so we're just getting right to it. Mark 10 is where we're going to be tonight. I'd just like to take a minute and be grateful for you all being here, not just this morning, not just tonight. Many of you were here yesterday. Many of you were here Friday. Many of you were here this afternoon at 4. Our services at home on Sunday evenings are at 6 p.m., and our choir practice is at 4.30. I think my choir would shoot me if I had them come at 4, but I kind of like it. I might do it. No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, no, it sure has been good to be here. I know that prior to being here, I mentioned it this morning, didn't know really any other than the front row and Brother Aaron, but really genuinely feel like we've got friends in Missouri City, Texas. And it's been a blessing. I appreciate your pastor and his family. And it's just been good to be here. I hope that the message tonight can be a help to you. I'm going to talk a little bit about ministry. ministry. So when he asked me to address worship and preached on that this morning, tonight we're not going to be preaching on worship, but hopefully you got the idea from the message this morning that if we have the right attitude towards Christ and our worship is right, it stirs in us a desire to go out and to serve. and to minister, and that's what we're going to talk a little bit about tonight. I don't know that I'm necessarily going to address worship, but just understand with the message tonight, it's in correlation that our hearts have to be right with the Lord and understanding who He is and making sure that our focus is on Him, and that stirs us to then go out and do what we're going to talk about tonight. This isn't going to be like a question and answer time throughout the message, but just here at the beginning, I'd be curious some of your input. I'd be curious how you would describe ministry in one word. So think about it. How would you describe ministry in one word? I don't need anybody to raise any hands, but if you just want to holler it out at me, how would you describe ministry in one word? Service. Wow, that was like all we got. Anybody else? Anything other than service? Others? Service, others, come on. There's got to be more than that. Help me out. What's that? You say helping? Helping. Yeah. Anybody else? Compassion. Good. Any others? Teamwork? What was that? Okay, yeah, I feel like I could stand here and make this really awkward for longer, but let's just move this forward. Yeah, and those are all really good answers, right? So I preached this message first at our home church, oh, I would guess, probably five years ago or so now, I think it was before COVID. But I asked the same thing, and actually, before the message started, I texted probably 30, 35 people just from our congregation, and I just asked them the same thing. Describe ministry in one word. And really, I got a lot of the same answers as you did. I got a few that said that ministry was necessary, was a word I got. Someone said ministry was hard. I think that that is an accurate description sometimes. We understand that, especially in the course of, we have our life outside of the church, and don't misunderstand me, service is not just within the confines and the programs of the Cornerstone Baptist Church or your local church. But service, most of the time, kind of is through the vehicle of the local church. But it can be hard trying to balance home and family and all of those things. A few people said that ministry was about love. I think tonight we heard a compassion. Several mentioned that ministry was sacrifice. Ministry, a couple of them mentioned that ministry is rewarding. That was the word that we got back. I think that we could agree that ministry can be and is rewarding, especially when our hearts are in the right place. Did somebody tonight say others or people? I think that we got that answer. Several in my poll that I did said that. We got tonight, I know the first couple said service. That was actually the vast majority. It's fitting that those were the first two that came out tonight, because I probably texted 30 or 35 people, and I would say at least one out of three of them, if not two out of three of them, said service. But I think that's what we tend to think of when we think of ministry. We tend to think of service, right? Ministry, serving in the music ministry, serving in a children's ministry, serving by going on outreach, serving in VBS, serving in... You name the ministry of your church, we're serving it. It takes people, and we'll get to that here in a little bit. But really, in verses 32 of verse 34 of our text, Jesus is talking to his disciples about what's going to happen on the cross. So in verses 32 through 34, we're not going to read it, we're not going to look, but I'm looking at the, am I even, I opened to the wrong page? No, I'm on the right page. So they were there going up to Jerusalem and Jesus takes the 12 and at the end of verse 32 begins to tell them what things should happen unto Him. He says we're going to go to Jerusalem, the Son of Man, I'm paraphrasing here, the Son of Man shall be delivered. The scribes and Pharisees are going to condemn Him to death and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock Him and scourge Him, shall spit on Him and kill Him, and the third day He's going to rise again. Jesus is telling His disciples here that He is going to Die. He's introducing this concept to them. He's been with them for several years now. But he's starting to let them know, I'm not going to be with you forever. I'm not going to be with you forever, but I'm going to have to die, but I'm going to rise again. And he walks them through that. They're going to take me. They're going to scourge me. They're going to mock me. They're going to kill me. But after three days, I'm going to rise again. This literally is why Jesus Christ came to earth in John 3.16. So let's read tonight Mark chapter 10, and I didn't leave you hanging. I mean, I guess I did leave you hanging on purpose with describe ministry in one word, but we're going to get there in a few minutes. Would you stand please for the reading of the word of God? Again, so grateful that you're here. Let's read together Mark chapter 10 verse 35 down through verse 45. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldst do for us whatever we shall desire." In other words, we've got a request. Would you grant our request? Verse 36, he said unto them, what would ye that I do for you? Verse 37, they said unto him, grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory. They're asking Jesus, Lord, when you're in your glory in heaven, can we be there right next to you at your side, seated on your right hand and left? Verse 38, Jesus said unto them, ye know not what ye ask. Can you drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? And they said unto him, we can. Jesus said unto them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with all shall ye be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. Verse 41, and when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you, for whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Father, I pray that you'd bless the message tonight. Thank you for these good people being back faithful into your house. I pray that you'd use me as I preach, take your word, and speak to the hearts of your people in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. So what's going on in this passage? James and John, they came with a question, right? Lord, when you're in heaven, when you're in your glory, can we be right there next to you? Can we sit on your right hand? Can we sit on your left hand? Let us sit on either side of you in heaven. And Jesus, in verse 38, says, you know not what ye ask. Like, fellas, you don't understand what you're talking about. And then he goes on, and he says, Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said unto him, we can. Okay, so clearly, I'm not sure that they understood exactly what's happening. Now, remember, in verses 32 through 34, we looked at it briefly. Jesus told His disciples, they're going to take me, they're going to scourge me, they're going to mock me, they're going to kill me. But in three days, I'm going to rise again. All right. So now they said, we want to be there with you. And Jesus says, you know not what you ask. Can you drink of the cup that I drink of? Can you be baptized the same with the same baptism that I am baptized with? In other words, Jesus is asking them, can you suffer the same things that I'm going to suffer? Right? That's kind of what he's implying here. I'm going to die. Are you sure that you can endure the same things that I endure? And they, I think kind of naively and maybe even a little arrogantly, says, yeah, sure. Right? I genuinely believe, and you can see this in the response of the disciples even later in the story of Jesus and the disciples where, remember when Jesus said, tonight before the cock crow, one of you is going to deny me. And Peter says, no, no, no, no, even though all these guys turn their back on you, Lord, I will not deny you. And Jesus says, no, it's going to be you. Right? Like, really, I think what the attitude there is, is they felt that their love for Christ was so strong that they would do anything for Him. In other words, I genuinely feel, I think this is what is being communicated to us through the text here, is that they felt that, like, I'm such a good Christian, I'll do anything for you, Lord. Sure, do I need to suffer? Yes, I'll suffer for you because I'm a really good follower disciple of Christ. I really feel like they're making their Christian life, their walk, their relationship, about themselves. Jesus said, are you sure you can suffer what I'm going to suffer? And they're like, yeah, no problem. Suffer? Absolutely. Do we need to die? Well, if that's what we have to suffer for you, Lord, we're willing to do it. It's almost a little reckless with their attitude. It's kind of what we see here. Genuinely, they felt their love for Christ was so strong that they would do anything for Him because they made their Christian life about themselves. Look at verse 39. I think this is a little telling, and maybe even they didn't completely understand. Maybe they did. But they said unto Him, We can. Yeah, we can suffer. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized." See, what Jesus knew and what they didn't know is He says, oh yeah fellas, actually you don't understand it yet, but you're going to suffer. It really wasn't too long after this that James was martyred for the cause of Christ. He did give his life. John was eventually exiled on the Isle of Patmos. He wrote the book of Revelation from there. These guys, they said, yeah, we'll suffer, we'll do anything because we're really good Christians and we are willing to do it. Instead of, Lord, you're worthy, we will lay down our lives for you. It was, no, we can do this because, yeah, no problem, we're really good guys. I felt like they were, from the text, they're seeking this place of honor and recognition with Jesus based on their own love and service. You say, how do you come to that conclusion? Well, how did the story start? Lord, when you get to heaven, can we sit on your right hand and your left? They're almost saying, because we're so dedicated to you and willing to die, can we have a place of prominence? What a selfish thing to ask, right? And this is my actual favorite part of the story. Look at verses 40. The other disciples weren't real happy. Jesus says, you know, sure, you're going to suffer, verse 39, verse 40, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand, it's not mine to give. But it shall be given to them for whom it's prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. Like, hey, you guys can't ask for that. Maybe we were going to sit there. Like, maybe he's going to give that honor to us? How dare you ask that? And like, I can almost feel the macho-ness and the machismo in the room being like, hey, what's going on? They're all, you know, they probably really weren't walking around like this, but that's kind of what I imagine is like, hey, what's going on here? They were so upset with James and John for their selfish reasons. How dare you ask such a selfish thing? Maybe he was going to give that to us. They were upset from their selfishness for the same selfish reasons. Have you ever seen a dog see himself in the mirror? What happens when a dog sees himself in the mirror? He bristles up, the hair on his neck stands up. I'd love to see one charging himself. I'm sure that's happened at some point. This dog growling at himself and barking at himself in a mirror. These disciples were like a bunch of dogs barking at themselves in a mirror saying, How dare you be so selfish? I want to be selfish first. Like, that's kind of what's going on here. It's really kind of comical. And unfortunately, it reminds me of myself sometimes. It's amazing how we can look into the Word of God and be like, how can those guys have been such children? And then I can look back at my life and be like, oh. I'm a child sometimes. It's just the human response, the human condition. Our hearts are desperately wicked. Who can know it? We're sinful. We're selfish. And we want prominence. We want to be in a place of recognition and be recognized for our service for Christ even. It's not even about, you know, the accolades we can receive on a sporting event or for, you know, our high testing scores maybe when we were younger and in school or, you know, receive the employee of the month at our job. Look at me, I'm the employee of the month. I get to park three spots closer. Ha! okay and it's funny because if you see the person who's like puffing out their chest because yeah I got that I'm awesome and we see them you're like what are you doing but then we're there like yeah it's me and they're looking at us like what are you doing like we can see it when it's not us but we are so blind to our own selfishness and so you know we Jesus, when these guys are basically barking at themselves in the mirror, Christ's response in verse 42 down through verse 45, basically, we won't take the time to look through and to read it specifically, we already did once, but basically Jesus said, Well, no, because the Gentiles, they have leaders that rule over their people, okay? And he's not saying, like, hey, we don't have leadership over the people. He is trying to compare those who are saved and who worship the King, who worship Christ, compare them to lost people. He says, Gentile leaders rule over their people, but basically that's not how it works for a believer. Verse 43 and 44, he says, so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. He said, you want to be great? You want to receive accolades for all of your amazing accomplishments? You want to have a place of prominence in the kingdom of God? He says, you need to serve others. Look at verse 45. Jesus is the ultimate example of this. Or verse 44, whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. See, God has established and ordained the local New Testament church, this church, this body of believers, to accomplish His purpose. Now, in Matthew 28, the Great Commission, what was Jesus' final words to the disciples? Go ye into all the world and teach the gospel to every creature. Go ye into all the world, I'm confusing it with Mark chapter 16, I don't know why I can't remember the, you ever do that? You try to recite a verse that you've known for like 30 years and then you just can't in the moment? I'm just gonna read it. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. So the commandment, it's not just to go, And the commandment is not just go and tell them about the gospel, but the commandment is go and teach them and baptize them and then bring them in and teach them to observe all things. In other words, the Great Commission isn't just go and tell, it's go and tell and bring them in and then train them, make disciples so that we can send them out to go and tell and bring them in to train disciples. It's just a cycle. And so God established and ordained the local New Testament church, and his last words to his believers, his people, was this, to go and make disciples. Our church, this church, your church, my church in Michigan, independent Baptist churches across not just this city or our country, but across the world. The church is the hub. It's the place where we come and gather and we're encouraged and we're challenged to worship God and see God for who he is. So that stirs in our heart to go out and minister to people. See, I asked you at the beginning, describe ministry in one word. And I think a lot of times we land on serve, but ultimately the heart of that is what Jesus did here in Mark chapter 10. Jesus, He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to what? And to give His life a ransom for many. He ministered by sacrificing Himself for mankind. We minister by giving of ourselves to sacrifice for those around us. Whether it's our brothers and sisters in Christ, we can minister to the children as we're training them and teaching them to be the next generation. It encourages my heart when I see young people involved in ministry and serving in the church. Jace tonight, playing the offertory, Jyrell this morning, such a blessing. I love it to see that the church isn't just filled with the older generation of Christians. And unfortunately, I think I have to lump myself into that category at this point. I'd like to still think that I feel young, but I looked in the mirror today and I know that's not quite the case. But to see another crew of God's servants just wanting to Use the talents he's given them to minister and invest in the lives of others. It's just such a blessing. I love that. God has established the church as the vehicle to accomplish the purpose of reaching the world, of making disciples. See, we all have the personal responsibility to go and to tell and to make disciples, but the church gives us more opportunities to go and to serve and to minister than we could have if we just were out on our own. God did that on purpose. What a blessing it is to have a place where we can come and we come and we'd be encouraged, again, to point ourselves to the Lord so he stirs us up and we go out. It's like a sponge. I've used this illustration before. I don't remember who I heard it from first. But Christians ought to be like a sponge, right? So what is the purpose, the main purpose of a sponge? And I don't mean like the animal, the sponge, even though they're kind of the same thing. But like a sponge is for like cleaning, for scrubbing. You ever tried to clean with a dry sponge? I mean, okay, if it's a magic eraser, those are just different. That's like manufactured. That doesn't count. But a dry sponge, I feel like it's good for nothing other than like, you know, hitting your brother or sister on the head with or throwing at them like a snowball fight in Houston because there is no snow. Don't do that later. That was a really bad idea. I'm sorry, Crystal. I put that in your kids' heads. Oops. We're going to move on. But the sponge, it's just this really light, Hopefully that doesn't break windows. But what happens when you put a sponge underwater? It gets wet. Of course it gets wet. Like what kind of a message is this? You're teaching us about a sponge. Sponge gets wet. You can get a little soap in there and it can soak up quite a bit of water. But eventually that sponge is really full of water. What do you do when the sponge gets full of water? you squeeze it out, or if you're using it to go and clean something, heaven forbid the bathroom, they're so gross, but you're using the sponge, cleaning the bathroom, I used cleaning the shower at college, I used the sponge, I hate it. Anyway, you got your sponge, you're cleaning. What happens after a while? You've squeezed the water that was in the sponge out onto the shower, or the sink, or the window, whatever. You probably don't clean windows with a sponge. That would get really gross really fast. But whatever you're cleaning, you squeeze the water out eventually, like, it's not as good. So what do you do? You go back, you get more water on it, it fills up again, and you go back and you do the work that the sponge was designed to do. That's how we ought to be as Christians. We're like that sponge, and we come into the house of God, and we begin, when we get saved, and we begin to take in, and we begin to get filled with energy, and with this just sense of gratitude for what God has done, and we get challenged, and we just get full. But eventually we can't take in anymore. But the problem with so many Christians is they're just like a sponge that you just stick it under the water, and then you pull it out, You don't use it and then, you know, a couple minutes later you stick it under the water. You don't use it. You stick it under the water because we never actually giving of ourselves, letting ourselves be squeezed out and used for ministering to people. We're just, take in, take in, go to church, take in. I read my Bible and I fellowship with the Lord in the morning and I take in and I take in and I take in, but until we decide that we're gonna give of ourselves, we'll not be emptied out, we'll not be ministering to people. Christ gave us the example. He came not to be ministered unto, He's the Savior of the world. We talked about all that He's worthy of this morning, but He came not to be, not to receive worship, Not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. We come to church to receive and to take in and to get refreshed. We're in our Bible in our mornings to get refreshed. Then we go out and we just empty ourselves on others throughout the day as we give and we serve and we minister. Because it's people that Christ died for. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the Bible says this, For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. Paul's writing to the church at Corinth, and we're not going to do a deep dive or anything, but he's talking to them about the church. The church is the body of Christ, but in the body of Christ, in the church, are members. We talked a little bit about this yesterday. You can look through there. In verse number 17, basically we're placed in the body of Christ, each and every one of us, for a very specific purpose. Verse 17, and 18 of 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I'm going to flip over there for a minute. You're welcome to, you don't have to. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 17 and 18. But Paul writes this, if the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? And if the whole were hearing, Where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. So the church, the body of Christ, has members in the church that God has called and placed into the church with a very specific purpose. God designed us with thumbs, with opposable thumbs, by the way, which are very beneficial, I'm grateful for them. He designed us with eyes to see and ears to hear and noses to smell and every part It has a different role, but every part works together. It complements each other. We talked a little bit about this yesterday as well. Back in COVID, how many of you lost taste or smell? Anybody besides just, okay, several of you. Yeah, it was no good. Still, some things, I was talking to Ms. Crystal earlier, peppermints are disgusting. Like brushing my teeth is about the worst thing I do in the day, but I do it, you're welcome. At least I say you're welcome to my wife. But they're terrible, I just haven't got it right. I lost my taste for everything completely for about a month, my taste came back, didn't have my smell for about five months. Smell started to come back but it was weird and then it messed up my taste and then it was all just weird for at least a year and a half or two. We were on vacation and this was in March about what is that nine months after COVID and we're on vacation we had some beef jerky in the car and I had been eating the beef jerky and it was really good and then we put it away and we're just driving down the road it's been about an hour just driving down the road and I thought That's really good. Hey, can somebody pass the jerky? Like, who's got it out? And it was just this awkward moment of silence in the car. And then one of the boys is like, Dad, that's a skunk. And my nose was not functioning correctly as it was intended to. And so I just said, well, OK, can you please pass the beef jerky anyway? And we went on our business. But God in our body, in the church, in our physical body, has given us individual members that have a specific role and it complements each other. And it helps us to live. When you lost your taste and smell, it was amazing how much you noticed that things weren't right. You're like, I don't like this. I want things to be back to normal. We're placed in the church body, in the body of Christ, for a specific purpose. And the ultimate goal, God has gifted each one of us with talents, with abilities, with something unique that the person across the room or at the other end of the aisle doesn't have. God's gifted you. I'd love to be able to play the violin. I can't. People have told me, I wish I could sing. I wish I could do a lot of things, but God's gifted me with the talents that He has. God's gifted you with other special talents and abilities. Some of you maybe might not be musical or might not be able to get up in front of a congregation, but you're incredible teaching children and working with children and connecting with children. And God has given each of us something that we do that he's gifted us with. And then he brought you for a purpose to this church so that you can fulfill a role in this church of reaching this community with the gospel of Christ. That's why we're here. God has put us here for a specific role of reaching and serving people. See, ministries in the church give us an avenue to worship the Lord through our service. We talked about it this morning. That's a way that we can worship is through serving Him. Our perspective, our view of God motivates us and stirs us to service, and to serve ultimately with the goal of reaching others, because that's why Christ came. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. See, God brings church members not to fill a pew, not to have a Christianity contest, right? It's not about who's going to sit on my right hand or on my left hand, but it's to reach people. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." You know, the question we can ask ourselves tonight is, am I investing in others? Am I involved in the ministry of people? If not, why not? Is it because maybe you need to overcome pride? These disciples, they had some pride in the way, and these were the disciples of Christ. They were really good Christians who were also bonehead human sheep, like we talked about this morning in Sunday school. That's what we are, and we fight pride, and we fight fear like Gideon did. Moses, the man who led the Israelites out of exile, or not out of exile, but out of Egypt, Moses said, Lord, I can't speak. I'm not good. God says, why are you here? I made you, Moses. It's so easy for us to try to pass excuses like, well, Lord, I know that you've gifted me in this area. God, you've gifted me with the ability to sing, and I love to sing, but I cannot sing in front of people. Who made you? God made you, who brought you to this church, God did, so that you could fulfill a role in this ministry. So often, we get the idea, I should say, so often we get the idea that our service, our involvement in the ministry is what basically gives us merit badges in our Christianity. That's not the case. See, serving people is just what we do. But why we serve is more important. See, we can walk into churches all across our country where people are involved in serving, but they're not walking with the Lord. They don't have that fellowship with the Lord. But I promise you this. You find, if we can find a person who is walking with the Lord and has a close personal relationship with Him on a daily basis, I can promise you they are involved in the ministry of people. Because God cares about people. And when we walk with God and understand who He is, it just motivates us to want to share what He's done for us with someone else. It motivates us to want to teach and invest in the next generation. You know, we can give whatever excuse that we give about how I'm not very good at this or I don't do that very well, but quite frankly, choosing not to invest in others. And by the way, when I say, I can't do that, I'm just going to stay here in my pew, that's a choice to not invest in the ministry of people. And when we choose to not invest in the ministry of people for whatever reason, It's just selfishness. And you can say that I believe that God has placed us here for a reason, and I believe that God has given me talents and abilities, but when you choose not to use them, what you're doing is your actions are basically going against everything that you say that you believe. You say you love God. Do you love what he loves? He gave his life a ransom for many. You say you love your church. Are you willing to fulfill your position, your role as a member of this church, as a member of the body, to be involved in the ministry of people? Great, you're involved in a ministry. You're involved in multiple ministries. Praise the Lord for it. Is it just because you enjoy it and it brings satisfaction to you, or is it because you care about the Lord and you care about carrying what He loves? That was a little confusing, but are you in it for yourself? Are you in it because he loves people and you want to love people also? See, it flows from a heart of worship. Several years ago, probably 2018 maybe, there was a funeral. One of our deacons in our church, his dad died. They lived up in northern Michigan, the parents did. So we went up there just to support him for the day. It was about three hours, but it was just a little country church. It wasn't a big city at all. It was the town you'd go to go deer hunting because there was lots of land and not a lot of people. So we were there at that funeral and I had met Mr. Burick before and he was just a really genuinely good person. You could tell that he just loved the Lord deeply and he always had a smile and he was just a blessing to be around. And at his funeral, the pastor talked about the different ministries that Brother Dennis was a part of. He had a van route for the kids and he would go on soul winning and this and that. And there were several things that he mentioned. But every time he's talking about these ministries that he was involved in, he would tell a story about Hey, I remember this one time when he was talking to these three boys and just loving on these boys and investing in these boys. And these guys now are like, you know, years later are involved in the church and the ministry because I'm convinced of the investment of Brother Burick. And just over and over, just, I mean, four or five or six different stories about how Mr. Burick served in the church and the ministry as a part of, and specifically the people that his life touched. I came away from that funeral having just been acquainted with Mr. Burrick, but I walked away from his funeral, I knew that he loved people. Because of the legacy that he left behind, because of what he had invested in in his life. And I'm convinced that he loved people because he loved God. Right? We love the Lord. We're here on a Sunday night. Praise the Lord for it. But do we love people the way that God loves people? See, ministry in one word is that, I believe. It's people. It's others. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. We ought to love others because we love God. And God sent His Son to give His life for people. Would you bow your heads this evening? So appreciate the way you've listened, but I hope that the Holy Spirit has done a work in your heart. You know, perhaps your service has been a little bit like the disciples, to where you're hoping to get some accolades, hoping that people will notice. for the wrong reasons. Pride or in a relationship, it's what we're supposed to, whatever. Maybe tonight you just need to refocus a little bit and decide, I'm gonna love what Jesus loves. Maybe tonight you just need to get more involved, or if you're not involved at all, get involved in the ministry of people. God put you in this church for a reason. He equipped you and He put you here to help this church reach people. You know, maybe tonight we just need to stop making excuses, get our pride out of the way,