1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,840 John chapter 3 verse 25. 2 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:18,720 If you've never read John chapter 3 before, I'd encourage you to do that this week. 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:24,080 I would say it's a pretty significant chapter in that it contains one of, if not the most 4 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:26,960 well-known scriptures in all of the Bible. 5 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,280 Some of you may have heard John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only 6 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:36,520 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting 7 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,040 life. 8 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:43,680 And that happens just before what we're going to look at today when Jesus is having a conversation 9 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:49,320 with a man named Nicodemus, and Jesus talks about the importance of being born again and 10 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,040 receiving eternal life. 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,320 And so that's a good lesson. 12 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,400 So I encourage you to read that. 13 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,480 Maybe you've read it before, but you haven't read it in a while. 14 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,880 The events that we're going to talk about today though take place right after that. 15 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,400 And so we'll read through the text. 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:13,040 John chapter 3 verse 25 is where we will begin. 17 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:19,280 Then a dispute arose between John's disciples and a Jew about purification. 18 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:25,160 So they came to John and told him, Rabbi, the one you testified about and who was with 19 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:30,280 you across the Jordan is baptizing and everyone is flocking to him. 20 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:36,760 John responded, No one can receive a single thing unless it's given to him from heaven. 21 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:42,360 You yourselves can testify that I said, I am not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead 22 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:43,760 of him. 23 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:49,040 He who has the bride is the groom, but the groom's friend who stands by and listens for 24 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,800 him rejoices greatly at the groom's voice. 25 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,520 So this joy of mine is complete. 26 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,160 He must increase, but I must decrease. 27 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:00,160 Let's pray. 28 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,240 God, we come to you. 29 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,660 We thank you for your good word. 30 00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:10,040 And I pray, dear Lord, that as we read this word today, that the last statement of John 31 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:15,400 there would be a statement that we would listen to and that we would live by, dear Lord. 32 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,060 That Jesus would increase in our life, dear Lord. 33 00:02:19,060 --> 00:02:23,240 That we would decrease in ourselves and of the things of the world and the things that 34 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:28,320 we deem to be important, the things that sometimes we place over Jesus, dear Lord. 35 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:34,160 I pray that today that you would help us to begin to repent of those things, that our 36 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:39,760 own desires would decrease and that our desire to follow Jesus Christ and serve him would 37 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:40,760 increase. 38 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,980 I pray that you would hide me behind the cross, dear Lord, that I would preach and teach in 39 00:02:44,980 --> 00:02:46,400 a way that brings glory to you. 40 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,560 I pray that you free us of any distractions this morning. 41 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:55,000 I pray that your Holy Spirit would speak through me, that you take away any pride or any fear 42 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,640 I have, dear Lord, that every word that is spoken is for your glory so that we may hear 43 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,360 it and that we may grow in your word. 44 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,480 And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. 45 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,160 John the Baptist had come onto the scene right before Jesus began his ministry. 46 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,680 Now, we talked a little bit, very briefly, Wednesday night. 47 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,520 We talked about Elizabeth and we talked about Mary. 48 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:23,040 Once Mary discovered that she was about to have a child, she went to her relative Elizabeth's 49 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:28,080 house and it just so happened that Elizabeth was six months pregnant at the time and so 50 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:32,200 John the Baptist was born not long before Jesus was born. 51 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:33,640 And this was all prophesied. 52 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:38,780 There was going to be one who was going to come right before the Messiah would come. 53 00:03:38,780 --> 00:03:43,560 There would be one who would come and prepare the way for Jesus who was coming. 54 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,000 And that one was John the Baptist. 55 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,480 We don't know much about Jesus' life. 56 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:53,280 After his birth, the scripture only tells us of one short event in his childhood and 57 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:58,680 then we are thrust into the future when Jesus is beginning his ministry. 58 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:04,920 And that begins for us in scripture with John the Baptist who is beginning to baptize people 59 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,840 and calling them to repent. 60 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:13,320 But even John knew that there was one coming after him who was going to be greater than 61 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,720 him and that one had come. 62 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:17,620 That one was Jesus Christ. 63 00:04:17,620 --> 00:04:23,560 And Jesus Christ himself was baptized and Jesus Christ's ministry began. 64 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,240 Now people had been flocking to John. 65 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,640 A lot of people had been coming to John. 66 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:33,240 But now that Jesus had come onto the scene, we see that people are beginning to question 67 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:34,640 what's going on here. 68 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:36,720 People knew what John had been doing. 69 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:38,880 There's a man that comes to John's disciples. 70 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:40,700 They're disputing about something. 71 00:04:40,700 --> 00:04:42,520 We don't really know what it is. 72 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,200 Probably something about the baptism based on the question that we see here and the issue 73 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,480 at hand which is being brought up. 74 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,720 And that is that people were before this point flocking to John. 75 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,040 Now some people probably were still coming to John. 76 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,200 But people were flocking to Jesus now. 77 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:06,480 And so John's disciples come to him and they bring this out before John. 78 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:12,600 And John says, look, I am rejoicing because the groom is the one who gets the bride. 79 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:14,360 Now what is John saying there? 80 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:20,240 He's saying people are flocking to Jesus because Jesus is the groom. 81 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,580 And those who come to Jesus Christ are the bride of Christ. 82 00:05:23,580 --> 00:05:25,780 We see that language in the New Testament. 83 00:05:25,780 --> 00:05:30,480 We see that as it speaks of Christians that we are referred to as the bride of Christ. 84 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:37,360 And John says the groom has come onto the scene and now we are getting closer to the 85 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:38,360 wedding. 86 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:43,000 The groom has come and now the bride is beginning to seek out the groom. 87 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,040 Those who know about the Messiah, those who hear the teachings of Jesus, they're beginning 88 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:48,440 to follow him. 89 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,600 And John tells his disciples, this is a good thing. 90 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:57,960 He says, look, the friend of the groom should not be jealous because the groom is getting 91 00:05:57,960 --> 00:05:59,320 the bride. 92 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:01,960 But the friend of the groom should rejoice. 93 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,400 And that's exactly what John does here. 94 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,760 John says, look, I am rejoicing. 95 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,160 And then he makes this beautiful statement that we're going to talk about for just a 96 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:12,200 minute today. 97 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:18,000 He makes this beautiful statement here in verse 30 where he says, he must increase, 98 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,360 but I must decrease. 99 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,920 Now we need to think about that statement. 100 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:24,480 We need to ponder on that statement. 101 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,720 We need to let that kind of simmer in our minds this week. 102 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:33,880 That needs to be our attitude and that needs to be our mindset as Christians. 103 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:40,240 That our goal should always be that in everything, Jesus is increasing in our life. 104 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,800 That in everything we do that it is to increase the gospel of Jesus Christ. 105 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,920 It is to work on increasing the kingdom of God. 106 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:53,140 And in the process of Jesus increasing in our life and our life increasing in things 107 00:06:53,140 --> 00:07:00,320 that draw us closer to Jesus, everything else in our life needs to decrease. 108 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,760 And that's our real struggle because there's a lot of things in our life that we want to 109 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,080 increase that involve us. 110 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:09,560 Now think about John here. 111 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,060 John had a lot of people coming to him. 112 00:07:12,060 --> 00:07:16,520 And all these people or some of these people were no longer coming to John. 113 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:18,720 Now let's think about that maybe in some modern times. 114 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,720 Let's just kind of loosely make an illustration here. 115 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:26,520 Imagine if you're a pastor of a church and another pastor comes and starts another church 116 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:27,840 down the road. 117 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:32,080 And people that once were coming to your church begin to go to another church but they're 118 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:35,080 going to another church and they're growing in Christ. 119 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:40,160 And their walk with God is better and their service of the community is better and these 120 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,360 people are growing. 121 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,080 But in some way you might kind of get jealous because you say well then people used to come 122 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,480 here and now they're going there. 123 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,520 And sometimes maybe we are jealous, maybe you're not a pastor, but maybe there are other 124 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:59,680 areas in your life where you find some parallels there where we get jealous of certain things. 125 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,560 Well here in John's case he didn't say wait a minute I want the people to come to me. 126 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:09,520 No what John said was I recognize that Jesus is greater than I am. 127 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:14,760 And so my main concern in life is that Jesus is increasing in my life and increasing in 128 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,040 the lives of others. 129 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,080 And so as brothers and sisters in Christ we all work together. 130 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,520 John had a job to do and that was to prepare the way for the Messiah. 131 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:29,920 But John recognized that Jesus was far more important than he was. 132 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,160 What about you and I? 133 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:37,400 And do we recognize that the desires of God, that the will of God, that the desires of 134 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:42,240 following the example of Jesus Christ, what Jesus wants us to do, do we realize today 135 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,920 that what Jesus wants us to do is more important than what we want to do? 136 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:52,120 And sometimes there's a conflict of interest there because many times the things that Jesus 137 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,160 calls us to do are not the things that we want to do. 138 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:01,200 And many times in our life we want to increase our self and we want to increase our fame 139 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:08,280 and we want to increase our wealth and we want to increase our, just that everybody 140 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:12,140 would pay attention to us and what we do. 141 00:09:12,140 --> 00:09:16,800 But in our life if we really want to serve the Lord and grow in him then we have to begin 142 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:23,360 to decrease, not seek what's going to promote us but seek what's going to promote the kingdom 143 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:24,880 of God. 144 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,080 And John recognized this truth. 145 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:29,680 John didn't say I'm jealous, I want the people to come back to me. 146 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:32,760 John said no, I'm not living for me, I'm living for Jesus. 147 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,760 Who are we living for today? 148 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:40,400 It's easy for us to tell based on the things that we do, what we spend our money on, what 149 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:41,400 we spend our time on. 150 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:48,400 You can take a test real quick, you can tell pretty quick what's important in your life, 151 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,480 what are you focusing on in your life. 152 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:55,960 And John recognized what he needed to focus on and he knew that Jesus needed to be what 153 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,280 was the increase in his life. 154 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,800 You know we're in the midst of a season of increase, Christmas I think you could call 155 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:04,320 that a season of increase. 156 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,600 There's a lot of things that increase during Christmas season, one of which is going to 157 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,200 be your credit card bill. 158 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,720 It's going to increase this month, I guarantee you. 159 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,480 You go buy some toys, you go buy some new clothes, you go buy your groceries that you 160 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,400 going to cook, credit card bill is going to increase, your waist size is probably going 161 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,280 to increase between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 162 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,240 You're going to be eating a lot of good stuff, a lot of pies, a lot of turkey, all your favorite 163 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:28,960 stuff, a lot of sweets. 164 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:31,040 It's going to be an increase there. 165 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,640 The amount of stuff you got is going to increase because people are going to buy you lots of 166 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:35,640 gifts. 167 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,680 You're going to have more stuff on December 25th than you do today because people are 168 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:41,440 going to buy you some new stuff. 169 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:43,320 Whether you need it or not, you're going to get it. 170 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:48,520 There's going to be an increase in your material wealth, your material gain. 171 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,080 There's going to be an increase in your schedule. 172 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:53,320 There's going to be an increase on your calendar of events. 173 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:56,560 Oh wait, we've got to go, we've got the lighting of the church tonight, we've got to go do 174 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:57,560 that. 175 00:10:57,560 --> 00:10:59,360 Oh we've got the Christmas social coming up. 176 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:00,880 Oh we've got to go play bingo. 177 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:02,640 Oh we've got to go to my wife's family's. 178 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,520 Oh we've got to go to my husband's family's. 179 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:06,280 Oh we've got to go to grandma's house. 180 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:07,520 Oh we've got to do this. 181 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:13,040 And there's just an increase in our activities and with that comes an increase in our stress. 182 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:14,640 We're stressed, we're running out of time. 183 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,400 Christmas is only a week and a half away and I ain't even started my Christmas shopping 184 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:18,400 yet. 185 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:19,880 I've got stuff coming on Amazon and it says it's lost. 186 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:21,160 When's it going to get here? 187 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:25,640 And we just stress and there's an increase of all this stuff during this season. 188 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,600 There's an increase in our life. 189 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:34,840 Christmas comes along in our lives and perhaps for some Christians, maybe many, maybe most 190 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:42,320 Christians, perhaps Christmas is a time that we sit and reflect on Jesus Christ. 191 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:47,280 Perhaps Christmas is a time that we think about who Jesus is and we praise God that 192 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,080 He sent His only Son for us. 193 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,640 Perhaps that's what the majority of Christians do. 194 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:56,600 But then again, perhaps not. 195 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:02,260 Perhaps for many people, Christians included, Christmas is just the time of year that we 196 00:12:02,260 --> 00:12:10,840 decorate a tree, time of year that we hand out gifts, a time of year that we eat food 197 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,360 and none of those things in and of themselves are bad. 198 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,740 And we do all these things and perhaps Christmas is a time that we do all of these worldly 199 00:12:18,740 --> 00:12:21,320 traditions that we just make up. 200 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:26,900 Perhaps Christmas is a time that we do all of these things and we somehow try to pretend 201 00:12:26,900 --> 00:12:32,440 like we're going to put Jesus in there and try to time in but it really doesn't work. 202 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:36,720 And perhaps Christmas is just a time for ourselves where we really don't spend any time thinking 203 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:39,360 about Jesus at all. 204 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:45,320 And in that sense, perhaps Christmas is not so unlike every other day of the year for 205 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,120 us. 206 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:53,440 Perhaps we need to spend more time not just on Christmas seeking Jesus, but perhaps we 207 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:59,880 need to spend more time the other 364 days of the year seeking Jesus. 208 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:05,640 Because it's not just at Christmas that our stress increases and we eat unhealthy and 209 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,480 we spend more money than we should and we forget about Jesus and we kind of try to stick 210 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,160 him in but not really. 211 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:18,880 For many of us, maybe most of us if we're honest, there may be a lot of days of the 212 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,620 year that we do just that. 213 00:13:21,620 --> 00:13:27,140 And maybe this Christmas is a good place to start but it should not be where we finish. 214 00:13:27,140 --> 00:13:31,800 It should not be just one day a year that we choose to reflect on Jesus whether it's 215 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:36,000 December the 25th or March the 17th or July the 4th. 216 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:37,560 It should not make any difference. 217 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:43,960 It should be every day in our life that we should be striving that Jesus would increase 218 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:49,340 in our life, that our desire to serve Jesus would increase in our life, that our desire 219 00:13:49,340 --> 00:13:53,800 to live for the world and do the things of the world would begin to decrease and our 220 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:58,920 relationship with God and our love for him would begin to increase, that we would begin 221 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:04,460 to live by the word of God and listen to the word of God and put God first and put Jesus 222 00:14:04,460 --> 00:14:08,980 Christ at the top of our list and not just live for ourselves and the world and then 223 00:14:08,980 --> 00:14:13,000 try to just find some way that we can tie Jesus in there. 224 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:17,880 And many times I fear that that's what Christmas has become. 225 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,600 And that doesn't sadden me just because we do it one season of the year. 226 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:26,520 It saddens me because maybe if we're honest we do it lots of seasons of the year. 227 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:30,520 We get so caught up in getting the things we want to get and doing the things that we 228 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,720 want to do and living for ourselves that we find the least amount of time that we can 229 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,960 find and we give that to Jesus. 230 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:44,500 But maybe today, maybe this Christmas season is a good time for us to flip the script. 231 00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:48,560 Maybe our time with Jesus needs to increase. 232 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,160 Maybe our time in prayer needs to increase. 233 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,320 Maybe our time in scripture needs to increase. 234 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:01,320 Maybe our time serving our brothers and sisters in Christ and serving our neighbors and serving 235 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,360 the poor and needy needs to increase. 236 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:09,640 Maybe the amount of money we spend on ourselves needs to decrease. 237 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:14,400 And the amount of money we use to help those in need and the further the kingdom of God 238 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,400 needs to increase. 239 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:22,520 Maybe these words of John today are words that we need to think about this week. 240 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,480 That we need to have a heart like John. 241 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:29,120 That we need to know that there is one who is more important than us. 242 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:31,960 There is one who is more important than anything in this world. 243 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,600 There is one who is more important than our Christmas lights and our decorations and our 244 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,600 time with family and the good food that we will eat. 245 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,440 And that is Jesus Christ and He must increase. 246 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:45,040 But we must decrease. 247 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:46,040 That's the hard part. 248 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:47,040 We don't like to decrease. 249 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,640 We want to have our cake and eat it too. 250 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:51,040 But we only have so much time. 251 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:52,260 We only have so much energy. 252 00:15:52,260 --> 00:15:55,740 We only have so much money. 253 00:15:55,740 --> 00:15:59,040 And how much of it are we going to use for ourselves and how much of it are we going 254 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,960 to use for the kingdom of God? 255 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,480 Are we going to be content with Jesus Christ? 256 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:12,080 Are we going to be content with living for Him knowing that He will provide for our needs 257 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:17,800 and knowing that He has come, praise the Lord, that He was born and that He did die and gave 258 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:23,480 His life on the cross for you and I so that our sins could be forgiven? 259 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:29,960 Perhaps today we need to re-shift our focus from the things of the world to Jesus Christ 260 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:34,120 so that in our life Jesus will increase. 261 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:40,040 Maybe you look at your life today and you say, if I'm honest, Jesus has not been increasing 262 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:41,040 in my life. 263 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:42,040 Maybe He's been decreasing. 264 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:43,040 And it happens. 265 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:44,760 We really have to stay on top of it. 266 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:45,920 It's not easy. 267 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,680 It's not like we all come in here today and say, yep, Jesus is at the top of my list and 268 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:50,680 I'm doing great. 269 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,800 Maybe there are some of you that can say that or maybe there are some of you like me that 270 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:59,020 has to acknowledge that, man, this world gets in and our desires get in and our busy schedules 271 00:16:59,020 --> 00:17:03,880 get in and all of a sudden these things kind of begin to rise to the top and Jesus begins 272 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:04,880 to decrease. 273 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:09,140 But praise the Lord that we have this beautiful, beautiful scripture. 274 00:17:09,140 --> 00:17:15,480 Praise the Lord that we have the words of John here to remind us that Jesus must increase 275 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,900 and we must decrease. 276 00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:20,760 Maybe today is the day. 277 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:22,220 Maybe today God's spoken to you. 278 00:17:22,220 --> 00:17:25,760 Maybe today the Holy Spirit's speaking to you and maybe He asked for the last few days 279 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:30,080 or the last few weeks and maybe you know that you hadn't been living for the Lord the way 280 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:31,080 you should. 281 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,360 Maybe today you've never lived for the Lord at all. 282 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:36,440 Maybe you realize that you've never put your trust in Jesus Christ. 283 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:41,720 Well, I pray that today that you would, that today that you would trust Jesus Christ, that 284 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:45,640 He would cleanse your heart and forgive your sins and that today would be the day that 285 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,400 the increase of Jesus Christ begins for you. 286 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,640 And for those who are in Christ, our prayer today should be that our relationship with 287 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:59,400 Jesus Christ would increase, that our desire to live for Him would increase, and our desire 288 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,880 to live for ourselves would decrease. 289 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:03,680 Let's pray. 290 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:08,760 God we come to you, we thank you for this simple truth today that John tells us. 291 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:13,880 God that we can't be concerned about ourselves and our desires, that it's not about what 292 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,400 we can do or how good we look or how much attention that we get, dear Lord. 293 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:25,960 I pray today that you would help us to know that truth, that God, our life is about you. 294 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,760 It's not about us and about our needs and what we want. 295 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,280 It's about you and what you desire and what you want, dear Lord. 296 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:39,520 And so I pray that you would help us to see if we've been living for ourselves. 297 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,680 Maybe there are some in here, God, for their whole life they've been living for their self. 298 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,040 They have been living for their self in every way and never once considered Jesus Christ. 299 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:53,200 Well, I pray God today that they would realize that they are a sinner, that every one of 300 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:58,200 us in this room is a sinner, that we say and we do things that we shouldn't do, we just 301 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,960 think things were just evil to our core, dear Lord, if we're honest. 302 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:09,120 But we thank you that you sent Jesus Christ all those years ago to be born on this earth 303 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:12,680 to be our Savior, dear Lord, to give us hope. 304 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:18,440 And so God, I pray that if there is some in this room that do not know Jesus Christ that 305 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:23,720 today that they would repent of their sins, that he would begin to increase in their heart, 306 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:28,160 that the love of Jesus Christ would increase, dear Lord, that the peace of Jesus Christ 307 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,960 would increase, God. 308 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:36,160 Maybe there are some in this room and they are yours, dear Lord, but maybe the life has 309 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,120 just gotten away. 310 00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:42,680 Maybe they're seeing in our life that just does not need to be there, that we just need 311 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,140 to repent of, that we just need to say no to, that we need to say enough is enough and 312 00:19:47,140 --> 00:19:50,440 maybe today is that day, dear Lord. 313 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:55,320 And I pray, dear Lord, that you would just help us to see that, that we would begin to 314 00:19:55,320 --> 00:20:01,800 decrease, that we would not think too highly of ourselves, that we would not think too 315 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:06,680 highly of our desires, that we would not seek to live for ourselves, God, but that we would 316 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,620 seek to live for you. 317 00:20:09,620 --> 00:20:13,640 So I pray, dear Lord, in this time that, God, if there's something on our heart that shouldn't 318 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:18,400 be there, that even now, God, that we pray to you. 319 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,160 I pray that we would decrease, dear Lord. 320 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:26,640 And I pray most of all that Jesus Christ would increase, that we would trust him more than 321 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:31,800 we ever have, God, that we would seek him more than we ever have today, that we would 322 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,960 know it's not about our will, but about your will, dear Lord. 323 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,240 And your will has been accomplished through Jesus Christ. 324 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:43,520 So I pray, God, that in Jesus Christ today our love would increase, our peace would increase, 325 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,360 our joy would increase. 326 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,080 We thank you, dear Lord, for these good words. 327 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,520 I pray that we would remember them, and I pray that we would live by them. 328 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,280 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. 329 00:20:55,280 --> 00:21:19,800 Amen.