One, it was really gradual and then the other, all at once. You see, we really gradually step into the trap, but then all at once it's set. What am I saying to you? I'm saying if there's a thought or a word that you or I just give a home to and we look the other way and we kind of make light of it or maybe we kind of defend it. Like if there's a snarky comment that just comes up or maybe some kind of feeling of contempt, man, contempt is so poisonous. You're watching the news, you read a headline and somebody's talking about that person or those people and you go there, but then you just kind of, yeah, well, that's just who I am, that's just my opinion. If you let that simmer, if you get to a place where you start to have a fantasy about getting even with that guy at work or that family member or whatever and it really takes root, if there's, I don't know, if there's a lustful or bigoted or hateful or jealous thought or word that you just kind of let sit there and you play with it, it's like you're playing with fire. If anger leaves awake in your family because of the way you talk to everybody and you just won't look behind you, I feel really called to say this and I don't even know who this is, but I said it last night, if you are allowing the illusion of these betting sites to sink into your dream as if that's the dream, it's a lie from hell. There was an article that came out this weekend that DraftKings uses bots to find particularly young men who they know are going to place losing bets. If you think you can cut a corner at work to solve some financial struggle, if you're playing with pornographic deep fakes and you're telling yourself, you know what? It's not real, so I'm not hurting anybody. If one drink becomes three drinks, becomes five drinks, and you don't even talk about it. If you're taking so many gummies at night that you're buzzed out of your mind, but it's like, "Oh, I sleep better." If you're getting into the habit of lying to your parents or your spouse, if you're the one that just always seems to put gossip in the water at work, and it's just like, "Well, it's just a little thing.

It's just a little thing. I'm telling you all, each of us has to get to a place where we are willing to say, I've got to stop. It's not-- don't look at me. it's Jesus, help me. And I wanna be real clear with you. Some of you, we kind of went through all of this and some of you, there's a couple of you that are going, "Dear God, am I already past the point of no return?" Let me help you with that, no. By the fact that you're even asking that question, no. If you have never received Jesus, this is the moment when you can move beyond familiar to personal where you can say, "I need you, forgive me, lead me," and watch what happens. Watch how he moves in close. That shame that cakes on your soul, that regret, that he's the one who will help you with that. I'm telling you, there's a reason Satan is called the accuser. These lies that, these whispers that are in your ears, they gotta stop, but you turn to Jesus. If you already know him, oh, well, then come back home. Say it out loud. In that conversation between he and Peter, it's like Peter's getting confused and Jesus says, "No, no, no, no, no, let me help you with this." Like you come back to me when you sin and we all will, but Jesus is kind of making the point here of it's like

washing the smelly filth off of your feet. Let me help you with that. Once you've already had a bath, you don't need another bath with me. I will wash you clean, but then just come back home. We're gonna end this day and begin this series with an invitation of sorts. Now, I wanna say this to those of you who are watching at home in your own way. I want you to know that you were invited into this, and if you need help and you would like to talk to one of us, please, there are people online that you can talk with. If you're at one of the sites, I'm gonna ask you to consider this now. You see, the temptation, no pun intended really, here is for us to bail, if not physically, at least mentally. But I'm gonna ask you to use this extraordinary beginning to these chapters as a way to consider what is God inviting you to do. Some of us, he is inviting us to actually, here it is. Oh boy, here we go, you ready? He's asking us to assume a physical posture that is thoroughly biblical, that is absolutely humbling, and that is to come on down and for us to kneel together. And some of you are going, man, I'm not going down front 'cause you just listed a whole bunch of really bad stuff and I don't have to struggle with any of those, but I don't want people thinking, yo, we all stumble, that's what James says, right? So we're just gonna come forward.

If you were feeling a burden about your city, about your family, if you would like to see revival in this church, in this land, then come on. If you've got someone who is far from God and you wanna pray for them, God go find them, then come on, if you are someone who needs to accept Jesus, then come on, if you are someone who is saying out loud, I need your help with this. It's crouching at the door. I gotta deal with this, then come on. In fact, if you guys would, would you guys just, let's just kind of start some music here. And I wanna give you a chance to pray. I wanna give you a chance to consider this offer. I want you to remember that he loves you to the end. Some of you are going, man, you have no idea what I've done. You're right. I'm just telling you he's enough. I'm telling you this isn't the end. I'm telling you the most important, the most extraordinary, the most powerful, loving person in the universe is here. And when we come face to face with him, it doesn't have to be terrifying. It could be healing. It could be freeing. (gentle music) Pastors, I'm gonna ask you at the sites. I'm gonna ask you here, intercessors, leaders of this church, mentors.

If you would like to join us in prayer, we're not gonna stand here and face you. We're gonna be on our face before God. And if you wanna come join us, then come join us. If you need prayer, easiest thing to do is to kneel down next to somebody. Put your hand on one of these pastor's shoulders and say, will you pray for me? But I'm gonna invite you in to this now, as we let these words wash over us. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (dramatic music) [Music] ♫ You're the most diverse of you ♫ ♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ You're the most important person ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫ ♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ It's no one like Jesus ♫ ♫ No one like you ♫ ♫ Beautiful Jesus ♫ ♫ Perfect and true ♫ ♫ No one like Jesus ♫ ♫ Father's delight ♫ ♫ Simply adore you ♫ ♫ Love of my life ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫

♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫ ♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ It's no one like Jesus ♫ ♫ No one like you ♫ ♫ About with your presence ♫ ♫ My heart is renewed ♫ ♫ Your name is majestic ♫ ♫ You light up the room ♫ ♫ To praise someone ♫ ♫ But that's not what it is ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫ ♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫ ♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ I'd love for us to continue in this time of worship. Some of you are like, I want to come forward, I want to worship, I want to let's do that. In fact, let's just continue with this. I will tell you that when Judas left the room, the tone changed. It's still really, really close to the end. The way to you hear the words of Jesus next week, wait till you hear the hope and the encouragement next week, all we need that. But that's next week for now, for now, for now. Let's keep worshiping this one who deserves it all. If you want to come forward with us and worship, if y'all would like to stand and we continue to worship, let's just worship him now. Can't wait. ♫ You're the most important person to keep ♫

♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ You're the most important person to hear ♫ ♫ And I live to love you more and more ♫ ♫ You deserve me for us ♫ ♫ I live to love you more and more ♫ 7 You deserve me apart, but it's your name, but it's your name. 8 You deserve me apart, but it's your name. 8 You are the most important person in me, and all your Jesus, your Lord. 8 And I need to let you pour it more, and even more. 8 You are the most important person in me, and all I give. 8 And I need to let you pour it more, and even more. 8 You deserve me apart, but it's your name, but it's your name. 8 You are the most important person in me, and all your Jesus. 8 You deserve me apart, but it's your name, but it's your name, but it's your name. (gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]