SPEAKER_00: Well, how we do in one church?
SPEAKER_00: Man.
SPEAKER_00: This house is packed.
SPEAKER_00: It is so good to see you.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Blake.
SPEAKER_00: If I have not met you, I would love to.
SPEAKER_00: It's an honor to have you here if you're new.
SPEAKER_00: And we do something every week.
SPEAKER_00: There's people that join us online all around the world that are brand new to our community.
SPEAKER_00: Will you guys let them know how much you love them?
SPEAKER_00: We we love you no matter where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: So, man, I have to just tell you, I'm sort of still on cloud nine from what happened last week.
SPEAKER_00: I was overwhelmed by the power and presence of God, and it was actually the love of God through the love of his people, you.
SPEAKER_00: I've been reading all the letters you wrote to me, and I've been overwhelmed by them to the point of tears, and to the point of like, God, it's too much.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's a little bit too much.
SPEAKER_00: And um I've been so honored to think, man, I just missed you, and it's so good to be back in the house with my people and my church and my family and worshiping with you and opening the word and teaching and seeing lives change, like literally baptisms and seeing people like you know, all the baptisms that happened this summer, not to mention the ones that happened last weekend, and not to mention also that last week was like the largest attendance for our church in the history of the church.
SPEAKER_00: I was like over 2,400 people.
SPEAKER_00: Crazy, crazy.
SPEAKER_00: And so, with that being said, 10 o'clock service, in the love of God, um, in the most passionate, gracious way I could say it, um, we had a hundred people in the cafe, 98, and they had to sit in the lobby.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not sure if there's people there right now, but it looks like there might be because there's no seats in here.
SPEAKER_00: And so new guests will mostly come to the 10 o'clock service.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you uh to consider going to the 8:30 or the 11:30 with all the love that I can ask.
SPEAKER_00: That's the best way that you can be on mission here.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at a lot of your faces that I know very well, and I'm just like, oh, well, we're gonna have a little chat.
SPEAKER_00: Not really, not really.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I do just want you to know I'm glad you came to church.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to scold you for coming to church, but that is an easy way for you to be on mission with us.
SPEAKER_00: So um, I want us to never um take it for granted or get bored with the explosive growth that's happening around here.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of my friends in ministry are not seeing what's happening at their church.
SPEAKER_00: A lot are in decline.
SPEAKER_00: But the Holy Spirit is alive in this house, and his power and presence is, you know, it's the Spirit that's drawing people to himself.
SPEAKER_00: And it's Jesus that grows his church, if you don't know that.
SPEAKER_00: And it's his hand, his favor, his blessing, and he receives all the glory.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't ever want us to take it for granted or think that it's like common or normal.
SPEAKER_00: And so for us, it can't just be routine because I believe every person here has a soul, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and they're created in the image of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: And so every person has a story, and every story matters to God, and that's why we're here.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: All right, so um, I don't know if you guys heard this.
SPEAKER_00: I have one more thing to tell you that's rather cool.
SPEAKER_00: I actually stepped out, did something new, was vulnerable, and I we we put ourselves out in the world, and this week we launched our first ever B1 podcast.
SPEAKER_00: And so it went live on Thursday, and it was just like you know, the Sermon 2.0 is a follow-up to the message.
SPEAKER_00: We built this studio back in the back here, and um, it's been a project we've been working on all year.
SPEAKER_00: I I announced we were gonna do that in January.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it finally happened, and I was we're all blown away.
SPEAKER_00: It was like the largest podcast downloads we've ever had in any of them, and so we just feel blown away.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you guys are like, well, it was your first one.
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, so no wonder.
SPEAKER_00: But we we've had a podcast for a long time uh sending out on on Buzz Buzz Sprout for all of our sermons, but this is the like the still the largest down.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for the likes and the follows and the shares and the comments, all that stuff helps.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you don't know about it, go find it.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to have you be a part of the B1 podcast community, all right?
SPEAKER_00: All right, so that's that's all I have to say about that.
SPEAKER_00: Last weekend we launched a new series and it was our it's our annual DNA series.
SPEAKER_00: It's like who we are, what we do, what we're about, our values, our mission.
SPEAKER_00: And um I I'm calling this series Everyone Matters.
SPEAKER_00: And we're we're gonna talk about living our life on mission.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want everybody to say this with me.
SPEAKER_00: Say everyone, every day, everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Last weekend we talked about living for what really matters.
SPEAKER_00: And we we heard the heart of Christ and how he treated people that were very different than him, and how he loved Zacchaeus, and he was so intentional in pursuing people like that.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say that that's our heart as well.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we unashamedly want to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so, if that's a problem for you, that's what what we're about, is becoming more and more like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so, throughout history, the church's focus has always been on three things.
SPEAKER_00: In the early church, especially, you saw them focus on these church words: one's evangelism, one's discipleship, and one is being on mission.
SPEAKER_00: And so today we're gonna talk about the the way that we say that, by the way, is that we want we strive to know God, which is evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: We grow deep through discipleship, and then we go love on mission.
SPEAKER_00: And so the the way that we talk about that today is that we're gonna talk about what it really means to know God.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna start with a very simple question.
SPEAKER_00: Only you can answer it, really.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know God?
SPEAKER_00: Now, be careful how you answer that because I'm not asking you if you believe in God.
SPEAKER_00: I I I'm not asking you if you know a bunch of facts about Him.
SPEAKER_00: I I didn't ask you if you grew up in church and went to VBS and can sing every salty song.
SPEAKER_00: I maybe you can even quote some scriptures in John 3.16.
SPEAKER_00: I'm asking you if you know God yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Because hear me, there's a massive difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing them.
SPEAKER_00: Um, some of you know this, that I I love to watch golf.
SPEAKER_00: And some people don't understand that.
SPEAKER_00: It's really weird and very boring for many people.
SPEAKER_00: But I love watching golf.
SPEAKER_00: I love I love learning about the pros.
SPEAKER_00: And I uh you would think by how much I know about them, that you would think I know them.
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you where they're from, um, I can tell you about their marriage and their family, how many kids they have, and I can certainly tell you about their game.
SPEAKER_00: I know I've studied their game, and if it was college, I would get an A plus in golfology.
SPEAKER_00: I'm very, very smart when it comes.
SPEAKER_00: If I ran into them, though, in the airport, right, and I saw Scotty Scheffler, I would tinkle myself and I would fangirl.
SPEAKER_00: I would maybe be tackled by security.
SPEAKER_00: It would be embarrassing.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but but if I like walked up like I knew them, hey man, it's Blake, what's up?
SPEAKER_00: He'd be like, I have no idea who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's that's what we do in church.
SPEAKER_00: I think I think we do the same thing, like it's pretending.
SPEAKER_00: It's a show.
SPEAKER_00: Like you you show up acting like you know the main character, right?
SPEAKER_00: And and it's an act.
SPEAKER_00: And I I think we we might know a lot of facts, but at the end of the day, it's really just an act.
SPEAKER_00: We we got the act down.
SPEAKER_00: We we're really good at at pretending and faking it till we make it, right?
SPEAKER_00: And if you were to get a grade on how well you know about church, you'd get a good grade.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We know church language, we we know how to fit in.
SPEAKER_00: We might even be able to win Bible arguments, but but here's what scares me.
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people that are really good at spouting doctrine, they can they can spew theology, but the evidence of the spirit of the living God is not present in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's done out of hatred, they do it with a blowhorn, right?
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes they're really loud, and there's not like kindness, there's not gentleness, there's no like joy.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine that.
SPEAKER_00: There's no peace, it's like this spirit of self-righteousness, and you you certainly don't experience a lot of times a spirit of love.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible speaks very powerfully against that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if the fruit of the spirit is not alive and active and moving in your life, then that's the surest evidence of the fruit of your life and whether or not God's really in your life.
SPEAKER_00: So the Bible in in 1 Corinthians 13, it's got the famous love chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Love is patient, love is kind, but right before it goes into all of those things, it says this.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if we do not have love, you know what you are?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: If we do not have love.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, let me just read the Bible with you.
SPEAKER_00: Here it says if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am what?
unknown: A resounding gong.
SPEAKER_00: A resounding gong.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we ready?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: You're a gosh, that was obnoxious.
SPEAKER_00: But have you ever met somebody that you just go, you are so obnoxious?
SPEAKER_00: Like they're they don't have the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: They're like pushing you and beating you up with the Bible and telling you what you're not.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't is let's go on.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, right?
SPEAKER_00: You I'm more prophetic.
SPEAKER_00: And if I have a faith that can move Mount, have you ever met someone that's just like in the name of Jesus, Mount McKinley?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've never seen that.
SPEAKER_00: But I think if I saw that, I'd be like, they're spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: That guy has God, right?
SPEAKER_00: But I can do all that, but do not have love.
SPEAKER_00: I'm nothing.
SPEAKER_00: It goes on.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if if I give all, if I do missions, I possess to the all I possess to the poor, and I give over my body the hardships that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
SPEAKER_00: You have nothing, you're gaining nothing, you're just loud and obnoxious, and and the world doesn't need that.
SPEAKER_00: You know what the world needs?
SPEAKER_00: A whole lot more love.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: Because when you have love and it's alive inside of you, that's what draws people to understand who God is, right?
SPEAKER_00: I I've seen it, man.
SPEAKER_00: I've experienced people being repelled because of the followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I I've heard it said, like I I love your Christ, but I don't love your Christians.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to, it was God here, somebody that said that.
SPEAKER_00: I I should probably look that up.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, here's what I'm trying to say.
SPEAKER_00: There are way too many people that know the scriptures, but they never have met the author of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Are you hearing me?
SPEAKER_00: Why would we come here and all gather pretty in our nice clothes and sing songs about God and not sing them to God?
SPEAKER_00: The point of worship is to engage in your relationship with your Savior, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so we have this tendency to it's easy to be sucked into the vortex of a church and be churchified without knowing the one who was crucified.
SPEAKER_00: He he died for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's intimate, it's very personal.
SPEAKER_00: He he loves his children, and that's why he did it, so he could be in relationship with us, to know us.
SPEAKER_00: And so we can't miss it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's to know God vertically and make him known horizontally.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: And not just right now in this life, but for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus actually tells us what eternal life is.
SPEAKER_00: I love this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Check it out.
SPEAKER_00: This is I geek out of it.
SPEAKER_00: John 17, it says, now this is eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
SPEAKER_00: That they know you.
SPEAKER_00: Wait, so you're telling me eternal life is knowing God?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Eternity begins the day we are friends with the eternal one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't describe eternal life as something that begins when we die.
SPEAKER_00: Eternal life begins when you know God and his son.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we treat Christianity like I'm gonna show up so I can get a ticket to make it to eternity.
SPEAKER_00: I want to make it to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But it's so much better than that.
SPEAKER_00: We have a personal invitation from the creator of the universe to know him personally right here, right now.
SPEAKER_00: That's when eternity begins, and you can start forever today.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: That's the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And so I have to tell you, this is this is like grave importance, if I can say it that way.
SPEAKER_00: Like, eternity is a long time.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason we're here is to choose whether you're gonna walk in the light or you're gonna walk in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And and some of you have chosen to live for the enemy, and you're still delighting in sin.
SPEAKER_00: When the Father is saying, stop that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, don't find glory in the things of this world.
SPEAKER_00: Come and delight in me.
SPEAKER_00: And it says in Colossians 3, Christ in me is the hope of glory.
SPEAKER_00: When Christ comes alive in you, that's when you actually experience what delight really is, because this world is fake.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's pretending.
SPEAKER_00: That's the act.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my party, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that.
SPEAKER_00: The real joy is found in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Can somebody say amen?
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to challenge us today to stop faking it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't pretend.
SPEAKER_00: Like eternity is all we have, and it can start today and it begins now, and that's all that matters.
SPEAKER_00: So let me share with you one of the most sobering things that Jesus ever taught.
SPEAKER_00: He said in Matthew 7, are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Many people will say on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
SPEAKER_00: And in your name?
SPEAKER_00: Did we not drive out demons?
SPEAKER_00: And in your name?
SPEAKER_00: Did we not perform many miracles?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, then I will tell them plainly.
SPEAKER_00: Away from me, you evildoers.
SPEAKER_00: Now that text, those words of Christ should stop us in our tracks.
SPEAKER_00: It's terrifying.
SPEAKER_00: Because these people, they're not evil atheists.
SPEAKER_00: Who's he talking to?
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to church folks.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to people that have heard of Jesus, they're calling him Lord, they're doing religious things, they're talking about Jesus, they're working for Jesus, and apparently even prophesying and doing miracles in his name.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Bro, I don't I don't know you.
SPEAKER_00: I never knew you.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask again.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know God?
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you talking with him like this week?
SPEAKER_00: This this month.
SPEAKER_00: Are you in conversation with God at all?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's terrifying to think that Jesus is reminding us that Christianity has never simply been about what you do for him, it's about whether you know him.
SPEAKER_00: J.I.
SPEAKER_00: Packer, he's uh a really famous, great Christian theologian.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote a classic, and the classic is called Knowing God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's one of my all-time favorite books.
SPEAKER_00: I read it in Bible college, and it was like, you know, it just came alive in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: It was like, you know, I went to Johnson Bible College, if you don't know that, and it's a school for elite pastors.
SPEAKER_00: The best of the best.
SPEAKER_00: Go there.
SPEAKER_00: And so um, it's also a place for the most humble pastors.
SPEAKER_00: And so actually, Caden, our new youth pastor, he came from there, so he's elite.
SPEAKER_00: He's one of the best.
SPEAKER_00: So pray for your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: He needs I still have work to do.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, J.I.
SPEAKER_00: Packer says this in Knowing God.
SPEAKER_00: He says, he asks this question, hey, what were we made for?
SPEAKER_00: And then he answers it with three words.
SPEAKER_00: To know God.
SPEAKER_00: And he asks, what aim should we set our ourselves in life?
SPEAKER_00: What where should we aim in life?
SPEAKER_00: Three words.
SPEAKER_00: Will you guys say them?
SPEAKER_00: To know God.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that just kind of cut through the noise and really say it?
SPEAKER_00: Like, what were you made for?
SPEAKER_00: Someone asked you this week.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you why I was made.
SPEAKER_00: Get to know God.
SPEAKER_00: It's very simple.
SPEAKER_00: What's the greatest pursuit of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, one thing.
SPEAKER_00: There's three words.
SPEAKER_00: Get to know God.
SPEAKER_00: What's the greatest privilege you've ever been given?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, three words to know God.
SPEAKER_00: We get to know the very God who created the stars and the galaxies and the kangaroos.
SPEAKER_00: Like He made you and me.
SPEAKER_00: And we're we get to be in relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So before our career, before our accomplishments, before all the money, before your house and retirement, you were created to know God.
SPEAKER_00: You're not created to acquire things.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So during my sabbatical, I was reminded of this.
SPEAKER_00: It was like I I was given this privilege to allow life to slow down.
SPEAKER_00: And I got a lot of time with God.
SPEAKER_00: And it reminded me of something that I've said early on in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: It's that sometimes we have to quit our job to do our job.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Like quit our the busyness of earth to hear our heavenly assignment and do what God's asking you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Quit your job to do your job.
SPEAKER_00: It's like stop working for God and choose what's far greater to simply be with God.
SPEAKER_00: See, walking with Him and talking with Him, not treating the Bible like it's a textbook, like I'm trying to find the right thing to say and how to say things clever and you know charming, make it whatever.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not about sermons.
SPEAKER_00: It's about going to this book because I know that my father wrote a personal love letter that's written to me and finding him in it and being lost in his words.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I I need to say this.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to confuse activity for God as intimacy with God.
SPEAKER_00: And they're not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: They're not.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, yeah, but Blink, I I serve in Iwana.
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm really spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: Blake, Blake, Blake, I actually lead a Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: I'm on the parking team.
SPEAKER_00: And they're very spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: They are flipped off and they still love you.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's that is like holy people that serve on the parking team.
SPEAKER_00: I love the way A.W.
SPEAKER_00: Tozer, he said in his classic book, fantastic book, it's called The Knowledge of the Holy, right?
SPEAKER_00: Knowledge of the Holy.
SPEAKER_00: Because you think about it, we're humans, we don't know divine things.
SPEAKER_00: We're not divine.
SPEAKER_00: And so having knowledge of the holy is learning about God and how he's trying to make us in this process of becoming sanctified or becoming holy.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a lifelong pursuit.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says this, he says, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let me unpack that because it's kind of confusing.
SPEAKER_00: If you think of your heavenly father as someone that is abusive, then your relationship with him will be determined by what you think about him.
SPEAKER_00: So, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you believe God is constantly disappointed with you, and then guess what we'll do?
SPEAKER_00: We'll respond to that by hiding from God, by choosing to live for ourselves and not for him.
SPEAKER_00: We avoid him and we don't want to be near him, right?
SPEAKER_00: If we believe he's distant and he doesn't really care about me, he's not involved in my day to day, then we then we don't try.
SPEAKER_00: We don't talk to him and we don't pursue him.
SPEAKER_00: And if we believe he's angry and waiting for us to screw up, and that's what we think, he's just waiting to like call.
SPEAKER_00: Crack the whip, then we might spend our lives going, I've got to be good enough, I'll never be good enough.
SPEAKER_00: And we're performing all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you think of God as like, He's the one that's gonna provide for me.
SPEAKER_00: And so we treat him like some kind of a divine vending machine, right?
SPEAKER_00: We only go to him when we need something or want something.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm here to tell you today, when you know Jesus and you you study him in his word, and you read about what he's really like, and you find out, oh my gosh, like his character and nature, the way he loved, he actually treated us when he was here with mercy and kindness.
SPEAKER_00: He was filled with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: The way he loved, he engaged with the pain and the despair and the suffering of humanity, the way that he demonstrated kindness and how faithful he was and how present he was, it changes your character and your nature because you're like, if that's who I'm trying to be like, then you're transformed, you start to be morphed, and you're going, that's not what this world is like.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna become more like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I start to align with his spirit, and everything about the way that he lives and who he is, it changes us.
SPEAKER_00: It changes the way we see the world, our worldview, and we start to become different because you are different.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Christ does.
SPEAKER_00: He radically transforms people, and disciples become disciples who are making other disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The way that Jeremiah said this about our mind and our thinking, our understanding, he said, This is what the Lord says let not the wise boast of their wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: You know anybody like that?
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm smart, as you think, they always have an answer for everything, Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Google.
SPEAKER_00: Um let not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong, right, boast of their strength, or the rich boast of their riches.
SPEAKER_00: But let the one who boasts boast about this that they have the understanding to know me.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we brag about.
SPEAKER_00: That our mind has been transformed into the likeness of God, and all I want to talk about is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: God's telling us if you really want something that's worth bragging about, don't brag about how smart you are or what you have, how nice your boat is or your new driver, right?
SPEAKER_00: Brag about knowing me.
SPEAKER_00: That's our greatest treasure, knowing God.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's really all that matters, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, sometimes the longest distance from understanding to actually knowing is the 18 inches from your head to your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Here to here.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's when it goes from mere talk to like actually trusting and then actually obeying.
SPEAKER_00: It has to go from here to here.
SPEAKER_00: From knowledge to knowing.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a big difference.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of the things I love so much about the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: The guy was he was well studied.
SPEAKER_00: He he was well versed, he was brilliant, he had all the credentials, he was educated.
SPEAKER_00: In the eyes of man, my man was bona fide, right?
SPEAKER_00: His spiritual resume was very, very impressive.
SPEAKER_00: And after he met Jesus, it's like none of that mattered.
SPEAKER_00: It was like on the Damascus Road, Saul turned to Paul, transformed, completely different.
SPEAKER_00: And I think I think that's when the religious spirit fell off of him, right?
SPEAKER_00: All the legalism that he was bound up in, all the law, the rules, the regulation, all that fell off of him.
SPEAKER_00: He no longer lived to impress the eyes of man.
SPEAKER_00: He only wanted to impress Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: None of that mattered.
SPEAKER_00: Saul died and Paul came to life.
SPEAKER_00: He was a new man, like the old was gone, and he was on mission.
SPEAKER_00: The way he says that in Philippians 3 is I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with what?
SPEAKER_00: The infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: For his sake, I've discarded everything else, counting it all as what?
SPEAKER_00: Garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says it loud and strong, I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: That's his sole purpose.
SPEAKER_00: He knows it and he speaks it boldly.
SPEAKER_00: The literal translation of the word garbage is dung.
SPEAKER_00: It's rubbish.
SPEAKER_00: It's filth.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: So when we boast about my accomplishments and how great I am and how much stuff I have and how big my bank account is, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You're literally bragging about doo-doo.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have a seventh-grade sense of humor.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: It's funny to me.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that's worth talking about, church, is what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: Everything else worthless.
SPEAKER_00: So our one aim and our one goal should be to know him and make him known.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you: is everything in this world rubbish in comparison to wanting to know Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Is it?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you still love the things of this world?
SPEAKER_00: So, Blake, how does a person come to know God?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you very, very simply, it's it's right here.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know what God is like, like I don't know what he's really like.
SPEAKER_00: I've already been evil.
SPEAKER_00: He already doesn't have his heart for people.
SPEAKER_00: I already killed and he's pillages and he lets babies die and all this stuff from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know what Jesus, you know, God is like, look at Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's right here in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: How does God treat filthy sinners like you and me?
SPEAKER_00: Just watch Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: How does God respond to the sick and the poor and the lepers and the blind and the lame?
SPEAKER_00: Watch Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Does God care about the outcast and the forgotten?
SPEAKER_00: Just watch Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Does every person really matter to God?
SPEAKER_00: Well, look at the life and the teachings of Jesus and what he actually did on the cross because Jesus came to make God known.
SPEAKER_00: When you get to know Jesus, you understand the character and the nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: So once we know that, that becomes our calling and our mission to be like him.
SPEAKER_00: Once we know God, and since we know Jesus, then we do the work and we make him known.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that we have to have all the answers.
SPEAKER_00: I know that some of you are like, oh, I don't I don't talk about God.
SPEAKER_00: That's not for me.
SPEAKER_00: That's for you, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: That's for the clergy.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what it says in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he's called the priesthood of all believers.
SPEAKER_00: So guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You're a priest.
SPEAKER_00: You're up.
SPEAKER_00: It's your job to do the work of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why making him known is evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just a big word to say, hey, testify.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does testify mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's like say three words.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus changed me.
SPEAKER_00: And then if you don't know how to talk about anything else, say, Jesus changed me.
SPEAKER_00: Sit with me in church.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, I'm inviting you.
SPEAKER_00: That's all you have to do.
SPEAKER_00: So, so I have a question.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna step on your toes a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever talked about Jesus to anyone?
SPEAKER_00: Like, really?
SPEAKER_00: And in your lifetime, have you ever led anyone to Christ?
SPEAKER_00: And if not, I've got another question.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never caught a fish, can you really call yourself a fisherman?
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Eternity hangs in the ballot.
SPEAKER_00: If you love your friends and your neighbors, but you know they're going to hell, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: We're here to be on mission.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to talk.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to, you know, act like you have to have all the answers.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know the Bible, but I don't know theology, right?
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I don't want you to get weird.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes people get weird.
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys know any Christians that get like really weird?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's as simple as this.
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey man, I here's what I know.
SPEAKER_00: I was blind, but now I see, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's John 9.
SPEAKER_00: I was a blind beggar, and if you're blind too, I can I can introduce you to somebody that'll help you not be blind.
SPEAKER_00: It is that simple.
SPEAKER_00: So, so do you guys know that God changes the way that we see?
SPEAKER_00: We see the whole world differently.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us a different view.
SPEAKER_00: And something that happens, like you don't mean for it to happen, but the things that you used to love about the world, you can no longer love.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't delight in those things anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to party anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Like the let's party.
SPEAKER_00: It's not there anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to, you know, go for it and get drunk and chase after a whole bunch of tale.
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't want to do the things that I used to, it's no longer satisfying because I only find my satisfaction in my maker.
SPEAKER_00: I want to live for him and his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's like I see the world there.
SPEAKER_00: We can't love sin and also say you love your savior.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So if you love your savior, then sin is repugnant.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes gross.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I want nothing to do with that darkness anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're changed.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I walk in light.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to live that way anymore, right?
SPEAKER_00: So eventually what we know about God has to change the way we live and who we become.
SPEAKER_00: We learn his heart, we learn his voice, we we start to trust his wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And then even when I don't completely understand what he's asking me to do, I obey because I know the one who's asking me.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Not because I'm trying to earn my relationship with God, but because I'm delighting in it.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm loving, enjoying being in relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There's this process.
SPEAKER_00: So you're like, man, I I I got baptized, but bro, I still love to sin and I'm good at sinning.
SPEAKER_00: It's very natural.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's that's normal.
SPEAKER_00: You know what sinners do?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's like I've been coming to church here for a month.
SPEAKER_00: I've been coming for a year, and I'm still struggling.
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a lifelong process of becoming.
SPEAKER_00: There's people like Paul that boom, they changed overnight, scales fell off their eyes, and they were completely true.
SPEAKER_00: Other people, you know, it takes a while.
SPEAKER_00: It takes a minute to get the devil out of them, right?
SPEAKER_00: I've baptized people before and be like, hey man, I'm gonna have to hold you under a little longer.
SPEAKER_00: The devil's in you.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta shake it out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to ask you, are you in relationships?
SPEAKER_00: Are you learning the voice of God?
SPEAKER_00: Are you discovering his character through his word?
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you enjoying your relationship?
SPEAKER_00: Are you becoming aware of his presence in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Are you listening to the promptings of God?
SPEAKER_00: Like this week, I went to a place to buy some new pants because mine are all too big for me now.
SPEAKER_00: And I was talking to the lady and I was like, Hey, are you new to town?
SPEAKER_00: I never asked that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
SPEAKER_00: I felt the Lord say, Are you new to town?
SPEAKER_00: She said, Yeah, I just moved her two months ago.
SPEAKER_00: I go, Wow.
SPEAKER_00: Huh.
SPEAKER_00: I got a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: Have you found a church yet?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Like I just said to my best friend last night, I've got to find a church.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, hi, I'm Blake.
SPEAKER_00: And I have a place and I want to tell you about it.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're here, hi.
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you came.
SPEAKER_00: It's really that easy.
SPEAKER_00: It's like simply responding to the Father in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's realizing everyone, every day, everywhere, I'm on mission.
SPEAKER_00: I'm up.
SPEAKER_00: See, when you realize that God is here and he's in me, and he's with me, and he's alive in me, that really is all I need.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need another church service.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need another book.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need another conference.
SPEAKER_00: I have Jesus, he's alive inside of me.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I need.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let anybody tell you you need more.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is enough.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus said it beautifully.
SPEAKER_00: He said, My sheep, they listen to my voice.
SPEAKER_00: I know them and they follow me.
SPEAKER_00: I really think that's that's the whole journey.
SPEAKER_00: To know him, to hear him, and to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: Like as a father, if I've taught that to my children, my assignment's done.
SPEAKER_00: Know the voice of God, hear the voice of God, follow him.
SPEAKER_00: Like not just on Sunday, every single day in your car, at work, when you wake up, at school, in your marriage, when you're celebrating, when you're sad and grieving, when you're confused or alone or scared, when nobody else is watching, you yearn to live your whole life in relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: That's our sole desire, and it should be our greatest delight.
SPEAKER_00: So, practically speaking, let me just say this: start your day with God.
SPEAKER_00: Wake up, and when you wake up, hopefully the devil says, Oh crap, he's awake.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: When you wake up, open his word, and before you go out into the world, before the news, before Instagram, before your email, just sit with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Read until something grabs your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Talk with him.
SPEAKER_00: Ask him what it means.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to his response.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what prayer looks like.
SPEAKER_00: It's just talking.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to say, Therefore, Heavenly Father, thou art.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do all that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get weird.
SPEAKER_00: He knows your voice.
SPEAKER_00: Just talk to him.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to his response.
SPEAKER_00: And then ask one simple question.
SPEAKER_00: Hey Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do today?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a great question?
SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do?
SPEAKER_00: That was like my whole sabbatical.
SPEAKER_00: Hey Jesus, what do you want to do today?
SPEAKER_00: I just delighted it.
SPEAKER_00: We had a blast.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing: when he tells you what to do, do it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what relationship looks like.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you begin recognizing his voice.
SPEAKER_00: And that's how knowing about God slowly becomes walking with God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you talk to your spouse like you talk to God, I think a lot of people would get a divorce because you're so quiet.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't never respond.
SPEAKER_00: You don't talk, you don't listen.
SPEAKER_00: There's no talking.
SPEAKER_00: So I could challenge you this week.
SPEAKER_00: Act like you're talking to your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: Like love God more than you love your spouse.
SPEAKER_00: Like really engage with the creator of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So the more you know God, the more you're gonna want to talk about God.
SPEAKER_00: The more you're gonna want to tell people, right?
SPEAKER_00: You won't have to manufacture energy because like when Jesus becomes beautiful to you, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: When that happens, you fall in love.
SPEAKER_00: You it's nobody ever tells somebody that's newly engaged, like, hey, I'm gonna take you through this four-week seminar of like how to mention your fiancee.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like no, I always talk about my fiance.
SPEAKER_00: I want to show, hey, look at all the pictures they got on his knees, show the ring, oh my gosh, right?
SPEAKER_00: You get googly.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's really what it's like when we talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so maybe that's the real question I need to ask is has Jesus captured your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Has He?
SPEAKER_00: Are you like giddy when you talk about God?
SPEAKER_00: Because I need you to know something.
SPEAKER_00: You have someone that died specifically for you on a cross because he loves you, so that we might love him back and live for him and actually talk about him.
SPEAKER_00: So I I don't want thousands of people gathering every weekend to come here and play games, to act spiritual, to pretend and know a lot about God, but never spend time with God.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to become a people that say, I know him and I love him, and it's my great honor to make him know.
SPEAKER_00: People that come in and they hear his voice, they're listening for his voice, they love to talk with him, they love to worship with him, people who respond out of love and obedience to him, people who know so intimately that everywhere they go, other people start to want to know more about Jesus because of who you are and the way you live.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's what we're called to do on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: That's what it's about is to know him and to make him known with great delight.
SPEAKER_00: And so, church, will you guys say this one more time with me?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone, everyone, every day, every day, everywhere, everywhere, Holy Spirit, we ask you to forgive us for blazing past people, for not seeing your own creation that you placed us here to be on mission for.
SPEAKER_00: God, we pray that we'd be better at helping those that are living in darkness to come and understand what it means to walk in the light.
SPEAKER_00: For those that are blind could possibly come and see.
SPEAKER_00: See the goodness of God, to taste the goodness of God, to understand our minds be changed by the goodness of our Father.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, we repent of not being on mission.
SPEAKER_00: We repent of not telling people about you.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, would you help us?
SPEAKER_00: Help us speak boldly about you.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to really get to know you, to get serious about our relationship with you, to dive into your word and to study and to delight in you.
SPEAKER_00: Because Lord Jesus, you're the only thing that really matters.
SPEAKER_00: So we praise you today for letting us know that we're here to know you and to make you known.
SPEAKER_00: May we take that seriously.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus, we pray everybody said amen.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.