HOW TO LIVE A POWERFUL LIFE

for your steadfast love and for your faithfulness.

God, thank you that you who breathed life into our lungs

and who created the universe,

that you are here in the room with us today.

And though we cannot see you this morning,

we long to see your face.

So Lord, would you illuminate your word for us?

Would you speak through me, your servant,

to all of us, including me,

that each one of us, including myself,

would grow in our vision of who you are,

our awe of you, our love of you,

even our fear of you,

our joy that is found in you,

that we might come to know you more deeply,

more intimately, and more completely.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Please be seated.

I grew up on the west coast of Canada in Vancouver,

British Columbia,

with so many stories of my grandpa, Grandpa Sam.

Grandpa Sam, we were told by my dad,

was a bodybuilder extraordinaire.

The feats that he would do as a young man,

and you wouldn't believe me if I told you them,

but I believe that they're true.

He also was a classical musician,

and a jazz saxophone artist,

and he was quite a renaissance man.

He painted oil canvas paintings,

and just did so much,

and generated so many stories.

He had a personality larger than life,

and a temper that could flare up,

and so there was endless,

hilarious stories to us young Gilmans in my family.

My dad would take care of us on Tuesday nights

as my mom would go Israeli folk dancing,

and so we'd often ask my dad

for more Grandpa Sam stories.

By the time I was a young teen,

I knew so much about my Grandpa Sam,

but I had never met him,

because we lived in Vancouver,

and he lived in Montreal.

I come from a very plentiful family,

so to fly out to Montreal was always something

that was just too costly for us.

But then when I was 13,

my family took that trip and went to Montreal.

We were on a way to Israel,

but we'd stopped in Montreal,

and so we got to spend the afternoon

with Grandpa, Grandpa Sam.

And that afternoon,

just a few hours with Grandpa Sam

were so precious to us.

We'd heard so much about him,

we knew so much about him,

but finally we got to know him.

That afternoon,

we didn't get any more stories about Grandpa Sam,

and any of the stories he told us

we'd already heard before,

but there was something so precious and tender

about getting to spend time

in real life with Grandpa Sam.

Just a few weeks later,

Grandpa Sam passed away.

And as we grieved,

as we missed him,

we also were comforted by the fact

that we got to actually know Grandpa Sam.

If he had died just a few weeks earlier,

and we had never met him,

we could have only ever said

we knew a lot about Grandpa Sam.

We couldn't have said we actually knew him.

But there was something so precious

about those few hours.

And what is it about knowing,

the difference between knowing about someone,

knowing them,

what is so precious about those few hours

we got to spend with Grandpa Sam,

even if we didn't gain any more information about him?

It's because each one of us understands

instinctively that there's something

so much more real and intimate and precious

having met someone,

encountered them,

to be able to say you know them,

rather than that you just know about them.

And I share the story with you this morning,

not because I think that you particularly care

about my personal life

or my relatives or anything like that,

but to illustrate for you,

for all of us,

that we all understand

that there's this distinction

between knowing about someone

and knowing someone.

And this isn't only important

when it comes to the relationships

we have with our friends or our relatives,

but even more importantly

when it comes to actually knowing God.

If you're in church this morning,

I am assuming that you know something about God,

that you know something about Jesus.

But it is of insurmountable importance

that we don't just know about God,

but that we actually know him.

So if you turn in your Bibles

to Philippians chapter 3, verse 10,

Philippians 3:10

that is what we'll be looking at this morning.

And if you can all join me in reading this,

half sentence, that would be great.

Verse 10, Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Believe the words are on the screen.

Say it aloud with me.

That I may know him

and the power of his resurrection

and may share his sufferings

becoming like him in his death.

That I may know him.

Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

tells a story of how at the end of time

many will come before him

and many will say,

Lord, Lord,

and then recount all these things

that they did in Jesus' name.

These are people who clearly

believe that Jesus is Lord

and they're people who've done

great ministry and service

in the church and in society.

And Jesus' response,

devastatingly so to them,

will be,

get away, depart from me.

I never knew you.

It's of insurmountable importance

that we don't just know about Jesus.

Those people know a lot about Jesus,

but they don't know him.

Why is this so important for us today,

specifically in the 21st century?

Well, throughout the history of the church,

throughout the past 2,000 years,

there has always been

these various heresies,

this wrong thinking about God and life

that creep into the church.

And it seems like there's

different wrong theologies,

different heresies

that will creep in in different periods.

In the past 100 years,

one of the main heresies

that have crept into good churches

in North America

is one that I can illustrate for you best

as told by a pastor and author,

David Platt.

He shares how it is very normal

for someone today,

say you have a young man,

let's just call him Kyle,

and he comes up to a pastor,

we'll call him Pastor David,

comes up to Pastor David

and he says,

you know,

I'm not a church guy,

I haven't grown up in the church,

but I have this fear

of dying and going to hell.

And I don't want that.

What should I do?

And the pastor,

Pastor David,

would say something like,

well,

would you close your eyes

and repeat after me?

So Kyle closes his eyes

by kind of peering through his eyes

a little bit

so he can see what the pastor is doing.

And the pastor would say something like,

dear Jesus.

So Kyle looks around,

keeps his eyes closed

and says,

dear Jesus.

The pastor says something like,

I know that I'm a sinner.

So Kyle says,

I know that I'm a sinner.

And he leads him in the sinner's prayer

asking Jesus to be his Savior

and his Lord.

And then Kyle looks up

after saying amen

and the pastor would look at him

and say,

Kyle,

you're born again.

You don't need to fear hell anymore.

And that's a very common,

a common phenomenon

in the past hundred years

in North America.

And to some extent,

even though we might not say

that that is the fullness

of what it means to be a Christian,

a lot of us have encountered that

in our own lives.

But in the Gospel of Matthew,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7,

Jesus is very clear

that we need to not just be people

who have said a prayer

or know about Jesus,

but we actually need to come

to know him.

There's so much more

than just saying a prayer.

As David Platt says,

the Gospel is not an invitation

to say a prayer.

It's a summons to lay down our life.

The Gospel isn't an invitation

to just say a prayer.

If that's what it is,

then Christianity is simply

like some type of superstition

where basically the sinner's prayer

is an incantation that you say

that lets you in the club.

But it's not like that.

No, instead,

instead it's more like how

every one of us is born.

We come into the world

with a throne in our hearts.

And who sits on that throne

is who's in charge of your life.

Who is the one that

you're living your life

in deference to

and in awe of

and making your decisions

based upon.

And every one of us

is born with ourselves

as the king on the throne

of our hearts.

We're the one,

even as little kids.

When we don't get away,

we're just crying

and we're screaming

and we're being quite brutish.

And so many of us

become more polite

as we grow up,

but we're still making decisions

based on the same grid.

But for us to actually

come to know God

is when we say,

we come to God

and we say,

both with our prayers

as with our life,

God,

would you please save me

for myself?

I don't want to be the king

of my life anymore.

I don't want to be the one

in charge.

Would you save me

for myself?

Would you forgive me

for my sin?

And would you be

the king of my life?

And it's not just something

we say with words.

It's something that we're

looking to God

with our life.

Another way to illustrate

this for you

is found in a true story

in the Gospel of Luke

in chapter 13

where you have a woman

who is,

she has a crippling spirit

which means she's bent

over like this

and she's been like that

for 18 years.

She's been like that

for 18 years

and so that means

for 18 years

she hasn't seen the faces

of any of her friends

or family.

She hasn't seen the sun.

She hasn't seen any of that.

She's bound like this.

And when I think

of this woman,

it reminds me

of a girl that came up

to me at church

on Wednesday,

a service that

Church of Messiah does

along with a few

other churches

at the University of Ottawa.

One evening

after preaching,

this girl came up

to me and said,

Daniel,

I heard you talking

about the Gospel

and about our need

for Jesus,

but I know you're right,

but for the past

six months

I've been running

from God,

I've been running

from church

and I'm afraid

that if I surrender

my life to God again

that He's going to

ruin my freedom

and my fun.

And as she spoke to me,

I saw the tension

in her face.

You've ever seen

someone's face

where the skin

on their face

is so taut,

like it's so tight,

you can see

that they're stressed.

I talked to her

about the past six months

and I heard that

even though she's been

living a wild

and crazy life

that she really thinks

is freedom and fun

that she really

is so miserable.

There's such chaos

in her life

and she doesn't

really have freedom

and fun.

And she's like

this woman who,

this woman,

she's bent down

like this for 18 years

and all this woman

can see is her own legs,

her own body.

That's all she can see.

And I spent some time

this past year

when I was preparing

for a message

for Church on Wednesday,

I spent some time

in the self-help section

of chapters

reading through

some of the books,

actually a number

of the books,

some more intimately

than others.

And all these self-help books

that are so popular today,

it's a big section

of chapters indicating

a lot of people

read those books.

And all these books,

and you can go online

and watch all these

TED Talks as well

about how to do the same,

it's all about gaining

control and mastery

of your own life.

It's about getting in touch

with your deep

and natural desires

and learning how

to get those things,

your dreams

and your goals

for yourself.

In other words,

it's doing the same

that this girl

at Church on Wednesday

was saying she's been

trying to do

for six months,

trying to make yourself

the king of your life,

trying to put yourself

on the throne

of your own heart.

But trying to get

obsessing over the

learning to get in touch

with your own desires

and how to gain control

of your life

is really just being

like this woman

that all you can see

is yourself.

And you might imagine

that would be freedom,

you might imagine

that would be fun,

but really it's binding

and it's crippling.

And even the pleasures

that you're able to get

for yourself,

there's such uncertainty

as to whether or not

you can keep those things

for yourself,

and so no matter

how much riches

and wealth you can get,

you're still miserable.

I've seen this when

I've been working

at Parliament Hill

for the past seven years

and I've had the privilege

of having a few garden parties

at the Prime Minister's house.

I've gotten to meet

not only the Prime Minister

but other Cabinet Ministers,

these Canadians

who are some of the

most powerful,

most prestigious,

in some cases,

the most rich Canadians.

They have so many

of the things

that you and I

would only ever dream of,

the popularity,

the riches,

wealth,

the comfort,

the pleasures.

In addition to all of that

at Parliament Hill,

there's receptions

everywhere you go.

So it's pretty much

unlimited alcohol

and delicious food.

These people have so many,

have all the things

that this young woman

at church on Wednesday

was dreaming about

getting for herself.

Yeah,

as I have had conversations

with these powerful people,

I see in the eyes

of so many

such misery,

such uncertainty.

They're not happy people.

They're not happy.

They certainly don't have joy.

They are just like this woman,

bent like this

for 18 years.

But then after 18 years

like that,

this woman hears

of Jesus.

She hears these stories

about him.

And she thinks,

I don't just want to know

about Jesus,

I want to encounter Jesus.

I want him to heal me

and to free me.

And so she comes to Jesus

and she cries out to him.

And Jesus heals her.

And for the first time

in 18 years,

this woman goes from

being bent down like this

where all she can see

is herself.

And she stands up.

And for the first time

in 18 years,

she sees the faces

of people around her.

She sees the heaven,

and she sees the sky.

And she sees Jesus

face to face.

She encounters God

and she worships God.

She's heard about Jesus.

She knows about Jesus.

But now she knows Jesus.

And in that,

she's found her healing

and her freedom.

And that is the same

for you and for me.

The scriptures teach us

that every single one of us,

until we come to know God,

even if we know a lot about him,

until we come to know God,

we're like this woman.

And we're spiritually dead.

We're like zombies.

We might be awake.

We might be going around

doing stuff.

But until we come to know God,

it's like we're spiritually dead.

But as God takes his rightful places

on the throne of our hearts,

as we surrender to him,

both through prayer

as well as through our lives,

coming to know God,

we encounter him.

And so my passion

for sharing this message

with you,

as with this young woman

at Church on Wednesday,

is both because

I want you to truly

be saved from hell.

And as long as we're living

life like this,

whether you're a cabinet minister

or a student

at the University of Ottawa

or you're here today,

as long as you're living a life

where you are the king

of your life,

then what awaits you

after death

is hell.

But the good news

is that Jesus came,

that we might come

and become reconciled to God

and find life in him

and be saved from hell.

But it's so much more than that.

My passion for sharing

this message with you today

is not simply that

if anyone is here

who simply knows about God

but doesn't know him,

that you'd be saved from hell.

But it's so much more than that.

It's as we come to know God,

not only are we saved from hell,

but so much more than that.

We come into a personal,

thriving, intimate relationship

with the very one

who created desire,

who created pleasure,

who created life itself,

who created life itself.

And so my burden

for sharing this with you

is that,

is not simply that

coming to know God,

becoming truly born again

is not simply

the best life,

but it's the only life.

Until you come to know God,

not just know about him,

but until you come to know God,

you are,

you're living,

you're not even truly living,

you're spiritually dead.

And you might get,

like some of these

cabinet ministers I've met,

you might get,

accumulate for yourself

wealth and popularity

and all these things,

but none of it satisfies.

The only thing that can satisfy

our hearts

in the deepest places

of our life

is God himself.

Not just knowing about him,

but knowing him.

And so as I thought

how to put together,

how to express

the joy

and the beauty

and the certainty

and the life

that is

a life that knows God,

not just knows about him.

I was trying to put it

into words

and I thought of this

YouTube video

I wanted to share with you.

I think that

this pastor does

an even better job

than I can ever do.

So we're going to take

three minutes

and watch him talk

about the beauty

of knowing God

and Jesus being our king.

The Bible says

my king

is the king of the Jews.

He's the king

of Israel.

He's the king

of righteousness.

He's the king

of the ages.

He's the king

of heaven.

He's the king

of glory.

He's the king

of kings

and he's the lord

of lords.

That's my king.

I wonder,

do you know him?

My king

is a sovereign king.

No means of measure

can define

his limitless love.

He's enduringly strong.

He's entirely sincere.

He's eternally

steadfast.

He's immortally

graceful.

He's empirically

powerful.

He's impartially

merciful.

Do you know him?

He's the greatest

phenomenon

that has ever

crossed the horizon

of this world.

He's God's son.

He's a sinner's savior.

He's the centerpiece

of civilization.

He's unparalleled.

He's unprecedented.

He is the loftiest idea

in literature.

He's the highest

personality

in philosophy.

He's the fundamental

doctrine

of truth theology.

He's the only one

qualified

to be

an all-sufficient

savior.

I wonder

if you know him today.

He supplies

strength

for the weak.

He's available

for the tempted

and the tried.

He sympathizes

and he saves.

He strengthens

and sustains.

He guards

and he guides.

He heals

the sick.

He cleanses

the lepers.

He forgives

sinners.

He discharges

debtors.

He delivers

the captive.

He defends

the feeble.

He blesses

the young.

He serves

the unfortunate.

He regards

the age.

He rewards

the diligent

and he purifies

the meek.

I wonder

if you know him.

He's a key

to knowledge.

He's a well-trained

of wisdom.

He's a doorway

of deliverance.

He's a pathway

of peace.

He's a roadway

of righteousness.

He's a highway

of holiness.

He's a gateway

of glory.

Do you know him?

Well,

his life

is massless.

His goodness

is limitless.

His mercy

is everlasting.

His love

never changes.

His word

is enough.

His grace

is sufficient.

His reign

is righteous.

And a yoke

is easy.

And his burden

is lighter.

I wish I could

describe him

for yet he's

indescribable.

He's incomprehensible.

He's invincible.

He's irresistible.

Well,

you can't get him

out of your mind.

You see,

you can't get him

off of your head.

You can't outlive him

and you can't live

without him.

Well,

the Pharisees

couldn't stand him.

When they found out

they couldn't stop him.

Pilots

couldn't find

any fault in him.

Terrors

couldn't kill him.

Death

couldn't handle him.

And the rage

couldn't hold him.

Yeah!

That's my king!

That's my king!

Amen!

Amen!

Amen!

Proverbs 4.18

says that the path

of the righteous

is like the first gleam

of dawn,

shining ever brighter

till the full light

of day.

That truly,

when it talks about

shining ever brighter

till the full light

of day,

it's not talking

about the path

of the righteous

being a path

necessarily of wealth

or of comfort.

But it's saying that

no matter what life

throws at you,

no matter what comes

down the pipe,

that if you are someone

who doesn't just know

a boat,

but you know him,

then you are,

that is your path.

You have the path

of the righteous.

And it truly is

a path that is growing

ever in its awe

and its joy,

the sense of meaning

and purpose

and life everlasting.

Jesus says

in John chapter 17

John 17 · chapter mention

that eternal life

is this,

that you know God.

Eternal life

is not just about

being saved from hell,

though that's part of it,

but that forever,

beyond death,

as well as today,

that you know God.

There's a passage

that gripped me

the other day.

I was reading,

I'm reading through

the Gospel of John

and so it was a few

weeks ago now

because I just finished

the Gospel of John,

but a few weeks ago

I was reading in the Bible

John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

Jesus is standing

before these men

who know so much

about God.

They know the scriptures

so well,

they long for eternal life

so much

that these men

actually write

parts of the Bible

in little boxes

and tie that to their heads

so the Bible

is always on their forehead

and they write the parts,

beautiful parts of the Bible

and they put it on

the doorposts of their house

so that whenever they walk

through any door of their house,

not just into the house

but through their house,

on every door frame

they will be reminded

of the scriptures

and they're people

who actually have

the scriptures memorized

more than any one of us

including Pastor George,

St. and Claire.

These people long,

they long for eternal life

and Jesus is standing

before them.

Jesus in the body,

he's right there

standing before them

and he says to them,

he looks and says

one of the most devastating things,

one of the most haunting things

that is anywhere

in the scripture

and he says to them

that you search the scriptures

because you believe

that in them

you have eternal life

but then he says

but basically

he who is eternal life,

he who the scriptures speak

is standing before you.

I hope that image

haunts us today

and for the rest of our lives.

That haunting image

brings healing to us

as it grips our heart

and leads us to pray

saying God,

don't let me be one

who simply knows about you

but let me be someone

who knows you.

That's a haunting image.

They know the Bible so well.

They know so much about God

but they do not know him.

And one of the fears

that grips my heart

in a good way

is the concern

that not only would

I never be someone

that simply knows about God

but that my knowing of God,

that those encounters with God

would never ever be something

just of the past.

I think in some ways

more haunting than an image

of those men

who have never known God

but know so much about him

is an image that

comes home for some of us

that we've had some amazing

encounters with God

in the past.

There's been times

where we really spend

real quality time with God.

We've encountered the living God

and yet it's simply

something of the past.

May we ever be people

who are praying and longing

to come to know God

deeper and deeper today.

These words that Paul writes

in Philippians chapter 3,

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

that I may know him.

In some ways,

we think that this might be

a prayer for non-believers,

non-Christians,

those who are spiritually dead

to pray,

God, I want to know you.

But the Apostle Paul

is saying this

as the ultimate prayer

of his life

and he is someone

who knows God so well,

so much better

than a lot of us,

probably any of us,

know God.

He knew God so well.

You see that still

the ultimate longing

of his heart is,

God, I want to know you.

And the letter he's writing,

this letter of Philippians,

he's writing to

the most mature

and godly church.

Every one of Paul's letters

includes some type of rebuke,

in many cases,

a lot of rebukes

about a lot of

very important things.

But in this letter of Philippians

to the church in Philippi,

Paul only has good things,

encouragement to say.

I mean, rebuke is a good thing

to say too,

but in this case,

it's only positive encouragement.

And so he's writing

to someone who knows God so well

to a city where they know God so well

and he's saying that

this ultimate prayer for them

is,

God, I want to know you.

And so I want to encourage you,

however well you know God,

even if you feel you know him so well,

to not grow satisfied

with where you're at,

but to continue to ask God

to bring you into a deeper

relationship with him.

And so one way to make this your own

is to pray a prayer like this.

Dear God,

may I never be satisfied

with only knowing about you.

Would you grow in me

an ever-increasing desire

to know and be known by you?

Dear God,

may I never be satisfied

with only knowing about you.

Would you grow in me

an ever-increasing desire

to know you

and be known by you?

I encourage you to make this

your own prayer.

That's not where the verse ends,

and so let's read it again together.

Philippians 3, verse 10.

Philippians 3:10

That I may know him

and the power of his resurrection

and may share his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death.

So part of what it means

to know Jesus

is that you share in the power

of his resurrection.

The power of the resurrection

is the power that brought Jesus

from the dead to life again.

It's the power that we know one day

for anyone who knows God,

who is looking to Jesus

as a savior and as our king,

that each one of us knows

that it's that power

that will one day raise us

back from the dead

and we'll be with God

on the earth forever.

And it's that power

that breathes life

into our lungs spiritually

and makes us people

who don't just know about God,

but actually know him.

It's that power

that when this woman

was bound over like this

for 18 years

that strained her out

and allowed her

not only to be healed,

but to know God.

It's that power of resurrection.

The power over death.

Power over failure

to breathe life

into that which has failed,

decayed, or died.

One of the best ways

that I can illustrate this

for us this morning

is from a movie

I watched this past year

called Edge of Tomorrow.

In this film,

this soldier,

played by Tom Cruise,

he's not really a soldier,

but he's sent into battle

as a soldier.

And so he starts off

very afraid.

But something has happened

to him early in the film,

not to ruin it for you,

but to ruin it for you.

Something happens to him

where every time he dies,

he gets rebooted.

So he gets to start

the day again.

And so this soldier gets to,

they're fighting

a ferocious battle

of robot alien things.

And so all these other soldiers

are getting just

absolutely dusted.

But he keeps getting rebooted

and gets to keep on

with the fight.

So as the film goes on,

he becomes this ultimate soldier.

Not simply because

he gets amazing training,

but because he's no longer

afraid of the enemy

in any way.

He's not afraid of death

at all.

And so he's able to just

walk right past the bullets,

just do his thing,

and be this incredible,

courageous,

ferocious soldier.

And when you're not afraid

of what's coming at you,

you can live life all in.

And I'm part of a ministry

where we live among the poor

a few blocks from here

in Lower Town.

And sometimes in the summer,

the kids love to have

water fights.

I know as a kid,

like I used to,

you're trying to not get

hit by the water.

But there was some point

in my life a couple years ago

where I realized,

like, what can water do?

If you're honest.

And so the kids would be

shooting their water guns

at me.

And I'm not afraid of water,

so I'll just walk right up

to the kids,

and they're getting me wet.

I'm not afraid of the water.

So I become this ultimate

water fighting soldier.

And I want to have

a massive bucket,

and these kids

get absolutely drenched.

It's a good thing

I have a good relationship

with their parents.

When you're not afraid

of what is coming at you,

you're able to live life

boldly and all in.

I know what it's like

to not live that way.

As a young teen

and as a kid,

I was so gripped

by the fear of failure

that I couldn't do anything

in life that required risk.

I could never have come up

and sit in front of people

and preach with them.

Like, I couldn't have been done.

I would just,

I'd be so afraid I'd fail.

Actually, I'd arrive at church

and I'd go into the washroom

and I'd just hide in the stall

until the service started

so I wouldn't have to interact

with anybody.

Then I'd come into the service

and when the service ended,

I'd slip out back

into the washroom,

hiding there

so I wouldn't have

any need to interact

with people

and maybe say something stupid.

I was so afraid.

But then as the reality

of God came into my life,

as I encountered the power

of the resurrection

and realized that

as a Christian,

you're able to fail.

You're able to fall flat

on your face

knowing that the power

of the resurrection

really flows in your veins

as sons and daughters

of the Most High King.

That fear of failure

began to slip away.

You see, like with Abraham,

Abraham had this call

in his life

to be a blessing

to the nations

through his descendants.

But his descendant,

his son,

God called him

to put to death.

How is Abraham

going to obey God?

His very calling,

his ministry is on the line.

But the scriptures are clear

that Abraham

had such confidence in God

in his faithfulness

and in his power

for resurrection

that he is able

to obey God

and take his son

and he actually gets ready

to sacrifice his son's life.

Then God comes through for him.

But Abraham knew

that he's able to risk,

risk big time

because of God's

power of resurrection.

So I want to encourage us today

to live in that power,

to live in that power

of the resurrection,

to be able to be people

who can risk,

who can live boldly

because that is part

of what it means

to know God,

to live the adventure

of life with him,

alive in him.

And there's a scene

in Edge of Tomorrow

where Tom Cruise,

the person he's playing,

where he loses the ability

to get rebooted,

to keep on living

after he's killed.

And so as a result,

this guy who's

this amazing soldier,

so inspiring,

all of a sudden

becomes very timid again.

And he's hiding so much

and he can't really

fight the enemy

because he has to be

preserving his own self.

And as long as we're

in that situation

where self-preservation

is our greatest priority,

we're not able to live

like the way

it was made to be lived.

You and I both know that.

But Tom Cruise

would be a fool

if he wasn't trying

to preserve himself

because truly

if a bullet went

through his chest,

he'd be destroyed forever.

And I share this with you

not to simply ruin

the film for you,

but also because

if any one of us here

simply knows a lot

about God

but we don't know him,

if Jesus is not

our savior and our king,

then we have every reason

to be afraid.

We have every reason

to never risk.

We have every reason

to try to stay alive

for as long as possible

because this is

as good as it gets

and it's not very good.

If we simply are people

who are church people

but we're not actually

children of God,

then we have every reason

to fear,

to be haunted

by that fear.

But the good news is

there's no reason

to stay in that place.

We need to be honest

with where we're at

but I encourage you

if you're someone

that has not surrendered

your life to Jesus,

if he is not your king,

if you're not looking

to him to save you,

then I plead with you

this morning,

do that.

Cry out to him.

Cry out to him

that he would save you

and that you would

not just know about him

but that you would know him.

But I think most of us

are better illustrated

by one other scene

in the film

which is that

there's a good portion

of the movie

where Tom Cruise

has that power

of being rebooted

but he doesn't know it.

So you know

as someone watching

the movie

that if a bullet

goes through him

he's going to be able

to keep on fighting

and he's able

to keep on thriving

but he doesn't know it.

And so he's living

that timid,

unable to risk,

unable to fulfill

his calling kind of way

but you know

that he really can

just go and live all in.

And as you watch that,

I can't help but think

that's how so many

of us live.

We know God.

We have his power

flowing through our veins.

If we were to fail,

if we were to risk

and go wrong,

we know that he can

breathe new life

into that very calling,

into our very lives.

And yet we're living life

as if we don't even know him.

It's the confidence

and the power

of the resurrection

that famously led

Jim Elliot,

a young man,

younger than me,

to leave his comfortable

home in North America

and go down to Ecuador

and be a missionary

among some of the most

deadly people

on planet Earth.

It was a tribe

where they're always

killing each other,

cannibals.

No one has grandparents

because no one lives that long.

They're always killing each other.

And he and some of his

young friends,

all these guys

in their young 20s,

went down there

to bring the gospel.

They brought the gospel.

They were killed.

They were cannibalized.

But even in their death,

we saw the power

of the resurrection

in two ways.

One,

Jim Elliot knew

that even if he was

to be killed

by these cannibals,

that that would not

be the end of his life,

that God would bring him

back from the dead

at the end of time

and he'd spend

forever with God.

You see that bold,

that gutsy confidence

in him.

But he also knew

that even if their mission

failed,

that God could breathe

new life into it.

And I had the privilege

a few years ago

of meeting the very man

that killed Jim

and his friends.

And this man

and the entire people group

of these cannibals

are no longer cannibals.

They know God.

These people now

have grandparents.

He's a grandparent

to the children

of Jim Elliot

because they don't

have a grandpa.

He's now their grandfather.

We've seen the power

of the resurrection

breathe life

into a mission

that failed.

For a lot of us,

living in the power

of the resurrection

is not going to mean

going to another part

of the world.

But it might mean

speaking up

in the classroom

or at work

about the goodness

of a life with God.

It might mean

sacrificing some

of our selfish dreams

for a greater dream

that God gives us.

I just want to encourage

you this morning,

if there is a burden

that God has given you,

if there is a dream

that God has given you,

if there is something

that you know

is the right thing to do

but you're afraid

of doing it

for fear of failure,

that because of the power

of the resurrection,

if you know God,

to go for it,

to live life boldly,

risky,

live life all in

because we know

that God is faithful

and he is power

over death.

Truly he is power

over death.

There is something

that you and I have

that is so much more

than what Tom Cruise

in Edge of Tomorrow had

in that Tom Cruise

simply had the power

of being rebooted

but you and I

actually share

in the power

of the resurrection.

So in this movie,

even though he gets rebooted

and can live life

pretty confidently,

death is still

such a key ingredient

and all of that.

Death still has

kind of mastery

over him.

But because of Jesus'

resurrection,

in his death,

defeating death,

and then even more so

through his resurrection,

as 1 Corinthians 15 says,

Paul writes,

he says,

O death,

where is your sting?

O death,

where is your victory?

For truly,

Jesus,

life,

has victory over death.

And so you and I

can live a life

not only being rebooted,

but you and I

can live a life

in the confidence

that death

is no longer in charge.

Death no longer

has the final word.

The final word

in our life

will never be failure

or death

or decay,

but is life,

is resurrection,

is Jesus.

He has the final word.

And so truly in him

we can live a life

that's all in,

boldly and risky.

You can make this

your own by living it out

and it's part of that

by praying these words.

Dear God,

help me to live boldly,

able to risk,

confident in the power

that raised Jesus

from the dead.

Dear God,

help me to live boldly,

able to risk,

confident in the power

that raised Jesus

from the dead.

I want to encourage you

this morning,

if you feel,

if you see any part

of your life

that's not living

in that boldness

that comes from the power

that raised Jesus

from the dead,

to make these words

your own.

The slides,

these prayers

will be put up

on the website

on Monday

and encourage you

to pray these words.

But that's not all.

Would you say

this verse again with me?

Philippians 3.10

That I may know him

and the power

of his resurrection

and may share

his sufferings

becoming like him

in his death.

I feel like me

when I was reading

through this

preparing for the message

I saw that I may know him

and that filled me

with such joy

and just pumped me up

and then I read

and may share

in his power

the power

of the resurrection

and get even more stoked.

Come on.

I can live life

boldly and confidently.

And then we read

and may share

his sufferings

becoming like him

in his death.

I would have been

more pumped

if it had said

sharing his sufferings

becoming like him

in his death

and then said

and the power

of the resurrection

because I'd look at like

okay so if I die

with him

I also live with him

as it says

also in the Bible.

But instead

it says

this positive thing

sharing the power

of the resurrection

and then a seemingly

more negative thing

and sharing his sufferings

and death.

But I believe

that Paul wrote it

this way

for a very specific reason

and that is that

there is a certain

type of suffering

that only those

who have shared

in the power

of the resurrection

have come to life

in God

get to experience.

Earlier in Philippians

Paul writes

that it is a gift

to believe in God

and to suffer with him.

That it is a gift

to both believe in God

and share in his suffering

with him.

And that doesn't make

a lot of sense to us

because sharing

and suffering

tends not to be

something we think of

as a gift

but Paul sees it

as a gift.

Why is that?

Well we know

that our God

is a God of compassion.

We know through

through the

through Jesus coming

into the brokenness

and the pain

and the death

of the human condition

taking all of that

upon himself

on the cross.

That our God

is a God

that cares for the lost

cares for the broken

cares for the marginalized

those who are hurting

and suffering.

He's a compassionate God

but the word compassion

passion means to suffer

and C-O-M

is a prefix

that means with.

The word compassion

means to suffer with

those who are suffering.

That's what it means

to be compassionate.

God doesn't just have pity on us

he has compassion for us.

So if we're people

who are going to join God

in the work

and the ministry

that God is doing

bringing light

to the darkness

and life to the dead

healing to the broken

then we're joining

him

in being compassionate people

which necessitates

that we're suffering

with those who are suffering

that we're sharing

in their pain.

When I was a little kid

I was about five years old

I think

I

a bunch of my friends

dads

did a

take your child

to work day

so all my little friends

all went off

with their dads

to work

and for whatever reason

my dad

he's an amazing dad

didn't

wasn't part of that program

and so I remember

just selfishly

going to my room

I was feeling really bad

for myself

and I sat on my bed

come from a big family

so it was a bunk bed

a lot of siblings

so I sat on my bed

and I just prayed something like

we just learned the Lord's Prayer

as a family

so I was sitting on my bed

and I said

God if you're my Heavenly Father

can you have a

take your child

to work day

and I prayed the prayer

just because I wanted

to go to work

with somebody

I didn't want to be left out

but in a very real way

just a few weeks later

my church was

doing work

in one of the poorest

the poorest

area in all of Canada

in East Hastings

Vancouver

and I got to

go with my family

and be part of

what they were doing

and there was some sense

that day

where I realized

as we went to

care for the poor

like that

I knew that God

was answering that prayer

even in a small way

that I was going to work

with my Heavenly Father

that He was caring

for the poor

and I was getting

to join Him in that

and as I've grown up

in my life

it's meant getting to

work among victims

of human trafficking

helping people find freedom

from actual slave traffickers

in my life

it's meant being a light

at Parliament Hill

where I get to be

with some of the richest

most comfortable

powerful people

yet they're miserable

and we try to

get to share

the truth

and the hope

we have

in Jesus

with them

it's been amazing

in everyone's life

it's going to look

like different things

but in every person

who knows God

in every one of our lives

it's going to mean

something

it's going to mean

joining God

some way

in the work

He's doing

bringing light

into the darkness

and so as Paul writes

about sharing

and suffering

I don't think

he's simply telling us

I don't think

he's simply telling us

that knowing God

is worth suffering for

it's as if he's saying

it's not simply

that he's saying

knowing God

is such a treasure

and if the ticket

to know God

is suffering

then it's worth

paying that ticket

so you can know Him

He's actually so

so captured

he's so captivated

by the joy

and the meaning

and the gift

of knowing God

that if suffering

is our getting

to go to work

with God

then he's pumped

up for it

the reason you have

a take your child

to work day

isn't so that your child

can be exposed

to some job

prospect in the future

but so that your child

can get to know you

because as we spend

time with people

and see what they do

and go to their workplace

we get to know

a whole dimension

to who they are

it's a whole other dimension

of who they are

is what they do for work

and the work

that our Heavenly Father

is doing

is the most

purpose driven

hope filled

life giving work

imaginable

and so I want

to encourage you

to pray that prayer

that I prayed

as a little kid

that I still pray

to this day

still to this day

I pray

God

would you take me

to work with you

when I get up in the morning

I'm like

God

I want to join you

in the ministry

you're doing

bringing light

to the darkness

bringing light

to those who are dead

I want to encourage you

to pray that prayer

you may not say