Radiant Church

The High Privilege Of Knowing Christ Jesus | David Perkins

Join us as Pastor David Perkins brings an encouraging and timely message just for you!

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MusicBed SyncID: MB01SMWFTC7HQ4K

Duration:: 42m
Broadcast on:: 12 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) - Hey, thanks for listening to The Radiant Church Podcast. This is David Perkins and we're so glad that you're listening. Hey, if you're a part of our family meeting online or in person, we would encourage you to get connected at Radiant Church KC across all social media platforms. God is doing something incredible in Kansas City and we love connecting with you, whether it's through our app or even through all the content available on our YouTube page. Hey, our prayer is that God uses this message to change your life and that you could become a dynamic disciple of Jesus. Thanks for listening, enjoy this message. Amen, so good, are you enjoying 21 days of prayer, everybody? Okay, how's that digital detox going? Yeah, you feel good? Ooh, I don't know, I can't tell. Give me a thumbs up if it's going good. Give me a muscle, me nose. Give me a yes. Okay, everybody, this is an all play. Let's go, let's go. How are we doing? Okay, all right, for those of you that are new to Radiant, we're glad that you're here and we are in the middle of 21 days of prayer. We're honored, my hope is, is that if you're new, you'll feel greeted and welcome. We're thankful that you're here. Let's give it a big hand for everybody that's here for the first time. So grateful you're here. (audience applauds) We're in this series and I just call it 21 days of prayer with Jesus, where our focus is to be with Jesus. That's why there's these little videos telling you stories of different people that have been with Jesus. Thank you, Dad, for the great message on prayer last week. Can you give it up for Dad? Did a great job last week. So awesome, love it. And just love where we are in this season. I wanna dig in today on this idea. I wanna just wanna go after this time alone with God. I wanna encourage you, I just wanna equip you, I just wanna kind of help us to look into the delight of being with Jesus. And so I wanna go after that. Let's stand together. We're gonna read the scriptures together out of Philippians chapter three. It's a famous text and many of you would be very familiar with it. And here at week two of this three week series, I just wanna go after your devotional time, 21 days, forming a habit, being with Jesus. And Paul writes to the church in Philippi, we're gonna read a lot 'cause I wanna read it in the NIV. But I also wanna read it in the message paraphrase today too 'cause it's got some extra spice, little extra sizzle on it. And so he says it this way, verse four. If someone else thinks they have reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. In regard to the law, a Pharisee. As for zeal, persecuting the church. As for righteousness based on the law, falless. But whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more? Consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage or rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ, just to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings. Becoming like Him in His death and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Woo, you ready for that today? Come on now, let's go suffer resurrection. This is gonna be good. All right, let's look at this in the message paraphrase. For those of you that are new to the message paraphrase, this is Eugene Peterson. This is not a translation, this is a paraphrase. And he's trying to write in his phrase was, he was trying to write in American. So this is not a word for word, this is a paraphrase, and the goal of it is to put it in language that is everyday use for us. So that's why it's got some fun in it. It says it this way, we couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it. Even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree, a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day. An Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin, a strict and devout adherent to God's law, a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church, a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law book. The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash. Along with everything else I used to take credit for, and why? Because of Christ, yes. All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my master firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant, dash, dog, dong. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ, God's righteousness. I gave up all that interior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering and go all the way with him to that death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. Father, we thank you for the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus. We ask that in these 21 days, each of us would grow closer and closer in knowing Christ Jesus our Lord for whose sake we have lost all things. We ask Lord Jesus that our religious resume would be garbage compared to the surpassing greatness of by faith knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. We thank you for the example that we see in Jesus. We thank you for the example that we see here even in Paul. We ask Lord Jesus that in our generation, we would be people that don't just know Christ in theory but in reality. We pray that it would be our experience, our testimony and our great ambition. I want to know Christ in Jesus name and then you may be seated. As a testimony, I would tell you that one of the challenges for me in my time alone with God that I don't like but I want to confess and I'm thinking that maybe in me confessing my testimony it might resonate with you because maybe you've experienced the same thing and that is that to face difficult circumstance and come before God in prayer and say, God, why is it that I am going through such pain? Why is it that circumstance looks so dismal? How come I am going through something that seems so challenging? And I think that I know in my head, I know that Jesus told us things like in John 16 in his life, you will have trouble but take hard, I've overcome the world. I know that in my head. I've read the stories in Acts 5 where it says that the apostles rejoiced that they had suffered for the cause of Christ. I know those things. I think that in my head, I know those things but as I live as an American in my culture in this day, I have a tendency to believe something that ultimately is I should have the good life. If God's blessing was really on my life then all my circumstance would work out. Why is it that I said yes to Jesus? Why is it that I've tried to be a follower and this hardship is a part of my story? And I don't know about you. Maybe that isn't a part of your story. But what I have found is that many people in the moment where they face challenges and trials, difficulty, suffering, financial, health, relational, just sheer disappointment that life didn't turn out like I had hoped. I thought that things would look this way and they look that way. And I have found that oftentimes that moment is a moment where many people disconnect from God. It's a moment where many people turn back. It's a moment where the circumstance of my life actually is up so high in my value system that I am going to have accusation towards God, anger towards God, frustration towards God that what I had hoped for is not working out and I'm angry at God in the midst of crisis. Many of us in moments like that, even as I talk with people, of course, I've told you my story and I've worked with many people, I'm 47 and I've worked with people at each age in my life in their journey. And oftentimes when there is a turning back away from God, when there is an anger towards God, there is some crisis, there's some form of circumstance that angers them. How come? I thought this was obedience and I thought that if I did this, if I married this person, it would all work out. If I made this move and moved my family to this place, if I did these good deeds, if I was this way, and then there's the gap as you face hardship and difficulty and challenges. I don't know what circumstances that you've experienced. I don't know what you're going through. I wanna highlight today this famous Philippians 3 text that probably all of us are familiar with, but Paul has this explosion of emotion. Paul is writing in a Roman prison cell to the church in Philippi in a place of suffering, has high emotion and it's kinda like a soapbox where looked into it is emotion, it's got testimony, it's got vision, it's got resolution. If we were to keep reading, he talks about, I will press on, he mentions it twice, I'm gonna press on and I aim for you to press on in your journey in the midst of the crisis, but in this Philippian 3 text, we find his motive. In this Philippian 3 text, we find how Paul identifies with I'm going through a hard time, I'm going through challenges and this is how I press on. This is how I endure the pain. This is how I go through the pain rather than the pain being reason why I check out. Rather than the pain being the reason why I'm done with Christ. So many are done with Christ when they face the pain, I want you to be able to go through the pain. I wanna invite you to have a shift in your worldview. I wanna invite you to think like a Christian, not like an American for a moment. It's very easy for us in our comfortable culture where we're told a narrative on commercials and reels that you deserve comfort, you deserve the good life, you deserve a break today, you deserve something. And it's easy for you and I to slowly allow that mantra, that theme to run in our minds. The movies that we play in our minds is my life getting better and easier and better and better and better. And I'm just telling you that runs contrary to the primary way that we see Jesus talking, the story of the disciples and the apostles, what we see here. Paul who writes about two thirds of the New Testament seems to have a very different storyline. And if we're gonna think like Christians instead of like Americans, it's important that we meditate on us and get this deeply embedded in our hearts and our head. So I wanna just highlight just juxtapose Paul's story because it's got some testimony in it. And in Acts chapter seven, we have a story of young Saul before he's Paul. And I think, can't prove it, many Bible commentators say it, but I think that in Saul-Paul's experience, it's possible that even the way that he thinks in terms of what I'm going to experience has a formation in some of this Acts seven story. Most of us know the Acts nine story, Rodid Damascus, Jesus appears to him. He falls, who are you Lord? We know that story, we'll get there. But two chapters prior to that, there's a story in Acts chapter seven, verse 54, and it's got Saul later Paul in the story. He's not the main character though, but I want you to see him. He's a supporting actor, but he comes front and center in Acts nine. But look where he is in Acts seven. When the members of the sin, he even heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God. Stephen, first martyr in the church. And Jesus, standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. At this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. And while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. And when he had said this, he fell asleep and Saul approved of their killing him. It's an intriguing story. Bible commentators guessed that Saul might have been around 30 years old, a young man of Pharisee. And here they drag Stephen out of the city, stone him. And Saul's protecting the coats. Hey, you wanna be able to really toss a rock at this Stephen guy? Here, I'll hold your coats. You Pharisees go ahead, I'm the young man, I'm here to help you out, I'm on the dream team, I'm gonna serve you, I'm gonna help you. Now I got your coat, here you give me your coat. All right, let's go. And then Stephen has this prayer recorded by Luke and Acts. And it's this prayer that looks so much like Christ. Like you just take the phrases first while he's dying, being killed like Jesus was, he prays like Jesus did. He looks to his father, he's got a vision, and then he prays for those that are persecuting him, like Jesus did. And Saul is 30-ish holding the coats, watching. And Saul is a part of the persecution and guilt by association of the martyrdom of Stephen. And later, it's Paul, Acts chapter nine, just two chapters later, has that great moment where Jesus appears to him. Acts 26 says he appeared to him brighter than the sun. So he's got this, it's called the Theophany, this moment where Jesus appears to him. And he says, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? And I'm who you're persecuting, I'm Jesus, who you're persecuting. There's a switch, there's a life change, there's a new king, there's all of a sudden, a revelation, and we see a new person, Saul to Paul. And Saul, the Pharisee, becomes Paul, the bondservant of Christ. Saul, the rulekeeper, probably fairly religiously proud, becomes the, I'm a bondservant, I'm a slave by choice, Jesus appeared to me. And Saul becomes a different person in Paul, and as he writes and gives just this little bit of emotion in Philippians chapter three, I think we find a core conviction because in it, he lists, we read it, starting in verse four, and he gives seven different things about what he once was. I'm a Hebrew, of Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin. This is, I'm of the right tribe. In our culture, it'd be like, I come from good stock. I'm from the right family. As to the law, I mean, I'm a Pharisee, I'm a rulekeeper. I persecuted the church. I was filled with zeal. I kept the law, and he lists seven different things, seven different trophies of how good he is, of all that he's done, focus on me, and he says, and he gives this. He says, if you guys think you have reason to have confidence in the pledge, I have more, and he gives this list of all the things he's done well, all the religious practices. And then he gives, but whatever was to my gain, whatever I did well, whatever were the trophies that I once held that propped me up at being religious, I consider rubbish, lost, dog done, dung, for the sake of Christ, for whose sake I've lost all things. And then there's this shift. There's that list, and then he gives this new motive. He gives us these new ideas, and he says, that was what I once did, but let me tell you, I experienced Jesus in Acts chapter nine, and let me tell you who I am now, but whatever was to my gain, I consider loss, for the surpassing grace, I know I Christ Jesus, but I've lost all things. I once was respected, I once would walk into a city, and people knew it was soloptarsis. I once had their esteem. Now I'm beaten with rods, now I'm shipwrecked. Now I like the way that the, in Sacred Corinthians, with the way that Paul says in the message is, I'm one of the messiahs and misfits. He's like, I am out of favor, but he talks about the gain. He's got a different thing, he says, but here's what I've gained. And he says, I've received because of life from Christ, no longer that religious resume that I propped myself up with, and I was proud of. No, I've lost all things for the sake of Christ, and now I've received through faith, relationship with Jesus. And I'm saved, I'm redeemed because of Christ, and oh yeah, Christ chased me down. And Christ saved me, and Christ gave me a new, and Christ gave me a purpose, and Jesus gave me a mission, and now I'm taking it to the Gentile world, now I'm living differently. And when we hear this, it's this new life, and I want to just take a moment, and I want to be kind of silly for a moment, because I think that we could take this list, and we're in this break right now. We're in this break of, from small groups, from summer to fall. But I want to take, I think it'd be easy for you and I to develop a radiant religious resume. And I think that if we kept it in this category where we did all the right things, but we don't know God, we too could become a Pharisee. I think we could say, hey, as for serving, whoa, I'm on the dream team. I sweated through two T-shirts on serve day. Yeah, as for reading the Bible, man, I'm a one year Bible guy. I ain't missed a day in 10 days, baby. As for loving the next generation, whoa. Radiant kids, baby, I take care of the elementary kids. Whoo, wow. As for church, man, I clap. What's up with that? Not many people got me. I'm a shout-er, I'm a clapper. Hey, I want you to know, as to giving, let's go. Man, you all ever hear that when I was a kid they had done that? ♪ I'll type 11%, right, like religious ♪ It'd be very easy to develop kind of your own religious resume, and without knowing Christ. You know what scares me is Jesus in Matthew 7, when Jesus says, 'cause that language, well, did we not prophesy in your name? But I tell you, I didn't know you. It's very easy for you and me to do this. It's very easy for you and me to develop where we've got all the tatterings of the religious life, but not the relationship of the interior knowing God. It's very easy to develop some of those exterior things and then falsely prop ourselves up. And so for 21 days, which is coming back, we're saying, we want this desire that I see, you see, we read in Paul, and it's a resolution. I want to know Christ and all of those things in the vision of I want to know Christ. And he gives these four things. Now he goes, I want to know Christ. He goes, I want to know the power of his resurrection. Participation and suffering. Even unto death. Like the one that I follow. I don't know, but when I read the story in Acts 7, I just wonder if Paul has the narrative of Jesus and also had the visual of the first martyr. And I wonder if he goes, my aim is not to have the applause for being religious. I want the smile of Christ that I met on the road to Damascus and I want like Stephen and like Jesus, I want to give my life. It's possible that you and I could develop a radiant resume out of knowing Jesus and have all those things and have it be beautiful because the moment, the motive is I want to know Jesus. And so yeah, I want to give because, man, forgot to love the world that he gave his son. Jesus gave, man, I want to give. Of course, I want to serve. Jesus was the servant of all, John 13. Jesus got down and served. Of course, I want to serve. Pray, oh, Jesus, the intercessor. Of course, I want to pray. Children, oh, suffer the little children. Come on to me, Jesus, the kids, are you kidding? Disciples, oh, that's what Jesus gave his life to and through. Of course, I want to make disciples. And out of a interior motive that we see, interior transformation, into your heart. The same exterior habits can be beautiful because out of the overflow, this is the way that Paul talks because I want to know Christ. I want relationship. It's this Greek word, genoscop. I want to know him. It means friendship. I want to be close to him. The way that they say it here in the message is why I wanted to read the message because I want to know him personally. It's sometimes it can be translated, yada. It's this, I want intimate friendship with God. I want to know him. I want to be close to him. I want that friend. I want to be close. So easy for us to have exterior knowledge about God, but not know him personally. And yet for 21 days, our goal is I want, I want to be close. I want to know him. I want that friendship. Parents, we know this. We know, we want to do all the exterior things of parenting, but oh, the sadness. If we do all the parenting things right, my daughter lives. She's here in the front row. She heads off to college this week, everybody. I'm in tears, pray for your boy. She's moving to Tulsa. But imagine this week as Renaud and I take her to Tulsa. Imagine if I got everything right, exterior. And I gave her, I mean, she's been being discipled by vegetables since childhood, fegy tales. Let's say that I had the minivan right, boom. David sold that red Mustang, traded it in for that terrible minivan. But man, she had the Cheerios. Car was right. Got the clothes right. We got schooling right. Man, she got into junior high. Whew, I got that. Walked with her and, you know, like, she did all the things right with education and food and helped her get her driver's license. Imagine if I got all of those habits and those things, those ex-tiers right. But when I driver to college this week, if I didn't know her. Imagine my sadness, my disappointment, and the brokenness. If I'd done a lot of things well, like a good dad, but I had no relationship. Oh, the grieving. This is how many of us live our Christian life. We do a lot of the scaffolding and the skeleton of Christian walk, but we don't know him. We don't have that gnoscope. We're gonna have that knowing. And he's like a father going, come on, I wanna know you. Come close. Gather with me every day. Be with me. Let's go. Let's get that relationship. I've got more for you than you can. I'm a better father than you can. You can see good, good father in a whole different way if you know me. It can be your story rather than a theory. It could be what we walk in together. Ah, that's what Paul says. He's sitting there in the Roman prison cell. He goes, "I want to know Christ." And he adds this little and the power of his resurrection. Same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in me. He goes, "Oh, I want to know the power." So easy for you and for me to live without power. 'Cause if you live in 21st century America, it's really easy to pray a prayer, but have no power of God on your life. But in the moment where you start to say, "Yes, I'll go all experiences on the Damascus road and you want me to do what?" You want me to take the good news of Jesus and do the known world and go fulfill the calling that you have on my life. It takes the power of God for the people of God to accomplish the purpose of God. So many of us will settle, did not know that power, but if you'll get like Paul where he says, "I want to know the power of his resurrection." That power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. I want to know the power. I want to know, I want Genosco relationship. Come on, I want real relationship, I want to know him. I no longer just want to do those seven exterior things from the right tribe, Hebrew, Hebrew. I think if we were to ask Paul, hey, give us your assurance of salvation. If you were to ask Paul that he would give you this, oh Jesus rescued me, he saved me, he met me on that road. He changed me, he gave me the free gift of salvation. I've received it and now I've got a mission and a purpose, but if you were to ask Saul of Tarsus, give me your assurance of salvation, the Pharisee would say, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. I'm born of the tribe of Benjamin, baby. As for a Pharisee, I'm cellist, I'm persecuting the church. I got all the exteriors, right. But the heart of the man who met Savior on the road, he don't talk exterior, he talk interior. Let me tell you about, not what I've done, let me tell you about who he is. Let me tell you my story, my story was the man. I thought I was getting it all right, but I was getting it all wrong. Why? Because it's actually the exterior things that were keeping me from recognizing my need for Christ. And I was the guy that was standing there holding the coats, but Stephen had the relationship. But now I know who Stephen knew, now I know Jesus. And I'll tell you what's going on in my life. I want to know Christ. And I want to know the power of his resurrection. Why? And so somebody who participated in his suffering. What? We Americans, we go, you crazy, Craig. What? Participate, but the heart of the man, who wants, who's not looking at this life or looking just over into the next life, who's experienced Jesus, he's talking about suffering in a way that we don't want to talk about suffering. He's saying, no, I want to participate in his suffering. I can't fathom. I don't know if he's got memories like he's streaming in his mind. Act seven, Stephen. I don't know if he's listened and heard the stories of Jesus. I don't know exactly all the ways that he gets there, but I do read what comes out where he says, "I want to participate." And Peter talks this way. Peter says this in first Peter four. He goes, "Don't do not think it's strange, my brothers, "when you experience suffering, "but rejoice when you participate in suffering." I always think it's strange when I go through suffering. You want to know why? 'Cause I thought I was your boy, God. And I, like many of us, often start to believe a lie, that the narrow road is actually broad and it's going to get easy. But the privilege of the Christian life is not that you get this life. It's that I'm his. And I'm going to deny myself, take up my cross and follow. You get that one, then it starts to rearrange the way that you think about participation and its suffering. Because you've run movies of Jesus in your mind of the cross. You've spent time in the Word of God. You've prayed and you've partaken of communion. And each time it's not a religious duty where you're trying to prove to God that externally you're good enough, it's a remembrance of the cross. It's a prayer of Jesus. I'll never forget our first Good Friday service we've ever done here this last year in this building. And there's people in the room weeping. You know what they're doing? They're crawling into the sufferings of Christ. And they're saying, Jesus, you went to the cross. My life is laying down. My life, like you did. And I want to participate with you. I care like you care. And I have decided that my whole life is through the lens of Christ. And so I too want to participate in suffering. One of my friends years ago, his wife got cancer and was going to chemo. And I'll just never forget when she had shaved her head the day that Renaud and I received their Christmas card. And it was with my friend and his wife and their kids. They'd all shaved their heads. Merry Christmas, pray for us. And I called him and I said, hey man, I respect you. I just want you to know how beautiful your Christmas card was. I said it, I don't mean to sound like a preacher but it's got a little Philippians three on it. It's got a little bit of that love inside of you that wants to participate in the suffering and the pain of the one that you love. You get what Jesus every day. 21 days, build a habit, be with him. Everybody does a little different. Pray, study the word of God, get close. And instead of saying my life is about getting the good life, give me a little more square footage, give me a little better car, give me a little better health, give me a little better relationship, just upgrade me. It's this, Jesus, I want to know Christ. I want the power of God inside of me that actually sustains me when I go through suffering. So that power, Jesus, like you did in the garden, before you went to the cross, yet not my will be done, but yours be done. I want that, I got to pray that every day, God, because things are turning out like I had hoped and actually I feel like I'm going through some kind of difficulty every day and just to stay close to you as I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, it's hard, but I want the power of God to sustain me as I go through this suffering and I will participate with Christ. And you know, it's interesting even in the way that Jesus talks to Saul on Acts 9, he says, "Why, why, why do you persecute me?" Persecute me? Jesus already ascended into heaven. Jesus identifying with his bride, with the Christians. Saul persecuting the Christians. And Jesus goes, oh man, you try to take out my bride. You try to take out my family, those who are my church. You're making, you're persecuting me. How personal is Christ? Then when you're walking with him, you say, God, I give my life to you. This is hard, he goes on with you. You're with me, I'm with you. And when they persecute you, 'cause you said yes. And you're like, all of us know, we know the journey we could go on to go on the broad road. We know the journey we could go on where we're rich to live as if this is all that there is. You know how you could do it. You know how you could rephrase your life to believe. All of the people who leave God out to go fulfill your own callings in terms of what you wanna do and stuff Christ called. You know what that is. And you said, no, the narrow road. And I think he looks at you. And I think the same way that Jesus would look and say, you're persecuting my people. You're persecuting my church. You persecute me. He looks at you and he's with you in your suffering. Just like you wanna be with him and his. He's participating with you, I'm with you. Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations and baptize them and name of the Father and Son of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to be everything I've commanded. Surely I'm with you to the end. Oh, you want us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations? And that's a lot of work. That's a lot of hard. There's a lot of persecution coming our way. There's a lot of suffering. I could just stay here in the village and just try to like, you know, sit here in the valley and get better food and live my best life. But you go all the way with Jesus. There's a cross. And this is what Paul says. And so not only participate in his suffering, but then he goes that last one, even unto death. And I can't prove it, but I just think there's a little bit of 30-year-old Saul seeing Stephen. And he goes, "Man, I want the with Jesus life "more than I want whatever I was before. "I wanna be with him. "I want ganosco relationship. "I want his power. "I need his power because I'm participating in a way "that's costly, but I have the hope of heaven "and eternity with Jesus. "I wanna invite you in these 21 days "to draw close to Jesus, to be with him. "And I believe that we'll come out of 21 days "and we'll do these things. "We'll pray, we'll serve, we'll give, we'll go. "We'll lay our lives down, we'll make disciples, "we'll do all the things of the local church. "But not as religious Pharisees, but bond servants. "We're slaves by choice. "We have decided he's worth it. "And we want to participate with him. "It's the privilege of my life. "It's the joy I'll be with him forever." So we make practical decisions in our day-to-day life that looks like valuing being with Jesus. That's why I'm trying to just make a practical, just be with him, just even if it's five minutes. Even if it's that one-year Bible, boom. Even if it's, even if it's you're in here for seven minutes a day, whatever. But just, just get with him. Let that, let that shift of that external religious facade transition into the love of being with him. Knowing him, Kenosco, I love him. I've ever been with someone like that. I'm gonna be worried about you, so I'm gonna chase you down. I just want to be with you. I heard this week about a guy that was buying a new house in America, wife, kids, and he bought the house because there was a deck off the master bedroom where he wanted to be with Jesus. And so the purpose of buying the house, like the reason why he, it wasn't because of the square footage. It wasn't 'cause it was on a golf course. The motive was the deck off the master where his kids couldn't get to, and he could be with Jesus. And when he told the story, I just thought that's, I just think in our American culture, I just think that's beautiful. I mean, we'll buy houses based upon, you know, where we can watch the game or how we can, I don't know how many bedrooms, all those things. Imagine if just man in art, neck of the woods, it's like drop down on Zillow, mm. Be with Jesus room, 4,000 square feet. Wasn't always good, you know, like, it's a priority. It's what we want. And I know it's an absurd illustration, but I think it's having these verses translate into our day-to-day value system. Oh, I wanna be with him. I'm gonna make a time and a place. I don't even buy my house based upon, I want that spot to be with him. And I want to invite you to make what we talk about on Sundays, part of your life on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, show with him. My dream, I honestly dream. That there'd be so many of us living a radiant life. I think of it kind of like Stephen, I think Jesus is our all and all. Saul to Paul, Jesus, he's our all and all. There will just be authentic followers of Jesus, 21st century America. Be with him. I wanna invite you, if you would, just to take the cup. It's our response today, being with Jesus. We're just gonna obey and remember him in communion together. Just before he goes to the cross, Jesus seated with his disciples, tells them to partake of the bread and the cup with him. We're told to do this in remembrance of him. Jesus, we love you. Would you just tell him you love him? You wanna know him? You want his power? You wanna participate in the sufferings of Christ? You've died to yourself. Now go all the way. I have decided, Jesus, you're my life source. My life is knowing God. It's the high privilege of knowing Christ, Jesus, for whose sake? I've lost the applause of the planet, but I've gained the smile of heaven. Go ahead, take the bread, representing the body that was broken for you. (stirring music) Take the cup, representing the blood to shed for you on the cross of Calvary. Did you stand with me? I wanna invite you today, if you're in the room, and you want a story like that road to Damascus, that Paul had, or once I was living this way, but now I'm walking with Jesus. I wanna lead you in a brief prayer. Some of you today, you wanna begin that journey. If that's you, you wanna receive Christ. The scripture says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. In Christ, it's the gift. If you wanna begin that journey, receive the gift of salvation, be a disciple of Christ, if I should pray this prayer, Jesus, I surrender my life to you. Save me, make me a new person, and I give you my life. Change me. Change me. I give everything to you. I wanna be a follower of yours. I give you my life. Make me a new creature, a new person. Heal me. Save me. In Jesus' name.