Songs We Sing | Evidence

All throughout my history Your faithfulness has walked beside me The winter storms made way for spring In every season, from where I'm standing I see the evidence of Your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see Your promises in heaven All over my life, all over my life Help me remember when I'm weak As fear may come and fear will lead You lead my heart to victory You are my strength and You always will be I see the evidence of Your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see Your promises in heaven All over my life, all over my life See the cross, the empty grave The evidence is endless All my sins rolled away because of You, oh Jesus See the cross, the empty grave The evidence is endless All my sins rolled away because of You, oh Jesus I see the evidence of Your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see Your promises in fulfillment All over my life, all over my life I see the evidence of Your goodness All over my life, all over my life I see Your promises in fulfillment All over my life, all over my life I see Your promises in fulfillment All over my life, all over my life I see Your promises in fulfillment All over my life, all over my life These are more than just songs that we sing They're spiritual truths, theological precedents, foundational beliefs Wrapped in a melody, shrouded in sound Declarations and affirmations Anthems of praise that reverberate from generation to generation With one voice we echo the promises of our God These are the songs that we sing We're starting a brand new series today. If you're with us for the first time, welcome to Canvas Church. So let's just pray, open our hearts and minds, and get ready for the Word of the Lord today. Father, we thank You for, Lord, what You're doing in and through our church. We thank You for what You're doing in and through our lives and our families. Lord, as we join together today to open Your Word,

may the Spirit of God open our hearts and open our minds, may the Spirit of God open our hearts and open our minds. May we be more receptive and obedient to the word of the Lord than ever before, and may you show the evidence of your goodness in and through our lives. We ask it together. In Christ's name we pray, amen, amen. Let's launch right here. Psalm chapter 33, let the godly sing for joy to the Lord. It is fitting for the pure to praise him. Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre and make music for him. On the 10-stringed harp, sing a new song of praise to him. Play skillfully on the harp and sing with joy. And in the over in Ephesians five, Paul said sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything. I love this line. Any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our master Jesus Christ. I would like for you to notice that in both the Old and in the New Testament, all over the word of God, we are not just suggested to sing in the Bible, we are actually instructed to sing. We are commanded to sing. We do not sing songs to God in church because somewhere along the way Christians thought it would be a good idea to do so. Or because some programmer thought

that it would add something meaningful to the service. We do it because the Bible commands us as believers to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. God knew that multiple things would happen when we sing the word of God over our lives and with and to each other, that we would be reminded daily of just how amazing and omniscient and awesome that our God really is. And when we are reminded of how awesome God really is, that we would be reminded we can always put our full trust in him. Well, welcome to Canvas Church and the start of our summer series that we simply call Songs We Sing. All the month of July, we're gonna take a deeper dive into the scriptural foundations of some of our favorite worship songs. And today, I wanted to kick off our series by one we just sang a few moments ago that I have come to love very much called Evidence by Josh Baldwin. But I love this line in the song. See the cross, the empty grave, the evidence is endless. All my sin rolled away, praise God. Because of you, oh Jesus, I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life, all over my life. I see your promises and fulfillment all over my life. Now again, I love the words, but let me say this. While it is true that we clearly see the evidence

of his goodness all over our lives, what I want to address today is that the Bible primarily teaches us that not only should we see the evidence of his goodness all over our life, but that the world should be able to see the evidence of God's goodness all over our lives as well. Say it again. Not only should we be able to see the goodness of God in our lives, and we do, but the Bible teaches us that the world should be able to look at our lives and see the evidence of God's goodness as well. The world should be able to observe how, as followers of Christ, we live our lives. They should be able to observe how we react to difficulty differently than the world. They should be able to see how we treat others, not just people like us, but people that are different than us, how we respond in times of stress and pain and pressure, and see the reality that something clearly is different in our lives. Fall is my favorite time of the year for many reasons. As many of you know, it's really the time that we live Acts 10 and 13 out, rise, kill, and eat, but that's a sermon for another story. But I love fall. I love fall for hunting season. I love fall for SEC football.

I love fall for NFL football. But I actually love, really, really, deer camp, love evening at the house, sitting around on a fall cool evening and lighting the fire in the pit and sitting around with my friends and my family and enjoying the time. And if you've done that, you know that something is happening. While you're sitting there enjoying the fire, that smoke is boiling off of that burning wood, and it seems like no matter where you sit, it's gonna find you on that side of the pit. And when it finds you, it's not only on you, but it's getting in some things as well. It's getting in your clothes. It's getting in your hair. Whatever is touched by it will carry the lingering remains of the undeniable smell of smoke. It is strong and attaches itself to whatever it touches. Watch it, and no matter how far you go away from the fire, the effects of the fire remain. You don't really have to tell someone that you've been around a campfire. They can be around you in five seconds and tell that you have. I said that to say this. If you are a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the word of God, there should be and will be evidence

of his presence in our lives. There will be evidence. evidence that we have been with him, that he has transformed us, that he has impacted us, that something has tangibly changed in our life. Just like that smoke from a campfire lingers and remains, the scriptures teach us that there is the residue of God and it is tangible and recognizable when we have been exposed to the presence of God. Paul said it like this in Ephesians 5. In the past, you were full of darkness. He's talking about before Christ. He said before Christ came into your life, before you acknowledged his saviorship, before you acknowledged his kingship, before the blood of Jesus transformed your life, we were all in darkness, but now, because we've been saved, we are full of light in the Lord. So live as children who belong to this light, this light that comes from God. Watch it, it produces some things. Goodness, there should be goodness in your life, right living or righteous living, and truth comes into our life. What Paul is saying is that if we have had an encounter with God, there will be lingering effects that remain and the world should be able to see it and to recognize it. In other words, when you've had a true encounter with God, it will always create real and visible change in our lives.

There's a moment in the book of Acts 2 and 3 and 4 where the disciples have been arrested for continuing to preach about Jesus even after his crucifixion and his resurrection and his ascension, and they had been threatened and warned before by these religious leaders on multiple occasions about doing this. But when they brought these men in again, Bible says they noticed something had changed in their life, Acts chapter four. Members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness and the courage of Peter and John, because see, this was not part of their life before. Remember this guy, Peter, he was the guy who was standing in the courtyard and he was watching them abuse Jesus. And in that moment of abuse, when that little girl recognized him, she said, you're one of his disciples. He said, no, you got me mistaken with somebody else. No, no, no, I'm sure I've seen you with him twice. Nope, that wasn't me. Third time, I know it was you. And the Bible says in one translation, he curses a little bit to prove to her that he would not be a righteous man hanging out with a rabbi like Jesus. And of course, we know the rooster crowed and Jesus looks at him.

And so this coward, this coward denied Jesus, but something's happened now. He's bold and full of courage, for these men could tell they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures. Watch it. And they recognized, they saw something. There was some evidence in their life that they had been with the risen Jesus. There was something different about them that the authorities could tangibly see. And they knew that whatever it was, it had came from being in the presence of the risen Savior. Whenever God is present in your life, there will be unmistakable proof of it. In fact, I'll say it like this. If you say that you have a living, loving relationship with Christ and you cannot point to any tangible change in your life, you really have to question the authenticity of your experience. There will be evidence. There will be change. There will be transformation that happens in your life. And today, I wanna show you an amazing event in the Old Testament that illustrates this in an incredibly literal and tangible way. And it's found in the book of Exodus. And it happened to a man named Moses. And let me give you a little background

before we just jump into chapter 34. God has just delivered the people from Egypt after 400 years of slavery. He has placed them under the leadership of Moses. And God calls Moses up on a mountain. And there we know this. God gives Moses the 10 commandments. It was a way of living. It was a standard of living that God wanted to use to distinguish his people from every other tribe on the planet. They were his people and they were gonna live a different way and a different life. And so God gives him these commandments. But when Moses comes down off of the mountain, he had been gone so long, and the people thought that he may have died, that in their haste and in their infidelity to God, they had taken all of the gold and they had melted it down because they were so hungry to worship anything. Forget God had just brought them through the Red Sea. Forget that he had just delivered them from the Egyptians. Forget that he had killed their enemies and they had rained manna from heaven. These people are so infidelitous that they melt it down, make a gold calf, and they're worshiping this gold calf. And when Moses comes down off the mountain and sees it, he is so infuriated by the way that they have so quickly turned their back on God.

Bible says he throws down those two tablets and destroys them at the calf. Chapter 34, God says to Moses, okay, let's try it again. Come back up on the mountain and spend some more time with me and I'll give you another set of commandments. And Moses ends up spending 40 days and 40 nights with God and when he comes down off the mountain, something was different about Moses. And when Moses went down from Sinai, his face was glowing because he had been speaking with the Lord but he did not know it and when Aaron and all the people looked at Moses and saw that his face was shining, they were afraid to go near him. For all the young people at the UC and all the young people in the room, this is the first glow up in all of human history. I've been waiting to say that all week. It is though, first glow up in all of human history. Now, listen to this. There is a lot of symbolism in the Bible. There is a lot of typology in the Bible but this is not one of them. This is not metaphorical. This is not figurative. There was a literal, tangible glow on Moses. In fact, if you keep reading chapter 34,

you're gonna find out his face was glowing so brightly that the people could not even look at him. They ended up putting a veil over his face to interact with the people for a period of time. It's wild. Now, I doubt that any of us are ever going to go to work and have to wear a veil because we've been in the tangible presence of God. Look, it could happen but it's probably not gonna happen but yet, when we have had a genuine encounter with God, there will be conspicuous evidence of that relationship and transformation in our life. The world should be able to tell that we have been with Jesus. The world should be able to know that we have been with Jesus, that something has happened in our lives just like smoke from a campfire embedded deep into the fibers of our clothes and hair. I'm telling you, people can smell God on our lives. People should be able to see God on our lives. People should be able to feel the effects of God on our lives. And today, I wanna tackle two questions, okay? I wanna tackle how does this kind of change come into our life? Where does it come from and how does it happen? And then number two, how does God use that change to impact the world? How does he use that change to impact others?

Okay, so here we go. Number one, let me make this statement first. You need to know that the proof of God on us will always be in proportion to the presence of God in us. The proof of God on us will always be in direct proportion to the presence of God in us. Here's what I mean. The visible presence of God operating in and through our life will always be in proportion to the depth of our intimacy and relationship with God. So what I'm saying is, is if you have a small relationship with God, if you have a very casual relationship with God, if you have a very cavalier relationship with God, if you have a very common relationship with God, you will have very little evidence of God operating in your daily life. It's just true, it's just true. And it is clear from the text that Moses had anything but a casual relationship with God. This guy had anything but a common, cavalier relationship with God. It was extremely deep, it was personal, it was intimate. In fact, the Bible says in Exodus 33 that the Lord would speak with Moses face to face just as someone would speak with a friend. What I'm saying to you is that it's not enough, y'all, to just know about God. It's not enough to just go to church and check the boxes

and know a few scriptures and think we've got it. Just knowing about God produces no transformation. Knowing about God produces no proof, no evidence that only comes from truly being intimate and knowing the Lord. And after all of these years of pastoring, one of my biggest fears that I see in people is this. There are too many people in this world that are infatuated by God, but they're not all intimate with God. You say, pastor, what's the difference? People who are infatuated by God, they love what God does. They love to see the handiwork of God, but they don't actually know who he is at all. Much like a human relationship, many times people can become infatuated with another person. Maybe they're infatuated by their style, or their looks, or their wit, or their intelligence, or their sense of humor. But these things are kind of surface and superficial, and they're visible from a distance. but you don't really know who they are. That happens over intimacy, over time. I heard it once, Will said, I laughed at it. It said, many a man has fallen in love with a dimple and then married the whole girl, right? They fell in love with something that was superficial about that individual, got into a deep relationship,

but really didn't know who they actually are. That only happens through marriage and through intimacy and spending time together. I got 35 years of marriage under my belt. Yeah, my wife was beautiful, but buddy, I don't just know she's beautiful, I know who she is. I know what makes her tick. I've spent all of these years with her. I know her proclivities, how she thinks, her idiosyncrasies, those quirks that make her uniquely her that has caused me to fall in love with her on a much, much deeper and intimate level. You actually find out who somebody is when you spend intimate time with them, their character and the fiber of what makes them who they actually are. So we're talking about intimacy with God. And if that is actually the most important thing, the question begs, can we actually know God? Is it possible for us as creation to actually know intimately our creator? Well, the Bible absolutely says yes, but let me just clarify, because I think there's two ways that people try to get intimate with God that never can, and then there's only one way biblically we could ever actually know who God is. Let me give you two ways we can't

and then the one way we can. Number one, you can't truly know God through just reason. You can't think for a minute that you are going to be able to, in your intellect, be able to figure out or box God in. If you try to figure God out through logical lenses or rational thinking, you will always end up with more questions than answers because he is an infinite God, and an infinite God will never fit into the finite mind of a man. He is limitless in his nature. He is fathomless in his depth. He is endless in his length. There are so many people that have tried to explain him and paint him into a man-made corner, but if you have to come to God and two plus two always has to equal four, you're in trouble because it's futile and it's empty. In fact, God himself said, when he was comparing kinda how he thinks and who he is to how we are and how we think as creation, he said, my ways are so much bigger than your ways. My thoughts are so much bigger than your thoughts, and he gives this illustration. As the heights of the heaven are above the earth. Well, how far is that? Good luck. The Bible says, and even science says, that now through the Hubble and all of that,

we can see deep into outer space, into interstellar territory we've never been able to see before as according to recent history, and we can now see around the corner, and there are galaxies being formed, new every day, tumbling upon galaxies. God says, measure that from the earth, and now you got a brief picture, somewhat of an idea of the difference between me and you. The difference between I think and how you think. You will never be able to come to God and put him in a box and think that you're ever gonna be able to figure God out. Scholars and people who try to figure God out without a personal intimate relationship with him are like deaf composers. All they can do is read the lyrics, but they will never ever hear the melody or the music. So you don't try to know God through reason. You can't truly know God through research. You can read all the books you want. You can memorize all the Bible verses you want. You can become a master of Greek and Hebrew. You can have a PhD in theology and a master's of divinity and still not know intimately the God of the universe. Just because you know all about something doesn't mean it's affecting your life. You can know all about bread, starve to death. You can know all about water, die of dehydration.

Knowledge about God is good, it's fine, has its place. But knowledge alone is not enough to produce lasting fruit or evidence of him in our life. No, no, no, there's only one way the Bible says that we can ever really truly know God. Not by reason, not by research. It'll only happen through revelation. It'll only happen when God himself reveals himself to you. When God makes himself known to you. It's the only way, Jeremiah 29 and 13. God said, when you search for me with all of your heart, then you will find me. When you search for me with all of your heart, not when you read enough about me, not when you hear enough sermons describing me, but when through your hunger and your humility you long to know me and you desire me and you seek after me with all of your heart, then and only then will I reveal myself to you. I love how Jesus said it in Matthew 11. He said, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank you. Listen to this. I thank you for hiding these things. What things? The deep revelation about who God is and the deep spiritual truths that only God possesses. Thank you, Lord, for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and think themselves clever and for revealing them to those who are childlike

and sincere. When he sees that we are not just infatuated with what he can do for us. When we don't see God as our cosmic genie in the bottle. That we are just thankful for all of his blessings in our life, but that we actually see him as the reward himself. That our relationship with him is more important to us than anything. That we don't wanna just see what he does. We actually wanna know who he is. This was the prayer of Moses. God shows up and begins to reveal himself to us in ways that we could never possibly know. And maybe for some of you, this is clicking right now. Because maybe in the back of your mind, you have thought at points in your life, I actually thought I would be deeper in God after all of these years of church. I actually thought I would be more deep in my relationship with God after all of these years of reading the Bible. But maybe now it's clicking that you were just reading about God and learning about God. But maybe there's never been this moment in your life where you truly submitted and surrendered your need of King Jesus and been open and humble and hungry enough to say, God, I wanna know you.

God, I wanna know who you are. I don't wanna just know what you do. I wanna be intimate with you. I don't wanna be close with you. Oh God, I want you to reveal yourself to me when you pray that prayer sincerely and with humility and hunger. God is attracted to that sincerity and he will reveal himself to you in incredible ways. So here we go. The second thing I want you to know is that the deeper we go in God, the greater the glow to the world. The deeper we go in God, the greater the glow to the world. Bible says in Exodus 34 that the people immediately noticed something different about Moses. They immediately noticed there was the glow of God on his face. They could tell that he had been in the literal presence of God. And my question that I wanna answer for the remainder of our time is, how will people in and around our lives know the glow? How will the people in and around our life, if that's the goal, for them to see the evidence of God in our life, in what way will people see the glow of God in our lives? There are many, but let me just offer you three.

They'll see the glow of God when we live out the love of God every day. They will see the glow of God when we live out the love of God every day. I wanna say this to you. I'm telling you right now, the world doesn't wanna hear another definition of the gospel. They have seen a disparity, and that's why there's so many that have been skeptical of church and skeptical of faith. They have heard us preach about love. They have heard us talk about love. They have heard us define love, and yet we go out in the world and we don't live any different than the world. We still live selfish and self-absorbed and only about me, myself, and I. They're not wanting to hear another definition of the gospel. The world is waiting to see the demonstration of the gospel. Can we live it? Are we actually going to live it out? Is it actually going to make a difference in our lives? They're wanting to see some evidence that it's true, some evidence that Jesus actually makes a difference, some evidence that the gospel is true and that it works. We must live our lives different than the world, not wait to be served, but step up and serve others first,

not wait to be encouraged, but to live our lives as encouragers first, to give people hope, to look for the good, to believe the best about others. Listen, don't let the world make you jaded and cynical like everybody else. They watch the news, they read social media, and the world looks at it and just waiting for the other shoe to drop. They don't believe the best is yet to come. They believe the worst is to come. But as people of God, we know better. We know that we serve a sovereign God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or imagine, and we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. Now, dadgummit, I refuse to walk around holding my head down, waiting for the enemy to kick me in the teeth again. I ain't doing it. I believe he is who he said he is, that he can do what he said he came to do, and that for the believer and the follower of Christ, the best truly is yet to come. We live that way, we stand out from the world. They will know the glow when we include someone into our lives that have been excluded. They will know the glow, here's one,

when we forgive people who have done us wrong and taken advantage of us. I ain't said easy, I just said they'll know the glow. They will know the glow when we reconcile with that person that we have been estranged from for so long. They will know the glow when we serve someone spontaneously or exhibit some extraordinary kindness that wasn't prompted or required. Nothing more demonstrates that we have been with God than the authentic and genuine love and concern for others, not my words, what Jesus said. John 13, just as I have loved you, Jesus said love each other for your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Translation, the evidence that I am all over your life will be the love that I put in your heart that emanates to one another. They will know the glow when we live out the love of God every single day. Number two, they'll know the glow when we commit to character in every part of our lives. What I'm saying is that when we strive for purity, when we strive to actually live wholly before the Lord, when we actually say no to things the world is baiting us to engage in and we say yes to God and his word and his instructions, when we live set apart, consecrated, the Bible says, different from the world, avoiding compromising situations that would call our character into question. Bible says that we are called as his people

to turn away from the very appearance of evil, very appearance of doing wrong. When we live in complete honesty with everyone, when we are people of our word and people know that our word is our bond and it still means something to us and they see character in our lives. When we are committed as people of God to do the right thing over the convenient thing because the right thing is never the easy thing but what it says to the world is that God is present in our lives and guiding our steps, leading us into godly decisions and it matters to us. Every time you and I make a stand, every time you and I take a stand for God and to honor God with our life, the world knows the glow. They see the glow of God when we love out every day, when we commit to live with character in every way. Number three, they know the glow when we share the hope of our faith and all that we say. When we share the hope of our faith and all that we say. Now listen, I'm not saying that every day you walk around and try to shove Jesus down people's throats. I'm not advocating that we be obnoxious Christians. If you've ever met an obnoxious Christian, that is not what the Bible is teaching us to do. You know, bullhorn guy on the corner just screaming at cars, turn or burn, sucker, right? It's not what he's called us to do.

He almost sounds glad that you're going to hell. That's not, you're not moving the needle. You're not changing anybody's life. But what I am saying is this. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that as followers of Christ, we should be prepared and ready. We should be prepared and ready, he said, to give every man an explanation for the hope that we have. When they would look at you and say, man, ain't you watching the news? Yeah, so? Man, ain't you reading what's going on? Yeah. Man, ain't you worried about? Ah, man, I may be concerned, I pray about it, but I'm not consumed. God's got this, man. I trust the Lord, bro. I have put all of my faith in the finished work of the cross. Jesus said it like this in Matthew five. He said, bro, you don't light a candle and then put it under a bush so nobody can see it. He said, I light candles in your heart so that you would be placed on a lampstand, that it would bring light to everyone in the house. And then he gives us this declaration. So let your light so shine before men

that they may see your good works, but they're not gonna glorify you because they're not gonna know, they know it didn't originate with you. They're gonna glorify your Father which is in heaven. See, that was the thing about Moses. Bible says he didn't even know he had the glow. See, listen to me. It wasn't the goodness of Moses. It wasn't the power of Moses that produced the radiation. He was not producing power himself. He was simply being a reflection. Let me say it this way to you, to put it in scientific terms. He was not solar, he was lunar. He wasn't solar, he was lunar, right? Solar, you can generate it on your own. Lunar, think about the moon. The moon possesses. It possesses no light of its own. The only reason you see the moon at night is because it is reflecting the sun from the other side of the planet so that it's visible to you. It possesses no power of light. It reflects the light of the sun. It's not you. It's not me. They're not going to see the glow and go, Dadgum, boy, you are awesome. They are going to see the glow, know the glow, and realize that you are a reflection of a God that has produced that glow in your life. And they're going to glorify God, not us.

He's telling us to be a glow, not a glare. You know the difference? If you're in a dark room and on the other side of the room, it's pitch black, but on the other side of the room, there's a closed door and there's a light on in the other room. And at the very bottom of the crack of the door, you can see the glow. You will feel your way and you will ease your way and you will walk your way because that glow represents hope. You are attracted to the glow. But if you walk out in the parking lot in a minute and the sun is beating down on the windshields and it glares in your eyes, you're going to look away. You don't want none of that. This is what he's saying. He's saying that we are called to be a glow, not a glare. One is warm and inviting. One is annoying and pushes people away. Ultimately, people need Jesus. The Bible talks about always being ready to share the hope that we have. While our faith, we say it here all the time, is certainly meant to be personal, it was never meant to be private. I remember a couple of men of honors ago speaking with a young man. He said, Pastor, I need some advice. He said, I've worked with these dudes, man, every day. And he said, I want so badly to share about Christ, but every time I try to get up the courage or the gumption to do it, I cannot bring myself to do it. And I don't know what's wrong with me. I just said, listen, man, you've got to understand that if your faith is not important enough and hasn't impacted you strongly enough to share it, why would anybody else even want it? And then I asked him this question. Good young man, still part of our church. I know he loves to hunt like me.

I said, let me ask you a question, bud. Y'all talk about hunting at work? He said, every day, boy. I said, oh, yeah. Y'all talk about fishing? All the time. Y'all talk about gator football? Man, every day when it's in season. I said, okay, so let me get this straight. What we don't have is a proclamation problem. What we have is a passion problem. You have no problem proclaiming the woods. You don't have any problem at all proclaiming about the water. You have no problem proclaiming gator football and your love for it. You got a problem with Jesus. Okay, why? Why? Because it matters. Because it matters eternally. Because it matters for their life. Because the enemy knows that it matters and that it can change everything. And if we get the passion of our life worked out right, when we understand that all of these other things that we love, that we can freely talk about are feeding away, but we can talk about the one and remember the one that has eternally transformed and saved our never-dying soul and remember what he did on the cross for us out of the passion of our heart, the proclamation of the gospel should be easy.

And some people don't do it, I know. I've had them say, well, you know, I'm not like you, pastor. I don't know the Bible like you. I can't talk like you. Too many people in this world think they need more knowledge, more history, more Bible knowledge, more memorized verses, nothing wrong with any of that, but you don't need any of that. The Bible says that you and I would be witnesses unto him on this earth. What does a witness do if you're in court? A witness simply takes the stand and they simply tell what they've seen and heard. All you need to know to make a difference, to share the gospel and to share your faith is this. Here's who and what I was before Jesus. Here's how Jesus came into my life. And here's the results of what he has done in and through my life. That's all you need. That's all you need. Just tell what you've seen and heard. Just tell them what he did for you. They can't deny it. They can't refute it because you have the experience of it. The truth is, ladies and gentlemen, many, many, many people, more people than you think are deeply curious and hungry about God. They are. I've never seen a hunger like this in all of my ministry

that's going on right now in the world. And they are wishing someone intelligent and balanced would share their faith with them. And I say this again. The deeper we go in Christ, the more evidence of his presence and impact upon us. And the more the world will take notice that we have been with Jesus and that everything. has changed. It was Christmas. I was nine years old. We lived in North Melbourne. My dad pastored there. Great Christmas morning, I'll never forget it. Got some great gifts. But for whatever reason, I opened up this one gift and it was a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee, of all things. And I looked at this thing and for whatever reason, I was enamored by it and I could not wait. Now, we were up at 7 a.m. as kids are on Christmas Day. And so I opened up this package. I saw this glow-in-the-dark Frisbee. I was freaking out about it. But it was, sun was shining. I just threw it in the corner and could not wait for dark to come. And it felt like it would never come. And so we went and played with other things, did other things, and it was getting to be a little bit dusky.

And I said to my dad, hey, can we go out now and play with that? He said, it's not dark yet. Wait a little bit longer. We waited longer. Can we go out now? Not dark enough yet. Can we go out now? Not dark enough yet. And finally, it got pitch black dark outside. I couldn't wait, man. My older brother was with me. We grabbed that Frisbee. We ran out in the backyard. I turned around and slung that thing. It might as well have been painted black. I couldn't see nothing. We were out there in the flashlight looking around for 40 minutes trying to find that stupid thing. I walked back in the house at nine years old. I said, dude, you bought me a defective Christmas present. Now, my dad was always subtle like this. He said, shut up. He's still like that, by the way. He said, shut your pie hole. And he said, did you read the instructions, boy? I said, instructions? It's a Frisbee. What do you mean? You don't even know instructions.

You throw it. He said, go get the box and bring it to me. I went over and I got the box. And I went over and I handed it to my dad. My dad turned around. He read it. He said, read that, boy. And here's what I read. It said, be advised. The more exposure to the sun it gets, the brighter it will glow. The more exposure to the sun it gets. Come on now, y'all. Are y'all jacking with me? The brighter it will glow. Sure enough, baby, I put it out in the yard all day. And when night came the next day, you could see that sucker for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of yards. Listen, be advised, people of God. Be advised, believer. Be advised, child of God. The more exposure to the sun that you get, the deeper and the brighter the glow will be. And the world will see the evidence of God on our lives. And they will wanna know about the glow. And we'll get a chance to share with them the hope that only Jesus can give.