201: “Christian” and The Great Commission | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hey, good morning, Awakening.

How are we doing?

Gosh, good to be with you.

I've missed you.

It's great to be back from a little study break, getting ready for the fall and a little bit of vacation on top of that.

So, man, I just missed you.

And just thank you.

Can we just thank our worship team for leading us in worship?

That was great.

My soul needed it.

Today we're kicking off a brand new series called 201.

Incredibly, incredibly creative title, isn't it?

201.

Go ahead and say that with me.

I said with me, and then I didn't even say it.

Come on.

Yeah, good job.

201, the profile of a disciple.

You notice, baby, we talked about 101.

And 101 we do monthly.

It's your best introduction here at Awakening to get to know us, our history, what we're about, and to really figure out is this a place you want to call home?

Now, 201 is what we're introducing now.

It's really, how do you say, plant the, you know, do you plant a flag?

I don't know, steak in the ground, something like that, where you'd say, gosh, this is my home.

I want to be a member of Awakening.

I want to be a part of what God's doing.

I'm making a commitment here.

Normally it's going to be a three-week class that we'll do, uh, and we'll start that after that, but uh after this series, but it's so important for us.

We wanted everyone to be a part of this.

Uh, we wanted to do a six-week series because this is foundational and formational to who we are as a church.

In fact, here's what I want you to do.

Uh, would you mark on your calendar August 25th?

August 25th, we're doing a team night.

My prayer and hope is that everyone, all of you would, I know that's probably not realistic, but I hope all of us would say, I'm in.

And many of you already are in.

But this is our opportunity.

We'll we'll explain more in depth what does it mean to be a member and engaging here fully at awakening and how God is using this local expression of the church to reach this generation and um for people to encounter his love.

Uh now, so mark that.

Show up 4 to 6, August 25th.

Okay?

That's the I realize I skipped one important part, so can I just go back real quick with you?

I don't have the normally I have a little something here that tells me this.

You you good with that?

I haven't preached in five weeks, so just brace yourself.

Um we planted and started awakening 12 years ago, we began with this vision and mission in mind that we exist to awaken this generation to new life.

It's so fun.

I got to meet uh some new college students that go to Santa Clara in the first service, and we love college students, we love uh young professionals, young adults.

Uh we exist for every generation.

In fact, if you want to hear more about uh that vision, come at one o'clock and hang out with me.

We'd love to tell you more about it.

But just so that we all remember, man, there's people that showed up yesterday to help set this space and showed up early this morning to set up.

And there's somebody that made coffee so that you would be awake right now.

And I'm really grateful for that, by the way.

Uh and there's greeters and the worship team and all of that, so that we believe that in this space and this time, God wants to meet you.

He wants to speak to you.

That our prayer is that you would have a life-changing encounter with God, that you would awaken to new life in Him.

And so, would you pray with me as we dive in today?

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your grace.

Thank you for this moment.

We ask that you would speak to us.

You would move.

Holy Spirit, have your way.

Do what only you can do.

In Jesus' name.

And all God's people say.

Amen.

Uh there's a quote by Mahatma Gadani.

Uh, he he we're not sure if he ever said this, but he said a lot of things like this.

That it it it you know represents his thoughts, but it's been a fairly famous quote.

And the quote is simply this.

Uh, next slide.

I like your Christ.

I do not like your Christians.

Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Uh, Gandhi, if you don't know, he was deeply impacted and influenced by the life of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus.

His favorite part actually was the Sermon on the Mount, read it frequently.

It's called the Sermon on the Mount the greatest writing on ethical and moral principles known to man.

Uh, Jesus' life of sacrificial love and nonviolence deeply impacted his own belief of nonviolence and ahisma.

He loved the loving your enemies, his humility.

When he looked at Jesus, he was compelled by Jesus.

And then when he looked at Christians, he was repelled.

And the world that he lived in, the colonial oppression, he did time, did time, I guess not like that, but spent time in South Africa, in the apartheid, the racism, the discrimination, the materialism, the ability for the Christians in his day to be live comfortable lives with no concern for the needs of people around him, was repulsive.

I like your Christ.

I do not like your Christians.

Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

You know, one of the things that's fascinating is when the church first began, right after Jesus rose from the dead and he, you know, began to set this little band of followers to go proclaim this good news.

They weren't called Christians.

That wasn't their name.

In fact, they were called the way.

And the reason is they were followers of the way of Jesus.

They followed in the way of Jesus.

Jesus was their rabbi, he was the Messiah, and were just following in the way of Jesus.

And it was as this gospel was spreading, it moved to this town called Antioch.

Antioch, second to Rome in influence, uh in affluence, in diversity, in impact in the ancient world.

The gospel took root here.

I mean, it just spread.

And Antioch was the very first, think about this is amazing, the very first multicultural church in human history.

And as it took root there, the Antiochians, they began to call these followers of the way Christians.

It was a derogatory term.

It was a put down.

And because Christians, you know what it means?

It means little Christ.

They looked at these people that claimed they followed this rabbi who was executed on a Roman cross and then rose again three days later, and their lives so looked like the teachings of the rabbi they were talking about.

They called him Little Christ.

What happened?

Where did it go wrong?

Why does Gandhi Gandhi his this phrase, this sentence ring so true today?

Why would people who have nothing to do with Jesus go, you know what?

I look at the teachings.

I like your Christ.

I don't like your Christians.

Not because they look so much like Jesus, not because they're loving their enemies, not because they're turning the other cheek, not because of their care and concern for the poor and the press, uh, oppressed, not because they're living out a sacrificial love, not because of any of those things, not because they're because they look so unlike Christ.

How do we get back to that Antioch church in Silicon Valley?

How do we return to Jesus' vision for his followers?

How do we become a people that look more and more like Jesus?

That's what this series 201 is about.

After Jesus rose from the dead, before he ascended to heaven, he spent a little over 40 days with the disciples.

He appeared to over 400 eyewitnesses.

He gave his disciples what we call today the Great Commission.

And the Great Commission was what the disciples were doing in Antioch that caused the Antiochians to call them little Christ.

And it is what we, the church, desperately need today.

If you've got your Bibles, would you open up to Matthew 28, verse 18, or your device?

Matthew 28:18

And would you read with me the words of Jesus?

Picture the scene.

Maybe 120 or so are gathered around Jesus.

It's his final words before he's going to ascend into heaven, and he's leaving them with this final mandate.

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you.

And surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.

I want to draw your attention just to three words.

They'll outline our time, but I want them to sink in.

We're going to talk about power, we're going to talk about purpose, and then we're going to talk about presence.

Would you say that with me?

Power, purpose, presence.

I want you to walk away with this.

I want this ringing in your head as you're leaving.

I don't want you to forget it.

Let's say it again.

Power, purpose, presence.

The first thing I want to draw your attention to is power.

Jesus came to them and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Jesus has all authority.

He has all power, all dominion.

He has all the authority.

He doesn't have some authority.

He doesn't have kind of spiritual authority.

He doesn't have, you know, just like a limited way of thinking.

He says, no, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

When I was crucified on Good Friday, it looked like the religious leaders had all authority.

When I was crucified, it looked like the powers at Rome had conquered my power.

But on resurrection Sunday, friends, I defeated the grave.

I defeated the tyranny of the evil one.

And as a result, I have all power and authority.

Period.

What we need as the church is a bigger, grander vision of Jesus in the 21st century.

We think such small thoughts of him.

We have such like a little picture.

And so as a result, we live little lives.

Like, would you begin to look at Jesus and begin to see him for who he is?

Some of our thoughts is, oh man, he's a really good man.

He was a great teacher.

He's got some incredible things that would be helpful for my life, and so I want to take some of those and apply them.

I really love the feeling I get about church or some of his things that make me feel good, and I love that part of it.

And Jesus becomes our self-help guru.

He becomes our advice buddy.

He becomes our friend of like and and and there's many of those things that are true.

But it's not the whole story.

It's not the whole picture.

Um when I was a kid, we moved from Texas to California.

We're driving across my dad.

I mean, think about this, he's got just miserable kids.

My older brothers, I was eight, my older brothers are six and a half years younger, they were like 15, you know.

We're driving from Texas, and we have a dog and a cat that are drugged up in the car, you know.

And he decided, you know, I'm gonna try to pep everyone up.

We're gonna visit the Grand Canyon.

It was like a couple hour detour from there.

We have wanted nothing to do with it.

I mean, I still remember this.

This is so funny.

And I now feel bad for my dad, who's just trying all dads have these experiences, and it's just like you do your best, but it sucks.

Um, that's that's sum of that's sum of fatherhood right there.

He takes us to the Grand Canyon.

Me and my brothers get out.

No lie, this is probably max five minutes.

We get out of the car, use the bathroom because we needed to, stand over the Grand Canyon, say this, it's a big hole in the ground, and get back into the vehicle.

It's a big hole in the ground.

It's true.

The Grand Canyon, if you've ever been there, you'll note that it is a big hole in the ground, like 273 miles of hole in the ground.

I mean, it's huge.

It's grand.

Well, though, there's a reason they call it grand.

It's a grand canyon, big hole in the ground, true but incomplete.

So often we have true thoughts but incomplete thoughts of Jesus.

When you stop to take in the Grand Canyon and don't just kind of take a cursory look at it, don't just take a glance at it, but you behold the Grand Canyon, you take it in and you see the vastness of it, you see the beauty of the way the sun hits all of the different crevices and canyons and the way the shadows cascade across the you know Colorado River.

If you get down into it, you experience the different ways that it actually affects the actual climate that in different places it can be 10, 20 degrees hotter or colder because it's grand.

And you step into it, you're immersed in it, you're like, whoa.

And you experience your finiteness in the midst of its immensity.

Friends, what we need as a church, what you need, what I need, is a grander picture of Jesus.

The suffering servant, yes, has now become the sovereign king.

He is king of kings and lord of lords.

At his name, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

When John is talking about Jesus in Revelation, he talks about him.

He is riding on a white horse, he'll be called faithful and true.

He is the word of God, and he is King of kings.

It's interesting.

Uh we're going to be teaching through 1 John through the fall.

I think it's really going to prepare us for this election year.

1 John 1:1, John's talking about like we we seen him.

1 John 1:1

We touched him.

This word of life, like life itself.

Not just Jesus, but life itself showed up onto the planet.

We touched him.

And then he uses this word, we beheld him.

Behold is more than a glance.

This word in the Greek means to look at something for long enough to understand in some way the significance of that something or someone.

Like to look at something long enough to come to a deeper understanding of the significance of that thing or of that person.

Like I'm going to stop and I'm going to behold you.

I'm going to see you.

I'm going to take it in.

I'm not going to look at the Grand Canyon and go big hole in the ground.

I'm going to stop and I'm going to behold.

But we live such fast-paced lives, hurry lives.

We take a glance at Jesus.

We look at the top level and we don't even really see him.

Jesus has all authority.

It's our small-minded thoughts of Jesus that keep us apathetic and anemic as a church.

And by the way, why would a watching world follow a God that the church won't even worship?

Friends, oh, that we would be in awe of Jesus once more.

I mean, the way Apostle Paul says it, he says, the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things.

And in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that everything he might have supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth and in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

This is Jesus.

This is the one we just sung about.

This is the one that changes our lives.

First power.

Jesus has all authority, and this is the basis for what he says next.

He says, Since I have all authority, my kingdom is breaking forth into this world, so you got to tell people about it.

Power and then purpose.

Jesus calls his disciples to make disciples.

Go, therefore, and make disciples.

Next slide.

Therefore, go and make disciples.

Go, that word go, sometimes when we see it, we're like, well, I have to like go somewhere.

I need to go to the ends of the earth.

I need to go on a missions trip.

I need to be a pastor or a missionary or something like that.

No, no, no.

It has this emphasis of like going, but what it means is it's like as you go, while you're going, the way it's constructed in the Greek is so, as you're going to work, as you're going to your school, as you're going about your day, make disciples.

Jesus, by the way, expects his disciples to make disciples.

In fact, a mature believer is one who reproduces their life.

Probably one of the best words for a disciple is actually an apprentice in our day.

An apprentice is one who comes under a master teacher to learn a trade and to be able to do what the master teacher does.

Jesus says, You are an apprentice of mine to come under my teaching and my ways to learn my way of life, to do what I do, and help other people do it too.

He goes on to say, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is the public declaration that I am a part of the family of God.

I've become a disciple and apprentice of Jesus.

We're having baptisms, by the way, on September 8th.

If you've never been baptized, get baptized.

Jesus commands it and calls it of us to go public with our faith that I'm in.

He saved me, and I want the whole world to know I'm a part of the family of Jesus.

And then he says, teaching them to obey most of the things I told them.

Teaching them to pick and choose the parts that they really like.

Because you know best.

Because you should just live your truth.

You do you.

Be true to you, come on.

Teaching them to obey what?

Everything.

You don't even have to know Greek to know what that means.

Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

An apprentice comes under a master teacher, and they don't think they know how to do what the master knows and does.

They say, You're the master, you're the teacher, and I'm gonna learn how to do what you do.

What we do is we come to Jesus with we know how to do life and what we think life should really be.

And then we tell Jesus this, and then we're like, well, we want some of the things that you have, and we pick and choose from it, and then we're wondering why our faith is not working, why we're frustrated, and why some of the power and the presence that we read about in Scripture is not true in our lives.

You have not become an apprentice.

You're leading your own life, and Jesus says it doesn't work until you let me lead your life.

You're still trying to rescue yourself.

You're just using me as a little buoy.

You need to submit and surrender and say, Jesus, rescue me.

I'm spiritually bankrupt.

I can't do it anymore.

You know what's interesting?

Um, all of us are a disciple of something or someone.

You are.

I am.

It's not a question of whether you're a disciple and apprentice, it's just what are you a disciple or apprentice of?

I mean, early on we're mostly an apprentice of parents or mentors or coaches or teachers.

Culture.

I mean, more often today, what is it?

You know, it's maybe your your political ideology, your the cultural waters we swim in, um, social media.

Well, TikTok is our teacher, aren't they?

And influencers are now our guides.

And you wonder why we're a mess.

And Jesus says, let me be your guide.

Whatever you consistently consume is shaping and forming you.

Whatever you consistently consume is shaping and forming you.

It is what is discipling you.

Have you just taken a look and gone like I say I follow Jesus, but actually, Instagram is my discipler.

What are you consistently consuming?

What's shaping and forming you?

I mean, we spend so much energy running after trying to look like and be like so-and-so to have their life.

We spend all this money and we follow and we we we work on all these things, and it leaves us tired and empty, and well, our experience doesn't match the product that we were sold.

And Jesus would say this.

His call is to make disciples.

Well, for that to happen, you have to be a disciple in order to make disciples.

We had okay, here we go.

Jesus didn't die on the cross and defeat death so that you can live a safe, comfortable life.

And he didn't die on the cross and resurrect to new life so that you can have the American dream.

Comfort and safety are the gods of our age.

And we bow to them and capitulate to them, and we run after them, and anything that calls us out of that, we feated the grave.

He defeated the tyranny of Satan and evil to break forth his kingdom into our broken world so that freedom might just erupt on our planet.

Life that's truly life might finally be found.

The things that are holding us in bondage and in captivity have been broken, and yet we settle for the status quo and we keep pulling back our creature comforts instead of Jesus, you know, I'll follow you.

Dallas Willard, the late great philosopher and Christian thinker, wrote this.

Then Jesus, um the greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who by profession or culture are identified as Christians will become disciples, students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the kingdom of the heavens into every corner of human existence.

What does a disciple of Jesus look like?

What does a disciple do?

We synthesize five core elements of a disciple of Jesus, and that's what the series is about.

We're gonna unpack those over the next five weeks.

But we call it a profile of a disciple.

First, a disciple has a compelling faith.

People, notice this, who were nothing like Jesus really liked Jesus and followed him.

There was something deeply compelling about Jesus.

And there's something deeply compelling about the first followers.

Their love for one another, the hope they had, their sacrificial joy and confidence, their boldness to share this good news.

There's life-giving practices.

Isn't that fasting fascinating?

That Jesus is considered the most impactful person in all of human history, and he had regular rhythms of silence, solitude, and prayer.

If Jesus needed them, don't we need them?

Intentional relationships, the Christian life is not difficult.

It's impossible without community.

Jesus had his twelve, and then he had his three.

The early church, they did this.

They met in big groups in the temple courts, they worshiped together, sat under the apostles' teaching, and then they gathered in homes, growing together to become more like Jesus.

The early church had extravagant generosity.

It was a hallmark of the first followers, sharing their time, their energy, their money, just extravagantly.

And the early church was made up not of generally the rich and the wealthy, but the poor, the downtrodden.

Tertullian, North African bishop, second century, wrote this it's our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of our opponents.

Oh, that that would be the case for us yet again, church.

That it's our care for the helpless, our loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of our opponents.

It's interesting, Jesus was talk actually more about money than he talked about heaven and hell combined.

He said, wherever your money goes, there your heart follows.

That how you spend your money is a discipleship issue.

It's not a personal issue.

Like your bank account is the most spiritual document you have because it shows you where your heart is.

Isn't it funny?

I mean, just think about this.

My daughter was paying the other day and she's like, Dad, I think I need you to teach me how to tip, you know?

And she's like, I did like 10%.

And I don't know, you know, if that's okay or not.

Now, some of us grew up and remember when 10% was a healthy tip.

And now it's many of you are like, oh my gosh, how could she?

That poor barista.

You gotta do 20.

18 if you're kind of miserly, but 20.

25 if you're actually like a good person.

Why do we feel such a conviction to tip people, but we are like won't even tie to God?

Like that's a struggle.

Like if you can't trust God with your money, you're not trusting him with your life, by the way.

Extravagant generosity, week five, you're like, oh, I may not miss it, make that one, Ryan.

I think you need to.

And then meaningful ministry.

Meaningful ministry.

You have a purpose.

God has a purpose for your life.

He's given you spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ.

To unleash his kingdom here.

Paul's picture in the New Testament was of a body.

That we each make up the body, that we're incomplete when we're not all together using our gifts to bring about the kingdom of Jesus.

This is the profile of disciple.

We're gonna work and learn how to live that out.

How do we do that here at Awakening?

We call it the discipleship pathway.

First, you gotta come to know Jesus.

You come to know Jesus.

So you have a place, a moment in time where you declare, Jesus, I need you.

Would you be my Lord and Savior?

Uh, Alpha is one way to do it here.

We're gonna run an alpha course.

If you're like brand new, you're searching, we're so glad you're here.

Uh we're gonna start an alpha course coming in the uh fall, and it's a great environment to explore Christianity and faith.

Sunday service is a main component of the way we do it here because it's a great way to come in and check out.

And as we grow, we're we're constantly getting to know Jesus, aren't we?

We're just constantly learning how do we grow and know Jesus better.

And then we grow as disciples.

After you come to know him, then you're gonna make a decision.

I'm gonna grow.

Like I'm tired of drifting.

I'm gonna grow as disciples.

We have small groups.

My prayer is that all of you will be a part of a small group.

These are smaller communities growing together to become more like Jesus.

We have a protege program.

It's launching in September.

Maybe you're interested in it.

You're like, it's a nine-month leadership and discipleship development process to help you grow in your discipleship.

Then you serve in the name of Jesus.

Your time, your talent, your treasure, moving from a consumer to a contributor, moving from just being fed to helping set the table for others.

And mature disciples make disciples share the love of Jesus.

We're going to talk about that next week in a compelling faith, haven't we?

So experienced the people who actually do share their faith, it's rather condemning, isn't it?

How do we have a compelling faith and share onesomely the love of Jesus?

And by the way, we'll talk about this.

What if, you know, the gospel means good news, right?

What if the good news of Jesus is actually good for everyone, not just you?

What if it's the best news this planet has ever heard?

Why would we keep it to ourselves?

Share your faith.

So let me ask you, what's your next step in your discipleship process?

I think there's a number of us where we gotta come to know Jesus.

Like you need to come to know Jesus.

I think many of us know a lot about Jesus, but we don't really know him personally.

Anyone watching the Olympics lately?

Yeah?

Yeah, a few of you.

Um I love basketball, as most of you know.

I love the Warriors.

Curry's struggling a little bit.

I think he'll kick he'll get it back.

It's fine.

He's the greatest shooter of all time.

One of the things that's fun is Coach Kerr is the um is the Olympic coach this year.

It's exciting.

I'm like, I love Coach Kerr, you know.

I I remember watching him as a kid on the Bulls and now as a coach.

I I actually know him.

I don't know if you know that, but I I know Coach Kerr.

I I read his uh biography, it was great.

Um I know a lot about his early childhood and his college years at Arizona, woo, you know, and how he unlikely made it to the um, you know, NBA and his incredible career.

But I actually met Coach Kerr.

Here you can see it.

Uh two years ago in the airport at San Diego.

Yes, it does look like he's being held hostage by us.

Um thing is, Coach Kerr doesn't know me.

I know him.

I've even met him, but he doesn't know me.

If I walked up to him today, he wouldn't go, Ryan! And I think that's where a number of us are.

We know a lot about Jesus.

We know him, but he doesn't know you.

You haven't begun a personal relationship with him.

You've even done the churchy things and you just go, Jesus, I want to know you.

Come into my life and make me new.

I think for some it's it's growing as a disciple.

I'm gonna I have been drifting.

And that's okay.

We do that from time to time.

Just nobody drifts into a better version of themselves, by the way.

And no one drifts into discipleship.

You have to grow.

You go, I'm gonna take a step to grow.

You know what?

I've been showing up, but I haven't been serving.

I haven't used my time, my talents, my treasure.

My next step is to serve, or my next step, you know what?

This sounds really scary, but uh, God's put people in my life that I desperately love, and I want them to know Jesus.

I just don't know how to share it.

And we want to help you, and we're gonna work towards that next week.

What is your next step?

Three words.

Presence.

Jesus has all authority.

Or power, Jesus has all authority, purpose.

Jesus calls his disciples to make disciples.

Mature disciples make disciples.

We reproduce our lives.

And then finally, presence.

Presence.

Jesus is with you always.

Not some of the time, not when you're a good Christian, not when you're in church, but not at work or at school.

If you are a follower of Christ, never once have you walked alone.

You've never stepped into a meeting and Jesus wasn't there.

You never stepped on your school campus and Jesus wasn't with you.

In fact, Jesus would tell his disciples, it's actually better that I go because I'm sending my spirit before you would go to a place to worship where the presence of God would be.

Now I'm putting my presence in you.

The spirit that raised Jesus from the dead indwells every single follower of Jesus.

With you, always present.

Jesus is actually following a Hebrew formula for commissioning.

When Joshua was commissioned, when Moses had passed, Joshua 1.9, 1.7, he says, be strong and courageous.

He's just calling like there's a task ahead of you.

Be strong, be careful to obey, and then God will be with you.

When David was passing on the reins of leadership to Solomon, same thing.

Be strong and courageous, be careful to obey all of God's commands.

God's with you.

When Jesus does it, I love this.

The be strong and courageous, Jesus says, I have all the power.

And he does say, follow me.

Be careful to obey all of my teaching.

And I am with you.

He doesn't say, muster up your own strength.

Figure out how to be courageous.

How I gotta be strong.

I gotta I gotta really be strong.

I gotta get in big.

He says, no, no.

I have the authority and power.

Jesus, who has all authority, is always with you.

You have the one who has all authority, power, and dominion, who defeated the grave, who is the king of kings, the lord of lords, and he says he is with you always, no matter where you're going, what you're doing, when you feel incomplete, inadequate, when you feel like you're the worst human on the planet, when you feel like God can never love you anymore, he's like I'm still with you, I still love you.

No, no, no.

I'm indwelling you even then, even there.

So why don't you bring all of you to me, anyways, because I'm there already.

I haven't turned my back on you.

No, I'm inside of you, and I want to empower you to live this life out.

Just turn the keys over.

Let me ask you this.

What would you do if you are absolutely confident God is with you?

What would you do?

If you really believed the one with all authority was always with you.

This fall, my son and I were doing some college tours, and before we did that, we went up and visited my brother.

He was in Reading.

My brother is a songwriter and producer, and he's a little brother flex here, so I apologize.

Um he's the number one producer for worship music in the world.

He's won four Grammys.

He writes songs that we sing.

I thank you for clapping for him.

I appreciate that.

I'll I'll let him know.

I'll let him know.

I'll let him know.

Um, like some of you don't know who Maverick City is, he won a Grammy with them.

You don't know who Elevation Music is, he won Grammys with them.

He you don't know who Hillsong or Bethel and all those people.

That's fine.

He wrote Goodness of God, Great Are You Great God, whatever, Holy Forever.

We just sang King of Kings.

Every week we sing at least two or three of his songs, like the top 20 songs in the world.

He's got about 11 of them right now.

Um it's silly, it's silly.

It is one of those silly things.

Um I'm really proud of him.

My son is really good at music and figuring out how to like help him in college stuff.

I'm like, dude, your uncle, he's really good at music too.

And he was recording the new Bethel album in Reading.

And he said, Why don't you come up for a couple days?

It's one thing to know, like, he's the number one guy here.

It's another thing to be in this world where everyone that you've listened to, that you hear sing on the radio or in worship, they all look at your brother and like, what do we do?

You know, it's like, wow, you really are.

I didn't doubt you, but um we show up and uh as they're recording, and like if if we weren't with my brother, we'd have zero access.

We would be waiting outside, um hoping to get in for one of the days.

But because we were with my brother, and because our name's Ingram and his name's Ingram, we had badges that said Ingram uh on it.

Uh, we had walked in the backstage with him, and we're at the rehearsal.

I mean, we're eating dinner.

You don't probably know who Aiden King is, but my son's listened to him forever, and we're having, you know, in and out with Aiden, and Right is like, this is amazing, right?

And all of a sudden we're hanging out, talking, and you know, like they have really good food in the backstage.

And we're like, well, the first day we're like, oh, we'll just kind of nosy on back.

Hope we don't get caught.

And then now the second day we're like, hey, dude, the tacos are bombed today.

Let's go back and get those tacos.

And and we have people coming up to us and talking to us, and all of a sudden we had access, we had authority that we wouldn't have had if we were not with Jason.

You have access because Jesus says, You're with me.

You have authority because Jesus says you're with me.

You don't step into a room, you don't step into a moment, you don't step into anything where you don't have full access to the Father, that every spiritual blessing in heaven is yours right now in Christ Jesus.

And he says, you have authority, not because you're not all that authoritative, but I have all authority, I'm with you, I'm in you.

And if we just began to believe that for an ounce, like the smallest bit, if we just believed the smallest bit, it would not only change your life, it would change the world around you.

What would you do?

If you are absolutely confident God was with you.

Why don't you stand and we'll worship?

God, I just preached my guts out.

And like my fear is that we would hear this and some people would go, oh, that's nice.

Maybe others would be like, yeah, that that was that was stirred, it stirred me, it stirred me, it fed me.

Whatever.

I don't even know what that means.

God, would it move us to the point of action, to the point of saying, we will be your apprentice?

Would it move us to the point where, like Peter, we would say, where else shall we go?

You alone hold the words of life.

Would it move us to the point where we actually believe you're with us and it makes all the difference?

And so, Holy Spirit, have your way in this room, in this time, in this moment, and move us.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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