Immediately after the service, they will be right around the corner. So if you walk out the door, turn left, then make another left, you'll see our house. You'll know it because it has a giant pirate map hanging on the side of it. We're having a lunch in there for anybody who wants to find out more about what's going on in Africa, and especially Niger, and about the ministry that they've had there for the last 10 years. As he said, there will be pizza and other things. Come on over, have a slice of pizza. Listen to what they have to say, get to know them. That'll be a great time of fellowship immediately after the service, okay? Those of you who are visiting, we are a church that goes verse by verse through books of the Bible, and we are going through the gospel according to John. And for the next three weeks, We're going to be talking about, as the text leads us, we're going to be talking about a few terms that are synonymous in the Bible. Here are those terms. Joy, satisfaction, happiness, contentment. In American culture, we've compartmentalized those terms and given them different meanings. The Bible does away with all that. Those four terms, joy, happiness, satisfaction, and contentment, are synonymous. I want you to go with me in a little illustration here, okay? Imagine a big container, a plastic, like a big Tupperware container, a bin, okay? In this bin, on the outside, there's a label that's marked, the meaning and purpose of human life, okay? This is a container, and if you look in it to find out what the meaning and purpose for your life is, it has the answers. But you'll see a lot of these terms. Imagine the container. Inside, there's all these terms, okay? And they're floating around. You'll find joy in there. You'll find happiness in there. You'll find satisfaction, but you're also going to find, listen to me closely, worship, adoration, relationship, love, glory. Pleasure. Now, if you go and you spend time inside this container, you're going to be like, how do I make sense of all these different terms the Bible uses about why I'm even here? Well, if you spend enough time and, like, get inside this container and make this your life's purpose to figure out what the Bible says, what God says is the purpose for your life, you'll come away with statements. And here's the statement that is almost universally accepted for the reason and purpose for your life. Here it is. You exist, man, woman, children, you exist to glorify God. That's the first part. That means make much out of the Creator. And now you should start asking immediately, how do I do that? So glad you asked. You exist to glorify God, next part, by enjoying Him forever. Now people have reworded that different ways, but essentially that's why human beings exist. To glorify God by enjoying Him forever. Now you know this already because you know how to tell when somebody's enjoying something. For example, Ashley and I enjoy coffee at How You Brewin' down on the other end of the island. Good friends of ours own that place, it's a Christian owned business, you should go there and drink coffee. If you do, you'll probably find us there. And you can tell that I enjoy red velvet flavored coffee. I order it every time they have it, it's my favorite thing, and I go and you'll know I enjoy it, because when I'm enjoying it, oh, so good. Drinking it down, hoping that Ash will be okay if I buy another cup. You know, you can see, he enjoys that coffee. You could also tell that I enjoy my wife. Here's how you could tell. I was just gone for two weeks in Los Angeles. When I came back, if you had a camera there, you would have seen I got off the plane, got my baggage, saw my wife, and there was a big smooch that happened immediately afterwards. That man clearly enjoys his wife. Listen very closely to me. God, the creator who made you, is not one pleasure among many. He is the pleasure for which you were made to crave with every last ounce of your being. And for the last 20 years of my life, this has been the sole focus. When I was about, I'm 44, when I was about 24, I came to a severe depression. I started asking questions like a lot of people in their teens and 20s do. Like, this does not feel right. Something is not right with the trajectory of my life. There doesn't seem to be a meaning, meaningful enough, for me to keep getting out of bed in the morning. I was at that place. I was in a bad state of mind. So I was drinking, addicted to a bunch of stuff, all kinds of things, trying to find something. And it was in my mid-20s that I started to really, really search the scriptures, and the whole trajectory of my life changed. Let me tell you something that you may or may not already know. Every single person within the sound of my voice, we all have something in common. We have a lot in common, but one particular thing. You are a creature made to find satisfaction. Joy, happiness, contentment, all three synonymous terms. Here's how I know that. I was not in your bedroom this morning when you woke up, but I can tell you what happened in there. You woke up and the first thing you did was seek to satisfy some urge. You probably, not to get too graphic, you probably went into the bathroom to relieve yourself. That's what I did. And the reason you did that, seriously, the reason you did that is because you wanted to be satisfied and to relieve yourself satisfied you. Then you probably made your way down to the kitchen and found something there to satisfy you. For me, can you guess? How'd you know? Some of you tea, glass of water, some of you maybe you fast for breakfast, whatever. You do all of those things because internally, innate, there is something in you that is craving satisfaction, happiness, joy, and let me tell you something else, you have never done anything where this was not the primary motive of everything that you have ever done. From scratching an itch to who you chose to marry, you are doing it subconsciously because you are a creature hardwired by a creator to crave satisfaction. And so this morning we are going to come face to face with a man who found joy that was unshakable and He stands in the face of much of what you'll find in Western ideology about where to find happiness. Let me tell you something else you might already know. Everybody's seeking satisfaction. Some seek it in power, control. Some seek it in comfort, like a hammock, but it has to be on the right beach. Then it's good. Some seek it in endless, ceaseless entertainment and amusement. As Americans, we are amusing ourselves to death. Some seek it in money and the things money can buy. Some seek it in the desire to be found desirable by the opposite sex. And everything you do is about making yourself look desirable to the opposite sex, because that's where you think you'll find the greatest happiness. Some seek it in family and friends. Let me tell you, that's the greatest idol for Americans. Family and friends. That's what's most important. Some cannot find it in any of those things. And so they seek satisfaction in suicide. which is why the numbers keep skyrocketing in our country more than any other country in the world. Why is that? This morning, we're gonna have a head-on collision between what America says is the solution to that craving for happiness and what God says is the solution. And we're gonna do this for three weeks, because there's a lot to say about it. We're gonna get deep down into this subject three weeks from now when Jesus meets with a woman. You know this woman, meets her at a well. She tries to change the subject. Jesus sees through her and he says, go call your husband. She goes, I don't have a husband. And he says, you're right, you don't have a husband. You've had five of them. And as soon as you get tired of the fifth one, there's a sixth one coming. Oh, we're gonna talk deep about satisfaction and happiness there. But lest we get ahead of ourselves, John the Baptist. We're reading a book written by John the Apostle, and he records the legacy of a different John, John the Baptist, whose soul found delight in Jesus in spite of a lifetime of pain and rejection, eventually getting arrested, and then finally beheaded. and his joy was full. Everyone has placed something as preeminent, hear that word, I'm gonna repeat it over and over again, preeminent, something that is most important and exalted in your soul, okay? Preeminent, everybody has something. You do, you do, you do, you do, you do, and I do. Something in your soul. What set John the Baptist apart was what he said as the centerpiece around which everything in his life revolved. He made something exalted that flies in the face of, listen, every single TV commercial you've ever seen in your life. Every single one. And we're going to examine those two warring worldviews. The legacy of John the Baptist is what he put in the center. In your life, whatever you've put in the center to be exalted above everything else, you put that there in the center. Here's why, listen closely to me. You have this preeminent thing in your soul because you have come to believe, somehow, somewhere along the way, that by making this thing the most important thing, that's where happiness is found. Every single human being, bar none, has done this. And this morning, we're gonna see what it was that made John the Baptist the centerpiece of his life. Before we go on any further, I could go on about this for a long time. Before we go on any further, I need to ask God for his help because apart from him, I have nothing to offer you. So Father, I submit my mouth to the Holy Spirit and I pray that you would have absolute sovereign control over my tongue. And if there's even one syllable that I'm gonna utter that is opposite to your word, I pray that you'd close my mouth. For I'm up here for one reason only, which is to make a big deal out of your name. So I pray that you would shine forth. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I'm gonna do things backwards today. Usually I read the text, then I tell you the main point or the big idea. I'm gonna flip it. I'm gonna tell you the main idea, and I'm gonna separate it into three parts, and then we'll read the text. Here's why I decided to do it this way. You might go out of here having conceptualized everything that I tell you, and you are the one who gives the loudest, amen, because you just got it. But I'm telling you, if it stays here and you don't assimilate this into your soul, what a worthless time you've spent here. Worthless. I don't care if you can quote the whole sermon when you're done. The goal for this message, and every message really, is for it to go from your head to your heart and actually change something. Actually change something. This kind of message has the power to completely change the trajectory of your entire life. So, the big idea, I'm gonna split up into three parts, okay? And each one of these parts is gonna hopefully sink it in a little deeper, okay? The first part of the main point of the text. the joyful follower of Jesus. Dot, dot, dot. It's gonna go on. Something about the joyful follower of Jesus. Can I ask you a question? Do you want to be full of joy as a follower of Jesus? Now I see a lot of heads nodding. Here's why I ask that obvious question. I've met some curmudgeons in the church. Some people who literally, I feel like they wake up in the morning and go like this. And they think somehow that's like a spiritual badge of honor to look miserable. I have to ask, I want to pull those people aside and say, have you ever experienced the joy of your salvation? Because just from the outside, it looks like you're miserable. And then I see some other people who, in the midst of their sorrow, they are, as Paul says, sorrowful, full of sorrow, yet always rejoicing. I would love to give some of you a book by Johnny Erickson Tada, who's in a wheelchair for life and who writes books about joy. If you think, well, my life's been hard, that's why I look like this, follow her around for a week. And so, the joyful follower of Jesus, next part, delights to exalt something. A joyful Christian delights in their soul to exalt something, make something preeminent. Now, I've said just a few minutes ago, listen again, this is where it's going to get good. Everyone in this room is delighting to exalt some centerpiece of their life as preeminent. This is the most important thing. I'm going to build my whole life around this. You are doing it subconsciously, everyone in this room, even the little ones. You're making something the most important part of your life. Can you guess, those of you who grew up in a TV generation like I did, can you guess what it is that a lifetime in front of the TV screen, or now the internet screen, what it is that we have been brainwashed, hardwired to believe it should be the centerpiece of our soul that will lead us to joy, happiness, contentment, and satisfaction? Don't say it out loud, because I'm going to tell you. The American culture wants to sell you an idea. And here's what it is. If you put you as the centerpiece of your existence and build a kingdom around self, that's where happiness is found. Every commercial you've ever watched is trying to sell you that idea. And so the American, the American, worldview typically has somewhere as the centerpiece yourself. Now if you think, but I'm a Christian and I know better. Can I just tell you, there is no one who has not been infected with some of this narcissistic brainwashing. Let me tell you where you can see it most commonly. It's when something happens that disappoints you. And the first thing out of your mouth, maybe the only thing out of your mouth, is how it affects you. I see this more often in church. If you just hang out in the back of a church, not ours because ours is perfect, but every other church, you hang out in the back and just listen, you'll hear some things. It's too cold. It was way too hot. The music was way too loud. The music was so quiet this morning. The sermon went way too long. Boy, the sermon didn't go long enough. He should have worn a tie. Why does he wear a jacket? He should wear flip flops. It is amazing to me how much Americans can take something that is supposed to be all about him and we end up making it all about us. If this is a worship service aimed to make something else preeminent and somehow we make ourselves preeminent, where do you think that brainwashing came from? We've been sold a lie. that we will be happy only if it's about me. You will not be happy. Can I tell you something else? My mentor, who's gonna be preaching here in a few weeks, I'm very excited, it'll be his first time here, Marty Berglund, he's a pastor for over 50 years. His internship when he was a young man was in an insane asylum as an intern pastor, and he had to spend a week or two weeks studying what it was that made people mad. And he came out of there with a profound realization that affected the rest of his ministry. One of the doctors there told him that by and large, this is a generalization, but by and large it is because of a preoccupation with self. This is a doctor, not a Christian, a doctor, saying that it is an inability to get your mind focused off of yourself. A preoccupation with self is the fastest track to insanity. The fastest track. So if you're starting to lose it, I bet you I could diagnose why. The next part of our big idea. The joyful follower of Jesus delights to exalt Christ above all. This is what separates John the Baptist from most American Christians. So what you're gonna see as we examine his life, apart from Jesus, There were two people who really exemplified what it looks like to find joy in Christ, Paul and John the Baptist. And today our text requires us to look at the legacy of a man who found delight in his soul because he refused to believe the American dream before there was an American dream. And so this morning, the title for our message is simply this. Above all, you're going to see that right in the text, the joys of the Jesus-centered life. Now finally, we get to the text. John 3, 22 through 36. After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Enon, near Salim, because water was plentiful there. And people were coming and being baptized, for John had not yet been put in prison. If you don't know much about John the Baptist, his entire life was pain, rejection, until finally they cut his head off. Keep reading. Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, talking about Jesus, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him. John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I'm not the Christ, I've been sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, I must decrease. He who comes from above, say these two words, is what? That's the title of the sermon. He who's of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is, what church? Above all. He bears witness to what he's seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony and sets his seal to this, sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. In this text, all I want to do is highlight for you two simple truths, and they're very simple and yet very profound. The things I'm going to show you this week and next week are profound truths, some of which changed my life. Now, last night, I looked at my sermon and realized it was about an hour and 20 minutes long. Some of you are going, oh, you've got to be kidding me. There it is. And so I cut it in half. You're going to have half this week, and you have to come back next week. I have two observations. That's it for this text. But there's so much in the first one, I couldn't cheat you. You don't want to be cheated at a Bible, do you? No. So I'm only going to give you one point today, and next week you'll have to come back. If you're on vacation, all of this is online. You can listen online. The final, the single observation that I have for you this morning is that John the Baptist is exactly the opposite. He is the test case that shows us where the joy in life is actually found. Look at the observation I have for you today. This is it. John joyfully, not begrudgingly, not somebody drug him, he joyfully exalted, that means centerpiece of his life, he made something preeminent, he exalted the purpose of Jesus over his personal mission. Here's what that means, let me explain this to you. Everyone in this room has some kind of a mission, or a vocation, or a calling, something you're doing with your life. And I do mean everyone. From the littlest ones in the room, to the mom who's a stay-at-home mom, or the CEO executive here, or the retiree, the elderly, the single person, the married person, somewhere in between, engaged, without a job, unemployed. God has called you to some vocation, some mission, some calling. to which he expects you to joyfully exalt someone else's purpose over that calling. Okay, let me show you this in the text, then I'll unpack that for you, okay? Starting verse 25, we'll go through 29. I'm gonna give you lots of commentary, so we're gonna chop this up in little bits and pieces. A discussion rose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. Here's all that means. John was baptizing and people were coming to him by the hundreds or even thousands, some have estimated, every day. And so his disciples, his followers, are having a discussion with a Jew about if this might relate to the Old Testament ritual of water purification and how that all works out. Don't let this sidetrack you. It's a side point. It's not the main point of the text. Okay? What is the main point of the text? Here's where it's going to get juicy. The disciples assumed that when they came and told John, someone else is baptizing and you're the baptizer, they thought John was going to be like, who's baptizing? This is my territory. Okay? Little did they know John. Look what happens. They came to John and said to him, Rabbi, means teacher, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, that's talking about Jesus, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him. That is the key that unlocks the meaning of this text. You might wanna circle it, underline it, highlight it. Let me explain why. This is so important. Everybody tune in, listen. John the Baptist was famous in this time. If you were walking down the street and you saw John the Baptist, everybody knew him. Not only that, kings, the king of Judea, respected him at this time. The teachers of Israel were afraid of what would happen if they disrespected John by saying he's not a prophet. They thought everybody's going to lynch us because everyone knows John and everybody loves John. He was famous. And so, He was famous because of his calling. He's the baptizer. Think of it like this. Hotel LBI down there, when you pull on the island, isn't that a beautiful building? It's a big, beautiful hotel. Let's imagine this in the hotel industry. Let's say someone else builds a bigger, more beautiful hotel right across the street. In America, I don't know the owner, but in America, if someone else comes into our territory, we'd be like, who's this guy think he is? This is my area. I'm the hotel builder. Let's build something bigger and more beautiful. It pushes a trigger in us, and they expect that to happen to John the Baptist. Look at how he responds. John answered, I imagine he laughs there. It's not in the text, but there's a laugh. A person can't receive even one thing. unless it is given him from heaven. In other words, my calling as the baptizer, I'm a steward. That's it. I'm a manager over what has been given to me. This isn't like some identity that I own. It's been given to me. And now John helps them to see his worldview. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, listen to this very closely, I am not the Christ. That literally means the chosen or anointed one, but hear this. If John were alive in America today, growing up, watching TV like all of us have, he would say, I'm not the Christ, but boy, those commercials are working really hard to convince me that I am. The chosen and anointed one, go get you those expensive shoes because you deserve it because you're the chosen one. John would say, no, I'm not the chosen one and this life is not about me. So he goes, I'm not the Christ. I've just been sent before him. And he tells you how he sees himself in relation to who this story is actually all about in this analogy. Take a look. Verse 29. The one who has the bride, that's you there, by the way, the bride of Christ. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. Who's that talking about? Say his name. Jesus. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, that's the best man. Who's the best man in this analogy? John. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. And here, church, is the legacy of John the Baptist. He must increase. I must decrease. And there's where we're going to camp out for the remainder of our time together. Listen to me. I must decrease is a four-letter word to most Americans. Look, I'm an American. I don't decrease. I get the corner office with the window. What are you talking about? I've been working my entire life so that I can spend it doing what I want to do. We don't decrease. We only increase. Decrease means I did something wrong. John's saying, my whole goal in life is to decrease. There's a clash of worldviews here, and here's where the clash happens. There is a set of values in heaven. There's a set of values in heaven. And there's a set of values that the earth operates by. And John is simply the picture of what it looks like when someone adopts the value system of heaven. I got a newsflash for you. Ready? When you get to heaven, it's not going to be about you. It is entirely about Jesus. And so a follower of his down on the earth tries to adopt the value system of heaven so that everybody sees that's where joy is found. That's where joy is found. Making my life as little about me as I possibly can. So John's life is literally a mini-series of what it looks like, listen to this term very closely, jot it down, the freedom of self-forgetfulness. The freedom of what it looks like to forget about me. I'm telling you, this is where happiness is found. I have a proposition for you, okay? This is just my idea, it came to me while I was preparing this week. God is the source of everything that you enjoy in your life. You say, no, it's not. It's my kids. No, it's not. They're just fingers pointing to what you actually enjoy. No, it's not. It's the coffee and how you brew it. Oh, no. Those are just good and perfect gifts given from the one who actually is the source of joy and happiness and satisfaction and contentment. So here's the thing. If he is what you were made for, and sin obstructs me from getting what actually satisfies me. See, we think sin is actually what gives me pleasure, when actually it's just the opposite. It's what keeps you from the pleasure you were made for, okay? I would like to propose to you a ladder of happiness, okay? This is a little elementary, but here it is up on the screen for the younger ones who have no idea what I'm talking about. This is a ladder of happiness, and each one of those rungs represents something that maybe you've been mastered by. There are cravings that you have in your soul that you've given into, and Paul calls this, they've mastered you. Each step of the, each rung of this ladder, when you get rid of that thing that has mastered you, you are climbing the ladder of what John and Paul and some of the others found is actual happiness. Okay? The more freedom you get from those things that are actually keeping you from what actually is the source of joy, the greater happiness you'll experience. Do you know what the top rung is? Look at the top rung. If you want to experience the highest level of happiness a human being can experience in a pain-filled fallen world, it will only happen when you reach the freedom of self-forgetfulness. Self-centeredness has to go away. Self-absorption has to go away. And when you get closer to that top rung, you'll experience the kind of joy that John the Baptist experienced right before they cut his head off. Americans have been trained to believe exactly the opposite. As a matter of fact, in some churches, they'll tell you, actually what's going to make you happy is a car. And if you just pray to Jesus like a genie for the car and treat him like a genie, that's how you'll get the happiness that you've been craving. That's a lie. Don't believe those things. Run from those churches. John reached the top rung of the ladder of happiness because he knew that a creature made to exalt his creator could never satisfy him. Think about this. How many times have you gone after something that has actually made your life worse? How many times? Those of you who are older, like way too many times that I can even remember. Why would you put a creature as the centerpiece of your life who is constantly craving things that are in the opposition of what's best for you? And yet putting you as the centerpiece of your life, you who always is choosing things that actually are bad for you, is what America trains you to do. Instead of putting someone else as the centerpiece, as preeminent, the most exalted thing in my life, who has never once done anything other than what is totally best for you. That's what made John and Paul the heroes that they were. And the joy founders that they were. He put Jesus as the center, and they discovered where true joy is found. Self-forgetfulness. For John, his life centered around this calling as baptizer, okay? John was set apart from his mother's womb to a calling. Baptizer. He was there to set the path for the coming Messiah. Do you know what Jesus said about John? Look on the screen, Matthew 11. Truly I say to you, among those born of women, that's everybody by the way, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. And you're going, hold on, Moses, Abraham, what about Noah? He was blameless in God's sight, right? Jesus said, John the Baptist, no one greater. And the reason is, is because John the Baptist had the most exalted role there ever was. more than any president, do you know why? John the Baptist got to point people to Jesus. And you say, well, Pastor Luke, we all point people to Jesus. Yeah, but when John did it, he's like, follow Jesus. Here he is. That's a great role in life, wouldn't you say? He is the one prophet that got to actually see all things come to fulfillment. That's why he's the greatest, the privilege of his life. And so now this is where this is gonna come to you. The Savior appears and suddenly John the Baptist's vocation for 30 years was the baptizer, getting people ready for when the Savior comes. Well, he's come. And now John's like, I'm done now. That calling has now ended because he's here. You no longer should look at me, you need to look at him. Okay, this is why John said this on the screen. Therefore, this joy of mine, when I finish my preaching ministry, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna stand before you when I'm 312, and I'm gonna say, this has been the great joy of my life, but it is now complete. And I'm ready to prepare to go home to see my Savior. That's what John is saying. This joy of mine to be his forerunner is now complete. So from this point forward, I want you to forget that I even exist. Just erase me from your memory because he's here. Those of you who are retired, You've spent your entire life doing something, building a career. One day it ends. If you anchor your joy in life to what you did for a living, what happens when that thing goes away? Your joy. If you anchor your joy in life to your wife, your kids, your husband, your grandkids, what happens when something tragic happens? You sink fast. You sink fast. There's something greater, even than your family, that God has designed for you to crave. John the Baptist found it. His heaven-centered, Jesus-centered value system is the cause of his joy in life, and it's that value system that I want to end with today, okay? About 10 years ago, when I was in graduate school, getting my master's degree, It was the first time anybody had ever charged me with a task to write out my personal mission statement for life. And I had four statements I had to write, just statements. I had to write a statement on the reason I exist according to what I found in the Bible, the mission for my life. I had to write about my values and I had to write about my vocation. Here are those four statements. Look on the screen. Purpose, why I exist. Mission. For what activity do I exist? Like, am I supposed to just stand here and exist? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to move? If so, where? How? I'm a creature. You gotta tell me. Next, values. What treasures are worth pursuing? You can chase after a lot of things that when you get to heaven, Jesus will say, totally worthless. A thing that you were chasing, it's rusted now and it's turned back to dust. What treasure should I pursue, creator? Next, vocation, my calling. And so I thought, as we're looking at John the Baptist, who is the example of how to find joy in life, and comparing it to the American dream that says, we can tell you how to find it, and our country is leading the world in suicide and antidepressants, I thought I would show you my personal purpose statement. You can take pictures of it, because I'm going to charge you at the end today I'm going to charge you to do some homework, and to do this yourself. Okay? Let's start with my purpose. This is what I wrote, and I've adjusted this like ten times. The glory of God is my sole purpose for existence. If you find something else in the Scriptures, please come show me. You won't. The glory of God is my sole purpose for existence. So, therefore, because I know that, my personal enjoyment of life will rise only as I seek my deepest pleasure in the beauty of His glory. Listen, I'm a creature. I'm not the Creator. And as a creature, listen to this, if I know, and I see in my Bible, I'm made to be like Adam, and to walk in the pleasure and the intimacy of the One who made me, and I say, I'd rather commit myself to something else, you know what's going to happen? This creature is going to malfunction. And you shouldn't be surprised when your brain starts malfunctioning, when your heart starts malfunctioning, when your body starts malfunctioning, because you are a creature made with a purpose from a Creator. Your purpose is to make God look great by enjoying Him forever. So that's what I want to do. By the way, these are personal to me, but it doesn't change for anybody. These are yours, too. That's my purpose. Here's my mission. These are the activities. So I know why I was made, but do I just stand there or should I actually do something? Here's what I've found studying the Bible. The redemptive Mission of God on the earth is man's mission in life. And apart from that ultimate mission, there's only a wasted life. Time out for a second. That means God's doing something right now. You know that? Jesus said, my father's at work, so I'm at work. My father's always been working, so I'm always working. He's only doing one thing. He doesn't have like, you know, today I'm going to go do this. Tomorrow I'm going to do this. I'll get back to that. God doesn't do that. He has one work. Redemption. He's redeeming lost sinners. That's what he's doing. Okay? So that's God's mission. Anything apart from that is a wasted life. So, I will seek to join God in making his son famous on the earth. How? Through daily choices that reflect his beauty. Here's, listen to this. You should laugh at this, okay? God takes a sinner, like Luke Fraser, and he redeems me from my sin. Saved. And then he says, Luke, I want to invite you to join me in my work. You will be used by me to redeem lost sinners. Imagine if I said, that's a great offer, but I got a better mission in mind. You laugh, but that's most American Christians. I'd rather set my life to something else. And I imagine God going, what would that be exactly? Since this is what I'm doing and I redeemed you to join me and partner with me in my work and you have something better to do, what would that be? That's what I found in the Bible. Next. Values. What's worth chasing? Some kind of treasure, right? Here's what I found. The values of God are the only treasures that will last, right? There are values in heaven. Everything else burns one day. Okay? The values of God are the only treasures that will last. Therefore, because I know that's true in my Bible, I will seek to store up for myself eternal wealth. How do you do that? Well, by investing my earthly life into the spiritual growth and development of other people. By the way, that's why moms are the most important vocation on planet Earth. Because you get to do this more often than anyone else. And moms often choose to do something else other than this primary calling. The values in life are easy to know. You want to know how to know what God's primary value is? There it is, right there. If you were to go to the cross, you would see God's value system. God sacrificed his own son. Why? To save people. People. And so, when you read that in your Bible, you should say, God is inviting me, and I'm one of those saved people, while the primary value of my life then is to just invest in people, lost people, blind people, just help people, because in God's economy, that's the highest value. Rescuing lost people who will one day go to glorify and exalt God. That's the value system. And so now, personally, I need a vehicle to do all this work. Some kind of calling, right? Could be a trash man or a school teacher or a politician or a preacher or whatever. I need something to do all this. That's where vocation call comes in. And it's individual, but it doesn't change. Your vocation is the same as mine. Here's what I learned from reading my Bible. God gives a measure of grace to each of his children. You have some, I have some. for the purpose of glorifying His Son. He's given you some grace to make Jesus look great, okay? And the pursuit of any vocation, any vocation, should aim to maximize the fame of His name. So you simply ask, How do I, with the gifts that I have, make the biggest deal I can out of Jesus? Okay? Here's what I've decided because of that. Here's the next screen. Therefore, I personally, Luke Fraser, will seek to glorify God through the maximization of the unique gifts He's given to me for the building up the body of Christ. And here's where I start. Here's my starting place. The members of my own household. I'm sorry to tell you, Ashley, Logan, and Peyton are first in my life. I build into them first. Second, the bride of church. You come next. Then, the lost. That's the priorities that God has given me in the vocation of my life. Yours is the same. If church, we aim to be like John the Baptist, who adopts the values of heaven, saying, He is preeminent, He is above all, He's above me, He's above you, He is it! Then we will seek to shape our lives, purpose, mission, values, vocation, everything about Lord, Help me to decrease so that I can make Jesus increase. I just want to make you look great so that when I stand before you, I will hear, well done, good and faithful servant. Don't you want that? You can have it beginning now. If you just focus your life like John the Baptist, you will start to experience those joys that he did, no matter what circumstances you may be in. So church, you have homework. If you've never done this before, I invite you to take those four things, purpose, mission, values, and vocation, and start asking the Lord, Lord, what am I here for? I wanna give you a hint, it's gonna look a lot like mine, because your Bible is the same as mine. Friends, to reorient your life, we're almost done, to reorient your life like John the Baptist did with a he must increase, I must decrease, it's gonna take Patience. It's going to take long suffering. It's going to take a willingness to undo the brainwashing that you had by American commercialism and to start to rewire, renew your mind by the spirit and word of God. And it's going to take a lifetime. We're in this together. Next week, I hope that you will come back for the second observation that I have in this. Do you see why I cut it in half? This would have gone on for another hour. Let me pray for all of us, okay? Oh, great God of glory, to what other pursuit would any one of us who's been redeemed ever commit ourselves? For without your Son we have no life, we have no meaning, we have no purpose. All we have is hopelessness. He is our life. Thank you for the model that John the Baptist gave us. Here this famous man said, who am I? I just came to point people to Jesus and now that he's here? Lord, help me decrease so that everyone will see what actually matters in my life, which is Jesus. Oh, that we would be a joyful people who have put Jesus in the preeminent position of our hearts and our minds, and that the world would see that we don't buy into the value system that we've been trained, that we've adopted the value system of heaven. where Christ is exalted above all. Let that be the case in every man, woman, and child in this building, for it's in Jesus' name that I pray. And everyone said.