Hope Church LV Sermons
Spending Time with God
I became a follower of Jesus Christ as a 17-year-old freshman at the University of North Alabama. You've heard me share my story with you before. I was raised in a Christian home. My dad was a pastor. I had been raised to know the gospel and to be a part of church and was raised in that culture of Christianity. My mom and dad knew the Lord and they lived for the Lord and they taught me and my younger brother. He's five and a half years younger than I am. He's a pastor in Alabama. They instilled in us the values and principles that they held so dear. But even growing up in that environment, there has to come a point in time in the life of every child that's raised in a Christian home that their parents' faith becomes their personal faith. Their parents' faith is not sufficient for you to carry you through this life. That faith must become your personal faith. And that happened for me when I was a freshman in college and I knelt down beside my bed in Florence, Alabama one night in September of 1989 and I gave my life to Jesus Christ and invited him to be my Lord and Savior and became a follower of Jesus. But the next ten years or so of my Christian journey were extremely frustrating. You see, I made a real mistake early on in my Christian life. I looked at the wrong things. And by that I mean that when I came to know Christ, I had grown up in church, I'd seen all the activities of church, I'd seen people that lived for the Lord and all the things that they do and I'd heard about all the things you weren't supposed to do as a Christian. So when I came to Christ, I thought God had brought me into relationship with Himself and now it was up to me to live for God. And so the consuming focus of my life became obedience, trying to live up to what I thought God expected of me because I really thought it kind of worked like this. God by His grace had saved me and now some days God was happy with me if I did everything I was supposed to do and some days God was really disappointed in me if I didn't do everything I was supposed to do. So I lived on that emotional roller coaster as a Christian of always feeling like I could never measure up because I knew there was so much more to do than I could really do and I'd look at other people and I would see them further down the road than I was and I knew God must just be real disappointed with me a lot. You see, I made the mistake of thinking that spiritual maturity equals spiritual activity. So the focus of my life became what I was supposed to do. And it might not have been so bad but I became a pastor and I taught people that. I'm glad I don't have those tapes today that I can go back and listen to, right? I mean I didn't do it with a bad heart, I taught them how to know Christ but then I taught them to say we should obey God, man, that we should all focus on obedience and the goal of my life became to perform for God, to show him how much I love him by obeying him. Because of that there were some verses that I never could really understand. Like Matthew chapter 11 when Jesus says, "Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you what?" Rest, I didn't know nothing about rest. Rest, man, I was working hard every day to try to perform, to try to live up to the expectation, to try to do all the things I was supposed to do and not do all the things I wasn't supposed to do and it didn't matter how hard I tried, I never seemed to measure up so always had a busier schedule the next day to try to do better and try harder. Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Easy and light, I didn't get that. It was heavy and burdensome. Jesus said in John 8, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." I didn't get freedom, man, I had bondage. I felt this obligation to the rules. Something compelling me to always try to live up to a standard that I just established in my own mind was what God had expected of me. Then I went through a period of real spiritual brokenness in my life and some of you that have been walking with God for any length of time at all, you know what I mean when I say one of those periods of spiritual brokenness. It's not salvation, that's obviously a period of spiritual brokenness when you realize through conviction of your sin that your only hope is Jesus Christ, God breaks us and brings us to salvation but this was a spiritual brokenness beyond that. One of those times when God really just got a hold of me and it was in that period of brokenness that God brought a mentor into my life, a man named Clyde Cranford, I've shared with you Clyde's story before and Clyde was one of those guys that just walked intimately with God to the point that when you're around Clyde, when Clyde would come into the room, it literally felt like when Clyde would come in, it's like God would come in the room and it wasn't putting Clyde on a pedestal, he was just so full of the presence of God in his life and Clyde began to pour into my life that the real call on my life was not activity, it was intimacy. Let me say it another way, what Clyde taught me is that the goal is the relationship. Not only that sounds easy to say but if we really wrap our hearts around that, you see here's what a lot of us think. The relationship is what God gave me, now that's the start, now the rest is beyond that. Okay, God saved me, brought me a relationship with himself, now I've got to look at what I'm supposed to do, now I've got to live this Christian life, right? No, the whole goal is the relationship. The reason he brought us into relationship with himself is so that we could have a relationship with him. Let me give it to you in two goals. Maybe the simplest summary of Christianity you've ever seen, all right? Here's goal number one. The overall goal of the Christian life is to know God. The overall goal is to know God. Jesus said in John 17, this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. The goal is to know him, not to just know about him, not to just know God's will, right? That's the question we ask. Man, I wish I could know God's will, it's the wrong question. We don't need to know God's will. We just need to know God and as we know God, God will accomplish his will through our lives. You know what that question says when we're saying what's God's will? Here's the question we're really asking, what am I supposed to do, right? God, will you just write it down and send me the notes like no one I'm supposed to do. God didn't want us to be consumed what we're supposed to do. He wants us to be consumed what we're supposed to be, we're supposed to know God. He brought us into relationship with himself so that we might know him. Second goal, it's the day they go, if that's the big picture, then what's the day they go? Here it is. You ready? To spend time with God. That's it. You see, everything else Jesus desires to do through your life, He'll do out of the overflow of that right there. As you know Him and spend time with Him, everything else is built on that. In the last few months, we've had a lot of new people come into the life of our church in the last few weeks, we've seen a lot of people come to Christ and because of that, we prayed as a pastoral team and really felt like this weekend, as a weekend, to really highlight these truths that I want to share with you. The things that I want to share with you this morning are some things that really God used a man named Clyde Cranford to pour into my life about 12 years ago, deep work of transformation in my own heart, some things that I've shared here at Hope a couple of years ago, three years ago or so, but we just felt like with where we are in the life of our church, it was so timely to introduce these truths once again because for some of you, you've just begun this Christian journey and here's what we feel compelled to help you do. Start right. Don't miss 10 years of frustration and focusing on the wrong things. Start right. For those of you that have been walking with God for some length of time, our prayer today is that this will be a fresh challenge for you to bring you back, listen, Paul said it this way, to the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. I love the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. So I want to ask a question this morning. When you came in, there was a sheet of paper like this, a blue one in your seat, you should have this, I've given you this because today you're going to probably take more notes than a fit on the back of the worship folder and I don't want you complaining at the end, all right? So we're giving it to you. All right. I've given you a lot of the notes with some fill in the blanks. Look at the very top of that sheet. It says, why is spending time with God so important? That's the big question of the morning. All right. I just said that the daily goal is to spend time with God. So why is that so important that we spend time with God? Well when Clyde first posed this question to me and we were sitting in my office, I was a pastor, I had my seminary degrees hanging on the wall behind me, you know, and he comes in and we sit down and we start having this conversation together and Clyde asked me a series of questions that I'm about to ask to you. Now when Clyde asked him to me, I had to answer out loud. You don't have to do that this morning, all right? I'm giving you a break I didn't get because I missed them all, I blew it. Here's the first question I want us to answer the question, why is spending time with God so important? Let's ask three of the questions. Here's the first one. Don't answer out loud, does a Christian want to sin? Just think about it, you may write down your own answer, I'll give you the right answer here in a minute if you missed it like I did. Does a Christian want to sin? Now immediately when we hear that question, the first thing we think about is temptation, right? I mean if I didn't really want to sin, it wouldn't be temptation. I mean the whole meaning that it's temptation is how I want to do it, right? If I didn't want to do it, no temptation, right? But in reality, we don't really want to, right? Because as a Christian, as soon as you step across that line, you may think that's what you want, but as a Christian, as soon as we cross that line and we disobey God and we choose that thing that we know God doesn't want for us, what happens? In deep conviction, right? Because it's really not. We thought it's what we wanted, but it's really not what we wanted. You see, when you come to know Jesus Christ, He comes to live inside of you and He begins to change your want tos. It doesn't mean that we don't have a flesh anymore that still struggles with the things of this world, but in our heart of hearts as a Christian, there's no joy in sin anymore, right? We can't enjoy that. We thought we could, we thought it's what we wanted, but it's really not what I wanted anymore. That's why it breaks our heart when we sin. So the answer to the question is no, as a Christian now we really don't want to sin anymore because of Christ in us, we have a longing for the things of God. So the answer is no, we don't want to sin. Second question, does a Christian have to sin? Now before you answer that one, I want you to look at these verses that I've listed there on the sheet for you. Romans 6, 6 and 7 says, "Knowing this that our old selfless crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin for He who has died is," read it out loud, "freed from sin." If we've become a follower of Christ and we've died with Him and those who are dead are freed from sin. Look at 1 Corinthians 10, 13, "No temptation is overtaken you but such is just common to man and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you were able." But with the temptation we'll provide the way of what? Escape. Escape also that you may be able to endure it. You know what that says, "In every single moment of temptation because of the faithfulness of God," not because of me, but because of the faithfulness of God, God provides a way of escape. I know what some of you are thinking, some of you that have studied theology and are wrapped up in a pursuit of you. And wait a minute pastor, what about our depravity? In seminary they taught me the word depravity meant that apart from the grace of God we'd all run headlong into every form of wickedness and that's exactly true. We are depraved, fallen. But you hear the definition apart from the grace of God we'd all run headlong into every form of wickedness? Listen, as a Christian you never have to live apart from the grace of God. As a matter of fact Romans 5 says, "It's that grace in which you stand." Take it first Peter chapter, or second Peter chapter one of verse three at the bottom, he says, "Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything," say that word out loud. "Everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory." And next, let's see what that says, "The moment we came to know God, God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit gave you and me everything we need to live a godly life." So based on all those scriptures, and we could look at a thousand others, does a Christian have to sin? The answer's no. Now by this point in my conversation with Clyde, I'd already missed the first two. He said, "I got one more, and I'm going to be honest with you before I ask it to you." The answer hurts. If a Christian doesn't want to sin, and we don't have to sin, why do we sin? I didn't know, and I sure wasn't guessing at this point because I had so blown the first two questions. I didn't know what to say, because I just read in the scripture where I didn't have to, and I knew that God had changed, given me a new heart on the inside where the real me, Christ, and me no longer long to sin, I didn't know the answer. Clyde's advanced, "Turn your Bible to John 14," and I want you to do that this morning. I want you to turn your Bible to John chapter 14 and verse 15, and he read one verse of his scripture, John chapter 14 and verse 15, and here's what it says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Read it out loud off the screen with me, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And I tell you how I'd heard that verse my whole life, I'd heard that verse probably a hundred times. Let me tell you how I'd always heard it. Here's the way it had always come into my ears. It's not necessarily the way people said it, it's just the way I heard it. If you love me, you better obey me. So I lived much of my Christian life thinking that it was up to me to show God how much I love him by obeying him. You know, when you hear it that way, you know where the focus goes, obedience. I got to show God I love him by all man. Man, he said it right there, "If you love me, you better obey me." For the first time in my life that day when cloud read that verse, let me tell you how I heard it. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. For the first time in my life, I heard the emphasis not on keeping my commandments but on loving me. And here's what Clyde said, "Vance, you sin because you don't love God." Now, can I be honest with you, that made me really mad. I mean, so mad if I'd done what I wanted to do out of coming across the desk and just tore right into him, opened up some Alabama on him, I mean, that's what I wanted to do. I was mad because I thought, "How dare you, how dare you, man? I love God." I've given my life to preach the gospel, I've spent time in seminary, graduated with a master's degree in theology. What do you mean I don't love God? You know my problem? It was right there. You know what Jesus said there, "If I got a sin problem, I don't have an obedience problem." I got a love problem because he said, "If you love me, when you love me, it changes the way you live." You see, our obedience is in direct proportion to our love. I want to put a paradigm up on the screen and we're going to just walk through it. It's also in your handout. If you open to the next page, it starts with the word sin at the top. And it says we sin because we don't love God. Now it's not that we don't love him at all, right? I mean, we love him. That's what the gospel teaches us, man, God loved us. And so we respond by loving God. But what the Bible is teaching, what Jesus is saying, what God was pouring into my life that afternoon is, it's not that I don't love him at all. It's that I don't love him like I could love him. Well that raises another question. Why don't I love him more? The answer is because we don't know God. Now again, not that we don't know God at all, but what do we say to the overall goal of the Christian life is to know God, right? He brought us in a relationship with himself so that we could know him. I showed a video clip to you last weekend of my wife and I getting married as an illustration, right? Eighteen years ago, I stood before a congregation of people and I said, "I love Christie and I'm minute." With everything that I could mean it, I meant that I loved her. But listen, I love her today like I could have never loved her eighteen years ago. You know why? Because I know her today like I could not have known her eighteen years ago. You see, I've watched her life. I've seen her as a wife and as a mother and as a friend and as a neighbor and as a servant of Jesus Christ. I've seen the compassion and the tenderness and the sacrifice in her life. And because of all those ways I've grown to know, listen, I couldn't have known her that way eighteen years ago, but now I know her. And the more I've grown to know her, the more I love her. Those words today have way more meaning than they did eighteen years ago. You know the problem with many of us? Our knowledge of God begins and ends with the gospel. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. That's good news. Amen? Hey, the gospel's wonderful. That's one verse. He gave us sixty-six books so we could know about His character. Listen, the gospel happened so that you and I could know Him and all of His glory. God desires to make Himself known. God desires for you and I to behold His glory. And yet we don't know Him. We know little bits and pieces but we don't know Him. That raises another question. Why don't we know Him like we could know Him? Because we don't spend time with God. You see, I said a moment ago that I love my wife today like I could have never loved her eighteen years ago. What's made the difference? Sixteen years, right? A lot of times spent together. Through the time we've spent together I've grown to know her. Hey, what if I'd gone to my wife and proposed something like this? So how do you think this would have been received? Christy, I love you. And I would like for you to be my wife. I want us to have a marriage relationship and here's where it's gonna work. I'm gonna come see you every Sunday morning. Every Sunday morning I'm gonna come by and I'm gonna be faithful unless it's raining or windy or NFL playoffs or something like that. But other than that, I'll be there every Sunday morning. I'll give you one better than that baby, I won't just come on Sunday morning, I might even come by one night during the week. Other than that, you're probably not gonna hear much from, oh wait, unless I need something. Now if I need something, I'll be calling. Matter of fact, I'm gonna call to you, fix whatever I need. Other than that, that's pretty much all I'm looking for. Now how high up do you have to be on the desperate scale to accept a proposal like that, right? We laugh about it, right? Because it's ridiculous, isn't it? I mean it's ridiculous, that's not a relationship. You can't know anybody like that. You can't love somebody like that. God, I want you to save me. I want you to be the Lord of my life, I want to know you. And God, I'm gonna give you an hour every Sunday morning, or an hour and a half if you go to hope, and God, I'll even come to a small group once a week. Lord other than that, oh, unless I need something, if I need something you'll hear my voice. And I'll be crying out. And then here's what's amazing, with a serious face, with a serious face, we ask the question, why do I struggle so much to live the Christian life in this fallen world? Why is it so hard? I mean we do that with all seriousness. We approach God with this one hour, one hour a week, and maybe a couple of times of crying out, and we really wonder why. God, I don't understand. What am I doing wrong here? The goal is the relationship. He brought us into relationship with himself so that we could know him, that we could love him and you can't accomplish that without spending time with him. Why don't we spend time with God? The answer is we don't see the need. Let me ask you a question this morning. How many of you think spending time with God on a daily basis is a good thing? Let me see your hand. That's what I thought. You can put them down. How many of you think spending time with God on a daily basis is something that should be a part of your life? Let me see your hand. That's what I thought. How many of you think spending time with God on a daily basis changes your life? Let me see your hand. That's what I thought. How many of you think spending time with God is an absolute necessity every day? Let me see your hand. Does the life you live demonstrate the testimony you just gave? And the overwhelming majority of you just said it's a necessity. Hey, let me let me show you what a necessity is. How many of you breathe every day? You stop breathing. You stop what? Living, right? You stop breathing during this service when it's over. We've got to carry you out of here. That's right when it's over. When I stop and right now, I got too much to say there's nothing we can do for you at this point anyway, all right? You're in a comfortable spot till we get done. Matter of breathing is so necessary. We do it without even thinking about it, right? None of you are going, okay, let me think, okay, breathe, okay, now you're thinking about it right now because I said that. But we don't normally have to think it's just you have to breathe to live. How many of you eat every day? Yeah, that's what I thought. Most of us eat more than once every day, right? Why? You've got to eat to live. You've got to have fuel in the body. Your body will dive starvation without eating. Hey, listen what Jesus said. One shall not live on bread alone. But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, we can't live. You know the problem, we think spending time with God is a really, really, really, really, really good option. I don't have to. I mean, I can get by today, especially if there's no big stuff on the agenda, right? If it's just a normal average day. I put something big on the agenda. Hey, find out you're going tomorrow morning to get the results of the test from the oncologists. Let me tell you what you're doing today. You spending time with God. You know why? Because when it gets desperate, when we know it's out of our control and we have to, the problem is we don't live that way all the time. Jesus said, apart from me, you can do what? Nothing. The problem is that's not what we think He said. We think He said, apart from me, you can't do big things. Here's what that means. Today, I will not, I will not love my wife as Christ loved the church unless I walk into dependence on God. I will not be a father to my children like God desires of me unless I'm doing an independence on the Holy Spirit of God. I will not be the neighbor to my neighbors that I'm supposed to be today, apart from intimacy with God. I'll not be the co-worker, the employee, the employer, the pastor, the friend. I won't even spend time with God today unless I'm walking in dependence on Him. My breath, me being alive today is dependent on Him. Now, the bottom of this list, why don't we see the need? There's a one-word answer. It's the word pride. Let me tell you what pride says to God. God, I do not need you today. Anybody walk out of your house this morning and shout that out loud. I don't think we're in the habit of that, right? We don't leave the morning and say, "Hey God, I do not need you today." And yet every day we rush into this life and live it on our own. Let me tell you what we're saying. God, I don't need you today. I'm good. I don't know what it's like at your house, but we have four kids at our house, and every one of them hit this stage when they were in preschool, three, four, five years old, where they hit that first streak of real independence. It usually happened in our home around the tying of the shoes. It was always that point where everybody's ready. We're ready to get out the house, get out the door, and the little one decides today's the day, man. I'm going to do it myself. I got just enough spite in me to say, "All right, go ahead. Help yourself. I know they can't do it." And I don't know if it hadn't learned how. They'll sit down with that shoe, man, and they'll go after it like it's 90 to nothing, and they're wrapping the string around their leg and tying it around the shoe, and after several minutes of frustration, the shoe winds up usually being thrown completely across the room. Honey, we got to go. They picked the shoe up, bring it over, daddy. Will you help me? Now what do we do at that point? We sit down, and we take their little hands, and we put them in hours, and we say, "Now, sweetheart, you grab the laces like this, and you make a bow, and you pull it, and you tie it tight." And then we let go, and we say, "Look at the hair. You tied your shoe, and that big ol' grin hits their face." Now, I know all the while I tied their shoe, but I did it through them. Let me tell you what God desires to do. I didn't call you to go live for Him. He desires to live His life through you. But as long as you approach Him with the "I can do it, I don't need you today." Let me tell you what He says, "All right, help yourself." And we fall on our face, and we hit that wall over, and over, and over, and over again. Let me show it to you in the Bible. Look at James, chapter 4, verse 6. It says, "But He gives a greater grace, therefore it says, 'God is,' what does it say, opposed? The word 'opposed' is a word that means to stiff arm. God is opposed to the what, proud. When I say, "God, I'm good, God, I can handle this on my own. God, I don't need you today." God says, "All right, go ahead, give it your best shot." You know what we do as Christians? We spend the majority of our Christian life wrapping the shoe string around our foot trying to do stuff on our own that God never intended for us to do on our own. There's never God's design for us to do it. He desires to manifest His life through us as we live in dependence upon it. Listen when it goes on to say, "But God gives what?" "Grace!" What a good word! Let me tell you what grace is. Grace is God's supernatural enablement to do that through His strength, which I could never do left on my own. When I approach God with the spirit of humility that says, "Oh, God, I need you!" Then God gives grace, and He puts my hands in His, and then He ties the shoe. Let me show it to you again on the screen. I want to start at the bottom this time with the word humility. He says, "God, I need you." And we approach God with the spirit of humility that cries out in desperation to Him. What is the Bible promise? He gives us what? Grace. He gives grace. When God gives grace, we see the need. We see the need. Hey when we see the need, guess what we do? We spend time with God, right? And I realize how desperate I am. When I understand how much I need Him, I spend time with Him. When I spend time with Him, guess what happens? I get to know Him. I know God because of time spent in the relationship. I grow to know more about His character. Listen, as we spend time in God's word this week, I've been walking with God now for over 20 years this week. And I learn some new things about God. God continues to reveal His character and His holiness and His glory. Listen, you and I will be in heaven for eternity growing in the wonderful knowledge of God. Never exhausting the riches of His glory. The more we spend time with Him, the more we know Him. The more we know Him. Guess what? The more we love Him. Hey, you'll never learn anything about God you don't love. And He said, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Obedience is the top of that." And we began with a question. Why spending time with God so important? Why won't you take this little hand? I don't want you to open it up like this, all right? I want you to look at the inside. Look at the top of the first chart. The word is what? Sin. Look at the top of the second chart. The word is why is spending time with God so important? It's right there. You see, the life change that happens in my life does not happen as I focus on trying to do what I'm supposed to do. No, the life change that happens in my life happens as I focus on intimacy with God and let Him do through me what I could never do left to myself. Let me show it to you in another way. I want to put another paradigm up on the screen either. This one's not you. You have to write this one on the back of your sheet there. But I want to put the word temptation up here at the top. Now this morning, I'm specifically talking about a temptation not to spend time with God because we all face that every day, right? Now you could substitute into this word temptation any area of sin that you struggle with. But we all face the temptation to not spend time with God. As a matter of fact, we're not going to do the poll this morning, but I don't even want to, we don't even want to ask and put us all on the spot. How many of us spent time with God every day this week? We don't even want to go there, right? We want to be honest at church, but not that honest, right? That's just a little too much for me. So we all struggle with this. Now here's what typically happens on a day like today. We come to a service like this and we see it right in front of us and we go, man, that's exactly right. I try so hard with willpower and determination to overcome these areas in my life and I've been working out of my own strength, realized man, it's about intimacy we've got. I've been focused on obedience instead of intimacy. I've been focused on activity, what I'm supposed to do, man, that's right. So I tell you what, pastor, I'm going to do it. Every day in the morning, man, I'm getting up and I'm spending time with God every day. My life's going to be different. I'm going to do it. I'm going to get a plan and I'm going to get some systems in my life so that I can spend time with God every day. And for a little while, we do pretty good. We have some temporary success. We maybe go a week, maybe two weeks and we start thinking, man, I'm doing pretty good. I'm spending time with God every day, I'm keeping this commitment this time. It's real this time. And then life happens and we miss a day, two days, three days, we fail. And after failure, we start living in discouragement. I'm so disappointed in myself, man, I've been a Christian for 10 years. Why can't I do better than this? Man, I see someone so at church, I know they can't struggle with what I struggle with. Come on, man, you can do better than this. God saved you. Can't you live different? We go to retreat a conference. We come to worship service and we hear the word taught and God convicts us again. And that's it. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to do this. Drop that circle in there. I'm going to do it. It's going to be different this time. I'm in it this time. I didn't really mean it last time, but I mean it this time. I'm serious this time. Matter of fact, I'm so serious. I'm getting me into accountability partner. It's going to be different this time. Maybe this time we go a month, two months. We go to Pastor Mike and say, "Hey, Pastor Mike, maybe I ought to teach a class to someone how to spend time with God. I've been doing it for two months now." I think I got this thing figured out. And we fail again. And this time the failure is worse because, well, now we've started talking about it and now everybody knows. And now what are they going to think about me? Because I've said I had this thing licked. You know what this is rooted in? It's pride. I'm going to do it. I'm doing good. I think I got it this time. Oh, I'm so disappointed. You know why you get so disappointed in yourself? Because you put confidence in yourself. You see, my confidence shouldn't be in me. My hope is in him. Hey, my flesh is the, matter of fact, my flesh is even worse than it was 20 years ago. It's worse than it was a month ago. The Bible says the outer man is decaying. My flesh is not getting any better. It's Christ in me that makes me different. You know what this is? This is Clyde called it the merry-go-round of the flesh. And here's what's unfortunate. This is where most Christians live. They live from temporary success to despondency, to depression, to guilt, to frustration, to recommitment, to temporary success, to failure, to guilt, to frustration, to depression. And it just gets worse. That's why some of the most unhappy people in the world are Christians. Christians trying to live the Christian life in their own strength and merit. Can I quickly show you another way? Put the word temptation back at the top. Here's what needs to happen today. A new approach. Here's what we say. You ready? God? I can't do it. Lord, if it's up to me, I will fall flat on my face. I can't love you. I can't live for you. God, I can't even spend time with you without you. How many times you sit down to have your quiet time, have your Bible and your lap and everything in you fights you even opening the Bible? A million thoughts come into your mind in that moment. What do I do with that? Let me tell you what you do. You stop right then and say, "God, I can't." Or this is unfortunately just how wicked I am. God, I need you. Lord, I need you to breathe today. God, I need you to love my wife today. Lord, I need you to love my kids today. God, I need you to open your word today. Lord, I can't. I've tried. And I've hit that wall a million times. Hey, and when we approach God that way, what does He give us? Great. He says, "Son, that's where I've been waiting on you to get all along." And then He begins to do through me what I could never do on my own. And then I don't experience temporary success. Let me tell you what I experience, victory. Victory. And then your life begins to change and people come and they say, "Hey, man, what's different about you?" And it's not, well, I've got this great system of quiet times that I'm having every day now and I, you know. No, no, no, no. Let me tell you what we say then. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Don't look at me, man. It ain't me. Mm-hmm. It's Christ in me. And if there's anything of value you see in me, it's not me. My flesh is as garbage as the next guys. It's Christ in me. And this doesn't mean we don't still struggle. But the circle back in there, when I say victory, I don't mean once done and forever over. No, I just mean now we've got a new way to handle it. This means now every morning we wake up the first, the first breath uttered. God, I sure need you today. Or more than I need food. God, really, more than I need breath in my body. I need you. Let me tell you what this is. This is the ascending spiral of grace. Spiritual maturity is not spiritual activity. Spiritual maturity is growing in intimacy with God to the place that Christ begins to manifest His life in and through our life. Let me take you back to John 14 and we're done. We read John 14, 15. Jesus said, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." Hey, look down at verse 21. John 14, verse 21, Jesus said, "He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me." Is that not the same thing He just said in John 14, 15? Same thing, right? How'd we miss it? He said it two times. Then look what He said, "And he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him." Do you see the growth and the, He started in John 14, 15, which is simply, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." But now in John 14, 21, He begins to describe this growth in intimacy. He says, "Man, when a person begins to focus on intimacy with God, they begin to grow in intimacy with my father. The Bible says, "Jesus says, 'We'll disclose ourselves.'" The word disclose means to make known. Guess what that means, the more you know God, the more you what, the more you love Him. You see the growth that's taking place to look down, He says it again in verse 23. He didn't just say it once or twice, three times. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. There it is again. Listen to this, "And my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him." I call this a man or woman with God all over them. Do you ever meet that person and it's just like man, when they get around just like the presence of God is with them, what is that? It's walking in intimacy with God. Here's the Bible says, Jesus says, "Man, when you begin to pursue intimacy high in the Father, we'll just come and we'll, we'll make our abode with you." Hey, he already lives in us. We're talking about a manifestation of the presence of God in my life. Go all the way down to the bottom of the chapter, verse 31, listen to what Jesus said. So that the world may know that I love the Father. I do exactly as the Father's commanded me. You know what that means, right? What I've described for you this morning, let me give it to you in one word, Christ-likeness. Jesus said, "I'll obey the Father out of the overflow of intimacy with him. The world sees that I love the Father." You know what we're talking about, right? We're talking about just the life of Christ being manifest in our lives through intimacy with God. Let me tell you what this is. This is Jesus saying, listen. (sniffles) Come. Hey, if you're weary, if you're tired of trying to live the Christian life, all who are weary and heavy-laden, come. Am I? (sniffles) I'll give you a rest. Take my yoke. Take it upon you. Jesus said, 'cause my yoke. It's easy. My burn is light. (coughs) Hey, you can know the truth. The truth sets you free. Free to pursue intimacy with God. Let's pray. What I pray this morning that you would speak. Holy Spirit, we ask you today to teach truth. And Lord, I pray this morning that there are people across this auditorium that are being set free, even as we're praying. Amen. As you sit there in the quiet of this moment, we're gonna end our service a little bit differently this morning. We're not gonna stand and sing, but I'm gonna ask you to do something. I believe there's many of you today that God's really spoken to, some of you are new Christians and you're understanding some of these things for the very first time. Some of you've been Christians for a while and you've been trying and you've been failing. You got these areas that you continuously struggle with and you wonder why. It's 'cause you're trying to do it on your own. And today what's gonna happen is some of you are gonna take a stand. You're gonna make a fresh surrender of your life to say to God, God, I can't, I need you. So what I'm gonna ask you to do this morning, if God has spoken into your life and you've heard his voice and you're ready, you're ready to say to God, I can't. (soft piano music) Lord, I'm ready for you. If you're ready today to bring him this use, what I want you to do right now is all over the building, if that's your heart's desire, if God's spoken to you, I want you to just stand right where you are. If you're ready, you just stand right where you are. Just stand right where you are. People standing right now in every section, if God's spoken to you and you're ready and you just stand right where you are. God, I'm tired. I've tried it on my own. Lord, I'm done with it. Lord, I wanna make a fresh surrender today. God, I need you. Just stand up, remain standing right where you are and just a minute, I'm gonna pray for all these that are standing. We're gonna wait for just a moment on you. If God's speaking to you and you're ready to take this stand, it's a stand up, it's not a stand that's okay. God, tomorrow, I almost know. It's say, God, I can't do it. Lord, I need you. Lord, I pray this morning for every person that's standing. Lord, all across this building, people making a fresh surrender. God's son, maybe for the very first time, understanding that it's not up to them to live it. You wanna live it through them and they're gonna begin to live in dependence upon you. God, maybe some are Christians been saved for a while. And some, this is just new revelation. God, you've just taught him something new today. Some of us, Lord, we just need to be reminded. It's so easy to get focused back on what I'm supposed to do that we lose the whole significance of what you brought us into. Father, forgive us. Lord, I can't imagine what it must look like from your perspective when we try to live the life that you know we're not capable of without you. And God, how many times have you been waiting? Waiting for me just to hand you the shoes. Lord, thank you for grace. We bless you, O God. That's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray. And all of us said, hey, man, you may be seated. Let me say a couple of other things and we're gonna be finished. We've answered the question, why? Why is it so important to spend time with God? We've addressed that. Let me say a couple of closing things and we're done. When do I do this, pastor? Hey, you do this daily. Moment by moment, I live in dependence on God, but let me encourage you to carve out some time. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever's a good start for you to begin to spend time with God every day. And listen, you may sit down with your Bible and go, I don't even wanna do this. Hey, let's be honest with God. There are times I sit down with my Bible and the first thing out of my mouth has to be Lord. There's not anything in me today that wants to do this. But God, I'm here. And Lord, even though my flesh doesn't realize it, I need you. And God, I need you to even help me open the book. That's how wicked I am. God, I need you to help me open the book. Every day, carve that into your life. Secondly, you say, what do I use to do this? Well, you start with the Bible. If you're a new Christian, start in the Gospel of John. And you just, if you say 10 minutes, then for 10 minutes, you just read in the Gospel of John. You say, how much till the 10 minutes is up? You say, what if I'm right in the middle? Just stop when your 10 minutes is up. That's all right. Pick up right there the next day. Just open and say, God, I need you to speak to me today. I need you today. You can get devotional guides. There's a lot of different devotional guides that are out there. We've got a couple at our resource kiosks today, one by Oswald Chambers, one by Johnny Hunt, a lot of different devotions. These are just tools that you can use to help you in spending time with God. Say, well, how do, once I sit down, I've got my Bible, I'm there, I've got my 10, 15, 20 minutes. What do I do? How do I even, how do I, you talk about spending time with God, I've never done that before. Well, hey, we've made two resources available to you on our website. You can go to hopeabdishchurch.com on the front page today is a link to a DVD where I simply sat down for 20 minutes, looked into a camera and I talked to you about how I spend time with God every day. Nothing magical, nothing mystical. It's not original with me, it's stuff cloud poured into my life, but it would just give you some tools and some handles for how you can begin to spend time with God personally using the word of God on a daily basis. We've also put on their PDF file, you can download that's called the soap method. It's just a little method to help you begin to ask some questions as you read the Bible to begin to make application into your own life. We wanted to give you some tools and handles this morning so that you could begin to live out. Now listen, the tools and the handles aren't the goal, the goal is the relationship, the spend time with God. These are simply tools and handles to help you begin to spend time with God. Does that make sense? Let me pray for his father. You are good. God, Lord, I thank you. God, I thank you for the freedom that we have in Jesus. No more do's, don'ts, rights, wrongs, rules, and regulations. God, we just have to know you. What I pray today, there have been people all over this building been set free. And I pray today they would leave walking in the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus Christ. We love you, God. It's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. (gentle music)