Inland Empire: Riverside
Glorify Your Name - Audio
It's great to be together. What an amazing day you guys had yesterday with the women's event and you know that was such a special time. We're going to talk about that a little bit. But today we're going to be looking at John chapter 12 and Jesus is talking about a seed dyeing and producing many seeds. And so that's like a perfect intro into seeds and fruit and trees and all those kind of things. So I figured since it was from Jesus this is the current picture that some of you it's a mix who likes it and who doesn't. But there are so many blooms this year. I tried to take a picture of them but there's literally like a thousand blooms on the trees. Very very very sweet too. It could be the biggest crop ever. And last year we only had like 20 oranges. If you're visiting with us I give a report like every quarter about the tree. So this is the report for the quarter. So you won't have to hear for another three months. But last year I over fertilized it and only got 20 right. And sometimes we try to push ourselves a little too hard. And God's like no that's not going to work. So this year we didn't hardly anything and now God is working. He brought the rain and my best crop of all time is 80. So we're going for 100 this year. That's going to be epic. What'd you say? That's going to be awesome. So anyway enough about the tree. We're excited to glorify God. But actually I'm not done with the tree yet. Sorry. In honor of the sermon today I have some mustard seeds for you and Gabe's going to pass them out. Where'd Gabe go? Okay here we go. If you want some mustard seeds I have about 20 packages. Oh right now come get them. Come get them. Okay if you anybody who wants seeds these are black mustard seeds it actually works and the germination time is two weeks. So theoretically if you plant them today they'll come up on Easter. So it'll be kind of like very symbolic right. I'm not going to say they're going to become these huge bushes but the seeds do work and they do come up. And so I tried it out last month. I just threw a whole bunch down where my in one of the plants and they came up two weeks later. It was pretty cool. But today we're going to be talking about Jesus he said he talks about a single seed dying. It becomes many seeds. And so I went out this morning and I planted the seeds one little tiny seed at a time. Just to imagine the power of one life. Of Jesus that we all are here to worship but of the one life for all of us as he was calling us to that example. So when those seeds come up then I'll imagine all of you one by one and the amazing way that God uses your life. So maybe I read a little bit too much into the seeds but that's what I'm getting out of it anyway. So we're going to have a prayer here and I do want to pray for some of you, some of our moms especially know Tracy Miner from Orange County and her had a tragedy in her family this past week her brother Jake was killed in a car accident. Oh her nephew I'm sorry her nephew by a hit and run driver. So she's in Oklahoma and they're trying to get everything together so we'll pray for her as well. So pray with me. Father we do. We just come to you Lord in every situation God I do want to bring Tracy Miner and her family before you with their nephew and just such a tragedy God what a heartbreak that is. What do you say to a mother a brother a sister that is lost in that way God I pray you comfort them. I pray that you lead us God in this service and this time to to hear your voice to really think about your words to be inspired by Jesus and the amazing example that he was the amazing Lord that he is God we love you we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So we're going to be starting in John 12 and if you're new visiting with us we've been having a series in Mark up until now and so every once in a while we have a little one off. This is a one off week in the book of John and I'll spare you but if you want to be blown away by the Bible just go to the Bible project the book of John part one and part two and in 16 minutes you will it will blow your mind. I did it today yesterday I was like wow I never knew all this stuff is in there this book that we've read for 20 30 years right it's amazing I'll just give you a little bit of it in the first chapter of John there's the disciples are out meeting their friends and bringing them to Jesus and he's called by seven different titles. John is into the sevens okay if you're into numbers John's in the sevens the son of God the son of man Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth King of Israel Messiah and Lamb of God and so they all are coming up to him with all these different names and throughout the book he uses the term I am something seven different times I am the bread of life I am the light of the world I am the gate for the sheep I am the good shepherd I am the resurrection I am this one you know I am the way the truth and the life and I am the true vine and in seven different times he uses the term I am without anything else attached to it referring to God's covenant name back in Exodus when Moses started this whole thing with Israel and says what am I supposed to call you what is your name and he just says I just tell him I am sent you and so Jesus uses that term I am seven different times and the final time is probably the coolest in the garden when they come to capture him the the temple guards come and they say are you Jesus of Nazareth and he says I am and they just like fall back with the power coming from Jesus making the claim and live backing it up that him and the father are one over and over and then he goes through seven miraculous signs in the book and it starts with the water and the wine and goes to the sick boy and the paralyzed man and the five thousand feeding and the blind man and then at number six is Lazarus Lazarus his friend and that is right before what we are reading here today and then number seven is the resurrection itself seven miraculous signs ending with the resurrection that is kind of what we are doing in this series we are going through all these references to the cross as we are kind of leading ourselves to the resurrection at Easter so we can participate in that again and what I love is with by the time he gets to Lazarus he has caused so many controversies and he's taken down all the things in Judaism that stood against him he said that I am the temple he said I'm Lord of the Sabbath he said that I am me and the father are one I mean he's taking down all these different things and then he goes to raise Lazarus knowing that it was going to cost him his life you know I never thought about that he waited four days to go to see Lazarus and maybe it was him getting his own courage up because he knew the next time he goes to Israel he's going to die it gives the new meaning when he saw Lazarus and he wept maybe it was part of that like man this is it I love my friend but man I'm going to lay I am literally going to lay my life down to bring him back what an amazing thing and then he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey which is right before this we're going to talk about that next week what an amazing book God does things so perfectly it was it was enough but then when the more it's like the more you understand the better it gets the deeper it gets the more intricate it gets you know I was at the women's day helping to set up yesterday and so many little details that I never would have thought of right you know we don't my job was I was putting ornaments on chocolate I had these little sticks with gems on them and flowers and I'm just sticking them in the chocolates and just wondering like why am I doing this like what like at a men's event you don't care about there's decorations on the chocolate you just don't want there to be wrappers on it so you can get at it better right but just I was amazed it just all the little details and that's what God is into he's into the details you know when you read his word you may think you haven't understood and then there's so many more details that you that are even better than you expected and that's what we find here in this story and let's start reading in verse 17 he says now the crowd now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival they came to Philip who was from the theta in Galilee with the request sir they said we would like to see Jesus Philip went to Andrew and Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus and so here everybody is in this frenzy of killing Jesus of trying to figure out who Jesus is and here's these Greeks that come late to the party right they're like who's who's Jesus I hear about this guy like what what's going on with I want to meet him and you could imagine they're thinking like you don't know Jesus I mean everybody everybody knows Jesus you know it just struck me that sometimes even when we're going through a lot even sometimes there was even people boiling over but there was still new people that were meeting Jesus for the very first time you know no matter what you're going through there's still people that he's reaching that want to find him that were like us when we first started and here's these Greeks they don't even really get their question he doesn't have a one-on-one but man did they see Jesus if they were there that weekend he might that might have been a time that changed their lives my guess is if they were that eager to find him that they probably saw a lot and grew in their faith do you still try to see Jesus right are you still trying to get I want to see Jesus how do I get to see Jesus or do you already got Jesus you already you got that one down like there's so much more there's such a such a friendship but then there's so much more you know when was the last time you learn something new about Jesus you're like man I never knew that see Jesus won't let it is not like you can put your hands around he was dangerous people that walked with Jesus they they were scared at times they were blown away at times they were crying out of love at times but it wasn't a normal thing just to have an easy day with Jesus it wasn't just like a rosy path with Jesus it was there was a lot of faith building going on all the time and I pray that that is happening and I know that's happening to many of us let's continue here it says Jesus replied the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified very truly I tell you unless the colonel of weed falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed but if it dies it produces many seeds anyone who loves their life will lose it while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life whoever serves me must follow me and where I am my servant also will be my father will honor the one who serves me and Jesus declaring that the hour has come only Jesus knows what that hour is right he just walked in as a king everyone thinks that he's gonna go take over and he's like no that's not the hour I'm talking about maybe Lazarus his sister he she anointed his feet recognizing who he was for his burial maybe she was the only other one that knew what time it was what the hour was for the son of man to be glorified another theme of the book that in the same way that God was glorified as those people came out of Egypt and people from all over were in all of his power when he parted the sea when the cloud went before them by day and the fire at night he was about ready to glorify himself like he never had the biggest ever to defeat sand and evil and death and the grave he was going to be glorified once and for all I've been thinking about this single seed as I was saying before but just imagine you know you put the seed in the ground and you have to wait for two to three weeks for anything to visibly happen that's what trust is right you lay your life down and you wait for God to make something happen that's what Jesus was about ready to do they're gonna lay he was gonna give up his breath and he was gonna wait for God to raise him up we don't like to wait too much they waited for Lazarus for four days and then Jesus showed up when they had already given up hope let's wait for wait for God he said if you if you love your life in this world you're gonna lose it what does that mean love your life in this world that means you do it you want it you grab it you take it you make it happen hating the world our life in this hating their life in this world I don't think it means what I don't think it means what it says you ever met people like that oh I hate this world I hate everything about it I wish I could just destroy all of it I wasn't Jesus he created the world why would he say that about it he created all of us why would he hate us like oh let's just burn it up and start over that's not what he's talking about he says he hates the ways of the world he hates the ways of the world the evil the pain the selfishness the sin and Pilate asked him he says my kingdom is not of this world or my people would fight for it it's not to something that you fight for in that way it's not something you go to war about it's something that you lay your life down to win that's another something we don't like right anybody raised that way oh if somebody punches you in the face just pray for them that wasn't how we did it in our family so I had to relearn that right in our family it was like okay hit them before they hit you and now with Christ it's like no that's that's not the way that's not the way you know it was the I love that last part where he says my father will honor the one who serves me that God will honor anyone who serves him I mean that seems backwards right because we're the one that's supposed to honor him and he's like no if you serve me I will honor you I will give you a new name I will give you a new body I'll give you eternity all the witnesses will cheer for you for all of us that feels kind of weird but that is what Jesus meant that is what Jesus says you know I love the event yesterday who you say I am if you're visiting and you weren't there there was a women's event yesterday and I can't say much about it because I wasn't there but what I can say is that your faith was a light to all of us guys women everybody your faith was a light why because it was about healing inwardly but it was also reflecting that we're also looking outward that we're healing ourselves so that we can have God heal others we've been waiting for that for a while right we've been waiting for that in our church for a while and I feel like it wasn't something that we like did ourselves it just happened your faith inspired all of us I know speaking for the brothers here that we were inspired by you sisters by your faith by your unity by all the details by your heart people having 10 of their friends come and all the conversations and I was inspired great miracles and honesty and truth and grace there was a lot of work they were I think part of the day was to come up with what word God wants to tell you what what's your word that you want to take away I'm not sure if anybody is brave enough to share what your word was but I heard a few words how about let's hear what your word was okay just call it out why not accepted accepted obedient treasured chosen adored awesome that is amazing and that is exactly what God wanted you to get what would happen if we all took those words to heart if we all took that faith to heart I think part of the story today he's going to remind us this single seed will produce many seeds what does that mean many seeds it's just a story that means God's gonna do things you don't expect he's gonna do more than you can imagine he's gonna use your life he's gonna do it in ways that we don't we haven't imagined but if I want you to take some time to think about what is that many seeds look like for you and even pray about that God what does that mean for me because it says a single seed will produce many seeds I don't want to read too much into it but that to me means that your life matters to you're a single seed and God wants to do more than you can ask or imagine with you and with me amen let's continue now my soul is troubled and what shall I say father save me from this hour no it is from this very reason that I came to this hour father glorify your name then a voice came from heaven I have glorified it and will glorify it again the crowd that was there and heard it said it had dundered others said an angel had spoken to him and he says that his soul is troubled and that he wants his father to glorify his name you know that's that's the Christian life that we are we have trouble right we our own trouble we we take on other people's trouble when you care about people you carry their burdens to right we know God supposed to carry him but we also share but we also we get to see trouble and glory that Jesus was real he said man this is this is a lot like I said nobody really knew what he was talking about it was like this triumphal thing like you're gonna be king he's like man I'm troubled for what's coming and then he says father glorify your name he was under afraid can you imagine father glorify your name just confident unafraid can't hurt me I know who my father is that's what we all hope for in the time whenever that time comes that will be unafraid that will be able to say the same thing father glorify your name not not glorify my name my name means nothing Jesus wasn't trying to glorify his name he was trying to glorify his father's name for this very reason I came to this hour man I love that that's that's Jesus he was courageous and so many of you have been courageous in similar situations when your life was on the line you you held your faith and that's my prayer that we will you know there was a guy we were listening to and he talked about dying well it's kind of morbid but this is talking about dying and they had been studies in that when you die well the kind of strength that gives your family and the kind of force and faith and future and when you die bitter and angry just the damage it does to your family and just I never thought about it before I'm like man I want to die well I want to die with faith that's that was Jesus example to all of us that we can die with faith and we can say Father glorify your name Jesus said this voice was for your benefit not mine now is the time for judgment on this world now the prince of this world will be driven out and I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself he said this to show the kind of death he was going to die that he's talking about judgment on this world that him going to the cross was judgment on the world why it was judgment on the world because they rejected him because he was perfect and yet he was the one that they called guilty it's interesting that the he was the one that was judged against but he was also the one who was putting the final judgment on the world that he was driving out the prince of the world he was on a whole different level he's saying Satan you've lost when I'm lifted up and when he was lifted up no one was not many people were drawn to him and it was it was disturbing it wasn't like oh let me go see Jesus like no one was there but in his own way he continues to pull us to him with that sacrifice with his love with his humility with his obedience there's the drawing that captures us and fuels us in our walk in our discipleship that this inspires us to lay down our lives to die to ourselves to trust God even when we don't know the outcome to know that the prince of this world is driven out death is destroyed we get to celebrate that in a couple of weeks but we get to celebrate that every day we get to have hope in any situation because of this moment as we take our communion together I want you to think about what does it mean for you to love God more than you to love your life what does that mean to lay your life down in the big sense and also in the now how is God calling us to die to ourselves and like I mentioned before what kind of vision is he giving you with this picture of many seeds like what does that mean how is he filling you to see what he's trying to do how is the spirit leading you to produce many seeds not for you to produce the seed but for him to do it through you and through all of us let us say as we think about the body and blood of Christ father glorify your name and listen closely and you can hear him say it back I have glorified it and I will glorify it again amen let's pray father we thank you that you love us so much that you're so courageous that you're so sacrificial God thank you that you've called us out of ourselves and out of whatever we wanted with our lives that you called us to glorify you a God I pray that now as we take communion and we recognize your body and blood that set us free that gives us hope that allows us to be troubled and experience glory all at the same time God thank you that you've overcome sin thank you that you overcome death thank you that you are the bread of life that you are the way the truth and the life that you are the great I am we love you we pray in Jesus name amen
Inland Empire Church of Christ