John 3 | Nicodemus

Jon Benz begins our series Encounters

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Welcome to Global Divine Wellhead. If we have not met yet, my name is John Bennins. I'm the director here. And we had a pretty crazy weekend last weekend, didn't we? I mean, man, fall retreat was wild. Look, we had that incredible weather. The weather was awesome. Okay, we had some fierce competition. Okay, choose your champion. The milk model. Do we do it again? We'll see. We'll see. This one. Umble was incredible. Vulnerable is always heated. And um hey, one last time until next year. Uh shout out to the new winners. The great team. Well done. You broke the curse. Now every team code has one fall retreat. But that wasn't all we did. We didn't just play games. Okay, we had amazing worship. The worship was incredible. Jordan Adams, our speaker, did an unbelievable job. And honestly, the coolest thing, you know, we have that response one we guys filled out, hopefully filled it out. Uh, we recognize a lot of you guys have taken some very serious next steps. I mean, there's a large number of you who actually indicated that, hey, your next step is placing your faith in Jesus for the first time. Which is incredible. I mean, some of you profess faith in Jesus. Some of you want to get baptized, publicly proclaim your faith, get dunked in the water on Sundays. I mean, some of that, some of you guys want to go overseas, some of you guys want to be a connection group. A lot of you guys are just pumps. And this is honestly because you encountered God in a profound way. And see, tonight we are starting a new series here at Salt Company called Encounters with a very simple idea. Without a doubt, when you encounter Jesus, everything changes. Like the first time you meet Jesus, when you know when you come to faith, certainly everything about your life changes. But I would even say for many of you, believers, this weekend you encounter Jesus in a different way, and I bet you're walking away from it differently. And so all I want to do in this series is recognize through the gospel accounts, you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus encounters a lot of different individuals, or rather, these people encounter Jesus in a profound way that we ought to learn from. And so if you want to leave this room different than you came in, will you join me in the book of John, chapter three? Yeah, we love John 3. People know what's coming up. Uh, we've got the crossway prints on page 887. If you don't, sorry. If you don't have a Bible, I want to get you one. Okay, we got some outside. We really want to get you a Bible. Everyone in here, I want you to have a Bible, a journal, and a pen. Like that's so important. If not, it'll be on the screens. Okay, while you're still working on getting there, it's just it's a little bit further further into the Bible. Here's what you need to know. Okay, Jesus, the Son of Man, God in the flesh, he's really just begun his earthly ministry. And during this process, he's honestly performed a lot of miracles and signs. He's proclaiming the kingdom of God is at hand. Okay, he turned water into wine at a wedding, which is sick. He went to the temple, and honestly, he started flipping tables and kicking people out because he recognized people were abusing God's temple as a place to make a profit. And he had a problem with that. So he kicked them out. He got rid of them. And at the end of John 2, it really just says, and many more people believed in Jesus because of the signs and miracles that he was performing. I mean, all in all, he was creating a stir. Like Jesus was becoming known. He wasn't just some like viral momentary trend. He was changing people's lives. He was flipping the world upside down. And so now we come to John 3. Pick it up in verse 1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Okay, so this is how our encounter begins. We have Nicodemus, and it says he's a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews. And you need to understand, like, this guy was a big deal. Like he was a big deal. He was part of this board called the Sanhedrin, which to basically say what that is. The Sanhedrin was like if you take the Supreme Court and the US Senate and put them together. Okay, it's a very big deal to be on this board. They had a lot of social and political power. But also this dude was loaded. Okay, Nicodemus had a ton of money. And actually, we'll read on to find out that he was also considered a teacher of Israel, meaning he was basically the equivalent of like an Ivy League professor. So he's in the US Senate, the Supreme Court, Ivy League professor, and he's like a billionaire, basically. Like he had it all. And on top of that, honestly, he could walk the walk. He says he was a Pharisee. And Pharisees were Jews who were committed to actually walking in holiness. They were committed to trying to follow all 613 Levitical laws to the T. I mean, they would argue with each other about how perfectly they could keep the Sabbath. They would even add what are called fence laws to really make sure they were walking in holiness. I mean, they never lied. They did everything they could do to walk in holiness. They were dead serious about it. It was their whole life. So here we have Nicodemus, blessed by his heritage, by his status, by his works, and by his efforts. And he comes to Jesus at night, genuinely trying to make sense of this man. So let's see how it goes. Verse 3. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water in the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. You know, it's funny, Jesus really cuts right through whatever Nicodemus's plans were in this conversation. I mean, Nicodemus came to evaluate Jesus, but Jesus came to expose Nicodemus. I mean, he didn't Uno reverse. Jesus says that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And he's flustered by this. Right? He's genuinely asking, how can a man be born again? Like, do you have to climb back inside your mom and do the whole process again? Like that's silly. That's weird. That's weird to ask that to Jesus, especially. But the real question there is interesting. Really, what he's asking is, what must I do to be born again? That is a question I imagine you and I have asked, and many people who've encountered Jesus have asked, What must I do to be born again? See Nicodemus, he wants to force the process. But Jesus doubles down. He said, unless one is born of water in spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And look as a heads up, he's not talking about baptism. Like, just because water is involved doesn't instantly mean baptism. But the baptism we do today wasn't practiced yet. Plus, baptism is something you choose to do. Jesus' entire point here is that you can't choose to be born again. No, actually, what Jesus is doing, he's pointing back to prophecy. He's talking about Ezekiel 36, which says this I, being God speaking here, I will sprinkle clean water on you. And you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Listen, I try to enunciate it here, but who's doing all the work? God. I will sprinkle clean water, I will give you a new heart, I will put my spirit within you. God is doing everything here. We're just the recipients. And then Jesus, on top of that, triples down on it in verse 8. He says, just like you don't know where the wind comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone born of the Spirit. Like it is nothing man does to be born again. It happens to us from God. And he's using the birth analogy because it should make it like really straightforward. Okay, before you were conceived, did you decide to be born or did it happen to you? It just happens to you, it just experiences it. So it is for those born into the Spirit of God. Like this understanding, this flips everything upside down. Nicodemus thought he was doing what it takes to earn eternal life. Jesus says you never could. So what's his response to this? It's in verse 9. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we've seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Like, what's he talking about? Like there's a lot happening, but the thing is, Nicodemus isn't catching any of it. And Jesus acknowledges this. He's like, Aren't you the teacher of all of Israel? Aren't you the best academic of all of our people? And you still don't get this. Like Jesus is trying to unlock the whole Bible, and Nicodemus isn't tracking. So he tries again in verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Okay, so we probably don't know what he's talking about, but honestly, Nicodemus would. Again, he's a scholar, he's a teacher of the people. He knows what Jesus is talking about, but we need some help. And so, really, what we need to go to is we need to go to Numbers 21. And actually, I want you guys to flip to Numbers 21. If you've got the crossway prints on page 129, I wrote it down for you guys. If it's not there, go to the table of contents and figure it out. Uh, worst case scenario, it's on the screen. You'll do great. I'm proud of all of you. Alright, verse 5, numbers 21. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food. Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. Like God frees the Israelites from Egypt, right? They're in slavery. He gets Moses and frees them out, and they go into the wilderness on the way to the promised land. But the problem with being in the wilderness is there's no food. There's no water. And so what does God do to provide for his people? He sends bread, manna, down from heaven to feed them. He makes a like a rock, shoot water out of it for his people to drink. Like in every way, God is providing everything possible for his people to live. He's doing all of the work in it. And still somehow the Israelites complain. Like they literally complain that it would be far better for them to be back in slavery than eating this same bread. Heavenly bread from God. Like from the sky. Guys, I don't care if you're gluten-free. If God gives you bread, eat it. Like that's incredible. And they gripe about it. They don't want it anymore. They're tired of it. And according to the law that Nicodemus would follow, this would be active rebellion against God that would actually warrant death. To complain to God, to be discontent with what the Lord's given you. So that's what God does. He sends fiery serpents, which now that doesn't mean like flaming snakes, that'd be wild, bell. No, but fiery serpents, it really just means they'd bite and inflict this searing, horrible pain that would result in death. Okay, not my preferred way to go. These snakes were embodying God's judgment on his people. And there's nothing they could do about it. Once one of the people were bitten, they would suffer and die. Like it's a certainty. But look what happens. Right? As the Israelites suffer, they turn back to God and they repent. They go to Moses and the Lord and they beg Moses to pray to God to free them from this suffering. In their distress, they called out to the Lord. And God, honestly, He could just let them suffer. Like it would be just. They complained, so here's some snakes instead. But he doesn't. He shows them grace. Look, anytime in the Old Testament, people tell you that God is only wrathful, not gracious. Over and over again, the ridiculousness, the sinfulness of Israel, God stays with them as he does here. God, he tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and to put it on a pole. And put it somewhere high where everyone could see the bronze serpent, because when anyone was bitten and they looked to the serpent, they would not die. They would be healed. Let me say that again. Those who were bit, meaning those who were set to suffer and die, when they looked and saw the bronze serpent, they would live. So again, really simple Bible study here. What did they need to do to live? Look. To look, to put their eyes on the bronze serpent. And I would imagine Jews growing up hearing the story would find it pretty odd. Like, yes, this story certainly shows God's power, his mercy, his sovereignty, authority, all of that. But there's some confusing elements here that honestly don't come up for a while. Like, why did the staff heal? Why a serpent? Why is a serpent bronze? Well, ultimately, we can see today, because like everything in the Bible, it all ultimately points to Jesus. See, just as the serpent was raised up, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That whoever believes in him would have eternal life. That you wouldn't die. Like Saul Company, this is the true gospel. You and I, we have rebelled against God deliberately. We've been dissatisfied with what he's given us in our life. And God, he didn't send serpents to kill us. But he will send a just punishment for people who reject God and worship the created things over the Creator. I mean, Romans 3 says, all have sinned. Everyone in this room has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And Romans 6 says that the wages of that sin we've all committed is death. You know, we don't face fiery serpents, but we will face death. We will ultimately die. We will stand before God and we will face judgment for our actions. And if our judgment is death, you know, that's condemnation for our sins. That results in eternal separation between us and God in a place known as hell. And you can look in the Bible for all types of ways that hell is described, but Jesus uses incredibly consistent language when he talks about hell. I'll give you an example, Matthew 13. Jesus speaking says, the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Every time Jesus speaks of hell, he says that in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I mean, you get the point. Jesus, he will one day right every wrong done to you and done by you. All causes of sin. He will separate evil from righteous. And he will take the evil, bind it, and send them into the outer darkness. Where he describes it as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Weeping for all that they lost. And gnashing for the bitter anger against the God they rebelled against, who actually upheld justice. I mean, to the non-believer and skeptic, like I need to make this clear. Look, none of us in this room are perfect. No one of here would be would be able to avoid this punishment on our own. Like we've all chosen ourselves to sin and do the wrong thing. And I'll say it now, and I'll say it again and again until you get it. Like Jesus is not a gift for the good. He's not. No one in this building is righteous. Jesus is not a gift for the good, he is medicine for the sick. He's what we need. We can look to Jesus and believe in Jesus, and we will be healed. We will be spared judgment. See, bronze, it was a metal used in ceremonies to really depict God's judgment or God's wrath. Because bronze, more than gold or silver or anything else, it takes a profound amount of heat and fire for it to begin to melt. And so to form an object out of bronze would take an immense amount of fire for that to happen. So that bronze, it was formed into a serpent to show that what was killing the Israelites is now what could save them. In 2 Corinthians 5, it says, For our sake, he made him, Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus became our sin. He became the very thing killing us, just like the serpent. And like bronze, he endured the full, fiery wrath of God in our place. He took all of our punishment so that when we believe in him, there is no longer any sin held against us. Like when we look to the cross that was hung up for us to see, there is no punishment coming. The price has been paid by the man on the middle cross. And just as Jesus rose three days later, we too will rise with him. Just as the Israelites would die if they didn't look to the serpent, so too will we die forever if we don't look to Jesus. And honestly, if I was to summarize all of this, I would just keep reading this passage. Pick up with me in John 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. I mean, this is the most famous Bible verse in the world. Maybe you learned this growing up, maybe you learned this from Tim Tebow, or you really love Stone Cold Steve Austin. I don't know. But I bet you're familiar with this verse. And the point is, it's not what you do, it's who you believe in. That's what this is getting at. It's not what you do, it's who you believe in. Whoever believes in him should not perish. For God, he didn't send his son Jesus to condemn the world. No, the world condemned itself. God sent Jesus, fully man, fully God, to live a perfect life, to die in our place on a cross, to take the wrath of God and the scorn of man, so that through his resurrection, Romans 8:1 would be true. That there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you do not believe, then you are condemned. Not only because you rejected God, but because you have to pay for your sins yourself. But Jesus keeps going in this text, so we need to as well pick up in verse 19. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world. And people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God. So again, this scene, Jesus is looking at Nicodemus at night, as our text tells us, tells him something eternally true. That Jesus is the light of the world. And what does light do? A few things, but it expands outwardly. Okay, light purifies, and light reveals. It reveals. Because here's a reality we can agree with. No one likes being exposed. No one likes being exposed. Like, look, I used to have like a horrendous problem with being a compulsive liar. And I don't just mean as a non-believer, I mean as a Christian, I genuinely struggled with this, and at times still do. It wasn't always big things. It'd be like, I got an 84 in an exam, so I tell my friend I got an 86. Like, what does that accomplish? I don't know, but I wasn't content being me. I needed to be a better version of me. I wasn't satisfied with who God made me to be. Honestly, so much of my life was patterned by this fraudulence, and most of my mental space during the day was mostly kept on trying to keep up all of the different lies I had been telling. And it got pretty bad. Like honestly, when I started coming to Salt Company, I actually lied about my testimony in my story. Like about the way God saved me. I added elements that I thought seemed more interesting than the one God had given me. That would make it more intense. That what he did wasn't sufficient enough. Yeah, it's pretty messed up. Like I just wanted to be more impressive than I was. And I am beyond convinced I would have stayed that way if not for the fact that eventually I was caught so deeply in a lie, all I could do was confess and reveal who I actually was. And it turns out, when you follow Jesus, when you dig into God's word, and honestly, you spend real time with the real people who care about you, things come into the light one way or another. The truth reveals itself. But if you truly walk with Jesus, the light of the world, you can't remain in the dark. Like you will be clearly seen. But you gotta understand, in Jesus, you will not be condemned. Look, sin is wrong. We should turn from it, repent, and not do it again. It's not an encouragement to sin, but in the light. All that is being exposed is that you two are in fact a sinner, shocker. And you, in fact, need a great savior. Of course you do. That's not new information. The light will expose you, but it will heal you. Look, don't listen to the lies of Satan. You can have real freedom. You don't got to keep up the lies anymore. You will not be condemned for stepping out into the light. As a matter of fact, the only way you can be healed is to walk in the light. This reality, this is true for us today, but I'm telling you, this would have been absolutely groundbreaking for Nicodemus. Like Jesus is inviting Nicodemus here to step into the light, to believe in Jesus, to not fake it with the Pharisees, but honestly believe and seek the Lord. And he doesn't take it. Like Nicodemus, he walks away. He stays in the dark. He kind of keeps tabs on Jesus, but he never for a while he doesn't turn. As a matter of fact, Nicodemus was part of the Sanhedrin when Jesus was dragged before it and condemned to crucifixion, although there was no crime he committed. He was on the Sanhedrin on the board as he watched Jesus stripped naked, beaten within an inch of his life, dragged to the cross, nailed to it with a crown of thorns on his head, where he was pierced in the side, suffered, and drowned in his own blood. Only hearing Jesus say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and it is finished. He remained in the dark through all of this. But after Jesus was killed, after the disciples who were following Jesus ran away, look what John 19 says. After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who's a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. This is a big deal. Like Nicodemus, after Jesus was hung up on a cross and killed, brought a gift of 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes. Like, guys, that's an extreme gift. This gift for a tomb is a multimillion dollar fortune. Like this isn't some flowers to a rabbi, this is a gift for a king. Nicodemus knew what he was doing. He once hid in the dark, but I'm telling you, he stood in the light. People would know what he did. This wasn't done in secret. He stood in the light and declared Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. And that's the last we hear about Nicodemus in the Bible. But I'm telling you, if it's anything based off this, I think I'm gonna see him in heaven. Because while he started in darkness, he boldly stepped into the light. And honestly, he leveraged everything he had to worship the King of Kings who did everything to save you and I. I mean, this is an amazing encounter. But I share all of this largely because there's a deeper reality I need you to see. Look, the Bible, it wasn't written directly to us, there's some different people in mind, but it was written for us. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, but in his sovereignty, he knew that you and I would be receiving these words today. So with that in mind, look back with me at John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. We gotta ask questions. Why did Jesus say the world? He's having a one-on-one conversation with Nicodemus. He could have said, for God so loved you. He could have said, for I so loved you, but he didn't. Like, why would he say it that way? And even on top of that, why would he open it up to whoever believes, whoever looks to the Son of Man? Because the beautiful reality is God's heart is for all people. God's heart is for all people. Like, listen, every sermon we've done this semester so far, including Fall Retreat, we've been trying to hit home one big idea. God loves you. I mean, He loves you like so much. He loves you when you're the prodigal son who ran away. He loves you when you're the older brother who doesn't want to come in the house. He loves you in your shame. He'll shame himself to get to you. He loves you enough to save you. He loves you enough to let you fail and suffer, to learn obedience, to learn delight. I mean, he loves you so much. He took cross dimensions for you. He took your sins away, gave you righteousness you didn't earn. He loves you that much. Like the Bible, it's the greatest love story of all time. And what I need you to see tonight is that the Bible isn't only written for you. It's not just for you. Nicodemus was a man headed for hell because he thought his birthright, his works, and his money would get him what he needed. Christian, you were someone who thought the world was enough, or maybe thought your self-righteousness was good enough, or your lies were enough, until ultimately Jesus revealed himself to you and changed your life. And I am telling you, there are billions of people, just like Nicodemus and just like you in this world, who are going to die in their sin without ever hearing the name of Jesus. Like there are 5.8 billion people that reject Jesus. And to be honest with you, I think that number is low. I think it's skewed low because the reality is some profess Jesus, but that doesn't mean you believe in Jesus. There's a difference. And according to the Joshua Project, there are 3.64 billion people who are considered completely unreached. Meaning they have literally never heard the gospel before. They've never heard of Jesus. Look, I'm not here to tell you that your job is to raise people from the dead. We can't do that. But we can point them to the one who has. We can raise up the cross for all to see. The text is clear. The Spirit moves where it moves. Our job is not to be the source of their salvation. Our job is to be like Moses. To lift up the Son of Man so all can see him. Because whoever believes in him, regardless of background, ethnicity, anything, whoever believes in him may have eternal life. I mean, Jesus, after he rose from the grave, he gave this commission to his people, his followers. Matthew 28, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. And then he says, Go. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Like, guys, here's why I'm saying all this. Honestly, most of you don't give a rip about people in other countries. You don't, and I'm not knocking you. I didn't either. Like, they're not here. And to be honest with you, you don't want to face the exposing reality that the king of kings died for them as much as he died for you. They're just as worthy of his love. Like, I spent most of my Christian life knowing, like, global's important. Or, like, yes, there are certain people uniquely called to go overseas and be a missionary, but that's a unique calling. Like, God's probably telling you that personally. And that is such a lie. Saul Company, Jesus crossed dimensions of reality to get to you. He's commanding you to cross borders for Him. The only way to cultivate a heart for the nations, like if you're like, ah, I'm not feeling it, I don't know what to do, like maybe they'll grow, you have to go. Listen, you know how you know how I've cultivated a relationship with my daughter? I spent time with her. I hang out with her. With my wife, I spend time with her. You will not have a heart for the nations unless you go. And don't miss the reality for those who don't follow Jesus. Look, you can read Romans 1, that's probably the best spot. There's a lot of places in scripture, but here's what you like you cannot miss. Ignorance does not indicate righteousness. Like, think about it. If the idea is, well, if they never knew, then God will like, we'll give them a freebie. Guys, that's not how that works. A good judge doesn't withhold justice just because you don't know his name. Like there are billions of people ignorant to their Lord and Savior, but completely aware of the wicked deeds they've done. And to be honest, if that wasn't the truth, like if ignorance got you a pass, the most unloving thing you could do is tell someone about Jesus. So why would God tell us about him? Ignorance doesn't equal righteousness. I mean, these people, they will stand before God, the same God you and I will. And if they don't look to the cross, if they don't receive and believe the good news, justice will be met. They will rightfully be cast into the fiery furnace. They will experience the weeping and gnashing of teeth. I mean, there are people just like you and your family that don't know about the joy and freedom that you have. And honestly, this should move you. Like, look, gifted people don't go global. Obedience people do. Gifted people don't go global, obedient people do. I mean, look, for as much that's written about them, between Paul and Peter and Timothy and Matthew and Luke and all of them, I just don't think they were special. I really don't. I just think they took God at his word. That's all they did. They leveraged your life believing what God said was true. And look, here's my challenge. For a lot of you who think you're not called to go overseas this summer, like genuinely, here's my ask. Would you let God be the one to close that door? Don't take that decision away from him. Let God be the one to close that door. Or more practically, would you apply? Listen, we're gonna take four to five teams. We're not gonna be able to take everyone who applies. We won't take everyone who applies. If you're not called to go overseas, you won't be on the team. But let God be the one to make that call. Don't say no for him. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. That whoever believes in him, whoever looks to him, should not perish but have eternal life. Man, I want us to be a people that really believe that in our hearts and our actions. Like, would we be a people who act as the light of the world that God has called us to be? Would it be people who take the good news that changes hearts of stone into hearts of flesh? Like, would we leverage our lives? Would we do whatever it takes? So that people of every tribe, nation, and tongue would proclaim Jesus. That people would have their lives changed. They'd see the joy that you do, the freedom that you have. Would we be a people that do do whatever it takes so that they'd have a chance, so that it could be on them to decide. Would we do it? Let me pray that you would.