2013-08-25 Being in Love With Jesus - Prayer

The speaker welcomes a young man named Chris to share the service with him. They pray for Chris and talk about the importance of using gifts and teaching in the church. The speaker then discusses the difference between loving God and being in love with God, emphasizing the importance of having a personal relationship with Him. They talk about the significance of prayer in our lives and how it should be a priority, just like consulting a spouse or significant other in decision-making. The speaker encourages the audience to seek God's guidance in their daily lives and to have a deeper connection with Him. They also mention the importance of discovering who God is through asking questions and getting to know Him personally. And I got a young man that's going to come up and he share the service with me today and Let's welcome Christopher Green Chris, come on up here and I'll tell you God is raising up people and they have a voice and let's get behind them. Let's pray for him. Okay Hallelujah, it's gonna be good father God. I want to thank you for Chris Lord I want to thank you Lord for his heart for you most of all and God I want to thank you Lord that you're just going to bless him today and just help him Lord Just deliver that which was in his heart for your your glory and your honor bless him Lord We love him and Lord we get behind him and we thank you Lord for your goodness Bless him give him that peace that he needs in Jesus name and everybody said amen All right So he's getting well, he's getting dressed with his microphone I'll just add live here for a second You know as things go ahead here on Friday night We're believing God that it'll be a time of prayer and where people are going to come in and they're going to be taught And there'll be some gifts of the Spirit First Corinthians chapter 12, you know, there's God does use many different gifts and he uses people in their gifts and so it'll be a time of using gifts and teaching and We're just going to believe God for just a real And so it's a time of just renewing ourselves in the Lord and It'll be tremendous, so I just want to encourage you come in the new year There's lots of opportunities Telling them all today maybe next week We'll get into it more of the plan for the year But there's a lot of good things happening and you get to be a part of it But drink in the love and the grace of God and that intimacy that you have And the grace of God and that intimacy that he has for you, all right, praise God, how we doing, okay You're looking pretty good. Yeah, that's good Thank you Jesus Looks like he's on okay You'll have to forgive me I'm used to being on the other end of the sound system, so So, yeah, you're probably not used to seeing my face up here that's okay I'm not used to seeing your faces from up here either So I'd like to say to a lot of people I actually recognize most of you better from the back of your head Because I'm used to sitting in the back of the room in the sound booth. So I don't know who you are I'll just ask you to turn around Which is bad news for anyone with bald spots, sorry, that's how I recognize you Unless you're Andy then it doesn't matter So God's been talking with me about something for over a year now, but a in all honesty, he's revisiting it with me again now because He was talking to me about it before but I wasn't really listening so it's he's been discussing with me the difference between Loving God and being in love with God and I believe that there's a large difference And I think we don't think of it in the aspect of God how there's a large difference But I mean, it's pretty obvious the difference between love and being in love, you know, I love my mom I love my dad, but I'm not in love with them That'd just be a little weird but There's a large large difference and I love the people in this church, but I'm not in love with any of you. Sorry But so I think there's a huge difference and He's been talking to me about that. Yeah, he had been talking to me about it and I was kind of getting it up here but I wasn't getting it in my spirit and so he's been revisiting it with me and So here I am So, yeah, I really like I'd like to propose I don't I don't like to propose this but unfortunately I think it's true that the average Modern Christian really doesn't understand what to be in love with Jesus means, you know, we have this phrase that we hear a lot Which is it's not really, you know, it's not religion its relationship and that is so true But I think for someone especially like me who's grown up in the church from like, you know I might as well have been born in church. Like I've been in a church forever For someone who's grown up in the church, you know, I might as well have been born in a church For someone like me, I think that term religion versus relationship is pretty much a cliche now and It's almost like we take the words religion versus relationship and we don't actually change the way we live. We just change the label Instead of stopping religion and starting relationship. We just call religion relationship So I think lots of times when we say, you know, it's not it's not religion. It's it's relationship It it's like it just goes overhead it doesn't really get into us so Rather than just talent staying up here and saying, you know, it's not enough to be religious You need a relationship and that doesn't really tell you anything and you don't know how to you don't know anything at past that point you're not going to change because It doesn't mean anything anymore to you. So I would like to talk especially today about How this relates to prayer and our prayer life and what would be What would be different about our prayer life if we were actually in love with Jesus? Which I think so many of us and I'll be honest so you can know myself for a long long long time I have not been in love with Jesus. I've loved him. It's like I think you're an alright guy Jesus you died for me and I appreciate that but I'm busy right now Sorry, so I think now I'm coming to a place where I'm I'm more in love with Jesus, you know, so I Will actually look at my notes now. So So yeah, so if you have your Bibles, which you should if you're in a church, it's the same You should if you're not in a church to just saying You can turn to Luke I'll turn to Luke to make easy Luke chapter 5 For those of you who don't know that's the chapter that comes after 4 and before 6 Sorry, I'm being sarcastic. Okay Luke chapter 5 verse 12 I'm going to assume you're ready Okay, so while Jesus was in one of the towns a man came along who was covered with leprosy When he saw Jesus he fell with his face to the ground and begged him Lord if you are willing you can make me clean Jesus reached out his hand and touched him. I am willing he said be clean and immediately the leprosy left him Then Jesus ordered him don't tell anyone but go show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices That Moses commanded for you for your cleansing as a testimony to them Yet the news about him spread all the more so the crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their Sicknesses, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed Jesus saw the importance of praying Regardless of all the good he could be doing in the meantime He only took time out of his schedule and withdrew from all from all those around him and prayed You know, he had crowds and crowds and crowds of people just flocking to him. I would do it too If I was there, I'd be flocking to him. I'd like to think I would anyways and He had just you know, sick people people who needed a you know, we're fixing their relationship They had problems and they knew Jesus was the one with answers yet So many people coming to him and you'd think this is exactly what you just wanted this is what he's waiting for these are all these people, you know, and That wasn't really his main mission in being coming to earth, you know, he can heal now he can use us to heal people, too So that wasn't his reason for coming to earth his reason for coming to earth was to die for us and that was his main goal, but he saw that Although he could be doing a good thing It was more important for him to be doing the God's thing That's the way I've always kind of phrased that there are good things and there are God's things Good things are things that are just generically always good. God's things are things that are good that God specifically wants me to do because and In this case, you know, it was certainly of course It would be good for Jesus to go around heal every single person He saw that wasn't his mission and right then he knew that he had to go and he had to get in Connection with the father because he wasn't in the connection with the father. Everything he was doing was Useless there was no reason for him to do it So and the Apostle John also clearly found it really important that Jesus prayed and important to show us it did that the 17th chapter of John we won't go there But the 17th chapter of John Details the prayer that Jesus made to God the father and it was important enough to John to take up an entire chapter Detailing Jesus prayer. I don't think just what he says in the chat in in the prayer is it is important But I don't think just that is important I think the whole fact the fact that he would actually go to all the trouble to pen an entire like an entire chapter That's not a small chapter either Just Jesus talking to God It was clearly important to John that Jesus was talking to God and I think you know as Jesus being the ultimate example to us it's important that we do too and This sounds silly in a hypothetical sense, but let's throw in a hypothetical sense I would think if anyone didn't need to pray it would be Jesus Because he was God I would think if there was anybody ever who didn't need to pray it would be Jesus Because he's God right, but you'd think oh, he automatically knows everything But no, he says he only did what the father says he only does what the father Allows he so he he made sure they had a constant connection father at all times so I find that Unfortunately often I hear a lot of people making claims Against prayer and I not not to say that they say prayer is the devil. It's nothing like that. They're not they're not saying it's wrong But they really don't think it's that necessary and they don't think it's a you that you have to pray about your decisions So what you're gonna do they say, you know, you're just you know, I hear this phrase so often, you know people say well God gave us a brain, but you know what? He also gave us a relationship with him and that relationship isn't to be ignored You know I would rather be brainless and have a strong relationship with God Then be the most intelligent person in the world and have no connection with God So yes God does want us to use our brain. He does want us to be wise in our decisions But I don't think that it has to be an either-or I don't think it has to be what we can talk to God or we can be wise to their decisions I think I think that's wise of their decisions talking to God So Why so yeah I also find it unusual that a lot of these same people that I've talked to That you know if I tell them I have to pray about something and they get frustrated with me I've had that before Christians non-christian interestingly enough interesting and sadly true If I tell an atheist that I have to pray about something, you know, they asked me to do something and I said well I'll pray about it They don't have a problem with that. I have never met an atheist who has a problem with that I've never met a Buddhist who had a problem with that. I've never met anyone except Christians who have a problem with that which shocks me because It's not what we're supposed to be doing, you know, so So I find unusual that a lot of these same people would most likely consult their spouses on a major or even minor decision So why is it that we feel our spouses or significant others opinion on decision matters more than God's? I Mean Like if you were going to move to another country Take a new job. You would consult or at the very least you would inform your significant other about this So why why don't we do you need to do that with God? um On a smaller scale if you were asked to do something even by a church or a Christian organization Such as becoming youth leader or join the worship team For example, you would consult someone if you were in a loving intimate relationship with them Myself, especially growing up especially when I was younger You know, I wasn't going to just go off and do something without talking my parents even now even as I'm older I feel it's still an advisory thing that I believe that they're whether I have to or not It's not so much. I have to I consider their opinion important. So I do talk with them about things, you know um So, yeah, so you would consult someone if you're in a loving intimate relationship no matter how small the decision seems and I'll use an example. I'm not not trying to put Pastor John on the spot But I'll use an example even now when I approached Pastor John about doing this message He prayed about it first He didn't just say oh, yeah sure you can do it. He he prayed about it He said that he would have to pray about it because he did because as a pastor it's his job to make sure anybody up here is representing God not representing something else and You know, I might say something here or there that's not a hundred percent today But I hope you'll be discerning and just put that by the wayside because I'm not perfect but Pastor John Did pray about it. He saw the importance of how this can affect this flock here and This person here and himself and he wanted to make sure that the effect was of God So I really respect what Pastor John did there not trying to puff him up or anything But I do respect that our pastor is doing that so know that if anybody comes in this building to preach He it's not just arbitrary Pastor John is looking out for every person here. So I just want to throw that in there But as an example, yes Pastor John prayed about this. So that's another importance of those decisions Let me paint a picture for you, okay a Few people know I'm not a very good painter, but we'll pretend I can paint. Let me paint a picture for you I can paint with your mind Let me paint a picture for you Three times it's very biblical to say something three times you know that today you're going to see that guy or that girl who you're so infatuated with and Then so you take time Hours and hours decide what clothes you're gonna wear what makeup you're gonna have. How are you gonna do your hair? You rehearse lines. You're like when I meet them. I'm gonna say this No, that doesn't work. I'm gonna say this and I'll say with this tone Hello, and I'll just figure out how to say it and you'll just go over it and over and over again You practice in front of the mirror. It's like this expression looks good. This expression makes my teeth look big So we're gonna try that you make sure you brush your teeth You make sure you can all your list ring deodorant You got a nice clean clothes and everything you wash it a week ahead of time just to make sure you have those Clothes and everything because you want to impress them. So what? These decisions I hate to break it to you are really small everyone else most nobody else actually cares what you're wearing today. Sorry, but They affect your life. So what's the criteria? that you use That criteria is what kind of clothes what kind of hairstyle what kind of makeup would make this What would that this person would like right? You're saying it's all about them. It's not I like this shirt. It's like Does Johnny like this shirt? Maybe Johnny doesn't like this shirt, but Johnny likes this shirt that will make Johnny like me So that you make it based off of that or for example, let's say it's your wedding anniversary Not my wedding anniversary because I'm not married, but it's your wedding anniversary Surprise and you want to go somewhere. So what's your criteria for where to go? Well, you would decide based on where you think would be the most most romantic for the other person. At least I hope you would So, how would you learn these things how would you know what that person like? What? At least I'm happy but getting to know that person directly Asking questions So Actually, I'll use an example I'll try not to throw in too many random tables that are not my notes because I'm Really going to be wrestling with time today. So to fit it all in but Was actually talking to a friend of mine last night. I wasn't talking I was talking I was texting him that doesn't really count just saying but um, and I Was talking about people who? go on like social media like Facebook or something like that or even lay their texting or they send an email and how they'll just blurt something out they'll just put a status like I'm having such a bad day sad face and ten exclamation marks or something like that and You're sitting there going I don't really care Why are you telling me this and you're not really telling me anything anyways, because you just said I'm having such a bad day Obviously you want me to ask you. Why are you having a bad day? Because you're starved for attention. Clearly that's you wouldn't be on Facebook all the time but Few people know few of you know, I hate Facebook just saying so Where was I going with that? Oh Yeah, thank you. Sorry. Thank you for reminding me that was very helpful of you. I was talking to my friend about how people will just Tell you exactly how they feel in a sane age and I think it has a lot to do with the Internet They'll just blurt it out and they'll tell you these things that nobody cares about like I'm at Starbucks right now This is the size coffee. I'm getting I'm getting cream and sugar in it And it's like in a normal conversation that somebody just walked up to me told me that I would be like that's really important It's not important, I don't really care, you know, I think I want to know you I don't know what when you go to Starbucks, right? And I was saying how when people just blurt all these awkward things out about them. You can't get to know the person because they've just given you all these surfacy things and me as I Consider myself a bit of an artist a bit of an artist. I write and I do some I used to draw But and I definitely come from a family of artists very creative people and so I've been told before I have an artist's heart, but I don't have artist's hands So I'm not so great at drawing it sometimes But I understand art in a certain way and I and I feel that art as well as a relationship And I think there's a lot of comparisons is about discovery And I feel that have you ever I've ever seen a movie or and I'm not trying to bash Christian movies But I find this is often the case of Christian movies, but the message is so obvious that you just totally stop listening And it's like you don't get to discover the meaning they just tell you what it is And then you're just like you you look at the cover and you're like, this is a movie about a man I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this and I'm gonna watch this And we don't get a chance to discover who the person is And we don't get a chance to discover who the person is Because we spend more time blurting out how we feel Because we spend more time blurting out how we feel And when we went to McDonald's Then we do asking questions about the other person And discovering who they are And I think we do that with God, too That we just say, you know, That we just say, you know, God is a happy person Or we look in the Old Testament and go, He's a vengeful God And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, And then we, or, you know, I don't, I know them, But I don't know everything there is. I learn something new about them Every. Single. Day. And I will, even after I die, I will in eternity, I'll still be Learning about them. And God, Like, if there was a way that you could learn Everything about a person, okay, I'd give you that maybe, but God is infinite. So if you really think you've got it all covered, It's like, I've read the Bible before. Great. Now read it again. And read it again, and read it again, And read it again, and keep praying. It's like, yeah, I used to know God. But now I don't anymore. I've heard that before. You know, somebody's like, I was a Christian when I was young. I especially heard this in college. Pray for your colleges, by the way. I gotta say, pray for your colleges, Because anybody here Who's been to college, I know JB goes to, You still in Durham? Yes, good for you. I went to Durham. And I know, And I'm sure JB knows, Anybody else here who's been to college, Especially recently, Studies have shown that The place that most Christian kids lose their salvation Is college and university. Because they're away from home for the first time, And there's just like No accountability. And it's like, you know, There's just so much there. That's a side note, but Please pray for your colleges and your college-age kids. There are some ministries. I know at Durham College, There's a ministry called Campus Church. They take college kids, They take them on a bus, They live on campus, And they take them on a bus every Sunday To a Baptist church in the area, Which is a really important thing, Because they really need that. They're really starved for that. So just keep that in mind. Yeah, so there's a lot of complexity to God. No kidding. So let's just say You do know your wife really well. Maybe you're upwards of your 90s, And you've been married since you were 12. Maybe you were hillbillies or something. I don't know. And you know, You think you know them inside out Better than anyone. If you're the most amazing husband In all of existence, You know, You might guess her wishes Nine times out of ten correctly. I mean, being honest, you're probably going to get it About one time out of ten correctly. But, if you were the most amazing one, You might get it nine times out of ten correctly. What about that other One out of ten times? Is it okay to be nine times out of ten correctly? Don't you want it to be Ten times out of ten correctly? I mean, I would think that if you were in love with them, You certainly want to get it And hang on if you could. I mean, sorry you can't, but If you could, you certainly would want to. And I think that's the way we'd want to be with God, too. So maybe she really did like that kitchen The way it was. Or maybe she found some deal Where you could get a huge discount On hiring someone else to do the kitchen, Making it even cheaper than you doing it. Or maybe she wanted to bless you By getting the kitchen professionally done Because she knows how hard you have been working. And now you have taken her ability That gift away. If you go ahead and renovate the kitchen Without consulting her, you've ruined the plans she had. So why risk it? You may think, I want to pleasantly surprise my wife. And okay, in the natural stuff I'll give you that where my comparison would fail there. But in the case of God, You can't surprise God. I don't know if any of I've tried. I think we don't realize We're trying it, but we sit there Going like, God will never Find out what I'm doing right now. Never know. He will find out. He's everywhere. He's here right now. Which makes me feel pretty good Because I would not want to be up here If he wasn't. So, you may as well ask him To be sure that you won't be going Against his plans. I've got another verse for you here. I won't bother turning to it Because most of you probably know this verse Like, backwards and forwards And can recite it to me In your sleep. Which I'd like to test later. So we often have a fail-safe view Saying that I can't mess up God's plans Because he works all things together For the good of those called according to his purposes Which is taken from Romans 8.28 For those of you who don't know. So, we use that as a fail-safe He's not going to mess up his plans. He's going to work everything for good. Okay, well then just sit there. Don't even do anything. But, if you didn't consult him Yeah, God will work it out for good. But not in conjunction with your actions In spite of your actions. And in spite of your lack of talking to him. To me, that's not co-working with God. That's more like him Cleaning up the mess after you. You know, and yes He's going to work it to your good But, let's ask him. So, would you rather his will Is achieved by him working against your poor guesswork Or would you rather his will Is achieved by you working with him After you have asked him What he wants you to do. So, This is the number one I think reason Why I've heard a lot of things about People having issues with prayer Is right here. We often feel Asking him uses up Too much time. And on occasion It's so much time that we have That what we've been asked by people To do has already been done By someone else. I've had that before. Somebody asked me to do something And I said, well, I'll pray about it And they're just like, well, I don't have the time For you to pray about it So I'm not going to ask someone else. And he isn't surprised, remember? You can't surprise him. He doesn't say, oh no! Okay, you don't have enough time right now. Don't talk to me. Okay, forget about it. Just do your thing. He doesn't say that. We always have enough time to pray. And if you don't I'm not going to put this on you, but it's my personal opinion That if somebody asks you to do something And you don't have enough time to pray That the answer is no. And that will always be my answer to someone Who will not give me enough time to pray. Martin Luther Most of you Have probably heard of Martin Luther Either in church or in school And he did a big Reform thing, but anyways He once said, I have so much To do today that I must start with three hours Of prayer. And the length isn't so much important As connecting with God. Three hours doesn't really mean anything If you're not connecting with him. Because I can sit in a room for three hours And pretend to pray And just talk about myself. I can also sit in a room for 30 seconds And really genuinely connect. So it's not so much The, I mean If I can genuinely connect for three hours, I'd be even better. But it's not so much the length as it is the connection. And you know, sometimes it only takes a moment. That's why we always have enough time to pray. Because I think sometimes people People get concerned and like, well If I have to take time out to pray Does that mean I have to like Go home and I have to like get into my like Literal, physical prayer closet And just like kneel and spend 20 minutes of a worship CD playing Before I can actually enter the gates of heaven And it's like God's in here, right? I can pray right now I can speak to him, you know, under my breath I can speak to him, you know, I can just Pray right now. Sometimes it's just like Somebody could be asking, can you do this? And you say, well I have to pray about it, and it can be God? So then that's enough sometimes, so And I personally feel that not asking God just because of time Constraints would be Disrespectful to God. Just as it would be to a person you had to ask first. I mean, let's go back To the being in love example. If you were really in love with someone Would you take time to talk with them? That's not a hard question. Yes. If you didn't have enough time To discuss during the Christmas play With your wife, would you simply just say yes To the person who asked you? Well, sadly, some people do say yes right away. But I guarantee 9 out of 10 wives 9 out of 10 times won't appreciate you not Discussing it with them. Especially if it involves buying Power tools or something like that. I've seen that one. So, just saying. Maybe your wife wouldn't mind, per se. But she would feel highly honored If you did discuss it with her. Either way, it's better to First discuss it with her. So, that's a little marriage tip From Persons Not Married for you. If you don't discuss It with her because the person Who asked you had time constraints Or other pressure, that would Indirectly state this axiom To your wife. This person's agenda is more important Than taking time to talk to you. Which leads to The amount of pressure this person used on me Is bigger than my care for you. And at least in that moment Sadly, those axioms would be true. And after all When you're in love You don't sit around thinking Well I could talk to her about this. But you know, I don't really have To talk to her about this. I'm not going to bother. That is not the words of someone in love. Someone who is in love would say Well, I may not have to ask her But I'm definitely going to Because I will look for any excuse I can to talk to her. You will make something up. You will go do something interesting Just so you can tell the person about it. We've all been there. So When you're in love You don't look for times When you don't need To talk to your lover. You seek out any And every chance you can To talk to them. So let's take this further. We're not simply in love with a human. This isn't like puppy love In the fourth grade Because she had freckles And somehow that meant something to you. And we're supposed to be in love With the creator Of the universe. Think about that for a second. The creator of the universe. Every person in this room Every person outside of this room Every person who ever lived Every person who died Was created by God. You know, some people are like No, no, he created Adam and Eve And Adam and Eve created everybody else. But God put all that into place. He did create you And I believe that he has a personal hand In creating every single person In this room And it's evidence Because you're all very It's the fact that God Made you. I studied Art at Durham College And foundations in art and design For a year there and we had an art history And there was so much About like how this painting was valuable And had this so much worth And some of the stuff, like, I'll be honest Some of the worst paintings I've ever seen But it was worth millions Of dollars. The worst one, and I thought this was A bit of an insult to whoever Bought it But it was about Maybe as long as Take the length of this room, stand it upright And about this wide And it's got a black stripe here Has a black stripe here Has a red stripe in the middle It's called Fire in the Night It's a government somewhere in Europe or something like that Bought it For well over a million dollars Um I could do that In ten minutes Well, okay maybe not If it's that big but Um There's so much though about like The worst not being so much in the image But who made it You know what I mean? Like As long as they put their name on it Well God's name is on you You know, God's name is on every one of you Even if you're not saved He made you and he loves you And you know we do stupid things and we hurt him But he still loves us And I Honestly don't understand how he does it Cause I I'll be honest, he has unconditional love I don't think any human really has Unconditional love We can get pretty close and we can imitate But there's conditions on it You know, there's a point where all of us break And we're like And Which is sad And I think that hurts God's heart Because he wants us to be more like him But he did make all of us And the amazing thing about all of that Is that he made all of us He made all of this He made those trees out there Those wonderful crickets that you can probably hear right now Um That sunshine, everything And the same one This famous one He's able to be erased from history No matter how hard people try They can burn Bibles over in countries They can, you know, kill us For saying that we love Jesus But they really can't erase him from the face of history And so many, you know So many religions and beliefs Have an explanation for God And an explanation for Jesus even And it's like You may deny he was God But you certainly can't deny he existed It's a historical fact It's documented There are over I think it was over 500 witnesses Who saw Jesus when he raised from the dead I think it takes 20 To actually make it like Historically sound There are more original copies Of the Bible Um, that are close to the Time that the Bible was originally Penned Than there are of any other book In history Apparently I think there's Because of the authenticity of different copies And stuff, you know, over time And literature and stuff There's deviance from the original manuscript Of what we have now Shakespeare You've probably heard of him Probably had to read some of his plays One or two of you maybe understood it I actually like Shakespeare I think there's like a 30% Deviance, they said There's an estimated 30% Deviance from his original manuscript There's an estimated 3% Deviance for the Bible Over thousands of years Shakespeare was like, what In the 1500s or something like that So that's only like 500 years ago So, sorry Shakespeare, you can't compare So, the Beatles thought they could And they didn't Because, guess what They're not touring Well, they are still touring But he is everywhere And what I think is So mind-blowing about that Is that he is so famous You can't erase him He's made so much And so many amazing things That we can't even compare You know, people still try and make artificial life forms They still try and clone and everything And they just can't get there And the person who created all of this Loved every single person in this room And I don't really think That we often get the impact of that I don't think I've fully gotten the impact of that Because I imagine Getting the full impact of that Would look something like me Blubbering like an imbecile Down on the floor Just crying my eyes out Thinking that God loves me And I've had a few moments Where that's really hit me Once I was in a Most of you who are in the Fort Perry area Or the Scugog area Probably know where Bird's Eye Park is We used to have some stuff going on over there It's right next to the library It's a really nice park But I used to go there I had a short day at the college And I would go there On Fridays and I would just pray That's all I do For a couple hours I'd just go there And I would pray And I'll admit at first It was really lame I was just praying for myself And just kind of looking at the Bible And being like Reading it at face value And not getting deeper And there was one time I was like okay God This time I'm going to shut up And you can talk And so I did And he did And it was like I actually remember The Sunday before that happened And I was talking to him And he was like there's something over here And I was like what is this And he was like it's Jesus And I remember you mentioning that And you were talking And you could feel his presence so strong And I started praying And I was like God You can do that for me too You can do that for any one of us You're here, I know you're here And I was like Somebody just walked in here And you can tell It was the same kind of thing And I totally could feel his presence And it just He just took the basics And blew me away with that He didn't go like Here's this mathematical properties Of the gene inside a dandelion He just took something really basic He was like you see that dirt And I was like yeah, I made that And somehow that just blew me away I was like dirt, oh my goodness I made that dirt And it's like yeah, I made that dirt And I'm like touching the ground I'm like I'm touching something God made Oh my goodness And I'm like I made you And I'm like he made me And I'm like going up to a tree And I now know what it literally means To be a tree hugger I went over and I'm like oh my goodness I'm touching the bark And I look at the detail And everything And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness And I'm like oh my goodness If I thought hard enough, I could probably come up with someone I don't like right now. And we just discard them and it's like that's a precious work of art. There's a song most of you, a few of you know who have ever talked to me about anything scriptural you know that when I talk about God I will reference a few things that I will consistently always reference as my examples I'll probably use a few of them today but I will consistently use the Bible go figure and my personal relationship with God but I will always be referencing music always referencing music I very much love music and I'll be referencing song lyrics almost as much as I do with the scripture I'll probably also reference Star Trek don't ask me how that works and then Shakespeare but there's a song by Stephen Chris Chapman called The Fingerprints of God and a few of you may have heard it he wrote it for his daughter his daughter was pre-teen just becoming a teen and she was like I'm so ugly every girl does that I don't know why girls you're not that ugly I'm 21 so I'm going to say that to everyone but so many people so he wrote this song for his daughter he's like no he says you think you're ugly but when I look at you I see the fingerprints of God all of us have the fingerprints of God it's a unique stamp that we have that and you may think oh but if everybody has it then it's not that big a deal I'm sorry but if you don't think God making you isn't a big deal you're not going to think anything is a big deal but he loves us anyway the fact that someone that amazing loves me especially when you're young and you don't understand things you're like oh this person said they love me they might not but and you're like oh that makes me feel so amazing I'm on cloud nine but when it's like oh but it's like God and then you go to church and someone's like God loves you and you're like cool whatever can I still make it to Starbucks and then you're not even paying attention just like God loves you and it's like it's a t-shirt thing but it's not like a real thing to us everybody right now realize if I could have one wish right now it would be to just flick a switch on in all of your hearts to realize how much God actually loves you now that would probably make you implode with the awesomeness of that but just really try and get that take anything away from this today really get that he does he does love you so yeah you've been given the most amazing gift imaginable the ability to be loved and to also be in love that's the second privilege the fact that he loves us is a privilege but the fact that he allows us to love him back that's a whole other thing right there so we've been given the ability to love and be in love with the creator of the universe and to be able to talk to him anytime you want and he'll also talk to you I'm little, little tiny me I had a conversation with a wonderful young man in our congregation he's not in here right now most of you probably know him, Jacob Loyst and he's wonderful, I really like him and I had a conversation today with Jacob about he was talking about how big God was compared to us and he's talking about he's like I look at an ant and it's so small compared to me how small is an ant compared to God and how small am I compared to God and he's talking about how if you took a marble and you put it in your hand that's like the world in God's hands you know, he's like that huge and that powerful yet he still individually loves every every one of us so I'm little tiny me yet God think about that, God wants to talk to me why on earth would I ever not want to talk to God God is in love with me, he's in love with you so if I look for reasons I don't need to talk to him I would hardly call myself in love with him, when you're in love you crave communication with that person and when you can't get it, it highly grieves you because this means more than anything to you you're like I want to talk to them I'm waiting all weekend, oh no, they're not here I'm going to like crawl in a hole and die now how am I going to get through the day without seeing their face I'll just say their name over and over and over again and it'll make me feel better but with God it's just like, oh is it Sunday, oh my goodness it's like quarter to ten service is starting soon, do I have to get out of bed maybe I can tell them I'm on spiritual pilgrimage and not go today I've gone to the holy land to dig up relics so, but you know, we need to crave that so with God we've been given the ability to always communicate with God, there's no separation we don't have to wait until Sunday to talk to God we can always talk to God and here's a good verse for you, most of you probably know it but I'm going to read it anyways because it's a really good verse, so if you go to Romans 8, which is a really good chapter of the Bible my favorite book of the Bible is Romans I can't, it's not long enough I just want to read it over and over again but Romans 8 verse 38 so for I am convinced that neither death, nor life nor angels, nor demons neither the present, nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord that's really powerful stuff guys nothing can separate you from the love of God, nothing at all but I would propose that there is one tiny thing that can separate you from the love of God our choice we can choose not to connect and we can use His gift of free will against Him and just go without talking to Him I think that's pretty sad we've been given the ability to access Him at all times and we can complacently find it good enough to just know His general will and go off of that instead of asking Him prayer is not a crutch it's a blatant evidence of whether we are truly in love with God or not and I'd like to share a personal story with a few more minutes I have, hopefully if not, Pastor John will just run me off the stage that's okay he won't do that, he's a nice guy um again I'm just going to share a personal story about a time that I had an intimate, really intimate moment with God and I really appreciate God's grace in this because the fact that He even lets us come into His presence is a lot of grace you know, I've, sometimes we're like that person is a really bad person the fact that I let them in my presence I'm giving them grace to let them in my presence, but you know, to God we all just have as many problems as anybody else and it's a lot of grace that He lets any of us into His presence at all you know, and um so I'm glad He has that grace so I was at, this was back when I was at Durham College, um and uh it was my second year and I was having a particularly bad day which was self-instigated but, so I was between classes and I decided I'm going to go get some lunch if you've ever been a student of Durham College you know that there's some really smart marketers out there who build restaurants around the college so that you will waste all your money on their food, but because you overslept from studying the night before and didn't pack your lunch but, anyhow, I went to one of the restaurants, I took the bus down into downtown Oshawa had some lunch and I was on my way back to the college, on the bus I had earbuds in, listening to some Christian music on the mp3 player and even though I was listening to Christian music I was like I had this like, angry face you know, and uh I had my bad day game face on and uh you know, I'm looking around the bus and there's, you know, there's people goofing off and swearing left, right and center and talking about things that just nobody has any business talking about and that's what you I don't know what it was like when people older than me were in college, but that's the way it is in college today there's just so much sin around and it was really starting to bug me it was really getting to me and I was getting kind of self-righteous, I guess and I was like, man these sinners are everywhere I'm like these heathens or something, you know and uh, I'm sitting on the bus looking around like, oh god smack that guy you know give him a little smack you didn't know the sermon came with sound effects, eh? um so I'm sitting there, you know, and I'm listening to the song, and I get off the bus and I'm like, you know what, God? I'm really angry right now and at least I had the wherewithal to decide you know, since I'm angry let's go pray so there's a little forest behind the college and um it's got like this kind of creek going through um you have to be careful back there because that's where a lot of other stuff happens too that's not so great um, but that just happened for me, there wasn't much of anybody there so I just kind of went out and just kind of wandered around and uh just kind of prayed and I'm like God, you know, I was trying to be very honest with him, I'm like, God, you know I see these people and I know you love these people, I know you love these people around you, but I don't like, I do not love these people and I have a really hard time loving these people because maybe you can love people who hurt you, God, but I can't love people that hurt you because I, you know, I love you and I find it really, I'm like you're getting run over here you know, I'm like, they're dragging, they use your name as a swear word every day, you know and I'm like, how do you do this you know, and he was talking to me and it a few of you might have experienced this, I've only experienced this one time it was like God was speaking to me, he was speaking to me, but it was like he was using my voice to speak to me, I don't know if that makes sense, a few of you may have experienced that, to those who have, it makes sense to those who haven't, just pretend I'm crazy but, so, just it was coming out of my mouth, but it was not something I would be saying, and he was talking to me you know, he's telling me, he's like, you know you're not a whole lot better than they are you know, you know what, he's like you know what separates you from them me God does he says, you know what makes you better than them, nothing, you're not better than them, I love them just as much, he said but the difference between you and them is that I'm in you, he said why do you think that I've opened your eyes to the sin around you so you can get angry and have a pity party on my behalf because I won't have one, like that's not why I'm opening my eyes he says, I'm opening your eyes to this sin so you can bring me to there there's an expression I've heard a few times from a friend, actually but it's, light belongs in darkness and um have you ever seen, have you ever noticed when you're in a really dark room and then you turn on not the main light, but it's all dark, you flip on a flashlight, have you ever noticed how extremely bright it seems you know, and that's what God wants us to do, he's made us light but he's put his light inside of us, and he was like I want you to go in there I want you to get down in the slime and the grime and get knee deep in the swamps because you feel the slime on you, and he's like good so did I, you know and guess what I did they spit on me, he says they killed me but I came back so that you could have me and bring that to them, he said don't think that you have it harder than I did ever seen the nails? so just saying anybody who's ever seen the passions of Christ knows what I'm talking about and I haven't even seen it he was like I want you to open your eyes to this so that you can bring my love to them I'm like alright, but you've done me this you've opened my eyes, but I don't have your love okay, I'm not infinite like you he's like well, do you want it? well yeah, I would want it so he was just sharing it with me and just sharing how much he loved me despite the things I've done I had things come back to my mind that I had done that I had forgotten about and he wasn't bringing it back to condemn me he was showing that guess what, you did this and I'm okay with you I still let you in my presence, I still love you and so he's like, check your watch I'm like okay I'm like oh, class is starting soon I probably should get to class he wants me to get to class on time and he reminded me so I'm like, okay I really don't want to go back in there God, I'm like it's so nice out here I'm like your creation is here there's like that iron monster back there called a building and then your natural creation here and you're talking to me and I'm like kneeling down next to a brook and I can just feel you, you're talking through me and he's like, what makes you think this has to stop? and I'm like, I'm taking you in there because if I just wanted you in my presence and that alone I would just take you to heaven because my presence is everywhere he says, I want you to take my presence get in my presence and then carry my presence into these horrible situations where people are just doing all these things against me and I went back into the college and I looked at all the same kinds of people that guy with like 78 piercings and parts of his body you didn't even know existed and until there was a piercing you know, all those people with like just foul things tattooed over them and just the worst things they're writing and like the things that they're saying even the ways they're talking about themselves and before I looked at them like man those poor suckers are going to hell and then I was like looking at them and I'm like they don't have to they don't have to because God has is bringing them a hope and the hope isn't me, it's him but it's him in me that's what the bible says about you know him in us, Christ in us and so bringing that to them so I really looked at them through his eyes and it struck me right at that moment as I started realizing the fact that yeah I'm looking through his eyes now it clicked with me that earlier when I was listening to the Christian music I've been totally ignoring the words of what I was listening to and I realized exactly what the words were that I was listening to and let's just redo them here that's not the tune okay, I said just when I've got the problem all wrapped up when I try to solve them it's not enough, when I think that the world is blind and that I can see I say that I should know that the problem is me that was exactly what was going on with me at the time is that I was sitting there thinking man that world is so blind they're so evil people and not realizing that the person who's blind is me so I just want to challenge you all not so much challenge you, I'm not like going to slap you with a glove and challenge you to a duel or anything but I would like to I guess encourage you encourage you to take seriously being in love with Jesus and how that relates to prayer and how you don't have to wait until you get home you can start now you don't have to sit you know Bill Cosby, if anybody's heard of him he's a good comedian but he's always he wasn't a Christian so whenever he was talking about somebody praying he'd always do this thing where he's like and they get down and they go and you don't have to do that you don't have to like necessarily like kneel down or fold your hands or close your eyes that's just so you don't get distracted and just you know make it all religious I'm not saying that that is religious necessarily I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that it doesn't have to be that way you can start now you can start in your thoughts even if it's just orientating your thoughts around him so I just would really like to encourage you all to do that now and forever and just increasingly get to know him better because you may feel like a lonely person here I felt pretty lonely before myself and I still feel lonely sometimes but we all do just know that it's not so much you don't need to be going to look for a new friend or that special person out there and you know God might have a special person out there for you he might have a new friend for you someone to come alongside you but remember that what you have right now is not a replacement until you get something better it's not like God is my boyfriend until I get a new a real boyfriend it's not like that with like those purity ring things um it's God is here for you now he's here for you ever and just don't forget that and just recognize that and just thank him for that thank you awesome really good Chris why are you hurt if I'm a young guy it's about that intimacy right we're going to close with this John 17 chapter 3 says and this is eternal life that they will know you that they may know you the only true God whom you have sent this is eternal life this is real life it's knowing Jesus Christ and having a personal relationship with him at this time and you'll say Pastor John well I heard Chris today and he's encouraged me I want to have a deeper relationship with God I want to know him I want to come close to him and maybe we can just all pray Father I just want to thank you today Lord for your message your word that we can and that you desire a relationship with us an intimate one where we get to talk to you and we get to know you and you get to know us and when you when we sense your your word speaking to our hearts and giving us direction Lord how rich do we feel that you the God of the universe care about us me and that you are there to help and encourage and to lead and to guide we surrender ourselves to you say Lord deepen my relationship with you Jesus come closer to me help me to be what you want me to be and restore a love help me to love you help me to pray to you help me to cultivate that relationship whether whoever I am we thank you now Lord for blessing this church and blessing each one of us and we ask Father that we would in turn each and every day Father yield our lives to you and to live for you and give you glory we ask this now in Jesus name and everybody said Amen praise God well it's really good to see you today if you're new to the church today I just want to encourage you to meet with me afterwards and say hi or Chris or somebody here and if you have any questions the ushers they can help you with anything but next week, next Sunday it's going to be fantastic I encourage you to come and maybe bring a friend we'll have part two of today and it's going to be good I'll be sharing a good message and so be blessed and please stay for coffee today and enjoy the fellowship with one another and have a great summer and the rest of the summer and bless you and we'll see you later thank you for being here today