Mission part 3: I Did it For Love - Dr. Mike

Following the crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples and gave a clear command: go into all the world and preach the gospel. This Great Commission reminds us that even in a sinful and broken world, there is still hope.Mission does not come when we are comfortable. It comes when we are called.

Jesus has given each of us a mission. And sometimes we wrestle with questions like: Why me? Why do I have to be committed?

But we must understand—the mission is bigger than us.

God created each of us with a plan, a purpose, and a future. It’s time to turn off autopilot and intentionally do what God is calling us to do. When you decide to move on purpose, you align yourself with God’s will.

Jesus entered a world full of chaos. As He grew, He saw everything—pain, injustice, and brokenness—and still chose to walk in His mission.

Transcript

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We gather, bro, and that is what we do.

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Welcome to Life Series, a podcast from King Garden Bay Baptist Church, where we gather together to experience God's love. Grow in God's love and give that love back to each other.

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That is what we do. We gather, grow at the worship.

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And surely, your neighbor says, Surely I am with you always to the very end of age. Let us pray, Lord. We are so grateful for what is about to happen in this moment. It's not about me, but God, I'm so happy to be called to be on mission on your behalf. I don't know how long the mission is gonna last, but for right now, I'm on mission for you. And God, I pray that you avail our hearts and make room for this word that will transform someone's life and make them better and go out with power to be able to change what's going on. I pray, God, that you will anoint us from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet. And if it's someone that needs to give their life to Christ today, they will not leave this place the way they came in. God, you are a miracle worker, and they showed up today because it's Easter, but you had different plans to change their entire life. I pray, Lord, that your powers that was able to raise Jesus from the dead is the same power that's able to change minds, hearts, souls, and turn a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. That God, we believe that you sit down on a mountain up on high, uh, but the blood still gives us strength to go on from day to day. God, we are just so grateful to be here. I feel like preaching because we're just so happy to be here. We have hope because you are the risen Savior. No matter how bad it looks, you remind us that we have hope. In your name we pray. Amen. I could let you go home after that. Nothing else to be said. That is the entire gospel. Uh, you may be seated. Uh, just so I don't get any text messages after church. I just have a word to share with you. Uh, the word to share with you as we've been talking about the series on mission, we've been talking about the series on mission. Uh, we are so grateful, and I want to give a big shout out. I forgot this. I want to give a big shout out uh to my classmate. It's so good that you're here. Uh, my classmate from the best class. I have a couple classmates in here, uh, but uh we we we we we we don't look a day over 40, amen. Not even a day, amen. Sinclair, clap, amen. Uh St. Claire clap, amen. Uh St. Claire is my classmate, Arlene. Uh there's a couple of us in here, but I just want to give a big shout out uh to you. Uh the message of the crucifixion of the cross as we culminate in this Lenten season should signal hope and renewal. From the beginning of a Christ's ministry at the age 30, I don't understand what will compel someone to take on such a task. When we talk about mission and the scripture, it's now the scripture that we find is now when Jesus has already been crucified, has already been resurrected, and is about to ascend to heaven, and he looks around at those who have gathered and says, Here is my last thing, and this is usually called the Great Commission. I want you to go out into the world, not the parts that you feel comfortable, not the parts that you feel safe, but the entire world and preach the gospel and baptize people in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and letting them know that there's hope in a sinless world. Ah, this mission, as you know, Jesus was now at the point where he had disciples who had already deceived him. He had people who had already left him. In Mark chapter 14, verses 50, it says, as he was in the upper room, and Judas kissed him and he was arrested. Mark 14, 50 says, and they left him. They said, All of them left him. He's saying this after he was beaten and bruised and still had hope to go out and say, Preach the gospel and baptize everyone in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. As we've talked about this series, there's so much important things. But as we talk about mission, it was very important for me to bring back my old friend. Uh, my old friend, as you know, uh, Dr. Mike, as he was growing up and still are, you may never know uh that my only important secret job that I wanted to be, I was a secret spy. Everyone knows that. Uh, everyone knows that I wanted to really be a spy. You may never know that I may just preach on Sunday and I'm a clandestine agent on Monday. Amen. You may never know. Uh, but this is Mission Impossible. Uh, Mission Impossible is this franchise who the main actor is Ethan Hunt. Ethan Hunt is one of these impossible mission force leaders and is the captain of his crew, along with Benji and some of his friends. Uh, there's several installments of Mission Impossible, and yesterday, as I was nothing to do, as while I was waiting around, I said, well, let me just put on this movie. Uh, if you know about my personality, if I like a movie, I don't care what other movie comes out, I'm gonna watch that movie over and over and over again. I have watched the Bad Boy series maybe 50, 60 to 100 times, each one. Mission Impossible, final day reckoning, all two minutes, two hours and 24 minutes. I think this is maybe my eighth time, and I still find it intriguing. Uh, Ethan Hunt is usually shows up, and a mesh usually shows up to him in a very precurious, in a very ominous way. Uh, in the final day of reckoning, it showed up on an old VHS 13-inch TV. Uh, you know the VHS TVs that you used to have that were the combination of the TV and the VCR? I'm telling my age, I'm still under 45. Uh, those ones that you used to be able to buy when you were in college and you had a mini fridge with the fridge on the bottom and the microwave on top, and then you had the TV on the side. Maybe that was only me. Uh, maybe it was only me. And it showed up and it says, You have a mission, and if you deem to expect it. Now, the mission never shows up when Ethan Hunt is more expecting it, it shows up when he's going around his merry old way, handling his own business. You have to understand the missions in your life are gonna show up and they're not gonna wait for you to be comfortable or prepared, they just arrive. It's that in that moment Ethan had a decision and has decisions to make. He has it says, because the truth is whether he refuses his mission or it affects his him directly, at some point in time, he's gonna have to face the reckoning. And that's how mission works in our life. When God shows up in our life and offers us something to do, it might not readily affect your life day to day, but at some point in time, it's gonna have an effect on your life. Jesus now gives us a mission in the Bible. He says, Go out into all the world and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But when we really sit and think about it, do we have to ask ourselves, how did we get here? Why does this mission even continue? And why does this mission seem so much bigger than us? I'm so happy that you asked, uh, because all of us have a mission that is implanted in our life. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us that God created us for a plan and a purpose that we're not just in this world to go through, but we have a plan and a purpose and a future. Uh, this means that your life, your living, and your choices are not supposed to just be random, happenstance, or by chance. You were formed with intention, you were created with a purpose, you were sent on this earth on assignment. But somewhere along the way, many of us stop living on mission and start living on autopilot. I want you to tell your neighbor, I want you to shut off that autopilot. I want you to wake up and it's more about just paying bills, going to work, and repeat existing, it's about moving on purpose. Uh, when you want to be able to move on purpose, that's now when we have to start to look at Jesus. Uh, Jesus, however, didn't enter the world in comfort. Uh, Jesus did not enter the world in comfort, he entered the world in chaos, actually, uh born into tension. You see, at the time, the king at the time was going for a power battle. The king at the time was fearful that his kingdom was about to fall. He had heard a prophecy that a king was gonna rise up, and he just thought it was a political king. And just what political kings do? Uh, what he did was rise up and made sure he said he made a decree that every firstborn, born of Israel, is to be killed. Now that caused a series of chaos throughout the world and throughout their world and throughout the community. That you imagine that you're pregnant now and you don't even know. I'm sorry, uh, but based on what I recount, 2000 years ago, there were no sonograms, uh, there was no five-month appointment uh to see if there was a boy or girl. So you imagine being a mother waiting on bated breath when this king makes this proclamation. You don't know if it's a boy or girl, but if it's a boy, the political army's gonna come now and take your child and crucify them. You could imagine now Mary hearing this and hearing this decree becomes very concerned and afraid and says, I don't know what to do. At the same time, because they wanted to do this, they said, Let's do a census. The census was derived so they could be able to see who was who. So Joseph, now, being from a foreign land, had to travel back to his home country. He had to travel back to his home country around 60 to 90 miles through wind and rain and animals, ups and downs, and donkeys and swollen feet and sten, and he had to do all this to try to stay on mission. When Jesus came into the world, he was not born in the palace, but in a manger, not surrounded by celebration, but surrounded by the strain of survival. The stench of the animals reminded him of the sinful world that he had just came into. And as he grew up, he saw everything. You imagine Jesus growing up, he saw everything. Look at your neighbor said it said he saw everything. He saw the religious leaders who had lost their way, he saw people exploiting those and exposing those, he saw what was supposed to be sacred being sold, he saw the poor being ignored, he saw the sick being overlooked, and he saw the broken being pushed to the side. Jesus growing up seeing prophets profiting off of people instead of being able to profess in their lives how to be better. So, how do you navigate this? Jesus, now as a young, impressionable young man, knowing that he was born into destiny and knowing that he was supposed to do something great at this moment. Imagine Jesus watching. God, you sent me into this mess. I can't tell the difference between the preachers and the sinners. I don't know the difference, and you sent me to this world to save it. Imagine him walking around saying, I'm supposed to be the Messiah, and the people he's supposed to learn from the Jews, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees, the Roman Empire is saying, if you proclaim yourself to be king, I'ma make sure I end your mission. Imagine him walking around the pool of Bethesda, watching the sick and the lame, having to bear arms and give money just to be prayed with. When God said prayer should be free and you shouldn't have to pray for salvation. Imagine Jesus now watching the poor, the marginalized being treated less than women and children being taken for granted. Imagine Jesus growing up. Well, just let's take for a moment. Imagine Jesus now coming into this world, this current 2026, seeing guess what? Guess what he's seeing? It will look just like a recap from 2,000 years ago. He will see the poor being ignored, the hungry not being fed, pastors and preachers profiting off of the poor and the needy and the helpless. You will see him wondering, is this the world I left? You don't have to say amen. You can say ouch. I know this is not a point for you to celebrate. So you have to now, Jesus has to navigate this. Where do I stand? Do I align with the power and make my life easier? You can imagine that Jesus could have aligned with the powerful of the day and be able to have an easy life. He would have been funded, he would have had a church, he would have had a mission, but he says, you know what? I'm gonna do what God called me to do sometimes when you navigate life, sometimes when you go through difficult things. Your mission is not gonna be easy. Jesus now says, I'm gonna do the hard thing. And he did the hard thing and stuck by himself and started a little ministry. Jesus now started this little ministry. He he didn't have any church, he didn't have no billboard, he didn't have any flyer. He just knew that he had a mission that was given to him by God. And he walked around, and this mission was based on love. He that he says, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna preach a message that God loves you and he wants to forgive you, and it's gonna catch on. He says, I've come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. I'm not gonna scare you, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm about my father's business, and he says, If follow me, that was his altar call. He had no band, no praise team, no lights, no air conditioning. He was walking around saying, Follow me. And he walked around, he found a 12 disciples, he picked them one by one, and they had to be able to leave everything they had and follow Jesus. Now, this sounds really good now, but imagine him walking around in this foreign land with people he grew up with and saying, Follow me. Imagine if this was modern day, and somebody came around to you on your job and says, Listen, I know you're making a hundred thousand dollars a year. I know what you think is good, but here's what I want you to do: I want you to go home, sell everything. Don't worry about what your wife is gonna say. It's gonna be fine. Don't worry about daycare, don't worry about your mortgage, just follow me. And when you ask him where I'm gonna follow you to, just follow me. And when you ask him, but Jesus, I don't know, I don't see your church. Just trust me. And he's going around and say, and then then one person started following him. Then two people start following him, and then here's what here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna start to change and upset everything that they start to do. I'm gonna preach love when people are preaching condemnation. I'm gonna heal people on the Sabbath. I'm gonna make sure that they know that I am God over the Sabbath. I'm gonna do this. I'm I'm gonna I'm and then the the rumors started happening. Ah, do you understand that this Jesus is now causing a whole ruckus and people are starting to follow him? Do you understand that people are being saved? Do you understand that they're saying that he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, that he is the one and true Messiah that we're prophesying in the book of Isaiah, that he is the one living in the first manifested with us? Do you understand the ruckus that could have been caused? And now he's going around and people coming to him. Well, Jesus, where's your church? Uh, where's your handbook? Where's your constitution? How much your tithes? Do you have a report for the first quarter? How many people join the church? How many views did you have on Facebook? And Jesus said, I don't have none of that. All I have is a message that God loves you. And he goes around saying, I have a message that God loves you. He did it not for the crowd, not for culture, not for convenience. He did it for God. Because if you don't know who the one who gave you the mission, uh, you will often be misunderstood and misrepresented. Jesus understood the one who gave him the mission, and he made sure he stayed close to the one who gave you the mission. Some of us right now want to have a mission, uh, but we don't want to have a relationship with the mission giver. I want to be able to tell you if you don't have a relationship with the mission giver, at some point in time, uh you're gonna end up in trouble. Are there times when Ethan Hunt is now going along and he's going along on his mission, and mission control will call back into him. Uh Ethan, you have sidetracked, you have missed the mark, and I need you to get back on focus. Ethan was says, I'm sorry, I just got a little distracted. And sometimes in our life, we get distracted by the biggest noise, the biggest thing that's calling our attention, and God says, Don't get distracted. I want you to stay on mission. No matter what you do, your life should be an example of God's glory so you could draw people onto you. Ah, but he wasn't on mission, and he had to understand. So, so so so what happened is uh because now Jesus positions himself close, he studies, he prays, he withdraws, not because he wanted to disconnect from people, but he understood if you stay too close to people, they will corrupt your mission. If you stay too close to people, especially if they don't understand, they will cover up your mission. And we want this mission, but we don't want relationship. We want purpose, but we don't want proximity to God. We want mission, but we don't want relationship. We want purpose, but we don't want proximity to God. We want impact, but we don't want intimacy. We want connection, but we don't want to lose clarity. We will want to lose direction, but we want to eventually drift because if you don't stay close to God, you're gonna drift apart. But when you stay close to your mission giver, something changes. The mission stops feeling like a burden, starts feeling like you're revealing its purpose. And the interruptions now when your mission start to make sense, and the discomfort starts shaping you, and the thing that once felt bigger than you now becomes the very thing that causes you to celebrate and brings you through the hard time. Because the truth is your mission is bigger than you, it will interrupt your plans, it will challenge your comfort, it will demand you to make a decision. But just like that message finds Ethan Hunt in his middle of his time, I want you to know if God calls you on a mission, he prepared you for said mission. Ah, so I want to tell you right now, the world is divided, and there's so much things that are happening. There's so much confusion, hate, and hurtfulness that are happening in the world, so much madness and deceit. And we're wondering why this mission is still possible. I want to ask you, and I know I'm compelling you to ask your serious question. With all the things that are happening in the world, why would you go forward in such a mission? I'm so happy you ask. And if you want this message to continue and you want me to get up out of your face, I just need you to talk back to me. I'm finished talking to you, and now we're gonna have a dialogue. I want you to be able to be able to say, Amen, hallelujah, thank you, God. Uh, ouch, I don't agree, Pastor. I want you to be able to feel like it's not just me. I've done the teaching and now it's the preaching. I want you to be able to join in because I want to ask you, why would you step into a world that's filled with sin? Why would you try to even save that? Why would you try to sacrifice anything for a world of thankless people? Ah, let me bring it closer to you. Anyone ever have some? Don't raise your hands, please. I want you to look directly at me. Don't raise your hand, don't look to your left or to your right. You you got it? Everybody got it? All right. You ever met an ungrateful person? Don't raise your hand, don't look left or right. And that person always wants you to do a favor for them, but never really say thank you. And you they always asking you for don't raise, don't look. I see some of you looking to your left and your right. We don't need to fight at church on resurrection Sunday. Don't look to your left or to your right. Husband, stay forward, stay prostrate, stay disciplined, young man. Have you ever met someone who just asks you for favors over and over? Anyone who always needs something. Everybody who just wants. Imagine God calling you to save them. When you accept the mission, you open it. No God, it can't be. Hey God, listen, I'm sorry. You see this name that you called me to save? This person you called me to pray for? This person owes me$100. Actually, it's$100 from fifth grade. They owe me a hundred dollars from fifth grade. And now it it now I'm old, and that$100 inflation has caused that to be$10,000. And every time they see me, they duck. God, I don't, you didn't call me to save this. God, you didn't call me to pray for the person that destroyed my family. God, you didn't call me to pray for the person that turned my world upside down. God, you didn't call me to pray for my enemies. This can't be my mission. This is the very mission of the gospel. But imagine 30 years of life, God watching. And I just want a couple things to say with you, and I'm taking my seat. You have to understand that the love that we have for Christ, uh, He did this because for a certain reason. Uh, the first thing why he did it is because his father sent him. Anybody ever been? And I know if you had a father, uncle, or somebody, anybody ever had a male figure in your life send you out on an errand? Anybody? Anybody ever had a male figure send you out? And now I will confess uh that I was not, I'll be honest, I was not always well behaved, amen. I didn't always listen or follow instructions. I I was a little bit hard in the head, amen. It was just that the complexities of my mind were so manipulated and distracted by what was happening around me that it was very difficult for simple instruction to perceive my frontal cortex for me to make an executive decision. Uh, that just means I had neurodiversion thinking and maybe have an ADHD complex. But because I was able to navigate through the use of my words, I was able to navigate very difficult situations. That's all to say. Most of the times, when my mom told me something, by the time I got to the store or something, I forgot what she asked me to do. My father used to send me for something. It wasn't often like I had a choice. Anybody never follow the uncles? Anybody never felt like I had a choice. Even even you now, you're not you thirty some forty, some fifty something. Your father picked up the phone and call you say you want to do something like Saturday afternoon. I just want to sleep. And you pout, you fuss, you kick, you say, I don't feel like doing this, but guess what? You still go because there's a dynamic of authority sometimes when your father sends you. Uh, sometimes you might try to manipulate your mom sending you, uh, but when your father sends you, you know that listen, there's a seriousness and the consequence. See, Jesus, however, did it sometimes because he also loved his father. Uh, he said, My father sent me on this mission, no matter what's happening, I'm gonna go out and do it. Uh, but the second thing that he did is that he went on this mission and stayed on this mission because he saw greater than the mess. Look at your neighbor, say he saw greater than the mess. Uh, it's meaning that sometimes you don't know why God is sending you to do amazing things. It's because he saw greater than the mess. Sometimes when you're looking at what you're being called to, you think it's trouble, you think it's rubble. But God says, I look beyond your faults and I see your need. See, God saw the need of earth and sent Jesus Christ for the redemption of our sins. He says, I'm not gonna judge you based on what you're not doing. I'm gonna make sure that I could build you up. I want to tell you the reason that you're being called is because God sees greater in you than you see in yourself. That he sees that everything that's happening in your life has been proportioned and anointed for you to go out and be amazing. I don't care how much people in your life have told you that you can't, that you won't, that don't have to believe. God says, greater is he that is within you than he that's in the world. It means that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. That you have to understand that God's positioned you for greatness. Some of us need to get rid of those old things that kept us back, not believing in ourselves. That if God gave you a mission, he has prepared you uniquely to fulfill that mission. You are capable. I want you to look at your neighbor and says, You are capable. See, God saw greater in you. I want you to understand that God saw greater in you. You always have to look back, that when Jesus now looks back at all his disciples, he was even looking, and now I want to be able to look in at Peter. You have to understand that Jesus built his church on Peter. Uh, he says, Be just built his church on Peter. You have to understand now that Peter was the one who cut off the air of a soldier. Uh, Peter had an anger problem. Uh, Peter was bowed and bowed and Peter was ready to fight. Peter was the one. Peter also was the one in the upper room who says, Jesus, I ain't never gonna leave you. I ain't never gonna deceive you. But Peter denied Jesus three times. Also, Peter, Peter was the one when Jesus was arrested, he fled with the other disciples. It says also that Peter was nowhere to be found. It didn't account for Peter around the cross, it didn't account for him in the morning. This same Peter who was had an anger problem, this same Peter who had a lying problem, this same Peter who had trouble with his friends and his family, Peter who had trouble with relationship, this is the Peter that God used to build his church upon. So you can't tell me that God, if God could use a Peter, why can't He use you? I want you to know that God specializes in using people who are broken. I want you to let you know that God specializes in making sure that He takes those who are messed up, don't have it together. You are the exact one who God wants to use. You're the exact one who's gonna pray and prophesy. You're the exact one who's gonna make a ministry to make a change. You are the exact one. I want to be able to close and tell you. When I looked over the scripture, I really struggled with why did Jesus do it. Knowing yes, he may have done it because his father sent him, knowing he may have done it because he saw greater than the mess. But I still didn't understand because sometimes, sometimes, even when I was sent to do something, I didn't want to do it, and sometimes even when I see the potential, fixing broken things has a cost, and fixing broken people is even more costlier. And you ask, why do you go through life trying to spread hope and speak love? You ask, why do you go through this life trying to be light and salt? You ask, why do you speak to the darkness, hoping that light would appear? You ask, why do you pray for those who hurt you and pray for your enemies? You ask why in 2026 that you're still so foolish to sit up on a pulpit on a Sunday morning and proclaim the goodness and the risen Savior. I was reminded, and I had to look really deeply but really closely, that why Jesus did it was really simple. He did it because of love. I know you were expecting something else, but it was nothing else that could compel someone to go through all this outside of love. I believe that the love for his father was first because his father's love for him and his love and fat love for his love for his father caused him now to say, I will go wherever you send me. I also saw that he saw love, saw him to see greatness in you. I see when you love someone, you look beyond their mistakes and you are able to see their potential. Uh, but you also do it for love. I want to be able to tell someone God is calling you to do something great, God is calling you to do something miraculous, and I want you to do it for love. I don't want you to do it for fame, I don't want you to do it for fortune, I don't want you to do claps and high fives. Ah, because guess what? On Palm Sunday, Jesus came in and he was given all the fame and all the hand claps, he was given all the hallelujahs, he was given all the shouts, but guess what happened? Just less than seven days after he did it, and he did it, and all that praise, it turned from praise into pain. See, you have to understand, don't worry about those who are cheering for you. They don't love you anyway. Uh, the cheers will stop and suffering will start. You have to remember why you're really doing it. Uh, because if you're doing it because of people liking you, uh, you're doing it for the wrong reason, uh, because they like you today and persecute you tomorrow. Uh, but you gotta do it for a greater reason. You gotta be able to stand up and say, God called me to do something, and because of my love for God, with God I live and to God I die. I want somebody in here, no matter what you're going through. I'm just so happy that God looked down and saw who I really was, and Jesus did all of this for love. You might be saying, Dr. Mike, I understand what you're saying, uh, but I want to just go back to scripture. John 3 16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whomsoever believed in him should have life and have it more abundantly. Well, you have to understand it says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word became flesh. So that means God within himself sent a version of himself to the earth that could understand what the human condition is. He understands on Good Friday that they will make sure and set you up and praise you, they will persecute you, but you have to stay on mission. The reason why I like Jesus, the reason why I love Jesus, he bled and he died, he suffered, he had fake friends, he had people deceive him, but he kept on mission. I feel like preaching because I understand sometimes when you're going through life, life gets really hard. Friends seem really distant, things start to really struggle, but no matter what, no matter who's with me, no matter who's against me, when you're on mission, you stand up and proclaim, and you stand in the boldness and the courage of God. Uh, so I'm gonna leave you right here, King Arm Bay Baptist Church. Uh, if we're never able to meet like this again, I wanna be able to tell you, I want to be able to tell you I did it for love. Because God first loved me. What happened is love compels you to do amazing things. Love causes him to be in front of Pontus Pilate and be able to hear all the vitriolic comments that they were saying about him, all the nasty things that they made up about him. Love made him do it. You asked me why he took a cross that wasn't his own, love made him do it. Why he traveled 650 meters after he was beaten and broken, love made him do it. You asking why they allowed him to hang him on a cross and stretch him wide. Love made him do it. You asking why they allowed him to give him vinegar when he asked for water. Love made him do it. Uh but he didn't give up, he just says, I'm thirsty. And that's what they did to him when they said, You think you're king of the Jews? Love made him stay up all day Friday. It says, in the third hour and the sixth hour and the ninth hour, it said that darkness came upon the earth and he bled and he died. See, I'm just so happy. I don't know if I've been going through all this and I'm looking down on the cross before I take my last breath, and I saw people that I prayed with, I saw people that I healed, I saw people that are baptized, and those are the same people crucifying me. I don't know that I could be Jesus, but love made him stay and take the pain and take the persecution and take the sacrifice. Love made him stay. Love made him do it. I want to be able to tell somebody if you've ever been in love. I'm talking about real love. I'm talking about love that makes you stay up on the phone and you said, No, you go to sleep. No, you go to sleep, no, you go to sleep, no, you go to sleep. The love that causes you to drive late at night just so you can see high. The love that causes you to take up all that you have, the love of a mother being able to go to bed hungry so that child could eat, the love of a father being able to pray late at the eight-night hour and proclaim for his family the love that says, No matter how I feel, I'm gonna make sure I go forward. Well, that's the kind of love that Jesus is saying. But this love caused him to go into a borrow tube. This love says, No matter what you do to me, I'm on mission. I can remember he's in there all day Friday. I can remember he's in there all day Saturday. Uh, but you remember what I told you about my good friend Ethan Hunt. At some point in time, mission control says, Jesus, I know you think it's over, uh, but we have one last task. I know you did, and you were bruised for that transgression. I know you died, I know you sit there and took the pain, and I know you did it for love. But here's what I want you to do. I want you to hear your head to my voice. I want you to go down this one more mission because we have to prove that you are king over death and the grave. Uh so now, here's this last clandine mission that you need to go to. I need you to show up at Satan's door and snatch the keys to hell and death. And now, when you do that, I want you to come back. And now it says, I want you to come back because what love doesn't do, love doesn't break a promise, love doesn't give up, love doesn't anger, love forgives. And I can remember it says, you need to come back to show them that you're keeping your word, that you're gonna forgive, and there's hope beyond pain, there's hope beyond sacrifice. So it goes back to now. Why did he do it? He did it for love. Friday took the pain because of love, Saturday sudden silent because of love. Uh, but I believe that we're standing here today, and this is what happened because of love, he woke up with all power. See, I don't, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I may be in the wrong church because if we were here where people understand what it means to represent the resurrection, see, some of you are thinking with your technological mind and sin, there is no way, there's no way biologically possible that someone could have been crucified and hung on a cross for over nine hours and be resurrection. I don't understand. I want to know you, I'm so I'm so happy. I'm so put it in chat, GPT. Oh, maybe Claude will give you a better answer. Uh, but here's what I want to be able to tell you the scripture says what happened after is that he was seen in two different forms and prepared on two different times to do different people. Sometimes you don't understand that God will switch up your form to make sure you can complete the mission. He didn't bring you back in your broken body, he's gonna bring you back in a different form. So God's resurrection says that I'm a representation of what love looks like, I'm a representation of what goodness looks like, and he got up so you can have a chance. I don't know somebody in here, but I don't know what you're going to. But I want to just tell my testimony. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, nearly then to rise no more, seeking to rise no more. But here's the part that I like. But the master of the seas, he heard my distress and cry. See, some of you right now are sitting down and want God to save you, but you are afraid to cry out. But if you're here, you're not ashamed, and you said, God, I need to save me. I just want you to stand to your feet and say, God, I'm one that needs to be saved. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, yet deep within, sinking to rise no more. But the master of the seas, he heard your discretion cry. Your discretion cry and from the waters lifted me. Now safe am I. Now you want to know why he did it.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

It says, love lifted me when nothing else could help. Love lifted me when I was by myself.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

Love lifted me when I feel depressed. Love lifted me when I feel like giving up, love lifted me. I will sing unto the Lord a new song. I will cry out unto him. Hallelujah. If anybody in here believes in the power of Christ, say yeah. The chastism of his peace is upon us. He he put the government on his shoulders so we can have a second chance. Love made him do it.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

And he heard my cry and pitied every groan.

SPEAKER_04 41:20

Long ass in the blood.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

This is a moment that all this was done. He did it for love.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

As we get ready to pray. Shout and praise and forget the goodness of God in our life.

SPEAKER_02 43:36

No matter where you are. I want you to look with me.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Your eyes closed, your head bowed, in reverence. And say, God, I want you to search me. What is it? That you're calling me today with my life. What my Mission, what's my calling? What is the purpose that you've imparted in my life? You did all this to show that you love me. What should I do next? Whiters should I go. What there may be some of you who've never given your life to Christ, and you don't have a relationship with the mission giver, this is a moment that you pause and you consider and say, God, I want to make you the head of my life. And what better day to give your life to Christ than on Resurrection Sunday? If you are here and want to surrender your life to Christ, I want you to forget about everyone or everything that you're concerned about. And I want you to just raise your hand to heaven and say, I surrender my life to Christ. I submit my life. I see that hand. I see that hand. Heaven rejoices over one person saying yes. However, I believe in the house, I believe in the house that there's somebody else that needs to give their life to Christ. I don't want you to be afraid. This is the most important decision that you can make. God has positioned this moment. You have never felt like you're enough, but you are. I see that hand. I see that hand. See those hands. God, our ministers, please go. Let's meet them where they are and pray for them. And for those of you who don't have a church home where you're growing spiritually and you want to join this church. You are who we've been waiting on. You are the one. For those of you who have given your life to Christ, I want you to repeat after me. If you give your life to Christ and want to surrender, I want you to say these simple words. I want you to say these simple words after me. Say, Lord, no matter where you are, if you give your life to Christ, say Lord, today I accept you as my Lord and personal Savior. I believe you died and you rose for me. God, I ask you first to forgive me of my sins and make my heart anew. Today, you are the captain and the head of my life. I accept you, Jesus, as my Lord and personal Savior. Today, I start a new mission with you at the head. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Thank you for worshiping with us today. If you'd like to go deeper in your walk with Christ, we invite you to contact us at 284-442-4222. Or email us admin at cgbbc.org. Visit our website at cgbbc.org. Be sure to subscribe and share this button so others can be encouraged and blessed as well.