Christian-ish | Part 1: I Believe In God But Don't Know Him Very Well

quite a bit. But there is a suffix that is commonly used in informal English called ish, i-s-h. When you add it to the end of a word or words, it turns those words into vague approximate sort-ups. So for example, if you were trying to describe a color that's not really clear or definitive, you would say something like this, well, it's bluish. Or you would say, no, no, no, it's greenish. That is, you're saying it's somewhat blue or it's sort of green. For example, if you were to ask your child, is your room clean? And they said, cleanish. You know, it's a pig style. You know, they haven't touched it at all. What they're saying to you is, it's kind of clean. They're saying it's somewhat clean. So you get where we're going with that. Well, today we are starting a three-week series that we are calling Christian ish. And here's the driving force behind the concept and why we're calling it that. In 2012, a survey was conducted in cooperation with three different research groups who came together to form the study. The study revealed that, listen, three out of four people in the United States of America say that they believe in God. And even more surprising, seven in 10 actually said that they believe that Jesus was God's son who came into the world. But it was the following provocative question that caught my attention and is really the genesis of this series. But then when asked in what specific way that belief affected their daily actions and their daily decisions, the majority of those people had zero answer to give at all. In other words, what they say they believe did not actually translate into any true life change in any tangible way. It's a problem.

So here's how we're defining the term Christian ish. If you are Christian ish, you are someone who believes in God but actually goes on living your life as though he doesn't exist and you and I both know that this represents and describes a massive number of people because it has become very popular for people to talk about God, to speak about God or to reference God. We hear athletes talk about God. We hear politicians talk about God. We hear business leaders talk about God. Many people will reference God somewhere in some way but then when you actually see the things they do and the way they conduct themselves, you will often see something very, very different than what you would consider to be a God first life. But I want you to understand this isn't new. This isn't something that's just happened over the last hundred or two hundred years. Even close to the book of Acts at the very birthplace of Christianity 2000 years ago, this was still prevalent even after the term Christianity was coined by that New Testament church. There is a scripture where the Apostle Paul is talking to one of the young men that he had mentored over time by the name of Titus and he is describing a group of people that he encountered that lived in Greece and here's what he said to Titus about them. He said, "I have noticed that the Christians claim to know God but by their actions and the way they actually live, they deny him." Thousands and thousands of years Paul is describing people who were Christian-ish. So here's what we're going to do. I've prayed so much over this series for our church and for you and I personally. I want us to really start identifying what it means to truly live a life that doesn't simply acknowledge God. To live a life that doesn't simply reference God or talk about God but I want us over these next three weeks to really study what it looks like to truly live a life that honors God through our daily lives and the decisions that we make and the way we view the world. Because here's the truth.

The truth is it is entirely possible to be a fan of God and never be a true follower of Christ. It is possible to be a raving fan of God and never be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and let me go ahead and just say that this can even be true of people who have regularly attended church for many, many, many years. Because we must be very, very careful that we don't just find ourselves saying that we believe in God or being surrounded by religious things but then if our co-workers or our family or our close friends were called in to testify what they had seen and heard about the authenticity of our faith, there would not be any real evidence to prove that what we have is true. So here's what I believe. I believe over these next few weeks God is going to stretch us. Over these next few weeks God is going to challenge us. Over these next few weeks God is going to convict us and when I say us, I mean us. I mean me. I mean you. I mean all of us if we come to the Word with humility and openness so that He can ultimately help us grow deeper in intimacy and in our relationship with Him. So every week I'm going to tackle a big idea and the big idea that I want to tackle today They believe in God, but they do not really know Him. And this is a concept that I can really grasp and understand. Because years and years ago, I believed in Tina, but I didn't really know her, okay? I believed in her, but I didn't know her. We met each other when we were 14 years old, so I knew she was real, but I didn't really know her at all. In fact, because I didn't really know her, I despised her for many years. And the feeling was mutual, by the way, okay, let me just be clear about that. I knew she was fine. I thought she was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. But I also thought she was a prissy snob and stuck up. And she thought I was an arrogant, egotistical jerk.

Can you believe anything like that? Now for the record, I was totally wrong about her. She had me pegged. She had me nailed. That's exactly what I was. We had a very surface and superficial knowledge about each other. We really didn't know anything of substance. And because of our lack of knowledge, we formed all sorts of opinions about each other. And it kept us apart for many years. Again, I believed in her. That is, I knew she was real, but I didn't really know her. And that lack of knowledge robbed us of a relationship until we were a little older and finally got to know one another personally. Now today, after 35 years of marriage, I not only believe in her, but I know her in intimately. I know, I know so much about, I know her walk, and it's unique. I'm not going to expound on that, don't ask me to. But I can watch my wife, I can pick my wife out of a hundred people across the field walking. She has a very unique gate about her, and I can pick it out. I know her mannerisms, I know her unique proclivities, I know the little quirks about my wife like, when I slurp my coffee or don't rinse out my cereal bowl, she turns into Satan. I'm telling you, it's a problem, you know. And y'all need to help me pray about all this kind of stuff. Now she's right, and I'm wrong, but I'm just saying that it's the scene, bro. Okay. I can walk in a crowded room full of people talking, and I can immediately pick out the pitch of my wife's voice. I can hear my wife laugh across the field full of people and pick it out. She's got this weird thing I've never heard of it before. She's got this double sort of laugh that starts at a lower octave and then escalates

to a higher pitch. She goes, "Ha ha!" Like that. I don't know how. I've never heard it before, and I've never heard it since, but that, it's "Ha ha!" What is that? But that's her. It's what she does. Okay. I can pick it out across the room. I can tell you what my wife's gonna order at Carabas. I can tell you what she's gonna order at Roadhouse. I can tell you what she's gonna order at Sunnies, and just about any other restaurant rega. Now here's what's amazing. After all I know about her, and after all of these years, I really still am learning and getting to know her in new ways as the day go by. And the reality is this. I told you that to say, "God is amazing, and he is the creator and sustainer of the universe, and he created us on purpose with a purpose for a purpose, not to just believe that he exists. He didn't create us just so that we would go, "Yes, he is sustainer of it all. There is a master architect in the universe, and I believe in him." He created us, the Bible specifically says, so that we would cultivate and have a deep and meaningful and intimate relationship with him. He doesn't want to settle for a casual, cavalier relationship. We're not just buds. He wants to be intimate in our lives, and he wants us to be intimate with him. And so today what I want to do is I lay the foundation. I want to show you three different levels of interaction with God that I've observed

in people over these years of ministry. Show you what the Bible has to say about each one of these interactions. And as I preach through it, maybe today you will see yourself in one of these three. And my prayer as your pastor, my goal and my prayer, my sincere prayer is that no matter where you are right now or where you may be in your walk with God at present, that you and I through this series would ultimately grow deeper, deeper into the third category that I want to describe and talk about today. So three categories of interaction. Let me tackle the first one. Some people believe in God, but they do not know him at all. They really do believe in God, but they do not know him at all. I have heard a common response from many people when I would ask them through the years, "Are you a Christian?" And I would hear things like this, "Oh, yeah, my mom was a Catholic." I'm like, "Cool." Yeah, we went to Mass every Saturday, bro. Of course I'm a Christian. Or they would say, "My dad was the Baptist in every Christmas in Easter, baby. We were in church, every Christmas and Easter." And so, yes, of course I'm a Christian, bro, that will make you a Christian. So many people think that just being around a family that went to church or attending vacation Bible school or somewhere as a small child, you were baptized is not even close to constituting what a meaningful relationship with God is all about. Let me give you the redneck version. Just because you stick your head in heaven don't make you a biscuit. Okay? Now that's where biscuits are made. process happens there and you're getting close but just because you Just 'cause you go to church, don't make you a Christian. Just 'cause you reach your Bible, don't make you a Christian.

Just because your uncle was a pastor doesn't make you a Christian. Just 'cause your mother went to church doesn't make you a Christian. I'm gonna show you a verse today. There are so many verses that tell us what an authentic relationship with God looks like, but I'm gonna show you one that I think does a better job than any verse in the Bible. This is a big statement, and I wanna read it to you out of the message translation because Eugene Peterson did such a great job when he translated the Bible in the message, and it just cuts to the core of actually what it means. It's so clear what it means to know God in the right way. So let me read it to you, hold on to your hats. Here's what he said, here's how we can be sure that we know God in the right way by keeping his instructions. He didn't say, here's how you're gonna know you're with your, you know God the right way because you go to church every Sunday. He didn't say, you'll know you're right with God. If you memorized the Bible and could quote it at hand. He didn't say you'll know that you're right with God. If you know other worship songs and you're the first one to raise your hands and sing as loud as you possibly can. He didn't say, you'll know you're right with God, even if you treat people the way you wanna be treated.

He said, you'll know you're right with God if you keep his instructions. Watch this, if someone claims I know him well, but doesn't keep his commandments, he's obviously not telling the truth. His life does not match his words, but the one who keeps God's word is the person in whom you can see God's love lived out. Anyone who claims to be intimate, now listen to this man, he goes for the jugular. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to be living the same kind of life that Jesus lived, his instructions. What does he mean, his instructions on what? His instructions on everything. He's saying that when you subscribe to God's instructions on everything in life and you obey them, that's how you know that you truly love God and your intimate with God. His instructions on relationship and sexuality. See, we live in a world that wants that to be blended and wants it to be cavalier and wants it to be watered down, but when you read the word of God and you love God, you're gonna understand that sexuality, all of it is one man, one woman in the covenant of marriage and anything outside of that is sin. Now I didn't write it, that's just what it says. It's what the Bible says. And you're gonna live that way. You're gonna subscribe to that.

It isn't following his instructions on marriage. That a man should not live only for himself, but that a husband should love his wife as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it and he puts his wife above himself. And that a woman would respond to that leadership and respect the leadership of her husband and they would be unified in the instructions of the Lord. It's believing what his instructions said about money. People are hoping I won't go to that one, but it's true. Jesus taught more on money that he did, Heaven or Hell combined, why? Because he knew that nothing was in competition for our hearts more than greed. And so he talked about stewardship and discipleship and he talked about giving him our first and best so that it doesn't gain a foothold in our heart and that we would be truly surrendered to the lordship of Christ. It's not about getting money out of our wallets, it's about getting idols out of our hearts. And when we read the word and we follow his instructions, John said, now you know that you're following him the right way, his instructions on commitment consistency, his instructions on attitude and speech. This is what he's saying. John says if someone claims that they have a relationship with God, but there is no sense of wanting to live by his word or a desire to follow his teaching, then their claims of a relationship are not true.

And I fear that there are a lot of people, bro, in this world that are ultimately deceived in believing that everything is right between them and God because they do a lot of religious things. We must be very careful to never mistake knowledge about God for a genuine relationship with God because you can know all about bread and starve to death. You can know all about water and die of dehydration. Listen to me carefully. It is possible to miss eternity in heaven by 18 inches. The difference between your head and your heart. You can miss all of it by 18 inches. And honestly, I know exactly what that's all about. My dad was a pastor for 32 years. I was raised in church, man. I heard the Bible taught all the time. I tell people all the time. When I was just five years old, I had a drug problem. I was drugged to Sunday morning church. I was drugged to Sunday night church. I was drugged to Monday night prayer meeting. I was drugged to Wednesday night Bible study. I was drugged to Friday morning men's bread, bro. If going to church constitutes getting in, I'm a first loader, baby. I'm a first loader, but it didn't, right? I heard it preached. I watched my dad preach it and live it faithfully. And still I chose a terrible path as a young teen. And it just got progressively worse.

Now I knew about God, and let me tell you this. I knew the Bible. I really did. I'm ashamed to tell you what I'm gonna tell you. but I just wanted to be so clear about what I'm describing today because I went to a private school for three years and they taught us memorization in the Bible. And one of the things that we did was we memorized when I was in fourth grade, all of Hebrews chapter 11, I could quote it, can still quote it to this day. And when I was 16 years old, we would get stoned out of our minds and my friends knew that I knew it and we would get drunk and stoned and just for fun, they would say, "Hey, Jay, man, quote, quote, Hebrews 11." And I would quote it, stoned out of my head and they would just laugh and laugh and laugh. I don't know how God didn't just give a man. Let's just get rid of this one, right? I'm ashamed of that. But here's what I'm telling you. I was in church and I even had the Bible in my head, but I was 18 inches away from God, from eternity. And if anything would have happened to me, I would have missed it by 18 inches. Listen, man, I wanna say this to you. A relationship with God according to 1 John 2 and according to many other scriptures. Bro, it's not a head thing.

You can know all about these things and not have, you can know all about God, you can know all about the Bible. You could even study theology and miss all of it. It's not a hands thing trying to somehow earn your way to God or do enough good deeds or live moral enough or try to live by the golden rule. The Bible tells us that if we could earn our way to God, that Jesus died on that cross for nothing. We could not earn our way so he had to do what we could not do for ourselves. It's not a head thing, it's not a hand thing. Bro, it's a heart thing. A relationship with God is a heart thing where we surrender all of our lives to him and then depend on his strength to help us live out every day. What it truly means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring our lives under surrender and submission to the lordship of Jesus. So there's some people that believe in God, they really believe in God, but they don't know him at all. Then there's a second category that I think envelopes a tremendous amount of people to. It's this, some people believe in God and know him. They still know him very well. They just really don't know him very well. Now, you may have never heard this name before. If you're a little bit older, maybe you did and you were a sports nut, you may not know who Jerry Lucas is, but he's quite a remarkable guy.

He was a basketball prodigy, and I do not use that word lightly. He was a basketball prodigy, and I'll give you his resume in a minute. You'll be impressed, but this is Jerry Lucas. In 1960, for example, Jerry led the Ohio State Buckeyes to a national championship, as well as three consecutive NCAA titles. That same year he played on the United States Olympic team in one gold. He was named the NCAA Player of the Year twice, and to this day remains the only player in history to be named Big Ten Player of the Year three consecutive times. Jerry was an NBA All-Star on seven occasions, was named Rookie of the Year in 1964, was named the NBA's most valuable player in 1965. He played for the New York Knicks in '72 and won the NBA championship. He was inducted in the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield in 1980 and was named by ESPN as one of the 50 greatest players of all time. Now, I bet Jerry had a fellowship for Christian athletes event in Jacksonville. It was a three day event, it was a national FCA thing, and I was assigned a table, and Jerry was sitting at that table. And of course we started to talk, and we really hit it off, and we ended up having dinner three or four times that week.

We played golf several times. I even had him come and speak at our church in Lake City when my brother and I passed it together. He is an amazing athlete, but to tell you he's an even awesome more Christian. He loves the Lord with all of his heart. Now, here's what I wanted you to know. We talked, we had dinner, I know Jerry, but the truth is I don't know him very well. I know him, but I don't know him very well. I've never been to Jerry's home. I've never met Jerry's wife. I've never met his children. I know his stats, and I know his general personality, but truthfully, I don't know what makes Jerry tick. I don't know what he loves, what he dislikes. I couldn't really say that we are close friends. I never had that kind of relationship with Jerry. I know him, I just don't know him very well. The reality is, please listen, there are many people in this world, and even in the church, that share the same kind of relationship with God. At some point, they've actually had an experience with God. They really did have a moment where they connected with God initially. They heard the word of God preached. They responded to the gospel. They asked Jesus to forgive them and come into their lives, and he did, but that's it.

Since that day, they have never grown one step deeper in their relationship with God or maturity in their faith. They heard the word, but they've never grown beyond there. They know God, they just don't know him very well. There's many people that's been informed about God, but not truly transformed by Christ. Listen, they have just enough Jesus to secure their eternity, but not enough Jesus to change their everyday life. but not enough Jesus to change their everyday life. Their sins indeed have been forgiven. They are in the family of God. But since that time, there is not one ounce of spiritual growth that has ever happened in their life. They're not any deeper in their relationship with God than they were 20 years ago when they prayed that prayer. There's not one tangible thing in their life that they can point to that identifies true change where Christ has actually moved in their life and made a difference. They've never developed anything deeper. They've never grown in intimacy and allowed him to do a holy work in their lives where the spirit of God comes in and challenges us and convicts us about those things in our life that are not like Christ. Those things in us that have not grown beyond that spiritual place where we first gave our lives to Him. There's not been any of that development that's happened in discipleship in our life. Paul was writing to a large group

of brand new Christians in Galatia about this very issue that I'm talking about. I want to read it to you again in the message and he's talking about what it means to go forward and keep growing in greater things with God. But there is this phrase at the end that I want to point out to you. Here's what he said. He said earlier before you knew God personally, you were enslaved by God's, little gods, that had nothing divine about them at all. But now that you know the real God and since God knows you, why, listen, why would you keep subjecting yourself again to those paper tigers? What is he talking about when he says paper tigers? He's describing things that seem ominous and powerful, but really are not. In other words, Paul is saying once we have been personally and intimately connected to the one true God who has the power to break every chain in our lives, why in the world would we ever settle for a mediocre experience and only walk in the minimum that God has for us? Why would we settle for that? Why would we still be bound even though we've been saved by things that have bound us in life? Why would we be satisfied with just getting to minimum God offers when we now have access to God's incredible life-changing power?

Why would we stop? Why would we settle and not go forward? See again, I know what it's like to be saved and then constantly feel the pull of my flesh and the pull of the world back to those things that are not like Christ. I fought it when I first got saved for years. I struggled while trying to break three of things that had addicted me, but I remember the day in the place where I was when I finally figured out that if I gave all of me to God, then I would get all of God for me. See, you will not receive all of God until it gets all of you. There is no power in the partially surrendered life. You don't get to forfeit just a little portion of your life and then see the glory of God be revealed in all of your life. It doesn't work that way. When you go all in, God goes all in with you. And when I did that, I realized things that I struggled with for years that I thought I would never break free from. God delivered me from. They were actually paper tigers and the secret to defeating them was full surrender to God. Full surrender to God. When I finally said, I'm done playing games with God. I'm done just going to church. I'm done just thinking because I treat people a little better than I used to treat people. I'm a little kinder and a little more polite

and I'm trying to be a better husband and somehow everything's cool. When I was still holding on to portions of my heart that I had not fully surrendered to God. It was only when I said, that's it, man. I am dead to myself and I am only alive in Christ. And from this day forward, I am not going to half but this. You get all of me and that means I'll go anywhere you ask me to go, I'll do anything you ask me to do. And I'm actually going to tailor the energies of my life to conform to this book. I'm actually going to do it. And what I did, I ran headlong into a power that I didn't even really knew existed and what could happen in my life and not just mine, it'll happen in your life too. So there's a group of people that believe in God and don't know him at all. Then there's a big group of people, man, even in the church that believe in God and they know him. They just don't know him very well. They've not grown at all. But this third category is where my prayer is that you and I and all of us as a fellowship, all of us as a church that we would grow to exorbitantly and that's this. I believe in God, I know him intimately, man. And I serve him wholeheartedly. I believe in God. I know him intimately and I serve him wholeheartedly. When this happens, God isn't just a Sunday thing anymore.

He's not just this thing you do for one hour on the weekend. God into this particular box. Then we bring Him out only when it's time and then we put Him back in the corner when it's over and move on to something else until it's time again next week to bring Him out again. It's when God becomes central. He becomes the pivot point. He becomes the nucleus of all of our lives, and first in every way. Our speech becomes filtered through our relationship with God. Our actions become filtered through our relationship with God. Our attitudes begin to reflect the grace and goodness of God in everything we say and in everything we do. It's waking up and instead of saying, "Lord, would you bless what I'm going to do today?" It's waking up and surrendering with humility and saying, "Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Would you help me be a part of what you're blessing and give me the strength to honor you in every way today?" That's the difference. That's the difference. We pray these prayers, man, and we do it without even thinking about it. God, would you give me the promotion? God, would you bless me this way? God, would you do this for me? God, would you honor this? And there's nothing wrong. Listen, Bible does tell us to cast all of our cares upon Him because He cares for us. There is a petition, part of prayer that is biblical, but that's all we do. For many of us, that's all we do. We never pray prayers of submission. We very rarely pray prayers of surrender. We very rarely pray prayers of, again, His will be done not our will. What we really want Him to do is our will. We want Him to bless what we're doing, but that's not what it means to know Him intimately and to serve Him wholeheartedly. It means to put His will above our own and say, "Lord, help me be a part of what you're doing today and give me the strength that everybody I interact with." They'll see Jesus in and through me and give you the glory. At this level, we truly discover the real difference and authentic relationship with Christ can make. I want to say this to you. I'm telling you now that people who settle for a superficial relationship with God never, ever, ever taste or understand what we talk about when we talk about true joy, they don't know it. They've never truly experienced peace that absolutely passes all understanding because they've never went all in with God. They have never experienced the very best that God has to offer. You will never know the fullness of the joy of the Lord in your life. You will never know the fullness of the peace of God. You will never know the fullness of the freedom that He can provide

until you go all in, all the way, all day, every day with God. Now, let me wrap this up by saying this to you. I want to ask you a question and I want you to contemplate it. I want you to think about it, really. I want you to wrestle with it all day. How well do you really know God? How well do you really know God? I didn't ask you how often do you come to church? Because you can come to church and never miss church for a whole year or 10 years and never really know God intimately. I didn't ask you, do you reach your Bible? Please keep doing that. I didn't ask you, do you pray over your meal? You try to treat people the way you want to be good? Keep doing all that. How well would you say you really know God? And I thought about how to do this today to close. I thought about one of the ways that you can tell how well you know someone is by what name you call them. Think about that for a moment. You can know how intimate you are with someone by what you call them. And I thought about my life. What people call me determines the level of relationship I have with them or how well they know me. For example, if I pick up my phone and I hear, "Is this Jonathan Johns?" Bro, you don't know me. You're trying to show me something. I just hung up on you. I just hung up. If you call me Pastor Mark, you're part of our church family or you're in our community and you know that I pastor Canvas Church, and you probably actually know a good bit about me. You know I'm married? You know I have children? You know I love to bow hunt? You might even be connected with me on Facebook as friends or you might follow me on Instagram. If you call me Jay Mark, you know me on a little bit different level because my close friends do not call me Pastor Mark. Joby does not call me Pastor Mark. Phil does not call me Pastor Mark and in Clayton, they just call me Jay Mark. So when we're hanging out, it's just Jay. Then I have some of my longest friends in the world that are like true brothers to me. We've been hunting together for 30 years, every year together for 30 years. We spend deer camp together. We grew up together. They just call me Marky Mark. So if I hear Marky Mark, we're killing something. That's just what's going on. Then there's two people in the world, only two Well, Tina, when Colton was one, was trying to get him to say, "Grandpa, grandpa, grandpa." She would pronounce it grand. He would go, "Pupa, poo-pah, poo-pah." So that's just where it is.

She's moved, and he's 10 years old, and he still calls us that, so that just stuck. Then there's only two people in this world that call me dad or daddy. They know me in a way that very few people will know me. They've seen me at my worst, they've seen me at my best, they've seen me try to be a good father, they've seen me be a bad father. They've seen me try to be a good husband, they've seen me be a bad husband, they've seen me in all types of situations, and through all of that they still love me, and I'm grateful. But then there's just this one person, there's just this one person in the world, only one that commonly calls me babe or baby, and she knows me in a way that no other single human on this planet knows me. I share the ultimate level of intimacy with this one person in life, and no one knows me the way that Tina Jones knows me. So here's what I'm saying. How you refer to God says a lot about your relationship with him, and I want to show you a scripture that proves it. Watch this. Those who know your name, Psalm 9, trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you. Those who know your name, trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon them who search for you. So how do you refer to God? If you call him the big man upstairs, you don't know him. And I hear it all the time, the big man upstairs, bro, you don't know him. If you pray little Ricky Bobby prayers, dear six-pound eight-ounce baby Jesus and your little golden fleece diapers, you don't know him, you don't know him. If you call him Father, you're starting to get somewhere. If you call him Savior, you've understood and tasted what it means to be bound by sin and to know the forgiveness that happened on the cross and the grace of God that's came into your life. And that's even better, but let me tell you this.

When you call him Lord, something shifts. When you call him Lord, something has shifted. Now he's not just something, he is everything in your life. He is not just in your life, he is first in your life, and he is before all things in your life. You have made him the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, and all of your life is submitted and surrendered to him. And when that happens, hold on. When that happens, there is a seismic shift that happens in your life, that happens in your soul, that happens in your mind. And every day of your life, you will see the tangible fruit and the evidence of the Holy Spirit operating in and through your life. For some of you in this room, one of the reasons why you have questioned how you've been saved so long and not seen more of the power of God is that you called him Father in Savior, but you never made him Lord. You're still sitting on the throne of your heart, calling the shots and asking God to bless your thing. He won't do it. Now you may go to heaven, but he didn't die for just us to go to heaven. You need to understand that. If that was the case, they would erect a funeral home besides every church, and as soon as some people gave their lives to Christ, God would go ahead and kill you, and then we'd go ahead and just have a celebration and usher you into heaven. And he saved you and left you on this planet to serve the purposes and the glory of God. That you and I would be the light of the world, a city that's settled in a hill that cannot be hid, the salt of the earth, that our lives would be the canvas, that God paints his masterpiece on the broken, fragmented part of our lives through his grace. When you go beyond Father and you go beyond Savior, and you truly make him Lord, everything is about to shift, and you are about to experience a part of God that no preacher could ever explain to you.

That is the power of surrender. Let's pray.