[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:15] That is our goal, that he would be glorified. Amen. Take your Bibles and go with me to John chapter 12. While you're turning, let me remind you of three things I hope you'll write down somewhere that you'll pray with me about.
[0:28] And you'll invite people to number one. Number one is the children's crusade. It'll start next week. Ed Dunlop is a great Bible children's evangelist.
[0:39] The adults will love him. He is, I don't know, he's roughly my age. So you wouldn't think he'd be a children's guy. But I promise you when you hear him and you bring the children, they'll all be blessed.
[0:49] And we'll have a good time. I hope you'll invite people to come and be a part of that. I hope you're already thinking Easter Sunday is like the greatest time in the world. To be able to invite somebody to church.
[1:00] It's when the whole world thinks about church. It's your opportunity to share the gospel. To invite them and to come to be a part of the services. And I challenge you to get some names.
[1:10] Two or three or four names. And pray for them. And invite them to be with us for Easter Sunday. And to hear the gospel preached that day. And you can make a lasting impact by sharing Jesus with them.
[1:23] And the last thing is the Bible Expo. And Trent will tell you more about that later. But it's in about two weeks. And if you have a pastor friend and wants to learn more about Bible exposition.
[1:34] Pastor Scott Toole will be here with us. And that will be a great time. It's only Thursday and Friday. Thursday afternoon, Friday morning. He'll preach Thursday night. And that will be a great time.
[1:44] Pastors of church in Baltimore. And it will be a good help of yours. To spend some time with a pastor. To have him here. To learn a little bit more about Bible exposition. Take your Bible.
[1:55] If you would. And go with me to John chapter 12. To John chapter 12. And let me put it in context. Where we've been in the Bible. John chapter 12 verse 23.
[2:06] Jesus answered them saying. The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground.
[2:17] And die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life.
[2:29] If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now is my soul troubled.
[2:41] And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. For this cause came I unto this hour. Father, once again I ask you to work.
[2:52] I realize that I cannot communicate these wonderful truths. The desire that Jesus had to glorify you. The promise that you would glorify yourself.
[3:02] The fact that you will work in our lives. And you are working our lives. And the fact that people need so desperately to see you at work in other people's lives. To help them learn more about you.
[3:14] God, would you do a work. And I'll give you honor and glory and praise for what you do today. In Jesus name, amen. A pastor in California. In a large church out there on the staff.
[3:26] In a large church just within a year or two ago, I guess, got word that he had a disease. And he was going. It was a very serious disease. It was a cancer. And he very likely might die from that disease.
[3:38] This man leads a large number of people. He has a heavy ministry. And he put out on his blog. And I remember the day I have. I think it was Hodgkin.
[3:50] How you say it, Trent? Anyway, he had a disease. A cancer. And I'm not a doctor. And if you'd like to know, I'll give you his website. And you can look it up. His name is Kerry Schmidt. He's a pastor out in California.
[4:02] He had a disease. It would scare anybody to death. He started out. He started out at his blog saying, I intend for Jesus to be glorified in my life through whatever happens to me.
[4:15] And over that time, he wrote day after day of the feelings he had and what God was doing. And he has allowed God to be glorified. That ought to be the goal of your life. What are you going to do with the tragedy that's coming down the pike?
[4:29] What are you going to do with the problems that are coming your way in life? How are you going to deal? What are you going to do with the different things that God allows to happen? By the way, bad things do happen to good people.
[4:41] Bad things happen to everybody. You're not going to get out of that. There's nobody in this room going to escape death unless the rapture happens. So how are you going to deal with it? I want to live a God glorifying life.
[4:54] I want to live a life that brings honor to his name. So I want you to study with me. The one who did that more than anybody. His name is Jesus. And I want to see how we can apply that to our lives.
[5:04] Go with me if you would to John chapter 12 and verse 28. John chapter 12 and verse 28. The Bible says, Father, glorify thy name.
[5:15] Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The first thing I want you to notice here is Jesus had a desire to see God get glory from his life.
[5:27] No matter what it costs. I ought to have desire to see God get glory from my life. No matter what it costs. It ought to be my heart's prayer to say today.
[5:38] Everybody in this room will look up and say, Lord Jesus, Father in heaven, glorify your name in my life. How many of you feel that way? Say amen. How many of you want him to get glory from your life?
[5:49] How many of you want to honor him? Here's what's going on. Jesus knows that he's going to die. He's about to die. He's within a week of dying and he knows it. Look in Mark chapter 10 verse 32.
[6:01] Through verse 34 the Bible says, And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus went before them and they were amazed as they followed him. They were afraid. And he took again the 12 and he began to tell them what things should happen unto him.
[6:15] And in verse 33 he said, I'll be delivered. I'll be condemned to death. I'll be delivered to the Gentiles. In verse 34 he said, And they'll mock me and they'll scourge me and they'll spit on me and they'll kill me.
[6:26] But I will rise again. Do you understand what happened? He said, I'm on my way to death. I am on my way to suffer. I'm on my way to horrible circumstances.
[6:38] Brother Schmidt had no idea how bad his would be. Jesus knew every detail. Carrie Schmidt thought maybe it might even lead to death. Jesus knew it would lead to death. We're all facing issues.
[6:50] And he says, Not only that, He knew exactly what he was going to suffer. Look if you would in John 12, 27. Where we've been studying. Where we were just this past week. Jesus says, Now is my soul troubled.
[7:02] And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Jesus knew. And in one verse before where I am right now.
[7:15] Jesus said, Now is my soul troubled. I'm at the door of death. I'm at the door of suffering. I'm at the door of being beaten and mocked and spit on.
[7:28] I'm at the door of having a crown of thorns placed on my head. And now is my soul troubled. Can't you imagine if you got the news? If you heard the dreaded C word said to you.
[7:40] If you heard cancer. If you heard the dreaded D word divorce. Or the dreaded F word foreclosure. You heard any of those things happening. You'd be like, Man, I don't know where I'm going. My life is in trouble.
[7:50] I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know where I'm going to turn. I don't know what to do. And here's what Jesus' answer was. In verse 28. Look at it. John 12, 28. Look at what he said. He said, Father, glorify your name.
[8:04] I'm about to go through mess. Father, glorify your name. God, do a work in my life. You know what Jesus did with the dying that came?
[8:15] He willingly laid down his life. In Luke chapter 22, verse 42. The Bible says, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
[8:30] That's a godly attitude. That's the attitude Jesus had. I know I'm about to die. I know I'm about to suffer. I know my life's about to fall apart in human terms. I know everything's going wrong.
[8:40] But Lord, I want your will to be done in my life. I want your will to be done in my life. How would God be glorified through Jesus' death?
[8:52] Father, glorify your name. The Father responds and says, I have glorified my name. And I will glorify my name. How would he be glorified? He'd be glorified because Jesus would be doing the Father's will and not his own will.
[9:06] He'd be glorified. The Father would be glorified because Jesus was going to do what was his to do. What God gave him to do. What God put in his life. And he was going to do it without complaining and without arguing.
[9:18] He was going to do it even if it wasn't comfortable. Jesus was going to magnify the Father. Jesus was going to pay for the sins of the world. Jesus was going to lay down his life so that we could be saved.
[9:31] And the Father was going to be glorified in that. And I'd like to speak to you just briefly on that thing right there. Jesus said, Father, glorify your name.
[9:42] And I'd like to speak to you right now. Are you facing what Brother Schmidt faced? Are you facing some major catastrophe or tragedy in your life? Is your life falling apart?
[9:54] Well, let's just go over some things. Don't you want to glorify the Father? Don't you want Jesus to be glorified if you do say amen? So we want him to. So how do we go about that? Here's the first thing.
[10:04] Here's the first thing. We got to get a hold of this. That it is his will that we give him glory with everything that's in us. We are to glorify God. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4, 11.
[10:17] If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. But underline this in your Bible or mark this down to study it and underline it later.
[10:28] That God in all things may be glorified. That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.
[10:40] Amen. Stop. You got saved. You deserve to go to hell. There was nothing in you that God ought to save you. There was no reason God would give you eternal life. But he did.
[10:51] What a good God we serve. Amen. What a good God. And here's what he said. He said, man. And he said, whatever you do, you ought to have one goal in mind. That God would be glorified.
[11:03] That God would be praised through Jesus Christ. How many of you have that goal in your heart? You're saved. You're born again. You want to praise God for what he's done in your life.
[11:13] Amen. Can you imagine if you were in a car wreck or a train wreck or a plane crash. And somebody came flying through there and rescued you. I mean, we honor firemen.
[11:26] And we honor other people that save lives and rescue people. And if somebody saved our lives, we'd be just so excited about them. We'd want to put their name in the newspaper. We'd want to tell people about what they did.
[11:37] Let me tell you. Jesus saved us from hell. Jesus gave us a new life. Glorify him. Amen. Now, here's what we are. We're all like this.
[11:47] Well, I glorify him. I'll glorify him when we sing. I'll sing the glory to the Lord. But we don't move much past that few minutes of singing on Sunday morning. Watch with me some verses, if you would.
[11:59] You've got to understand that I'm to glorify him with all that's within me. 1 Chronicles 16, 29. The Bible says, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.
[12:11] Give unto the Lord the glory owed to his name. Give unto the glory. Give the glory to the Lord like you ought to get glory. How much glory should the God of heaven get? Can you talk to me?
[12:22] Wouldn't it be big glory? Wouldn't it be great honor? Wouldn't it be like, man, God, there is no one like you anywhere. There is no other God in history.
[12:33] There is no other God even mentioned. There is no other God even talked about like you. Let's give him glory. In 1 Corinthians 6, 20. The Bible said, For you are bought with a price.
[12:44] Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You deserve to go to hell. You were on the slave block. Satan had you bound in sin and ready to put you in hell.
[12:56] And Jesus purchased you and bought you. And rescued you and brought you out of that. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit. In Philippians 1, 20.
[13:09] According to my earnest expectation and my hope. That in nothing I shall be ashamed. But that with all boldness as always. So now also in Christ shall be magnified in my body.
[13:20] Whether it's by my life or by my death. I want Jesus to be magnified. I want Christ to be magnified. That was Paul saying. Would you write this down somewhere? Would you just think about this for your life?
[13:32] We ought to want him to be glorified with everything that's within us. We ought to want to lift his name high. We ought to want to brag on him. Hey, it wasn't the church that saved you.
[13:42] It wasn't a saint that saved you. It wasn't a virgin that saved you. It wasn't a missionary that saved you. It wasn't your good works that saved you. You deserve to go to hell. And Jesus paid the price to save you.
[13:55] Isn't that wonderful? Say amen. That's wonderful. Let's glorify him. Now how do I do it? First, I need to know I ought to do it. The second thing I want you to look at is this. I glorify God by understanding and believing that he is truly in control of my life and circumstances.
[14:10] I glorify him by knowing that he is truly in charge of my life and my circumstances. Are you ready for this? Look this way. Just a couple eyeballs. Are you ready for this? Are you ready? Are you ready?
[14:22] Hey, you aren't an accident. You're not an accident. Did you know that that mess you're going through right now and the things you're going through right now? Did you know that those things didn't just happen by chance?
[14:35] But there is a God working in your life. Can you say amen right there? You know what you're going through? Hey, let me just tell you. I've seen lots of tragedy hit our family. And the thing that dropped me back and helped me get through it was when I said, I know he knew.
[14:51] I know he knew what was going on in my life. A couple of words you ought to write down. Nothing happens to me that's not God filtered and God approved. You ought to write that down.
[15:01] God filtered and God approved. Nobody will get to you. No tragedy will come your way. Nothing will go on in your life that God doesn't work in your life.
[15:12] God doesn't allow things to happen. He has a purpose. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. The Bible says, There had no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
[15:24] But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. When all the things are going on and your life is falling apart and you're thinking, I can't take another thing.
[15:38] I don't know how God doesn't know what I'm going through. I don't know how God doesn't understand me. God doesn't understand what's going on. He does understand you. He is at work in your life and he is in charge of your circumstances.
[15:49] How are you going to glorify him? By knowing that you ought to. By knowing and understanding. By knowing and understanding that things aren't happening just by accident. And by knowing that everything is God filtered and God approved that happens in your life.
[16:05] And you'll be able to give glory to God. God will not allow anything to happen in my life that is not for my good. Did you hear that? God will not allow anything to happen in my life that's not for my good.
[16:16] I don't always understand it. I don't always see it. But God will not allow anything to happen for my good. You know, I can remember being a little boy. And I can remember living on a farm and using an outhouse.
[16:29] And the rest of the kids in my school didn't do that. And I can remember living in that little four-room house. And I can remember having to eat whatever was put before me. And I can remember all the things that my dad did as he was raising me and teaching me.
[16:41] And training me. And I was often bitter about my past. I was often like, why did I have to live this way? Why did I have to use an outhouse? And why didn't I have more clothes?
[16:52] Because I had two kinds of clothes. Well, I had three kinds of clothes. I had everyday clothes, go-to-school clothes, and Sunday clothes. And that's the way it was. You know, my mom would say, you put your Sunday clothes up and hang them up.
[17:04] And you get out your everyday clothes. Your everyday clothes used to be Sunday clothes. But when they got wore out and up, they became go-to-school clothes. And when they got wore out and up, they became everyday clothes. And, you know, I didn't have all that stuff.
[17:16] And I woke up in Peru one day as a missionary. And I was riding down the road. And I was out in a village. And I was the only white boy in a hundred miles. And I was having to use an outhouse to take a bath in a creek.
[17:27] And I thought, man, God knew exactly what he was doing when he was raising me. I am ready for this. I thought it was bad, but it turned out to be good. Can you say amen? God's at work in your life.
[17:38] God is at work in your life. And it's happening. And God is moving in your life. Look, if you would, write this one down. I will come forth as gold. Are you born again? How many of you are born again?
[17:49] Say amen. You got stuff going wrong in your life. And you're wondering how you're going to deal with it. And you're wondering what you're going to do. Well, Father, glorify your name. But when stuff's happening in our lives, we got to know this.
[18:01] God's going to bring me through it. And I'm going to get out on the other side. And my faith will have been tested. And the troubles will have been strong. But when it's all over, God will have proven something.
[18:13] Look at what he said in 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7. Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you're in heaven is through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith be much more precious than of gold, that perish as though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of the Lord, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
[18:37] Do you know what God's doing? He's working in your life. He's showing his power. He's moving in you so that he can get glory in your life for Jesus.
[18:48] And the amazing thing is you understand that. You understand that about the football coach. You understand that about the basketball coach. You understand that about the sports figure. But you will not accept that about the Lord God in heaven.
[19:00] The coach walks in and says, you're going to run so many laps. You're going to do so many of this and that. They even give dirty names for it. You know, like blood and guts and all the stuff you're going to have happen to you while you're practicing and getting ready for the big game.
[19:13] And you're kind of upset with the coach. But the coach keeps saying, you're working. You're working. You're working. Back to the basics. And you're working. And then when you win the ball game, he says, see, it was all worth it. And you understand that. But you won't face it. God's at work in your life.
[19:23] He's building his glory through us. Father, glorify your name. He knows where you are. He knows what's going on in your life. You're not an accident.
[19:35] You're not abandoned. God is at work. I have to realize that God has a purpose for my life. And I accept that. And I make sure it affects my attitude and reflects in my attitude.
[19:47] God is at work in my life. I have to learn to see the eternal rather than the temporal. And I won't read you the verse for the sake of time. But in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 16.
[19:59] 2 Corinthians 4, verses 16 through 18. Look what the Bible says. For which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed.
[20:11] And he said it's working in eternal. It's an external thing going on. But it's working in eternal. And an eternal weight of glory in my life. This world is not your home.
[20:24] We're just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. God's at work in me. Can you say amen right there? So here's the whole story. Do you want to live a God-glorifying life?
[20:37] How many of you want to live a God-glorifying life? Say amen. I want to live a life that brings honor to God. Well, here's how it happens. Jesus is at the verge of going into the last week of his life.
[20:49] He's just come through Palm Sunday. They just praised him. But now the trials are going to begin. And the beatings are going to begin. And the beard's going to be plucked. And the back is going to be beaten.
[21:00] And his face is going to be so torn up. You couldn't think of him as a man if you were to look at him. And he is going to be nailed on a cross. And people are going to walk by and laugh at him and mock him.
[21:11] The creator God suspended between heaven and earth being mocked. But when he sees all that happening, he knows every bit of it. He goes, oh God, glorify yourself in me.
[21:23] God, glorify yourself. You are not going through anything like what Jesus went through. Not a one of us, no matter what the tragedy we're facing, the sins of the world will not be placed on our shoulders.
[21:35] We will not be completely abandoned because our Father will never leave us. We are not an accident. We know he's at work in our lives and we can trust him to work in us. Father, glorify your name.
[21:46] That's the first thing. The first thing is I want God to be glorified no matter what happens, no matter what it costs me. I want God to be glorified. By the way, if you're a truly born again Christian, you do want God to be glorified.
[21:58] And if you're sitting there saying, well, whoa, whoa, I'm not too sure about that. I mean, I'm all for going to church and I'm all for giving my money. But if you're talking about God doing all that junk to me, I'm out.
[22:10] I don't want to play this game. That's a good sign you're probably not born again. Because a born again Christian has a heart that says, oh God, glorify yourself in me. The second thing, look if you would in verse 28 again.
[22:23] There's a promise. There's a promise that God will glorify his name in whatever you're going through. God will. I love this. Jesus says in verse 27, my heart's troubled.
[22:40] Man, what's facing me is horrendous. My heart's troubled. What am I going to say? Well, Father, get me out of it.
[22:50] I can't say that. I came into the world for this cause. Verse 28. So since I know there's a purpose, Father, glorify your name.
[23:01] Glorify your name. And here comes the promise. I have and I will. I have and I will. I'm God. I do get glory.
[23:12] I have gotten glory and I will get glory because who am. Look at verse 28 with me. Father, glorify thy name. And then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
[23:23] Jesus was promised by the Father that the Father would glorify his name. Jesus, you're fixing to go through a lot of stuff. And on the darkest moment when they are beating you and you're waiting between trials, he goes through like five trials and he is just totally, totally humanly destroyed and beaten.
[23:43] He is beaten beyond recognition. People are, they cover his eyes and they punch him and say, why don't you tell us who hit you? And they spit on him and they bow the knee before him and they hit him with a reed over the crown that's on his head and they mock him and they treat him like nothing.
[24:00] Father, glorify your name. And God says, don't worry, son. I have and I will. I have and I will. That gives confidence that what's happening to me is not in vain or wasted.
[24:14] There's a purpose for what I'm going through. God will get victory from this apparent tragedy. I'll never forget one of the greatest tragedies that ever happened to us.
[24:27] One of the greatest tragedies that ever happened to us. My daughter ran away from home. And here I am the preacher and the pastor and the leader of a whole bunch of churches in Adikipa.
[24:38] And my daughter has run away from home. And I am humiliated and I am embarrassed. And I have spent hours alone with God saying, why? I have spent hours alone like Jesus did in verse 27 saying, my soul is troubled.
[24:52] What am I supposed to do? And I spent all that time praying. And I actually went in the church and told him. I said, I'll resign and I'll step aside. I call my home church and I call my mission agency.
[25:02] And I said, I'll step aside. And no one accepted it. And they told me, you know, you keep going. And here my daughter had run away with a guy. And I was humiliated beyond any words.
[25:13] It was on national TV that the missionary's daughter had run away. And that Sunday morning I walked in the pulpit and my message was, I will win in this too.
[25:24] Because I knew that my father was at work in my life. And by the way, I did win. My daughter's back.
[25:35] My daughter's married. My daughter's serving God. And they're at church this morning. And he's working with the young people. And he's like the church treasurer. I mean, God has done a work.
[25:45] Can you say amen? That's the first thing. The first thing is, the first thing is, oh, Father, glorify your name. And the second thing is, nothing's an accident. Have the promise of the Father that great things are going to happen.
[25:57] I will be like him when this is over. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. The Bible says, beloved, now we are sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be.
[26:08] But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Did you know that God's at work forming you to look like Jesus? Did you know that God's working on your character?
[26:20] Did you know that this pastor can't change you? And I can't make and mold you like you ought to be? And I can only preach the gospel. And I can only preach what the Bible says. But it's God that's at work in your life.
[26:30] And God's using all your circumstances and all the things that are happening. God's doing something in you. These aren't accidents. He's making you sweet. He's making you precious.
[26:42] He's making you in the image of his son. Our God is at work. In Romans chapter 8, verses 28 and 29, you know the verses. It's the verse everybody quotes. We know that all things work together for good to them and love God and are called according to his purpose.
[26:55] Let me tell you, if you're born again, you are called according to his purpose. If you are born again, you do love him. And did you know that nothing happens that won't turn out for good for you? Because verse 29 says this, the father's busy making you look like Jesus.
[27:11] The father's busy making you look like Jesus. You are predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Boy, he saved us out of garbage. We stood up born again.
[27:22] But man, we still got on dirty diapers. We're still sucking our thumb. We're still dragging a blanket. And if we looked over here and saw where God was taking us, we're going to look like Jesus. We're going to have a character like him.
[27:33] We're going to be like him. And he's at work in my life and things are happening. Some things are hard to take and some things are easy to take. And some things are shocking to me and some things are tragedies to me.
[27:43] But all the way through life, God said, Austin, don't you worry. Come on, Austin, don't you worry. I'm working in your life. All thanks for good because I'm going to turn you out like Jesus. What a promise. What a promise.
[27:53] In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, it said, he that begun a good work in you, he will finish it. Isn't that sweet stuff? Do you know you got saved and you think you got to hold on to your salvation? And you think you got to do all this stuff?
[28:05] No, he started a work in you. He's going to take you from the day you were born again all the way to heaven and finish the work in you. The father said, Jesus said, father, I'm about to die.
[28:15] Glorify your name. And God says from heaven, I have glorified my name and I will glorify my name. He is at work in your life.
[28:27] There's security even in the storm because I know it's not an accident, but rather God's at work. How do you give God the glory even when you're going through difficult times? Who's going through difficult times?
[28:39] How do you give God glory? Number one, you do it by having an attitude of love and worship towards the Lord. We need an attitude of love and worship. By the way, all over the world, there are people going through things that are far worse than what we're going through.
[28:52] Do you understand that what you call a problem, what you call a problem, most people in the world would say, that's not a problem. My car wouldn't start this morning. They'd say, we don't have a car. My dinner burned.
[29:04] They said, we didn't have any dinner to burn. We say, I'm sick. I'm 80 years old and I'm sick. They said, everybody right here was dead until they was 50. I mean, we really don't know what problems are.
[29:17] Have an attitude of love and worship. Look to him to do something that will bring glory to himself. Don't get angry and bitter. Don't complain.
[29:29] I can only imagine. And I don't know Brother Schmidt personally. But I can only imagine when he heard that news. I think it must have felt like a sledgehammer hit him in the stomach.
[29:40] Or a Mack truck ran over him. I can only imagine when he walked home and set his wife and children down. And said, let me tell you, they say I got cancer. And we all know what that means. And I can only imagine what it must have looked like when he looked at him and said, but we're not going to act like everybody else acts.
[29:57] We're going to bring glory to God in this. And I ask you, my family, to trust our God that he's at work in my life. And every day they got up in chemo treatments and losing the hair and all the stuff he went through.
[30:09] And saying the whole time, God, glorify yourself. Boy, God did get glory. Every attitude, every bad day he had, still something sweet and praising Jesus. Things that were going wrong and still praising.
[30:21] And the Lord has brought him through that. He doesn't bring everybody through it. But he brought him through that so far. And we can just praise God. But what's your attitude? You're in the middle of a mess right now.
[30:32] Your life's kind of not where you wanted it to be. And you've got an attitude and you've gotten bitter. Well, here's what it is. Number one, you ought to be saying, God, please glorify your life. Number two, you ought to be saying, I know he will.
[30:43] Because he said, I have and I will. Number three, you have to fully trust that God's working in your life. You have to fully trust that God's working in your life.
[30:54] Hey, it's six minutes is what it says on the board behind me. Y'all just can't see it there. Verse 29. You're supposed to laugh at that. I'm sure Robert will flash it up there for you. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it said, it thundered.
[31:09] And others said, an angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, that voice didn't come because of me. I didn't need to hear it. I didn't need to hear it. It came for your sakes. You know what he was saying?
[31:20] He was saying, oh, my soul is troubled. I know what's about to happen to me. I can already feel the nails and the whip and the cat-of-nine-tails.
[31:34] I can already sense the laughter and the mocking of me, the creator God. I can already see it all happening. I know where I'm going and my soul is troubled. But what do I say?
[31:45] I came to this world for that. So, Father, glorify your name. And booming out of heaven, God said, I have and I will. And Jesus just looked up and said, did y'all just hear that?
[32:00] He didn't say that for me. He said that for y'all. Because I know God's at work in my life. Do you know God's at work in your life? How many of you know you're born again? Say amen. How many of you know you've been through stuff already and he's brought you through it?
[32:13] Say amen. How many of you know that you've had tragedy after tragedy and the God of heaven has brought you through? Can you say amen right there? Jesus said, hey, he didn't say that for me to hear it.
[32:24] He said that for y'all because I know he's God. And I know he's at work in my life. Jesus said, I don't need to hear that. Your problem is that you believe it's just an accident or coincidence that something's going wrong in your life.
[32:38] You can't understand why God would allow this to happen. But what you need to do is change your attitude. It's bigger than you. And it's bigger than me.
[32:48] And it's bigger than my happiness. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 15. And he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.
[33:02] Now let me explain something to you about American Christianity. We are fat, soft, and lazy. We really believe Christianity is about us. We think, you know, Christianity is the word Christ and entity on the end of it.
[33:16] We think it ought to be us entity. Huh? We don't really think of our lives in terms of this is all for him. Our lives really revolve around our house and our bank account and our retirement plan and our children and our health.
[33:30] And God ought to help us with all that. And God, hey, look, you said 70 or 80 years. Well, make them good. That's our attitude. But Jesus was like, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
[33:42] It's not about me. It's not about me. And look at 2 Corinthians 5 15. He died for us so that we wouldn't live for us. That we'd live for him.
[33:53] Is that radical? That your life wouldn't be about you? Is that radical? That it wouldn't be about you? If you can imagine a throne in somebody's heart and that's where the main person sits, you know who's sitting there, don't you?
[34:07] Most of the time it's us. We're like Jesus. Hey, you went in line. I'll work you in on Sunday. I'll work you in when I get time. I'll work you in for Bible reading and prayer.
[34:17] I'll work you in. But you wait in line. You hear me? My motorcycle's next. My retirement plan comes next. My hunting and fishing come next. My golf comes next.
[34:28] And Jesus said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Jesus, I know God's at work in my life. And I know it's not about me. We live and die to the Lord. This verse ought to change your life.
[34:40] Romans 14 8. For whether we live and whether we live, we live to the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
[34:53] How do I exhibit this trust? Obedience. That's your key word. Obedience. I will not do what I'm supposed. I will do what I'm supposed to do no matter what's happening to me.
[35:04] Father, I know what's about to happen and my soul is troubled. Nevertheless, that's why I came to the world. Glorify your name. Listen to me.
[35:16] Would you listen? I'm serious. Would you listen? I don't know what's about to happen in your life. I don't know what's falling apart. I don't know what's going wrong. But you need to say, man, Lord Jesus, it's about you. The financial issues, the emotional issues, the health issues, the dying issues, the cancer, whatever it is.
[35:34] It's about you saying, God, I trust you to work in my life and I will just do right. I will just do right.
[35:46] Jesus said, Father, not my will be done, but then most of the time I pray like this, Father, my will be done.
[35:58] And if I can't get out of it, I'll accept your will. But I'm going to try every way I can by hook and crook. I'm going to try to get what I want done, not my will, but thine.
[36:09] People have become hardened to life. We don't want to obey anymore. Second word is trust. I know that God's at work in my life. Third word is faithfulness.
[36:21] Next word is get alone with God and worship him and encourage yourself. Learn to glory in what God's doing. Boy, I need this message. I need to glory in what God's doing in my life.
[36:32] Last thing I got to quit. Second, verses 29 and 30, one more time. The people, therefore, that stood by and heard it, said it thundered. And others said, an angel spake to him. And Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
[36:48] People need to see God moving in other people's lives. Did you know that? Listen to me. There's lost people out there and they don't see any difference in us than them. We handle our tragedies just like them.
[37:01] Boy, we spout it off on Facebook just like them, don't we? Boy, we put it out on Twitter just like them, don't we? They go get drunk and we go to cussing God in Christianese. Come on.
[37:13] They can see there's no difference. Do you know what God, Jesus was saying? I didn't need to hear the voice. You needed to hear the voice. I didn't need to hear the voice. You needed. And by the way, I'm fixing to go through some mess and he's going to get glory out of it.
[37:27] And I didn't need to hear that because I already knew that. But you need to know that God's at work in my life and I can trust him. You need to see. Do you have any idea how many people in our community, they don't even know a real Christian?
[37:38] I'm not talking about a guy that says he's a Christian. I'm talking about a person that loves Jesus when it's raining. I'm talking about a person that loves Jesus when there's cancer in the family. I'm talking about a person that loves Jesus when their wife is dying.
[37:51] I'm talking about a person that loves Jesus when everything is going wrong. They don't know that kind of person. And when those tragedies strike us, we need to say, wow, my soul is troubled.
[38:03] But Father, glorify your name. And the voice comes, I have and I will. And we need to say, I didn't need to hear that. I already knew it.
[38:13] But I want you to see what happens. I heard a preacher say many years ago when I was a young preacher, 35 years ago, I guess, and heard a preacher say that an old man called him to come to his house.
[38:26] He was dying. And the preacher went with his Bible. He was in his early 20s. And he was all ready to go see this old saint of God and comfort him in those last moments just before he died. And when the preacher walked in, he said, all right, I'm here.
[38:38] And I'm going to pray with you and I'm going to show you through the Bible how you can get through this. And the old man said, sit down, son, and be quiet. I'm dying. I didn't call you here to help me. I called you here to let you see what happens when a saint dies.
[38:50] And he said he sat there for the next four or five hours and the old man was dying. And the old man said, pastor, let's sing a song and glorify him. I don't think I've got much longer to live.
[39:01] Pastor, how about reading that scripture to me? And he said about five hours later when the man died, he went home a totally different guy saying, boy, I saw what God's people do when they face tragedy.
[39:13] Doesn't the world need to see that? Doesn't the world need to see that? And I'll be honest with you, I glorified God. I read every little word that came out of his mouth every day.
[39:23] Carrie Smith talked about all the junk that was going on in his life. And I would like, man, I hope I could be like that. I hope I could magnify Jesus like that. Don't you realize we need people that love Jesus in the middle of the mess and keep a sweet spirit and a sweet heart.
[39:42] People are so hard today. He carries us through bad times with a great attitude. Psalms chapter 50 verse 15. The Bible said, call upon me in the day of trouble.
[39:54] I will deliver you and thou shalt glorify me. Just two more verses. Jesus said, don't hide your light under a bushel.
[40:06] Set it up where everybody can see it. Let your good works glorify the Father. Do you understand? I know you're going through stuff today. But that's your ministry.
[40:17] Are you listening to me? You've got problems with your kids. Everybody's got problems with your kids. But only a few of us know the God of heaven that can get us through problems with our kids. Everybody's got problems in marriage.
[40:29] But only a few of us know the God who can help us in marriage. Everybody has health problems. But only a few of us know the God that can get us through the problems. They make fun of us every day of our lives for being born again believers.
[40:43] Carrying Bibles and giving our gospel tracts. First Peter, he said, hey, do right. Live good. Have the right way of living so that they'll glorify God.
[40:56] For the way you've been living. I say to you today, I know you're going through trouble. But we can live a God-glorifying life. I know you're carrying a load today.
[41:07] I wish I could carry it for you. I wish I could help you. But might I remind you, it ought to be your goal to glorify Jesus. Might I remind you, you have a promise from the Father that he has glorified his name and he will glorify his name.
[41:21] Might I remind you that in the middle of all the mess you're going through, you ought to be able to say, I know that's true. And might I remind you, no matter what you're going through, man, the strongest testimony this world will ever see is what happens when we face tragedy.
[41:38] And we glorify God. Curse God and die, Job's wife said. And he said, woman, I came out of the womb naked and I'm going to go naked.
[41:52] Blessed be the name of the Lord. I will not curse God. I will not. No matter what happens to me, I will glorify him. Now, some of you can't do that because you're not born again.
[42:04] Some of you couldn't glorify him because you don't know him. And boy, this sounds, I mean, I've been talking a foreign language to you. You're like, this guy's a nut. This guy's talking about glory.
[42:16] I don't care about glorifying God. But the reason is because you don't know him. And the Bible said that you have sinned against the holy God. And your sins have separated you from God. And the truth of the matter is, there's a holy God and you're an unholy person.
[42:29] And there's a great gulf between the two of you. And the truth is that God in heaven loves you. And he's willing to come and save you. He's already paid the price. And you can be born again. It's simply accepting what he did.
[42:41] He came from heaven, died on a cross so that you could be saved. And you could accept Jesus today and be born again and have a new life. He saved you. He's already done it all for you.
[42:52] If you're not saved, I wish you today would say, help me. Show me from the Bible how to come to know Jesus. Jesus, and the second thing I'd like to say to you, Christians, just for a moment, what are you going through?
[43:06] I want to ask you to get out of your seat in just a second and bring your bitterness and leave it up here. I'm going to ask you to get out of your seat and bring your bad attitude and your stiff neck and your rebellion and leave it up here and say, God, I am going through stuff.
[43:19] And sometimes I don't know why you don't answer my questions. I do have issues and problems and prayers that are unanswered. And I need help. I want you to leave it up here and say this. Father, no matter what I'm going through, glorify your name.
[43:34] Father, I know you will. I have your promise. I'll trust you. Would you today leave it on the altar? Casting all your care on him for he cares for you.
[43:49] Father in heaven, I love you. And I praise you for the opportunity to talk to these people. And I pray that your name would be glorified. God, I pray you'd save those that don't know you. And I pray to God that those that do know you this morning might come and lay it on the altar and trust you with it.
[44:07] Make a difference in our lives. Show your power. Show your working. Magnify yourself. Father, glorify your name this morning. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[44:24] For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com. Podcast Temple америк