Man, so good to be with you guys today. Good
to just be able to open God's word, get to hang
out today. I want to welcome everyone online
that are watching, our online fam that's joining
us from everywhere you can imagine. They're here
joining us, and we get to be one family worshiping
God together. Super excited about that. Hey,
have you ever had something important to say,
but not a lot of time to say it? Anyone here
know what I'm talking about? Like, you're like,
man, I got really important things to say. I
just don't have a lot of time. to say it, right?
Usually this happens for me when I'm in line
at the grocery store and I call my wife and I'm
like, hey, did I get everything that you asked
me to get? And she's like, well, let me tell
you about my day. And I'm like, I don't got time.
Like I'm getting close. I have a limited amount
of time in order to tell you the things that
I need to tell you. I think that was Jesus's
entire ministry. He had three years to tell us
the most important information that this world
will ever hear. He had only three years to pack
in the most important information that we will
ever hear. And he lived this story of his life.
And in these three years we have recorded in
the Bible, we can read about his life. We can
read about his birth, a little bit of his raising,
but his ministry primarily in the book of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. And we see that, but we
see everything that Jesus said was important.
But when you get down to the end of what someone
says, the last words, The last things that they're
gonna say, usually that's the most important.
All right, I'm gonna let you in on a secret here.
The secret is when John and I prepare a message,
we usually put the thing that we want you to
remember the most at the very end. We're like,
man, okay, all of it's great, but listen, this
is what I want you to hear the most. These are
the last words. These are the important ones.
All right, now that's not permission for you
to check out. All right, some of you are like,
all right, I can check back in in 25 minutes,
right? Or if John's preaching, 35 minutes, I
can check back in. I'm not saying that. All of
it's good stuff. All of it's good stuff. But
man, usually the last words are the most important
ones. These are what I want you to remember.
I do that with my kids. When my older ones are
watching my younger ones and I go, okay, I'm
going to leave the house. I give them instructions,
but I got to know these are the last words you
need to know. These are the last words. Okay,
the food on the counter, that's what you are
going to eat. Do not open the door for anyone.
I don't care who they are. Okay, keep the two
-year -old locked in the cage. Ready, bye. Boom,
right? Listen, I don't lock a two -year -old
in the cage that much, okay? I'm just saying,
I'm just saying. No, I don't at all. Don't write
me an email. I don't at all. But usually the
last words are the important ones, man. This
is what I want you to know. See, Jesus, he has
a few last words that he says when he's in the
end of his life. When he's on a cross, he says
some things that, man, when you know you don't
have a lot of time, those things are really,
really important. What you say carries weight.
And so we're gonna look over the next couple
of weeks leading up to Easter at Jesus's last
words. We're gonna look at what he said and what
we can learn as we look at just the end of his
life, right? The end of Jesus's life here and
how he handles those last couple of hours of
his life. So before we hop into God's word, would
you pray with me? God, thank you so much that
we are here today. God, I pray that you would
use me, speak through my words to our hearts.
I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So Jesus is
falsely convicted. Jesus is on trial and he's
falsely convicted and he's sentenced to death,
death on a cross. And so Jesus finds himself
in this place where he is headed to a cross and
he is nailed to a cross and he is hung on a cross.
And there's different types of people around
this area that are looking because Jesus, as
he's nailed to this cross, he's at this place
called Golgotha, which means the place of the
skull. And I think when we think of this place
where Jesus was crucified, where the cross is,
we think of the artist's rendition of this, where
there's kind of a mountain and three crosses
on top of this mountain. But when I was in Israel
a couple of years ago, I was able to see the
place they call the place of the skull, Golgotha.
And really what it was, was this giant rock that
resembled a skull. And they would crucify people
below this rock on ground level. In fact, it
was right in front of this road, this main road,
this main thoroughfare that people would go on.
And the reason that the Romans did this is because
they wanted people that were walking by to see
the people that were crucifying and say, oh man,
if that's the punishment, I'm not doing that.
They get a front row seat to look at the punishment
for if they mess up, if they do anything against
what the Roman empire wants them to do. And so
that's where this place was. So there's onlookers
that are in this place as Jesus is hanging on
this cross. There's different groups of onlookers,
right? You have the soldiers who are crucifying
Jesus. And at this point, what they're doing
is they're dividing up his clothes and they're
casting lots to say, who gets the free clothes?
This guy's not gonna need them. He's about to
die. So who gets free clothes? So they're dividing
their clothes there. All right, you have a part
of the crowd out there that's watching and they're
looking. And these are the ones that are cheering
on because they're like, man, kill this guy.
We want him to be crucified. And you have this
other part of the crowd that's there that's maybe
just onlookers. They're walking past and they're
looking. They're like, I wonder what's going
on here. Doesn't look like a good day for that
guy. They don't know what's going on, but they're
kind of just seeing what's happening. And then
you have a small group of Jesus's supporters
because most of them had scattered. You know,
Peter, he's off denying Jesus somewhere. Thomas
is probably off doubting somewhere. I don't know
what he's doing. Come on, that's a church joke
right there. Doubting Thomas? You all need to
read your Bible more. But there's a small group
of actual supporters that are still there for
Jesus. And as Jesus is on the cross, he addresses
them in John chapter 19, verse 25. He says this,
near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his
mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Colopus, and
Mary Magdalene. He's looking at his little tiny
group of supporters, and these are the ones that
are still there for him. These are the ones that
are still there in the midst of him being crucified
on this cross. And he says something here that
is completely unexpected, completely unexpected.
Like Jesus is in a terrible situation. He's in
the ultimate tough situation. There is not one
of us in here that can relate to what Jesus was
going through because none of us have been crucified
before. Jesus is crucified. He's on a cross.
He's about to die. He's beaten, not just with
physical pain, but with the spiritual pain of
taking the sin of the world on him. And he's
on this cross. He says something completely unexpected.
See, when I'm in a tough situation, I say exactly
what's expected, right? Like I stub my toe and
I'm not like, oh, praise Jesus right now, right?
Like I say what's expected in that moment, right?
Like if I'm driving and someone cuts me off,
I'm not like, oh, but just blessings on your
family right now, right? Like that's not me.
I say what's expected, right? I usually wave
at them with one finger. You know what I'm saying?
Like, I don't do that. I don't do that. But some
of you do. And listen to me. You need to take
that height sticker off the back of your car.
Some of you driving with that height sticker
and I'm like, yo, chill. Right, in those moments,
I say what's expected, right? If I'm in the backyard
and I'm playing cornhole and someone beats me,
oh, come on, that's not happening. Come on, you
know that. You know that's not happening. But
I say what's expected in those tough situations,
in those moments. Jesus here is in the ultimate
tough situation. And what he says is not expected.
What he says is this in verse 26. When Jesus
saw his mother there and the disciple whom he
loved standing nearby, he said to her, woman,
here is your son. And to the disciple, here is
your mother. If you're taking notes today, write
this down. Jesus is still caring for and focusing
on others. Jesus is still caring for and focusing
on others in the middle of this situation. Listen,
he's worried about his mom. He's like, mom, what's
gonna happen to you when I'm gone? Because Mary,
who's married to Joseph, we know the Christmas
story, Joseph passes away, she's a widow now.
And in that culture, you have to have someone
to take care of you or you don't have shelter,
you don't have food, you don't have a life. You
need somebody to take care of you. And he knows
the husband's gone, Joseph's gone. Jesus as the
oldest son is the one taking care of his mother.
And if you look at this, if you know Jesus had
brothers, and so the question a lot of times
is, well, what about his brothers? Why would
Jesus choose this disciple here for his mom to
take care of his mom when it would just be the
duty of the brothers to step in here? And we
know from scripture, Jesus's brothers were named
James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. But here's the
thing, they didn't believe in him. They didn't
believe. It says in John chapter seven, verse
five, for even his own brothers, did not believe
in him. And side note, I think this is one of
the most incredible things about the resurrection
that proves its validity, that proves its truth,
is that Jesus' brothers did not believe in him
before the resurrection. He said, hey, I'm gonna
die and I'm gonna raise again. And his brothers
are like, listen, you crazy, bro. That's not
happening. I don't believe that. They weren't
even there. They weren't even present. Jesus
couldn't even pass them on to his brothers. He
had to pick a disciple here because his brothers
weren't even there. But then after the resurrection,
you can look in your Bible. One of Jesus's brothers
wrote a book called James. It's in the Bible.
And he believed. Jesus's brothers then believed
after his resurrection. Listen, if your brother
told you he was gonna die and raise again, you'd
do the same thing they did. We don't believe
that unless he actually did it. Unless you see
him afterwards and you go, wow, this is true.
I believe this. But at the time of the crucifixion,
Jesus is on this cross and he's going, listen,
my mom's got nowhere to go. And Jesus, man, listen,
he had every right to be selfish in this moment.
If anyone has a right to be selfish, it's Jesus
in this moment. I can imagine none of us would
judge Jesus if in this moment you were to go,
listen, I did nothing wrong to be hanging on
this cross right now. Like, mom, this is my time
to hurt. Mom, this is my time. Like, hey, mom,
I know, but listen, don't you realize what I'm
going through right now? Jesus had all the right
to do that, but he did not do that. Instead,
he was focused on others. See, we go through
victim mentality when we go through tough situations,
though. In our life, when things get hard, we
become the victim of it. Man, why is this happening
to me? The world's just out to get me. Everything's
hard. Everything's tough. It's all about me.
All right, this is me. When I go through tough
situations, I get in the spiral. This victim
mentality spiral. I'm like, man, I'm stressed
about the bills that I have to pay. I don't know
if I can do it. This is getting hard. And then
I go, but I can't work anymore than I already
am because work's really busy right now and work's
so hard I can't even do it. And I have so many
kids and I gotta take them here and there and
everywhere and life's so hard. And I get in this
spiral, right? And I turn into this monster.
Man, I'm so grateful for a wife that knows how
to pull me out of the spiral that I'm in. She
gets a tranquilizer and she shoots me and she
puts me on the ground and she goes, listen, I
need to speak some truth into you because you've
turned into a monster. And she goes, listen,
your problem is this, is you're only focused
on you instead of looking up and looking out
and seeing about that there's plenty of other
things around you. When we get in tough situations,
sometimes we only focus on us instead of seeing
the world around us, instead of seeing other
people. All right, what Jesus does is Jesus shows
us how to be others focused even in our pain.
All right, even in our pain, he shows us how
to be others focused. He says, listen, it's not
about you. We should have the same mindset that
he had. Paul writes about this in Philippians
2. He says, listen, this is the mindset you should
have. He said, make my joy complete by being
like -minded, having the same love, being one
in spirit and one of mind. Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in
humility, value others above yourself. Not looking
to your own interests, but each of you to the
interests of others. being others focused. See,
I think if we were to be people that took after
Jesus and in the middle of our pain, in the middle
of our struggle, we didn't just look at ourself,
but instead we looked up at others, we'd find
a way to get through what we're going through.
It would start changing our mindset so that we
could make it through what we're going through
when it's not all about us anymore, but it's
about other people. Jesus shows us here. Jesus
shows us how to be others focused. He says this,
he looks at the disciple in verse 27 and to the
disciple, he said, here's your mother. And it
says this, from that time on, this disciple took
her into his home. From that time on, he took
her into his home. All right, number two is this,
Jesus shows us what family truly looks like.
Listen, we talk about it all the time in here.
We say, hey, you're a family. Heights is a family.
Welcome to the family. We're glad you're a part
of the family. We talk about family all the time.
And for some of you, you're like, listen, I grew
up with a family that was whack. My family was
cray -cray. They were nuts. Your family was like
an episode of Jerry Springer. You know what I'm
saying? You weren't raised. You escaped. You
got out of there. I escaped. I'm done. I'm gone.
That was you. And so for you, this is really
good news because you need a family. You're going,
man, the family I was raised with, they're crazy.
But this is the family. That's great news. See,
others of you, you were raised in a family that
was amazing. It was awesome. And so you know
what it's like. So this is good news for you
too, because you're like, man, I know what it's
like to have a good family. And if this is the
family, that's amazing. This is incredible. We
get to be the family here. And Jesus said this,
this idea that we are family here is not one
that we came up with. Jesus said it. In fact,
Jesus was teaching one time. And as he was teaching,
someone came up and they said, hey, your mom
and your brothers and your sisters, they're outside.
And Jesus says this in Mark 3, verse 33. He said,
who are my mother and brothers? He asked. And
he looked at those seated in a circle around
him. He looked at the church around him. He looked
at the people of God that were right in front
of him as he was teaching, just like we're sitting
here today. And he says this. He said, here are
my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God's
will is my brother and sister and mothers. That's
who it is. All right, whoever does God's will,
that's my brother, that's my sister. All right,
you ever been to an old Baptist church before?
That's all they call you? Hello, brother. Greetings
in the name of the Lord, brother. You're like,
oh, sweet. Everyone's brother, everyone's sister.
That's who we are. God says, listen, if you do
the will of God the Father, you're my brother,
you're my sister. We are a family. We are the
family of God. Do you know what family does,
though? Family sticks together. Because sometimes
what we do as people, we go, okay, but here's
the deal. Church is fine. That's what I do. Family,
that's something else. And we like to separate
those two. We wanna keep those. We go, I got
it on my own. The church is great. It's something
that I go to, but I don't need a family. I got
this on my own. And you don't understand the
need that you have for this family. There's no
such thing as being a lone wolf. They don't exist
because wolves travels in packs. They understand
why they need to be in a pack. We need to understand
why we need to be in the family of God. There's
a need for you to be in the family of God. See,
I think part of the reason why we don't embrace
this idea of family is because church a lot of
times is a checklist, not a lifestyle. And when
church is a checklist, it's just something that
you do to check off your list. I did it, I showed
up, I was there, but it's not a lifestyle. Then
you separate the act of going to church with
being a part of the family of God. If we're gonna
be a part of what God has called us to, we need
to be a part of the family of God. So what does
the family of God do? The family provides for
each other's needs. Mary was in a place where
she needed some stuff. She needed food, she needed
shelter. What John was doing, taking her in was
saying, hey, listen, I'm gonna provide for your
needs. The family of God provides for our needs.
I remember when my wife was pregnant with our
first kid that ended up being two, we had twins.
And man, she was so sick. She was throwing up
nine to 12 times a day. It was wild. I'd be sitting
on the couch watching TV and this commercial,
the most beautiful hamburger you've ever seen
in your life came on. I mean, it was gorgeous.
I'm like, man, I'm getting so hungry right now.
And she just gets up and runs to the bathroom.
And I'm like, what are you doing? I would sit
close to her, like closest in 10 to 12 feet from
her. And she'd go, listen, you stink really bad.
I'm like, I just took a shower. She's like, I
know, it smells horrible. I'm like, I love you
too. Thank you. That's awesome. Right, everything
made her sick. I couldn't eat because the house
apparently would stink, right? And so I would
be like in the bathroom eating cereal. Like I
lived on that for like a month. I was like squatting
in my own house. I was just eating cereal in
the bathroom. That's how I lived. Like this isn't
normal. All right, people in the church got wind
of this and they were like, man, he might die
of starvation. And so they started showing up
and they would bring me food and they would set
the plate out on the front porch. And I would
go outside and sit on the front porch and eat
it like an animal, right? Right under my front
porch. But listen, I had a need and the church
said, we're gonna step into that need. I lived
in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.
And if you don't know, in the Bay Area, you have
to make $10 million a year in order to live there.
And in case you're wondering, I did not make
$10 million a year. I mean, if I'm honest, there
was weeks where I truly didn't know if I was
gonna be able to feed my kids. I didn't know
if we were gonna have food. And there was a man
in the church named Roland and he would knock
on the door. He'd say, hey, I got a box of groceries
and some gift cards to Safeway. See, what the
church does is they show up for needs. About
a year ago, I was speaking a message in here.
I was talking to you guys and I was telling you
about my ghetto car. And I was telling you about
this thing. It's missing a hubcap. It's got a
list of things that's wrong with it. I mean,
I was only telling you that because I was trying
to get you to laugh about it. I never do that.
I try never to make you laugh. But with that
one, I was trying to. man, so many people came
up to me and they said, hey, I wanna buy you
tires. I wanna help you. I'm like, that's not
why I said that. They said, I know, but I heard
of a need and I'm here to help. All right, that's
what the church does. They step in. My wife is
a leader in our youth ministry. She leads a group
of girls and she was texting with her girls the
other day, just saying, hey, how are you guys
doing? Checking in on them. They were all checking
in on her. And she said, my back really hurts.
I just threw my back out. And that night, one
of her students, a high school student, with
their own money, shows up and said, hey, we brought
you dinner. I bought you dinner. I'm going to
show up and give it to you. See, that's what
the family does. The family provides for each
other's needs. The family shows up and said,
listen, I see a need. I'm going to provide for
it. And listen, Heights has incredible ministries.
We have a ministry. Our local ministry feeds
people and takes care of people and gives to
the needs of the people in our community and
in our church. And that's amazing. But I'm not
talking about the ministry that the church provides
because the church is not a ministry. The church
is people. It's you. It's you looking over and
saying, man, there's a need in the person that
is next to me. There's a need around me. Family
steps in for the needs of the people around them,
not point them to a ministry so someone else
can do it. But then it's my job to step up and
to say, hey, listen, we provide for each other's
needs. Family is also there for each other. Family's
there for each other. Man, Mary, her son, her
only son, her miracle baby. conceived by the
Holy Spirit, who never did anything wrong, raised
his entire life, is now on a cross in front of
her, nailed and beaten and bloody and bruised
to a cross. And she watched her only son die.
I can only imagine the amount of emotional support
that Mary needed. John didn't just take care
of her physically and go, okay, yeah, yeah, I
got you with a meal. I got you a bed over in
the corner. You're good. No, he was there for
her. What he was signing up for was saying, hey,
I'm here for emotional support. I'm here to help
you. We are there for each other. There's a lady
in our church who I really care about. She's
a friend of mine. And this week is the anniversary
of her mother's passing. And she also found out
that her mentor passed away this week as well.
And man, she's just, I know she was going through
a lot and she was just heavy on my heart. And
I reached out to her and I just said, hey, how
are you doing? How are you doing? I wanna be
there for you. And she calls me and we were talking
and. I said, how's your day been? She said, well,
I was talking to some people from our church.
She's talking to them and she's telling me about
the conversation she had with them that were
there for her, that were there to talk to her.
And then I continued to talk to her and she said,
hey, I have to go. I said, well, where are you
going? She said, I have to go meet up with someone
else who's reached out to me and is here for
me as well. So that's what the family does. The
family is there for each other. They walk alongside.
They're there when we go through difficult times.
It is absolutely inevitable. In fact, Jesus said
it, listen, in this world, you will have trouble.
You're gonna go through it. But we have a family
to walk alongside of us in it. That's why when
we talk about life groups, we talk about it so
much. And some of you just let it go in one ear
and right out the other. But life groups are
so critical because that's who you do life with.
That's who you walk alongside of you when things
get hard. That's who walks you through when you
have the death of a loved one. That's who walks
you through when you have an illness. That's
who walks you through when a divorce happens.
That's who walks you through when things get
really hard. We have people in our life to come
alongside. And that's what the family does. That's
what the family does. And the family does not
mean a pastor. Because a lot of times we think,
okay, if the church is going to show up for me,
if we're really a family, then I need a pastor
to show up. I was talking to someone the other
day and they're going, man, I'm going through
this and the church just didn't show up for me.
You say you're a family, but the church didn't
show up. And I said, well, did this person show
up? And they said, yeah. What about this person?
Yeah. What about this person? Yeah. But a pastor
didn't. Listen, I'm going to tell you right now,
if you're going through something, you don't
want me to show up. You don't. I love teaching
God's word. I believe it's a gift that I have
to be able to teach God's word. I don't know
what to do when I sit down with somebody who's
going through a difficult time. I don't know
what to say, right? I turn into Ricky Bobby.
I'm like, I don't know what to do with my hands
right now. I'm just getting weird, getting awkward.
I don't know what to do. You don't want me. But
the family, that's who you want. The family of
God does not mean a pastor. It means all of us.
But here's the thing. A lot of times people get
upset with heights because we didn't show up
when we didn't know what happened. It's a two
-way street. If you don't let us know what's
going on and you don't let us know the needs
that you have, then we can't show up for you.
If you never let anyone in, if you're not in
life with anyone, if you're not continuing to
walk in the family, but you've distanced yourself
from the family, we won't know what's going on.
It's not because we don't like you. It's not
because we're like, oh, it's that person that
needs something. We're not helping. That's because
we don't know. You have to let us know what's
going on. We are not mind readers. There's not
a single person at Heights that is a mind reader.
You have to let us know what's going on. See,
the church is as big or as small as you make
it. I hear this all the time, and I understand
people have different preferences when it comes
to size of church, but I hear it all the time.
This is just too big. I can't get connected here.
And I need you to know that the church is as
big or as small as you make it. And I've worked
on staff. I've been a pastor on staff of a church
of 80 people. and a church of 7 ,000 people.
And I'll tell you this, you can slip in and slip
out of a church of 80 people and be just as anonymous
and no one will know who you are if you're not
involved. And you can also be a part of a church
of 7 ,000 people and you can be as connected
as possible. The church is as big or as small
as you make it. Are you in a life group? Are
you on a serve team? Do you just slip in and
slip out and say, I hope no one talks to me?
Or are you involved? Are you getting to know
people? Because the church was created to be
a family. That's what we are. We are a family.
When we say we're a family, that means families
are here for each other. Next is this. Families
challenge each other spiritually. Family challenges
you spiritually to be better. It's calling you
out and calling you up in love. See, some of
you, this is your favorite part. Calling you
out, calling you up. I can do that. But it's
not in love, and that's not a family. That's
not what families do. It's in love saying, hey,
I want the best for you. The reason I'm saying,
hey, there's more for you. The reason I'm saying
that there's standards in the way that you act
needs to be this way is because I want what's
best for you. All right, family doesn't mean
just doing what you want. I think a lot of times
people weaponize this statement of we are family.
I hear it often, people go, well, heights set
of their family, but families don't. And then
what they want is to do exactly what I want.
And what they say is you didn't do what I wanted,
therefore. You're not doing family. Families
don't do what you want. Families want what's
best for you. I think the contrast that we see
in this is that Jesus is on a cross and what
is happening is the soldiers are dividing the
clothes up and going, I want this, I want that.
I want what I can get in this moment when the
contract is the other side of it, the family
of God that's concerned about each other's wellbeing.
It's not about what they can get. It's about,
man, how do I care for one another? How do I
get what's best for you? I want what's best.
For you. I'd say probably the number one way
that I'm challenged spiritually, that I grow
spiritually is just reading the word of God.
The word of God challenges me spiritually. It
challenges me to be better. I read it and I go,
man, God's calling me to more. But a very close
second is the family of God. It's the people
in my life that I do life with. It's the people
like Pastor Bob and like Pastor Ben, like Pastor
Jordan that I get to do life with and say, hey
man, I think there's more for you. And there's
been so many times where I've been in a conversation
with Pastor Ben and him and I are just challenging
each other to be the best that we can be when
it comes to our spiritual life. The family of
God challenges us spiritually and moves us closer.
See, God created this idea of family. Now, listen,
I don't want anyone in here to hear me wrong.
I did not say that family is perfect. Families
make bad decisions. I'm telling you right now,
families make bad decisions. Pastor Jordan and
I decided that this month we were going to grow
mustaches. And some of you right now are like,
oh, I noticed that thing is glorious. That's
all I can stare at this whole message. You didn't
even know I was giving a message. You were just
looking at the stash the whole time. Listen,
it's amazing. Pastor Jordan and I, we look like
Mario and Luigi walking around here. He's Luigi,
I'm Mario. You know what I'm saying? Man, it's
glorious, but here's the deal. It's a bad decision.
It's a bad decision, not because it looks bad.
You know it doesn't look bad. You're seeing it.
You got eyeballs. It's a bad decision because
I'm at a point right now where the mustache is
eating more of my food than I am. You know what
I'm saying? Yesterday, I had a bagel with cream
cheese. I ate the bagel. The mustache ate the
cream cheese. I was like, what is going on here?
All right, in the middle of the night, I wake
up. It's in my mouth. I'm like flossing my teeth
with mustache hair. It's awful. It's terrible.
I go to kiss my kids and they run from me. They're
like, you get that caterpillar away from me right
now. Right? Listen, those of you who rock mustaches
permanently, mad props to you. You are a better
man than me. It's a bad decision. We make bad
decisions. Listen, and not just on silly things.
When it comes to church, we make bad decisions.
Your leadership of this church is going to make
bad decisions. We will let you down. You know
why? Because we are messed up humans. The church
is made up of humans and humans are messed up
and we will let you down. We will make bad decisions.
The family will make bad decisions. We will make
decisions that you will go, man, I didn't like
that. I disagreed with that. That bothered me.
That was hard for me. We will make bad decisions.
That's going to happen. The family doesn't mean
perfect, but it means perseverant. It doesn't
mean perfect, but it means perseverant. Listen,
don't jump ship when we make a decision that
you don't like. I'm out of here. I'm out of here.
That's not what family does. Family does not
mean perfect. It means perseverance. And we're
going to move forward in this. And that means
we're not going to jump ship. We're not just
going to leave every time we disappoint you.
Because we will. Listen, if we haven't disappointed
you yet, you haven't been here long enough. Just
wait. It's coming. I was talking to somebody
who's been at Heights for over 20 years. really
long time. And they were saying people who've
left often come to them and say, why are you
still there? Haven't they disappointed you? Haven't
they let you down? Haven't they made bad decisions?
And she's like, oh yeah, they've made a lot.
They made a lot. They go, why are you still there?
She said, because they're family. And family
doesn't just jump ship because it's not about
perfection. It's about perseverance. Jesus said,
listen, you're a family. He shows us what true
family is. Man, but there's something else I
want you to notice here. There's something I
want you to notice. Some of you might've picked
up on this, but as you're looking at this passage,
it says this, when Jesus saw his mother there
and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby,
he said to her, woman, Jesus, you just call your
mom a woman? Really, bro? Are you serious, right?
Some of the moms in here, your blood pressure's
rising. You're like, oh man, if one of my kids
called me that, like the disrespect, Jesus, woman.
Right? Some of you who have a mom in here, you're
getting scared. You're about to go run and hide
under a bed right now because she's coming with
a belt. You know what I'm saying? You talk to
your mama like that? Jesus, why are you talking
about your mama like that? He calls her woman.
And in the culture, you have to understand that
wasn't a term, it wasn't disrespectful what Jesus
was saying. But we do see him, Jesus, do this
another time in scripture. Right? They're at
this wedding and it is the beginning of Jesus's
public ministry and Jesus hadn't done anything
yet to show. His divinity. He hasn't showed his
miracle power. He hasn't showed any of that.
And they're at this wedding. And this is what
it says in John chapter two, verse three. When
the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him,
they have no more wine. Woman, why do you involve
me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come.
See, and in both instances, Jesus is about to
do something that only the Lord of the universe
can do. In both instances, he's about to do something
that only the Lord of the universe can do. Nobody
in the history of the world has turned water
into wine and nobody will since. It's not gonna
happen again. He's doing something only the Lord
of the universe can do. And then again, we see
him on a cross, dying to purchase and redeem
humanity with his blood, something that only
the Lord of the universe can do. And so in this
moment, what Jesus is doing is he's going, hey,
mom, hey, mom, recognize what's about to happen.
And he switches. He switches from speaking to
her as a son to speaking to her as Lord. And
in this moment, what Jesus shows us is that his
departing words to her, his departing words to
humanity, his last words, man, this is what I
want you to get. Jesus says to her this, mom,
these are not words of love for a mother, but
rather a symbol of the love and provision of
my redemption. for the weak and the vulnerable
whom I'm purchasing with my blood. Last is this,
write this down. Jesus's care and compassion
is for your soul. That's why Jesus went to a
cross. His care and compassion is for your soul.
Jesus went to a cross because he said, listen,
I loved you enough that I'm willing to go to
a cross. And it's not just about providing for
your physical needs. It's not just for you to
show up to church on a Sunday and check it off
your list. It's because I am. purchasing your
soul. Can we just talk about adoption for a moment?
Listen, I have five kids and they're wonderful
and they're beautiful and I didn't choose any
of them. It's just what I got. But when you adopt
someone, you choose them. You pay the price for
them. You go through a process for them. And
when you've gone through the process, when you've
paid the price, when you've chosen them, you
get a legal document, you get a piece of paper.
And on that piece of paper, they have your name.
They get your name, which means that they have
access to everything that you have access to.
Which means that they have an inheritance and
a right to everything that is yours. It is theirs
because they've been bought. They've been purchased.
They've been brought into your family. Listen,
Jesus adopted you. Jesus went to a cross and
Jesus said, listen, I'm purchasing you. I'm paying
the price. I'm going through the process and
I'm willing to give you my name and give you.
to everything that I have, to stand on the name
of Jesus and the grace that is only found in
Jesus. Because on the cross, what he did is he
wrote an invitation, an invitation for adoption.
He wrote an invitation for adoption. And he said,
listen, this is a free invitation to you, to
me, to everyone. And he's saying, come to my
family. My care is for your soul. The call is
to run to his family. Man, I wonder who in here
today needs to make some decisions this morning.
I wonder who in here today needs to accept the
invitation for adoption and say, listen, I know
that Jesus died on the cross for me. I know that
he gave his life for me to purchase me with his
blood. I'm tired of doing it on my own. I wanna
take the invitation and step in to his family.
I wonder who in here today needs to start living
like they're a part of the family. And maybe
you've already accepted that invitation, but
you've pushed church away and you need to start
living like you're a part of the family. All
right, next week, we're gonna have life group
signups. We're gonna have opportunity for you
to sign up for Growth Track. And we talk about
life groups, we talk about Growth Track, we talk
about that all the time. But for some of you
in here today, your step is to pray about what
it would look like for you to sign up and say,
God, is this what you want? Do you want me to
take this step to join, to get to know more about
the church, to get to know more about living
in community and being with people and going
through life with them and allowing people in
so that I'm not just a participant of, but I'm
someone who's actually a part of what's going
on in this church. Listen, you are loved by God,
a God who sent his son so that you could be a
part of the family. Let's pray. God, thank you
so much for the invitation to adoption. Thank
you, God, that when you went to the cross, you
were extending an invitation. God, I pray for
the people in here today that need to accept
that invitation. I pray for the people in here
today, God, that need to say, listen, I am done
trying to do it on my own. I want to accept you.
God, I pray for those of us in here that have
been avoiding family, but know that we need to
come to the family. That need to change church
from a checklist to a lifestyle. God, I pray
for those in here today. that need to take the
step of joining a life group, that need to take
the step of living out the faith within the family.
But ultimately, God, we just praise you. We thank
you. We thank you for who you are. We thank you
for what you have blessed us with, what you have
given us. We thank you for the invitation to
be a part of the family. We pray this in Jesus'
name. Amen.