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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You belong here. And I'm so excited to get into this message. The Lord showed me some really powerful things from John chapter 3. So take out a bible. If you don't have a bible, open up a smartphone bible.0:12 If you don't have a smartphone bible, can quickly download 1 and get to John chapter 3. I encourage reading along with me in the text. I use the English standard version. But here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna go0:23 right to the text. If you don't mind, stand with me at all locations. We're gonna read this passage, John 3 22 through the end of the chapter. So Jesus has just finished his conversation with Nicodemus. That conversation0:35 is now over. And we head into a moment in the Bible, in the gospels where there's a tradition a transition from John the Baptist and his powerful ministry and it0:47 shifts now to Jesus. John the Baptist, the predecessor, the forerunner, the voice in the wilderness, now Jesus has arrived. John the Baptist ministry fades into the background and Jesus takes0:58 preeminence. Here's how that moment goes down. Verse through, 22 of John 3. After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside and he remained there with them and was baptizing.1:10 John also was baptizing at Amman near Salim because there was plenty of water there and the people were coming to be baptized. For John had not yet been put in prison. Now a discussion and and some translations1:22 put an an argument or a debate. So this is an argument. An argument arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John, this is1:34 John the Baptist, and said to him, rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing and all are1:46 going to him. John answered, a person cannot receive even 1 thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the1:58 Christ, but I've been sent before him. The 1 who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy2:09 of mine is now complete. He must increase. I don't know if you know the rest of that verse, and I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He2:21 who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness about what he has seen and heard yet no 1 receives his testimony. Whoever receives his2:32 testimony sets his seal to this that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God for he gives the spirit without measure. The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand.2:44 Whoever believes in the son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. This is God's word, and let's pray and ask God to speak to us today.2:57 Heavenly father, I ask that my words will be your words, that our hearts will be receptive to hear you and receive the truth that transforms us. Lord God, I pray our minds are3:09 renewed, and I pray that our eyes see Jesus. Him and him only. In his mighty name we pray and everybody said, amen. God bless you. Have a seat at all locations. You3:21 belong here part 6, title of the message, there's greatness in you. There's greatness in you. Turn to your neighbor and just say, there's greatness in3:33 you. All locations. Good. Just do that. Now turn to your second choice and say, sorry. No. Just kidding. Just kidding. Say, you too.3:45 Greatness. I don't know if anybody wants to be great but I think we we do. We wanna be good at least. We wanna And by great I mean we wanna be effective. We wanna be effective. Not just great for the sake of greatness,3:55 but effective. Nobody wakes up and says, you know what? Today, I really wanna mail it in. Today, I wanna be mediocre. That's not anybody's game plan. That that wasn't anybody's New Year's4:07 resolution, maybe a few people, but they're not here. We wanna be great. I wanna be great at what I do. I I know you probably men, women who have jobs outside of here, of course, you you don't wanna just do it,4:19 just somewhat. You wanna be good at it. You wanna be effective. And I was thinking about this idea of greatness. Greatness is not a sin. It's not a problem. Actually, we're gonna talk about John the Baptist today because4:29 John the Baptist is somebody that Jesus considered great. And I think we can learn a lot about this man and greatness. Greatness is not a sin, it's it's how we get to4:40 greatness. Back in 2001 there was a book that came out. It became an instant bestseller in the business and corporate world. It was called Good to Great and it was written by a guy named Jim Collins. Jim Collins became a4:52 world renowned speaker and author because of the success of that book. And in that book he highlights 11 companies, 11 companies that he believed went from good to great. He scoured the Internet and articles and5:04 magazines. He did a ton of interviews of CEOs and high level management in these companies, and he came up with the game plan. How do you bring a corporation, a company, an organization from good5:16 to great. And a lot of people being in the business of wanting to be great bought the book. Again, instant best seller. Ironically, 2 of the companies that he talked about and highlighted in that book that did become5:28 great did not stay great. In fact, they kind of crashed and burned. 1 of them you might remember was called Circuit City. How many remember Circuit City? Like 2 of us. Okay. 4 or 5.5:40 Okay. Yeah. Circuit City used to be Best Buy's number 1 competitor, and they were I used to love going to Circuit City. I mean I remember when Circuit City was out, that's when I first started to have kids and you know5:51 men, what we would say is we'd go into the store to get milk but we'd take a road trip to Circuit City and just browse the electronics. Anybody with me on that? The reason why is because we did not wanna change diapers.6:01 You know what I'm talking about? And so then we would come back, 3 hours later and have a new, you know, CD player or whatever. Anyway, that's how I went back then. But but Circuit City got off their game plan, and I6:11 don't know if you know this, but what happened that led them to their downfall, I didn't even know this. They actually got into the business of selling cars and renting DVDs. Now now renting6:23 DVDs I can understand but no one's going to Circuit City to buy a car. That's called getting off mission. That's that's called not knowing what you're here for. And the second company that I wanna talk6:35 about that he highlights going from good to great that crashed and burned was named Fannie Mae. Yeah. All young people, you hear that groan? Yeah. Yeah. Your your parents or your older siblings went6:46 through what we all went through as a country because of Fannie Mae's crash and burn. Fannie Mae is currently under government conservatorship because they sold predatory loans to people who couldn't afford them and6:57 literally were 1 of the main catalysts to the great recession, the financial collapse of 2008. It's kind of amazing though that they were once considered great, which is just a point7:09 that just because you get to great doesn't mean you stay great because maybe you didn't get to great the way you should have. Amen, somebody. Well, years later after all those catastrophes, Jim Collins,7:21 ever the author and opportunist, wrote another book called How the Mighty Fall. And so instead of talking about the rise, he talked about the descent of companies who were great and couldn't hold on to it. Of course, he7:33 talked about Circuit City, Fannie Mae, their mistakes. And he outlines in that book 6 stages that lead to crashing and burning. Stage number 1, you'll never believe it. It's actually a very biblical principle and I7:44 believe it's actually true. 100 percent. The first stage that a company will enter to crash and burn is this, pride. Pride will lead to your destruction. That's a7:56 biblical point, isn't it? The proverb says, pride comes before a fall, a haughty spirit before destruction. And so ironically, Jim Collins in in examining the business world stumbled8:08 upon a very pertinent biblical truth. Nothing can destroy your life faster than pride. But I particularly love and this is why I bring up this book, How the Mighty Fall. I8:20 particularly appreciate how Jim Collins unpacked pride in that book, in that chapter. And he says this, pride is exhibited when you get your why and8:31 your what confused. And let me explain that. When you get your reason and your actions confused. In other8:43 words, what you do and why you do it. And if you conflate those or you confuse those and you don't have clarity on those, you are susceptible to pride and eventually destruction.8:55 Nobody wants this. So here's the big point. Here's where I'm going today. Here's what I think John the Baptist outlines for us. Keep your why and your what straight. I think about our our country right9:07 now, our culture, our leaders. You think about presidents and when we have not had a very good track record for the past, I don't know, 20 some odd years of presidents who who kept their why and their watch straight.9:19 The president is there to preside over the country to lead and to help people to govern but so many times these guys get their why confused and they think the presidency is about them. Or in the9:31 ministry, in churches, how many pastors do we have to see? How many church leaders we have to see? Crash and burn. And I think about this is here's what happened is because their their why and their what got confused.9:43 They stopped realizing that that they're what ministering God's word was not about them, it was about Jesus and about people. Right? That's what ministers are supposed to do. Ministers, me, people like me are supposed to9:55 connect people to Jesus, not people to themselves. Okay? But so many times pastors get that confused and then they start to think that the people are there for them. May it never be at Waters Church, that's why you don't10:06 care if I'm on video or not. Amen. Because it's not about me, it's about God and you and people and God. And I believe that people who are connected to God make the best impact in people who are not connected10:18 to God. It's not about the preacher, it's about the people. It's about Lord. I think about sometimes moms and dads, we can fall into this trap of confusing our why and our what, and here's what I mean by You start to10:30 have children because you wanna raise a family, but before you know it, those little children become little walking, talking resumes of your life. What I mean by that is you're no longer parenting, now you're promoting.10:40 Now it's about making sure that they succeed, climb the ladder, get to the school you think they deserve, get to the grades that you think they deserve, get to the location in life that you think they deserve they10:49 deserve because really it's not about them anymore. It's about showing the world that you're a good parent. Showing the world that you're valuable because you raised those kids. And how many kids struggle under the11:00 burden and the weight of trying to live up to mom and dad's expectations to validate their parents instead of being fed and led by parents who love them and sacrifice them sacrifice for them and lead them in the fear of11:10 the Lord. Like this. This is important, friends. This is a life issue. You've got to keep your why and your what straight. I think about the industry leader. The industry leader who comes to market with a11:22 new product or a new plan to deliver that product. And he gets great success and his company takes off. But before you know it, he forgets the fact that he'd started that business to help people's lives and improve11:30 people's lives. And before you know it became about the dot bottom line. It became about cutting corners, ditching quality control. And before you know it, you have a less stellar product and a very rich, probably too11:40 rich CEO that got more involved in making money than in making a difference in people's lives. Ladies and gentlemen, our country and our world are filled with the with the carnage that results When people11:52 forget why they do what they do. There is a man in the bible that did not forget that. His name is John the Baptist. And I would like to submit to you based on the testimony of 1 Jesus12:03 Christ that John the Baptist nailed this better than anybody else. The reason why I know is because Jesus said it. Matthew chapter 11 11. This is Jesus' testimony about John the Baptist. Truly12:15 I say to you, look at what he says, among those born of women there has arisen, say the next 3 words, all locations. But no 1 greater than12:27 John the Baptist. Oh, Jesus saying that about you. And then this next line which confuses people but I'm gonna take a few seconds to explain it. He says,12:39 yet the 1 who is least in the kingdom is greater than he. What what does that mean? Does that mean like lackluster or terrible half hearted Christian, you know, is is better than John no. Not better. Greater. And here's12:49 what I mean. Greater in capacity, greater in opportunity, and greater in mission. And here's what I mean by that. See, what Jesus is saying is that the the John the Baptist13:01 was the last and final prophet under the old order. If you got a bible right now open, you're you're right now sitting in a page that belongs to the new order, John chapter 3. Right? Before that you've got Luke, Mark,13:13 Matthew, and then you got the old order Malachi and Beel before that. You get the old order, the old testament, the old covenant. Jesus is saying, according to the old order, you stack up Isaiah, you stack up David, you13:25 stack up Solomon, you stack up Jeremiah. Let me tell you something, John the Baptist is greater than all them. Wow. This guy is at the top of the list. But in the new order, because you13:37 are now born again of the Holy Spirit, if you're a Christian, again of Holy Spirit, filled with the third person of the the trinity, you have your sins washed away, you are you are saved by grace, you are made righteous13:48 before God, that the least important member in this new order is greater than John the Baptist who is the greatest of the old order. I want you to think about what that means about you. You've got tremendous14:00 opportunity, and Jesus sees greatness in you. Let's try this again. Touch your neighbor. Just say there's greatness in you. Go ahead. Just do it. Yeah. Just choose the other 1 this time. Okay?14:12 And and and what does that mean? What what what what how do we stay there? How do we get there? Couple more details about John the Baptist because I wanna build up the case for his response to this question that he's14:22 presented with in John chapter 3. Here's how he started his ministry in in Matthew 3. It says, that he went out to the wilderness. Went out to the wilderness, not to the city. He didn't go to the temple. He didn't go to14:33 the important places where people all congregated. He went out into the desert of Judea. And I've been to Israel and let me tell you something we're going to Israel in October and I hope that you come with us but but14:45 they don't even take you there. They don't even take you to the wilderness of Judea. Do you know why? Because there's nothing there. Just like 2000 years ago there was nothing there but this guy John the Baptist steps14:56 out into the middle of nowhere and starts preaching and this preaching is not exactly seeker friendly, not exactly like neighbor friendly. What's his message? Repent. Repent for the kingdom of God and the kingdom of15:06 heaven is at hand. What does it say? How does this ministry go? Look what it says in verse 5 of that same chapter in Matthew 3. Then Jerusalem and all, somebody say all. All the region around the Jordan were going to him15:18 and they were baptized by him in the river confessing their sins. Ladies and gentlemen, he goes out in the middle of nowhere and by the way, I don't know if you've read up on John the Baptist any other places but it15:27 talks about what he wore and what he ate. He wore camel skin, he wore leather belts, and he ate locusts and wild honey. This guy was the original bear grills.15:40 This is man versus This is prophet versus wild. I have I dated myself with that show, that reference. I don't know. But but but there he is out in the middle of the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey with a camel15:50 skin and leather belt, and he's preaching repentance, and look at the results. Everybody goes and sees him. Do you know what we call that in the business of church leadership? You know what we call that? Success. That's16:02 raving success. When you can gather the whole area around you and you got this message of repentance. Hey, what did what did Herod think about John the Baptist? This is an important passage. Mark chapter 6 verse 20 it16:12 says this, Herod This is a this is a wicked king by the way. Herod was a a wicked jealous evil king. And yet it says about that guy, Herod what? Feared John knowing that16:24 he was a righteous man. And notice the next line, and he kept him safe. Like Herod who hated God and hated God's people was like, I'm not messing with that guy. And he kept him safe and he protected him and it says this,16:35 when he heard him he was greatly perplexed yet he heard him gladly. That's kind of an interesting dichotomy. Right? That would be like 1 of our governors, 1 of our leaders, civic leaders coming into our church and be16:45 like, man, don't know about don't know if I like what that guy has to say but I like hearing That's that's who John the Baptist was. He was respected, he was admired, and he was greatly followed.16:57 And yet this burgeoning ministry, this burgeoning influence of the first century and he was the predecessor before Jesus And Jesus even testifies that he's the greatest man born of women in the old order of things.17:09 And now in John chapter 3, he's gonna lose it all. He's gonna hand it over. And all that was his and all of his influence and all of his organization and all of his structure is17:21 gonna shift from his ministry into the hands of Jesus. How do you go through something like that? How do you live well through something like that where you17:33 see the crest of the sunset of your life and you know it's coming to an end and yet you can be glad and have joy? John the Baptist meets17:45 that out for us, shows it to us in 20 20 vision. Let's look at it a little closer what we read today. Verse 22, after Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, he remained there with them and was17:54 baptizing. Now couple things. Notice if you're taking notes underline Judean countryside, and would you underline baptizing because that should ring some bells. We just read from Matthew chapter 3 verse 1.18:06 That's what John the Baptist did. John the Baptist went into the Judean countryside and baptized. That's how he got the name Baptist. Right? Now by the way, he wasn't John the sprinkler.18:18 He was John the Baptist, full immersion all the way under. Amen. When you when you have a health concern like we just saw in that testimony right there, we will sprinkle or we will dump water on your head to protect you.18:27 But but nonetheless the the the more common method is full immersion into baptism. And here's what Jesus is doing. He's moving in on John's territory, and he's moving in on John's ministry. And then it says this. Look at18:39 verse 23. John also was baptizing. So there's a little bit of an overlay between Jesus' ministry and John's ministry. Because verse 4 says he wasn't in prison yet. And what does he what does it say about John? He was18:50 baptizing at Aenon near Salim because the water was plentiful there and the people were coming and being baptized by him. Now let me just give you a little bit of geography about this passage. Jesus is from Galilee up in19:01 the north from Nazareth way up here, then there's Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee. Down here, this area right here is called the Samaritan area. That's where people didn't go because they were half breed Jews and they19:09 didn't like them and they hated them, and we'll talk about 1 of them next week. And then down south of them is Judea. Jerusalem the city, the capital city of of, Israel. And then down here the Judean wilderness. Here's19:20 what the scripture is showing us. Jesus comes from Galilee down down to the south of the Judean wilderness. He invades. He basically encroaches on John's territory. That is his land. It's like he went down the street and19:31 popped up a church tent and said, come to the revival meeting. This is the first church of Jesus. And he's right there in John's territory and here's what John does. Aenon near Salim is near Samaria right about here19:41 between Jerusalem and the Samaritan area. And so what John does is he moves out. He relocates. And here's what I mean by that. He gets out of the way of19:53 Jesus. Here's how you stay great in life. Here's how you get great in life. Are you ready? You get out of the way for Jesus. Whatever you're doing, whatever you're living,20:05 wherever you're going, whatever your business is, whatever your job is, whatever your family structure is, Get out of the way for Jesus to have his way in that life that20:17 you think is yours. Amen somebody? This is the first thing that John the Baptist patterns for us and it's a powerful moment. Now here's what goes down after that. Verse 25, a discussion20:29 or an argument arose and some of John's disciples and a Jew had this discussion, this debate about purification. Purification was another name for baptism or washing. So even20:40 2000 years ago in the time of Jesus, people who believed in God were arguing and debating about how baptism should happen. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been 2000 years and20:52 nothing has changed. If there's 1 thing the church loves to do is have a good theological debate about non essentials. Amen somebody. Why don't you baptize? Why do you sprinkle? Why do you21:04 read that bible? Why do read this bible? I mean, that's what we've doing for 2000 years and so you know it's gonna happen. Anyway, there's an argument. John does not go John the gospel writer does not go into the details21:12 of the argument but what he does do is he says this, 1 argument led to another 1. And isn't that how it goes? Hey, if you're part of a life group at Waters Church, please please don't get into arguments in life21:24 group. Don't get into debates about secondary issues. Stay out of that stuff. Love each other. As you like to say down here in the South, if you get mad at somebody, just say bless your heart. Amen. We say something21:36 different up north, don't we? Amen. We're a little bit more honest. But anyway, we what we're talking about here is just don't do that. It's not about what we disagree on, it's about what we agree on, and what we agree21:46 on is Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Amen? Anyway, 1 argument, this is why you don't want to get an argument because 1 argument leads to another. And here's the argument about purification leads to a21:57 little discussion, a little a little dig if you will at John the Baptist ministry. Here's what it says, and they came to John they said to him, rabbi, and it's a very big term of respect there. Rabbi,22:09 notice the lack of names. They're talking about Jesus but they don't say his name. He who was with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness. Remember the guy that you baptized? You remember the22:21 guy who came after you? Remember the guy who got here after you started this whole movement? Well, look. And by the way, just circle look for a second there because I thought about22:33 this. What are they doing? They're telling John the Baptist, hey, you better watch out. Jesus is coming for your ministry. Look over there. He's baptizing and notice the22:45 last line, and what? All are going to Your church is going down. His church is going up. Everybody's moving out to hell. What are you gonna do about that,22:57 John? And I just wanted to make a little note about that statement right there because John does not bring this up. Somebody that follows John does. Here's the point that I want to make real quick before we get to the23:06 main points. Even if you're not measuring your life against somebody else there's always will somebody willing to do that for you. Even if you avoid all comparisons there's23:18 always an advertisement waiting for you in your social media scroll. There's always a commercial popping up on the radio or on television or there's always somebody saying something to you that gets you to compare your23:30 life to somebody else's life. Don't you just hate that stuff? This is why we'll buy the thing we shouldn't buy. This is why we'll spend the money we shouldn't spend. This is why we'll feel anxious and depressed23:41 young people because we're constantly in an in a in a culture of comparison. And when we get into a comparison culture, we get enslaved to what we think our23:53 life is missing instead of remembering and rejoicing over what our lives have. And that is the first and most deadly step to losing24:05 your greatness in God. So I love John's response to this moment, because this moment, his response patterns for us how to be great in God in spite of the comparisons and measurements of24:17 life. Okay. Ready? Point number 1, confession convictions to be great in God. 3, I can only have what heaven wants me to have. Write that down.24:29 I can only have or receive what heaven wants me to have or receive and this is John's conviction. He's totally sold24:41 out. Excuse me. To understanding this, don't shake my hand after church. I'll get you sick. Okay. Anyway, I'm over it but I just don't want you to touch me. Okay. Verse 27, John's response. Hey,24:53 John. Everybody's going to Jesus's church. John, your numbers are going down. Jesus' numbers going up. And I love the fact that John's like, John's not saying, well, somebody kick up the advertisement budget.25:05 Let's get some smoke machines. Let's get some lights and electric guitars. That's what we do. Let's make sure that we put a big bill billboard somewhere. Let's get some ad budget. Where what's going on? How could this25:17 possibly happen to me? No. No. No. No. His conviction. Listen to his conviction. He says, can't receive 1 thing unless it's given me from heaven. And ladies and gentlemen, can I tell you25:29 that you need to start saying that over your life? You will start you gotta start saying this over your life or you'll forever live in what I like to call the garrison of comparison.25:40 You know, the the measurement game. What do I have compared to what do they have? Where do I live compared to where they live? How smart are my children compared to how smart their children25:52 are? How come that girl on the cover of the magazine looks so gorgeous from head to toe? 1 word, Photoshop. And if you're not careful, you'll fall into the traps of this26:04 culture to measure yourself against other people and it's not wise. In fact, when we start measuring, want you to write this down. When I start to measure my life, I'll be tempted to manipulate my life.26:16 In what ways do you photoshop? In in many ways, come to church and we Photoshop, don't we? We don't tell people what's really wrong. We come to church, hey, how are you? I'm doing great. But26:28 you were just cursing your wife out on the way to church, weren't you? You're just screaming at your son to get out of bed, weren't you? And you come to church, photoshopped. God bless you. Good to see you. Amen. Praise26:39 the Lord. Jesus is Lord. Amen. And and if we're not careful, we'll fall into the trap to, manipulate our lives through spending money we don't need to spend and and measuring our, impact or measuring our importance26:50 against other people and it starts with small things like young people this is how they're getting you hooked on smartphones with filters and Instagram and and connecting to others and TikTok and whatever you have27:01 Snapchat and making sure that you put on your best face so that people see you as something that you really aren't and that's where you get exhausted trying to live up to this expectation of what other people want you to27:12 be. And mind you these people don't give a rip about you. Do you know what they give a rip about? Themselves. While you're worried about getting all your blemishes off of your face, they're27:24 only thinking about getting their blemishes off of their face. So pop your own pimples and start to be happy with who you are. Oh.27:38 A lot of paras or a lot of pimple poppers? I don't know what didn't expect that flaws line, but amen. Amen. You know, they they try to do this to the apostle Paul. They try to do this with pastors too.27:50 I'll never forget when we started North Attleboro, and we had this guy, and he used to love to compare me to Joel Osteen all the time. He would say, you know Joel's doing this and Joel's doing that. And be like, man, I'm28:01 not Joel, and I don't wanna be Joel. Joel should wanna be me. No. I'm just kidding. But but but that's what people do with even ministers and pastors, comparing to other people28:14 instead of rejoicing for who God made them to be, for the assignment that God has given them from heaven. I have what heaven has given. And you need to tell yourself28:25 that on a regular day. Wake up in the morning and tell yourself, I have what heaven has given. Somebody say that with me on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3. I have what heaven has given. And they try28:37 to do this with the apostle Paul. They try to measure him. You know, he starts this church in Corinth in the first century. We have 2 books in our bible written to the book to the church in Corinth. It's called second28:46 and first Corinthians. He has to write a bunch of letters to these churches because they're so messed up. And when he left the church, Paul the apostle, these guys they called themselves and I kid you not, this is funny.28:58 It's in the Bible. They called themselves super apostles. So Paul was an apostle. He plants the church and he moves on. That's what an apostle does. And after he left, these these self appointed super29:10 apostles move in on Paul's territory and they start dissing Paul. They're like, oh yeah, he's nobody. Actually, Actually he's been in prison a couple times. You don't need to listen to Paul anymore. We're here. We're the29:18 super apostles. Like how do you know Christians get nutty? Right? So they're comparing themselves against Paul and I love what he says 2 verses in the NIV in29:30 second Corinthians 10 12. I love it. He says, we do not dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. In other words, we're not gonna get into the game of photoshopping our lives.29:43 We're not gonna get to into the game into the apply filter nonsense. He says, when they compare themselves or measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves they are not what?29:55 1 of the stupidest things you can do is to sit there and compare your life to somebody else's externalities. 1 of the stupidest things you can do.30:07 Look social media is a highlight reel. They are showing you their best moment. Vacation on the beach. Look at us. That's not really what they're like all the30:19 time. Nobody lives on the beach except bums. Okay? You ever go to a beach lately? Not exactly, you know, a Victoria's Secret motto show. You know what I'm talking30:30 about? This is this is not exactly the highlight of human existence and this is what happens in our world. But we put the best picture and image of ourselves in front of other people and then if we're not careful we'll30:42 measure ourselves by the best image that other people present of themselves. Then all I have is he says in the next verse in verse 13. We however will not boast beyond our proper limits but will confine our boasting.30:52 We'll keep it to what? To the field God has, say that next word everybody, assigned to us. This is my assignment. Some of you need to tell that about yourself and about your job and about your31:04 children, about your parents, about your spouse. Like, well I picked them. Yeah. But if you had to do it all over again knowing what you knew then when you were that31:16 old, you'd probably pick them again. You can't you can't put old brains on young shoulders. Amen? So we make decisions in our lives and we choose people,31:28 and instead of measuring those decisions against what we now know, what we need to rather do and say, okay God, here I am. This is my field. This is my assignment. Do what you want now through me31:40 and in me. I love this life for this is a life verse for me. First Corinthians 4 7. What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? In other31:52 words, everything that you have is a gift. You say, well, I worked hard. Yes. But somebody provided the opportunity for you to work hard. Well, I went to that college. Yeah. But somebody gave you the grades and the and32:03 the class and the teaching. I mean, you're even the breath in your lungs right now, you're not producing that. You're just inhaling it. Every moment is a gift from God. Every moment is32:15 something that heaven has decided that I should have. And if you live with this conviction, you will you will get out of the rat race of comparison. You'll get out of the measurement game, and you will32:26 start having joy in what God has given you. Conviction number 2. My joy comes from having absolute clarity on my why behind my what. Now I32:38 know this is the main theme of the message, the why and the what. But at this point, it's talking about bearing on the fact that you gotta find absolute clarity. Clarity.32:51 Why am I doing this? That's what John the Baptist had. This is what made him great. Verse 28, goes on a little tangent here. It's an important tangent.33:03 He says, you yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been set before him. Now now when he says, you you bear me witness is that he's saying, guys, I've been telling you this from the33:14 beginning that I am not the Christ, I'm not the Messiah, I'm not Jesus. This is something that I live, this is something that I believe, this is something that I've said it. You you you should have listened but you33:25 didn't. This is not who I am. I know who I am and I'm not that person. And then it says this, verse 29, this is the tangent I wanna go into. The 1 who has the bride33:38 is the bridegroom. Now let me just stop there. When Jesus refers to I'm sorry. When John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom, he is making a theological declaration and the theological33:49 declaration is this, he is telling those people that Jesus is God. And the reason why is because the old testament is filled with this kind of illusion of the bride and the bridegroom in God's relationship to34:01 his people Israel, all over the prophets. He's the husband of Israel. He cultivated her. He drew her to himself. He loved her. He married her. And then she went and she she went slumming with all the pagan gods around34:12 them. Right? And that's that's what this the the prophets talk about. Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of them. So when John the Baptist says he's the bridegroom, he's saying this guy is God. He is God the son,34:25 and he has the bride. Who do you belong to Waters Church? Jesus. You don't belong to me? I am not your shepherd. I am not your Yeah. I'm not I'm I'm I'm Well, I'm kind of a shepherd, I am not34:37 the main shepherd. My At best, I'm a sheep dog. Look to Jesus. He's the great shepherd. Amen?34:49 But anyway, look what he says. The friend of the bridegroom Now this is John's job. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears and rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this what? This35:01 joy of mine is now complete. Now what John is doing is he's describing a detail about first century Jewish weddings that you might not be familiar with but that's why I'm here.35:13 He calls himself the friend of the bridegroom. You might be thinking he's saying, oh, he's the best man. No. The best man in American vernacular and culture is the furthest thing35:25 away from the friend of the bridegroom in first century Jewish context concerning weddings. What do best men in the West do? What's the what's the most that they do? Let's be honest. Right? They throw the bachelor party,35:36 they wear a tux for the second time in their life, they hand the rings to the pastor and then they make a tea toast. That's it. Right? You don't really you don't really go to the wedding to discover what the bridegroom's35:48 What what what the groom's best man is going to do. In the first century context, the friend of the bridegroom, and this is incredible to think about this, he was responsible for everything. He36:00 put the ceremony together. He would organize the whole event. He would put the bridal party together, the the groom's hided together, all that stuff. They did a lot of stuff similar like this. He would organize the whole36:09 event. He would organize not just the event of the wedding, he would organize the 7 to 14 day feast that followed the wedding. He was the master of ceremonies. He was in charge of36:21 the ceremony, the wedding, the the the the solemnization. The whole thing was riding on him. And then he had 1 last job on the last night of the wedding feast. Here's what he would do.36:33 He would let the bride he would guard the bridal chamber where the the newly formed couple would consummate their marriage. He would guard the entrance. He would let the bride sneak in unannounced and36:45 prepare herself for her husband and then he would stand guard at the door and wait because the bridegroom would go out of his house with a big ceremony and big parade, people with torches and lamps36:57 and they would march from the bridegroom's house to the bridal chamber at night. Everybody would celebrate. Everybody would dance because it's a big celebration, and the bridegroom would his friends would stand there and37:06 wait for him to arrive. And when he heard his voice and he saw him, because it was dark back then, no no street lights, he would step aside and let the bridegroom in. That was his job.37:19 Here's what John the Baptist is saying. That's what I'm here to do. I am here to guard this woman. What's the woman? The church. You're the woman. I37:31 am here to guard this woman for 1 man and 1 man only. And I'm gonna do my job until he shows up. And when he shows up, I37:43 step aside, and he gets the glory, and he gets the preeminence in my world. And ladies and gentlemen, there is no better way to live than to do what God has called37:55 you to do and assigned you to do to the best of your ability through the ups and the downs until Jesus shows up and gets the glory from your story.38:07 That's what John is telling us right here. Let me tell you how this is gonna help you. I hope you get this because this is really good. Because in America, because we're constantly in the measurement game,Show more
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