John 6:51-71 - Caleb Richardson

Okay, have a seat. Hey, good morning. Isn't that

going to be a fun text to go through? You guys

ready? I'm going to eat some flesh, and yeah,

we'll get through that in a minute. Hey, glad

you're here. If you're new with us, we're serious

about those Bibles in the back. Feel free to

take one of those. There's a place for you to

write in the sides. Yeah, so that's for you.

Don't be afraid to jump up and grab one if you

don't have it. At Radiant, from the very beginning

of our church, we have desired and hoped that

you wouldn't just come here, slide in, slide

out, that you wouldn't just come here and kind

of put on a false face, act like you got it all

together. But what we're really hoping for is

authenticity. We want you to be real. and honest

with where you're at, and honest with God. Because

here's what I know about doing this job for a

lot of years. We're all messed up, including

me, right? And we're all in desperate need of

a Savior. And so one of the things we're inviting

you to as a church is to get your eyes off yourself

maybe for a minute and to begin to get your eyes

on Jesus. to come to Jesus, and that we believe

that as your vertical relationship with God deepens

and grows, it will affect the horizontal relationship

you have with each other. And so we call ourselves

a family because God has called us to that. We

call ourselves servants because Jesus served

and modeled it for us. We call ourselves missionaries

because he's sending us. to be a radiant reflection

of him so we're not here to do a show for you

we're not here to and we say this all the time

in our church that the the church is not sunday

morning the church is all week long you're the

church we want to live that out we do gather

together every week but we when we gather we

want you to come and be real and be honest with

you starting with yourself and your how you see

yourself A lot of times what I've experienced

in churches and been a part of and struggled

with myself is that you walk into the church

and you're like, oh, I better get my best stuff

on. I better look really good. Better that nobody

know what's going on behind the walls. And that

just doesn't work. And so we want to invite you

to be real before the Lord. And so what I'm going

to do is we're going to walk verse by verse.

Just the way we roll most of the time around

here is just walk right through God's word. He

sets the outline. And we're going to pray and

ask the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts.

And I don't know where you're at. I know that

every one of us in this room are in different

places, including me. And so we need Jesus to

meet us. We need the Spirit of God to work in

our hearts. Will you guys pray with me right

now? I don't know where you're at, but maybe

you just need to open your hands up before the

Lord and say, God, I just come before you and

I give all my stuff to you right now. So let's

pray. Lord, we come before you as just, if we're

really honest, really broken, confused many times,

trying to figure out this world, figure out this

life that we live. And so we come before you

because we do know that you are the Savior of

the world. And you're calling us to make you

Lord over everything. And so we just ask that

you help us by your spirit to do that, but also

help us to understand even today at a deeper

level what it means to be your follower. Love

you, Jesus. Amen. All right. You can turn to

John chapter 6. We're going to be there. But

John 6 · chapter mention

this is going on our third week in John chapter

John 6 · chapter mention

6. I could easily do four weeks. I'm not. This

is going to wrap it up this week. There is so

much in here. And if you love to study your Bible,

you're going to say, oh, he missed things because

there's so much in here. You remember when we

went through Romans and every week in Romans,

I kept saying, this is so difficult. There's

so much packed in a small amount. John 6 is that

way, has been that way. It felt like I was studying

Romans all over. But John 6 is incredibly important.

And what goes on in John 6 is the only part that

is mentioned, other than the crucifixion and

resurrection of Jesus, in all four Gospels, because

it's that big a deal. And so, before we jump

into the conclusion of John 6, I would like us

to consider a few questions. I'm not going to

ask you this morning to respond. I want you just

to consider this question as we go through. What

is... a true disciple of Jesus. That's a language

that the Bible uses all the time. It calls us

disciples. Be my disciple, right? It's not a

language you and I use very often, but what is

a true, not a, what is a true disciple of Jesus?

What is at the core of being a true disciple

of Jesus? Well, we discover in the book of John

that a disciple is someone who believes in Jesus

and continues to follow him. That's a pretty

critical point. Someone who believes in Jesus

and continues to follow him. So at the core of

a true disciple of Jesus isn't just someone who

studies his teachings, but someone whose entire

life is being reformed to mirror his character,

his mission, and his heart. I'll say that one

more time. It's really important to understand

this. Someone who's a disciple of Jesus is someone

whose entire life is being reformed. That means

changed because we're all broken. Being reformed

to mirror. We always say radiant reflections

around here. You're a radiant reflection of Jesus.

You're reformed to mirror his character, his

mission, and his heart. So at the time of Jesus,

a disciple wasn't just a student trying to pass

a test. You're not going to UAA as a disciple.

It's a very different concept. They lived with

their rabbi, their teacher. They copied their

exact way of life, mirrored it, followed him

everywhere. We would kind of think that's weird

and creepy today, but that's what a disciple

did. Being a disciple would reshape your entire

life. I was this way, and now that I'm following

this teacher, this rabbi, I become like him.

And in a sense, there was a whole new identity

that was being formed. Jesus didn't leave the

definition of being his disciple up for grabs.

He constantly... It's coming back to what it

means, which, by the way, applies to us today

if you call yourself a Christian. He didn't miss

any. Like, here's just a few of them, right?

He lays a few of these out, just most of them

in John chapter, in John. Look at what John 8,

31 says. Then Jesus said to the Jews who had

believed in him, if you continue or abide, is

the word, in my word, you are my disciples. You

don't just read the words. You soak in them.

You live in them. You abide in the truth. That's

what a disciple does. John 13, verse 34 and 35

John 13:34

says this, I give you a new command. Love one

another just as I have loved you. How are we

to love one another? just as i have loved you

jesus is talking to him you are also to love

one another but by this i underline that if you

have it in your bible by this everyone will know

that you are my disciples if you love one another

the sacrificial love of jesus begins to come

out of you and it's showing on other people and

it reflects it's it's all sudden goes from you

that vertical affecting the horizontal John 15

John 15:8

verse 8, my father is glorified by this, that

you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

This means that you are being changed by Jesus

to begin to reflect his love, his patience, his

kindness, the fruits of the spirit, right? We

learn about in the Bible, the fruits of your

life begin to prove that you are a disciple of

Jesus. If there's no fruit in your life, You

may not be a follower of Jesus. That's what he's

saying. There's fruit. It's going to come out

of you. And that's to really pause to ask the

question, like, wow, how's my life? In Luke chapter

Luke 9:23

9, verse 23, he says this, then he said to them

all, that's Jesus, if any of you wants to follow

after, or that's, if anyone wants to be my disciple,

if anyone wants to follow after me, Let him deny

himself, take up his cross daily, and follow

me. For a disciple of Jesus, it is a daily surrender

to him. It means putting Jesus' agenda above

your own ego, above your own comfort, every single

day. When you become a disciple of Jesus, your

identity shifts. This is the whole picture of

baptism, right? Part of the picture of baptism

is you go into the water, which we're going to

do on Saturday for many of you in this room,

but it's a picture of going into the water saying,

I identify with Christ's death, burial, what

he did for me, and as I come up out of the water,

his resurrection, but in coming out of that water,

I have a new identity in Christ. The old is gone,

the new has come, the Bible says. It's... It's

this whole identity shifts from what you do to

whose you are. What you do many times is how

we get our identity in this world. But being

a Christian means it shifts from what you do

to whose you are. It's an identity based on a

relationship with Jesus. So Paul says this in

Galatians 2 .20. I know we'll get to our text

in a second. He says this, I have been crucified

with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ

lives in me. That's the difference. What's it

mean to be a disciple is that Christ lives within

you and it changes everything about you, including

whose you are. So warning, as we jump into six,

and this is a warning, like I even put in my

notes, I put warning and I put red around it

because this is a really big warning. As we jump

into John 6 today, Jesus tells his disciples,

what he's going to tell his disciples is really

hard for them to get their heads around. And

it very well may be very hard for us. But one

of the things that I've committed to as a church

is that there are texts in the scripture that

are not fun to teach. They're hard. And we're

not going to miss them. We're going to go right

through them. And this is one of those texts

that are a little more difficult. I might not

want to spend time talking about eating flesh

and drinking blood. It's just maybe another verse

I would pick, okay? But we're going to work right

through it because it's really important. So

in these verses, Jesus is pointing out the difference

between a true and a false disciple of Jesus.

That's what's happening. He's pointing out a

difference between... A true disciple and a false

disciple. Okay? So we've talked about what a

true disciple is. Let's look real briefly at

a false disciple. A false disciple, another way

of saying, somebody who thinks they're a follower

of Jesus but really aren't. Somebody who's embraced

some of Jesus but they're really not fully in.

Okay? And the church is full of these, by the

way. Church general. A false disciple is someone

who comes to Jesus for reasons other than Jesus.

You come to Jesus for reasons other than Jesus.

You come to Jesus to get wealth, to get better,

to feel well, sickness, whatever it is. You come

to Jesus to succeed and to prosper. You come

to Jesus for everything but him. The Bible is

pretty clear on that, that that's a false disciple.

So let's get into our text, and we'll see how

Jesus deals with this question. So if you remember

in verse 35, and by the way, if you've missed

this series, we've recorded it twice. I usually

don't say this very often. Man, it makes a whole

lot more sense, this text we're about to do,

if you would attract with the first part of all

of chapter 6. So go back and listen to it, and

it'll help you. But Jesus refers to himself as

the bread of life in verse 35. Now look what

he says, continues that thought in verse 51.

Verse 51, he says this, I am the living bread

that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this

bread, he will live forever. The bread? that

I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

And that the Jews argued amongst themselves,

how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Okay,

so the statement by Jesus is provoking this large

group of disciples. And that's the way it's referred

to. These are followers of Jesus. And it's provoked

them to a place of confusion and controversy.

Sometimes Jesus' teachings do that, don't they?

But it's provoked them. They begin to argue amongst

themselves. And then Jesus just doesn't try to

defend it. He just jumps right in the middle

and he takes it even further. Look what he says

in verse 53. So Jesus said to them, truly I tell

you, unless, underline that word by the way,

unless you eat the flesh. The one who eats my

flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and

I will raise him up on the last day. Because

my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink,

the one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood

remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living

Father sent me, I live because of the Father.

So the one who feeds on me will live because

of me. This is the bread that's come down from

heaven. It's not like the manna your ancestors

ate and they died. The one who eats this bread

will live forever. He said these things while

he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

All right. There's a powerful little word that

you need to underline. It's in verse 53. It's

this word, unless. Unless. What Jesus is doing

in these really strange verses is he's drawing

a line in the sand. You might want to call it

that. He's drawing a line in the sand. He says,

okay, you guys follow me. You guys say you're

followers of me. I'm going to help you understand

that. I'm going to draw a line in the sand for

you to know what truth is. The conditions Jesus

sets in front of these people, and he sets in

front of us, he says, look, he says, you have

to eat my flesh and drink my blood. What? He

says in verse 53, you can look at that, that

you might have biological life, like you might

exist, but real life, eternal life, comes from

eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Now,

if that's not strange enough language from Jesus,

he continues in verse 54, and then he says in

verse 55 that his body is true food and his blood

is true drink. 56, those who eat and drink are

the ones who remain or abide in him. And he says,

unlike the manna, like normal food, bread that

I just fed the 5 ,000 with or the manna that

came down from the sky, that kind of food, it

doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't give

eternal life. It means we have a problem on our

hands. How do you get eternal life? Well, he

says you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood.

Maybe to us this sounds pretty weird. Raise your

hand if it sounds weird. It sounds really weird.

I'm sorry, I'm the first one to raise my hand.

It sounds really weird. to have this kind of

language, all right? But to the Jewish ears of

that time, it would have been radically, I mean,

you take our weird, they'd be like, what? And

here's why. See, the Mosaic law, what they believed

in that time, prohibited them from eating flesh

with blood in it. Like, no rare steaks. Cook

it out. They couldn't even have a steak with

a little dribble of blood in it because that

was a no -no. And so to drink blood itself? Are

you kidding me? So you've got to realize how

absurd this would sound to them. This would just

be off the charts. Leviticus 19, if you want

to go look that up, it talks about that. Leviticus

19, starting in 26. But in all of this, Jesus...

He wasn't talking about literal eating. He's

using a powerful, shocking metaphor for total

internalization. Meaning, how do you get Jesus?

How do you get him? This kind of eating or drinking

means that Jesus is in us and we are in him.

The Bible uses that term all the time, right?

If you are in Christ. So he's using a very powerful

metaphor to help us wrap our heads around this.

So it's this picture of union with Christ so

that his life counts for your broken jacked up

life. His righteous life counts for your broken

life. That's what he's talking about. There is

no eternal life except in union with Christ.

Every one of us has one thing. 100 % of us has

one thing in common. We're all going to face

death. We're all going to die. And if you want

eternal life, there has to be, in Christ, there

has to be union with Christ. And this is really

important. And so John Piper says, one of the

quotes he said I thought was interesting, he

says, so the pervasive, so the pervasive offer

of this chapter from beginning to end he's talking

about chapter six anyone who has may have eternal

life if they will receive jesus and trust in

jesus and treasure jesus and be satisfied with

all that god is for them in jesus meaning eat

him consume him he is what you go to that's the

metaphor that jesus is rolling with okay So one

more thing that we need to understand before

we move on to the response of the disciples is

in verse 51, Jesus says, the bread that I will

give for the life of the world. You see that?

He says, is my flesh. And what does that mean?

He's pointing to the cross of Christ. He's pointing

to the cross that he's about ready to go to.

He's referring to giving his flesh as a sacrifice

for the whole world. He's talking about his flesh

and his blood would be given as a substitution

for you, for the whole world. So Jesus finishes

speaking with, he just kind of begins to finish

speaking with no further explanation. He lets

it just kind of drop on him. Look what he says.

He's not justifying like, hey, I told you all

this metaphor. Let me explain all that to you.

He doesn't. And I think it's important to understand

that he just kind of drops it and they're like,

whoa. They're back on their heels. Look what

he says in verse 60. Therefore, many of his disciples.

Who? His disciples. These are people who have,

these are church people. These are people that

have lived, that are following. He's not trying

to convince them, are you really the Messiah?

They're already saying, oh, you're it, you're

it, you're it. These are his disciples, right?

Therefore, many of his disciples heard this.

They said, this teaching is hard. Who can accept

it? Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples

were grumbling about this, asked them, does this

offend you? I love this language. Does this offend

you? We're going to unpack that. Disciples are

really stirred up by Jesus' words. And they actually

have a good point. Like, don't poo -poo the disciples

on this one. They actually are asking a really

good question. Like, who can accept this? This

teaching is really hard. Who can really accept

this? And just a quick side note on this text.

I think it's important. We're not going to, we

could do a whole sermon on this piece. But a

little side note there, is the majority of the

scholars that work this over, this text over,

they do not believe that this is the Lord's Supper,

that he's referring to communion. Okay, so if

you've grown up with that background, this is

not what this is about. Instead, he's addressing

more like the conversation he had with the woman

at the well in John 4, where he says that this

is the living water. that I give? A metaphor

to represent himself to saying, this is what

you get? So what teaching is so hard to accept?

What is it that is so hard to accept that the

disciples are struggling? He is telling his disciples

like, so R .C. Sproul says this, he says, he

told his disciples, you have to come into me,

be united to me, feast upon me, not just a casual

relationship with me. But I said he's drawn a

line in the sand. He says, to be a true disciple

means you have to come over. And you have to

begin to realize how important, how central Jesus

is to everything in your life. Is your relationship

with Jesus casual? Jesus is not wanting that.

He wants a deep, feasting kind of relationship.

He wants a deep, intimate, personal relationship

with you, not a casual one. I said that there's

going to be lines in here in this text that are

hard for us because North American culture says,

I want Jesus on my terms. And this text does

not allow that. R .C. Sproul later continues

on. He says, Jesus declared that religion won't

do it. Church attendance won't do it. God works

in and of themselves, good works, I'm sorry,

good works in among themselves won't do it. The

only thing that gets us into the kingdom of God

by which we participate in is the gift of eternal

life, is union with Christ Jesus. Gotta be union

with Christ Jesus. So, we have to take all of

Jesus and ingest him. That's what he's saying.

All of him. I think in verse 61, the followers

of Jesus started grumbling about how serious

Jesus was calling them. This is what they're

grumbling like, are you kidding me? You want

me to do, you want me to that kind of follower?

How? How all? In he wants us to be. Can you believe

he's asking us to step over that far? So Jesus

says, does this offend you? My favorite part

of the whole, like one of my favorite parts of

this whole section. Does this offend you? Well,

does what I say and been saying really offend

you? Like he's not justifying, he's not trying

to explain it. He just kind of looks and goes,

so, what I'm saying, that bothers you, huh? But

here's the thing. This word offend, you and I

understand the word offend, but this word offend

is translated, means, when it's translated, it's

not the way we understand offend. It means give

up believing. Give up believing. It means fall

away. Does this, things are hard things I'm saying,

put you in a place that you're going to give

up believing? That's what he's saying. So I was

talking to, you guys remember last week I kind

of introduced Lauren who was one of the elders

of Radiant Fairbanks when we started that church.

He was here visiting and we were kind of just

talking through like it's been coming up on 20

years since we started the first Radiant of five

Radiant churches. I've been doing this for a

little while. And we were just reflecting back

on people. I was asking questions. Oh, what's

so -and -so doing? What's so -and -so? We got

to this point where he was sharing about a couple

people that have totally walked away from the

Lord. Like they've turned. They don't believe.

These were people that were in leadership in

our church at one point. And it just broke my

heart. It was so sad. I just started thinking,

oh my gosh. Because I look at all you guys, I

love you guys. I don't want to see anybody walk

away from Jesus. And I was going back and thinking

through people this last week, and this was right

in my mind, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness,

how sad. And Jesus asks another probing question.

Look at what he says in verse 62. He says, then

what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending

to where he was before? I think this verse, Jesus

is trying to help restore their perspective.

He says, hey, what if right now you saw me rising

up to glory? And you saw angels come down, and

man, it was beautiful. Would that offend you?

Would that offend you when you see me elevated

up? You're like, yeah. No, of course not. You'd

be hyped for that, right? You'd be like, whoa.

Did you see that show? So disciples, take a minute

and remember, take a minute and remember, disciples,

who I am and whose life, who gives life. Remember,

so he's kind of saying, he's like, do you remember,

do you know who I am? I'm the one that's going

to go. And you're going to be excited about that.

Remember who I am and who gives life? Remember

we talked about it in John chapter 1? Look at

John 1 · chapter mention

verse 63. The Spirit is the one who gives life.

The flesh doesn't help at all. The words that

I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.

He says two things I see in these two verses.

First one is that the flesh he's talking about

here is human flesh. He says your flesh won't

help you. Your flesh won't help you. You cannot

get to God on your own. And number two is that

the Spirit is the one who brings life. The Spirit

pierces your heart. The Spirit of God makes you

aware of your need for Jesus. That's what I love

when I hear a lot of your stories. That there

was a moment many times where you go, God began

to pierce my heart. The Spirit of God made it,

and all of a sudden I began to understand and

see things differently. You can't do it in your

own strength. Now Jesus becomes very, turns and

becomes very blunt with those who are sitting

there, standing there listening. Look at verse

64. But there are some among you who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning that those,

beginning those who did not believe and the ones

who would betray him. He said this. He said,

this is why I told you that no one can come to

me unless it is granted to him by the Father.

Okay, so eventually all the false disciples will

find some reason to stop believing. Being a disciple

of Jesus is making a commitment to follow him

with all of your life for the rest of your life.

So many of these who are claiming to be Jesus'

disciples were faced with the decision. By the

way, this may not be the way to grow a church.

He just kind of calls them out. Do you remember

how many people were following Jesus up to this

point? We don't know exactly how many were in

this discussion, but we know how many he fed.

And there are thousands. And many of them, are

claiming to be disciples of Jesus, and now they're

faced with the decision, is Jesus truly their

Savior and Lord? Now look at the saddest verse

in chapter 6, verse 66. From that moment, many

of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied

him. Can you picture this moment? It would be

like this. All of you, but just a few, stand

up, turn around, and walk out that door, and

I never see you again. You're like, I am done.

Done believing in Jesus. I'm done with this church.

I'm out of here. That's exactly what happens.

It's a really sad moment. People who once were

super excited about Jesus now move on to other

things. Now the once large crowd is now 12 guys

standing there with Jesus. 12 dudes. Jesus says

to the 12 that are standing there, look what

he says in verse 67. So Jesus said to the twelve,

you don't want to go away too, do you? You don't

want to go away too, do you? He's not begging

them to stay, is he? Exalting Jesus' commentary,

one of the commentaries I was looking at said

this, after watching these false disciples turn

away, Jesus turns to the twelve and he asks them

if they want... to leave as well jesus didn't

ask this question for his sake he wasn't alarmed

that so many had left jesus knew his disciples

were his and he was actually preserving them

this question wasn't intended to assure jesus

of their commitment to him it was an opportunity

for the disciples to make a confession of faith

was saying are you all into now look what peter

says and this is now and we go from the ugliest

verse in verse 66 to a really cool section here

that peter says he responds in verse 68 simon

peter answered lord to whom will we go you have

the words of eternal life we have come to believe

and know That you are the holy one of God. I

see two parts of Peter's confession here. Number

one is that Jesus is the only one who has eternal

life. This is what Peter is saying. We don't

have anywhere to go. We get it. As hard as it

is. Watching my friends just leave and turn.

Watching people walk away from you. to experience

so much great momentum where the churches seem

to be exploding and everybody's excited too,

everybody walking away. Where else would we go?

Because what we know is that you, Jesus, have

eternal life. Jesus, you're the only one who

can save. You're the Savior. And I think the

second part... It's actually, even as powerful,

more powerful, he says, Jesus is the Holy One

of God. Now, this statement is powerful. It comes

out of Isaiah 6. We won't go into a lot of it

there. You can go back and read Isaiah 6. But

it's, Isaiah has this prophet, he experiences

this vision where he's transported to the throne

room of God. And he's so blown away. By the awesomeness

of God that he cries out, woe is me for I am

ruined. And in it he goes over the Holy One of

God. It's the way it's referred to with God.

That he's so holy, so amazing. That all he can

do is go, woe is me for I'm ruined. I'm a wreck.

Now what's he mean by that? He means there is

nobody that is beyond Jesus. He is God and God

alone. And what Peter's saying is, I got no other

thing. I got nothing else to say but that you

are my Savior, and church, you are my Lord, Jesus.

You are my Lord. So Peter opens his mouth to

confess his faith, and he unmistakably declares

that Jesus alone is his Savior and Lord. Being

a true disciple of Jesus begins by knowing and

believing that Jesus is the Holy One of God.

That's why John opens up with saying, in the

beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

God, and the Word was God. What is he saying?

He's God. And God has come to this earth to bear

your sins upon himself so that you may have eternal

life with him. That's beautiful. And Peter goes,

as hard as this is, it's the only thing I know,

and I'm going to cling to that. And where else

would we go, Jesus, but to you? You know, being

a true disciple of Jesus means that we reject

anyone else, anything else as our Savior and

Lord, including ourselves. And we turn to Jesus

alone. This is why we do public baptisms. And

why we say in our baptisms, when we get baptized,

I'll say to those who are getting baptized this

next week, I'll say, who is Jesus to you? And

your response needs to be, He is my Savior and

He is my Lord. And we're taking it that serious.

And I think that's kind of what part of what

Peter's going, he's like, he's my Savior, my

Lord, who else do we have to go to? So as we

conclude this morning, are you a true disciple

of Jesus? If not, are you ready to put Jesus

as your Savior and Lord of your life? If that's

you today, and you are not yet, you have not

said, I'm on the outside, I'm looking in, I'm

curious, and that's good. You can be there. But

is Jesus really, truly your Savior? Is He truly

your Lord? And you can live in church your whole

life and think that He's your Savior, but not

ever release Lord to Him. And so my question

to you this morning is, I don't know where you're

at, I don't know, but are you a true disciple

of Jesus? Lastly, Jesus is constantly pushing

his disciples to a deeper and deeper faith. We're

going to see it right to the very end. Peter,

that made that awesome declaration, what do we

know about Peter? He denies Christ. Part of what

70 and 71, which we don't have time to go into,

but goes point is that, look, I got you. I got

you. So even Peter and his struggle with faith

still comes back. So God's got you if you struggle

with your faith. But what Jesus wants you to

do, he wants us at Radiant to do, is to go deeper

and deeper and deeper into who he is and that

our faith, our tentacles are down in him. The

more your faith grows in Jesus, it changes everything.

This is what he wants for us, guys. Let me pray,

and then we'll respond and sing this morning.

Band, you can come up. Search our hearts, Lord.

Help us see where we're really at with you. This

is not a works -based thing you have called us

to. We know that by your grace you have come

to us, that we do nothing in our own power. And

so, Jesus, we pray right now that you will break

into our hearts in deeper levels. For those in

this room who are disciples of you, that you

will break into even a deeper level of faith,

of believing. And making you Lord of our life

that we'll go deeper with you. And for those

who are saying, I don't know if I am a true disciple

of Jesus. Then want to. God, will you break into

their heart. Know that there is nothing they

can do to earn you. That you have done everything

for them. That you come to them and offer yourself.

And you say, eat. Eat of me. So Lord, will you

move amongst us? Will your spirit do a work in

our hearts? In your name we pray. Amen.