Series Slide

 

The Gulfstream G650 is the biggest, fastest, most luxurious, longest range and most technologically advanced private jet in the world.

• It seats up to 14 passengers with sleeping berths for six. It has two Rolls-Royce engines, high-speed Internet and two multichannel satellites.
• You can get from NY to LA in four-and-a-half-hours.
• And it only costs a cool $65 million to buy one.
• Maybe you can ask for one for Xmas.
• Or, you can just do what Pastor & Televangelist Creflo Dollar did…ask your church to buy you one.
• Last year, Creflo Dollar began a financial campaign to raise $65 million dollars to buy a G650. On his website and in his church, he asked for 200,000 people to give $300 so he could have this plane that he “needed” in order to continue his ministry.
• Creflo and his family live in a million dollar mansion in Atlanta. He has 2 Rolls-Royc and a $2.5 million apartment in NY. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/nyregion/preaching-a-gospel-of-wealth-in-a-glittery-market-new-york.html)
• When he was publicly criticized for raising money for the most lavish civilian jet on the market…Creflo Dollar replied to his critics like this.

 

• "Let me tell you something about believing God — I can dream as long as I want to. I can believe God as long as I want to. If I want to believe God for a $65 million plane, you cannot stop me. You cannot stop me from dreaming,"

• "I dare you to tell me I can't dream. I dare you to tell me that I can't believe God. If I find Jesus, I'm gonna look at Jesus until it comes to pass, because with God all things are possible to him that believe. And so, I say to you, dream on. Dream on baby, don't dream on what you can have, dream about what the devil says you can't have. Dream for the best. Dream for the best healing. Dream for the best deliverance; dream for the best house. Dream for the best car. Just 'cause the world don't have it, doesn't mean you can't have it. You are the children of the Almighty God. Dream, dream,"

 

• That sort of theology is called “the prosperity gospel”. It believes that entailed in salvation is a promise of physical health and material wealth.
• 
  While most of us probably don’t buy into Creflo Dollar’s prosperity gospel overtly, many of us have subtly absorbed the same basic belief in a Xianized version of “The American Dream”.
• That's the idea that we all deserve health and wealth and as a Americans, we are kind of entitled to that standard of living. And, of course, since a America is a “Christian Nation”, God is behind us all having health and wealth.
• Well, as a reaction to both the OVERT prosperity gospel, and the more subtle American Dream, the church began to produce books that rightly pushed us to reject those doctrines.

 

• Back to series slide

 

• Books like Radical.
• Radical came out in 2010, and vaulted to the top of not only Xian bestsellers list, but the NY Times bestsellers list as well.
• Radical encouraged the church to sacrifice. To cut back. To give up our wealth and our pursuit of the American Dream in order to take the gospel to the nations.
• The iconic idea in the book is when the author, David Platt, led his church to stop having snack time in the church nursery because the kids could eat at home. And the money they spent buying Pepperidge Farm Goldfish every year could now go to “missions” or serving the poor.
• Now, let me say something real quickly here as a disclaimer.
• #1, I do not think that Creflo Dollar and David Platt are making equal and opposite errors. Just to be fair, I think what Creflo Dollar is EXPLICITY preaching is a heretical and harmful doctrine…I do not think that AT ALL about David Platt.
• In fact, I actually love most of what the book Radical says.

But I do think the church has taken some of those Radical ideas…and in an effort to counter a consumerist mindset… we may have jerked the wheel too hard and found ourselves in a ditch on the other side of the road.

 

Here’s what I mean.

 

This is a quote from Radical

 

 

• “Accept him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don’t we need him? Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who is infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender.”

 

 

 

• “You and I can choose to continue with business as usual in the Christian life and in the church as a whole, enjoying success based on the standards defined by the culture around us. Or we can take an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and dare to ask what the consequences might be if we really believed him and really obeyed him.”

 

• Those statements are ones that I would amen. I might even preach.
• But there is something dangerous about the call to IMMEDIATE & TOTAL surrender. There is something dangerous about talking about REALLY believing and REALLY obeying him.
• It leaves little room for how the Scripture shows us salvation.
• The only IMMEDIATE and TOTAL to our salvation is what God does…not what we do. Instead, our response to God’s salvation of us is slow growth…its messy…its difficult…
• …and Jesus doesn’t speak of REALLY believing him…he talks of small, wavering, humble trust that reaches out to him…
• … he talks about mustard seed faith…not Oak Tree faith.

 

• Title Slide- “Buying Jets & Ditching Goldfish: Why Immanuel Doe$n’t Want Your Money of Your (Radical) Mission Trip- John 12-13

 

• So on both sides, in both the Prosperity Gospel and in a Radical Xianity…we can end up looking to Jesus until our dreams come to pass…or looking at Jesus to see the consequences of REALLY BELIVIENG HIM…but in either of those, I’m not sure we’re really looking AT Jesus…as much as we’re looking THROUGH Jesus…to some other object that commands our attention.
• For the prosperity gospel...our attention is held by our health, wealth, and possessions.
• For Radicalized Xianity…our attention is held by the mission.
• And Jesus can easily become just a means to an end.
• But on the night that Angels led Shepherds to worship the newborn King Jesus, they weren’t trying to get the shepherds out of poverty…neither were they trying to get them ON MISSION…
• Instead, they were showing the shepherds the infinite and eternal worth and beauty of the WORD made FLESH.
• …and result of that was glorifying and praising God…for who he IS.
• The angels didn’t promise the shepherds riches…they promised them peace with God.
• The angels didn't commission the shepherds as missionaries…they simply let the glory of God in the highest overwhelm them.
• This advent season, we’re talking about what it means that Jesus is Immanuel. God with us.
• And I’ve been showing you the ways that we relate to God that AREN’T Life with God.
• Today, I want you to see two more ways we relate to God that don’t really act like he’s God With Us.

 

• John 12:1-8

• Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

• John 13:1-11

• Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

 

John 13:12-15, 20

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

 

 

• Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

 

 

John 13:36-38

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

 

• Transition: I wonder if Judas would have bought a private jet.

• I wonder if Peter wrote a book called “REALLY Radical” and passed it out to the other 11 disciples.

• [Pause] I wonder how much of Judas is still in me.

• …and I wonder though I’ve sworn my allegiance to Christ, how much of me is still like Peter…ready to walk away before the sun comes up.

• See…

• 1) Life FROM God wants to carry Immanuel’s money bags, but never his cross.

 

 

 

• In the first scene we read about in John 12, one of Jesus’ friends, Mary, takes a pound of this expensive perfume, which is for real an Essential Oil, and dumped it all over his feet.

• I suppose this party started as a multi-level marketing pitch and ended in a worship service.

• Don’t they all?

• Look what Judas’ reaction is to Mary’s act of worship.

• 12:4-6

• He’s upset that Mary is wasting expensive perfume…and he gives this pious reasoning, that he thinks she should have given the money to the poor…

• But John gives us the insider info…that he didn’t really care about the poor, or proper stewardship of the church funds…he wanted the money in the money bag, because he was in charge of the money bags…and he was a thief.

• In other words, Judas was only interested in being with Jesus as long as he had control of the money bags.

• He was only concerned with Mary using her wealth for the mission of God as long he knew it would directly benefit him.

• Sounds a little like a TV preacher teaching you to let go of your money so he can buy a jet.

• In fact, Creflo Dollar pulled a little bit of this on the website for his G650 campaign.

• In an explanation why he needed the $65 billion jet, this is what he said.

• "We need your help to continue reaching a lost and dying world for the Lord Jesus Christ. Your love gift of any amount will be greatly appreciated."

• There is this nod to the mission… “Lets help the poor. Lets get the gospel out.” …but underneath…there is more of a desire to have 2 houses, 2 Rolls Royces, and the best private jet on the planet.

• Back to 1)

• And Judas’ attitude toward Jesus isn’t one that wants to be with “WITH GOD”…but only wants to take FROM GOD.

• Does Creflo Dollar still have a message to share with the world if he can’t deliver it on G650?

• Is the gospel still good news if it only brings us peace with God and not a piece of the pie?

• Not to anyone who is living “Life FROM God”

• That’s why Judas got up from the table and sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver.

• Listen, here’s the problem with living “Life FROM God” & with the Prosperity Gospel.

• Here’s the way Creflo Dollar puts it.

 

• (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/5-errors-of-the-prosperity-gospel)

 

• “When we pray, believing that we have already received what we are praying, God has no choice but to make our prayers come to pass. . . . It is a key to getting results as a Christian.”- Creflo Dollar

 

• It sees belief & prayer as a means of backing God into a corner and forcing his hand Almost we’re mobsters making God an offer he can’t refuse….or else.
• The focus is on “getting results” in your prayers…not getting to be WITH God.
• Or…listen to the way Kenneth Copeland, another Prosperity Gospel TV preacher puts it.
• “Faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function…There are certain laws governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function.”- Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity

 

• Ummmmmmm, no.

• Faith is not a spiritual energy.

• Biblical faith is trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

• It is not a self-generated force that unlocks the door to get stuff FROM HIM.

• It's a gift from God that unites us WITH HIM.

• See, the great problem with Life FROM God, and with the prosperity gospel is that it believes God for things he’s never promised.

• In fact, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “Watch me die, so you can be rich and healthy.”

 

• Instead he said this…

 

• Mat 16:24-26

• Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

• Jesus speaks in terms of following him as short-term loss with eternal gain.

• He says…its going to look and feel sometimes like you are losing…

• He says…TAKE UP YOUR OWN CROSS…he says, the only way to find life is to die.

• He says, “If you gained all the material possessions in the world, but your soul was united to me by faith…what good would that do you?

 

• What shall a man give in return for his soul?
• [PAUSE] For Judas, it was 30 pieces of silver.
• …for others it's a private jet.

 

• Back to 1)

• See, life FROM God is willing to follow Jesus…as long you can carry his moneybags…but the minute he asks you to take up your cross…you’ll cash in to serve your real master…the almighty dollar.

• TRANSITION: So…is the answer to the consumeristic ‘Life FROM God’ to stop feeding the kids goldfish in Sunday School? Is it to get so Radical that you only ever eat rice and beans…so you can give away everything you have?

• Well, first of all, I have no qualms with anyone who chooses to follow Jesus like that…

• 
  ..but be careful…because you might fall more in love with the mission, instead of the master. See…

• 2) Life FOR God receives orders from the General, but never hugs from Dad.

• I want to reitereate…I actually think the book “Radical” is a pretty good book.

• And if you read it in its entirety…and understand David Platt’s larger message in it, which actually does call you into an intimate relationship with Jesus…then I think it largely has done a lot of good.

• But, any message out of context is dangerous.

• Even words that Jesus said.

• For example, Jesus certainly commanded his disciples to go out into the world and heal people, and cast out demons, and to preach the gospel.

• Take a look at what he says in Luke 10:1-4

• After sending out 12 disciples, he sent out 72 others…

• …and he told them, “People are ready to hear and believe the gospel…the truth about who I am…so I need laborers. I need workers. I need people on mission.

• Ditch the Goldfish from your Sunday School rooms, get rid of your moneybag, and don’t waste time with small talk while your on the road…

• …instead… get out there and make disciples!

• Now, did Jesus say this? YES.

• Did he mean it? YES.

• Does he primarily want you to think of yourself as a laborer?

• [Pause] NO.

• See, while looking at those verses can have you saying, “GET TO WORK! Time to be a laborer…”

• Luke doesn’t even get out of this chapter before he flips this idea upside down. Take a look.

• Luke 10:38-40

• Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

• After the “what are you waiting for get out into the harvest and be a laborer” passage, this one can have you scratching your head.

• Martha is busy “serving” Jesus.

• But her “serving” is described as being “Distracted”.

• Its funny. Some of us “missional” folk would say Martha is the one that is Laser FOCUSED…and Mary is the lazy one. Just sitting there at Jesus’ feet listening.

• You know, right here is where Martha says, “The last thing you need is another Bible Study…you haven’t even obeyed the commands you’ve already heard. Get up and get on Mission, Mary…don’t you know the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few! And was that a smile I see? Wipe that smile off your face and get serious about the mission. We don’t have time to enjoy Jesus…we’ve got to get to work for him.”

• And look at Jesus’ response.

• Luke 10:41-42

• But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

 

 

 

• Jesus says to Martha, “You are a bundle of worry…you are so consumed with serving… you have missed the one thing that is necessary. The one that is vital. The one critical element of your entire life you’ve totally missed… by serving me.”

• He says, “Look at your sister. She has chosen the one thing she can’t lose. The good portion. She has chosen to sit at my feet and RECEIVE my words. She chose to enjoy me.”

• You know..the Radical, live your life “FOR GOD” camp often looks at the lazy consumeristic “LIFE FROM GOD” folks and says like Martha to Mary, “get up and serve. Get moving. Do something for Christ’s sake!”

• But busy-ness…and laser focus aren’t good…if you are busy ABOUT & laser-focused ON the commands…instead of the commander.

• If you only show up to the Scripture…if you only look to Jesus to get your next order…you’re going to mainly identify as a soldier in an army…instead of a child in a family.

• Back to 2)

• Do you know the only thing that Jesus ever taught his disciples to call God when they prayed?

• Father.

• When Jesus prayed…he prayed to his FATHER in Heaven.

• All through the NT, being a Xian, the relationship you have with God, your identity as you relate to God is boiled down to one thing more than any other.

• [PAUSE] You are a child of God.

• He is primarily your FATHER in heaven…not your Commander in chief.

• Now, that does not mean there is not a mission.

• That does not mean that we aren’t called to make sacrifices to accomplish it.

• But here’s the problem with the Life FOR God mentality. It doesn’t look to eternity.

• Did you see what Jesus said about Mary?

• Luke 10:42

• He said that Mary had chosen the good portion…that cannot be taken away from her.

• See, the mission, the serving is going to one day disappear.

• One day, there will be no more “mission”.

• That’s one reason that Jesus makes it so urgent.

• That's why we plant churches…and send out missionaries…and call you to live missionally…is because the mission will expire.

• One day, Jesus will return, and make all things knew…and only those who know him, who trust him, only those who received from him will be a part of that new creation.

• So, the mission is urgent…but it is not ultimate

• The portion that lasts forever is sitting at Jesus feet…an intimate relationship with God.

• And it is more than possible…in fact its going to happen to many people…that the only way they know how to relate to God is to live life FOR God. They only know God as a general…so they do a lot of things for him…they are willing to receive orders from him for the mission…but not to embrace him as a brother…or God as a Father.

• Matt 7:21-23

• That’s why Jesus warned his discples that on the last day, there will be many people who did a lot of things FOR GOD, but in the end, they never Knew God…

• they never had a relationship with him, they never had the good portion. They were just, well….workers. Laborers…they were never sons.

• Back to 2)

 

• Remember Peter in the passage we read earlier?

 

• Peter was sold out for the mission!

• Peter was ready to defend Jesus…he was ready to go to war for the general!

• And Peter thought it was silly that Jesus would ever wash his feet.

• That’s not what a general does to his troops!

• A general stands up and gives orders!

• [quiet] I imagine that it was pretty awkward for Peter when Jesus tied that towel around his waist and crouched at his filthy feet.

• But remember Peter…this is Immanuel.

• Remember Peter…this is the Almighty God that was born in a stable…he’s not afraid of your dirt…he’s not afraid of your filth…he’s not afraid to the garbage you’ve accumalted…he was born into it.

• Remember Peter…you have no part with this God if you aren’t willing to first receive from him.

• John 13:20

• Jesus told his disciples…that if you are going to be on mission FOR HIM, that first you have to RECEIVE SOMETHING FROM GOD.

• He said, you have to receive FROM me…you have to RECEIVE ME…over and over…you have to let me wash your feet, before you ever use those feet to take the gospel to the nations.

• And this is the great problem with Life FOR God.

• It often, in reaction to the American Dream…to the Prosperity Gospel…it refuses to receive anything from God…and in so doing, rejects God himself.

• Remember Mary, the same Mary that sat at Jesus feet to receive the good portion.

• Well, she found herself at Jesus’ feet again…and again Martha was serving.

• But this time Mary washes Jesus’ feet.

• And the retort from Judas was “She’s wasting it. That Money could be used for the mission. We could give it to the poor.”

• Of course, that was just a cover for Judas…but the other disciples really thought it .

• John 12:7-8

• So Jesus says, “Leave her alone…because there will be plenty of opportunity to spend money on the mission…right now, while I am here with her…let her give a gift to me.”

• No doubt, even our worship gatherings can seem wasteful to some of you who live life FOR GOD.

• Back to 2)

• Why waste my time getting together with other Xians and singing songs.

• I don’t need another bible study, I know what my marching orders are!

• In fact, we even sometimes call this a “worship service”

• Why?

• Sure, we are serving…but remember…these gatherings are designed for you to receive.

• You are to receive the word of  your Father.

• You listen to the voices around you singing and you receive the assurance that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

• In here, we pass the peace…we greet one another with a holy kiss…for a couple of hours on Sunday, the same day Jesus walked out of a tomb…

• Yes, there is a way we are like Mary and pouring out our worship for Jesus when we gather…but we are also like Mary sitting at Jesus feet…receiving the good portion…being reminded that just as he walked out of a tomb, so we will too.

 

 

 

• And eternally, we’ll be with him

• No more mission…just the GOOD PORTION…forevermore.

• You know, John, referred to himself as “The disciple Jesus loved”.

• John was the one sitting close to Jesus at the last supper. He was the one leaned in to Jesus breast.

• When Jesus announced that someone would betray him…it wasn’t John that was worried.

• It was Peter. Peter whispered to John…”Hey, ask him who it is?”

 

 

 

• You know why I think Peter did that?

• I think he was ready to draw his sword and cut the guy’s throat.

• I think he was ready to defend Jesus, like he was when the Pharisees and Romans came to arrest Jesus.

• But the truth is, he would have had to cut his own throat.

• Kind of like Judas did to himself later.

• But Peter was headed the same direction.

• And when he denied Jesus…he was distraught…he wept bitterly.

• Because he didn’t see himself as a son with a Dad to hug…he saw himself as a warrior on a mission…and when he failed the mission…he had nothing left.

• Listen, there are some of you here today that are all about the mission…and I love some of that.

• But, you are going to find that you are going to fail.

• And then you’ll be distraught. You are so fired up about changing the world for Jesus…that you are forgetting He is the one that does the changing…and its been a long time since you let Immanuel wash your feet.

 

Its time to slow down. Its time to start receiving hugs from Dad…instead of following orders from the general.

 

Transition: And I promise…the more hugs you get from your heavenly Father…the more he washes your feet…the more you receive from him…the more you’ll get done for his kingdom…he sort of works in paradoxes like that.

 

Let me show you.

 

 

• 3) Jesus is dying to be with the ones who denied him.

• I love the end of the book of John.

• Because it gives such beautiful hope.

 

 

 

• Jesus has resurrected…and he shows up on a beach while Peter and some of the other disciples are fishing…

• …Jesus recognizes that this is Peter…and he jumps in the water and swims to Jesus.

• In fact, the Scripture says that Peter takes off his outer garments in order to jump into the water.

• The same way that Jesus took off his outer garments to wash Peters feet.

• Its almost as if in this moment, Peter finally realizes what the foot washing was all about.

• So Peter swims to shore and eats breakfast with Jesus.

• And then says this to him…

• John 21:15-19

• When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

• See, Jesus is pushing the Reset button for Peter.

• Peter in all of his gusto for the mission, denied Jesus 3 times.

• And now, Jesus goes back, painfully, to each of those denials…and he’s not doing it to rub it in..he’s not trying to make Peter pay.

• He’s showing Peter that in his death and resurrection, he’s done everything to both Bring Peter back close in a relationship…and then to send him out on mission.

• Did you see that?

• Jesus doesn’t say “FEED MY LAMBS” or “TEND MY SHEEP” or “GO AND DIE”

• Before he says, “Hey, Simon…hey…you remember that kid I found out in the ocean fishing…remember when I told you I would make you a fisher of men…you didn’t understand the first time…you thought I was looking for a laborer…you thought I needed you to do something for me…but you get it now, Peter…this whole Time I was doing something for you. This whole time…I needed you to see me die for you…and then resurrect. Now peter…now that you see how I love you…now you are ready to love me. Now that you can hug me…now that you have received from me…now you are ready to go and die.”

• Now that you have seen me stretch out my hands and die FOR YOU…now you can spread out your hands and give me a hug…before you go spread out your hands and die for others.

• Now, one more time Peter…Now…Follow me.

• And Peter did.

• All the disciples did.

• Back to 3)

• In fact, what you see in the very next book of the Bible, Acts…is the most missonal, sold out, Goldfish ditchin’ people you ever saw.

• But its not because they better understand their mission…its because by the Holy Spirit, Christ is in them and they are in Christ… an eternal embrace…and that Holy Spirit as the apostle Paul says in Romans is daily washing their feet…as he whispers “Hey, remember, before you're a soldier, or a laborer, or  on mission…remember in Christ, you are a son, you are child, you are a part of the family…Now, Go and Die knowing that resurrection is on the way.”

 

 

 

• And nothing can separate you from Immanuel…

 

 

 

•