Praise Jesus the Worthy and Faithful One

If you missed last week, Patrick broke in and gave a really powerful word. Thank you, Patrick. On Father's Day from the Book of Psalms, if I was blessed and challenged by it, if you missed it, I encourage everyone to go back and check that out. But if not, then we are in the book of Luke. We're here all summer.

We're going to be in Luke in through the early fall a little bit. I want to start with the question this morning, though. The question is this. Is Christianity or is your faith supposed to be a public or a private thing? Just think about the question.

Is your faith supposed to be a public or a private kind of thing? I think we hear that question and maybe multiple answers happen at the same time. Process a little bit. Is it public or is it private? I'm going to answer it this way.

I'll tell you. It's personal. It's always personal. Personal is different than personal, is different than private. It's a personal relationship with the Lord.

It's a personal God. It's a personal faith. You can't borrow faith from someone else. It's got to be your own. It's personal always.

But Bible faith is never private faith. Christianity, biblical Christianity isn't privatized. It is public. Think about the Great Commission. Jesus says, go everywhere you're going.

Make disciples, all nations. You think about John 20. Jesus said, as the Father has sent me into this world to reveal the love of a heavenly Father for his people, to draw people in. So I send you. Think about Romans 10.

How will they believe if they have not heard? And how will they hear if no one goes and tells them? Think about Jesus in Acts 1, he says to his disciples, you go and be my witnesses. Not my small group, my holy huddle that hangs out here, but go be my witnesses. Witness of all the things that you've seen and heard and the things that I have taught you.

Think about. In First Peter 2, it says that we should go and live lives so marked by the Gospel that even people who disagree with our ideas and our words will see our lives and they will end up coming to glorify God in heaven because of it. That only happens when our faith is lived out public. Bible faith is public faith. It's not just in here in our hearts and here in our heads, but it has to be lived out out there so that people by our faith will come into their own faith in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Today I want to talk to you about when Jesus went public with his ministry, when he went public with who he is, his identity and with his purpose. So grab your Bible, turn to Luke chapter three. Luke three is where we left off a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to pick up in the John the Baptist story. But while you're turning there, I've over the years maybe sprinkled parts of my own personal spiritual testimony in.

But I want you to kind of hear a little bit of my own testimony. I grew up in a home where both my parents were followers of Jesus. They loved the Lord and they wanted me to know the Lord and love the Lord. That was their primary goal and parenting was that I would know Jesus and love him myself. And we went to church all the time.

I was a part of. We had a thing called ras. Anybody know ras? Yeah, it's like a combination of missionary training and Boy Scouts. So we have derby racers and camp outs and vested patches and RA basketball.

We did that. I was in children's choir. I was in youth group. And in some ways it was just a part of the culture that I grew up in. Like that was going to be natural.

I was going to participate because it was a part of the culture that I was immersed in and living in. But I remember this. I'm at the age and stage in life where a lot of my childhood memories are just like more like what I remember from seeing a picture than actual memories. But I do have a vivid memory. When I was 7 years old and I was in my room on my bed, I had a bed tent.

Anybody have a bed tent? It's the coolest thing on earth if you're seven years old. It's a tent on a bed. I like things that they are what they call them. Like, what are you going to call it?

It's a bed tent. Perfect. You know, I love that I was in my bed tent and my mom was sitting a chair in my room and I have a vivid memory of her sharing the gospel with me, talking to me about Jesus, saying, he's the son of God, that he loves you. That's why he left heaven and he came to earth. He lived a sinless life.

He did so, so that he could pay the price for all of us who do sin. He could take the consequence for that so that we could have freedom and that we could have a relationship with God. I remember, like, vividly, there's that moment and I agreed with it in my head. I went, yeah, I agree. Jesus is God's son.

He loves me. He wants to be my friend forever. The stuff we teach in our kids Ministry. But it was several years later before God really fully got control of my heart. I had to, some people say, build my testimony out a little bit with some highlights and lowlights and in junior high.

But there was a moment where absolutely no God got control of my heart. And I just became so satisfied in him. And I became weird for a little bit, which happens sometimes. I got super radical and super passionate and I just wanted to talk about Jesus to everybody I knew. I wanted my high school baseball team to all become Christians and I'm going to win the whole team over.

I wanted my high school varsity tennis team. It's like I'm going to share the gospel with every kid and they're all going to, to become Christians. It's going to be awesome. The theater department, like, we're going to have revivals instead of having one act plays. It's going to be amazing.

And I got a little weird. And then something happened to me that I think is maybe the worst thing that can ever happen to a person. I became reasonable, I became sensible. And you go, that's a good thing. I don't understand.

That means you're under control. You, your sound judgment, you're fair, and it means those things, but it also means average. It also means you become moderate. It also means that you can begin to live your life in such a way that you live and you can live for the rest of your life without any passion, any conviction, without any zeal for anything at all. You could just kind of make your way through life because you're so reasonable and so sensible.

And this morning, what I want to look at is a moment that I think is incredibly important for us, us to understand as Christians, as people have been made alive in Christ. It's good to be moderate with our food, but it's not good to be moderate with our faith. I mean, I can be moderate politically. I can moderate my anger, but the gospel is never moderate. You know, our faith is never to be moderate.

The church is not to be moderate. And today I want you to see how John the Baptist, I'm so glad he wasn't moderate. I'm so glad John the Baptist wasn't like, I come to pave the way for the coming of the Lord. I'm just going to do it over here in private, you know, or my little, my little group. Well, just we few will prepare so that we'll know how to respond when the Messiah comes.

I'm so glad that he didn't look around the room and go, he's here. Before he decided how much truth he was going to share and what he would hold back on. So glad he wasn't moderate when he shared the truth. Because the things that John said were the things that God wanted him to say. They were God's words, and there were power in them.

They were true then, they're still true now. And it was really important. God wanted people to know these things. In your Bible, in Luke 3, verse 17, like this sounds like a hard word, but it's a true word. John says, one is coming, and his.

Listen to this. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And this is a picture, those of you from the country, not me. It's a picture a pitchfork coming to scoop up all of this that has been harvested.

And what's going to fall through the forks is the good wheat that will be gathered up and prized and taken to the barns or the storage areas. And then all of the other stuff is just going to be tossed aside and burnt. What it's talking about is there is a day when this is a hard truth. There's a day when the Lord returns and there's a division, there's a separation. There are those who belong to Jesus, they have turned to him, who have turned to the Son of God, who have received life and freedom and restoration and peace and salvation from him.

And he will gather them up and he will bring them home, and the others will be divided and away from that. I'm so glad that John didn't hold his tongue because of who was in the room because it needed to be heard. It has to be heard. And Luke, amazingly, he calls it good news. Look at verse 18.

Luke says so with many other exhortations. John the Baptist preached the good news. He preached the gospel with people. I'm glad that he didn't moderate the truth and moderate his purpose, that God had sent him for that. He didn't go.

I got a broad crowd here, and I know they're probably in some different places ideologically, politically. Some are ready for this and others maybe aren't quite so ready. And then there's these guys over here that they might like. I might be in trouble if I say this stuff. So I might just say the good stuff and leave out the hard stuff.

It's good news because he has said there is a way to be gathered, prized, brought home, and to experience everything God has made you for. But he couldn't hold it back. It couldn't be a privatized thing. He couldn't be passionless and restrain himself in this. I'm glad he didn't do that.

I'm also glad that John didn't make it about himself in this moment, in this time in history. If they had been paying attention to the prophecies, Jews who paid attention would have realized it was the time for the Messiah to arrive. And we can read early in the Gospels that when Jesus was born, there were some. There were some who had paid attention to the prophecies, and they were looking. They were paying attention for it.

And here John's out in the wilderness and he's preaching like, this passion and this truth and like hard words. And his presence is being known by all people around him. Craft crowds are coming out to him, and some of them are going, hey, this is the guy. Do you think this is the Messiah? What do you think?

Do you think this is the guy? And so they start thinking this. Verse 15. Now, when the people were in a state of expectation, all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he was the Christ or not. Here's John's response to them.

John answered, and he said to them all, as for me, I baptize you with water. But one who is one is coming who is mightier than I, I'm not even fit to untie the thong of his sandals. He is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He says, look, I'm just dipping you in water. This is just.

This is a pond. I'm just throwing you in water right now. But there's a person coming, and he's so far beyond me. He is so much greater than me. He's not putting you in water.

He is baptizing you with fire. And the Holy Spirit. Water is external, but what he's doing is internal. Water washes the outside. But what he's doing.

What he's doing is transforming you from the inside. Fire melts everything within, and the Holy Spirit regenerates everything and gives life and makes all things new. The Holy Spirit comes and he regenerates, and he gives insight. He illuminates, he gives power. He emboldens, he blesses.

He gives peace. He does all new things inside of your life. And I know this, like, doesn't do it. It falls short as a metaphor. But I wanted to try to, like, paint the picture.

Baptism of water, which John is doing, and baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit, which The one who is coming will do. It's kind of like John is saying, I'm going to give you a matchbox car, and it's a symbol of mobility and transportation. I'm going to give you a matchbox car, which is a symbol of going somewhere. But the one who's coming after me is so much greater than I. He's going to give you the ability to fly.

You get the picture. It's not perfect, but it's like, in one sense it's a symbol. It's not even actually, you're unable to go anywhere in it, but it shows you what it's like to go somewhere. But the other one is going to change fundamentally who you are from the inside out. And you're going to do things and live in ways and see things and speak in ways that you never could have imagined even if you were told.

That's what John is talking about. Here he goes. The one who's coming is so much mightier than I. Verse 16. I'm not fit, not even worthy to untie the throng of his sandals.

Think about that statement for a minute. Like, think about if you're in a group of people and they're listening to you and talk and you're talking with them and you go, hey, listen, you guys got to know there's someone who's about to be here. And they are so amazing. So I'm so excited. I'm shaking.

I'm so excited I'm not even fit when they get here. Like, I shouldn't even go up and speak to them. I couldn't. Like, I couldn't serve them water. This person is amazing.

And immediately, regardless if you believe me or not, you're kind of wondering going, who on earth would be coming that is so important? And you'd start thinking about not the person that's speaking, but the person who's not yet in the room, but who's coming. And this is what John does immediately. Immediately. He takes the attention off of himself and he puts it rightly on Jesus.

Do we do that? That's the way we're supposed to live our lives. John doesn't moderate anything. He's not average at all in his faith or his dependence upon the word of God or his expectation on the coming of the Messiah. Like, John's entire being is about pointing to this other guy.

It's not about me and my stuff. And look at what I've done and look at what I've accumulated for myself and look at all my accomplishments and all My things. It's like, no, no, it's not at all about me. Look at this other guy who coming. And I think about John, and it reminds me of Acts 4.

You remember the story in Acts 4 about the two disciples who were hauled in by the Sanhedrin? Peter and John were brought in, and the Sanhedrin. It's like the religious police and court system, and they've got them there, and they're looking at him staring down and said, we're sick of you talking about Jesus all the time. You guys are getting a little weird. And you got to stop talking about Jesus everywhere you go.

And Peter and John, they don't even have, like, a conference to go. What are we going to do? They could hurt us. They just, like, overflow and say, guys, if you'd seen what we'd seen, I mean, if you knew this guy, like, we knew this guy, you wouldn't shut up either. Like, we can't help ourselves.

There's nothing that could ever stop us from talking about what we've seen and heard, because it's just too great. And that's what John is doing here. He's like. Like, I can't help but talk about it. This guy is coming, and he is unbelievable.

Like, is it like that for you and me? Is that the way that we think about Jesus? Is it the way that we talk about Jesus or how we become so reasonable and sensible that Jesus is just like, you know, a figure that we talk about in our life rather than one that we just fall in awe over? Friday, I made the mistake of playing golf. I don't play golf.

I played golf two times in the last 10 years, and both times have been this year. And it's because I've been trying to build a relationship with some teachers at one of our local public schools, and they've invited me into their little group. I played in January and I played on Friday. It's a purposeful for me, a purposeful, missional relationship. I like the guys, okay?

But I'm there to share Jesus with them. Let's just be honest. That's what it's for. Had lunch with one of them, text with them, like, I'm working at this on Friday. I'm not very good at golf.

I had whiffed a couple of times on my drive, and when I finally hit it, I. I don't know the language. I topped it, and it just kind of went and rolled in front of me a little bit. And I might have thrown my club. After that moment, I looked at him.

And I said, you know what, though? In my 20s, I would have been really in my feelings about this. I would have been very self conscious about how bad at golf I am and how you feel about me. But, you know, my identity is not in my golf game. I'm so glad that's where I'm at in life now.

And as I turned to walk away and pick up my club that I had thrown, one of the guys says to me, well, what's your identity in?

Here's your pun for the day. He put it on the T, right? And I whiffed it just in the same way as I whiffed my drive. He said, what's your identity in? And I said, and I walked over to the golf cart and immediately, immediately I was crushed in spirit.

And in that moment, and it took 1.5 seconds of intellectually reasoning the situation, logically, thinking through it, going, oh, this is only my third date with these guys. I need a fourth date. You know, I've got to be really careful here. If I push too hard, if I come on too strong, I may not get a fourth date. And I'm working for a long term relationship here.

I got to lead them to Jesus. So don't come on too strong. 1.5 seconds. All these things happen. He asked, what is your identity in?

I said, and I walked off and got on the golf. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. One of the guys rode with me and I took him back to prosper after. And I started pushing just a little bit deeper into spiritual things.

Man, oh man, when did I become so reasonable, so moderate? John said, don't look at me, look at the other guy. Spoiler alert, the other guy is Jesus. Look at verse 21. Now, when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized.

And while he was praying, heaven was open. This is one of my favorite moments. I love these moments. You get a few of these throughout the Bible where we know theologically, doctrinally, that the one God is three Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's like one times one times one equals what?

Yeah, it's multiplicity, right? One God, three persons. We know it doctrinally, but sometimes we get to see it relationally how the Holy Trinity functions and lives in relationship. And here's one of these moments. Jesus was baptized.

And while he was praying again, while he was praying, Jesus is always talking to his Heavenly Father. Heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form. The invisible God took on a form like a dove. And a voice came out of heaven saying, you are my beloved Son, and you I am well pleased. It's a unity of persons and purpose.

And I love a moment like this because it gives us such insight to the community of the one God and what glorifying love we're welcomed into. But through Jesus Christ, this is all the Gospel of Luke holds. Jesus was baptized. Holy Spirit took on a form the Father calls out from heaven. But all four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, said, this is a vital moment for all Christians to understand.

So all four of them wrote it down in their gospels, and each of them give us insights in Matthew's gospel. Chapter 3, verse 13, verse 13. Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized. Here's a key moment John tried to prevent Jesus saying, no, I need to be baptized by you. Did you come to me?

See, for John, these crowds of people are coming. He's saying, repent. Turn from the direction you're going and be ready to receive the one who is coming. And each person who came from baptism, something in their eyes was the same. It was remorse, it was guilt, it was sadness, it was hope, it was expectation.

It was, I have need that must be met, and you're pointing me somewhere. I sure hope this is the answer. But when Jesus walked up, he didn't see those things in Jesus eyes. There was no guilt, there was no remorse, there was no shame, there was no sadness. There was no I need and must have.

Can somebody help? And so when he looks at Jesus, he sees the one who was greater than he, whom he was not even worthy to untie his shoes. In the Gospel of John, when he comments on this moment, says, when John saw the dove, when he saw the Holy Spirit descend like a dove, that suddenly it snapped. This isn't cousin Jesus, who was always a little special and weird and unique. I watched him growing up.

I watched him as a young man. And I went, gosh, there's just something about Jesus that is. I just want to be near him in that moment. He goes, he's the Messiah. I get it now.

And so when he comes up, there's this moment where there's no place in his life for Jesus baptism. Jesus comes up and he's like, I'm for baptism. And John goes, no, no, no, no, no, you baptize me. And Jesus goes, no, you baptize me. And you go, you.

And they're like pointing, and they go, walk, paper, scissors, shoot. And then Jesus is baptized by John. And in this moment, it's it's almost ironic for John. He had spent his entire life with this one calling and one focus. To be the one who would pave the way for the Messiah.

That would help people be ready to respond rightly. When Jesus comes, his life, his energy, his focus was all in obedience and how to respond when Jesus comes into your life. And then when Jesus walks up to John, the very first thing he asked John to do, John goes, I can't do it. You know, I feel like that. I felt like that on Friday.

Have you ever felt like that? You go, you know, wherever Jesus leads, I'll go. And then Jesus says, let's go. You go, ah, I'm thinking about it. But there might be a better way.

Jesus, let me think through this. I'm going to put it through the old thinker. I can come up with a better plan than what you've got, Jesus. Give me a little bit of time, we'll get back to you. Wherever he leads, I'll go.

Let's go. John has this moment. Could you imagine? So I was thinking about some of our favorite hymns of old, those who have been around for a very long time. Ones like I Surrender Some instead of I Surrender all my hope is built on nothing much instead of nothing less.

I asked Becca this morning, could you sing Be Thou my hobby rather than my vision? Jesse came up with one. She said, I need thee every single Sunday rather than every hour. If those were the kinds of songs that were put in front of us to sing, is there any substance to them? Is there any inspiration?

Is there any hope in a song like that? We've never sing a song like that. Yet we become content to live our lives like that so easily, sometimes imperceptibly, it just becomes like that in this moment. In Luke 3, Jesus, baptism is the beginning of what had been private going public. You know, we.

We don't know a lot about Jesus early life. We've got some stories about when he was born as a human. We've got a story about his childhood that we're going to get to later at Christmas when we come back to the beginning parts of Luke. But most of his early life it was in private to. There was a moment where things had to become public.

It couldn't stay private. It had to come out. The passion of Jesus had to be out on public and on display. He had to come out and declare who he is and why he had come and what it is he brings for all who will turn to him and what a radical savior he is. And Jesus, when he came at this moment, he wasn't coming for the repentance of sins.

That's not why he was being baptized. Everyone else in the crowd came to turn from sinful ways and sinful thoughts and sinful actions to turn to receive from Jesus. But Jesus didn't come for that. The Bible says that he was tempted in all things as we are, yet he did not sin. So he didn't come for the baptism of the repentance of sins.

He came in his baptism to make a statement, to make a public declaration marked by his baptism. And Jesus is saying something about his baptism and how it's related to John's baptism, but it's also very different from John's baptism. And when they had this conversation back and forth, John's like, we can't do this. Jesus says, we got to do this. Jesus answering him, said, permit it at this time, for in this way it's fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Why was he baptized by John? He says it's to interesting phrase, to fulfill all righteousness. John's baptism was a baptism that stopped short. It's a baptism of expectation, of hope, of things that will come. Jesus's baptism was a baptism of consummation, or in other words, that things have been fulfilled.

You see the difference between these two? John says, I baptize with water. It's hope for what one day will be when this one comes. Jesus says, my baptism is all things are fulfilled because I have come. Write this down if you're a note taker.

The point of Jesus baptism isn't about water. It's about willingness. It's not about water, it's about willingness. The good news that every heart, every life, every mind, every soul has longed for healing, for restoration, for peace is met because Jesus has willingly come to to meet every need of the human life. It's not about water, it's about Jesus willingness.

And when he comes in baptism, he's declaring his willingness to the Father and his will and his plan. He's declaring his willingness to come and meet us where we are. So for note takers, three things, three symbols, three messages to be learned from Jesus baptism. If you're not a note taker, just write these things down.

Working on something here. Number one, Jesus was willing to fully surrender to his heavenly Father's perfect plan. It's the first meaning of his baptism. He was willing to fully surrender to his heavenly Father's perfect plan. He's representing this in his baptism, that he's fully from head to Toe as he goes in water and comes out of water as he does so, not in private, but he does so in public.

He says, says, I was sent for this reason. And remember, Jesus said, for the Son of man came not to do his own will, but I came to do the will of the Father who sent me. I came to carry out the grand purpose that God promised back in Genesis 3:15, that one day I will send one who will crush the head of the serpent. I've come for this. I'm fully ready for this.

Philippians 2 talks about how Jesus remembered how he empties himself. No one took any from him, his rights, his position as Son of God, eternal Son of God, the one through whom, by whom and for whom all things were made. No one stripped that from him in his humanity. He willingly surrendered those things, even to the point of death on a cross so that he could raise us up, he could bring us up with him. Right.

He fully surrendered to this. And his baptism was a sign of this. It was done publicly so that we could see he willingly and knowingly everything that would happen after this. Yeah, I'm in. I'm willing for this.

Number two, his baptism symbolized. It told us that Jesus was willing to fully identify first, fully surrender now to fully identify with the sinful people he came to serve with his baptism. He's not repenting of sins, he's identifying with sinners. Jesus is saying, all of this other crowd of people who are coming to John, who are hearing the message, you got to turn from your own ways and turn to receive Jesus, to be brought into life with him. Jesus says, all of these people who turn, they're my people.

I've come for them. I'm identifying with them. I'm theirs and they're mine. I belong with them. They belong with me.

I'm their Savior. I will be their leader. I will be their king. He's identifying with the Jesus would later say, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

Here he's saying, I'm with them. I'm here for them, and I'm going to bring them with me. He made himself fully present with them so that they could be fully present with him. Makes sense. He put himself with us so that we could put ourselves with him.

Third thing Jesus baptism communicates is Jesus was willing to. There's another fully to fully walk in his new life, fully surrender, fully identify and fully walk in his new life. It's a public Act. It's a public ministry that's beginning, and it's a public death that would be its end. And Jesus in this moment, knowing that everything from this moment forward, for the next three and a half years would end at that crucifixion, he says, I'm in for all of it.

No matter what it costs, no matter what they have done, no matter what it takes from me. I am fully in and I'm fully willing to walk it out. Every pain, every suffering, every problem, every difficulty, every temptation, every struggle, no matter what, I'm all in. It glorifies the Father, and these people need it. So glad that Jesus wasn't moderate.

So glad he wasn't private in his ministry.

So glad that he wasn't like, you know, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. And I've come that you might have life. And that life is okay, I guess. I mean, it's not bad. You got to try it out sometimes, silly.

You're dead, and I want you to be fully alive. You don't even realize it. I want you to be made fully alive. That's what I've come for. You don't even know it.

I'm so glad he didn't say to his disciples before he ascended to heaven. And lo, I will be with you always. As long as I'm not busy and as long as you're being pleasant, and as long as I don't have a better invitation on my plate, I will be with you always, always faithful. I'll send my spirit that you'll always have help. You'll always know which way to go.

You'll never be alone. Aren't you glad that we have a God like that? Is that moderate? Is that average? Our faith shouldn't be either.

I'll tell you this. God wants so much more for you and I outside of our little box, our little box of moderate, privatized faith, if only we'll step out in faith and trust him for it. You remember a couple weeks ago when we were in Luke 3, I pointed us to the church at laodicea in Revelation 3, remember that at all. They were people who were healthy, wealthy and wise, but they thought they didn't need anything. And Jesus says, you don't even realize it because you're spiritually blind.

It's like you're blind and you're naked and you're poor and you're so messed up and you don't know because you're blinded by all the stuff that you think you've got figured out in life, Jesus also says to this church, I know your deeds, that you're neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were either hot or cold. So because you were lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. You know, Laodicea was lavish. It was beautiful.

It was. They were rich, they were educated, they had all this stuff. But even though they had all of those things, they did have a central problem in their society and the infrastructure of their town. They didn't have water, good water system. And so because they were wealthy, because they were capable, because they were educated, they built a sophisticated aqueduct to bring water in from neighboring cities.

And you think, like Colossi had fresh, cool springs and Hierapolis had hot springs. They were known for. But as the aqueduct system brought water from neighboring cities, what happens to it is it becomes the corn, right? This isn't just like. Just a spiritual thought.

Their water was lukewarm. How many of you know that there's some things that are good hot or cold, but never lukewarm, like ice cold milk with Oreos. Perfect. Warm milk is supposed to soothe you, help you calm at night and go to sleep. But lukewarm milk spit you out of my mouth, right?

Hot coffee every morning in the summer, sometimes some cold brew. But coffee that's been sitting in my cup since yesterday because I didn't wash it out, spit you out of my mouth, right? And Laodicea, this is the water situation. And by the time I traveled to Laodicea, it was lukewarm. And not only that, it began to pick up things along the way as it traveled.

Chemicals and minerals and all kinds of gross stuff. So by the time the water got to Laodicea, it was actually in pretty poor condition. It was the kind of water that if you and I showed up and drank a cup of water, it would tear our stomachs up. It's like if you travel overseas to some countries, you go, don't drink the water because it will mess you up. And so we, like in Uganda, we drink bottled water.

That's a rule when we're there. But for the Laodiceans, for people who live in Uganda, for people who live in some areas in Mexico, you go, well, they're used to it. It doesn't affect them in the same way. Their stomachs are fine because they're used to that water. For the Laodiceans, it was true.

And it's also true that what happened in their society with water and what happened in their society with wealth and comfort began to become true of them spiritually also. It wasn't just true of their water and it wasn't just true of their pocketbooks, but became true of them spiritually. With comfort and with all of the affluence and the complacency of living there, their spiritual lives became the same thing. They became reasonable and sensible and average, passionless and lacking in zeal. And Jesus says, you're neither hot nor cold, you're just kind of like your water.

I think the greatest challenge to the church in North Dallas, in Plano, I think the greatest challenge to Legacy Church in Plano, Texas is that the culture and the spirit of the community that we live in have become true of our spiritual lives. We live in a very wealthy, very educated, very logical, very reasonable community.

And if we are not very careful, our spiritual lives will be marked by the very same thing and we will just become a very warm, nice, reasonable group of people to belong to. No one praying any big prayers or dreaming any big dreams. No one really fighting to change the world around them. That people would know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. But just a safe, nice church.

Put it at the headline on the website. Just a nice group of people to hang out with and prop up some upper middle class values and some general Christian ideology.

The greatest danger to our church is the that what's true of our culture would be true of our spiritual lives. And I think that's the temptation that Satan loves to use most in wealthy places. He loves to take the creature comforts and the abilities that we have and to convince us deep in our soul to not be completely dependent upon Jesus Christ and not all in with the life that he has given and called us to walk out. Jesus says, I wish you were hot on fire for the things of God, passionate about his kingdom, knowing that these days are the smallest portion of our lives and the greater portion is what happens after he returns. Counting your days Teach us to number our days.

Lord, I wish you were hot or I wish you were cold. Because when you're cold then at least you know you need to get warmed up.

Lukewarm.

What's your spiritual life like today?

I mean, is it like that when you look at Jesus baptism? When we're fully surrendered, when we fully like in our minds and our hearts and we get it, put on the T. What's your identity in then? Kevin? We're fully wrapped up in Jesus.

When we're fully ready to walk in the new life that he brings. All of it, all of it can't be modern Be like Peter and John. Be like John the Baptist. We can't help but talk about what we've seen and heard. I can't help myself.

The Bible tells us to be filled with the Spirit. And the Bible does teach that the moment you turn to Jesus, you're indwelt with the Holy Spirit. He comes to live within the life of the believer. He's your helper. He's your guide.

He regenerates your soul. He takes a heart of flesh or heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. He helps you. He illuminates you. He does all these things.

But it also says that daily there's a decision to invite him to fill your mind and heart and your thoughts and your words and your actions. Because either you will wake up each day and you will be filled with complacency and with boredom and with feelings of, I don't have enough right, I don't know what I'm going to do today. Or I'm gonna. I'm gonna chase some dream because I don't feel satisfied or fulfilled. Or you're gonna listen to all of the voices telling you who you are and how you should think and what you should do.

Or every day you're gonna wake up and say, holy Spirit, would you just fill my mind and fill my heart with the mercy and the grace and the goodness of Jesus Christ? For it's his kindness which leads to repentance. Help me to walk in his ways and be full of that life that Jesus Christ came to bring. And may it pour out of me not just so that I could sit in my holy huddle and go, oh, I feel so good about myself today, but so that I could come out here and it would overflow from me and there would be neighbors and friends and co workers who would go, I see it. There's something different.

Like that first Peter 2 passage. I don't even agree with the stuff that this guy says. I know he goes to church. That church is so out of date now, you know? But I can't help myself.

The way he's living. I'm just drawn in, and I want to glorify his God. That's the promise of scripture, guys. I'm not, like, making stuff up. It's the call in our lives.

Holy Spirit, would you fill me today? Would you fill me so full that it just keeps pouring out of me? And even people who disagree with me fundamentally would come to worship you and love you and have their lives turned over and brought to redemption because of is that in you. I'm going to spend a few moments just turning to the Lord in prayer and considering the passion of John the Baptist, who Jesus said, there was no greater man who walked this earth than John the Baptist. That would be second to Jesus.

That's what Jesus said. Considering the passion of Jesus Christ, who would unload himself of glory and take on humility, who would say, I'm not here to be served by those who I made. I came to serve them and to lift them up. If you bow your heads and just consider for a moment, Jesus is the eternal Son of God. And before there was even not just the land and the water, before there was even time itself, God existed in timelessness as Father, Son and Spirit.

There was no need. There's nothing missing in the interior life of the Trinity. Glorifying love like we see at the moment of Jesus. Baptism, presence and affirmation and honor. That's all.

Time, relationship.

And then God spoke out of the darkness and said, let there be light. And with that time was created the sun and the moon. And then you said, let there be land and departed waters, O God.

And then you filled the land. And then at the end of filling the land with all kinds of creatures, you made man and woman in your image. You made them. He said, I knew my people and my place for my purposes. Enjoy and delight in that.

And the moment that mankind said, you know, I think I could do better. Wherever you lead, I've got a different idea. It all fell apart. And we know it. We don't have to convince ourselves of it.

We know it every morning when we wake, when our bodies ache and our minds are full of anxiety, when we see brokenness in the streets and in our lives.

But Jesus, you left eternity to enter time.

Those that you made, you came and said, I'll sit under you. I'll do it so that I can live with you.

It is your passion that took public that which was private. And if you hadn't, we wouldn't know any better. We'd just be dead in our sin.

We thank you that you've called us to yourself. Thank you that you've saved us.

I can't believe the sacrifice. I can't believe it. It's not just the story, it's the reality.

Forgive us that we don't stand in awe. We become so familiar. God, Jesus, he's my friend. He's my homeboy.

May we be more like John the Baptist who said, one is coming who is greater than I. So much so I just tremble at his coming and you're returning. You've promised it. And when you do, like John said in verse 17, there's a separation. The clock is ticking.

Holy Spirit, would you fill us and make us a people who overflow who can't help but talk about we've seen and heard in Jesus Christ because we have co workers and friends and golf partners that don't know you. They haven't experienced your healing or peace and we know it.

Would you help us to be bold? Would you help us to be faithful? Would you help us to be the right kind of radical, not radicalized like politics and the ugliness of this world but completely dependent upon you and completely bold and willing to share our faith with others? Would you help us to be that for your glory?

Take just a moment where you're open are and talk with God about that and what life is in you right now. It's an abundant life that he promises grace and mercy and love to be received and overflowing and where you are ask him to fill you up.