The Path to a Glorious Life || Victory Church [Book of John #31]

So let's welcome in Hamilton Mill. Come on, let's welcome in North Cobb, Midtown, as well as DeKula, and our family around the world online with us. What's up, guys? Hey, it is baptism weekend, so excited about this. One of my favorite things in life, not just ministry, but in life, is actually being a part of people, being water baptized. It is one of the most significant moments of your life, if you have gone through the waters. Let me just say this, if you did not know, for 2,000 years, the people of Jesus have been being water baptized. So that means when you go into the water, you're not just joining a handful of people at a church here in Atlanta. No, you were literally locking arms with millions of fellow saints throughout thousands of years who put their faith in Jesus Christ and were baptized into his name. And today, this weekend, actually, we've already had 620 men, women, and children sign up to be water baptized. That's awesome. Hundreds of people have already been baptized. Hundreds more will be baptized in the next few minutes. And so if you are just joining us in our year-long journey through the Book of John, you could not have picked a better weekend

to be here with us, because today, we're actually gonna hear Jesus say one of his strongest statements, one of his sharpest statements. And I believe this, if you actually grab ahold of what Jesus is saying today, it will radically change your life. It could change your relationships, it could change the way you parent, it could change the way that you think about your past, your present, and your future. And it could even lead to you. Yes, you, getting in the baptism tank yourself in just a few minutes. You came dry, but you may leave soaked. Come on, somebody. (congregation laughing) Last week, if you were with us in John 12, we began John 12, and we sat at a dinner party thrown in Jesus' honor. Why would they throw a dinner party in Jesus' honor? Because he had actually just raised Lazarus from the dead back to life, and they were celebrating him. There in John 12, the next verse is, it actually says the next day was Palm Sunday. And if you know Palm Sunday, we're now getting into Holy Week part of the book of John. This is what we call the triumphal entry, when Jesus comes into Jerusalem writing on a donkey. What's the significance of that?

That is how a king would enter into a city in peace. A king on a war horse means get ready, but a king on a donkey means this king is here in peace. And so Jesus enters into the city, and the people are there with palm branches, and they're yelling out, "Hosanna, Hosanna," which means save us. They're prophetically saying, "Jesus save us." And they're saying, "Blessed is the king of Israel." "Blessed is the king of Israel." And this is kind of the thing. If you read between the lines, here's the important thing is, Jesus doesn't tell them to stop. Okay, everything up to this moment in the book of John, Jesus has been like, "Shh, shh, don't tell anybody "that I just healed you, don't tell anybody." Why? Because it wasn't his hour. But we're getting to Jesus' hour. The cross is right on the other side of the horizon. So actually Jesus actually says, "Bring it on." It's the loudest, it's the most public praise that Jesus has received. The Pharisees are like, "Jesus, you gotta tell the people "to stop, and I love this very famously." Jesus says, "If they keep their mouth shut, "even the rocks are gonna cry out." And so here's where we catch up with the story in verse 19. The Pharisees reply, "Guys, this is getting us nowhere." In other words, our approach on Jesus is not working.

Something's gotta change. Look how the whole world has gone after him. Everybody say whole world. That's super important. Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival, and they came to Philip, who was from Besaida in Galilee. Okay, that's a Greek-ish area there in Israel. And so the Greeks are like, "That's one of ours. "Let's go get him." And so they asked Philip, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." And Philip goes to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip, in turn, told Jesus, and Jesus replies, "The hour has now come." Here we are, for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies. It remains only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honor the one who serves me. And now he's thinking about the cross. My soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. No, it was for this very reason.

I came to this hour, Father, glorify your name. It's one of the greatest prayers ever. It's gonna come through my own death, but Father, glorify your name. Glorify your name. How does this passage begin? The Pharisees say, "Look, the whole world has gone." highlights that some Greeks have come to see Jesus. Really important. It's no longer just the Jews who are coming to see Jesus. Now the Greeks are coming to see Jesus. Why does that matter? Because the Greeks are non-Jews. They are Gentiles, which is us. The fame of Jesus is actually beginning to echo outside of Jerusalem, outside of Israel. The whole world starting to catch on. And here's really what John is saying is that Jesus is not just the desire of Israel. Jesus is the desire of the nations. Come on, Jesus isn't just the king of Israel. Jesus is the king of the universe. Guys, if you did not know this, right now people are worshiping in Ethiopia. Come on, guys. People are worshiping in Zambia. People are worshiping in Ukraine and in Russia. People are worshiping Jesus in Israel and in Gaza. People are underground in Iran and the underground church in China in Taiwan. Jesus is the desire of the nations, guys. Jesus, we're not just here in Atlanta doing this thing. No, Jesus is the desire of the whole world. He's the king of the universe, man. And these Greeks come to, where they come to, see Jesus. Alright. And then Phil goes and says, "Hey, these guys are here to see you." And then very mysteriously, Jesus begins speaking about his death. Okay, here's the deal. We don't know what they were really, we don't even know if these Greeks ever see Jesus. Here's my thought. It's kind of like they wanted an autograph from Michael Jordan. Like, they're really not interested in Jesus. They just weren't all like, "Can I see Jesus? I want to see the guy everybody's talking about." And so these guys come to see Jesus and then Jesus turns it and starts talking about his death. And he says this, "Whoever serves me must follow me." And God's really important for us. Here's what he's actually saying. It's not just

about seeing Jesus. It's actually about serving Jesus. Let's be super honest. It does not cost you anything to see Jesus from a distance on Palm Sunday. Come on, guys. Come on. We in America, it costs you very little to come to a Sunday morning service and say like, "Oh, yeah, I like Jesus. He's a very unique individual." This world is full of people who say, "Yeah, yeah, Jesus is great." But live wild lives because they say Jesus is great. But they actually have no intention to ever follow Jesus. And I think what Jesus is really trying to say here is this, is that Jesus is not looking for admirers. Jesus is looking for disciples. Jesus is not looking just for believers. Jesus is looking for disciples because it does not cost you anything to stand at a distance and look at Jesus. But today, here's what he's telling us. It will cost you everything to draw near and follow him. Listen, if you have not found that out yet, you're in for a rude awakening today. Okay? It does not cost you anything to stand at a distance and look at it. But it will cost you everything to draw near and follow him. And that's what he says here in this passage. And in Pastor John Piper's words, I love this, he says, "Jesus tells us what in what we just read, for hard things and for glorious things." Let's go through the hard things real quick. Jesus says that the seed must die first, that we have to die to ourselves. How many of you know that's hard? Okay, about four of you. All right, it's hard to die. I don't want to die. It's hard. And then he says this, "Is that you have to hate your life in this world?" That's hard. He says this, "Whoever serves me will follow me." Question, where does Jesus go? I'll follow Jesus to the cross. And whoever serves me, in other words, we become servants, how many of you know? Man, that's a hard message today. There are four hard things. In fact, I would say they're so difficult that we don't even want to do them until Jesus tells us what not only matches them, but gloriously outshines them for glorious things as this. He says, "If we die, then we bear much fruit." How many of you want to bear a lot of fruit? How many of you want your life to matter? That's what I'm talking about, guys. He says this, "If we actually lose our life, then we'll keep our life for eternal life." I hate to be the bearer of bad news. This is your weekly reminder that you're going to die. You're going to die. Hopefully it's not today, but you're going to die. Nobody can hold on to their life. But when you live for Christ, somehow you gain your life for eternity. Now, here's the cool thing. If we serve him, we will follow him. Well, here's the good news today, guys. If you did not know this,

Jesus doesn't just go to the cross. He goes through the cross. Where does he go through the cross to? To the tomb, but he doesn't just go to the tomb. He goes through. he sins in heaven and even right now he's in glory. So if we serve him, we will ultimately join him in glory. And he says this, the Father will honor me. Come on, we'll honor you, us. Man, I just want to cast that crown in his feet. And I don't know about you guys, but this right here is how I want to spend the last few laps around the sun that I have. Okay, bearing fruit, keeping my life to eternal life, joining Jesus in glory, living a life that the Father honors. And I think here's what Jesus is actually saying, okay, is that living for Jesus is not easy, but it is glorious, it is glorious. So this is the question that's going to lead us through the next few minutes, okay. How do I get that type of life? A life that is not easy, but it is glorious. A life that leads to eternal life. A life that's found in glory with Jesus. A life that the Father honors. Here's actually what we're going to see, which is W school, is that we're going to see how the path to a glorious life actually runs straight through the waters of baptism. Okay, so how do I enter into this path to the glorious life? Well, here's the first thing, no way around it. I got to die.

I got to die to the old life. I got to die to the old ways of thinking. I got to die to the old me. This last Friday, two days ago, Summer and I packed up Jeremiah, our 21 year old, and we sent him to South Florida to join a missions organization called Jesus Revolution where he is going to do world missions for a year. And the dad in me is unwell. I am unwell today. He's going to train there in Florida for three months, and then he's going to spend seven months overseas and post Christian Europe in places like Albania and Bulgaria and Spain literally doing street evangelism and a post Christian society helping missions groups from around the world that are coming in, helping local churches there in that area of the world. And it's awesome. It's beautiful. I don't like it. (audience laughs) I don't like it. I'm sad. I'm sad because I want him here. And if you've ever like sent a child out, you know what I'm talking about. If you're in that age of life where you're like propelling your children out, you're like, well, my kid's like 10, blink, and you'll be here.

And like I get it, man. Like if I got nothing to complain about, like if I had a list of things to be sad about, you know what I'm saying? Like some of you are like, well, Alicia, kids not like strong out on crack. I know, I know. Like he's given a year of his life to like world missions. That's incredible. But it still hurts. Like I'm still sad. Like I want him here. Like, come on, parents. You know what I'm talking about? Like I don't want my 25 year old living in my basement, eating my leftover ribs. (audience applauds) Those are mine. Get your hands off my ribs. But when he leaves, I'm like, so when are you coming back? You know what I'm saying? (audience laughs) And so I'm torn on this, and so I was so torn on this that I'm telling you guys a few weeks ago. It was right down here during worship. With my hands up while the song was playing, I literally just had to close my eyes and I said, God,

I die to my selfish desires for my son. And I release him into your hands. I release my son into the hands of the living God. And I believe. (audience applauds) That even a father's good heart, good intended heart is what Jesus is referring to here and what we just read verse 24 to read it again. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. A lot of people get hung up on that word hate right there in the Greek, it literally is the word hate. There's another place that Jesus says this. He says, anyone who does not hate their mother, father, brother, sister, even their own children or their very life is not worthy to be called my disciple. Now there's a tension in that because that would violate the second commandment that I'm called to love my neighbor as I love. So what is Jesus really trying to say? Here's how I'd say it. He's talking about this thing called comparative devotion. Comparative devotion, in other words, when I hold two things next to each other, the love that I have for the one

causes the love that I have for the other one to actually feel like hate. That there's such a disparity between the love that I have for these two things. That the love that I have for this one causes the love because the love I have for this is so radical. And so what Jesus is saying is listen, when you hold your life and your plans and your dreams and your family, when you hold that up to the love that we have for Christ, the disparity, the comparative devotion is so radically apart from each other that the love that you have for the kingdom makes the love that you have for everything else. Say, I just gotta let it go. I gotta lesson the death grip that I have on my own very life and the things of this world, I have to begin letting these things go for the cause of the kingdom. Jesus says this another way in Matthew 16. He says, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross. In other words, be in a walking dead man and follow Jesus. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul? Listen guys, you can gain everything you ever wanted and end up losing it all, okay? But there is a path to letting it go and gaining it all in Christ.

And that's what he's saying. If I want the authentic, glorious life that we just raised our hands for a second ago, that means I must surrender the weak, self-centered, me version, imitation version of life. And I don't know what it looked like when you came to Christ. Maybe you bought into some easy believerism. Maybe it was like, just say this prayer like after me and you'll be fine, you know what I'm saying? No, like listen, the Christian life begins with death. Now physical death, but that's a my way of living. Death to the old me, death to the sin nature, death to the old man, right? Here's what it's saying. My devotion to Jesus comes first now. I surrender all else. I refuse to make my comfort the highest goal of my life. I refuse to make my reputation the highest goal of my life. I refuse to make my family the highest goal of my life. Come on, somebody. I refuse to even make my own physical survival, the goal of my life. It is the most counterculture message you'll ever hear. Listen, I'm here today to remind you, you cannot serve a crucified Jesus and still make yourself the center of the story. It does not work like that. The one who laid his leg, he didn't lay his leg down so you could be famous. It is the counterculture message.

It's the dichotomy of the kingdom. It does not make sense because everything about this culture is about me. It's about self. It's my money and I want it now. Come on, Burger King, have it your way. You know what I'm saying? Like everything's about you. It's all about you. My follower count. Come on, my sexuality. My preference is my pleasure, my bucket list, my piece. My, my, my bucket list. (laughing) Okay. My is an enemy of the cross. My is an enemy of the work of God in your life and in my life. And we have to begin by comparative devotion to begin letting my go for his. Which is why baptism is so important. Okay, where do we get the word baptism? It's baptism. It's baptism in Greek. It means to plunge, dip, immerse or totally overwhelm. Which is why for the people who are about to be baptized. You go in all the way under. Okay, we don't sprinkle here. Or else you'd be saved in spots. Okay, it's a Presbyterian joke for my dad. He hates that.

No, but you're going all the way under, man. Why, why, why is this such a big deal? Because here's what it's saying. I'm putting my whole life into God. Not just the parts I don't like. A lot of people are like, yeah, I have no problem giving Jesus my sin. What about your future? Isn't why people go under the water but they hold their wallet out? I go into water but I hold my relationships out. You know what I'm saying? No, no, no, no. All of me goes under. My way of thinking, my old life, my desires, my family, the good, the bad, the ugly, my dreams, my hopes, the stuff I love about my life. It all goes under. What we are saying is this. Whenever you watch somebody being baptized, you are witnessing a burial. When you're going under the water, what you're saying is the whole, old me is now dead. It's dead. Romans six, Paul talks about this in verse three. He says, or don't you know that all of us who were baptized in the Christ Jesus were baptized into his. Some of you are like, I just thought I was getting wet and come back up and that's what we're supposed to do

is like Christians or something, you know? No, when you watch someone go into the waters of baptism, you're actually watching someone bury their old life. Listen, you are not putting the old life on life support. When I got born again, I didn't slap a Jesus bumper sticker on my life and then just kind of keep living the way I always had. Now I'm just forgiven too. I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it like this when Christ calls a man He bids him come and die Bits him come and die. This was not theoretical if you know the story Bonhoeffer was Martyrd by the Nazis in World War two for his faith in Christ And so this is a man who knows what he's talking about by compared of devotion He said the cause of the kingdom is so great that the ultimate goal of my life is no longer to protect my life I'm here father glorify your name Father glorify your name no matter what it may cost me glorify your name And I got to be super blunt here. Listen in Christian culture especially in America. We are asking the wrong questions today guys What we're asking in essence is how much of my life can I hold on to and still be a Christian? none none none He's either Lord overall or he's not Lord at all. I didn't slap a Jesus bumper sticker on my life guys Because we're asking questions like can I be gay and still be a Christian? Can I show everything I got on social media and still be a Christian and Have a scripture in my profile at the same time Can I smoke weed and still be a Christian? Can I have affairs and still be a Christian? Can I eat whatever I want to come on? Can I can I climb the corporate ladder and love money and still be a Christian wrong questions wrong questions?

The real question is every morning to wake up and ask what do I need to die to today? So that Christ can more gloriously live through me What do I need to die to today? So the Jesus can more gloriously live through me guys. Listen. He's not gonna overwhelm you when you get born again He's not like here's the 83 things you need to do. No, but it is a constant Refining of the life. It's like it's like if Michelangelo still had the statue in his living room every time he walks by Here's my promise to you the one who began the good work in you will carry it on to completion to the coming of Christ Jesus But it's gonna look like death and it's gonna feel like death sometimes And what that means is my life is now surrender I'm surrendering my life my right to define my own life. I'm surrendering my my sin. I'm surrendering my past I'm surrendering my old identity come on. I'm surrendering even my own children into the hands of the father who loves them more than I do I'm dying to my old desires. I'm dying to my old sin nature I'm dying to the parts of me that love the things that God hates And I'm dying to the parts of me that hate the things that God loves I'm surrendering that over And here's how we have to say this sometimes guys some of us are still struggling with the old life the old way of thinking Some of you still have shame on your life because of things that happened in the past some of you have condemnation There's like God can never forgive me because of whatever right still hanging over like a rain cloud over your head And here's the question could it be that you never gave your life a proper burial Could it be that you never went into the tank and left the old bungs in the tank? Do you have a point in your life as a demarcation line that you can point back to and you can say that's the day that the old me Officially came off of my life. I was crucified with Christ. Now. I've been resurrected to live a new life for Jesus Christ Do I have that moment in my life? I said this is why the scriptures would even talk about baptism like the Hebrew people crossing the Red Sea what happened? God parted it they went through the old Egyptian slave masters came after them and then God closed the Waters and washed their past come on wash their sin Wash the slavery wash the slave masters away Because what's gonna happen this week for some of you being water baptized the enemy's gonna come back He's about hey, it's time to do that sin again And you're like who are you looking for? I'm personalized. I'm looking for Johnson. Oh

Oh Yeah, he's dead in the tank You're coming right knocking at the wrong door Because I've been crucified with Christ now. I no longer live now. You're looking for the dead man That man's dead There's actually a new man free indeed Who you're talking to and I'm not entering back into slavery again So what's the path to the glorious life? Well first thing is I got to die to the old life the second thing is then I rise to the new life I rise to the new life For a while summer, and I had a little garden in the backyard. It was an experiment I'm a yard guy not a garden guy And listen, I know the principle of this but it still amazes me every single time How you can plant one little tiny seed in the ground and You blink you plan it you water it, but something happens after a little little walk this stalk that then out of one seed, it produces multiple ears of corn or multiple watermelon or multiple tomatoes, whatever it is, right? And that's the principle. Listen, listen clearly, listen closely. A seed goes in the ground in something mysterious happens in the unseen place where that seed dies, but its death begins to produce a harvest of new life. And this is what Jesus is saying right here. Let's read it again in verse 24. He says, "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces what? Many seeds, anyone who loves their life will lose it

while anyone who hates their life in this world will actually keep it for eternal life." A quick Google search will tell us that one wheat seed in the right conditions can actually produce up to five stalks, and on each of those stalks, it can produce up to 60 seeds, all right? Any math majors, five times 60 is? - Three hundred. - Three hundred, somebody at Hamilton Mill was like pulling their shoe off, they're like, "One toe, two toe, three, I ain't got enough toe," right? (congregation laughing) Which means one seed can produce up to 300 seeds. That's pretty incredible. You know the only thing that cost that seed? Death. So the seed has a choice. I can either hold on to my life and just be one seed, or a seed can die to what it was in order to become what it was created to be. That the end goal of the seed is not death. Death is not the final destination. Listen, the seed dies so that something new can emerge so that death can produce life. And right here in the scripture, okay? Let's not get it twisted. Let's not go too far to personalize it. Jesus is firstly talking about his death. The cross is just a few days away, guys.

He's pointing to the cross. But how many of you are glad the cross was not the final destination? The cross is not the end. Listen, listen, as a seed, Jesus went into the ground for three days. Come on, on the third day, the stone rolls away. He rises in new life to produce a harvest. Here's the question, who's the harvest? You are, I am, our kids are. Come on, what we just said a second ago, Nigeria is the harvest, Ethiopia is the harvest. Come on, Kenya is the harvest. Come on, South America is the harvest. Brazil is the harvest. Europe is the harvest. Come on, guys, we're the harvest. Past, present and future, the harvest. And that's what baptism in essence is a picture of. Listen, here's what I would say. I'm seeing on the outside what's happening on the inside of that person, okay? Going down into the water, death, burial. Coming up out of the water, resurrection to live new life, all right? We started Romans six a second ago. Let's finish it out, verse three and four. Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were there for buried with him through baptism

and to death, in order that. Why are we baptized? What's the death for? Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life, new life. So in other words, when you watch someone go into the waters of baptism, you're not just watching them bury the old life, then you're watching them rise to new life, okay? Listen, what you're witnessing is death, burial and resurrection. Come on, in just a second, you're gonna see people be buried, here's the deal guys. This is why some of you are afraid of the water. We leave you in there for a few more seconds. (congregation laughing) You know what I'm saying? You're gonna really experience death, right? That's why some of you don't wanna do it. I promise, I promise. We're at 100% success rate, okay? I'm 36 years here at Victor, 100%, okay? All right, death, burial, resurrection to the new life. Baptism is saying, I am not who I used to be. The old me has died and was buried in the tank and I came up out of the water to live a new resurrected life. I now have a new identity. I now have a new purpose.

I now have a new future. I now have a new king. Come on, I now have a new way of living. I have been washed and sanctified and justified. The old has gone, the new has come. we're gonna witness death, barrel, and resurrection. Imagine this, it's like a seed being planted. Every baptism you've ever seen. It's like a seed being planted that God's gonna do something miraculous in the midst of that death and through death to then produce a harvest, right? This is why we say it like this sometimes. Jesus didn't just save you from something. He saved you for something. Way too many Christians are obsessed on the first part. They didn't even know there was a second part. You thought that God's goal for your life after you became a Christian was just sin maintenance program. No man, he didn't just save you from something. He saved you for something. We're not just called to stop doing the bad stuff. We're called to start doing the good stuff. And everyone in our world is looking for purpose. Why am I alive? Why am I here? Like, why do I exist, right? Like we're all, well, everybody's asking that question. Here's what I'm here to tell you. Good news, guys.

There is no purpose apart from a life in Jesus Christ. Okay, but in Christ, there's no fulfillment of purpose. It's why everybody, listen, some of you even here today, your purpose in life is to get to the C suite. You get the corner office. You don't just get one vacation home. You get two vacation homes. You can't just have one jet ski. You gotta have two. You can't have one boat. You gotta have two. You gotta have the time share on the jet. All that sort of stuff. And here's the deal. That's where the world sets the bar. The problem is you get there and those people still commit suicide. Because they have everything they've ever wanted and they found out it was empty. And there's no purpose in that. And there's nothing sadder to spend your whole life climbing the ladder and you get to the very top and you realize you lean your ladder against the wrong house. And you spent your entire life climbing the wrong ladder. Some of us need to flip the ladder over, point it at the kingdom and say, "I'm going all in on Jesus." I'm going all in on Jesus. That's where the purpose is.

That's where the life is. That's where the fulfillment is. Because you and I were not saved to continue living for ourselves. Your job is now live for God and I promise you when you do that, your death to yourself will produce a harvest of new life. Listen, me, me dying to my own well-intended, selfish desires for my son has now released into new life. Okay, listen, listen, listen, go there with me. My son Jeremiah dying to 21-year-old young man desires. Come on, 21-year-old. How many of y'all remember when you were 21? How many of you were thinking about giving a year of your life to missions? Some of y'all are like, "Please don't put what I was doing at 21 up here on these screens." You know what I'm saying? I'm like, keep that. No, but it's 21-year-old dying to 21-year-old young man desires. Okay, listen, that one seed is about to turn into 300. That's what happens in the kingdom. If you're willing by comparative devotion to let go of these things. I've told y'all this before, okay? Don't take this personally. I didn't wanna do this. Not like today, like any day.

You know what I'm saying? I did, I never woke up one morning and God said, hey, you're gonna be the pastor of the church. I wasn't eating my spaghettios and God spelled it out like ooh, you know what I'm saying? And like, my goal was to be a nice Christian, go to church on Sunday and tithe, like be a good guy. And I'm telling you, even my desire to say like, all right, I don't want the stress. I don't want the drama. Come on guys, y'all are drama sometimes. Like not you, the person next to you. I don't want that. But God, if you're calling me to it, I'll do it. Listen, that has begun to produce a harvest. Here's the question, okay? What harvest lies on the other side of your decision to die to yourself? Here's an idea. I believe there's a harvest of joy right around the corner. Now I believe there's a harvest of new life in your family. I believe there's a harvest of the souls of your city. Come on. I believe there's a harvest of purpose, a harvest of righteousness, a harvest of righteous thinking, a harvest of new life. Why? Because you're a new creation. Guys, the old is gone, the new is come. And that new resurrected blood bot.

Come on, perfected life will produce a harvest. But you gotta die first to produce that harvest. So what's the path to glorious life? I gotta die to the old life. I gotta rise to the new life. And then I just gotta live for God, not for people. I gotta live for God, not for people. Right after this moment here in John 12, one of the saddest moments in the Bible happens. I'm convinced this, one of the saddest moments in the Bible happens. It says that even though Jesus had done a lot of miracles, not everybody believed in Him, but there are some who did, verse 42. Here's what it says. Yet at the same time, many even among them, Jesus. But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than praise from God. I think that's one of the saddest verses of the Bible. For they loved human praise more than praise from God. For they loved human praise more than praise from God. They believed but they wouldn't go public. They believed in Jesus but they were afraid of people. Their faith was private because their fear was public. And I've seen this over and over again guys. Fear of people, robs Christians of the joy of the new life more than pretty much anything else. Sons and daughters of the living God are afraid to live loud for Jesus because they're afraid of what their friends are going to say, their neighbors are going to say, their family are going to say it. Right? And so let me just ask it super bluntly. Who do you want praise from? Humans or God? See, somebody all afraid to say it? Do I all want to be that guy or I'm afraid to say it, you know what I'm saying? If you can't say it here, you stand no chance out there. We're all on the same team, guys. We're all on the same team. And here's the deal, guys. Do you want praise from God or do you want praise from men? We want both. But listen,

by comparative devotion, sometimes you got to choose. You got to choose. Do I want praise of man or do I want praise from God? All right? And here's the thing. How many of you are tired of being scared of what people think? Come on, being scared of what people think is robbing worship from saying, we come in here and somebody like, just do this. I do the baby. I do the field goal. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just can't really let go and worship because I don't know what that ain't nobody thinking about you. Am I thinking about you? Right? We're just, we're so scared of what my coworkers are going to think. Well, my family, I go to school and I don't want to let my lights shine too much because I don't want to be that guy, right? And here's the deal. I'm tempted to say who cares what people think about, but we do. Right? We care. But what I'm trying to tell you is this, there will be a cost for following Jesus. And if you're young, you especially need to hear this. It will cost you to follow Jesus. You just need to take that to the bank. Go and put that in the pocket. If you have not tasted the cost yet, there will be a cost. Here's what I'm trying to say. You stop smoking weed, you're going to have to change your community. You know what I'm saying? All right? A few of you know. A few of you know. Right? That's why you joined the smoker. You're like, huh? I just, we just had in a room and just smoked. Now I guess I just sit in a room and talk about Jesus. You know what I'm saying? They swap rooms. All right? Listen, you stop having sex with your boyfriend or your girlfriend. And that relationship may explode, which is actually why some of you are still compromising in inequity because you're trying to manipulate the situation and hold on to that person. And what you're afraid of is they don't actually love you and you're going to find out very soon. Do they love me or are they just trying to use my body to extract pleasure from me? You're going to find that out very soon. You choose Jesus. Your family may reject you. All right? And there are people in this church. Listen, you're the only believer in your family. Maybe you came from another religion. Maybe maybe you're a Catholic or whatever and your family rejected you. I don't know. I don't know where you come from. But let me, I want you to hear me say this. Welcome to this family. I'm glad you're in the family of God. And I need to, in case you did not know this, if your mother and father forsook you, God said, looks at you and says, that one's mine. That one's mine. That one's mine. That one's mine. That one's mine. That one's mine. That one's mine. That one's mine because the Lord will never forsake

you, he'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you, he'll never turn his back on you physically or emotionally. God is with you even to the very end of the age. And you have to remember that because following Jesus may cost you money or fame or followers or relationships or opportunities. But each one of us has to pre-decide. Don't wait until the moment. Pre-decide. Here's my pre-decision that somebody helped me out with years ago. I want you to like me, but I don't need you to like me. Okay. That's really important, guys. I want you to like me. I want you to like me. I want people to like me, but I don't need you to like me. Okay. You want to know why I don't need you to like me? Because I got my acceptance from Jesus before I even walked into the room. I got it right out there. I know that God loves me. He's for me. Listen, if I didn't know that, I would change what I say so that you would like me. You don't want me to care about what you think, okay? Because then I'm gonna compromise the gospel to tickle your ears so that you'll give more money in the offering, okay? That's not what this thing is about. This thing is not about just sitting at a distance and seeing Jesus, it's about drawing close and being coming a disciple of Jesus, but it may cost you something. And you have to decide, do I need the praise of people or do I want the praise of God? And so what some of you are really gonna have to do, like Monday morning, you need to, before you walk into the office, sit in your car for an extra three minutes and just say God, before I even walk in that office, do you love me? And I receive my acceptance, I receive my affirmation, I receive the honor that comes from God. And so now I can actually walk in that office and let my light shine.

'Cause I'm doing it for God, not for people. Some of y'all go into college campuses, you're gonna go into high school or whatever that is, get your acceptance from Jesus before you ever walk in there. So you won't compromise what God has called you to do. 'Cause we're doing it for God, not for people. Guys, Jesus did not hide His love for us, so we're not gonna hide our love for Him. And this is what makes baptism so powerful, right? We're about to see this, okay? A side effect, it's not the purpose of baptism, but a side effect of you getting in the water is in essence you putting on a billboard to the devil, to your own soul, and to anybody who might see a picture of it online that I belong to Jesus now. I'm not ashamed, I'm not hiding my faith. I now live for the praise that comes only from God, not from people. How do we do it? How do we live this glorious life? I died to my old life. I rise to live the new life. And at the end of the day, guys, if I gotta pick, I'm doing it for God, not for people. And today is the day that we're gonna lay down our old life and we're gonna pick up our new, glorious life in Christ. Who's ready? Y'all ready? Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go, let's mower heads. Let's pray. Father, we love you. And we can only say that we love you because you loved us first. You loved us first. You started this whole thing, God. And even while we were still sinners and your enemy and hated you, Christ died for us. I could never repay you for that. I couldn't even come close. All I can do is give you my life and what's in my hands. And in just a minute, guys, hundreds of people cross the victory are about to be water baptized. But here's what we have to know in this moment. The water does not save us. Only Jesus saves us. Water cannot save you, blood saves you. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Jesus' blood is what washes you is why to spend. And I know some, even in the midst of all this conversation, somebody's still asking this today, what could possibly be worth this type of response? Why is dying to myself and living a new life for God worth it even at the cost of opportunities and rejection? Jesus calls it the pearl of great price. He calls the kingdom, he calls the gospel, he calls salvation, the pearl of great price. In other words, somebody was walking through a field, found this amazing pearl.

They went home, sold everything they had so they could buy the field in half that pearl. It's comparative devotion. I'm willing to let go of everything else so that I can have this. One of the saints before us said this, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Eternal life, forgiveness, a place in the family, all because of Jesus. And if that's you today, if you need to cross the line of faith, I wanna pray with you. Okay, if you're actually today saying, I'm gonna die to the old way so I can live God's way for the rest of my life. Make Jesus my king. I wanna pray with you, but I would love to know who I'm praying with. So if today's the day, you say I'm going all in on Jesus, would you lift up your hand? I wanna know who I'm praying with today. That's awesome, that's awesome. Thank you guys. It's a lot of you, it's a lot of you. You can put your hands up. I love that, I love that. Some of us also just kinda need to make a commitment that I've buried some of that stuff in the baptism tank a long time ago,

and some of it started to creep back. And I just need to pray and remind it that the old me, the old bones are dead in the tank. Okay, so I'm gonna invite you to pray here. Family of God, let's pray like this. Say Jesus, I want the reward. Eternal life, forgiveness, honor from God, a place in the family. So I die to myself, to my desires, my dreams, the good, the bad, the ugly, the past, the present, and the future. Jesus Christ is my King and my Savior. And right now, I am forgiven, I am free, and I will live a new life for God, not for people, for the rest of my life in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Amen, come on, let's celebrate that right now. Thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app. We hope this content was a blessing to you, but we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even content that you would like to see us create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you. You're important to us, and we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you. So send us a letter, and we hope to hear from you soon.