 Okay, here we are. John chapter 12. We're going to look at verses 20 through 26. And so I'll begin reading at verse 20. I'll read 2 verse 26, and we'll get into our study. And the study is just titled, We Would See Jesus. And so beginning at verse 20, there were certain Greeks among them who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from the side of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. And so Jesus has entered into the city of Jerusalem. And as he did so, it caused great stir amongst the people. They had lined up the street leading into the city, and they had spread palm branches before him. And as this took place, remember with me the Pharisees, the religious leaders, had become enraged over the show of acceptance, and they tried to stop it. They couldn't tolerate the praise that was being directed to Jesus Christ. And Luke tells us in chapter 19, verses 39 and 40, some of the Pharisees called him from the crowd, teacher, rebuke your disciples. But he immediately, but he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. Now, if you've been to Israel, you'll have a picture of what Jesus is saying. Everything is built in stone. The buildings are made out of Jerusalem stone. The streets were paved with stone. When you go to Israel, you'll see that many of the ancient places are still made of Jerusalem stone and still have all this stone everywhere. So Jesus is saying everything would cry out, not just some stones there on the side in some garden, but the entire city itself would be thunderous in its praise. So he says, I tell you that that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out, why? Because Messiah was entering. Well, they were unsuccessful in quenching these people's praise. And so they got angry. They began to complain openly. And so they say in verse 19, you see that you're accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. And so to emphasize this, John introduces to us Greeks who are present in the city of Jerusalem. Now, I'm going to do something here. I'm going to fill in some time gaps when you read this so that you'll see that these events that are being placed here in John's gospel are not necessarily in chronological order. There are other things that are taking place. You see, John is letting us know that the Greeks are going to be part of those who praise God. But because these events do not occur immediately after Jesus came to Jerusalem, I wanted to develop that. You see, Jesus didn't stay in Jerusalem when he arrived at the city. Mark tells us this in the gospel of Mark. Mark gives us more information of what Jesus did when he entered into Jerusalem. So let me read to you out of Mark 11 verse 11, because Mark says Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when he had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. So when you begin to put these events in sequential order, Jesus arrived on Sunday and he saw what was taking place. And then he left. He spent the night in Bethany. Undoubtedly was thinking of what he saw. Bethany was just outside of the city, just a couple of miles or so. So he's there in the city of Bethany and he's thinking undoubtedly what he had seen. So after spending the night in Bethany, he came back to the temple the next morning. Mark again in chapter 11 says to us in verses 15 through 18, he's speaking of the next day. He said they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. And then he taught, saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves. And so Jesus had entered in. He looked around, took it all in, and the next day he arrives and goes to the temple in order that he might cleanse it. And he went into what is called the court of the Gentiles. If you looked at the temple, it's broken into courts. And the first court that you enter into, and you can come through an area which we're going to be at in about a week, it's called the southern steps. Those southern steps are, they are these steps that Jesus would have walked up to go into this area. So we have a Bible study there at the southern steps. And so you can see where Jesus would have entered in. And as he steps up these steps, he goes up into through an archway and all enters in. And there is what is called the court of the Gentiles. So the court of the Gentiles was for all nations. Why? Because God said, my house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations. So the Gentiles are, were permitted to go into this particular area. And so this is where this is taking place here. It's in the area called the court of the Gentiles. Now in this particular area, and it's a good size area, were tables that were set up for money changers and, and those who sold doves. There were tables and there were booths, and they were selling oxen and, and sheep, oil, salt for the Passover, various things. And you can picture this for a moment. If you just think in terms of what is it like if you go to some of the places that we have even today, like the Chino auction and other places like that. Or you go into a place that has livestock. All of us have gone into places that sell livestock, right? How many of you have? Because sometimes I assume we all have six. Some of you haven't. Don't go. It smells bad, doesn't it? Those who've been in, those cows are not polite. They smell. And the sheep smell too. They may be cute, but they stink. And so if you imagine for a moment, place yourself in a position of thinking what it would have been like to have all of these stalls. And there are stalls in the temple. It'd be like stalls in the foyer of the church. There's stalls, there's stalls in the temple area in the courtyard there. It's an outside courtyard. And then try and picture that, the noise. Because, again, sheep and oxen are not quiet. And they don't ask permission to go out to a field to use the bathroom. So it's loud and it's smelly. And then you have all of these people who are mingling in there and all of the noise that's taking place. Because there's a lot of commotion. And so what you have is it's crowded. It's noisy. It's dirty. Again, it's exceptionally smelly. And as Jesus is entering in and he's seeing this, he sees the temple being desecrated. The temple area is being profaned. Because there's a prophet that's taking place. A prophet is being made off of those sincere pilgrims who are coming to celebrate. And these religious leaders are making money off of the people who are coming to celebrate the Passover. You see, in order to celebrate Passover, it was necessary for the worshipper to have an offering. And what had happened is the priests had established inspectors. And the inspectors would inspect any of the offerings that were brought from outside. And they had to, I mean, the law told them to inspect them and they would do that and see if there's any blemish. In Leviticus 22, verses 21 and 22, it says, when anyone brings from the herd or flock of fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or free will offering, it must be with that defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as an offering made to the Lord by fire. So the law said you had to give God something that was not blemished. It wasn't broken. It wasn't infected. It was just the way it is. So the priests were there to make sure that the offerings were proper. But the inspectors would declare the animals unfit in order to sell their own livestock to them. So they'd look at them and they'd say, oh, this one has a defect, but we have one right here. And they would take the offering and put it over here and sell their offering to that pilgrim. And so because the pilgrim needed to have a certified animal, an animal that has been inspected, they would buy these animals from the priests. And the pilgrim would pay up to 10 times the value of the animal. They were being robbed. And at this time also, many would pay what was called the temple tax. The temple tax was a tax that Israel had to maintain the temple. And each one would give a particular amount to make sure that the temple was maintained. But if you came in from out of the country, you came in from Syria or some other place, Lebanon, and you had foreign currency, that was considered unclean. And so you would have to take your foreign currency and exchange it for Jewish shekels. And the rate of exchange was 25%. And so they were ripping them off with the inspected animals as well as the exchange rate. And so Jesus saw this taking place and he entered in. And when he did that, Mark reminds us that he drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple. And according to verse 16, we saw this a moment ago in Mark 11, he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. So what he did is he exercised absolute control as this is taking place. He's angry. And we have this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, meek and mild. And we failed to realize that he's a righteous, righteous savior, righteous God. And he doesn't have a bad temper, but he has wrath. He has a righteous wrath. And he got angry. He got angry over the desecration of the temple. He got angry of the abuse of the people who wanted to worship God. We need to remember that God's intention of the temple was for it to be a place of worship and prayer. In Isaiah 56 verse 7, my house would be called a house of prayer for all nations. Jeremiah 7 verse 11 has this house which bears my name, become a den of robbers to you. And so you have them in the Old Testament and this is what's taking place. This is a house of prayer for all nations, but it's become a den of thieves. You're profiting off of the religious people. And he's angry at the abuse. And he sees his father is being blasphemed. The temple's being desecrated and that motivated him to action. And he drove out all who were making financial profits off of the people. And in this we see something. He cleans his own house first before he cleans anything else up. Keep that in mind. In 1 Peter 4 17 it says it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God. And if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? He begins with us. He cleanses us. He works with us. So many times we say, Lord, how can you allow the world to be as evil as it is? It is. It is. Okay, here we go. Ready? Came to mind, might as well say it. I'm leaving. You know, I haven't been a professional football fan for years. So I can say this is kind of like a neutral. If the Rams were in the Super Bowl, I wouldn't be neutral. I have to be real with you. I like the Rams, but with that said, I don't watch the Super Bowl. I don't care about it that much. It's not my thing. I don't have a dog in the fight. But I did watch a little bit of it this this last Sunday for a little while, till half time. And do you mind if I talk to you from the heart for a moment about this? No, pastor, please do. Okay. Because there are people talking about it, I might as well add my voice to it. How do I say this delicately? With Shakira and J. Lo's dancing. When I appreciate beauty, I've got a beautiful wife. I appreciate beauty. I haven't gone blind. I see, well, she's a pretty girl or whatever. So I want to start off by saying that. And let's see how I can say this. I didn't prepare this. So I just think women should be honored. I just think women should act dignified because if you act dignified, you can be honored and respected for being a beautiful woman. I believe that with all of my heart. I really do. I really do. You know, that's not news. That's just true. And I believe that when the women danced in the way that they did, and be honest with you, I walked out, I turned it off. I don't watch that stuff. Because I'm so righteous, but maybe it is. I don't know. I don't like that stuff. I was taught by my father to respect women. And when a woman is doing what they were doing, that's not something I respect. And rather than getting all uptight and everything, I turn it off. And that's what I do. I don't want to see it. I don't need to see that. I'm very satisfied with the woman God gave to me. Why would I look at another woman? Like Job said, I made it come in with my eyes. Why should I look upon a young maiden? Why should I do that? I already have what God gave to me. What I have is the best. And I love my girl. So why would I do that? Why disrespect her? But I, you know, I saw that and they were doing the Latin beat. And you know, for those of you who don't me, know me. I'm Mexican. I'm a Latin. Okay? Some people don't know. They see this white guy up there. And it's not that white's bad, but white's fine with me is what I've been on my life. But, you know, I'm Mexican. And no, I didn't have a white grandparent. And no, I didn't have a white mama. All of my relatives came. All my grandparents were all from Mexico. I'm 40% Native American. You know, I mean, I'm just saying that just say just to say that. That's what I am. I'm Hispanic. I'm not even that. I'm Chicano. I come from the generation of Hispanics. There's something you put on some. I'm a Mexican American. That's what I am. Okay. And I'm saying all of that because there's a point in that. Not just to say it, but there's a point in that. Because somebody wrote on Facebook and like, I tell you, and it's the news. And so somebody wrote, some Latino wrote, you just don't understand Latino culture. Not to me, he didn't say that. He was just being a wise writer, I guess. I mean, you just don't understand our culture loves to dance. Now, I'll take another step further might as well. I won't be back for a couple of weeks, so I'll take another step. Now, Marie will tell you this, my mom could dance. My mom, she won dance contest. My mom could dance. I grew up in a home with a mama who could dance. And she did. And we played when we had friends over. It was always Mexican music, always was. I grew up with that. So if you tell me about Latino and you start talking to me about my culture, I may not come up here as I'm a pastor and a Christian first, but that doesn't mean I don't understand these things. And I do. I grew up with that. I grew up in that environment. I grew up with that music. Every Saturday, my dad was praying, playing Trio Los Panchos, and you name it, all of these mariachis. I grew up with that. So I regarded, I love it. If you want to see my feet start moving, throw a Latin beat. That's just me. Marie can tell you that. It's true. That's just us. I love Latin music. So when you tell me that, oh, it's just Latin, you don't understand. Are you telling me, because I've got a Mexican wife, Mexican daughters, Mexican grandchildren, a Mexican mother, Mexican mother in low, actually Spanish, you know, I'm sorry, Mexican and Spanish, you tell me, I don't appreciate Latin. Are you kidding me? You telling me that I, I don't understand my culture. And then to say, you don't understand culture. They weren't saying it to me, but they were making a general statement and I read it and it made me upset. And I'll tell you why, because a woman dancing around the way they were on a pole, that's not Latin. That's improper. That's what they call debauchery. And to make excuses for that to say it's Latin, don't don't say that about my wife. Don't say that about my daughters. Don't say that about my granddaughters. We're raising them to be ladies. We're raising them to have dignity, a sense of personal worth, of value because of who God made them to be. And so that's how I want my girls to see themselves, women of honor in the sight of God, changed and transformed and in evidence of the grace of God. So that's what a woman is, not somebody who dances on a pole and then has people who are lusting after her. And the second thing might as well go on, when you're 50 some years old, when did you stop being stupid? Stop it. Okay, you love me. I know you do. I'm getting away with this, but it's true. Come on, J.Lo. Stop it. Grow up. You've got kids. You've got children. You've got little children. They want to respect their mother. At least they should. And so why am I talking about this? I don't know. I was just thinking about it. God wants to transform. And I really believe that what God wants to do in our work, in our lives, is to work within us. I see the world in need of transformation. And I am not condemning J.Lo. And I'm not condemning Sekiro. They need the Lord. They need Jesus. If it sounds like I'm condemning them, I'm not. It sounds like I am. I'm not. I'm observing. And I'm saying, you listen, ladies, and us men, too. My value is not on how I look. It isn't whether I have a great build or whether I... None of that. That is not your value. Your value is that you're made in the image of God and that you should live in such a way to bring glory to Him and bring pleasure to Him. And He can create in you a new heart. And you can have the love and the joy and the peace and all of the things that you desire so much. Because man's admiration for you is fleeting, but God's appreciation for you lasts for eternity. That's called Christianity. And so judgment begins in the house of God. You know, I believe strongly that it's easy to look out into the world and see things that we the church can say, those things need to change and those are bad. And what I said today, I think they need to change because I do think that they're not, they're not the best they could be. But I have to examine my own heart. I have to examine what I'm like. And who am I? And what do I do? Because judgment begins with us. Because God is purifying His people and He desires a holy people, a people who love Him, the people who live for Him, a people whose works are of such quality that they'll see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. He wants to transform us. And unfortunately, sometimes the church really has lost its voice because the church excuses sin and appreciates sin and involves itself in sin. And when you do those things, you have no voice against it because you're just part of it. And so when people are saying, oh, you know, don't judge them, who says I'm judging them? But I am observing and it's a warning to me that I have to be careful to make sure my light shines before the world for Jesus' sake. And I really do pray that God will speak to Jailu because Marie and I, our hearts go out to her. She's lived a tough life. I don't know anything about the other young Lady Shakira. But I know that at a certain point in your life, you've got to see that life is more than the admiration of, as a woman, more than the admiration of men. It's got to be something deeper than that. If you put all of your worth on how people look at you and feel about you, you're going to live a wasted life because the same people who say they love you a week later will say they hate you. But there's one person who loves you and that's our God. And so that's why I'm so sold out to him because he loves me and his love for me has changed me. Well, anyway, Jesus will go back to the study now. Jesus has entered into the temple. This is all taking place. And he's begun to clean it out. This is the second cleansing of the temple. It's occurring in the last week of his ministry. The first one took place at the beginning of his ministry. And we saw that in John chapter two. Why did he cleanse the temple at the beginning at the end of his ministry? It's because hardness and habits of sin are not always cleansed the first time they're dealt with. God has to work on us sometimes more than once to remove the same things. Well, sometime shortly after this, it seems that the Greeks approached Philip. Now it says in verse 20, there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. And they they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Now, who were these Greeks who came up? Some say that they were Jews who had been Grecianized or Hellenized. They were, in other words, cultural Greek, though they were Jewish. They spoke Greek and all. Some are saying that's who these people are. Some think that they were Gentile converts to Judaism who had come to worship at the feast. Others think that they are Gentiles who were Godfarers. They weren't full converts, but they did come to make offerings. And then some think they were still pagans that had come to show honor to Israel's God. Whatever it may be, it may be that these Greeks had been impressed by Jesus, and they simply want to meet him. So notice what happens in verse 21. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida. Now, why Philip? Well, because Philip is a Greek name. It may be that he also spoke Greek. So they've come to someone, they believe, can introduce them to the Lord. Now, these Greeks represent the world seeking salvation through Jesus Christ. Remember in chapter 10 verse 16? Now, Jesus said that he had other sheep. He said, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice. And there will be one flock and one shepherd. And so, these Greeks represent the world seeking salvation and coming to Christ. And so, as they come and speak to him, verse 22 tells us Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus. So it's interesting that they came to Philip, and Philip spoke to Andrew. They both had Greek names, Philip and Andrew, and they may have had a connection with the culture or the language. Now, these two are good friends. They're from the same town, according to John 144. They're both from Bethsaida. Now, we know Andrew is the brother of the apostle Peter. It may be that he has a closer relationship and friendship with Jesus, and it seems that Philip didn't know what to do with the request to see Jesus. So he goes to Andrew, and together they bring these Greeks to Jesus. And what we see here is we see gifts that are working together. You're seeing that one person is working with another, and together they're able to do ministry to bring them to Jesus. When we were in Spain years ago now, a friend of mine, Bob, and I were in the hotel we were staying in, and we had run across a young man, a Spaniard, who actually had lived in the United States and had American citizenship, and he actually had been in the U.S. military. He was in the Army, and he had gotten out of the Army and had gone back to Spain, and we were in Madrid. And when we were in Madrid, he had somehow come into connection with us. There were several of us together, and we were doing ministry, and this young man had approached us. He was a young man at that time in his early 20s, and he started talking to us. He heard us speak in English, and then he introduced himself, and he was a non-fire young Christian, American, raised, but also Spanish. And so we were talking and all, and he was really a new Christian. I'll never forget this. And we shared with him. He said, who are you guys, and what are you doing here? And we told him who we were, and we're pastors from the United States. We've come to do some ministry, we're scouting Spain out. We want to do a work in Spain. And he grew to like us, and he actually started hanging around with us while we were there. Then one day, after a couple days of after meeting him, he came walking in to this hotel's foyer that we were having a cup of coffee when he came in, and he brought three or four guys, people with him. And he said to us, I'll never forget, he said, hey guys, I've been talking to these, these are American students. And I've been telling him about Jesus. He says, but I don't really know that much. He's brand new. So can you guys help me? And so we said, yeah, why not? No, I said, no, I'm on vacation. No, I said, why not? Of course. So these guys all sit down around us and we're at a table. American students in Madrid, Spain, a Spanish young man, hungry for God. He could bring them to a certain place, but he didn't know how to bring them to a conclusion. So sometimes the gifts work together. Sometimes the gifts work together. You can do so much, and then you hand off. And somebody else can take it a little bit further. This young man's name is Rafael, and he is a pastor in Calvary Calvary Chapel pastor in Mallorca. And he runs the Bible college there now. But way back when he was a new Christian, he didn't know how to, we used to call it close to sale. He didn't know how to bring them to a point of decision. And so that's how it works. So never feel discouraged, by the way. If you've got so much you can do, there's always somebody in the body of Christ can go a step further and can help you. That's a good thing. That's why we need each other. They didn't know what to do. And so as this is taking place, well, let's bring them to Jesus. So it says Philip, Andrew and Philip told Jesus, verse 23, Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. And so Jesus begins to minister. The hour has come that the Son of Man, he says, should be glorified. Now, notice how he says the hour. So their arrival is understood by Jesus to be evidence of his mission's conclusion. Up to this point, Jesus had been stating his hour had not yet fully arrived. All the way back in chapter two, verse four, when his mama had spoken to him about the wedding feast and they had run out of wine and all, he had said in John two, verse four, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. In John seven, verse six, John records that Jesus said to his brothers, my time has not yet come. Your time is always ready. In John seven, 30, they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come. And then again in John eight, 20, these words Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple. No one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come. And so the hour has come here, verse 23. And he says that the Son of Man should be glorified. When he says that the Son of Man should be glorified, it's another way of speaking of his crucifixion. So in God's perfect timing, Jesus is prepared to offer himself as a sacrifice. And the sacrifice of his life is the subject of his, of the preaching of the cross, because that's the center of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is Jesus offering himself. And that's what this time was all about, that he would lay his life down for us. And from the very beginning, the center of the gospel has always been the cross. That's why it's been called the crux of the matter. See the word crux is the word cross. And so when people say that's the crux of the matter, they're saying that's the central point. And in the gospel, the Jesus Christ and the cross, that's the center. And so Jesus dying as a sacrifice is what he's speaking about, that he should be glorified. Now Jesus associates his suffering on the cross with being glorified. In Luke 24 verses 25 and 26, he said to them, oh foolish ones, slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. And Jesus went on to say, not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory, to die. Because dying on the cross brings him to the place where he's our Savior, he's able to work in our life. And then he says in verse 24, most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. If it dies, it produces much grain. This is the mystery of eternal life. It takes his death to give us life. The grain is sown and produces a large crop. And even so Jesus's death brings life to many. In Isaiah 5310 it says it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. If it dies, it brings forth much fruit. You want to be used by the Lord? You die to yourself. You die to yourself if you want to be used by the Lord. Our church was real new. We had been meeting at a location in Ontario, church of God, seventh day on Vine Street, right off of Holt. We had celebrated an alternative to Halloween, we called a Hallelujah Party. And then Christmas came and we rented the church because we were renting a small building. We rented the church so we could have a Christmas Day service. And after having the Christmas Day service, the people who rented us the church kicked us out because they said, you guys are a cult. Because you celebrate Halloween, which we didn't. It was an alternative. And you celebrate Christmas. Because they thought celebrating Christmas was a pagan ritual. And they kicked us out. And so they said, you have to leave in January. And so two of my guys and I scoured through Ontario, even went up into Upland. We knew every every, you know, everything that could be rented for a church we looked at. We couldn't afford anything. The only thing that we could have, that we thought would have been a real potential was central school on, I believe it's G Street. And but it was 10 times, almost 10 times the amount of money to rent that then we were spending on this little church we were renting. Because we only had at that time about 60 people in the church. And and there was no way we could afford $1,050 a month rent. We couldn't afford that. And so we began looking everywhere. And that was where we settled. But we couldn't, we couldn't, we couldn't meet there. We didn't have, we didn't have the money with 60 people that was barely making the bills. We had a 10 by 10 office that that was being rented for about $100 a month. And and we were renting the the church for $150 a month or something. It was very inexpensive. And now it's going to be $1,050. We can't afford that. We don't have the money to do that. You know, be surprised back in 81. You know, that was a lot of money for us. We didn't have it 60 people. And these 60 people that we had were were young people and young people very often don't give. And so it's just the truth. And so it was very difficult. And so we looked everywhere and the only place we could find was was central school. But it was $1,050 a month and we couldn't afford that. It was a Wednesday night. We were supposed to be out of the church in two weeks. It was the middle of January. And we had looked everywhere and they gave us to January 31st and we were out. Couldn't find a place. And so for some reason, Marie and the kids were not home. And it was just me. And it was Wednesday and I was going to go and teach a Bible study. And I still remember going into my bedroom there in a little house in Ontario. And I still remember falling on my face literally on my face on the carpet in the bedroom crying, God, I don't know what to do. We've been kicked out. We have no place to go. I said, we only have 60 people. But these are the most important people in my life. And I don't know what to do. God help us. I don't know what to do. And so I went to the Bible study that night. I really did. I wept so hard that when I came into the Bible study, one of the young women at the study approached me and said, you look like death warmed over. That was her greeting. She says, what's wrong with you? We need to pray for you. And I said, after the study, please. And so my friend Dan, who's going to go with us to Israel, who is my first assistant, Dan and I said, we put a chair in the middle of the front room. And this little Bible study of about 25 people are so laid hands on us. And they prayed, Father, in Jesus' name, would you do something? And I went home and I went to bed. And I still remember as I was I was about to go to sleep. I heard a voice and the voice said, you will need a place that seats 200 on Easter Sunday. And it was very clear. And I remember saying to myself, that's right. And I fell asleep. And so God got us an extension. And they extended us until March at this place. And within two months, our church grew from 60 to 120. And now we had the finances that could pay the rent for central school. So we contacted central school and we said, we'd like to rent central school for our church and they rented it to us. And Easter Sunday came. And Easter Sunday, it was storming. The rain was so pouring in such a way that the water was going over the curb. And anybody who knows the area of Sultana and off 6th Street, when you're starting to go up in that area there, you know that the curbs are higher there than normal because the water rushes down and floods that area. It can be very, you know, 18 inches high. It was pouring like that. And I came on Easter Sunday pouring the rain and I went out to preach and I looked out and I said to the people, you don't know this, but you are an answer to the word that the Lord gave to me because the Lord said that we would need a place that seats 200 on Easter Sunday. And there were 200 people in that auditorium. Now I forgot to mention this. Thursday, I was preparing after that Wednesday night, the next day, Thursday, I was preparing the Gospel of John because I was teaching John 38 years ago and I got to John 12 24. And I said to the Lord when I read that, unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it will rise a little bit. If it dies, it produces much fruit, brings forth much fruit. And I remember closing my Bible because I was preparing John 12 24 and I said, God, I am dead. I still remember that prayer. Father, I am dead. I am so dead. I said, this applies to my heart right now. And here comes the mail carrier up the steps and drops off our mail. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said, your letter is here. Now I had written about a week or so before to Chuck Smith. And I said, Pastor, we want to be a Calvary Chapel. We at that time were called Ontario Christian Chapel. I said, but my roots in everything is Calvary Chapel. And so I hear the voice of the Lord, your letter is here. And I went and I took this big stack of mail out and put it down. And I prayed. As I turned over the first letter, it said Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa. I put it to the side, went through the others, trying to pretend I'm ignoring this one. And then I prayed, Father, if you would have us be Calvary Chapel, you know, that's my desire. If not, your will be done. I opened it and it said, welcome to the Calvary Chapel family. If you've ever been in the foyer where you enter in and you take a left going north, you will see a copy of that letter, not the whole letter, but you'll see a copy of that letter that I put there in our timeline because Pastor Chuck wrote me personally. And he said, welcome to Calvary Chapel ministry. And so why am I telling you that? I'm telling you that because what Jesus's word says is not simply related to 2000 years ago. But if you died to yourself, if you died to yourself, you have to. You have to die to yourself. You have to put the kingdom first. You have to put the will of God first because when you die to yourself, that gives the Lord opportunity. And unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. And so 38 years of God's faithfulness he has shown me that all these years that where he guides, he provides. And my responsibility is to get out of his way so he can be glorified. See, that's the heart of Christianity. And that's what you see here. I've just tried to give you this reminder so you'd understand that. And so he says the hour has come that I should be glorified. He said the grain needs to die to produce much fruit. Then he says in verse 25, he who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me where I am. There my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. And so to love one's life speaks of making your self-interest more important than living to please him. And the one who lives continually for personal pleasure ends up miserable. Proverbs 27 20 says, hell and destruction are never full. So the eyes of man are never satisfied. Ecclesiastes 2, 10 and 11. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work. And this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless. A chase seen after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun. He went on in Ecclesiastes 5, 10 to say whoever loves money never has money enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. And that's why in Matthew 10 39, Jesus would say he who finds his life will lose it. And he who loses his life for my sake will find it. In verse 26, if anyone serves me, let him follow me. If we're his servants, we need to go where he's going. Well, where was he going? Let him follow me. He's going to the cross. So we too live a life of sacrifice. You see, the way of the servant is the sacrificial life. In Luke 9, 23, he said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. And then Jesus said, where I am there, my servant will be also. Now later on, Jesus would pray in John 17, 24, Father, I want those you've given me to be with me, where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you've given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. And Jesus, where is he? He's at the right hand of the Father. He's in heaven and he's gone to prepare a place for us. And if he's gone to prepare a place for us, he'll come again, receive us unto himself there where he is. We may be also. In Philippians 3, 20, 21, our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body, according to the work in by which he's able even to subdue all things to himself, Christianity. Jesus said, I want to prepare a place for you, where I am there, you may be also. Our home is in heaven. We're just passing through. We die to our self. And it's been said, the most selfish person is the one who goes to heaven alone. And so what we do is we take what God has given to us and we share it with others. We tell him about how good Jesus is and what he has done. That should be what we are made of. That should be our core, is to be so caught up with wanting people to know Jesus that we share as often and as properly as we can to let people know there's a better way. We're just passing through. God help us to know that. Nothing you have now is going to go with you. No hearse ever is drawing a U-Haul with them. That's just a fact. I remember hearing of a guy who died and was buried. I think it was his Ferrari. He was buried in this Ferrari. Well, he's not driving it anywhere. And his relatives know where that is. So maybe they're driving it. All I know is, and this will close with this, all I know is, is there's nothing better. If there's nothing better, there's nothing better than serving Jesus Christ. There's nothing better. I think of my life. I don't want to get too dramatic with you, but I think of my wife and I think what a gift she is to me. And I look at my babies and they've been tough on me sometimes, my children. But what a blessing they've been to me. And then I have a chance to have grandbabies and I hold them and love them. I have one, my olive right now who's going to be a year and the minute she sees me and I speak to her, she starts kicking her little feet and she has, she fights to get to me. I love that. What is better? What is better than to be able to put your head on a pillow at night and not be afraid, to be able to put your head on a pillow at night and not wonder who's mad at me for what I've done, who's after me for what I've stolen. I sleep with a clear conscience every night and every morning I wake up with a woman who loves me more than life itself. That's what God has given to me. Why would I want something else? Why would I want something more? Jesus Christ is everything. He's transformed me completely. He's forgiven me of all my sins. He's cleansed me of all my iniquity and he has my name written in his book of life and one day he's going to say come on up here and I'll see him face to face. What is better than that? Nothing, nothing. And that's the gospel that we preach, a gospel of complete forgiveness of a brand new life, blessings that are immeasurable and joys, joys that God gives to us. From sorrow he gives us joy and I have to tell you, Jesus said it. He said, do you want to know all of these things? Then you need to follow me because where the master is, the servant is also. These Greeks wanted to know the truth and the best thing that these two apostles could do was bring these Greeks to the truth itself. Here he is. This is Jesus. I want to introduce you to him and isn't that what we're supposed to do to introduce people to Jesus.