What Keeps Us from Loving God?

So last weekend was Passion, if you're not familiar, that's a conference for college students. And this year it was in Arlington at Globe Life where the Rangers play. And I got to play a part in that in a discussion around how to follow Christ in college and what sanctification looks like in college. And that discussion kind of wrapped up with Sadie asking me the question, hey, what about assurance of salvation? Like, what if someone's here and they're just not confident in their salvation, you know, what would you tell them? And I said, I responded to that in saying that the way, the method that I most often use to share the gospel is with two questions. The first one being between one and 10, 10 being certain and one being not so sure. If you were to die right now, how certain are you that you would go to heaven? And so I threw that out to 45,000 college students. And I just said, hey, I want you to think of your number between one and 10, 10 being certain, one being not so sure. If you died right now, how certain are you that you would go to heaven? And then I walked to the front and there was kind of a section right here in front of the stage. And I said, hey, is there anyone here

that's kind of a five, six or seven? And there was a gentleman, there was a few hands raised, but there was a gentleman, you know, with his hand raised high. And I said, I'd love to have a conversation with you. So I walked off the stage there to have a dialogue with him. And I just said, what is your number? He said a seven. And I think, did y'all throw that picture up? Yeah, there it is. And so he said a seven. And I said, you know, what if I give you tickets to the Mavs game? And it's an illustration that I used recently here. I said, if I give you tickets to the Mavs game, floor seats, great, amazing seats, and you go over there to the American Airline Center and they stop you and they say, why should we let you in? What would you say? To which he said, I would say because I have a ticket. Then I said, what if they say, did you pay for the ticket? He said, I would say that it was a gift. And I just expounded on that as like, hey, that's how heaven works. Like Jesus paid our way in. Like he paid for our sins. If our sins are paid for, then we get to experience God as his children forever, redeemed and glorified because of Christ before God. And, you know, I, in that conversation,

because he was a willing participant, and due to the generosity of a great friend who's a big Mavs fan, I had Mavs tickets. So I said, here's tickets to the Mavs game. Courtside, great seats, you know. And so I give him those tickets. And then the next day is the game, Mavs versus Rockets. And so we go to the game together. We drove separate. It included a parking pass and two parking passes. And so you, you know, before I've done this, I didn't even know this stuff existed, right? You park under the arena, right beside the players. You go in the door where the players go in, and then you're walking through a corridor, you know, underneath the arena. It feels like you're in a place where you shouldn't be. And then there's this VIP lounge, okay, that is, it serves food, but it's not arena food. It's prime rib and sushi. It's an open bar, you know, which I had nothing to do with because I'm Baptist, and, but it's all, it's all there, dessert, buffet, whatnot. And then you're sitting like right beside, I mean, you're sitting in between the previous owner of the Mavs and the current owner of the Mavs. And then there are these four seats. I also took my daughter and a friend who's a huge Mavs fan, right? But this guy that came that won the tickets, so to say,

this whole event was lost on him. Like he was, he couldn't have been more over it. He had never been to a basketball game in his entire life. And he's like, okay, so what's going on here? You know, and I'm like, well, there's these two teams, and he'd never seen a basketball game. And, you know, at half court, I mean, after halftime, he goes, oh, no, oh, no, he's going to the wrong basket. I was like, oh, they change sides, you know? He's like, how often do they do that? And it was just, he was kind of like, so we've got to sit this close? And you're like, wouldn't you see better from, and I'm like, oh, the whole event, like it was just all, like out of 45,000 college students, right? I mean, most of them would have given their left pinky to be where we were. I mean, Mark Cuban came over and greeted us and like shook our hands and, you know, and it's just like, and it was lost on him, why? Because he didn't love basketball. Because he didn't love basketball. Well, the whole event was, you know, he said, well, I guess I'll try to enjoy it. Access, right, access is not a blessing unless you love what you've been invited into. If you've been given access, it's not a gift to you unless you love what you've been invited into. And I imagine there's a lot of us that are in church and in Christianity

and in a relationship with the living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, trying to enjoy ourselves, right? Like trying to make the most of it. And I just get a sense that we're really missing out, being confused, not fully understanding what all God has invited us into. And so we're in this series talking about, it's called For the Love of God, it's how to love God. And so as you think about last week, my friend Nate said Jesus took 613 commandments and summed them up in love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And someone asked him, which of these is the greatest? Guys, the greatest, like foundational to Christianity, like 101, this is what Jesus Christ, the one we follow said when he was on the earth, this one is the greatest, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So we gotta be really good at that. We've gotta ace that test, but how? If you ask me, do I love Monica? I'm gonna say yes. And if you said prove it, I'm gonna speak to how I feel and what I do, what I do and how I feel. I might say things like, well, how do I love Monica? I buy her flowers and I write her notes and leave voicemails for her on occasion, singing boys to men, and I will take out the trash, she would say on rare occasions,

and just trying to anticipate her desires and needs and meet them. And then I would say how I feel, like sometimes I roll over and I'm just like, man, is this really my life? Like this woman loves me, this is wild. She's such an incredible mother to our children and a great nurturer and so kind and prayer warrior. And sometimes I just drive down the road thinking about her and I can't get enough of her and always wanna be on a date with her. And I would say all of the things, how I feel and what I do. If I asked you, do you love God? And you said yes, and I said prove it, I imagine you would speak to how you feel and what you do, what you do and how you feel. You might say, well, on Sundays, I go to church to gather with other people who love God and I sing songs to him because I love him and I talk about him to everyone I can. Anyone who will listen, I'm telling them about how much I love God and I view all of the things that I have as his. And I have this unending conversation with him that starts as soon as I wake up and goes throughout the day, right? And at some point you might be like, you said how you feel, how do you feel about him? You just think, man, I just, I see every good

and perfect gift that I have from him and I just feel so grateful all the time that he would choose me and I just think about how generous and kind he is to give himself so that I can be with him forever. And there may be a disconnect between what I'm saying and where you feel right now. But remember, this is the most important thing. And so if you asked me what keeps me from loving Monica, it's not that my love fades, it's that it's redirected. At any moment in life, we love someone or something. And one of the most difficult things anybody would go through is when someone says, for richer or poorer in sickness and health till death do us part, may the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you from me, and then their heart goes after someone else, all right? And you'd be hard-pressed to convince this person that you love them if you're chasing another person. That would be a very difficult position to be in. And this is why the scripture says we don't love God. Says our heart, it's not that our love for God diminishes, but there's competition with other things. Our heart goes other directions. And so where I'm gonna go in the scripture to look at this is 1 John. This is not the gospel of John, though it's the same author. So not just Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, but turn to the back of your Bible.

There's 1, 2, and 3 John, and just go to the first one. And we're gonna talk about what keeps us from loving God. What kept my friend from loving basketball, or loving the Mavs? He just loves other things. He's an incredible drummer, a percussionist. He's given much of his life to learning beats, and he could tell you all about drum heads, and what kind of kits and sticks to buy. That's where his affections are. He didn't give much time to basketball with his life, really no attention to it whatsoever. So what kept him from loving basketball is he loves something else. And what keeps us from loving God? The scripture says, and certainly, and hopefully you see experientially as we dive into the text, loving something else. What keeps us from loving God? I'm gonna give you, the points today will answer that question. It's gonna be a little bit different. I wanna teach 1 John 2, 15, 16, and 17. I wanna teach the entirety of that text, but I really wanna zero in and pull my three points from verse 16, because they're right there. They just expound on this idea in a beautiful way. And so John wrote this, John the Apostle, in about 90 AD, two believers, it says loved one or beloved,

the believers are in Ephesus and around Ephesus. And he didn't write this letter combating atheism. He wasn't like, hey, you have a choice, you cannot believe or you can believe. He wrote this letter combating competition, saying if you love God, you need to know that there are going to be things in the world that compete for your affections. And he's trying to set them up for success, and that's why he wrote this in verse 15. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. You have two options for your affections. God and the world. And you have two destinations. Desires that pass away and those that will live forever because they are obedient to what God has asked them to do. And so I don't think John the Apostle was saying do not enjoy life. He is saying your desires and your existence must be conformed to God's purposes and not the purpose of the spirit of the air. He's saying do not love worldly systems. Because if you have an understanding of the scripture,

if you grew up in church, right about now you should be thinking about, wait a minute, doesn't God love the world? After all, what's the most well-known verse in the scripture? John 3.16. John 3.16. For God so loved the world. John 3.16 is, by the way, written by the same author, human author, the Apostle John. And that word for world is the same in the Greek, it's cosmos. And John would use this word cosmos interchangeably throughout his letters. In John 3.16 he's saying God loved the people of the world so that he could save them. In 1 John 2 he says do not try and get the systems of the world to serve you. Do not love the world so that its systems will serve you. Okay, this is kind of the essence of this passage and what he's saying here. And really what he's warning us against. He's saying there's two currents. Think about it like two currents. If you think about a current in a river. There's one current, that's the worldly current. It seeks to put you right at the center. You're the queen, you're the king. Everything else around you is there to serve you, to make much of you.

And what it stirs up in you is greed and covetousness and you wanting to get yours and get promoted and do better and be a better, faster example, better looking example of yourself with more followers. Like this is kind of, that's the current one. The second current, the second current is the kingdom current. And it puts God at the center. And you have this cameo to bring glory to God with the things that he entrusts to you. And the person caught in that second current, they're joyful in circumstances and even suffering. And they're generous and they're kind and they look to serve others in every opportunity that they have, right? And so the temptation is always to be in the worldly current while God calls us and says, hey, the worldly current, it's going to lead to a place that you don't want to be. But the kingdom current is ushering you to the presence of God. It lasts forever. It flows forever. It's the current that you want to be in. And so why would anyone love the world? Because we love ourselves. Because we love ourselves. The satanic spirit under the sun on earth is the selfish spirit, the self-centered spirit. And so John expounds on this idea. Here's what it means to love the world.

He says, for everything in the world, you could translate that in the Greek, it expounds to this idea, everything that belongs to the world as a system, everything that belongs to the world as a system, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world. The word translated lust here is epithumeo, and it is this deep, overwhelming appetite, desire inside of you for worldly things. So he says a strong desire to feel something, a strong desire to have something, and a strong desire to be something. These are the three words I would give you today. Pleasure, possessions, and position. You can write those down. Pleasure, possessions, and position. This is not a new idea, okay? Not a new idea from the scripture. And in fact, Satan's not very creative. If you think back to what he does and says in Genesis chapter three, what we know as the fall, this is when sin enters the world. God says, don't eat any of the fruit in the garden, right? And Eve says this, listen to this progression. The progression that John writes about here is not accidental. Says that she saw the fruit was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom.

Lust of the flesh, appetite. Lust of the eyes, pleasing to the eye. Desirable for gaining wisdom, pride of life. Satan and Jesus in Matthew chapter four. Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. He says, why don't you turn these stones to bread and feed the lust of your flesh? Okay? Look at these kingdoms. Set your eyes upon them. All of them could be yours and feed the lust of your eyes. And then he says, why don't you throw yourself off the temple and have the angels lift you up so that they will know who you are? The pride of life. It's the same progression and it's the same offense he's running against you today. Okay, you gotta know that. He's running the same offense. And so what keeps us from loving God? What keeps you from loving God? Number one, the pursuit of pleasure apart from God. The pursuit of pleasure apart from God. I want to feel. I want to feel something. I'm willing to take shortcuts. If you desire pleasure, the lust of the flesh, you must bring it under self-control, which only the Holy Spirit can do. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.

You and I, all of us, we have an appetite inside of us for things that are not good for us. And you see it as parents with children, right? If children got to eat whatever they want. Right, what do you want for breakfast? Ice cream and donuts. Well, what do you want for lunch? How about just ice cream? Well, what do you want for dinner? Ice cream, but make it a sandwich. You know, it's like, that's what they would choose. And we laugh because we have superior wisdom. We've gained knowledge and understanding that we can't, even though we may have an appetite for Blue Bell breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we know that if we did that, it would clog our arteries, our brain would get foggy, we'd get diabetes and potentially die, right? So we're like, we're not gonna operate like children, but you are. It's just not ice cream. There, all of us have an appetite for something that is not good for us. It could be materialism, it could be alcohol, it could be followers, it could be, you know, seeking pleasure. Pleasure is good. Like God wrapped our skeletal and muscular systems in an epidermis layer that he put all of these nerve endings in, and he concentrated them in certain places on our body that when it is touched,

we feel it. And then in some ways, you know, it can send signals to our brain that give us this overwhelming sense of joy. That was God's beautiful design. God did that. It's amazing, like he's not anti-pleasure, he's anti-you seeking pleasure apart from him or apart from his design. Young adults will ask me all the time, college students all the time, I mean, really, every single week, well, why would I feel this way if God didn't want me to act out on it? Why would he have given me a desire for this man who does not follow Jesus if he didn't want me to do something about it? You have all kinds of desires for things that are hurtful and harmful to you. That's why you have to bring those desires under God's reign, under what he desires for you. It's not that you've made a God of your desires, it's that your desires show us who your God is. All of us have an appetite for worldly pleasures and we all have an appetite for kingdom pleasures. Whatever appetite you feed grows, okay? When I was in college here, I was a server, I waited tables, some of you OG Wacoans will remember Johnny Karenos, remember that place? Wonderful establishment, wonderful people, wonderful establishment. You may remember the breadsticks,

weren't really sticks at all, more like loafs, free with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, anybody remember that? You come and it's so fun to be the hero, right? Every day, getting to be the hero, you want some breadsticks, I'll bring you more if you'd like. I've got unlimited supply in the kitchen of bread, I bring the breadsticks, I bring the breadsticks, and then at the end, what I would not do, what I would not do is say, hey, anybody want dessert? That's amateur work. What we were trained and conditioned to do is we would go get this tray, it seems like people don't do this anymore. We'd go get the tray, I was trained in how to carry the tray to go get the tray, dessert tray, okay? Desserts on the tray, I'd come, I'd set it up, I'd bring the tray, I'd bring the breadsticks, I'd bring the breadsticks, I'd bring the breadsticks, I'd come, I'd set it at your table. I wouldn't say a word, just set it there, right? You'd look, you'd look at the Italian chocolate cake with toffee on top, you'd see the New York style cheesecake and when you glanced at it, I'd tell you, hey, I can do that, turtle side chocolate with nuts if you'd like, or fruit, or plain. You see the cannoli, you wanted an authentic Italian experience and everybody would respond in one of two ways. One of two ways, almost right down the middle,

you'd either go, oh, goodness, I'm so full, I ate too many breadsticks, get that away from me. Or you'd say, oh wow, that looks good. Do you guys wanna split something? No, we should each get our own, right? Which one do you want, which one do you want? Okay, because then maybe I'll have a bite and you'll have a bite and then the hostage negotiations ensue over the dessert. It's just one of two ways, right? If you were full, you resisted the dessert, but if you saved some room, you're leaning in toward it saying, give me some. Listen, if you're full of the world, you're resistant to the kingdom. But if you're full on the kingdom, you're resistant to the world. So tomorrow, you're gonna be full of one of them. Which one is it? And there's no cruise control here. There's no set it and forget it here. There's the next day, and the next day, and the next day. There's no like, I'm full, one and done, never need to eat again. No, no, no. No, no, no. What will you choose to feast on tomorrow? He says, the lust of the eyes, avthoman, avthoman. It's giving me trouble all day, avthoman. It's where we get the word ophthalmology,

optometrist, the eyes, the lust, epithumeo. So this strong desire to take the things that you see. It's coveting, it's wanting what you see. So what keeps you from loving God? Number two, the pursuit of possessions apart from God. The pursuit of possessions apart from God. This is the I want to have. And so you begin to collect things for you. And you feed something. You feed your closets, you feed a storage unit, you feed your garage. Then all of a sudden, you're way down on this world. So way down that you can't enjoy access to the kingdom. Because you're weighed down by worldly things. He says, and so I would say, do not let your eyes, do not let your eyes tell you that God is holding out. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I lack no good thing. For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of heavenly lights. So we live with appreciation, which says, thank you, God. A coveting heart says, this should be mine. But what God has called us to, is to be agents of grace and generosity. To move toward those that have needs and meet them. So can you have possessions? Because you see this text and you just begin, I think a healthy reading this text should send us momentarily in a spiral. Like, wait a minute, should I sell everything,

give it to the poor and follow him? It seems like he would have said that if he wanted me to. Like, what is it that I can have? Is it minimalism? Do we need to get a tiny house, live in a tent? Like, what's the deal here? Is it all relative? What defines nice? You know, is a Toyota too nice? Is a Mercedes too nice? Is it all relative? Like, what's that bar? Like, is 100,000 for a house too much? Is 200,000 too much? Is 300,000 too much? Is three million too much? There's probably a number I'll say and you go, yeah, that's too much. What is it? Like, what are the rules, man? I just wanna play by the rules. What are the rules? Can I have nice things? Can you buy brands? Can you get the bag or the Tory Burch or the Jordans? Like, is it okay? Is God okay with that? Is it flashy? Can I need a Timex or a Rolex? Like, what's okay?

What's in the fairway? What is it? One I want you to know, I think he's honored in the wrestling. When you're not just doing it by yourself, you're bringing others in and say, hey, check my heart. But can you have nice things? I'm gonna answer with the most biblically accurate theological answer that I know how to give you. My thing's true to the scriptures. Can you have nice things? Only in as much as you share them. Period. Okay? I think that's true and consistent with the scriptures. Can you have nice things? Only in as much as you share them. If you don't want to share them, if you want to keep them all for yourself, I would never buy something nice. It will condemn you. But if you're open-handed with your life and you're like, every single thing the Lord entrusted me, I have on loan, it's all his, and I'm to leverage it for the sake of the kingdom to make heaven crowded, to bring others in. If that's how you live your life, I pray that the Lord would give you an abundance more than you need.

Much, much more than you need. Can you have nice things? Only in as much as you would share them. And I would just say here, trust yourself the least. As I say often, trust yourself the least when you really want something because we are all master justifiers. We are just really good at talking our hearts into something. I'm gonna share something here that I wouldn't normally share but sometimes you're limited on your illustration. options and I've been in this text all week and it happened this week so I'm gonna share it yeah we've had Monica's car for sale and the thought was we would sell her car and we would start the year by contributing to the save a seat with what we got from her car and Harris Creek family was gonna buy it really sweet family they were gonna buy it we got to the finish line of the financing and it all fell apart not their fault at all but because the car had a rebuilt title you couldn't get financing on rebuilt title rebuilt titles are my jam it's pretty much all I deal in that just means the car has been totaled and and and then repaired and then I put my wife in it and so it's a long story for another time but that's just how I roll and so the financing fell apart and and it was sad because it was just felt like such a God thing and I woke up the next day that morning and the you know spending time with God he was just like you got to give it to him you gotta give him the car and I go to Monica's like how they were supposed to give him the car and she's like I trust you you know so I text hey you know prayed about it since the Lord telling us this is your car you can have it no strings attached you sell it next month it's a gift it's yours and you know they were they were gracious they responded like whoa that's overwhelming we need to run that by our life group I said you can run it by your life group but if they say no you're gonna have to figure

out what to do with the car because Jesus said yes and so I'm driving down the road and I'm just grinning ear to ear I kind of audit my emotions often I'm like man what's going on like how do you feel and why practice of mind you know I'm like wait what is why do I feel this way right I'm like what did I eat for breakfast what kind of coffee did I drink this morning like man what what is this is this is a elation you know like what is this you know I'm just like driving down the road that's just and it feels like just me and Jesus in the front seat hanging out like all is right in the world like this is incredible it's the best feeling in the world like what is that why do I feel that oh it's the car the car that's what we were made for that's that's what God is calling us to all the time that like a generosity that the world would call listen to the word I use irresponsible I said gosh that's that's just so that's carelessly generous not saying that was but that's how we should live it's interesting then they they had no idea our intentions but they texted and just said hey we've decided that we can accept it and we're gonna give the money that we would have paid for the car to save a seat and I'm just like praise God right and like so now when I'm in there like for the next however many years I have the privilege of preaching and teaching here like I'm gonna look at two seats I'm like there's Monica's car you know it's great it's like amazing right it's just like it's what God does but the burden is on us to redeem our possessions for the kingdom the burden is on us to redeem our possessions for the kingdom he says and the pride of life which comes not from the father but from the world the pride of life all of this this hyphen is all of that comes not from the father but from the world members the worldly system we talked about so what keeps us from loving God what keeps you from loving God number three the pursuit of position apart from God the pursuit of position apart from God this is the I want to be you desire position that's the pride of life you're constantly trying to get others to think more of you and you find your security in the opinion of others here's the problem with that the opinion of others what others think of you it's incredibly fickle and fragile okay so if

that's what you build your your life on the opinion of others you're walking around on really shaky ground you're you're walking on eggshells there's no security making you incredibly insecure even at the top even with all the things incredibly unhealthily insecure and you don't know others opinion of you you only know what they allow you to know which leaves you in this uncertain state all the time at some point you got to be like I'm okay because I belong to God and it's okay if they don't like me it's okay not everyone has to like me it's totally okay check this out God is in charge of their opinion of you like ultimately the king's heart or like water courses in his hand he directs them wherever he pleases he is in charge of your reputation as you operate in faithfulness as you do everything right some will love you someone I hate you, keep pointing all of them to Him. And so you use your position, whatever position God would give you, because He did give it to you, to think, how do I leverage it to bring as many to know Him as I possibly can? Okay, this is what it looks like to not pursue position apart from Him. You're right about now, it should be clicking. Oh yeah, there's this kingdom, the kingdom of God. It's gonna be laid down over the kingdom of the earth. The kingdom of the earth is gonna waste away, and the kingdom of God is gonna last forever, and I'm actually living for the kingdom of God, trying not to get distracted by the lowercase k, kingdom of the world. It's, again, the basics of Christianity I think we lose sight of. The opposite, the opposite of worshiping God

is not worshiping Satan. The opposite of worshiping God is worshiping self, okay? People who worship Satan do so in a mockery to the church. They don't believe in God, they don't believe in Satan. The opposite of worshiping God is worshiping self. That's the satanic spirit of the air. That's what will keep you from loving God, self-worship. When I was at Passion, I was in the green room. Kind of do a huddle, take communion, really sweet time. And in the green room, it's a Petri dish of imposter syndrome for me, because I'm just like in the back of my head, it's like, you don't deserve to be here, you know, you shouldn't be here. And it's heroes, man, like my heroes. Like this is my Mount Rushmore of the faith I'm with. I mean, people that I've been listening, teach the Bible for as long as I've been a Christian, people whose songs they wrote have stirred my affection in my car, in church, in everywhere, and they're there, you know, in the flesh. And it's just like, I don't wanna worship people, but I'm just really grateful for the way that God has used them. And in that moment, Brad Jones, who's kind of over a lot of parts of the logistics of passion, calls on me and says, hey, JP, why don't you share? And he said something, and so then I said something, a lot of things.

And I finished, and we wrapped up, and then we went outside to a worship set. And I'm like, what did I say? Did I even answer his question? Was I making sense? Wait a minute, what just happened in there? What did I say? What do they think of me? Does so-and-so like what I said? Were they looking at me funny? What, you know, and then we go into the worship set, and like the person to my right, hands raised, tears running down their face. Person to my left, right, hands raised, tears running down their face. Everyone in the room, 45,000 people, they're experiencing God. And I'm like, man, I should have said this. Come on, JP, what were you thinking, right? I'm back in sixth grade, like trying to get picked for dodgeball, you know? It's like, man, all in my head, and it's disruptive to worship God, right? It's self-worship. It's the opposite of security in Christ. Like, hey, God's got it, man. He's gonna work that out. He can take everything I just said out of their minds, or He can make it something else. He can do whatever He wants.

He's God. I trust Him. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. This is kind of nodding its head at what it means to love God. Obey Him. That's 1 John 5, 3. In fact, this is love for God to keep His commands. John 14, 21. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. It's kind of like, you read that at first, and it's like a little bit startling, like, oh, man, it passes away. It's actually a hopeful message to you. Those desires you've been fighting for such a long time, trying not to act out on them, failing, two steps forward, one step back, they're gonna pass away, right? Everything, not of the kingdom, is gonna burn up. You know what else burns up? All your sins. It's no longer counting your sins against you. They were nailed to the cross. And God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, is free to just love you because of what He did for you

through His Son, Jesus Christ, that all of your sins against Him have been paid for in full. He's free right now to look at you and love you. and not some future version of you, not who you will be when you get right right now in the middle of your struggle, he's crazy about you. It's really good news. I mean, it's like really good news. I got a fire pit yesterday and as I put the wood in the fire, I threw in the trash from the fire pit and then I started picking up trash around the yard and threw it in and it just all burned up. Like that's your sin one day, that's what's broken one day, that's your bad desires one day, your evil desires one day, all just burned up. And the one who's done the will of the father is left to live forever. When you enjoy the world to the glory of God, love grows. And when you enjoy the world to the glory of yourself, love erodes. Lessons, in summary, what keeps you from loving God? Pursuit of pleasure, possessions and position apart from him.

When I got to American Airlines, I went into the VIP lounge and I had my, you know, I was facing the door so I could see when he got there, you know, I was texting him, telling him where to go, it's kind of hard to find. And I was just watching for him and I kind of saw him come in, but he was talking to the security guard there and they were going back and forth and he kind of finally looked at me and he said, they were going back and forth and he kind of finally looked my way and I like kind of waved him, I'm sitting here, you know, I'm at this table and he goes, no, come here. And so I get up and I walk over and he goes, you got to have a ticket to get in here. And the security guard turns to me and goes, he doesn't have a ticket to get in here. And I said, wait, how did you get in the arena? Like what, where's your ticket? And he pulls it out and he goes, this one? And the security guard goes, why didn't you tell me? You know, he didn't realize it was the same ticket, like the ticket that got him in is what's gonna get him. And he goes, why didn't you tell me? The security guard goes,

that ticket will get you in anywhere here. That's VIP access, you can go anywhere here. And what I want you to know is when you've trusted in Christ, his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins and the veil was torn. When Jesus died, the veil was torn, giving you complete and total access to God. What this means literally, and I don't think we know this. People who've been in church their whole life, I don't think a lot of times we get it, is you now, you got the run of the show, man. Like for the kingdom, like you can use everything that's entrusted to you for the kingdom. You can take every conversation and make it about God for the kingdom. You can take every relationship that you have and anyone that you know and any influence that's been entrusted to you and think about how do I leverage for the kingdom? You can take every car and house and neighborhood, you can take your Labradoodle or whatever you have ownership of, possession of, anything that's yours, and you can begin to think about how do I use this in a way that's gonna matter a hundred years from now and a hundred billion years from now? The things that will cease to exist, how do I leverage them towards things

that will never cease to exist? You have all access. You have the supernatural ability given to you by God, the creator of the heavens, the earth, to live your life not for yourself and not for the world, but for the kingdom of God forever and ever and ever. That's gotta do something in your heart. Right about now, you say enough is enough. Enough is enough. I don't wanna waste another moment. I don't wanna waste another conversation. I don't wanna waste another target receipt. I wanna live completely and fully surrendered to God and his kingdom and pray that you would. God, I pray that you would make us enthusiasts, fanatics, big old weirdos for your kingdom. It's like the Mavs fans, the people. paint their torsos blue, you know, like, whatever is your version of that for your kingdom, would you just do that in our hearts and in our minds and in our lives? You just make us new. Need your help. The world is so enticing. So enticing to use shiny sparkly things for us to find identity in the nice shoes, nice watch, nice house, nice car. Let's talk about me. Help us to leverage it all for you. Completely for you. Jesus name.