What God Really Wants

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you thought you understood what someone you loved wanted from you?

Like you thought you got what someone you really care about desired out of you.

And so you did what you thought they wanted only to find out that that wasn't what they wanted at all?

That you were just you were like way off, your wires were really crossed.

That happens pretty often.

I I actually heard a story like this one takes the cake from my wife.

This involved one of her coworkers.

Years ago, this coworker of my wife's was in labor.

And uh, and I'm talking like no drugs labor, like what you see in movies screaming, pushing, terrifying labor.

Can we just take a second, men, and make some noise for all the women in the room and all the women watching from home for being rock stars and doing that?

Yeah.

Ladies, wow.

Um, and and guys, all of us, again, all of us in the room, everybody watched from home, out loud, can we just breathe a sigh of relief that it's not us?

Can we just like, whoo, we dodged that bullet.

Because I've been in the room four times when a child is being born, and it is um it is a terrifying experience.

It's terrifying.

This this woman is in labor and she's at like the peak of it.

It's it's everything you can imagine.

She's screaming, she's in pain, and her husband's sitting there, and he's doing what all men do as their as their wives give birth.

He feels useless, right?

I've never felt as useless as I felt every time I've been in the room when my wife's giving birth.

Like, she is bringing a human being into the world, a human being that she grew inside of her, and I'm just going, You can do it, honey.

Like, come on, you know?

And so uh, so that's what's happening, and this guy, he's just trying to do anything he can to help.

And so he he he asks her, you know, amidst all the screams, babe, what can I do?

And she looks at him, and with this expression that's both like rage and love kind of mixed together, she says, Go.

I need space, right?

But that's not what he hears.

For some reason, and I can kind of understand, uh, he hears, blow in my face.

Now, now, human logic should tell you to ask a follow-up question.

Because that's a weird thing for someone to ask of you.

Like that's probably something no one has ever asked you to do ever.

Hey, would you come here and blow in my face, right?

When's the last time someone asks you that, let alone in the middle of labor?

But I guess with all the commotion and all the stress, and maybe he's thinking, oh, she's probably hot, she needs some air, you know.

She he just he just nods his head, bends over, gets right in her face, and goes, like that.

And just picture you're this woman and you just said, Go, I need space.

And the next thing that happens is your husband's face is right on you, blowing in your face.

And the words that follow next are words that I cannot say.

Um I mean, I can and I have, but I won't, right?

He I feel for this guy, though, because he thought he was doing exactly what she asked.

His heart was in the right place, he desired to give her what she wanted.

He just didn't hear right.

That happens pretty often.

Well, not that specific scenario.

That has probably only happened that one time.

But the whole idea of us thinking we know what someone we care about wants and giving it to them only to find out that that's actually not what they wanted, that's a pretty common experience.

And I think for God, that has to be like an everyday experience.

Because if you if you read the scriptures and if you study history, so many things have been done in the name of God by people who thought they were doing what God really wanted them to do, and come to find out that's that's not even close to what God desires, what God asks for.

And this morning I want us to have a conversation about what God really wants.

What God really desires from us.

I believe the answer is a relief and a great encouragement.

It's something we need to be reminded of all the time because we have this tendency, even as passionate followers of Jesus, if that's who you are, we have this tendency to get our wires crossed and spend a lot of time and a lot of energy trying to give God something he's never asked for.

Now, for some context, we're really close to being done with a series we've been in for a while called Button Out God.

What we're doing is we're going through the entire book of Romans piece by piece.

We'll take some breaks here and there.

We need to take some breaks here and there with Romans.

If you don't know anything about Romans, it's one of the most comprehensive and in some ways difficult documents that we have in the New Testament.

More so than any other single document, it lays out for us the complexities of who Jesus is and why Jesus came and what he did for us and why we needed him to do what he did for us, what it means to understand what he did for us, what it means to live in response to what he did for us.

That's Romans.

And it's very complex, it's very dense, it's difficult, and we just so happen to be in one of the most difficult sections in Romans, which is the end of chapter one all the way toward the end of chapter three, because this section deals with a very heavy concept, and it's the concept of the wrath of God.

The wrath of God.

That's a con that that's like no one's favorite aspect of studying scripture.

And I want us to understand, all of us in the room, I know we're all in different places in our faith, and some of us have been following Jesus for years, some of us, this is kind of this is a new thing, and and no matter what, we we tend not to like the idea of God having wrath.

Because in our minds, that doesn't mesh with a God who is loving.

How can God be both loving and have wrath?

But I've heard someone say this is kind of cliche, but I think it holds true that the opposite of love is apathy.

It's apathy.

Sometimes we have this idea that God in his love just looks at the world and goes, ah, whatever.

That's not love.

Our God is good and our God is just.

And scripture is very clear, Jesus could not be clearer that there is a time, an appointed time when God, and actually it ends up being Jesus Himself, will judge the world.

And he will put every wrong right, and he will deal with evil once and for all.

That God is going to judge the world and his goodness and his justice.

We see that at the beginning of Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

This whole section begins with no one's favorite Bible verse, Romans 1.18.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Now, look, you will find people today, people who teach in the name of Jesus, who will tell you that there's no such thing as the wrath of God.

That's not a real thing.

God is so loving that that's there's no way he would have that.

And I'm just letting you know that those people are either mistaken or intentionally deceiving you, trying to give you something that sounds really good, but it just doesn't match reality.

What we have to understand is that this is real.

This is real.

But the reason we're we're not calling this series the wrath of God, and instead it's called But Now God, is because of where this whole conversation is heading.

It's a big leap to go from for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven to Romans chapter 3, verses 21 and 22.

Romans 3:21

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him, without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, and this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who they are.

What this means is that yes, yes, God is just, yes, he is good, and yes, he will judge the world.

And that's not gonna work out well for everyone, by the way.

That's that's a third of Jesus' parables were warnings for a reason.

Because on our own, in our own strength and our own abilities, we have no, we have no way to stand in front of the judgment of God and have any type of defense.

We just can't, I can't stand before God and say, oh, God, I mean, you should totally be good with me because I mean, look at all the things I've done.

I mean, don't look at all the things I've done, God.

Please don't look at all the things I've done.

Look at some of the things that I did.

That just doesn't hold water, it doesn't work because God's holy and his He's good and His standard of righteousness.

I don't come close.

But there's so much power, that's such good news that, but now God has done something.

It's not what we've done, it's what He's done.

Now God has done something and it's changed everything forever.

And through faith in Jesus, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter how fall, how short you've fallen, whatever the phrase I'm stumbling over my words because I'm not excited.

It doesn't matter how short you you are or tall, let's just stop.

Nothing matters.

He loves you.

Nothing matters.

He loves you.

And he's provided a way for you to be made right with him.

But hear this, we have to we have to take that way.

You know, it's kind of like this idea of winning the lottery.

If you if you purchase a lottery ticket and you win, you still have to go trade that lottery ticket in to redeem what you've won.

In a sense, what Paul's saying is God has given all of us a lottery ticket.

It's a winning ticket.

He's given every single one of you a winning ticket.

And that winning ticket, by the way, means a relationship with him, a relationship with him that it's not affected by your mistakes, your failures.

None of that affects the way he views you.

You have access to him 24-7, you have his spirit living within you, you have confidence that you will spend eternity with him.

He's handed all of us that ticket and we just have to go redeem it.

And that happens when we put our faith in Jesus.

That's what Paul's getting at.

If we don't understand this idea of his wrath and the seriousness of it, we'll we'll never be motivated to go cash in the ticket.

We'll be like, yeah, I might get around to this one day.

This butt now, God, it's it's powerfully good news, but we have to understand what comes before the butt to really grasp it.

And that's what Paul's trying to do.

He's walking us through this idea of God's wrath.

And he's doing it very systematically, very categorically.

He's kind of going through arguments that people have.

Last week we looked at the argument of, like, yeah, but I'm a good person.

And so, sure, God's gonna judge the world, but I'm a I'm a I'm one of the good ones.

And we talked about that at length last week.

If you weren't here, listen to that.

Today we get to another argument.

This is a very common one, and it's this hey, I'm good because I'm religious.

Like, I'm one of the church people, so I'm good, right?

Romans chapter 2, verse 12.

Romans 2:12

Paul says, When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God's written law.

Now, right here, he's talking to Jewish Christians.

And they saw themselves as being in because they were Jewish, and anyone who wasn't Jewish is a Gentile, that's how their culture worked, and those people are out, that's the way they thought.

He said, The Jews who do have God's law will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.

For merely listening to the law doesn't make us right with God.

It's obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

Even Gentiles who do not have God's written law show that they know it when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.

They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they're doing right.

And this is the message I proclaim that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone's secret life.

You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law and you boast about your special relationship with him.

You know what he wants.

You know what is right because you've been taught his law.

You are convinced that you're a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness.

You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God.

For you are certain that God's law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

Well then, if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself?

You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?

You say it's wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery?

You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples?

You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.

No wonder the scriptures say that Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

The Jewish ceremony of circumcision, by the way, I recognize I'm talking about childbirth and circumcision on the same Sunday, and I am really sorry.

Um, the ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God's law.

But if you don't obey God's law, you're not you're no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.

And if the Gentiles obey God's law and won't declare them to be, uh won't God declare them to be his own people, in fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God's law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God's law but don't obey it.

If you're not a true Jew, just because you were born of Jewish parents, or because you've gone through the ceremony of circumcision, no.

A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.

And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law, rather, it's a change of heart produced by the Spirit, and a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

Okay, so as with all of Romans, that's a lot.

There's like seven references of circumcision, all this talk about law, and you might be reading this going, What in the world?

How does this apply to me?

Okay?

But just understand this.

Again, Paul, he's he's walking us through this idea of God's wrath, and he's coming against some of the arguments, and the argument he's coming against here is saying, No, no, I'm good because I'm religious.

Now, the people he's talking to, the Jewish people, they would say, you know, I know the law, I eat the right things according to the law.

They were they were big on that.

I observe a lot of the rituals and the ceremonies of God.

And for the men, I've been circumcised, so I'm good.

In our culture, we might say, hey, I go to church, I give a portion of my income away.

You know, I read the Bible, I sing, I sing the songs, I even raise my hands.

I'm one of those people.

So I am, I'm good, right?

Because I'm doing I'm doing the activities that are prescribed to me.

I'm being a good observer of religion.

Paul's addressing this idea that what God ultimately wants from us is for us to be good religious people.

But here's the thing religion, and this is what Paul's getting at.

Religion is woefully inadequate.

And what God ultimately desires from us is not for us to be religious.

We know that because Jesus wasn't all that religious.

In fact, one of the biggest criticisms of Jesus in his day was that he wasn't religious enough.

He didn't follow the religious rituals that all the Pharisees followed to the letter that they followed them.

And they looked at Jesus and they said, You're not you're not religious enough.

Like they looked at God and said, God, you need to be more religious.

It's kind of an ironic thing to think about.

But they were convinced that what God wants is strict adherence to a religion.

But we've got to understand this.

Jesus came to change things.

He didn't come to start a religion.

In many ways, he came to end one.

And if what God wants is just to have people who are religious who follow him, then why would Jesus have ever come in the first place?

Because God already had that.

That already existed.

God came to change things.

And ultimately what he wants from us, it's not for us to be religious, because religion, religion in and of itself, and when I say religion, what I'm talking about are rules, regulations, rituals that we do, actions that we do, then in our minds, this is what you have to do to please God.

Religion is not what it's not what he desires.

And this is really important for us to understand because we by nature as human beings are religious.

Like we turn everything into religion.

Like we turn sports into religion.

Some of you guys that are really into sports, ladies as well, like be honest.

You've got certain items of clothing that you will always wear when your team is playing because somehow you believe it helps them, right?

Like that's that's religion.

We we turn politics into religion.

I mean, you look at political movements, and it's amazing how similar to religions they become.

They have their own ideas of what is ultimately evil and their own prescriptions for how to come against that evil, and there's those who who are the priests, there's those who are teaching what we should all think.

And if you step out of line, there's those who will excommunicate you.

Because it's a religion.

We're religious people, we turn everything into religion, and one of the things that we most often turn into a religion are relationships.

And God does not want you to have a religion that involves him.

God wants to have a relationship with you.

But we have a tendency as people of turning relationships into religion.

We do it with other people, we do it with God.

And it robs us of what God actually desires us to experience.

Religion, it's woefully inadequate.

Let me explain a few reasons why.

Really, really quick.

Number one.

Number one, religion.

Religion is it values motion over meaning.

Religion ultimately, it values motion over meaning.

It's all about the actions you do, it's all about the activities.

You gotta do the right stuff.

A great example of that would be financial giving.

And many of you give financially.

That's a big part of my wife and I's expression of faith, and and it's the way we worship God and we love to do it.

But but we often think that okay, if if I want to please God, I have to I have to give.

And I probably have to give a lot.

Second Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 9:7

It says that go ahead and put that one up, guys.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give.

And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure.

See, it's not it's not a command from God, it's a matter of your heart.

And it says that God wants you to be a cheerful giver.

In other words, it's not the action that matters the most to God, it's the state of the heart.

And so, and so there's a way that I could give.

I could be religious about giving, and I could say, oh, I've got to give, you know, 10% of my income.

And man, just think of all the things I could do if I had that.

I mean, I would love to take some of that and go on vacation, and I could buy this and I could have a nicer car and all these other things, but you know, it's what God said, so fine.

And, you know, and I I make the I make the donation, but I do it begrudgingly because I feel like I'm I'm being compelled to.

But no, no, no.

God loves a cheerful giver.

So we're never supposed to give that way because at the end of the day, it's the meaning behind it that matters to God.

It's the heart, it's not the actions.

Religion values motion over meaning, but God's all about the heart.

He's all about the heart.

Number two, religion turns blessings into burdens.

Religion makes the blessings that God has given you burdens.

We see a great example of that in Mark chapter 2, verses 23 through 28.

Mark 2:23–28

It says, one Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off the heads of grain to eat.

So they're just walking through these grain fields, they're hungry, and they're just picking off the tops and having a little snack.

It's like picking berries off of a bush or something like that.

But the Pharisees said to Jesus, Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?

Right, I agree.

Jesus said to him, to them, Haven't you ever read in the scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

By the way, it's always one of my favorite things when Jesus asked the Pharisees, Haven't you ever read the Bible?

Like that was like their whole job.

And often you'll hear him go, Have you guys never read the story of David or Moses?

He does that a lot.

He's funny.

He went to the house of God during the days when Abiathar was high priest, and he broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests were allowed to eat.

He also gave some to his companions.

Then Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

So the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath.

And so Jesus just kind of fries their microchips as he does often.

And he's like, guys, you don't get it.

You've missed the point.

The Sabbath was a blessing that God created to give to people so they could have a day off, so they could rest, so they could enjoy life, so they could enjoy the blessings that God has given them.

But you guys, in your religion, you've turned it into a burden.

Like someone walking through a field and picking something, like picking a berry off a bush, that's not harvesting, that's eating.

But to the religion, it was it was it was against the law.

You're harvesting on the Sabbath.

And Jesus is like, clearly, you've missed the point.

You've turned this blessing into a burden, but that's what religion does.

And so these gifts that God has given you, these freedoms that He's given you, instead you feel like it's a weight.

Jesus said, No, my my burden is light.

Religion's burden is heavy.

Finally, religion, if you're good at it, produces pride.

That's one of the biggest dangers of religion is if you're good at it, some people are just good at it.

Some of us feel like we're not good at it.

You're like, hey, this is a great message for me because I'm not good at religion.

But some of us are like, this is kind of my thing.

But if you get good at religion, oftentimes it produces pride.

Luke chapter 18, verse 9.

Luke 18:9

Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else.

He said, Two men went to the temple to pray.

One was a Pharisee, a religious leader, and the other was a despised tax collector.

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer.

I thank you, God, that I'm not like other people.

Cheaters, sinners, adulterers.

I'm certainly not like that tax collector.

I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my income.

But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed.

Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, Oh God, be merciful to me, for I'm a sinner.

I tell you, the sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God.

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Pharisee, he's good at religion.

He's doing all the actions.

He's fasting twice a week.

That means twice a week he didn't eat food.

But the result is that he's filled with pride and he thinks he's greater than other people.

He's just aware of his own his own struggle with his own issues.

So he goes to God, he says, God, I'm sorry, forgive me.

God is very pleased with the tax collector, not so much with the religious leader.

Religion devoid of a hard connection with God, religion just produces pride.

And God actually opposes pride.

So religion is emotion without meaning.

It turns it turns blessings into burdens, it leads to pride.

And here's why we have to understand this.

This is why it's so practical for us.

I mean, trust me, this is this message at first glance when you're reading Romans chapter two, there and it's all this stuff about circumcision, you're like, how is this practical to my life?

It's so practical because, like I said earlier, you are a religious person.

Everyone is.

We turn everything into a religion.

We turn relationships into religion.

Think about marriage for a second.

Those of you who who are married, have been married, you guys can relate to this, I'm sure.

It is easy to turn your marriage into a religion.

Now you may not think about it like that, but it's easy to start valuing the motion over the meaning.

And marriage just becomes this contract, this is splitting up of a list of duties, and hey, you do your stuff, I do my stuff.

I do the dishes, you do the laundry.

I mow the yard.

You do the laundry.

Because the laundry's hard.

If you're doing laundry, that counts for two.

You know, I bring home the paycheck and you take care of the kids.

I make sure that the cars are well taken care of, and you make sure that the bills are paid and you value the motion and the activities, and you want the person to do all the things that they're supposed to do.

And eventually it's less about that heart connection.

It's more about are you doing your part because I'm doing my part?

And that oftentimes results in pride.

Because all of a sudden you start looking at your spouse and you're like, I'm doing my stuff, why aren't you doing your stuff?

I wish you were more like this.

If you would be more like this, it would make my life so much better.

Can't you see all that I do?

Why can't you do what you're supposed to do?

And you start to be filled with pride, and then the blessing of marriage becomes a burden because instead of thinking, man, I get to live with this person, you start thinking, man, I have to live with this person.

And marriage is a gift.

It's about having this heart connection with another person.

Finally, once again, we have access to a religion with God.

We've got to be really careful not to build a religion again.

And it's so easy to do.

And I've even seen people become religious about being non-religious, which is really funny.

We have this tendency to build religion back into everything we do, and it's just so important that we don't because as Paul says here, religion is not the thing that helps, it's not the thing that saves.

Religion is it's it's a wrath situation.

Even religion, even the most pious religion, is still not exempt from the wrath of God.

Because we need more than that.

We need a relationship, we need a heart connection with God because that's what he wants.

That's what he wants.

Romans 2, 28 and 29.

I'll go back to this.

We read it a minute ago.

For you're not a true Jew, just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you've gone through the ceremony of circumcision.

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.

True circumcision is not merely the obeying of the letter of the law, rather, it's a change of heart produced by the Spirit.

And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

Amos chapter 5, verses 21 to 24.

Amos 5:21–24

This is the Old Testament.

God is so intense here, but he says, I hate all your show and your pretense.

The hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.

I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings.

Away with your noisy hymns of praise.

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

1 Samuel 15, 22.

What is more pleasing to the Lord?

Your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice.

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Submission is better than offering the fat of ram.

Psalm 51, 17.

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.

You will not reject a broken and repentant heart.

Oh God.

God wants your heart.

He wants you.

That's what he desires.

He desires to know you.

He desires to have a heart connection with you.

I mean, hear this and think about this.

Let this hate you.

God does not expect you to have a perfect track record.

God does not want you to deal with all your baggage and all your issues so that you can be in his presence.

God is not waiting for you to prove your love to him.

God is not waiting for you to do some grand gesture to show him that you really, really care about him.

He's the one who did the grand gesture.

That was Jesus on the cross.

He's the one who deals with your baggage.

That's the Holy Spirit working inside of you.

He's the one who's made the offering and the sacrifice.

He just wants to know you.

He wants you to know what it feels like to be known by Him.

Do you know what it feels like to be known by God?

To have Him smile over you, to have Him speak life over you.

I love the fact that right now we have babies in the room.

I like babies.

Babies are awesome.

They're just they're tiny humans.

And there's something great about that.

It's so nice to be able to like pick them up and put them places.

You know, as an adult, if someone did that to me, I'd freak out.

Like if you just lifted me up and moved me over here, I'm like, what are you doing?

You know?

But babies are cool with it.

They're like, fine, I'm on an adventure, on a ride.

I have, you know, I've got one kid who's who's not really a baby anymore.

He's probably our last.

I kind of hope he's our last, but like, I'm just tired.

That's all.

Um his name's Eli, he's my youngest.

And you know what's what's amazing is that even at two, Eli knows what it means to be known by me, to be loved by me.

He knows what it feels like for me to hold him up and look at him with absolute joy and approval.

And half the time I'm doing that, there is snot dripping from his nose, and he has literally soiled himself, and I'm about to wipe it up.

And we're not that different when it comes to God.

I mean, honestly, be humble for a second.

Spiritually speaking, we've all soiled ourselves recently, but he picks you up and he looks at you, and amidst all the mess, he's not asking you to clean yourself up, he's not asking you to get it together.

Like, how cruel would it be for me to look at my two-year-old and hold him up and say, get it together, Eli?

I'm so sick of the messes that you make.

But that's not the situation he knows when I hold him up and look at him, he feels it.

Do you know that God feels that way about you?

Have you experienced what it's like to be known by God, to be in his presence, and feel the weight of his love?

Religion will not give you that.

You can show up every Sunday, you can give all your money away, you can pray with passion, you can raise your hands, you can sing all the songs, you can memorize the lyrics, you can memorize every single scripture in his word.

But none of that is gonna give you a relationship with God because God has already given that to you, and you're meant to enjoy it, you're meant to experience it, you're meant to bask in it.

He wants, he wants your heart.

Plain and simple, he wants your heart.

That's it, he wants you, and that that doesn't make any sense, but it's true, he wants you.

And if you don't have a heart connection with him, here's the beauty: you just give your heart to him, and he'll give you a new heart so that you can have that.

Ezekiel 36, 26, he says, I will give you a new heart, I'll put a new spirit in you, I'll take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

So if you're sitting here and it's like this is hitting some type of rock, it's just bouncing off.

You're like, I haven't experienced that, I don't know what that feels like.

I have a hard time believing that.

Ask him for a new heart.

Ask him for one, he'll give it to you.

Because it's it's produced by his spirit, not our own effort by his spirit.

He wants you.

So give him what he wants.

Like, I don't know about you, but I want to give God what he wants.

Because he's God, he's my God.

And all he wants is my heart.

Will you give him your heart?

Will you give it to him every day?

Will you give it to him right now?

To just say it's yours.

It's yours.

We're gonna go back into the song Here's My Heart.

Here's what's so cool about this.

I'm not a detail-oriented person.

And those of you who know me know that that's true.

In fact, I had someone come up and ask me today why I've been wearing button-down shirts recently.

Those of you who know me have maybe noticed.

And they were like, Man, Justin, you're probably trying to be more professional.

You know, there's cameras now and stuff like that.

And I was like, no, I gained 20 pounds over COVID, and uh my t-shirts are a little tight, and there's something about these that just hangs a little lower, you know?

Like hangs, it's good.

That's it.

That's the only reason.

And I only have like six of these, and so I'm gonna keep wearing them until I lose the weight.

Because I'm I'm not I'm not a detail-oriented person, I don't live that way.

So part of me not being a detail-oriented person is that I often I often forget to like check very simple things, like what songs we're singing this morning.

Like I forgot to do that.

Because I'm working on my message and and I'm praying about it and all that stuff, and I was like, man, I thought about this literally on Friday.

I almost called Matt, who leads our worship team.

I was like, Matt, can we do Here's My Heart on Sunday?

Because that would just go so so well with the message.

And I was like, oh no, it's late in the week, and you know, they're all real busy.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do that, I'm not gonna like have him do all that.

So I come in this morning and I'm praying backstage, and they start practicing here's my heart.

Something I could have known if I had taken a few seconds to uh to look at something on my phone, but I didn't do that.

But God is so much, he's so good, he's pretty detail-oriented, and he wants your heart.

And this morning, he just worked it out so that that would be our focus.

So we're gonna go back into this song, and and those of you in the room, those of you watching from home, I encourage you, like, don't just sing the lyrics.

Do what he's asking you for.

Say to him, Here's my heart.

For some of you, that's a recognition that here's my heart, it's broken, it's a mess, it's flawed.

But it's yours.

Take it, take it.

Speak life over me.

Tell me the truth about who I am in your eyes.

Give him your heart this morning.

It's all he wants, it's all he wants.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much.

Lord, thank you for desiring us.

Thank you, Lord, for abolishing a religion and giving us a relationship.

That we don't have to sit here today and feel like failures because we failed to live up to the standard, because we haven't checked all the boxes, because we haven't we haven't followed the list of rules completely and perfectly, Lord.

Thank you for the fact that we can walk into this place without any shame or any guilt.

Because you you wipe that off of us, you cleanse us from that.

Religion is all about shame, it's all about guilt, it's all about sin management, it's all about performance.

But our relationship with you is all about your love, it's all about your grace, it's all about your mercy, it's all about the truth of who you are and what you've done for us.

And so, yes, we can sit here and we can we can admit that you know what, on our own, we're deserving of wrath.

I can say that, Jesus.

I know myself, I know what I've done, I know what I've thought.

But I don't have a leg to stand on.

I can't tell you that I'm a good person, I can't tell you that I'm I'm religious enough, but I can sit here and I can proclaim with boldness and joy that but now God, but now my God, but now you have freed me! You've freed all of us, you've made us right in your sight.

It doesn't matter who we are, it doesn't matter where we've been or what we've done, you've made us right in your sight.

Because you love us, you desire us, you came for us, you died for us.

Right now, in this moment, right now, you're saying to each one of us, hey, give me your heart, give me all of it! If there's even a one that's happening, give it to me, die for me, give it to me! I'm gonna do it, give it to my heart, give it away.

I'm gonna put a must give it a little for you! I'm gonna put a money over here, I'm gonna tell you who's gonna give you a ball.

I'm gonna give you a lot of people.