Do You Know Him? (Philippians 3:3–11) |Minister Danian Gillies (Sermon)

Do you truly know God… or do you only know about Him?

In this powerful and thought-provoking episode, “Do You Know Him?”, Minister Danian Gillies challenges us to move beyond surface-level faith into a genuine, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Drawing from Philippians 3:3–11, this message reveals the heart of the Apostle Paul—a man who counted everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. This isn’t about religion, routine, or information… it’s about transformation.

🔥 In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The danger of pursuing God only for what He can give
 • The difference between knowing about God and truly knowing Him
 • What it means to experience the power of His resurrection
 • How seasons of suffering can produce spiritual strength
 • Practical steps to draw closer to God starting today
 • Why many stop at religion but never enter into relationship

If you’re tired of shallow faith…
 If you’re hungry for something deeper…
 If you desire real revival in your life…

This episode will challenge you, stir you, and call you higher.

🔔 New Life Pentecostal Church – North York
A Spirit-filled church where Jesus transforms lives, strengthens families, and restores hope.

📍 65 Irondale Drive, North York
 💬 Like, share, and subscribe to stay connected and be encouraged weekly.

🕊️ 👉 For more sermons and resources, visit New Life Pentecostal Church
📺 Watch on YouTube: New Life North York Channel 

— New Life Now Podcast | New Life Pentecostal Church

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Philippians chapter 3 and uh read from verses 7 3 and 11 and we have found it's a amen. Let's read that. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not of in my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. Righteousness which is from God by faith. Verse 10 says that I may know him. Well, let's let's let's let's say that with a little bit of assurance, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings have been conformed to his death. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, can we just lift our hands and give God praise one more time in this place? Lord, we thank you. Lord God, we love you and we adore you. Lord, we acknowledge God that you have already entered this space. Because Lord, we can feel your anointing, we can feel your presence, we can feel your glory in this place. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you will saturate us, God, in your anointing. Lord God, let self be slain, mighty God, and let your spirit God lift up a standard of righteousness in this place. I pray this morning, oh God, I will decrease, oh God, and your spirit, God, shandalabakosa talabakosha. God, your spirit, God will increase in this place, God. Lord Jesus, we will be careful, Lord God. We will be mindful, oh God. We will, oh God, we'll be careful, Lord God, to give you the glory which is due unto your great name. And everybody says, in Jesus' name. Come on, shall let's shout a louder. Say, in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Amen. This is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Amen. Before I move on into my message this morning, I just want to acknowledge the presence of our pastor. We want to greet him. Amen. Pastor Shaw, let's talk about our hands together and give God praise for Pastor Shaw. Amen. His wife, Sister Shaw. We honor them and we thank God for them and we Amen. Continue to keep them in our prayers. So grateful for the work that they are doing in the kingdom of God in such a time as this. Praise the name of the Lord. Amen. And in our absence, amen. In his absence, our bishop and amen. His lovely wife. Amen. Bishop Green, amen. We can forget them. Let's let's honor them in their absence. Amen. And let's continue to lift them up in our prayers. Amen. For all those who are viewing online, we greet you all, our elders and shut in this morning. We greet you in Jesus' name. Amen. Also want to greet all the first-time guests and the visitors and those who have took time out of their business schedule to be here this morning. And we greet you and we salute you in Jesus' name. Saints at New Life, Amen. It's good that you're here. Amen. And that you're here to worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness. This morning I want to minister to you from Amen. This title Do You Know Him? The title comes in the form of a question. Do you know him? Amen. If you can turn to the person next to you, Amen, with a gently tap and ask them the question, Do you know him? And if you're not responding, then don't get upset. Don't get angry. Just turn to the person on the other side and ask, Do you know him? Amen. Perhaps if the other person doesn't respond, then maybe you need to change your posture, put a smile on your face. Praise the name of the Lord. Amen. As you're seated, amen. Just clap your hands and give God a praise. Hallelujah. Do you know Him? Relationships are one of the most powerful forces shaping our lives today. They influence how we think, grow, and who we become. From family and friends to mentorship and our relationships, our relationship with God, every meaningful connection carries the potential to build us up or to pull us away from our purpose. Somebody needs to say amen. Growing up, I've always heard a saying, show me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are. Yes, if you you were raised with one of those mothers or people in your surrounding would always kind of saying these things, and for you to look into yourself. And if you need a little bit of strengthening up, amen, then that's the time to do so. So relationships matters matter because we are not designed to live in uh to live in a bubble alone. It was John Donnie who says, who wrote, No man is an island, no man stands alone. According to Hebrews, uh Hebrew chapter 13, verses 5. The Bible says that God will never leave you nor forsake you. Nevertheless, we we still have a part to play in developing an intimate relationship with Him. Praise God. We can't afford to be a people who only seek uh His hands. We can't uh afford to develop this mindset. Bless me, bless me, bless me. Lord, uh bless me with a car, bless me with a house, bless me, Lord, bless me, increase my finances. We can't be a people aiming that this focus and the hand of God. But Paul, but like Paul aiming that I may know him, and the the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death. David said in Psalm 100 Psalm 27, verses 8 When you said, Seek my face, my heart said to you, Your face, Lord, will I seek. Seeking the face of God uh requires a different posture. Than asking for an iPhone. Seeking the face of God is different from asking the Lord to bless me with a wife or to bless me with a husband. Seeking the face of God is different from asking the Lord, God give me a promotion on the job. It requires a different posture. Somebody say amen. James 4, verses 8 states, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. God is calling us to know him better. Tap your neighbor, amen, and ask him for this the second time. Do you know him? Even though Jesus loves us with an everlasting love, he wants us to strengthen our relationship with him in the spirit. He still wants us, amen, to do our part, amen, in prayer and doing doing our part in reading his word, doing our part in staying connected to the body of Christ. In the natural couples go through stages in their relationship before coming husband and wife. They go through uh what is known as the attraction stage. Knowing attraction stage, knowing stage, uh the trust stage, commitment stage, uh, the conflict stage, uh intimacy, and partnership. Stay with me, stay with me, don't don't sleep on me. It's uh it's early, it's just 11:30. Don't don't uh don't get too quiet on me either. Attraction stage, which is the introduction stage, where uh I notice or you notice me. And I can uh attest to that when my wife and I we uh were just talking for the first time, and we we we we we met each other and we I know she liked me, I liked her, and the introductory stage. We were attracted, but at that stage, amen, things are uh still at the surface level. Stay with me. Initial interest, uh, personality and appearance, and the vibe is good, and and everything seems to be uh uh uh looking good on the exterior. Uh curiosity begins, and conversations are light and at the surface level. And if you're married, you can attest to that. Come on, don't behave like you're all uh saved and sanctified all the days of your life. Getting to know each other, the the the second stage where I'm learning you, and uh uh you're you're uh you're there's a deeper conversation, you're developing, uh uh discovering values and interests and and goals. Uh you're spending more time together. Now, at this stage, you you gotta watch out for uh for pretending instead of being authentic. Because the Bible tells us that they are there are wolves in sheep clothing. We gotta we gotta watch out. And this this is a free lesson to all our young people. I'm thinking about dating very soon. You can pay me later. And stage three talks about, amen, the connection stage where now you're you're building trust. I'm comfortable with you. Emotional openness increases, trust starts forming. You feel safe being more real. Now we're we're building, the heat is getting higher. The fourth stage is the commitment stage. This is the this is the stage where I choose you. Now you you've made it up in your mind that I choose you. Or else you could hear, don't call me, I will call you. Have you been in that situation before? He said, you know what? Um I'm a little busy right now, but I I will call you as soon as I have some time. You know that it's not going too far. You know it's cold, there's not much attraction. There's there's more of a uh a repulsion happening at this stage. But if, let me put an if statement. But but if you if you're successful, then amen, then decisions uh are are being made to stay and invest. Somebody shout invest. Amen. You're you you're getting to know the person, you're you're defining the relationship, loyalties and and exclusivity, amen, in the Roman context. Those things are are building. The next stage is referred to as the the challenge or conflict stage, uh, where we face reality, amen. Differences become clear. Now, this is the point where you're like, okay, well, I like amen chicken, uh, chicken foot soup, and well, well, well, you like um um this kind of soup. Well, I don't like burgers, I like amen, I like I like this. Uh I don't like cheeseburger, I like uh I like beef burgers. So now you're starting establishing, amen, a stronger connection, amen. You're starting being more open, you started to disagree, and you're starting to agree on issues. Somebody shout amen. So in the challenge stage, amen, expectations are tested. Now, this is the stage, and this is this is a little nugget for all our young ladies. This is the stage where, amen, you have to disappoint um this brother man now. And sometimes you have to say, Well, because now you're testing, amen, how how how how faithful he is. Now you have to you you have to say, okay, well, you don't don't call me tomorrow and see what would happen. This is the stage when you you plan to meet up on Friday and you say, you know what, I have something more important. Can we meet up on Saturday instead? Or a matter of fact, can we meet up next week? Now you're testing. Amen. You're you're testing his patience. Every real relationship goes through this stage. It is not a sign that uh something is wrong, it is uh it's a sign that things are real. And if and if you tell the brother that, amen, that we can't meet up tomorrow tomorrow, and he gets angry at you, then you know he's not the one. Somebody shout amen. We're getting somewhere. So stage six is known as the deepening stage, uh, the intimacy stage where I truly know you. Uh strong emotional bond, amen. Honest conversation, a communication, acceptance of strengths and flaws. Now, this is the stage where I you'll you'll disclose that uh, you know what, I'm I'm really not good at cooking. Uh I'm sorry, I I I can't even fry, fry, uh, uh, I can't even make the scrambled eggs. And uh and this is the stage where the brothers say, you know what, I uh I'm not good at operating the lawnmower. I I can't handle, I'm not good at handyman stuff. And and that's all right, not everybody is is good at that. So this is the stage where amen, now you're becoming more real. Hallelujah. Uh, emotional bond and honest conversation, a communication, acceptance of strengths and flaws. Now, if he or she is really interested, they'll say, Okay, you know what? We can work on this together. Because what we're building, you're getting to know this person, you're building a relationship. All right, stay with me. At the partnership stage, now this is the final stage in the relationship where uh it's also referred to as the purpose stage, right? Where we build together, we we share goals, amen, and and visions, supporting each other's growth. Amen. Building, hallelujah, something meaningful together. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. No, you're getting to know this person, hallelujah. And even when you're married, you still don't know the person as yet. But you have you have established, amen. You have you have felt a level of comfort that you say, you know what, I can I can work with this person. Praise the name of the Lord. Now we look in our text this morning and and and it really uh it talks about reference to um the apostle Paul. Apostle Paul is known as one of the the greatest missionaries uh in his time. He planted churches and perched and preached the gospel across regions and endured harsh hardship after hardship. If anyone could say, Amen, they knew Christ, it it would be Paul. Hallelujah. He he had it all together, he had stuff going for him, and yet his desire was to know him, to know Christ on a deeper level. Ah, some of us are okay with the surface level, uh, but that was not Paul. Amen. Hallelujah. Understand that everybody has different interests and everybody, amen, have different focus, but Paul, his focus was to go higher in God. Uh, his desire was to know Christ at a deeper level. Uh, Sister Wendy, you've set a little foundation from this morning. We talk about intimacy, hallelujah. Paul's uh desire was to know God at the intimate level, hallelujah, hallelujah. Now, uh, now Paul was not interested in just knowing Christ uh at the surface level, he didn't want uh a mediocre relationship with God. Uh uh, Paul was interested in a deeper connection with God, hallelujah, hallelujah. If you notice, amen, in the natural uh um, I'm not sure how many of you really pay attention to science and technology and those things. Uh, I kind of watch those things, amen. Uh, but I see uh uh recently where uh um the the space shuttle uh Artemis 2 went to space and they said they circled the moon, hallelujah. But if you notice how these astronauts dress, amen, and when they're going to the moon, amen, they can't just wear uh uh their little uh running suit or jogging suit or whatever, uh just little jeans, pants, or whatever. They had to put on something different because they're going at a higher level, hallelujah. They're not going to the third uh to the first heaven, hallelujah. They're not even just going uh in the sky, they're they're going beyond hallelujah, earth's uh atmosphere, hallelujah. So we realize that in going uh hallelujah higher in God, we have to change our position, we have to change our attitude, we have to change our governments, hallelujah, we have to change our mindset. Somebody give God glory in this place, somebody give him praise, somebody give him praise. Ah I want to know him, I don't want to know him, I don't want to know him, I don't want to stay at the surface level because at the surface level, revelations and amen are denied, hallelujah. At the surface level, hallelujah, you don't see amen some things, hallelujah, at the surface level, hallelujah, you don't get some dreams, hallelujah. Ah, at the surface level, amen, things are not the same as when you move to the next level in God, amen. Somebody put it a ride in amen and say deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus. Ah God, hallelujah, amen, higher, higher in this pool of wisdom, more of grace to know somebody. Clap your hands and give him praise. We're going higher this morning, we are going deeper, hallelujah. I believe in this power. God is calling us to a higher level in him, amen. If you were here the first part of this praise and worship, I feel like God took us a little higher, amen. And if you haven't felt that amen, as I said, you gotta check your circuit. Maybe you're short-circuited somewhere, amen. I feel like God took us a little higher in the spirit, but guess what, amen? Especially in the time that we are living in, we can't operate at the surface level, uh, because there's some distraction at the surface level, amen. There's a revelation at the surface level, amen. But when you go deeper in God, amen, then you can expect something different, amen. You can expect your prayers to be answered, hallelujah. You can look and you can stand on the promises of God, you can stand, amen, and said, I know God lives, I know He reigns, hallelujah. You can utter the praises of God, hallelujah. You can stand, you can look the enemy in the face and to the devil, I know my redeemer lives, amen. Because now you've moved away, hallelujah, from basic hallelujah. You move away from the rudiments, hallelujah, and you have entered into his presence, hallelujah. Somebody clap your hands and give him praise. I feel a Christian this morning, I feel I feel liberty in this place this morning, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen. If you came with this level, uh praise this morning, you gotta change your mind, hallelujah. If you came with Amen, I mean you can praise this morning, you gotta change that. Now is the time, now is the is the hour, hallelujah, for you to move into a different dimension with God, amen. We see the devil is fighting. Let's let's slow it down a little bit. The enemy is coming at us with fierce wrath. Hallelujah. The enemy is coming at us with vengeance because what he knows that his time is short. Yes. So those attacks that you're getting, the enemy is not playing games. The angel, the enemy is not playing party cake, party cake, baker's man with you because he wants your soul, he wants hallelujah. To take that desire away from you, that desire to serve the Lord. He wants to take that away from you. So we see where there is now a difference between knowing him and knowing of him. Let me give you some information here. So knowing of him means that means having information or awareness without personal connection. Yes. Let me repeat that. So knowing of him means having information or awareness without personal connection. For example, I know he's a good God. Even the devil knows that. So if you want to stay at that level, then you don't have anything over the devil. I heard he's a healer. The devil knows that. Even the angel demons know that. I heard he's a provider. The devil knows that because he doesn't have anything. The Bible said the cattle and a and a thousand hills are his. Even though the enemy is operating fiercely in the earth, he knows this is not his. He's just operating, amen. He has an expirate. And you know, when you have something and you only have it for a time, then you gotta be. You know it's not yours. In the back of your head, you know it's not yours. You you you go when I recently I traveled for work in Southern Ontario and I I rented a nice car. The company was paying for it and everything. Nice. Driving almost break the seat back, but no. So because I know Pastor Shaw, it was mine. I I just enjoyed it for the week. It was nice. I turned the AC up and you know, I you know, nice and comfy, and when I alone when I eat inside, I don't to care about you know the fries dropping between the middle there because I know it's not mine. Now you can say, well, that's not a good attitude, but I know I'm gonna be richer. I'm paying for it. Somebody's paying for it, alright? But when you but when you when when when you you you you know amen. Um he knows that the earth is not his and he's just operating temporally. But knowing him is completely different. It's a different experience. And knowing him is having a personal intimate. Somebody say intimate. Come on, somebody say intimate. Come on, let's say that one more time, louder and stronger. Intimate. So having a personal, intimate relationship and experience with him. This is where, amen. You say, as Paul says, Who shall separate us from the love of God? At this stage, amen, with this kind of experience with knowing him, you will speak with confidence and boldness and say, Who or what can separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, shall uh distress or persecution or famine, can can the the uh economic system or the challenges that we're facing, can this separate me from the love of God? Now, this is where you say can darkness or peril or sword, yet all these things we are more than conqueror through him who loved us. Somebody clap your hands and give him praise. I'm so thankful that he loved us. This is where this is also the stage, amen, where we can say, as Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him? Ah, have you been in a situation where you're wondering where is God? You're wondering, is God are you for real? Are you there? Like, how could you allow this to happen? Have you ever been in that uh situation before? I've been there, and you really wonder, you start questioning your faith, you're questioning your experience with God, you're you're questioning if if this thing called the Bible is really true. Is it real? But Paul, but but but Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I can say as Esther, if I perish, I perish. But I must see the king. Somebody give him praise in the house. This is the stage where disappointments. We see that as we see disappointments as uh as God working things out for his good. We don't we don't worry and we don't uh lose amen sleep or uh our confidence in God because things didn't didn't go um how we want it to go. Because at this stage we know him, so we know that all things it's is working in our favor. Everything, it doesn't matter how gloomy, it doesn't matter how bad, or it doesn't matter how sad it looks, it's working for my good. Sickness in my body, it's working for my good. Hallelujah. I've lost my job, it's working for my good because I know God has something better. At this stage, amen, hallelujah, prayer looks different. At this stage, your devotion is different, hallelujah. At this stage, communication is different, amen. At this stage, somebody uh may not understand your way of talking because what you you have come in contact with the Savior, you you have met him, you're intimate with him, and at this stage, hallelujah, people may not even like you too much. Sometimes people might look and you say, Oh, oh, why why she why is she behaving like he like she she's the holiest thing God has ever created? Because you know him, hallelujah. Now you you can't operate like the average person, hallelujah, amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen. You you you pray differently, you seek him different, you you seek him early in the morning, hallelujah. When everybody is asleep, hallelujah, when everybody just pulling their blanket and uh pulling, getting comfortable, you're seeking him early. I don't know, but you but what I realize that when I get up early in the morning and I pray, amen, between three and six, it's a different feeling, it's different. You get up charged, ready to take on the world, and this is not even in your own strength and confidence, but you know that my Redeemer lived. You know that you you you saw him, you have an intimate relationship with him, so you can go out there, amen, and command, hallelujah, amen. You can command things to to to go according to the plan of God. You you you you can command, amen, favors, you can command, amen, things to go. You can change your atmosphere, you can go in your workspace, you can change the atmosphere in your work environment because you know you have authority knowing that you have an intimate relationship with him. At one point, Paul Paul says, I that I may know him. Paul believed he could satisfy God's requirements by keeping religious rules. But he changed his mind after meeting Christ. Yes, this you see, uh meeting Christ is important because um it helps you to understand, amen, that uh it's it's it's so different than than not meeting him or not having that intimate relationship with him. So Paul realized that, amen. He quickly realized that the the relationship that he had before was was just on the surface level. And Paul uh he he stated his his his uh his qualifications. The Bible tells us that he was uh a Hebrew of Hebrews. He said, uh touching the law, he was he was blameless. And Paul thought that he had it all together. He he he came he came to see that legalism uh is was just a list of do's and don'ts. Uh you can never achieve uh he quickly realized that you can never achieve genuine righteousness through legalism. Uh Jesus makes us uh makes us righteous when we trust in him. That that's what Paul uh come to find out. Hallelujah. That only through Jesus Christ you can truly become righteous. Praise God. So Paul realized that in his final conclusion, amen. In the uh uh and the and the final analysis, he said, uh, he said, I want to know Christ. I want to know him, amen, hallelujah. He said, to know him, not only to know him, uh uh that he's a good God and he can provide uh all my daily needs according to his riches and glory, but he said, I want to know him in the in the power of his resurrection. Now, Paul could have stopped there, uh uh, but he continued on. He said, and and the participation uh in his sufferings, uh uh becoming like him in death, in his death, hallelujah, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead, hallelujah. Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation, a position where we want to know Christ because we we want to prophesy and we want his power, we want, amen, we want to partake uh in his glory. We want Lord, we want to experience your glory, amen. I want when I come to church, uh, I can just read a people, I can I can look at you, amen. I I think some of you want to fast in people's business, you you want to see uh what's going on in people's bank account. Uh, amen. We we're not really interested in uh in the power of his resurrection or uh in the in the suffering, hallelujah! Amen. But I hear the word of God said that he that suffer with him shall reign with himself. Paul wanted more than just uh a mediocre relationship with Christ. Paul said that I may know him, somebody shall know him, somebody shall know him. Ah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Now let's let's get a little deeper. So, Paul, in reference to uh a future event here, uh amen, but a present reality, amen. Uh, we see from the Greek amen to know uh it comes from the word uh amen, hallelujah. Uh uh let me see if I can pronounce here uh nomini, hallelujah, which implies experimental knowledge, hallelujah. So rather than intellectual facts, Paul wanted something deeper, he wanted to know him through experimental knowledge, hallelujah. When you experience something, amen, through experiment, it's quite different from just reading. Uh uh those of you in university or have gone through post-secondary study, you can go to the library and and read something, you can read an article, you can read something that somebody had published years ago, hallelujah, which is quite different from you getting into the laboratory and experience uh uh for yourself. Uh you can prove that uh this plus that equals that. Hallelujah. You can test it, you can prove it, you can try it, hallelujah. So that's the kind of relationship Paul wanted, hallelujah. He said that I may he may seek the same divine power to raise Jesus from the grave to operate within his own life to overcome sin and spiritual tiredness. Now, this power was not to feel good about himself, uh, but he was he was interested in overcoming sin. Uh, if there's anything or any uh we need to overcome in this time is sin and carnality, hallelujah. And Paul says that we need this power to overcome sin and tiredness, hallelujah, turnity, hallelujah, amen. I want to be stronger in God, I want to know him, hallelujah, hallelujah, more, hallelujah. I want to get into him more, I want to get into his presence, amen, where we can communicate uh face to face. I can feel him, amen. I don't wait until I only come when I come to church on a Sunday morning, then I can feel him, hallelujah. The writer said, I must have the Savior with me. I don't know about you, but he said, I dare not walk alone, I must feel his presence near me and his arm around me thrown. I didn't stop there. He said, Then my soul shall fear. Ah, no. Let him leave me. I will go without a murmur, hallelujah, and his footsteps follow. That's the level I want, that's the relationship I want. Do you know him? Yes, come on, come on, don't sit on me, hallelujah. If you don't know him, you're gonna get to know him this morning, hallelujah, because the thing about knowing God is he's open and he's readily available for everyone. You don't have to be of a special family background, uh uh, you have to be in a certain uh kind of a profession to know him, hallelujah. Amen. You can know him in the morning, you can know him in the evening, you can know him at night, hallelujah. You can seek him early, you can seek him later, you can seek him any time of the day. Somebody say, Give me Jesus in the morning, give me Jesus in the evening, every minute of the day, give me Jesus in the living, it's my soul survival every moment of the day. Somebody clap your hands and give him praise. Clap those hands, clap those hands who you know him, hallelujah. I'm coming, I'm coming higher, I'm going higher because we need to understand who our God is. Daniel said, Those who know the God shall be strong and do exploit, and know we're in knowing God, amen. We look in uh throughout the scripture, we see different Bible characters who met Christ, they know him, hallelujah. Moses, hallelujah. Moses went up on Mount Sinai, hallelujah, and Moses met with God, hallelujah. Bible tells us that Moses said uh to God, will you go with me? God said, No, I'm not gonna go with you, but I will send my presence. Uh amen, hallelujah. Moses went up on Mount Sinai, and Bible said, Then God said, Uh, when Moses you can't see my face, so what guess what? Position yourself between the rocks, and I'm gonna pass by. Ah, God, that's the kind of level I want with God. When God said, Uh, you know, I Daniel, I want you to get between this place because I'm gonna pass you at this time. So the Bible said that Moses positioned himself because Moses had an intimate relationship with God, and Moses waited on God, and the Bible said Moses passed God, and uh God passed Moses, but Moses didn't see his face because the Bible said that no man has ever seen his face and live, but Moses saw the backside of God, and for me, I don't know about you, but it's all right. I God, I just wanna I just want to see just a little bit. I don't want to see uh too much, hallelujah. The rightness, the closer I get, the more I see uh the glory of the soon-coming king. Ah, we see where Esther uh had a personal relationship with God. Esther said, Well, uh I understand that uh uh the situation is dire, but guess what? If I perish, uh I perish, but I must see the king when you have the kind of uh uh uh relationship with God, then everything will be all right, hallelujah! Amen. When you look at the economy and you're worrying how if you have an intimate relationship with God, there's no need to worry. Your company is uh uh preparing to cut uh start that you don't need to worry because we know he's a God, he's a provider, hallelujah, he's a healer, you get the medical bill, there's no need to worry, amen. The capacity to live is Christ and to die is getting so anyway. It's a win-win for you, amen. There's never a day where the believer can uh be uh a loser, hallelujah! Because guess what? You have a God that's powerful. Uh somebody says he's victorious, he is more than powerful. Somebody give him praise, always victorious, always watching over us. Somebody say, shout hallelujah. Come on, somebody shout hallelujah, amen, amen. Do you know him? Hallelujah. We're we're we're getting there, we're getting there. So just like in the natural, amen. I mentioned the seventh stages of a relationship. Uh so remember, sometimes we we we it just as in the natural in the spirit, we we kind of exercise or we we behave the same way. So we we can find ourselves now. We reach a trust stage. We reach a stage where now we are we are wandering, we're we're coming to church and now we are wandering. God, you we see you, we see you. You come to church and you're like, God, I'm a good God. Great worship, I see you, God. Pastor Sharp preached, and they're like, Pastor, we hear you. But now you're still you still need to move to the next stage. Watch this now. So you come in and you see, you know, you hear the pastor preach and you feel a tug and you're like, oh pastor, I hear you next week. Next week, next month. Next month is my birthday, I'm gonna be at my birthday. But watch this. Watch this, nobody knows if tomorrow we'll come for you. Alright, so let me go back to my wife, just forgive me. So when we're dating, so we we pass the attraction stage, Pastor Shah. We passed the the conflict stage where now we're fighting a little bit and it got you know not physical. Everybody looking at me like, whoa. It got a little rough and we were wondering. And then that's the time I started seeking God. I was like, okay, God, if this if this is what you want, then I want you to show us, show me. Like I was like praying that God, please let us young lady just go away. It was like the more I prayed for that, it's the more she was coming on. So I was like, what is this? So the more I prayed and fasted, the more the relationship was getting more intense. We passed the trust stage and we got to the commitment stage where okay, this is where we started thinking about the future. We start talking about future plans and so on and so forth. Then it got to the stage where I came here. You all remember when I came here, I got engaged, right? In 2009, right here. Wow, I felt like yesterday. Right here, Bishop Green engages us, I'm gonna pronounce a blessing upon us. Then I went back to Jamaica, Pastor Shaw, and I was like, God, shorten the days, please. One month fee like 25 years, you know. Until it was time for me to come back. We did everything, the paper immigration process, everything came during six months, and it was time for me to come back, and then they called me and said, Okay, you have to leave the country in one month because this and that, and I was like, Okay, sure. Roger, I can leave. I'm ready, my bag is ready. It's like you know, a wife, uh mother prepared to have a baby have that bag ready. My bag is ready. Okay, immigration Canada. Shaw, maybe I don't know maybe you're working on my case, maybe you know. You probably saw him in the spirit, yeah. So we were getting to know each other. But guess what? But Paul says that Paul was interested interested in in the fellowship of his suffering. So Paul just didn't want to stop at the power or of his resurrection, but Paul also wanted to feel the suffering that Jesus uh experience, the suffering that Jesus experienced. Now, at this level, now you really um this this this tells that you really want to know God. Because not every day is gonna be, as they would say, it's not every day is gonna be anky dory. There are days when I I sound Jamaica, I'm Jamaican Ori. See the young people look at Jamaican by by birth. Bird and birth here. Born here too. So not every day is gonna be nice, and and you're walking in the Park and you see roses. There are days when uh you're gonna it's gonna feel like God is not there. What do you do when you feel like when it feels like God is not there? You're gonna quit on him? What are you gonna do when you're calling upon him and he's not answering? Because the writer says, He may not come when you want him. Now you're getting to know him. So don't don't don't don't all get too serious on me. We're getting to know him. And all the married people, you know, it's not every day. It's it's it's you're on the mountaintop. Some days you're in the cave somewhere, digging up rocks to get out. You become like a miner. You're you're mining, you're getting trying to get out. Geologists in the spirit, trying to find your way out of a situation. But that's when you know you are really onto something with Christ. So Paul views suffering not as a sign of God's abandonment, but but as a as a point of deeper intimacy with Jesus. So Paul, he talks about participating, participation, uh, partnership or communion. He said, by sharing in as in the rejection or or hardship Christ faced, the believers, the believer is stripped of self-reliance and conform to Christ's character. Wow. This is this is where now the the confirmation really or the transformation really happens. This is where uh the rubber meets the road. This is where now you are on your way to really knowing Christ. This is where transformation is happening. No, this is where it's like uh uh uh in in metallurgy where they heat the metal uh to 15 to 1600 degrees to pour into that die, to take the shape of the die. This is when you know you're really in an intimate relationship with God that your son, the Bible said they'll suffer with him, will reign with him. Hallelujah. This is when you know that your faith is tested and tried. So in the natural, the manufacturing process, they they will heat the metal ore. They heat it 15 to 1600 degrees. That's that's really hot. And in order to get it into uh to get it to fill that that space or the dye that that that is designed um to take that liquid or molten metal to shape it as our dye shape, they had to heat it so it becomes uh it becomes a flowing substance. And after that it's cooled, and you take it out, and now it it takes the shape of the mold. And that's what in the spirit that's that's a level we we get when we are becoming in uh in close uh intimacy with God. The same word um to know it's the same uh uh word that used in Genesis when when God said that uh that Adam Adam knew Eve. This is this is a deep connection in the spirit. This is more than you just um just going down the street for for an ice cream, walking down dairy, dairy uh cream or dairy queen or whatever you want. This is when things get tough. No testing. But Paul, he wanted to because he realized that what he had, what he had experienced before, was nothing compared to the glory that shall be revealed, and that's why, even at the stage in our walk with God, we can't give up now. If we were supposed to quit, we should have quit from 2020. It's too late now, young people. It's too late now, and if we have not yet connected with Jesus, they said the the the the next best time is right now. They said, like somebody said, Oh, I wish uh the two best times are like 20 years ago, and the next best time is right now. Somebody said, Oh, I wish I'd planted a tree. Um the best time was 20 years ago and the next best time is right now. So the best time to really come in uh come into a relationship with Jesus is right now. It's 1207 right now because we don't know what 30 minutes from now holds. If you want to give your life, please, if you if you if you're here and you want to get said, stop me. Holler at the pastor, I'll just walk away. Praise the name of the Lord. So Paul said to know him in his death. Paul speaks of a crucified life. This refers to the daily surrender of this word. Wow, this is this is a big word, it has a big meaning, but a small word. Surrender of the ego and personal ambition. Paul realizes that the only way to experience the fullness of the resurrection is to first undergo the death of the old self. That's where we have our problems. The old self. But I said, just as Christ's death was an act of ultimate obedience and love. Obedience and love, Paul desires his life to be characterized by this same self-sacrificial position. That's the level of relationship Paul wanted with God. I feel like it's stopping right there. Please stand with me. Please stand with me. I have so much more to say, but I just feel the spirit that's not in me here. He said, by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. The ultimate goal is resurrection and eternal life. Let's let's not miss that. That's the ultimate goal is resurrection and eternal life. I was thinking this week, I was just thinking of praying. I was like, God, help me. Because guys, this is this is not it. What we're seeing right now, what we're experiencing, this is not it. It even if you're experiencing, you're living a good life, that's not it. Someone say, Oh, well, I'm married, I have my family, I have my good job, I have everything going from that's not it. That's good. That is good, but that is not it. Paul says that to experience resurrection and eternal life. Paul is focused on eternal life with Christ. That's what it's his focus was. What are we focusing on? It's a reflective question. What are we? What are you? What are what am I focusing on? No, really, think about it. What what are we really focusing on? Like we came this morning, we heard the word, we we enjoyed the love of the praise and worship, and we we gave, but what what are we really focusing on? Paul acknowledges that the final resurrection is a gift of grace and a future of hope, not a trophy has already earned. He also recognizes that the journey of faith requires perseverance until the very end. The altar is open, the altar is open. This morning, we want you to think about what are you really focusing on. Do you know him? And if the answer is no, then today the Bible said is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Watch this, not trying to scare anybody, but the altar is open, you can come. But it's the heat is it's getting hotter, it's getting tougher. What's going on in the world? It's no coincidence, it's it's not just a probability, it's not just somebody trying to be mischievous, it's Jesus coming back. Is Jesus is on his way, he's coming, hallelujah. The Bible said, any day now. Come, let's. If you have not known Jesus, come, we want to pray with you. We want you to come.

unknown 53:35

Come.

SPEAKER_00 53:35

Jesus is calling somebody this morning. Jesus is saying, if you are backsliding the house, Jesus is saying, Come home. Come, let's come, let's pray for you. Come. Come, let's pray. Let's pray with you. If we just can't get some some folks praying with those words, let's let's let's do a spiritual inventory right now. Do you know him? Let's check ourselves. Do you just want to know him? His power? Or you wanna partake? You wanna be a part of his suffering and and and and and resurrection? Do you wanna be a part of his of the hardship? Or you just wanna the benefits?