This sermon draws a powerful parallel between assembling a crooked bookshelf without directions and the way we often try to build our lives on our own terms—ignoring God’s instructions, clinging to control, and resisting surrender. Using John 12 as a foundation, it emphasizes that Jesus redefined glory—not through status or conquest, but through surrender, suffering, and obedience to the Father. Just as a seed must die to bear fruit, Jesus’ path to glory was through the cross, and He calls us to follow that same path of daily surrender. The message challenges us to examine what we’re clinging to—comfort, recognition, even good things like ministry or family—that may be keeping us from full obedience. Through examples like Peter and Judas, it shows that the condition of our hearts, not just our failures, determines the fruit our lives produce. In the end, true freedom and lasting impact come only when we let go of our own ambitions and allow Jesus to take root and bear fruit in us. The question remains: will we surrender to Him, or continue building something that eventually collapses under its own weight?