“Do You Understand What I Have Done for You?” | Pastor Daniel Floyd

Hey, good morning everybody. Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time. Oh, you can do better than that. Hasn't God been good to you? So glad that you're in church. I know that all of our campus pastors have been talking about Easter. Um but I just want to lend my voice to it and say, bring somebody with you.

Um it's going to be an incredible weekend together as we celebrate the greatest day in all of history, right? the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul said that if he didn't rise from the dead, then all this is for nothing. And uh so the resurrection really matters. And so we're excited to celebrate that together.

Gateway Kids is going to have incredible things for the entire family. And so make sure you're here. Um I've already got my outfit so I'm a week ahead. You know, that's learned that's a really important part of Easter. Um but it's going to be a great time together and we're going to believe that God's going to speak to hundreds and hundreds of people.

Amen. >> And they're going to respond to the gospel and uh begin a new life in Christ. And it's going to be the greatest day in their history and uh as they meet Jesus. I'm excited to get into the word today. I want to say hello to all of our locations.

Everybody joining us online or on demand later in the week. Of course, our prison campuses and our gateway gatherings. Want to say a special hello. We were at Plano last week. Tammy and I got to spend time with our Plano campus. And I just want to say God's doing wonderful things all across the life of the church.

And we have one more campus to get to Fris. We are coming. We promise you. And uh but our one week of snow in Texas canceled that one, so we had to reschedule it. But I'll say I'm loving Texas weather. I enjoyed the one week of snow. And uh this is good golf weather, everybody.

All right. Praise God. Hey, let me uh we're in this series. If you're new this week, we've been in a series called That's a Great Question where we've been looking at the questions that Jesus asked. He asked over 300 in the Gospels. And we're looking at those questions to not only learn more about Jesus, but learn more about ourselves and what he wants to reveal to us.

And so we're going to continue in that today. I want you to look at John chapter 13 if you have a copy of the scriptures. If not, it'll be on the screen for you. John 13 verse chapter 1 or chapter 13:1. It says, "It was just before the Passover feast and Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the father.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. That's important part. The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas a Scariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. And Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power that he had come from God and was returning to God.

So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Let's jump down to verse 12.

Here's the question. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Here's what he asked. Do you understand what I've done for you? He asked them. That's the question we're going to look at. So, if you're the note-taking type and you need a title, go ahead and write this down.

If you're not, go ahead and write it down anyways. All right. Do you understand what I have done for you? That's the question we're going to look at. Let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. We ask that you would speak to us. We believe your word has the power to change us and we'll never be the same because of it.

So have your way in our lives. And we pray this in Jesus name. Everybody said, "Amen." Amen. So um this past week Tammy and I were at dinner with some dear friends and we were both couples were recounting how we met each other. Have you ever had that conversation like you know you're catching up and like well this is what happened in college and so we were going through all the list of boyfriends Tammy had and how I just waited and prayed and fasted believe God really just the opposite everybody okay let's be honest she's the way more holy one in the group um but we started talking and you ever had those moments and maybe maybe you're at that place right now where you're beginning to look at life in the in the future and you're thinking man, this is the dream and the goal that I have.

Or maybe you're a little bit down the journey and you look back and you think, wow, we were so young and had no idea what we were doing. And how how many of you know that regardless, you get to wherever you are in life and you go, man, it's the grace of God that I am where I am.

How many how many of you can attest to that? Just the grace of God that I am where I am. But I was thinking about that and most of us I would think, nobody I don't think starts out out of high school or out of college or trade school or whatever and you think, man, I just want to live a mediocre life.

My whole goal in life is just to kind of live mediocre. I think we all kind of think, man, I want to I want to build something great with my life, right? I want to build a a family or I want to build a future. I want to build a career.

And and we kind of live the western culture. We have that that feeling and and kind of that drive is in us. We want to we want to build that. We we want to do something great with our lives. We want to live a life of fulfillment, live a life that matters, live a life that that makes a difference.

And so then we we we begin to pursue that, right? And we begin to want to have success and want to have um we want to have wins in our life and we want to move forward in our life and and I don't think any of that is inherently bad.

And we begin to climb, right? We we climb professionally and we climb financially and we you know climb in in relationships and friendships and and we begin this pursuit in life and and sometimes there's setbacks in it and sometimes we move forward and sometimes it's three forward it's two steps backwards.

Um and life happens to us, right? And I don't think any of that is inherently bad. I I I actually think God is is pleased when we have ambition. Believe it or not, the Bible doesn't say you shouldn't have ambition. Paul said you shouldn't have selfish ambition. I don't think the Bible has a problem with us having dreams and goals and all those kind of things.

But in this text that we read, John chapter 13, I think Jesus is confronting how we build our lives. Not that we shouldn't build great lives, but I think Jesus is confronting and wanting to give us a different framework on how we build the lives that we end up building.

And in John chapter 13, for a little context for you, it's Palm Sunday. Happy Palm Sunday, everybody. Um, glad you're here. But it's it's Palm Sunday was on that Sunday, the triumphal entry right into Jerusalem. He comes over the Mount of Olives. He had been in on the other side with his friends in Bethany hanging out.

And then he just comes over and there, hosana, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They're laying palm branches down. That's why we call it Palm Sunday if you didn't know. And then the week goes on and we get to John chapter 13. This is Thursday night of that week.

If you're with me, say amen. >> Thursday night of that week, he's about to have the Passover meal with the disciples and he grabs a basin and water and a towel. So Jesus in the moment where all authority has been given to him. He's about to reach the pinnacle of the reason that he came to the earth, which was to ultimately die for all the sins of humanity to give us a way to have a right relationship with the father.

Here he is in this moment and in the moment where he could have exerted authority, he picks up a towel and really in this moment he redefes what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He he's he's doing something we'll learn that is so counter to the culture.

He flips the hierarchy of the day on its head in this moment. And I think what he is communicating to us is this is what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus is this. It looks like being a servant. I think what Jesus is trying to tell us is say as you build your life and as you pursue the things in life that whatever it is that God has on your life, the dreams, the desires, the goals, whatever it is, just make sure the how is with a heart of a servant.

Because in the kingdom of God to go high is really to go low. to to be the greatest is really to be the servant. And it's not that that we're all supposed to pick up a towel and go wash some people's feet. It's that Jesus is trying to give us a spirit to live with.

He's trying to give us a heart, a a perspective, a filter. I could say a framework for how we build great lives as we build them with the heart of a servant. And so I want to give you four observations today about how do we do that? How do we build lives that have the heart of a servant?

Because really that is what it is to follow Jesus because he was the chief servant. This is who he was. So four things I want you to write these down. Thought number one is this is love is the motive. Love is the motive. Look what he said in John chapter 13 verse one.

We just read it a minute ago. I want to reread it to you again. It says it was just before the Passover feast. Jesus knew that his time, his time had come to leave this world and go to the father. And here's the verse. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

So Jesus is wanting to show these disciples the the the capacity of his love, the full extent of his love. Matter of fact, in the original language the New Testament was written in, which is the Greek language, this word telos means that he was wanting to show them the extent to which he would go.

In other words, the idea is this is that his love had no limits. It had no boundaries. It was withholding nothing. That that he was wanting to show them the full extent of his love. And in doing this demonstration of love, he picks up a towel. It's such counterintuitive.

Here he is, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He's the great God. He's come and put on flesh. He's fully God, fully man. He didn't shed his deity to become humanity. But in the midst of that, to show his love, I mean, think about this. There's a lot of other ways, a lot of other moments.

How many times do you think Jesus entered into a house with his disciples and had a meal? Hundreds. And this one moment, this strategic moment, right before he's about to go to the cross, right before Judas is about to betray him, he goes, "I'm going to demonstrate what love looks like."

And so he picks up a towel. I'm going to show you the extent of my love. And shouldn't it be said of us as followers of Jesus that we live these li this life of a servant's heart, but we have to live it motivated out of love? How many of you know that whenever it's not motivated out of love, it's duty and it's not delight?

How do you think that would go over in your relationships? How about in your marriage relationship if you showed up, you know, to your spouse on your anniversary and you were like gave her a gift, you know, you went to Highland Park and you got a good gift.

I figure all the ladies would say a big amen right there. But you know, you missed your opportunity. And and you showed up and she was grateful and you were like, "Nope, read the husband manual. It's what I'm supposed to do." How many of you think that wouldn't go over very well?

What if I showed up every weekend was like, "Hey, I'm supposed to preach to y'all people. I went to seminary. That's what they told me to do, so I have to be here." No, that's that's duty, right? That's I have to. That is I have to Christianity. That's never what Jesus wanted for you.

He wanted delight. No, I'm in love with you. No. And because I love you, I want to demonstrate my love to you. I can't I I get to it's it's I I get to I get to worship. I can't wait for the doors to be open. I can't wait for Sunday to show up.

I don't have to be here. I get to be here. I can't wait to get into a small group. I can't wait to open my Bible in the morning. Come on, somebody. I can't wait to pray and talk to God. I don't have to. I get to. There's a big difference between duty and delight.

If you're living a dutyfilled Christian life, man, what a frustrating life. What a what a drag of a life. I bet it feels like you're on a treadmill and you can never get traction and you can never move forward because it's all out of duty. And that is not what God ever meant for you.

And Jesus out of delight, out of showing the full extent of his love, he picks up a towel to serve his disciples. A radical moment. Did you know that love is not only the marker of a disciple, but it is the means of our witness to the world around us? >> The Bible says this, "A new command I give you that you love one another."

So, it's the marker of a disciple. In other words, whenever the world looks at you, the marker of you being a follower of Jesus, one of the major markers is that you love well. That you love well. Not only that though, it's a means of our witness to the world around us.

The scripture says this, by by this shall all men know that you are my disciples because you have love one for another. It's the supernatural thing of the body of Christ. I mean, it's really supernatural. Think about it. We come from different backgrounds and different experiences and we have different perspectives and we have different family of origin and we have different families of choice and we come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different ethnic backgrounds, but we all come together because the the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

And so no matter where you come, I grew up on on Sunday school singing red, yellow, black and white. They are all precious in his sight because this supernatural thing happens where we come together because God does a work in us and it should be the marker of our witness to the world around us that we love one another.

Come on, you should clap your hands better than that right there. It's why it so grieves my soul when you see believers going after other believers. It's antitheical to who we are as Christians. >> When other churches are attacking other church, what is that about? >> We need everybody >> and the marker of our witness to the world around us.

When we're at each other, the world goes, they're no different than us. But man, when you love someone that isn't like you, didn't grow up where you grew up, doesn't think like you think, it's a supernatural witness to the world around us. It is the marker of a disciple and it is the means of our witness. >> Love must be the motive, everybody. >> Jesus said, "I want to show him the full extent of my love."

And so he picked up a towel and he served. Thought number two is this. Humility is the method. If love is the motive, then humility is the method. Says this in verse 2 through 5. The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas a Scariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.

If you're new to the scriptures, Judas would come into the garden where Jesus was praying, and he would let the Roman soldiers know by a kiss on the cheek that that's the one they're looking for. And Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God.

So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. I want to I want to help you understand for a moment how radical um this moment was.

So feet washing was a normal thing in the culture of that day. And I have a towel and a basin. I carved it this week. It was a lot of work. I'm joking. So, you know, they didn't wear closed toed shoes obviously at that time. There there were sandals, straps of leather that they put around their feet.

And so they're walking over these roads. They're not paved. It's not asphalt, not concrete. It's dusty roads they're walking on. And the same roads they're walking on, animals are walking on. And I don't want to gross you out on on this Palm Sunday morning, but the animals um left gifts behind.

And and so, you know, there's times you're not going to be able to avoid the things that they left behind. And so, you can imagine how disgusting the feet were. Are y'all with me? And so, there would be servants in every house. Um and these servants would have a basin like this and water.

And so you would come into the house and the servant was responsible for washing your feet before you came into the house. Now, here's what I want you to understand. One scholar said that Jewish servants were not even ones that they would pick to wash feet. They wanted Gentile slaves to do it.

So the job was so lowly that they didn't even want a servant who was an ethnic Jew to wash the feet. They would rather have a slave that was a gentile washing their feet. this I'm trying to help you see to see the loneliness and the the moment that Jesus is doing here that he because evidently somebody didn't do the job in the room and so the meal is about to start and they reclined at tables where they would have their feet out behind them and so Jesus gets down the king of glory everybody I want you to to see this we don't get this in our in our culture because we're not walking around washing people's feet because feet are gross honestly in my opinion and So I I want you to understand the cultural moment like Jesus was crashing cultural norms in this moment to communicate something to these disciples.

And it's not like the disciples were happy he was washing their feet. They would have been resistant to this moment. No, you're our master. You're our Lord. What are you doing washing our feet? But Jesus kneels down and he takes the water and he he takes the towel and he wraps it around his waist and he gets on his knees and he gets into posture of a slave to communicate and to show the extent of the love that he has for his people.

This is what our savior does in this moment. This is him serving them. This is him showing the extent of the love. But I don't want you to miss something that the text says. It says right before that that he knew that all authority was under his control and that he was going to God and had come from God.

And then comma, it's not the end of a thought. It's not the completion of a sentence and the beginning of a new one. It is the ongoing so he got up and grabbed the towel. Here's what I want you to understand. You'll never be able to operate in true humility if you don't know your identity.

He knew who he was. He knew what authority he had and he didn't leverage authority like the world leverages authority. He leveraged his authority for the benefit of the other people that were in the room. He didn't leverage authority to go, "How can I bless me? How can I take care of me?

How can I make this more about me?" And he could have. He is God. >> Are you following me? It's okay if he says, "Hey guys, it's all about me." Because it really is all about him. But in that moment, he didn't say, "It's all about me." He leveraged his authority to make it about his disciples and to demonstrate for them what love looked like.

But it's because he was confident in his identity. >> In other words, he is what people would call transcendent. Transcendent simply means this. It means that you are not controlled by your feelings. You're not controlled by your past. You're not controlled by the pressures of the day. You are living for a greater purpose.

And I believe this is the goal of every believer and every follower of Jesus that we would live a transcendent life where we would live a life where we have got so confident in our identity. We're so rooted in who we are in Christ. We're not we're not identified by even what we do or what we have built.

We're not identified by the negative things in our life or the mistakes from our past, but we are identified and rooted in who God says that we are through his word. And we're so confident in that that we're not jocking for a position and we don't have to make people think that we're this or that, but we're just so confident that we can get on our knees and we can wash some dirty feet if we have to.

And we can stand up and lead something great if we have to. And we can go serve some food to somebody if we have to because we are not building our identity on what you think about me. I'm building my identity on who Christ says that I am.

And he says I am the head and not the tail. He said, "I'm blessed coming in and blessed going out." He said, "I've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I'm letting the word of God define me. No weapon formed against me will prosper. That he has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future."

I'm just quoting the Bible to you right now. But my identity is rooted in Christ. And so because of that, I'm living for a greater purpose. I don't get up in the morning and I don't walk into rooms and think, "What can you do for me?" When you live a transcendent life, you walk in and go, "God, everything you've put in my hand, how can I leverage it so that my life matters >> and makes a difference?" >> I don't think God has you has a problem with you building a big life.

It's just what are you going to do when he blesses you with a big life? You never graduate beyond the towel, everybody. >> You never graduate beyond how can I serve you? How can I show up in my marriage with the towel? I'm not talking I'm not Don't get so myopic in this that you think I'm talking about I want you to be a greeter.

I'm talking about a life of service. >> I'm talking about I show up in my dorm room with a towel. I show up in the boardroom with a towel. I show up with my children with a towel. How can I serve? How can I think about others? How can I be a blessing?

How can I look like Jesus in every room that I walk into? Can we take it a step further? No. Okay, we'll go to point three. How about this thought? He didn't skip Judas. Might have been me. I've been like Matthew, wash your feet. Bartholomew, wash your feet.

Peter, wash your feet. Judas, I ran out of water. Sorry. John 13:11 says this, "For he knew who was going to betray him." And that's why he said, "Not every one of you is clean." He knew Judas would betray him. And he still did in front of you.

This tells me we don't get to choose who we serve. If we're followers of Jesus, we don't get to choose who we serve. You don't just get to serve the people you like, the people that like you, the people that respond well to you. If we're going to live this Jesus life, we don't get to choose who we serve.

He didn't skip Judas. Philippians chapter 2 5 and 8 says this. In your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

The word that he the idea that he took on the nature of a servant doesn't mean that he shed his deity. fully God, fully man, but he humbled himself. The only one in human history who ever had the right not to humble himself, chose to humble himself and became obedient to even death on a cross.

Leads us to thought number three. Jesus is the model. If love is the motive and humility is the method, then Jesus is the model. Verse 12, he said, 'When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I've done for you?

He asked them, 'You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you as an example that you should do as I have done.

And I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now, I will say the text isn't saying that you're supposed to leave church today and like have a basin of water in your car. Just whenever you find somebody, hey, come here.

I I grew up in a I grew up in a small rural Baptist churches and um the denomination I was a part of, we actually believed that footwashing was a sacrament-like communion. So, Wednesday night church, I don't know if any of you grew up around this and you're like, we're not heading that direction, are we?

No, I do not believe that. Do not believe that. Wednesday night church though, you had communion and then the men went to one part of the fellowship hall. Come on, somebody if you grew up in that. And the women went to another part and then you washed feet.

And I always got stuck by some somebody who had never cared for any part of their feet. And I think feet are disgusting in general. And my sisters wanted to get me off the couch as a kid. All they had to do was lay on the couch and put their feet up.

I was in the floor immediately like that. I just don't Feet aren't meant to be seen. They're meant to be walked on. Just not meant to be seen. especially men feet. Anyways, just saying that's personal opinion. That's not theology or gospel. You don't have to write that down.

All right. What Jesus is saying to us is not that you need to walk around with towel and water and you need to and what he's saying is the the word there I've given you example is actually has the idea I've given you a pattern to follow. In other words, it's a spirit everybody.

It it may result in you serving in the church. May result in you serving outside the church. But what he's trying to get us is is is to get our our aperture opened a little bit wider and go, "No, this is a spirit I live with. It's a mindset.

Take on the mindset of Christ Jesus who being in the very nature God humbled himself and took on the nature of a servant. It's a mindset. It's it's a way I live. It's a filter I look at life through that I don't walk in the room going, who can bless me today?"

I walk into the rooms I walk into going, "How can I be a blessing? How can I live an others first life? How can I not live my life with my eyes so on me all the time? But how do I get my eyes onto the needs of others?

This is what he's calling us to live. Matter of fact, it's this idea that some of us think when we come into this thing called being a follower of Jesus, becoming a Christian, that it's about, you know, rights that, oh, now I have some rights. I got some rights.

Can I tell you that it's all about responsibility? Does Jesus bless and does he do some amazing things in our life? 100%. You're going to see that in a second. But but what he's trying to tell us is I'm giving you some great responsibilities. I'm giving you the responsibility to model me.

You're my image bearer. In other words, you're when people look at you, they're supposed to see Jesus. One of the greatest ways that we see Jesus is as the chief servant. And he gives us a model to follow, a pattern of here's what I want people to see when they see me through you.

Thought number four is this is blessing is the outcome. It's not the motive. Don't get it mixed up, but it is the outcome. Look what the scripture says. The very last verse of this section. And he says, "Now that you know these things, you will be," everybody say it together, "you will be >> blessed. >> You'll be blessed if you do them."

You want to live a life with the blessing of God on it, then live with the heart of a servant. It's a promise of God. Now, the idea of this word blessed is the idea of you will prosper. But even stronger is the idea of this, you'll live fulfilled.

In other words, what Jesus is saying is there's a level of fulfillment that comes into your soul that you cannot get when life is all about you. >> Now, hear me. I'm not saying you don't take care of your needs and make sure your family's good. Are y'all okay?

Don't go to extremes. All right? It's bad theology. What I am saying though is when you live an others first life, there's a level of fulfillment that comes when you know your life made a difference, an eternal difference in the life of somebody else. There's a fulfillment that nothing else in this life can bring.

But whenever you live a life that is all about you, there is never enough. It is a bottomless pit. It is a hole that can never be filled because it's just more and more and more. And that's why you know that's why through life and you've experienced this and I've experienced this that whenever I get to here whatever that line was, then I'll be content.

And then you get there and what happens? The line moves because it's a mirage. everybody right the promotion the thing to own the business to sell it the get the equity m whatever it is it's a mirage it keeps moving so you have to live for something that's bigger than that you got to live transcendent and when you do live a transcendent life then God says you're going to be blessed there's going to be a fulfillment in your life that you just can't explain whenever your life is making a difference in the lives of other whenever you leverage all that you've been given and I pray God gives you a lot but when you leverage it for the benefit of making a difference in the lives of others.

There's a fulfillment that nothing else would bring. All authority was given to him and he served. And he said if you'll follow that model, you'll be blessed. You'll be fulfilled. You'll have a contentment that only heaven can give. It's supernatural. I want you to hear a story of a lady in our church who experienced exactly what the text is teaching us in our own life.

So, if you would turn your attention to the screen, >> I really felt like I was supposed to start serving at Gateway. I've always had a heart for the next generation, but I have one stipulation for God. I was not gonna do sixth grade girls. I never really got involved at Gateway and I had been feeling the nudging of the Holy Spirit for quite some time >> because serving is the pathway to joy in your life.

It's when you go, I'm going to put others first. I'm going bless instead of waiting. >> And then when Pastor Daniel did one of his first sermons um calling us to serve and be obedient, I was giving the Holy Spirit all the reasons why I couldn't do it.

I'm what they call a surgical tech. I specialize in neurosurgery and there are some really long days. I told the Lord that I just didn't have the energy after those long days in surgery, being a mom, taking care of my daughter. It's just a lot to give and I didn't have it.

Nevertheless, I chose to be obedient. And so I reached out to a friend who was serving in youth and she got me in contact with Pastor Jasmine who then invited me to come out and shadow and see if this was for me. >> I am so excited. >> They budded me up with somebody and explained um how service works and then we go into service and worship starts. and worthy is >> I was just in awe and I was like, God, this is what you're doing in our youth. >> How are you? >> After service, they break out into small groups. >> Afterwards, Jasmine pulls me to the side and she's like, "So, what did you think?"

I was like, "I love it. I want to be a part of what God's doing in this next generation. I told her, I think I want to lead a small group. And she's like, "Awesome." I was like, "Okay, so where do you need the most help?" And she looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Sixth grade girls."

And I was like, "Okay, God, if this is where you want me to be, I I don't know how to relate. I haven't been around that age group in a long time. My daughter is a senior. What do these girls need? The Lord said that they're entering into the world where they're just now finding their identity.

They need to be equipped. He said, "If you could just listen to them, love them, encourage them, I'll do the rest." So, I gave the girls a little challenge. I got a verse jar that has verses for every emotion um that they are feeling. They pull out a verse that represents that emotion that helps them be biblically equipped and I made them lanyards with their name on them.

So I told them if they memorize these verses and they bring them back to me, I'll give them a button to put on their lanyard and it's like an outward expression of your faith. I have about 10 to 15 girls who have accepted the challenge and are memorizing Bible verses.

They can turn to scripture and find equipment for whatever emotion they're feeling. I cannot believe I was going to tell God no. Every Wednesday night, I leave more energized, empowered, seeing what God is doing in each of their lives. I am blessed because of those girls. Did you hear what Shai said there there at the end?

She said, "I am blessed leading those girls." You know why? Because John 13 is right. If you do these things, you will be blessed. And so, here's my question to you today and for you to keep answering throughout your week. is, are you willing to pick up the towel?

You willing to pick up the towel in the kitchen at your house, your family? Are you willing to pick up the towel in your marriage? Are you willing to pick up the towel in home room on the baseball team? Are you willing to pick up the towel in the boardroom, in the culde-sac? all the areas that God allows you to have influence.

Are you willing to go, I'm going to go in with the mindset of Christ Jesus and look for ways to serve. And you know, this week, obviously, we've been talking about it. Here may be the most simple way for you to pick up a towel is to say, "I'm going to bring somebody to Easter with me.

I'm going to serve them by inviting them into an environment where they can encounter the love of Jesus and the love of God's people because love is a marker that we know Jesus and it's a means of our witness to the world around us. So I want to challenge you be a servant.

When Jesus wanted to show us what love looked like, he grabbed a towel. And may we as a church, when people experience us in the community be like, "Man, those are a bunch of loving servants." If I've ever seen anything in my life, you receive the word of God today.

You receive it. We're going to live it. Will you pray with me? every head bowed, every eye closed. If you can, where you are online or on demand later in the week, you know, maybe you're here today and you've never received the greatest gift that Jesus ever gave.

It's it's what he gave through his death and resurrection, which we'll celebrate next weekend. And that is life. It's true life. It's life to the full is what J 10:10 calls it. The Bible tells us the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And for some of you, you know that to be true.

He's tried to rob you of so many things in your life. But Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life, real life, life to the full." And he offers that to us through this thing called salvation, called forgiveness of sin. And today, if you know in your heart that you're far from God, you don't need me to tell you that.

You don't need someone to beat you down. You know when you lay your head down at night, whether or not you have relationship with Jesus. If you're here today and you'd say, "Pastor, I've never surrendered my life to Jesus." Or maybe you're here and you'd say, "I man, I walked with the Lord and there was a time, but it's it's been a long time.

I've really strayed away." Here's what I want you to know is that the love and the grace of the Father has open arms to welcome you home today. and we're going to pray together in just a moment. There's nothing special about the words I say. It's just me helping you communicate your heart to God that you want to surrender your life to him.

You want to make him the Lord of your life today. Before we do that, I just want to know who I'm praying with. So, with no one looking around, we would not embarrass you for the world. But I'm going to count to three. When I do, I just want you to shoot your hand up high if you say, "That's me today.

I need to come back to God or I need to surrender my life to Jesus today." Hands are already going up. On three, you shoot them up. One, two, three. You shoot it up all over the room. God bless you. You keep them up. God bless you. I see you waving at me.

God bless I see you in the very back. It's incredible. You keep it up. I see you up in the balcony. God bless you. God bless you. Beautiful. You can put them down. Church, let's pray this together out loud together for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up.

Just say, "Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today I make you my Lord and Savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus name. Everyone said amen.

Come on. Can we celebrate those who made that decision? Incredible.