Know God Personally | Pastor Daniel Floyd

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Good morning, Gateway Church family. Hey, who's excited to be in the house of the Lord this morning? Come on. Well, hey, it is Hispanic Heritage Month, and so today we're going to sing to the Lord in both English and Spanish, and it's going to be just a glimpse of Heaven. It's all across this room. Let's put our attention on the Lord, Lord. Lord, we thank You. Lord, we praise You this morning. Lord, we thank You that we can have joy. Lord, that there is freedom in Your presence. Come on, let's put our hands together. Let's declare this out. I've got joy. (upbeat music) And I've got joy in the morning. Joy in the evening You keep me dancing in every season. Whatever comes tomorrow, I've got joy. Oh, we honor You, Lord. (upbeat music) So why would I sing? Sing of Your praises,

even when troubles come? Why would I not worship forever 'cause I've seen the good You've done? And I'm not ashamed. I'm a citizen. I'm not afraid anymore. I've got joy in the morning. Joy in the evening You keep me dancing in every season. Whatever comes tomorrow, I've got joy. Oh, I've got joy. Oh, we praise Your joy. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) I've got joy in the morning, joy in the evening You keep me tense in every season Whatever comes tomorrow, oh I've got joy Thank you Lord, I've got joy in the sunshine Joy in the rain, you keep me tense You get it, get it, get it Whatever comes tomorrow, oh I've got joy, joy, joy Down in my heart, I've got joy, joy, joy All we receive in today, I've got joy, joy, joy Down in my heart, I've been here Oh I've got joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart, I've got joy, joy, joy Down in my heart, I've got joy, joy, joy Down in my heart, I've been here Come on, give him a shout and pray Thank you Lord, thank you Lord Yes, Lord, we look to you this morning We declare that your name as majestic is great Lord, you are good Declare your greatness in this place Lift your voice and magnify the Lord Earth and heaven singing one accord Know the animal's glory is the one truth in God Lift your voice and magnify the Lord Come on, this is our response Oh Lord, our Lord, you are greatly to be praised How majestic is your name Oh and all the earth and oh Lord and all the Lord

Father, do your God's reign How majestic is your name and all the earth Testify, testify to all that he has done Bear witness to the cross in his great love Explore his recovery, the final, the battle One thank you Jesus, testify to all that he has done We declare, and oh Lord and all the earth You are greatly to be praised How majestic is your name and all the earth And oh Lord and all the earth Father, do your God's reign How majestic is your name and all the earth Oh and all the earth Oh we give you praise to Jesus Our, our worth to your name Can we see praise the Lord, O praise the Lord And oh Lord the name is worthy, praise the Lord And worship the King, come on, this is powerful O praise the Lord, this Lord the name is worthy, O praise the Lord Worship the King, come on, this is holy O praise the Lord, this is holy O praise the Lord, this is worthy, praise the Lord Worship the King, come on, this is holy O Lord and all the earth You are greatly to be praised How majestic is your name and all the earth In the Lord and all the earth Father, do your God's reign How majestic is your name and all the earth

And oh Lord and all the earth You are greatly to be praised How majestic is your name and all the earth Oh Jesus ♪ Oh Lord, how do you know you've got to be ready ♪ ♪ I'm a text that keeps your name in love ♪ ♪ Oh we sing praise Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Lord the name is Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O worship the King of glory ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O'er the name is Lord ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ ♪ O worship the King of glory ♪ ♪ O Lord our Lord ♪ ♪ You were greatly to be praise ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ O Lord our Lord ♪ ♪ Honor you've got to be ready ♪ ♪ O Lord Jesus ♪ ♪ So lay your whole life down before the King ♪ ♪ And draw for these surrender everything ♪ ♪ And Jesus is our gray reward for all eternity ♪ ♪ So lay your whole life down before the King ♪ ♪ And Jesus is our gray reward for all eternity ♪ ♪ So lay your whole life down before the King ♪ ♪ Yes, Jesus, we surrender, we surrender ♪ - Let's sing that chorus one more time together. ♪ O Lord our Lord ♪

♪ You are greatly to be praise ♪ ♪ Lift your voice ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ O Lord our Lord ♪ ♪ Honor you've got to be ready ♪ ♪ How majestic is your name in all the earth ♪ ♪ In all the earth ♪ ♪ His name is so great, amen ♪ ♪ It's great and greatly to be praised ♪ ♪ His name is mighty, His name is holy ♪ ♪ His name is our strong tower ♪ ♪ Do you believe that this morning ♪ ♪ Everything we need is in His name today ♪ ♪ He's our great God, He never changes ♪ ♪ He's the same yesterday, today and forever ♪ ♪ He's so good and He's so faithful ♪ ♪ God we thank you today that nothing compares to you ♪ ♪ And whether we brought in to this place ♪ ♪ Situations in our lives that might seem overwhelming ♪ ♪ Circumstances, maybe we brought sickness into this place today ♪ ♪ That's in our bodies ♪ ♪ Lord we thank you that your name is greater than all of those things ♪ ♪ And so we look to you today ♪ ♪ We declare by faith, pressing past what we may feel ♪ ♪ Pressing past what we may see in the natural ♪ ♪ We declare by faith that you are our great God ♪ ♪ And we look to you and you alone today ♪ ♪ You know this song, I'd love for you to sing it with me ♪ ♪ Oh Lord my God ♪ ♪ When I am awesome under ♪

♪ Come sit around ♪ ♪ The world's eyes have made ♪ ♪ I see the stars ♪ ♪ And I hear the rolling thunder ♪ ♪ Thy power through mouth ♪ ♪ And the universe displayed ♪ ♪ Come on church we lift our voice ♪ ♪ And then it seems my soul ♪ ♪ My Savior God to thee ♪ ♪ How great thou ♪ Then since my soul must save you, God, to thee. How great thou art! How great thou art! Sing it again and sing it, let's save my soul. Now I'll save you, God, to thee. How great thou art! How great thou art! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Sing it again and sing it again and sing it again. How great thou art! How great thou art! How great thou art! How great thou art! How great thou art! You're so great, Lord, yes you are. Yes, yes you are, yes you are. There's no one like you, there's no one like you. You are the one, creation obeys when you speak. Dark turns to light, death comes to life. Jesus when you breathe.

You are the one, call me the wind and the waves. You'll make a way, you promise remains. God you never change, you're so good Lord. You were, you are, you always will be God alone. Sing it on the throne, king of majesty. You reign in victory, you are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. Sing it on the throne, Jesus be glorified, forever lifted high. Forever lifted high. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. You are, you always will be God alone. ♪ Here your people see ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ Now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ Thou most Lord your heart ♪ ♪ Be His shoes ♪

♪ Thou most Lord your heart ♪ ♪ Be ♪ ♪ All His same praises ♪ ♪ Thou most Lord your heart ♪ ♪ Be ♪ ♪ Thou most Lord your heart ♪ ♪ Be ♪ ♪ Thou most Lord your heart ♪ ♪ Be ♪ ♪ All His same praises ♪ ♪ Thou most Lord your heart ♪ ♪ You love that you are ♪ ♪ You always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seeing it on the road ♪ ♪ King of all majesty ♪ ♪ You praise your glory ♪ ♪ You love that you are ♪ ♪ You always will be God alone ♪ ♪ Seeing it on the road ♪ ♪ Jesus be glory in our eyes ♪ ♪ Forever lifted our eyes ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ Now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪ ♪ Now and forevermore ♪ ♪ All the glory is yours ♪

♪ All the glory is yours ♪ - Thank you, Lord. Come on, Church, let's give him glory. Let's give him honor. Let's give him praise. He deserves all of the glory. You know, we just declared all the glory is yours. And it's interesting in the Bible, the word glory is connected to a few things. First of all, it communicates the idea of a weightiness, that there's a strength of presence there. But it also just communicates the idea of giving honor or praise to someone or something. But then there's a sense that with glory, it's also connected to what you're famous for. In other words, we would say that Michael Jordan's glory is basketball. It's what he's famous for. He's known to be the best basketball player ever if you don't believe that we're gonna pray for you right now. But he's considered to be the best at what he does. It's his glory. So now think about this in the context of Exodus, chapter 33. In verse 18, Moses is having a conversation with God and he says to him, "Show me your glory." And so listen to what God says to him in Exodus 33, verse 19. It says, "And the Lord said, 'I will cause all my goodness "to pass in front of you.'"

In other words, you wanna know what I'm the best at? You wanna know what no one else can touch me on? It's my goodness. I am so much better at being good than everyone else. I declare that's my glory. And you may be here today and you go, "Well, Pastor Gilani, man, "it certainly doesn't feel like that right now." Can I just tell you in the most loving and kind way that I possibly can, that your life experience is not the courtroom for God's character? Your life experience is not the courtroom for God's character. In other words, what you're going through right now doesn't determine whether God's good or not. He's already said, "I'm good and I do good, "and I will work everything out for good and for glory." (congregation applauding) And so I just wanna take a moment today and I wanna pray for you because some of us today just need to be reminded. No, he's good. He's good. And he actually says this, "My goodness and my mercy will follow you, "that you can taste and see that I'm good, "and that you will see the goodness of God." And so I just wanted to clear that over you today. Would you just bow your heads and close your eyes? And if you'd say, Pastor John,

would you include me in that word? I need to be reminded today of his goodness. Just raise your hand, you don't need to be embarrassed. This is what church is about. Just wanna pray for you, Father. You see the hands that are up all across this auditorium and those that are joining us online. We simply pray right now. Would you show them your goodness in Jesus' name? Amen, amen church. One more time, can we give God praise? (congregation applauding) Well, it was so great worshiping with you today and specifically worshiping today in English and in Spanish. Come on, somebody, they had asked me if I wanted to lead a song in Spanish and then they found out I couldn't speak Spanish so it made it complicated. Anyway, we love our Spanish community. We have a large Spanish community here and we love them for many reasons. But one of the reasons is that they make our church look more like heaven. I wanna remind you that the Bible says in the book of Revelations that John peered into heaven and what he saw, he saw every tongue, every tribe, and every nation of worshiping God. And so guess what we experienced a moment ago?

We got to get a taste of heaven and what it's gonna be like when we get there and so we love our Spanish community. So thankful that God has brought every color, culture, and class here to worship Christ. Amen, amen. Well, as we continue in the service, I do just wanna take a moment and welcome all of you to Gateway Church. If you are here for the very first time or maybe the first time in a long time, we are so thrilled you chose to worship with us and we would love the opportunity to personally connect with you. And so there's a couple of ways to do that. First of all, you can just take out your phone and tap the seat in front of you. There's a tap tag on the back and you can click on I'm New Here and we can follow up with you that way. Or after service out in the lobby, there's an area called Connect Central and I'll be there along with some of our leaders but love to meet you, shake your hand, answer any questions that you have. Or if you're joining us online, you can just text the word Connect to 71010. Well, Pastor Daniel has a great message for us as he continues the series, "This Is Us", but before we turn our attention to him,

why don't you turn to two or three people, greet them and welcome them to Gateway Church. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, welcome to church, everybody. How are we today? - Good. - You doing good, doing good? - So glad that you're here. Wanna say hello to all of our campuses. Everyone joining us online or on demand later in the week or some other time. Of course, our Gateway gatherings and our prison campuses. And if you're here for the first time or the first time in a while, we just welcome you. Come on, cross every campus, let's put our hands together and welcome everybody that's with us today. Well, we had an event last night in DC and we got to join together with Gateway Worship. I got to share a little bit of the Word of God. And then me El San Marcos, who's part of our Gateway Español community. And it was just a powerful night. We came together in Washington, DC and packed out theater and we lifted up the name of Jesus. We declared the Word of God. It was an incredible night. I just want you to know that God is using what he's doing, not just in Wyoming and in Texas,

but in a lot of other places. And be praying for worship. They're actually going to be on a tour this fall with Tarn Wells. And so cover them in your prayer. They'll be out several dates and just doing what we do best, lifting up Jesus and pointing everybody to him. Maybe on everyone. So powerful, powerful night together, which means I got home. Tammy and I did super, super late. So I'm preaching on about five hours of sleep, everybody. I'll just be real honest with you, but it's going to be fun. (congregation laughing) Guarantee you that. I do want to say real quick, if you'll give me the moment to do that, is it's my wife's birthday today. Everyone, so happy birthday, babe. If you're in ministry, birthdays on Sundays are not birthdays. So we'll celebrate it another day, but happy birthday. Happy birthday. - Well, we're in this series right now called This Is Us. We're talking about God's vision for his church. How many of you know that he is the chief shepherd of this church, that we're here and we're temporary, but he's been building this church for thousands of years. And so we looked at what is the scripture say that God's vision for his church is and what does that mean for the future of our church?

not to say God, come bless what we're doing, our responsibility is get in line with what God's doing. And that's the thing he'll bless. And so we're gonna continue in that today before we do, let me pray for us. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. So Holy Spirit, we ask that you would speak to us. God, may we be challenged, may we be changed. May we not lead this place the same. We believe your word has the power to do transformative work in our hearts and minds. So we're ready to receive, we're postured, ready to receive from you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Everyone said amen. All right, so I wanna give you a little bit of review. Last week, if you missed it, I really wanna encourage you to go back and watch last week's 'cause it really is beginning to set the course of a lot of what we're giving our focus and attention to here at the church. But we started out looking at this idea that what God really wants for every person on the planet is this, is that simply that they would become disciples. That the heart of God, it's over and over in the scripture. Every gospel, we have what's called the great commission in some form in the book of Acts, Acts 1, 8, we have it again. And in these he tells us, God's gonna give us power.

That's the power of the Holy Spirit, so you need that. And he's giving that to us so that we can go and make disciples. He doesn't say go and make events. He doesn't even say go and make churches. How many of you know churches are temporary? How many of you know gateway won't be in heaven? There'll be no buildings, right? These are temporary vehicles to get us to the ultimate thing, which is to be a disciple and to be around the throne saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Are y'all with me? Some of you are like, well, where will I go to church on Sunday? You'll be in the presence of the one who saved you. You'll be in church every day, all day, everyone, all right? So our job is to make disciples while we're on the earth. And so I gave you a simple definition of what a disciple is to give you a picture of it. And simply this, it's someone who is moving. That's an important word. You can't be a disciple if you're stuck. It's a continual progression. You never arrive at a point and go, I made it. I've arrived as a Christian. Does that happen? So someone that's moving to what? Deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and to his church.

Now add to his church there because I just wanna say, in a day where a lot of people like to dog the church, it is the vehicle through which Jesus is building the kingdom of God. He said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Are y'all following me? I love the church. I'm for the church. The best days of the church are still ahead. I love God's church. I love gateway church. And the best days of this church, you should love your church, everybody. There's nothing wrong with loving your church. And don't let anybody else social tell you, you shouldn't love your church. The body of Christ is the hope of the world. The church mobilized is the hope of the world. All right, we'll stop there. I'm just reviewing, sorry. And so how do you move to deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and his church? Well, it happens a step at a time and we all know this. If you have been walking with Jesus any amount of time, you know that the process of growing in God is simply a few steps forward and sometimes a couple back. And then a few steps forward and then sometimes you fall. It's like leech teaching a child to walk. They take a few steps and then sometimes they fall

and then they get back up and they do it again till they're walking and they're running and then they're stable on their own two legs. And this is discipleship. So it happens a step at a time. So if that's true, then what are the steps? And I believe the scripture shows us the overall steps God wants from Exodus chapter six in the four I will statements. You need to go read that and watch last week's message. All the way to Luke, whenever Jesus takes the scroll in the temple as a young kid and opens the scroll of Isaiah, you see the pattern again, all the way to Colossians where Paul says, this is what I want for the church in Colossae and you see the pattern again and then Ephesians, whenever Paul prays the pastoral prayer for the church at Ephesus, you see the same pattern again and this is the pattern. He wants every lost person saved. And he wants every saved person pastored. Because like the nation of Israel, just because you come out of Egypt doesn't mean Egypt got out of you. You need to get free from some things of your yesterday and you need someone to pastor you through that. And that pastoring doesn't have to happen by someone who's a professional minister. Are you all with me? The church isn't meant for you to come and watch ministers do ministry.

So he wants lost people saved, saved people pastored, pastored people developed because there's a call of God on your life. I don't know if you know that. That God has a purpose for you and a plan for you and a great calling. You are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he decided you should do beforehand before you were ever born. He had a plan and a purpose for your life. onto the mission of Jesus, 'cause the ultimate end of every believer is not just to raise your hand and give your life to Christ. It's that you would become a disciple who has been mobilized making the difference in the world around you. If you're all with me, say amen. And so I showed you last week, I didn't come up with this language. I actually put over 100 people together in focus groups and said, well, you figure out language that says what the Bible says in ways that we can remember it. And so this is what we said, our purpose, as a church is this, it's to lead people, all of us, this is what we're all doing. We're gonna lead people to know God personally, to grow in faith and to live on mission. We're gonna see lost people saved, know God personally. We're gonna help people grow in faith,

save people pastored and pastored people developed. And then we're gonna live on mission, develop people mobilized to make a difference in the world around you, know, grow and live. And as long as I get the privilege of being the pastor here, and dear God, please don't make me move again. Just wanna throw that out there. Really don't wanna do that again. You're gonna hear me say, we're gonna lead people to know God personally, to grow in faith and to live on mission. Because I don't get to invent the vision of God's church and God already spelled it out in the scriptures. And so we're gonna do what he's told us to do. Can I get a better amen at God's house? So I want us to visit a little bit, and that's what we'll do for taking a little deeper over the next few weeks. I want us to look at this thought of to know God personally, that we exist to lead people to know God personally. How many of you know that you can know a lot about somebody and they'll have no idea who you are? I mean, some of you, like you can know all the stats, stats of your favorite quarterback or of some influencer, like you can know, especially with social media, and some of you have turned into private investigators, you're like, "Well, did you know that they know?" And I was looking on their Instagram and I'm like,

"Wow, you should be a detective." Tammy? (congregation laughing) That's so true. Actually, if I want to know anything, I'm like, "Babe, do you know anything about this?" (congregation laughing) You can know so much stuff, but if they were to run into you on the road, they'd have no idea who you are. And I think sometimes we treat God that way. Like he's a celebrity and we know some things about him. We know some of his stats and some of his quotes and some of his all-time top hits and we know some of the stories and the parables, but if he were to show up in our life, we may not recognize him because there's a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally. There's a big difference between having some academic understanding which I'm all for knowledge. If you know anything about my story, I'm all for knowledge, I'm all for understanding, but there's a big difference between having an intellectual assent to the precepts and principles that Jesus teaches and the truths about God and having an intimate relationship with God. And I want us to know as a church, and I hope you know this,

I just want to point us back to it today, that that is the goal. The goal is not that we would know about him. The goal is that we would know him. I mean, like, you know how you've ever been talking to someone and they're trying to tell you about somebody you really know, and they kind of know. And all the while they're talking, you're like, you don't know them. (congregation laughing) Especially if something great has happened in their life or they've done, they're like, oh, I know them. Yeah, I knew them when they were kids. It's like, you don't. What's their coffee order? (congregation laughing) You know what I mean? What color are their eyes? There's a big difference between knowing about someone and knowing when you know someone, you know the things they like, the idiosyncrasies of their life. You know the color of their eyes. You know their voice. Bunch of kids can be playing, and if Jonah says, hey, dad, I know that voice. There can be a bunch of other kids going, hey, dad, hey, dad, hey, dad. But when that little boy says it, when one of my kids says my name, I know that voice.

I know that voice. I'm intimately acquainted with that voice. I've been around that voice a lot. I've heard that voice in different stages and different scenes. I've heard that voice loud, and I've heard it quiet a couple times, mostly loud. (congregation laughing) I've heard that voice fearful. I've heard that voice joyful. I know that voice, and this is what God wants. Listen to me, it's what God wants for every one of you is that you know him that way, that you know him personally, that you know his voice, that you know his direction, that you know when he walks by, you know what he loves and what grieves him, that you know God personally, and that is the goal, not that you know church. [BLANK_AUDIO] Remember, I'm your friend, I'm your pastor, where? I've met a lot of people that the first thing they tell me is when they met their church. I've had few, very few conversations of where they let me know when they met their savior. There's a big difference. I want you to love this church, but just 'cause you're sitting here it doesn't mean you know God personally. Just like me being in a garage doesn't make me a car. Come on, that was funnier than you're laughing.

Okay. (congregation applauding) See me with four thoughts on what it means to know God personally and the direction we're trying to lead everyone that we believe, that we know we believe God wants them to come into faith, all of humanity. Number one is this right here, is he's the point. Don't miss this, services aren't the point. Worship isn't the point. Small groups aren't, he's the point. We're gonna do all those things, but he's the point. John said it best in John 17 verse three, he said, now this is eternal life. You don't know what eternal life is? He says that they know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is eternal life everybody. It's that you know God. That's eternal life, not that you know about him, but that you know him. The Greek word that this is used is, the Greek word for know is ganosco. This word is epigenosco and the prefix adds a little more force to the idea and it's this, it's that you have relational knowledge. It's that you have intimate understanding. And so this isn't, this is eternal life that you know some things about God. No, it's eternal life that you know him,

that there's an intimate connection with him, that there's a full understanding of him. This is what it means and this is my prayer for you, is that you would know him in this way, that he's not the doorway to something better. He is the destination, that he's not the first step to something else, he is the something else, that he's not just a pathway to something wonderful. He is the something wonderful. I think of what God said to Abraham, I am your shield and your great reward. He is the reward. I think about what Moses said. God, we're not going unless your presence goes with us, because we don't care about the destination, we care about you and your presence and knowing you. He is the point, everybody. He's the point. He's not a step to the point. It's not like, well, I wanna know God so I can get his favor. I wanna know God so I can get his blessing. No, the favor of God, the blessing of God are amazing and the grace of God is wonderful, but they're not the point. I'm not chasing his hand, I wanna know his heart. He is the point. And can I tell you something? He's always the point. Let's see, salvation isn't the ending of something,

it's the beginning of something. Salvation is the doorway you step through to enjoy this lifelong journey of getting to know God and to know him better and better and better and better as the years go by. I wanna have the posture of the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter three. He says, what is more, I consider everything. We're gonna come back to, I consider is actually one word in the original language, but he said, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, how many of you are grateful that your right standing before God isn't how well you behave, that it's based on the righteousness of God. I don't have a righteousness that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith and here Paul says it again, I want to know Christ. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and even if I gotta participate in his sufferings becoming like him in his death. Paul said, I wanna know him. Listen everyone, this was 30 years after he met him. 30 years since the Damascus wrote about Paul writes these words in Philippians and says, you know what? I've done some cool stuff.

Wrote over half the New Testament, planted churches in the whole known world at the time. And they're like, we need to get this gospel to the ends of the earth. And did disciples are like, we'll take Jerusalem. Paul's like, great, I got the rest of it. I just love the Apostle Paul. He just plays churches all over the known world at the time, right? And he says, I consider all that garbage compared to knowing Christ. 30 years in, I still wanna know him. I've seen him do some amazing things. I've seen him save me from a shipwreck. I've seen a snake bite me and then not even kill me. And I've seen him bring a whole village to Christ. And I've been in jail and I've watched him.