[0:00] Your prayers, my wife and I got back from Crete on Monday night, the opportunity to serve our missionaries who are on respite every three, four years, our missionaries from Africa, and those who do Muslim ministry gather for respite and they have someone come and preach.
[0:31] Again, I've been chosen to do it again. Valley was 2019. This time was Crete and what a privilege. Why they keep choosing me, I do not know. But they like my wife. Sandy mothers on everybody and she loves on them. We had every meal, every single meal. We were with missionaries and hearing their stories. And I want to tell you all, the spirit of God fell in our worship services.
[0:59] We had two people, I've got to tell you this real quick, standing in the back of the room the whole time praying. Their whole ministry, the whole time we were there, there were the Matlocks, ministry of prayer. I would look out as I was preaching. Tammy would be there, Kim would be there holding up the walls. And that's what's happening upstairs right now. Our dear sisters and maybe a brother or two are upstairs praying, holding up the walls, holding up the ceiling in the name of Jesus. I don't know about you, but that excites my soul because God is present.
[1:32] Thank you for your prayers. Again, we turn back to John chapter 7. We're following Jesus as he makes his way to the cross. Believe it or not, in this passage where we are, he's only six months from the cross and we're only in chapter 7. So John spends a lot of time developing this for us. So let's enjoy the ride and let's look at Jesus oh so deeply and oh so carefully. Father, as we come to your word now, we ask your blessing upon it. We ask that you help us.
[2:05] You open our eyes, open our hearts, that we may behold Jesus. We may, Lord, if we don't see Jesus, then we don't see anything. We have to see Jesus. Open our eyes and help your servant to preach in such a way that Jesus is lifted up. That is the goal week after week after week, Father. You know in my heart to lift up your Son, to lift up Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And so Lord, we pray you help as you've always helped do it again so that we might grow closer to him who loves us with undying love.
[2:39] That we may know, that we may be your children, Father. And really know what it means to have a Father, a Heavenly Father. Pour out your Spirit now. Fill us. We pray our worship has pleased you.
[2:52] We pray that even those who have come for healing, Lord, they will receive a touch from you. Oh God, we are here because you are here. So bless us now. In Jesus' name. Amen.
[3:05] Amen. John chapter 7, verses 25 to 36. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him.
[3:26] Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.
[3:39] So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord.
[3:51] He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
[4:10] Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
[4:27] Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer, and then I'm going to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me.
[4:39] Where I am, you cannot come. Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
[4:54] What does he mean by saying, you will seek me, and you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come? That is the word of the Lord.
[5:06] Thanks be to God. Please be seated. Thank you once again, praise team, for beautiful music. Beautiful music. Back in the day, even before I was born, the wanted poster would be put up, especially out west, I suppose, if I watch those cowboy movies, right?
[5:34] It would be a description of the person, maybe a drawing, a likeness. And then it would list the crime for which the person is sought.
[5:47] There is typically a monetary reward offered to whoever catches this wanted criminal. But there were some posters, some posters that said something very interesting.
[6:07] It didn't just say wanted. It said wanted dead or alive. That meant it was permissible to kill this person.
[6:22] And there were groups who took that very seriously. And they went around. Their goal was not to bring him in alive. It was to bring him in dead.
[6:35] This morning, Jesus is a wanted man. And we have to ask ourselves a question. What does it mean to follow a wanted savior?
[6:52] Remember where we are. We're still in chapter 7 in the Feast of Booths. The annual feast where every Jewish male was required to attend and commemorate Israel's time in the wilderness under Moses and how God provided for them.
[7:09] With rain and harvest. Last time we saw that Jesus revealed his authority in this place as the son of God who is over our lives.
[7:21] We saw that his authority would be resisted in unrighteousness. And now the plot moves ahead. Still the same time. Same moment.
[7:31] The enemies of Jesus are reaching a feverish type of pitch. They believe they need to act. They have to do something. Things are getting a little out of hand.
[7:45] Jesus now is a wanted man but not dead or alive. On his poster, Jesus is just wanted dead. First of all, Jesus is wanted dead.
[7:59] Verses 25 to 29. Remember in verse 1 and verses 20 and 21, we have seen, in this same chapter, we have seen there's a plot by the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus.
[8:12] Even some people in the crowd at the feast seem to know about this hit. I don't know if there was a poster up somewhere. Probably not. I don't think so.
[8:23] They were trying to be a little bit circumspect, a little bit clandestine. But still, everybody seemed to know that they wanted Jesus dead.
[8:35] And now as he gets to Jerusalem, the people at the feast. You see, there was a crowd that already knew. And we saw that some time ago in chapter 7. Now he's in Jerusalem.
[8:47] And this crowd is saying, yeah, we know about that. That seems to be a major theme in this chapter. Jesus is out. There's a contract out on Jesus. Deligious leaders want him gone.
[9:00] I want you to notice that as I read the text, you may have noticed that the word seek occurs several times. There's a lot of seeking going on here.
[9:13] Four times in this section, somebody is seeking. It is used by John four times in verses 18 to 20. Twice, the seeking here is a reference to killing Jesus.
[9:27] Twice, they seek to kill him. In other words, it's not something that's crossed their mind and goes in and out. They are continually seeking to kill and arrest Jesus.
[9:41] Now keep the order straight. They're not going to kill him first and then arrest him. The goal is to arrest him and then kill him. Maybe what they're thinking is he would conveniently die trying to escape custody.
[9:57] Maybe when they put him in the paddy wagon as he's going off to jail, they bounce him around a bunch in there and he would conveniently hit his head and die.
[10:09] But they do want to do things in order, it seems. Arrest him then. Now the crowd is wondering something.
[10:20] They're wondering, why is he speaking publicly and boldly, unafraid of this powerful group and that powerful group is doing nothing. The people know.
[10:32] We know they want to kill this guy, but look at him. He's standing up there preaching his heart out. He's not afraid. What's going on?
[10:46] Just like today, they conclude, is this a cover-up? Do the authorities really seem to know? Do they think he's really the Christ?
[10:58] They're just not telling us. But do they think he's really the Messiah? The one that's going to save us from the Romans? They're wondering. Here's the problem.
[11:10] They assumed from their rabbinical teaching that the Christ would just appear out of nowhere. The Bible never said that, but they had a belief system that said the Christ, basically he would come walking out of the desert and he would appear.
[11:29] No one would know where he came from. Like one of those superhero movies, you know? He just, he come, he just land. I love that pose, by the way.
[11:41] It just looks kind of painful, but they assumed that's how he would come. Boom! And so Jesus showing up the way he does is really confusing.
[11:55] They, they were like, hold it. Don't we know where he's from? Isn't that the boy from Galilee? Ain't that Joseph's son and Mary's boy?
[12:08] We know his sisters and brothers. We know he saw his brothers earlier in the chapter. They're like, this is confusing. How can he be? See, see, they, they didn't understand that, that he was, that he was actually born in the city of David.
[12:25] They didn't know about the virgin birth. They didn't know he was born in Bethlehem. They think he's from Nazareth. Totally. Even the Jewish leaders, well, they don't understand where he's from, where he's come from.
[12:39] They, they think he's disqualified. Look down in verses 41 and 42. They think he's disqualified because he's from Galilee. See, it's ironic that later the same Jewish leaders will seek to disregard Jesus because they will say, we don't know where he's from.
[12:59] Here they know where he's from. In chapter nine, we're going to find out, they're going to say, we don't even know where he's from. You see what crazy will do? When you fight Jesus, you lose your mind.
[13:12] You just, you just, you just can't fight God. Then you get confused and you, you, you say one thing and say another and you get, it's just total confusion here. But all they know, but they know one thing.
[13:24] They want him dead. He's marked for death. And yet he's not afraid. He's doing so much good.
[13:36] Powerful preaching. And miracles. And they still look down at him from being from that disgusting place called Nazareth. You see, Jesus fits, but he doesn't fit.
[13:51] So who is he? Who is this guy? It's the same problem today, isn't it? We're called to follow and make known to our culture a person who fits but doesn't fit.
[14:06] In other words, he's like us, but he's not like us. He's human, but he's holy. And because of these attributes, some are drawn to Jesus while others want to kill him.
[14:23] Oh, he's already, they can't touch him now, of course, but they want to kill his influence. People like Jesus.
[14:35] They like Jesus. You know what I'm saying? If you mention Jesus, people will say, you'll just say, I like, yeah, he's cool. People like Jesus, but they don't want his ethics or his morals to affect anything.
[14:49] We talk about the loving Jesus who welcomes the marginalized and helps you achieve your best life now. But don't mention the Jesus who invades your wallet or who invades your bedroom or who invades how you vote or who invades your identity, racial or sexual.
[15:14] We don't want the Jesus who invades our politics. We don't want the Jesus who invades how we view the poor or how we view the beginning of life. He said, that Jesus has to die.
[15:28] You see, long as Jesus is out there loving me in a nondescript way, or maybe like Santa Claus bringing me what I want for Christmas.
[15:43] Long as that Jesus is out there, he's all right. But see, once Jesus gets close and personal to our lives and says to you, you're wrong.
[15:56] Says to you, that needs to change. Says to you, I'm holy and you're not. That's a problem. See, once the real Jesus gets close, he's got to die.
[16:11] That Jesus is dangerous. Aslan is not a tame lion. And listen, it will be true for you.
[16:24] As you identify as his disciple. You have to die. In some countries, that's literal.
[16:37] Persecute you to death. One of the things that I was tasked to do was, in my preaching, was to, you know, minister to our missionaries who are working in Muslim countries.
[16:49] I can't even tell you the name of the ministry for security purposes. They walked around with name badges that did not have their last name. Because where they went with the gospel was dangerous.
[17:05] And to be there with them, to have the privilege of being with them, knowing what they are doing, knowing the people that they serve, who when they come to Christ, they put their life on the line.
[17:20] And I say, Lord, we're over here arguing about silly stuff. And my brothers and sisters, our family is putting their life on the line. And the life of those they minister to on the line for the sake of Jesus.
[17:34] You see, when you identify with the most wanted, you have to die.
[17:48] Thank God in our country, it's not literal. But your influence has to die. You've got to be marginalized.
[17:59] If you identify with Jesus too closely, you have to be put in a box. You have to be caged. Your influence on your job, your influence at school, your influence in various places has to be, you know, okay, that's not for the public square.
[18:16] You've got to be shushed. Because Jesus is dangerous. Are you willing to identify with him?
[18:28] That's the real question, isn't it? Are you willing to suffer with Jesus by being out of step with our fallen culture? Are you willing to say, no, I don't go bar hopping because, you know, I'm not trying to get drunk.
[18:44] The Lord tells me, be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. Will that go over well with your friends? If you, here you are trying to date and you're meeting somebody, young ladies and young men, and you meet somebody, and they, and they, and you know what they, and they let you know up front, I'm looking for a temporary relationship.
[19:05] Are you willing to say, get to stepping? My body belongs to the Lord. You're going to be out of step.
[19:18] And there's so many other ways. I mean, economically. I mean, when you talk about the poor, when you, when you talk about caring for the poor, because they're made in the image of God, they're not an accident, and therefore we, we care about them and we want to make sure, do what we can to assist and, and help them come out of poverty.
[19:34] You, your ideas might be a little out of step. Hebrews 13, 12, and 14 says this, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate, that's the gate of Jerusalem, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
[19:51] Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp, and bear the reproach he endured, for here, for here, we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
[20:07] We, see, I, what do you lose? You're out of step, but you're out of step with the culture in some way. What do you lose? This is not your city. This is not your home.
[20:17] We are seeking something more enduring than Chattanooga and the U.S. of A.A. Something more enduring. Something that will last for eternity.
[20:29] So you can be out of step. And fear not. Because you're just like your Savior, who suffered outside the gate.
[20:42] Sometimes the ones who think they know you, just like Jesus, will doubt you the most. They didn't know who Jesus was, but they thought knowing where he was from geographically meant they knew him.
[20:58] And I love how the Lord responds to them. He says, He says, you do know me. And where I'm from. You do know. You know I'm from Nazareth.
[21:09] Yeah. But now he hints at what they don't understand about where he's truly from. He claims to have come on the orders of the Father.
[21:20] He has been sent. His presence among them is no accident or coincidence. He's on a mission from him who is true, he says. By the way, by saying he is true, he hints at that they're not.
[21:34] Yeah. Yeah. Having, reading this gospel, we know exactly what he's talking about. Because we read chapter one.
[21:45] We know he's the word, pre-incarnate. We know the incarnate word. We know, you know, we know he's existed from all eternity, with God and was God, and now he's become flesh.
[21:56] See, we know that, but they didn't read, they didn't have John's letter. To them, this was like, who sent him?
[22:07] This is kind of cryptic. Because think about it. Here they are at this religious feast, displaying loyalty to God, but at the same time, debating about, and ultimately rejecting, the one God has sent to them.
[22:26] They are truly religious people. We believe in God, but not you. But I'm sent from God.
[22:38] What's going on here? Religion can't save. Many in our churches reject the true Jesus, and his word and ways, because they don't fit with their plan.
[22:57] You don't truly know him. You don't truly know him. It's heartbreaking to be in church and not know Jesus.
[23:09] That can change. But listen, even those who truly are truly saved can still miss him too. because of our traditions that we hold to so tightly.
[23:23] Or immaturity, spiritual immaturity. Not knowing how to discern the Lord's voice from that of the world or our own feelings and desires. We sometimes get confused that because we feel something or have peace about something, that that must be the will of God.
[23:44] No. No. We've got to discern. We've got to grow up to know his voice by staying close to his word, bringing everything to be corrected and encouraged by that same word.
[24:06] We learn to hear the voice of Jesus by staying close to the word, not staying close to social media, not staying close to the TV, not navel-gazing and getting more in touch with our feelings.
[24:23] Okay. Wonderful sermon. Somebody. The world and our own voices are very loud in our own ears, saints.
[24:36] Only the spirit working through the word can get through. Otherwise, we may find ourselves rejecting the one that God has sent to us.
[24:51] Verse 29 sums up the great truths about Jesus that the world still needs to hear. Jesus says, I know God. I've come from God.
[25:02] God sent me. God sent me. That's the big deal. That's what we have to continue to hold up. That's what the world needs to know. When they look at Jesus, they know, they see one who knows God, his own words, who's come from God and who's been sent by God.
[25:18] And ultimately, they'll realize he is God. If you want to know God, listen, if you're here, if you want to know God, then please turn to Jesus. If you want to know the truth, if you're open, if you're open to truth, if you're not just saying, I'm just going to go along with the crowd, all because a bunch of people say something is true doesn't mean it is.
[25:41] You've got to go to the source. And the source about Jesus is the Gospels. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Just read it.
[25:52] Read it. Just read it like you're reading a novel. Just read it. But do this. If you still don't know, do this. Ask God if you're there, if you're out there, if you're out there somewhere, will you please show me the truth?
[26:07] Don't be biased against truth. Don't settle for being biased against Jesus and just reject him out of hand. He's still wanted dead or alive, but not really, just dead.
[26:22] Next, I want you to notice this. There's the warrant for his arrest in verses 30 and 32. They signed the warrant. Oh my goodness. But something's weird about this thing.
[26:35] They want him dead, so they have to arrest him first. Now, what is this? What's happening here? They're trying to give it of Jesus by the law. They want to outlaw Jesus and outlaw the Gospel.
[26:51] So they send the popo to get him. They're using the structures of their day to take Jesus away.
[27:05] No pun intended. And the powerful have always tried to use the law and the courts for their own agendas. This has always been true about religious freedom around the world, even today.
[27:18] And maybe more and more in our own country, laws, the law, the system is being used more and more to minimize Jesus.
[27:31] Don't let him in. Arrest him. Arrest him. Take him away. Get him out of the building. But here's the thing. The text is they couldn't arrest him.
[27:42] No one laid a hand on him. It says, no one, they sent the guards. These guys come with the shields and the spears and the swords and the helmets and they come up there and they can't touch him.
[27:56] Later, the officers were saying in verses 45 and 46, they couldn't arrest him because no one ever spoke like him. We'll come to that.
[28:08] Here in our text, John Sopi says this, his hour had not yet come. That's why they couldn't touch him. God's timing, as we saw a few weeks ago, the God's timing rules Christ's life and his timing rules our lives.
[28:22] The divine clock had not struck midnight so Jesus could not be touched. He was the true untouchable until he was ready. What this shows us is God is more powerful than the human law enforcers and governments of this world.
[28:38] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. While we should continue to advocate for religious freedom in our own country and around the world, we must do so without fear.
[28:55] Fear, when you are afraid, you do things and say things you shouldn't say and do. We have to do this, but we have to remember whatever happens in America while we advocate for freedom, don't do so in fear.
[29:09] Listen, that's what the January 6th thing was about. Most people were afraid. It was fear going wild. And some of them were Christians.
[29:21] Fear. Fear will cause you to do things that are, you look back to, you look back years later and say, man, that was wacky. You look back, you say, I can't believe.
[29:31] What was I thinking? That's what fear will do. Saints, God is sovereign and the governments of the world cannot stand against Christ or his church.
[29:43] That the gospel will go forth. God will have a remnant. Jesus, though they want him dead, he is forever alive. Amen. I find it interesting that while they're trying to get him arrested and get him killed, the Bible says many still believed in him.
[30:04] Ain't that a trip, Mark? Ain't that a trip, Mark? They're doing anything they can to silence Jesus, to get rid of Jesus, and yet people are coming to faith left and right. It's happening.
[30:15] It's still happening around the world. The countries that are the hardest on religious freedom, a lot of them have some of the most vibrant churches. Underground, yes, but vibrant.
[30:26] More vibrant than us. It got so bad that the people didn't say, hold it. When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?
[30:45] Can you feel this? Can you see it? Can you feel it? I mean, this guy looks pretty good to me. What do you think? I mean, look at everything he's doing.
[30:56] They're looking at the evidence. Oh, family. Oh, the people would look at the evidence for Jesus. Oh, there's evidence.
[31:07] There's historical evidence for the resurrection. There's historical evidence for the reality of Jesus of Nazareth and what he's done. We don't believe in fiction.
[31:19] We don't believe in a myth. Those folk were looking at the evidence. They were eyewitnesses eyewitnesses. What the gospels are, are eyewitnesses accounts of Jesus and what he did.
[31:32] And the apostles are writing as those who either traveled with Jesus or met, like Paul, met Jesus later. We know for a fact that in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, there were over 500 brothers and sisters who saw Jesus alive after the resurrection.
[31:50] and he tells that to that church so that if they wanted to, they could go and question these people. I, witness account, the evidence for Jesus.
[32:02] Do you believe in Jesus? Have you considered the evidence? If not, why not? Who has done more good for the well-being of the world than Jesus?
[32:14] Think about hospitals, orphanages, schools for all people, not just the elite.
[32:29] All of these things were influenced by people who follow Jesus in this country and throughout Europe and other parts of the world. Do you understand if you are an orphan in some parts of the world, you toast?
[32:44] No one cares about your education. But yet Christianity comes into countries and all of a sudden there's a change and people begin to care about things they never cared about before.
[32:56] Why? Why does that happen? Because Jesus is present and he's real. Who is this Jesus? Even when there's a warrant out for his arrest, he's still drawing people to himself.
[33:12] Well, lastly, lastly, quickly. The real question is will you seek the most wanted while you can?
[33:25] Jesus ends on a very ominous note, 33-36. I'll be with you a little longer than I'm going to him who sent me. You will seek me, you will find me, and where I am, you cannot come.
[33:39] Amen. He's telling them time is running out. The feast of booze is six months from Passover. Passover is where he will go to the cross.
[33:54] Rise from the dead and ascend to heaven to be with the Father. He will be with them only a little while longer, therefore. And they cannot come where he's going.
[34:05] They're confused by his statements. They don't know what he means, so they speculate. Is he going to be with the dispersion, that is, the Jewish diaspora throughout the Roman Empire? Is he going to be with Jews who are dispersed throughout the land?
[34:19] Or maybe he's just going to hang out with the Greeks, the Gentiles, which to them would have been repugnant. You see, why is Jesus going?
[34:33] This will come up later again. And the disciples will want to know the same question. Why are you going? Where are you going? Chapter 13 into 14. He's going to talk about that. But here's the thing. Jesus is not fitting into their view of the Messiah.
[34:46] He's supposed to stay and lead them to victory. Lead them over all the oppressors of the land and make them the head and not the tail to use a biblical reference. What good is he if he's not going to stay and give them freedom?
[34:59] What good is he? But Jesus knew something they did not know. That there was a greater oppressor in their lives. That was more, more radical and more destructive than human oppression as bad as that is.
[35:17] Jesus knew that their sin, their own selfish, personal kingdom seeking, my will be done hearts was worse. Jesus knew that death was coming.
[35:29] He knew the devil, that real spiritual forces of evil were worked in the world and he was going to the cross. He came to die a sacrifice that would defeat all of his enemies and our enemies.
[35:42] Then he would rise again, ascend back to heaven, reign in glory and for our good. It was a good thing that he was going away. Good thing.
[35:55] Their expectations were all wrong so they didn't get Jesus and we have to be careful today. That even as we labor in the name of Jesus for justice and mercy, yes, we should.
[36:07] Thank God we have the freedom to do so. We should champion the least of these. Loving our neighbors should mean caring for their well-being.
[36:19] It should mean we care about affordable housing and not just sit back in our comfortable homes while our neighbors rents are doubling and tripling because of greedy landlords or out-of-control taxes.
[36:34] How can I sit in my house looking at my fireplace knowing that across the street my neighbor's about to be put out of their house because their taxes just tripled? Hey, good for my property.
[36:45] My property balance just went up. How selfish am I? How do I care about me? If I say nothing, if I, in my sphere of influence, in my sphere of influence, I say nothing.
[37:02] Shouldn't we care about the fact that equitable education for African-Americans and Latinos in our city is not the same as for white people?
[37:16] Shouldn't we care? Shouldn't we be looking to do what we can in our spheres of influence? Some of you know people. Some of you might be the people. Are you leveraging your relationships and your power for the kingdom of God or just for your own personal comfort and benefit?
[37:37] We should care. But we must never forget that as we do these things, there is a greater oppressor which all people face no matter their ethnic or economic background.
[37:56] And that is Jesus' first concern. To deliver all who believe in him from the penalty of sin and death so that we will not forfeit our souls.
[38:07] We should care for both. But remember what Jesus said, Mark 8, 36. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
[38:22] I should work for my neighbor's benefit. I should be concerned. That's why we started the school. So that, so that, so that, in particular, our minority children in this community have an opportunity for a really solid Christian education.
[38:44] So they, so that, in those primary years, they learn to read and read well and love reading and love learning. So when they go off to middle school, they're grounded not in Christ and in reading, writing, arithmetic.
[39:01] They can go anywhere if that's true. But what does it matter? It matters a little, sure. But what does it ultimately matter?
[39:14] They don't know Jesus. They grow up and they walk and they turn their back on Christ so they can live the good life. just like us living the good life.
[39:29] What, what is it? But we know Jesus. What if they don't? They lose. They go to, you can't take it with you and they will go from this place.
[39:43] There's a greater enemy. There's a greater enemy and I'm so glad though Jesus said this to them, I'm so glad that even though they rejected him, he still showed mercy.
[39:57] He still showed them mercy because after his resurrection, he said something would happen that he would be lifted up and he would draw all men to himself and some of them probably came out of that crowd.
[40:12] Because Jesus promised through the prophet Jeremiah, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.
[40:25] So our message to people today, seek the Lord. Call upon him while he is near. Call upon him when it is time. Family is urgent. For the time of grace will run out.
[40:38] It will run out. The clock is ticking down. I don't know when it's going to end. That's not my, that's above my pay grade. It's not my concern.
[40:49] My job and your job by the grace of God is to point people to the most wanted. It's to ask Jesus to pour out his spirit and still work in us that we look like him, that we look like the most wanted.
[41:03] Help us to identify with the most wanted. Help us to identify with him more and more and reflect his glory back to a culture that's in darkness. Yes, it will mean that they may want to silence us too.
[41:17] So what? Amen. We're following him. And I think we sang something about where he leads we will follow. I think we sang something like that today.
[41:28] Whatever you sing, the Lord holds you too. You made a vow with your mouth. You said it. Let's follow him. Let's follow him.
[41:41] Outside the gate. Outside the gate. Outside of the world's influence. Let's follow. And at the same time lead people outside the gate to Jesus to identify with him because though he's the most wanted, he's also the most beautiful and the most loving.
[41:59] Father, in Jesus' name, help us. Oh, help us, Lord. Lord, it's not easy to identify with someone who's not liked. We want to be with the cool kids.
[42:10] But you called us to be with Jesus, the Nazarene, the one who's rejected, but the one who reigns and is coming again.
[42:24] Help us to identify with him. In Jesus' name, Amen.