Oh, good to see everybody. If you will, turn with me to Mark chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, and we'll read verses 32 through 52, Mark chapter 10. In Mark 10, 32, And it says, and they, this is Jesus and the apostles, and they, excuse me, and they were in the way going up to Jerusalem. Boy, these little allergies is something. No, thank you, but I think I'm fine. We'll try it again. And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem and Jesus went before them and they were amazed. And as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the 12 and began to tell them what things should happen unto him. Saying behold we go up to jerusalem and the son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priest and unto the scribes And they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the gentiles And they thank you ma'am And they shall mock him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and shall kill him And the third day he shall rise again And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldst do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. And he said unto him, they said unto him, we can. And Jesus said unto them, you shall indeed drink of the cup that I drank of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with, all shall ye be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said, saith unto them, You know they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you. But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. And whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highwayside begging. And when they heard it, it was the Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal. Now, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he casted away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. It's so weird, this coughing didn't start until I got up here. I was out here talking fine. Anyway, thank you for the water, Liam. Jesus and the apostles, they were on the way or on the road to Jerusalem. And the apostles were amazed that Jesus was willing to go to Jerusalem with all the enemies that he had there. I mean, things were becoming more and more dangerous for him there. And it says that they were afraid, and that was understandable. why they were, and Jesus began to explain to them what was gonna happen when they reached the city. There wasn't any ifs, ands, and buts about it. This is what was going to happen. He said, I'm gonna be condemned to death by the Jewish leaders. I'm gonna be delivered to the Gentiles or the Romans. I'm gonna be mocked, scourged, spit on, and finally executed. But after his death, he explains, I'll rise in three days. Now, Somewhere along the way, on this trip, along the road, James and John, and according to Matthew's account, their mother was involved in this, too. They came to Jesus with a request. This was a joint effort. You know, sometimes parents, particularly mothers, feel like they have to help their kids alone. Sometimes parents live vicariously through their children, and this could very well have been the case here. Jesus asked them, what can I do for you? He got a request, he knew, but he wanted them to say it. He said, what can I do for you? And they replied, we want to sit on each side of you in the kingdom, in the place of glory. James and John. Now, Jesus replied to him, and he said, you know not what he asked. You don't have any idea what you're asking for. You know not what she asked. Can you drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? Now, this cup and this baptism are not literal cups and immersions. Matthew records Jesus speaking of this cup, proverbial cup. Matthew 26 verse 39, Jesus is praying at Gethsemane just before his arrest and his trial, crucifixion. And he said, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup Passed from me nevertheless, not as I will but as I will he's speaking clearly of the crucifixion Lord, I don't want to drink of this cup. There's any other way, but that's your will. That's the route I want to go Always prayed according to the will of the Father now Luke records in Luke 12 verse 50 Jesus said but I have a baptism in to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? Jesus is not talking about his literal baptism. When John the Baptist had already baptized him, the baptisms he's speaking is a baptism of fire, the baptism on the cross. Jesus is referred to the crucifixion in both of these accounts, and he's referring to the crucifixion when he's speaking to John and James here, when he's asking them, can you drink of this cup and take of this baptism that I have? Now, they didn't have any idea what he was talking about. It's clear that they didn't know by their response. They were arrogantly comparing themselves to Jesus. I mean, that's just what they were doing. They thought they were worthy of glory and honor in the kingdom. And when Jesus asked the question, can you, can you partake of the cup and the baptism that I'm headed for? Can you, are you worthy? And they said, yes. Now they didn't think too highly of themselves, did they? They were capable of what Jesus was capable of when he asked them this. These two brothers were gonna experience the cup and the baptism that Jesus partook of, not on the level that he did. No human being has ever endured what Jesus had to endure. But they both faced that cup of wrath and baptism of fire themselves. If you remember, James was the first apostle to be martyred, Acts chapter 12. Hare had him beheaded. He expected Peter to be next, but the Lord didn't have that in his plans. John was actually the only one of the martyrs, other than Judas, that wasn't one of the martyrs, of the apostles, that wasn't martyred. John, if history is correct, he was boiled in a pot of oil and survived. But we do know this biblically, this is a biblical proof, he was exiled to the island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation when it was revealed to him. So these two fellas, they got to drink of that cup and partake of that baptism. And Jesus had agreed with them. He says, yeah, you're going indeed partake of that cup and partake of that baptism. He said, but, that to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. Matthew, in Matthew's account, Matthew 20 verse 23, he includes Jesus only saying, it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared, but for whom is prepared of my father. Jesus was always the faithful servant, always, 100% of the time. And he and the Father were always in perfect union, never at odds with each other. And he's basically saying, these two men hadn't earned that place of honor to sit on his right and his left in the kingdom. He wasn't gonna grant anything that was opposed to the Father's will. This was not the Father's will that James and John sit here in the kingdom. And they really didn't understand the kingdom at this time. They didn't understand what they were asking for. They didn't understand what they was gonna receive. All they knew was we wanna be right up there up front. We want to be the chief men in your kingdom. And they thought it was gonna be an earthly kingdom, a political kingdom, and that they were gonna be Jesus's right and left hand man. Now, it says that the other apostles were displeased. Now, kind of like something we talked about last week, this word displeased does not really give you a good idea of what was going on here. If you say they were displeased, like, you know, they should have done that. No, this word means indignant. They was mad. They got mad about it. James and John had just requested to be elevated over the rest of them. You mere mortals, you stay back. We two brothers, the sons of thunder, we're gonna be the two chief officers in Jesus's kingdom, is what they was requesting. You can understand why the fellow apostles were upset. You can understand why they were indignant. They had just expressed their desire, James and John, to be elevated above the rest of them. But we've got to remember something. People in glass houses should not cast stones. They were just as guilty. Maybe I won't say just as guilty because we don't find them by name mentioned, but if you remember back in Mark 9, in verse 34, when they were gathering in Capernaum along the roadway, Jesus noticed they got argued about something, and once again, he knew, but he asked them, what's going on? What y'all been discussing this heavy conversation about? And nothing, nothing. Because they was ashamed to tell him. They was fighting over who was gonna be the leader in the kingdom. So this wasn't just something that was common to James and John. All of the apostles experienced this same thing. And the argument continued, if we was to read Luke 22 and verse 24, we find out, at the Lord's Supper, they were still having this argument over who was gonna get to be in charge, who was gonna be the head, who was gonna be in the spotlight. And what's really disgusting about this, if it's not significant enough, is the fact that every time this came up, The Capernaum thing we just spoke of, that's back in, recorded in Mark 9, while we're looking out here, what was that? The Lord's Supper, Passover as well. Every time, you know what preceded it? Jesus telling them about his impending death. When he started telling them about, they're gonna kill me. They're gonna crucify me. The argument started every time after that. Not every time that he said this, but every time it's recorded that they had this thought. And the argument started between them on who would be the greatest. It always followed Jesus telling them he was gonna die. Like they were just sitting waiting to pounce when the seat became vacant, that they were gonna fill it like a bunch of vultures. They wanted to be at the head of the table. Jesus called them all together after John and James and Mommy made their request. He called them together and he started to explain what was required to be great in his kingdom. You want to be great in the kingdom? That's your boy's request? You want to be on the right and left? Okay, I'll explain it to you. He said, ye know that they which are accounted or have the appearance to rule or have preeminence over the Gentiles, They exercise lordship, or they control, they subjugate the lordship over them, and they're great ones to exercise authority upon them, to have full privilege over those under them. Among Gentiles at this point in time, when Jesus is explaining this, most of them were unbelievers. You had the occasional one that the Lord saw fit to save. But for the most part, most Gentiles were not believers. And their nations that they came from were not believing nations. They were a nation of idolaters. And those that were in places of authority, excuse me, as Jesus spoke of here amongst Gentiles, they were privileged. They were elevated over everybody else. And they moved up in order by being aggressive. and forcing their will on those below them. They looked out for number one. I'm gonna make my place in this world and in this nation. I'm gonna be a man that's recognized. I'm gonna really be recognized as a man that's something to be reckoned with, that's a great man, that's a great person, and the spotlight's gonna be on me, and people are going to remember my name. I won't spotlight. Jesus said, this is how it works over in the Gentile nations. This is how you advance. This is before the men that are in charge and authority. This is their mindset. But Jesus said, but so shall it not be among you. But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. Now, this word minister is the Greek word diakonos. where we get our word, deacon. You know what it means? I bet you do, because I'm sure we've all heard it several times before. It means waiter or attendant. And that's what the job of a deacon was. That was what the apostles said. We don't have time to do all this and pray and study and prepare the priest. We need somebody to take care of the temporal needs of the church. We've got all these widows that have to be brought in, food set for them, and the table set, and we need somebody to do that. Well, let's find some good, honest men, a good reporter, and they made deacons. And that was the job of a deacon, was to gather the food, to see who qualified to take care of these widows, and that was their job. Now, we know that this office has just been completely, in many places, changed, unbiblically, to the church bosses. It's a waiter. It's a man that is godly enough and is willing to take care of the temporal needs of the church so the pastor don't have to take care of everything. He can concentrate on praying and preaching. This is the mindset that Jesus said you need to have here. You want to be great in the kingdom? Those that are great among you shall be your minister. They will be your deaconess, shall be your waiter. And he says, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest or most important shall be servant to all. This is another one of these words. We've got to understand what it means to really get the full force. This word servant is actually slave. The man that's gonna be great, the person that's gonna be great in the kingdom, Jesus said, you need to get the mindset of a slave, mindset of a servant. That's what makes you great in my kingdom. And a lot of these Gentile godless kingdoms over here where men are so self-centered to where that's the ones that advance. In my kingdom, you advance by having the mind of a servant, the heart of a servant. The one that is humble, the one that's willing to sacrifice himself. Jesus said, that's a truly great person. Jesus uses himself as an example. He followed up his statement about humility by saying, for even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom or a redemption price to many. He says, I didn't come here to be in the spotlight, to make myself shown, So that I can be praised by men. I came here not to be ministered to, but to be a minister, to serve. How many times do we see Jesus when the crowds want to take him and make him a king, or they just wanted to gather up and adore him? You know, I've likened this to many times just to a rock star. to where he was just crowded with adoring people. He performed miracles, he had healed people, he cast out demons, and they just wanted to touch Jesus, to see Jesus. And he said, we gotta go boys, it's time to get out of here. Again and again and again. How many would have stood there with their arms up and just eat this up with a spoon? Adore me, love me, worship me. But Jesus says, it's time to go. It was not time. Now, he's allowing it a little more as we see him move closer to the cross. It's coming time for his exaltation, and we're gonna see this when he finally enters Jerusalem, when we get to that part. But at that point in time, Jesus says, I didn't come for this. I come to be a minister. Paul understood this. Paul was taught by Jesus, and he taught it to others, and he said in Philippians chapter two and verses five through nine, Let me get me another swallow here. Paul to the Philippians, let this mind be in you. which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not a robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name. which is above every name. Jesus is God. He's always been God. He always will be God. He came in the flesh. He became man to fulfill the will of the Father. Jesus never denied being God. Many, I don't know when this movement started, but I've noticed that several years ago that many tried to claim that Jesus never claimed to be God. Well, when he said, I am, what do you think he was saying? If you've seen the Father, seen me, you've seen the Father. What were these statements supposed to mean? Jesus never denied being God. He never thought it was robbery to consider himself to be equal with God the Father. Yet he still never tried to be honored among men. He always honored the Father. He lived a life of self-denial. He submitted to the most cruel death that one could imagine. He agreed to separation from the Father, which had to be agonizing. Jesus literally, I say literally, went to hell. He faced complete separation of the Father on that cross to pay for the sins of man. Sinners like us that didn't deserve anything but punishment. His entire life and his death was totally devoted to being a servant, to being a diakonos, to being an attendant, attendant to our sins. to pay for the sins of sinners like ourselves who are not worthy to even call his name. This is the reason Jesus' name was exalted above every name. He labored for three and a half years, penniless, homeless, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, liberating the demon-possessed, being threatened, conspired against, arrested, falsely accused, spit on, beaten, ridiculed, stripped naked, and crucified for sinners that hated him. There's nothing in that ministry we just spoke of that would appeal to the flesh to draw adoration and praise from men. Who do you know would grow up saying, that's what I wanna do? I don't want to have anything. I don't want to own anything. I want people to try to kill me. I want people to hate me. I want to be stripped naked and beaten, scourged, and carried to a cruel cross that I might die for people that spit on me. Yeah, that's what I want. You don't see any little kids running around playing the game when they're playing where they're the hero. in their little games, and we're all, I mean, there's nothing wrong with this, I'm not saying it's wrong, but we play games that turn out to make us the war hero, the police hero, whatever the case may be, the princes, whatever. Nobody has ever, no child has ever said, you know what, I'll be the servant. I'll be the servant. I'll let everybody walk all over me. I'll make sure everybody else's needs are taken care of before mine, and nobody even know my name. That's not of our flesh. That's the reason we don't play these games. Jesus said, you want to be great in the kingdom? That's the attitude I expect out of you. Jesus's life was the life of the most humble, faithful servant without any pride possible because he was perfect. This is what it requires to be great in the kingdom of heaven. Thankfully, I didn't just say we didn't just say Jesus didn't just say This is what's required to enter into the kingdom because we'd all fail miserably because it was just said that is Contrary to our flesh to want to be on the back burner to not be the center of attention But to prefer to others do grow better and that we serve them It says to enter into the kingdom. He should to be great in the kingdom. You got to have this attitude Now When Jesus and the apostles left that area after his sermon here, they traveled to Jericho on the way to Jerusalem, and Jesus performed another miracle. And now on the surface, it doesn't seem like this is really related to what we've been talking about, to what Jesus was explaining to the apostles. But I think we can see a connection here as we look further into this. Mark, describes this miracle as something happening when Jesus was leaving Jericho. Matthew says the same, but now Luke's account states that it happened as he was entering Jericho. So we've got conflict in accounts here. But if you think about it, probably, I'm sure it's not so, the Bible doesn't contradict itself. Our understanding is where we have the problem. And possibly what happened here, Let's first explain a little bit about Jericho. Jericho, everybody recognizes the name. If you know anything about the Bible, it was an ancient city. It was the one that was destroyed when Joshua and the armies, as they entered the promised land, marched around it and the walls fell. They blew the trumpets and the Lord took the walls down. In the city, it was destroyed. The inhabitants were killed. Now, Jericho was rebuilt later. We could find that in 1 Kings 16, 34, but it was not built in the exact location that the former city was. No, it was near. It was near. So possibly the difference in these accounts is that Jesus has left the new city, and this occurs at the entrance of the old, of the ruins. This would qualify as Leaving Jericho and entering Jericho, the old and the new. We see another, what we might would consider to be a discrepancy, but a little bit of reasoning, we can come up with the answer for this. Mark and Luke's account speaks of one man being healed here, one blind man. Matthew speaks of being two blind men. How do we explain that? Well, once again, it's pretty easy. If you remember when we'd gone through the Book of Mark, and we saw the section that was the account of the wild man of the gatherings. One account said there were two men. One other account said there were one man. And we describe this as probably being the fact that one of them was probably wilder than the other, was more prominent, was the vocal one, the one that did the speaking. And the other one was just kind of left there to decide, and then some of the golf riders decided it really wasn't significant to even mention that one. It's possible that during the time of Mark's writing, you know, Mark didn't write these events as it happened, as we spoke of in the introduction. Supposedly, Peter had kept memoirs and Mark just wrote this stuff down. So this was years after these events. And there are some that say during the time of this writing, by this time, this blind man that's fixed to be healed, Bartimaeus, was pretty well known among the Lord's people amongst the churches. I don't know if he preached what he did, but he must have been, like I said, pretty well known. So Mark decided to include Bartimaeus in the other fellow. Nobody really knew. He kind of stood in the background, so he didn't mention him. Now, this would explain why two in one. But back to the account here. As a near Jericho, a great number of people began to follow Jesus, this was common. And the apostles went along with him and they all continued along the way. And this blind man, this Bartimaeus, sat by the road begging. Well, this was the only way for the blind to survive in that time. You know, There had to be a lot of good people that just didn't have the means to support themselves back then, that were dirty, they sat by the roadside, they might not have had homes, had no way of making a living, not only blind, but other disabilities, some crippled, and people looked down on them. That's sad. We find ourselves sometime in the same situation today. Now, a great many times, we have people that'll choose to be in that position, But sometimes you got people that would be a whole lot different if they had the means. This man was blind. He couldn't do anything but sit and beg. Well, as he sat by the road and this crowd began to gather around Jesus, you can imagine how loud this many people were, everybody talking and walking and all these things. And he heard our uproar, and he hollers out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now we've mentioned this before, this title, son of David, that's a messianic title. Bartimaeus wasn't just saying, oh, he's the one that heals people, or he's a prophet. No, he said, Messiah's here. Messiah. This is who he was hollering out to. Not John the Baptist, not Elijah, Messiah, thou son of David. He called on him with the greatest respect that he could muster. And many from the crowd charged or forbid him, admonished Bartimaeus, telling him to hold his peace or keep silent. And it just made him get louder. The more they would try to calm him down and tell him to be quiet, the louder he would holler, thou son of David. And Jesus stopped, and he commanded Bartimaeus to be brought to him. And some of the men from the crowd, probably the apostles, it doesn't say, but they came to him and said, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. You know, cheer up. He heard you. He's going to see you. And it says that he threw off his garment. Now, Bartimaeus didn't become a streaker all of a sudden. For you young people, that used to be something that went on in the 70s, but people decided that it was a fun thing to do to pull off all their clothes and run through the public. Bartimaeus wasn't doing this. this, his clothes here, or his garment, is actually the outer garment, the cloak. He threw his jacket off. I don't know why he did this, if he wanted to get there as quick as possible, or he was just so excited he didn't know what he was doing, but he took it off, and he came to Jesus, and surely, I'm sure somebody had to lead him there, him being blind, but he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus asked him, he says, what can I do for you? And he replied, that I might receive my sight. Now, as I said earlier, said these two stories don't seem to be these two accounts tied together. Think about something for a minute. How different was Bartimaeus' reply, his conversation with Jesus different than James and John's? James and John says, we want to be on each side of you in the kingdom. We want to be on the spotlight. We want to make sure that we're sitting in the upper seat. They had an appetite for prestige and power. All this man asked for, I just want to be able to see. He had a desire for one of the basic functions of life, something that we take for granted, those of us that can see. He wanted to be able to take care of himself, that's all. To be able to be independent, to be able to work and make a living like the Lord has given us the blessing to be able to do, that's all he had. He didn't ask to be put over anybody. He didn't say, make me a king. Jesus told him, he says, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And by Matthew's account, Not only Bartimaeus, but the other fellow was healed as well. And when this happened, they followed him down the road. And these men had been given their sight. They could have pursued a lot of other things. They could have went and found employment. I can finally see, I gotta go find a job, which would nothing have been wrong with this, because that's what they should have done. But they could have did this. They could have went and visited their family and friends. They could have gotten their first look at things. You imagine, they never saw the temple. They had never saw a lot of things. I wanna see it. I wanna see this mountain. I wanna see this hill. I wanna see Jerusalem. I've never seen it. Who knows if they've been blind all their life. This is the first thing I wanna do. I wanna lay eyes on the temple. I want to go out and make up for lost time while I've been blind and build myself a legacy. I want to go out and start making money where our people will look one day and speak of my name and say, yeah, he was an important man. These men were not thinking of themselves. When Bartimaeus called Jesus the son of David, he meant it. He meant it. He forsook everything that he could have went and done with his newly restored sight, and he followed Jesus. He didn't busy himself with the cares of this world. He didn't try to capitalize on this miracle, making a name for himself. Bartimaeus and this other fella could have run around and started some kind of a business. Hey, hey, come one, come all. Bring your dimes and pennies with you and see Bartimaeus. I was the man that was blind that Jesus healed. Just $2, $2, and you can look at me. And they could have become famous probably on Jesus' name. He didn't do that. He remained humble. He followed Jesus. Completely different than John and James. Now, we gotta understand something as we've looked through this text this morning. The desire for preeminence is one that's common to man. And sadly, it is not limited to those outside the kingdom of Christ. Christians do this too. Our text makes it clear two apostles did this. And actually, as we spoke of earlier, it wasn't just two apostles, all of the apostles were guilty of this. What's even more revealing is that these two main culprits, John and James, were part of Jesus' inner circle. When Jesus had something really big to do or to show them, these were two of the ones along with Peter and sometimes Andrew that he carried with him. They should have knew better. Nobody is exempt from this. receiving attention is intoxicating to the human flesh. To consider ourselves immune to this, and we may have a fairly decent handle on it, but to think that we're immune totally would be a mistake, because that's when we'd get bit. We share a common ancestor, Adam. There's a little bit of it in all of us. Now, there are some things that seem to always accompany the quest for preeminence. And we'll find that the desire for authority and praise of men, it's got its thorns that goes along with it. Now, one of the first things that we can see is it's impossible to seek attention without exposing ourselves. It's always amazed me that those that really desire attention, want the praise of men, It's not hard to see that this is their goal. When John and James recruited their mother to help them, and they went to Jesus, and obviously it was in the wide open, and asked to sit on his right and left hand in the kingdom, there was no doubt as to their intentions and their motives. They wanted to be on Jesus' side for prestige. Look at me, look at me. Pay attention to me. Now, maybe everyone's not quite this bold, but it doesn't take long to figure out an attention seeker. When you talk to people, And they can't go 30 minutes without bragging on themselves. They pretty much revealed themselves. You can't brag on somebody else's accomplishments or whatever without them having to explain to you how they're even better than they are. Boy, she's really good at that. Back when I lived somewhere else, I used to do the same thing. Or, he's really good at that, yeah. Maybe you hadn't noticed, I am too. You know people, I see y'all smiling, y'all know people like this. I know I do. Where you think I got this from? They can't let you brag on somebody else because they want you to brag on them. They wanna let you know I'm the best. I saw this particularly when Clay, as much baseball as he played, and some of the places he got a blessing to play, especially among travel ball. And some of these teams were pretty good teams he played with, and these were kids that come from all over the state, so they had been the stud on their hometown teams. Now, they get on this team here, you know, pretty much you're starting to look at, you had some shine, but everybody was pretty special. And you always had the daddy that would stand behind a home plate that would pester everybody with, their kid could be playing left field and the catcher throw out a base runner and he'd have to let you know the reason that happened was because his kid tipped the catcher off that the runner was gonna go. I've seen it. I've seen them where they had nothing to do with the play and the daddy said, my kid's taking charge out there. All the credit, the spotlight's gotta be on my youngin', which actually means me. I'm vicariously living through him. This isn't hidden. The goal to be put in the spotlight to make ourselves look special actually has a reverse effect. You know what it does? It reveals you as a fool. Everybody talks about how you are. I think this is Jesus's ingenious way of handling this situation. You want to brag on yourself, go ahead. Actually, you're making a fool out of yourself. Now, another thing we can see is when we're on our goal to be recognized and to be the greatest. That makes it necessary for us to be humbled. When we get thinking so highly of ourselves, you can count on it. Especially if the Lord loves you. If you're one of his children, he's gonna take us down a peg or two. I'll give you another personal experience. So once again, this is not me being the hero. I'm the villain in this. When I was first saved, Brother Charles Orbit was the pastor here. And he was a very scholarly, for those of you that didn't know him better, he was a very educated, scholarly type fella. Always kind of put him up on a pedestal. And here I am, a young Christian, and I was devouring everything that I could. I was reading the Bible through, just, and then starting again, and everything I could get my hands on, really didn't have the internet back then, reading all the books I could. And man, I was just like a sponge, and I still wish I could absorb things like that. I can now, they just leak out real quick. But I thought, boy, I had it going on. I had learned some things. And me and him was sitting and having a discussion, Brother Ulbricht one day, and I don't even remember what it was about, and he was explaining something. I said, sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. And he said in his scholarly teacher type way, Oh, we have much to learn. And I went from here to here. And you know what? That was what I needed at the time. And you know what's up? I was a whole lot smarter back then than I am now. I realize how backwards I am, and I don't know anything about the Bible. I thought I was an up and comer then. I needed to be taken down a peg, and that's exactly what happened. So when James and John, when Jesus said, yeah, You're gonna experience this baptism, this cup. They did, they did. And I bet them any times they wish they hadn't. We've all probably been brought down to size on occasion. Another thing, very quickly, it causes division, this desire to be in the spotlight, to be in charge. These other disciples were livid when they heard John and James' request for these honored positions besides Jesus. And many times, and it's clear this is what was going on here, that was a case of jealousy. If you got others with the same desire, you're gonna bump heads when this starts. But sometimes even those that are not ambitious at all, or pleased with standing, satisfied with standing in the shadows, would rather remain anonymous, rather not receive praise from men, when they see someone that is like James and John here, It makes them mad. They don't like it. It causes division. Nobody likes a glory hog. Finally, and this is the most important, if we only have this one to deter us from seeking glory and authority, this would be the one. It's not Christlike. That's the bottom line. Jesus said the ways of the godless are completely opposite of the ways of my kingdom. If we want to be great in God's kingdom, we have to learn to be humble. Adam, if you would lead us in a word of prayer, please.