"Know God Personally" by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Well, welcome to church, everybody.

How are we today?

You doing good?

Doing good?

So glad that you're here.

Want to say hello to all of our campuses, everyone joining us online or on demand later in the week or some other time.

Of course, our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses.

And if you're here for the first time or the first time in a while, we just welcome you.

Come on, across every campus.

Let's put our hands together and welcome everybody that's with us today.

Well, we had an event last night in DC, and um, we got to join together with Gateway Worship.

I got to share a little bit of the Word of God, and then Miel San Marcos, who's part of our Gateway Espaniol community, and it was just a powerful night.

We came together in Washington, DC, and uh packed out theater, and we lifted up the name of Jesus.

We declared the word of God.

It was an incredible night.

I just want you to know that God is using what he's doing, not just in Wyoming and in Texas, but in a lot of other places, and um be praying for worship.

They're actually gonna be on a tour this fall with Tarn Wells, and so cover them in your prayer.

They'll be out several dates and uh just doing what we do best, lifting up Jesus and pointing everybody to him.

Amen, everyone.

Um, so powerful, powerful night together, which means I got home, Tammy and I did super, super late.

So I'm preaching on about five hours of sleep, everybody.

I'll just be real honest with you.

Um, but it's gonna be fun.

Guarantee you that.

Um, I do want to say, real quick, if you'll if you'll give me the moment to do that, is um it's my wife's birthday today.

Everyone.

So happy birthday, babe.

If you're in ministry, birthdays on Sundays are not birthdays.

So we'll celebrate it another day, but happy birthday.

Happy birthday.

Um, we're in this series right now called This Is Us.

We're talking about God's vision for his church.

Um, how many of you know that um he is the chief shepherd of this church?

Uh that we're here and we're temporary, but he's been building his church for thousands of years.

And so we looked at what the scriptures say that God's vision for his church is and what does that mean for the future of our church?

And uh, because how many of you know that it's our responsibility not to say, God, come bless what we're doing?

Our responsibility is to get in line with what God's doing, and that's the thing He'll bless.

And so we're gonna continue in that today.

Before we do, let me pray for us.

Father, our hearts and minds are open to you.

So, Holy Spirit, we ask that you would speak to us.

God, may we be challenged, may we be changed.

May we not lead this place the same.

We believe your word has the power to do transformative work in our hearts and minds.

So we're ready to receive, we're postured, ready to receive from you.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Everyone said amen.

All right.

Um, so I want to give you a little bit of a review last week.

If you missed it, I really want to encourage you to go back and watch last week's because it really is beginning to set the course of a lot of what we're giving our focus and attention to here at the church.

But we started out looking at this idea that um what God really wants for every person on the planet is this is that simply that they would become disciples.

That the heart of God, it's over and over in the script you, every gospel, we have what's called the Great Commission in some form in the book of Acts, Acts 1.8, we have it again.

And in these, he tells us, God's going to give us power.

That's the power of the Holy Spirit, so you need that.

And he's giving that to us so that we can go and make disciples.

He doesn't say go and make events, he doesn't even say go and make churches.

How many of you know churches are temporary?

How many of you know Gateway won't be in heaven?

There'll be no buildings, right?

These are temporary vehicles to get us to the ultimate thing, which is to be a disciple and to be around the throne saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Are y'all with me?

Some of you are like, well, where will I go to church on Sunday?

You'll be in the presence of the one who saved you.

You'll be in church every day, all day, everyone.

All right.

So our job is to make disciples while we're on the earth.

And so I gave you a simple definition of what a disciple is to give you a picture of it.

It's simply this it's someone who is moving.

That's an important word.

You can't be a disciple if you're stuck.

It's a continual progression.

You never arrive at a point and go, I made it.

I've arrived as a Christian.

Doesn't happen.

So someone that's moving to what?

Deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and to his church.

Now add to his church there because I just want to say, in a day where a lot of people like to dog the church, it is the vehicle through which Jesus is building the kingdom of God.

He said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Are y'all following me?

I love the church.

I'm for the church.

The best days of the church are still ahead.

I love God's church.

I love Gateway Church.

And the best days of this church, you should love your church, everybody.

There's nothing wrong with loving your church.

And don't let anybody on social tell you you shouldn't love your church.

The body of Christ is the hope of the world.

The church mobilized is the hope of the world.

All right, we'll stop there.

I'm just reviewing.

Sorry.

And so, how do you move to deeper and deeper levels of commitment to Jesus and his church?

Well, it happens a step at a time, and we all know this.

If you have been walking with Jesus any amount of time, you know that the process of growing in God is simply a few steps forward and sometimes a couple back.

And then a few steps forward, and then sometimes you fall.

It's like teaching a child to walk.

They take a few steps and then sometimes they fall.

And then they get back up and they do it again until they're walking, then they're running, and then they're stable on their own two legs.

And this is discipleship.

So it happens a step at a time.

So if that's true, then what are the steps?

And I believe the scripture shows us the overall steps God wants from Exodus chapter six and the four I Will statements.

You need to go read that and watch last week's message, all the way to Luke.

Whenever Jesus takes the scroll in the temple as a young kid and opens the scroll of Isaiah, you see the pattern again, all the way to Colossians, where Paul says, This is what I want for the church in Colossae, and you see the pattern again.

And then Ephesians, whenever Paul prays a pastoral prayer for the church at Ephesus, you see the same pattern again, and this is the pattern.

He wants every lost person saved.

And he wants every saved person pastored.

Because, like the nation of Israel, just because you come out of Egypt doesn't mean Egypt got out of you.

You need to get free from some things of your yesterday, and you need someone to pastor you through that.

And that pastoring doesn't have to happen by someone who's a professional minister.

Are you all with me?

The church isn't meant for you to come and watch.

Ministers do ministry.

So he wants lost people saved, saved people pastored, pastored people developed because there's a call of God on your life.

I don't know if you know that.

That God has a purpose for you and a plan for you and a great calling.

You are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that He decided you should do beforehand, before you were ever born.

He had a plan and a purpose for your life.

And then developed people have to be mobilized onto the mission of Jesus because the ultimate end of every believer is not just to raise your hand and give your life to Christ.

It's that you would become a disciple who is then mobilized, making the difference in the world around you.

If you're all with me, say amen.

And so I showed you last week.

I didn't come up with this language.

I actually put over a hundred people together in focus groups and said, Will you figure out language that says what the Bible says in ways that we can remember it?

And so this is what we said.

Our purpose as a church is this it's to lead people, all of us, this is what we're all doing.

We're gonna lead people to know God personally, to grow in faith, and to live on mission.

We're gonna see lost people saved, know God personally.

We're gonna help people grow in faith, saved people pastored, and pastored people developed.

And then we're gonna live on mission, past develop people mobilized to make a difference in the world around you.

Know, grow, and live.

And as long as I get the privilege of being the pastor here, and dear God, please don't make me move again.

Just want to throw that out there.

Really don't want to do that again.

You're gonna hear me say, we're gonna lead people to know God personally, to grow in faith, and to live on mission because I don't get to invent the vision of God's church, and God already spelled it out in the scriptures.

And so we're gonna do what He's told us to do.

Can I get a better amen at God's house?

So I want us to visit a little bit, and this is what we'll do, we're taking a little deeper over the next few weeks.

I want us to look at this thought of to know God personally, that we exist to lead people to know God personally.

How many of you know that you can know a lot about somebody and them have no idea who you are?

I mean, some of you, you like you can know all the stacks, stats of your favorite quarterback or of your of some influencer, like you can know, especially with social media, and some of you have turned into private investigators.

You're like, well, did you know that they know?

And I was looking on their Instagram and I'm like, wow, you should be a detective.

Tammy.

Um, it's so true.

Actually, if I want to know anything, I'm like, babe, you know anything about this?

You can know so much stuff, but if they were to run into you on the road, they'd have no idea who you are.

And I think sometimes we treat God that way.

Like he's a celebrity, and we know some things about him.

We know some of his stats and some of his quotes and some of his all-time top hits, and we know some of the stories and the parables, but if he were to show up in our life, we may not recognize him.

Because there's a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally.

There's a big difference between having some academic understanding, which I'm all for knowledge.

If you know anything about my story, I'm all for knowledge, I'm all for understanding, but there's a big difference between having an intellectual assent to the precepts and principles that Jesus teaches and the truths about God and having an intimate relationship with God.

And I want us to know as a church, and I hope you know this, I just want to point us back to it today, that that is the goal.

The goal is not that we would know about him, the goal is that we would know him.

I mean, like, know, like, like you know how you ever been talking to someone and they're trying to tell you about somebody you really know and they kind of know?

And all the while they're talking, you're like, you don't know them.

Especially if something great has happened in their life or they've like done, they're like, oh, I know them.

Yeah, I knew them when they were kids.

It's like, you don't.

What's their coffee order?

You know what I mean?

What color of their eyes?

There's a big difference between knowing about someone and knowing when you know someone, you you know the things they like, the idiosyncrasies of their life, you know the color of their eyes, you know their voice.

A bunch of kids can be playing, and if Jonas says, Hey dad, I know that voice.

There can be a bunch of other kids going, hey dad, hey dad, hey dad.

But when that little boy says it, when one of my kids says my name, I know that voice.

I know that voice.

I'm intimately acquainted with that voice.

I've been around that voice a lot.

I've heard that voice in different stages and different seasons.

I've heard that voice loud and I've heard it quiet a couple times, mostly loud.

I've heard that voice fearful, I've heard that voice joyful.

I know that voice, and this is what God wants.

Listen to me, it's what God wants for every one of you is that you know him that way.

That you know him personally, that you know his voice, that you know his direction, that you know when he walks by, you you know what he loves and what grieves him, that you know God personally, and that is the goal.

Not that you know church.

And can I can I share something, just an honest observation?

Remember, I'm your friend, I'm your pastor.

I've met a lot of people that the first thing they tell me is when they met their church.

I've had very few conversations where they let me know when they met their savior.

There's a big difference.

I want you to love this church.

But just because you're sitting here doesn't mean you know God personally.

Just like me being in a garage doesn't make me a car.

Come on, that was funnier than you're laughing at.

Okay.

So we give you four thoughts on what it means to know God personally and the direction we're trying to lead everyone that we believe, that we know we believe God wants them to come into faith, all of humanity.

Number one is this right here is he's the point.

Don't miss this.

Services aren't the point.

Worship isn't the point.

Small groups aren't.

He's the point.

We're gonna do all those things.

But he's the point.

John said it best in John 17, verse 3.

John 17:3

He said, now this is eternal life.

You don't know what eternal life is?

He says that they know you.

The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

This is eternal life, everybody.

It's that you know God.

That's eternal life.

Not that you know about him, but that you know him.

The Greek word that this is used is the Greek word for know is um Genosco.

This word is epigonosco, and the prefix adds a little more force to the idea, and it's this it's that you have relational knowledge.

It's that you have intimate understanding.

And so this isn't this is eternal life that you know some things about God.

No, it's eternal life that you know him, that there's an intimate connection with him, that there's a full understanding of him.

This is what it means, and this is my prayer for you is that you would know him in this way.

That he's not the doorway to something better, he is the destination.

That he's not the first step to something else, he is the something else.

That he's not just a pathway to something wonderful, he is the something wonderful.

I think of what God said to Abraham I am your shield and your great reward.

He is the reward.

I think about what Moses said.

God, we're not going unless your presence goes with us because we don't care about the destination, we care about you and your presence and knowing you.

He is the point, everybody.

He's the point.

He's not a step to the point.

It's not like, well, I want to know God so I can get his favor.

I want to know God so I can get his blessing.

No, the favor of God, the blessing of God are amazing and the grace of God is wonderful, but they're not the point.

I'm not chasing his hand.

I want to know his heart.

He is the point.

And can I tell you something?

He's always the point.

See, salvation isn't the ending of something, it's the beginning of something.

Salvation is the doorway you step through to enjoy this lifelong journey of getting to know God.

And to know him better and better and better and better as the years go by.

I want to have the posture of the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

He says, What is more, I consider everything.

We're gonna come back to I consider is actually one word in the original language, but he said, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom sake, for whose sake I have lost all things.

I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Not having a righteousness of my own.

How many of you are grateful that your right standing before God isn't how well you behave?

That it's based on the righteousness of God.

I don't have a righteousness that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith, and here Paul says it again, I want to know Christ.

Yes, to know the power of his resurrection, and even if I got to participate in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

Paul said, I want to know him.

Listen, everyone, this was 30 years after he met him.

30 years since the Damascus wrote about Paul writes these words in Philippians and says, you know what?

I've done some cool stuff.

Wrote over half the New Testament, planted churches in the whole known world at the time.

I kind of picture Paul in Jerusalem, and they got a map of the world, and they're like, we need to get this gospel to the ends of the earth.

And the disciples are like, we'll take Jerusalem.

Paul's like, Great, I got the rest of it.

I just I love the Apostle Paul.

He just plants churches all over the known world at the time, right?

And he says, I consider all that garbage compared to knowing Christ.

30 years in, I still want to know him.

I've seen him do some amazing things.

I've seen him save me from a shipwreck.

I've seen a snake bite me and then not even kill me, and I've seen him bring a whole village to Christ, and I've been in jail and I've watched him open prison doors.

But you know what I want?

I want to know him.

Are you kidding me, Paul?

You know God.

There was something in the Apostle Paul that said, no, no, there's more to know.

I haven't reached the limit, I haven't hit the capacity.

There's so much more I want to know about God.

I want to know him.

I want that to be the hunger of our church.

That we're in this pursuit to know God.

This word I consider, the word that comes from I consider is an accounting word.

And what it means is that in the in the game column, the plus column, Paul listed all the things and he said, garbage.

I'm moving them to the loss column.

The only thing I'm putting in the gain column is that I know Christ.

All the things I've accomplished compared to that are negatives on the balance sheet.

And the one positive is I know him.

Church, he's the point.

He's the point.

Everything we do, everything we do is about getting you to that thing.

To know God personally.

I love what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 9.23.

He said this, this is what the Lord says.

Don't boast in your wisdom or your riches or your strength.

Let anyone boast.

Boast about this, that they have the understanding to know me.

That I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth.

For in these I declare, declares the Lord.

Man, how many of us build our life on what we know, how strong we are, how much we have?

Jeremiah says, Don't build your life on that.

Don't make that the boast of your life.

He doesn't say those things are bad.

He just said, Don't make that what you brag about.

Make the thing you brag about is that you know God.

That you're intimately connected to him.

Are you with me?

Say amen.

All right, number two is this is that he's already reaching.

That he's already reaching.

That the Bible says if you'll draw close to God, God draws close to you.

So this thing of knowing God personally isn't a mystery.

And the the churches I grew up at when I was a kid, most of my life my dad was my pastor, but about middle school on, he he was very sick and couldn't pastor anymore, and we were different churches.

And I'd hear people talk about knowing God and the will of God and hearing the voice of God.

And I thought it was some mystery and that it was like a hide-and-go-seek game.

That God's always hiding and we got to go find him.

In my little, you know, immature mind, I was like, maybe he's in the nursery.

Like maybe he didn't come to the sanctuary today.

But I don't know where he is, but I gotta go find him and hunt for him.

But then I started reading the word of God that says, no, if you draw close to him, he'll draw close to you.

I started finding out that he gives us the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and he reveals the Father to us, that we can know God through the Spirit of God.

I pray for you what Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians.

He says, I keep asking.

In other words, this wasn't a one-time prayer.

He's like, I keep praying for this church that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Why?

So that you may know him better.

So that you may know him better.

Man, this is my prayer for you, church.

Listen, that God gives you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you would know him better.

That's why we pray things like, Come, Holy Spirit, come, and we really mean it.

We pray, and this is why you need to be filled with the Spirit.

This is why you need to be baptized.

In the Spirit.

Why?

Because the Spirit's gonna give you greater revelation of who God is and you can know Him personally.

And let me tell you something.

When you know Him personally, when you're in intimate relationship with you, that'll help you in the boardroom, and that'll help you in the dorm room, and that'll help you at the game, and that will help you in the class.

You will hear the voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.

How many of you know it?

It'd be real helpful to have the voice of God if you're about to sign a deal that you should not sign.

We need to know God personally.

I want you to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Why?

So you would know him better.

That you would forever be in this journey.

I pray it's still the cry of your heart.

It is the cry of mine, honestly.

God, I have not arrived.

The presence of God, I need to know you better.

I want to know you better.

Number three.

Number three about knowing God personally is we gotta know this is that He's for everyone.

That He's not for certain zip codes and certain W-2s.

He's not just for certain colors.

People who've made certain choices, but he's for everyone.

The song I grew up on as a kid, red, yellow, black, and white, they are precious in his sight.

Because he loves all the little children of the world.

The people that have made great decisions and the people that haven't made great decisions.

He's for everyone.

Because here's the reality of life is that what culture is selling you will leave you empty.

And Jesus has the words of life.

That's what the disciples said to him.

Where else are we going to go?

Because only you have the words of life.

And I tell you something, there is a world that needs to know the words of life.

That needs to know that more success, more sexual promiscuity, more influence, whatever you want to fill in the blank will at the end of the day leave you empty, but only Jesus can fill the void in your heart, and He is for everyone.

That no one is outside the reach of the grace of God, that no one is too far gone, that the blood of Jesus cannot cleanse and make brand new.

You should clap better for that.

Good news for all of us.

We're all in need of it.

And so I said it last week that if we're gonna help people know God personally, then how are we gonna help them do that as it relates to what we do every Sunday?

And it's this is that we're gonna be a church where churched and unpit church people love to attend.

It's I'm I'm calling it we're gonna be a both and church.

We're not gonna live in false dichotomies.

There's the dichotomies in the body of Christ.

Like, well, you gotta, if you're really gonna, you know, grow believers, you gotta be a discipleship church.

It's like, no, if you're really gonna, you gotta be a seeker church.

I'm like, why do you gotta choose?

I thought the Bible called us to do it all.

I thought the Bible calls us to win the lost and pastor them and then develop them and then mobilize them.

I thought we're supposed to be in the business of disciple making.

It's like, well, we're a spirit church.

Well, we're a word church.

Shouldn't it be both?

Isn't it the presence of God that transforms lives?

Isn't it the word of God, the seed of the word of God that bears fruit in our life?

Isn't it both and?

Isn't it the presence of God that can change anything in a moment?

When God visits, when God is moving, when we worship Him and lift up the name of Jesus and He manifests His presence among us.

Isn't that beautiful to a lost world that is far from God?

Can it be both and, y'all?

Hello, somebody.

Are y'all with me?

It's both end.

It's not one or the other.

It's not we have to choose we're supposed to do it.

I just believe the Spirit of God and the power of God and the Word of God is adequate, more than adequate, to reach you, whether you've been with Jesus for a long time or you've been here five minutes.

I believe God can do it both.

We can reach both, we can serve both, build both, disciple both.

Because it's what we're called to do.

Let me give you a couple a couple of reasons why.

Number one, it's why we're here, everyone.

It's why we're here.

Jesus said this in Luke 10.

The Son of Man, what did he come to do?

Everybody read it together out loud every time.

He came to.

If we're supposed to be representing Jesus in the earth, then shouldn't we be on his mission?

And he came to seek and to save the lost.

This may challenge some of you, but I love this.

One of my favorite quotes about the church, it was from it's accredited to William Temple.

He was the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Um and he said this.

He said, the church is the only institution that exists for the benefit of those who are not yet its members.

Let that sink in for a minute.

You think about it, every every other institution it exists to serve the members, and you're like, Well doesn't mean you should serve the members.

Absolutely.

But it's the only place that once you join, it's like, all right, now it's time to reach those who haven't yet joined.

It's the only institution that exists for the benefit of those.

All the members are living for the benefit of those who haven't yet met the king.

And that should be the mission of our life.

We should be living for the benefit of those who have not yet met Jesus.

Number two, we don't love to talk about this, but it's a reality.

Heaven and hell are real, everyone.

And everybody goes somewhere.

It's real places, and everybody goes somewhere.

And the Bible says this in 2 Thessalonians, it says, He will punish those who do not know God.

It doesn't say anything about our activity, it has everything to do with our intimacy.

And some people have said, I've had people tell me before, I don't know if I could serve a God that sends people to hell.

And I said, I couldn't either.

They're like, isn't that what your God does?

I was like, no.

People choose to go there.

And they have to walk over the blood of Christ to get there.

He's met every way available for them not to go there.

They choose to go on their own.

He went so radical that he gave his only son to die on a cross that we would not have to go there.

And people decide to pay for sins by themselves.

It's a choice they make, not one that God makes for them.

And so he says this, and this is what happens.

And so I'm unashamedly telling you we should live with an urgency.

And some of us maybe need to be shaken a little bit out of our apathy for the people that are around.

I know this is a little hard.

Remember, I'm your pastor, I'm your friend.

My name's Daniel.

But I think maybe we need a little shakeup to go, God, give us eyes for the people around us that don't know you.

I live in Dallas, everybody's saved.

I live in Wyoming, everybody.

A lot of people have met church here.

My question is, have they met Jesus?

Because when you meet Jesus, things change.

And when things change in your life, they change in your home.

And when they change in your home, they change in your neighborhood.

And when they change in your neighborhood, they begin to transform a city.

And when they begin to transform a city, they transform states.

And they reform a culture when you know Jesus.

What they say of the disciples, oh no, here comes the ones who are turning the world upside down.

You don't turn the world upside down because you know your church.

You turn the world upside down because you know Jesus.

Can I get a better amen, everyone?

Number three, why are we creating experience for both and is because of this.

An invitation to a life-giving church.

Notice I said life-giving.

It's still extremely effective.

I just this week read a report released by Lifeway Research that researches churches and trends and what's happening in the culture.

And from the research they said it is still true that people are highly likely to respond to an invitation to church if it's given by a friend.

But it's unhighly unlikely that they're going to get that invitation.

So the problem isn't that they would say no.

The problem is church people aren't asking.

And that's on us.

And I'm not saying that you need to have someone sitting by you every single week that is close to you but far from God.

There should be two or three Sundays a year.

There should be a couple of Sundays a year.

You shouldn't let a candlelight go by this year without having someone beside you that's close to you but far from God, because you know the gospel is going to be given.

There should be a handful of Sundays a year.

And there should be evidence in your prayer life that you consider people far from God.

Let me ask you a question.

Just a personal evaluation, don't answer me.

If God answered all your prayers, would anybody get saved?

Let me say it this way.

If God answered all your prayers, would you benefit or others?

Don't hear me say, don't pray for yourself.

Pray for yourself.

I'm just saying let's get it in balance.

Let's make sure that if God said yes to everything we requested, that our life would be good, but also some people would know Jesus.

And some communities would be transformed, and some homes would be restored, and some marriages would be put back together, and some addictions would be broken.

Hello, somebody.

Let's just make sure we keep it in balance.

Final thought.

And let's be honest, if you really love something, no one has to tell you to talk about it.

I mean, you'll find a new restaurant you love and tell everybody you know.

If you really love it, and if you really love Jesus, no one should have to twist your arm to tell people about him, to live for him.

And you've actually been given that ministry.

I don't know if you know it.

You don't need to create a business card.

Don't start at 501c3, but you have a ministry.

And Paul tells us if anyone's in Christ, you're a new creation.

So if you've said yes to Jesus, that's great news for you.

The old is gone, the new is here.

All this is from God.

In other words, it's not because you're good, it's because God's good.

And he reconciled us to himself through Christ.

Time out real quick.

I don't know if you know this strong language, but it's it's the New Testament.

That in your sin you were an enemy of God.

And you had no way to reconcile the relationship.

So God, who you were opposed to by the life you lived in sin, he came, gave his son to reconcile you back to him.

It's just radical love.

It's radical grace.

It doesn't make sense.

But he reconciled us to God.

And he said, and he's given us a ministry.

So here's your ministry.

You have a ministry of reconciliation.

That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, and he didn't count people's sins against them, and he's committed to us this message of reconciliation.

So listen to this.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors.

As though God was making his appeal through us.

We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

Here's your ministry.

You've been given the message of reconciliation, and now you are an ambassador of Christ.

And you know what an ambassador does.

An ambassador is someone who is in a foreign land representing the values and the prerogatives and the things of that country they come from.

Can I tell you something?

I love our nation and I'm grateful for it, but I am more than a citizen of this nation.

I'm a citizen of heaven, an ambassador of Jesus, and I am representing the kingdom of God to the world around us.

And so I'm gonna walk into my classroom and I'm gonna represent the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world, because I'm an ambassador.

And I'm gonna represent in the dorm room the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world, because I'm an ambassador from another world.

And I'm gonna walk into the boardroom and into my office and into the hospital and into my law.

Wherever I'm working, I'm walking in representing the kingdom of God because I am Christ's ambassador, and I've been given this beautiful message of reconciliation.

And so he's worth sharing, everybody.

And some of you are thinking, well, does that mean I gotta get a megaphone and stand on a corner and yell at people?

Please don't.

And if you do, do not tell them where you go to church.

There's enough weirdness out there, everybody, with the name of Jesus on it.

Please stop.

If you're watching online, okay.

No, but it does mean what the New Testament tells us, Paul instructed us to live such a life that when they ask you for the hope that lies within you, you're ready to give an answer.

You mean I don't have to like get tracks and go beat people?

No, no, no.

Where you have influence, represent the kingdom.

This is how the kingdom forgives.

This is how the kingdom loves people.

This is how the kingdom have compassion.

When you're in the dorm room and you see someone having a bad day and you feel the prompt and you just go and say, Hey, I don't even know if you're a Christian or not, but see you're going through some stuff.

I would love to pray for you.

You're representing the kingdom.

And when someone does you wrong on a business deal, but you don't hold it against them, you're representing the kingdom.

And the Bible says when you live that way, they're gonna ask you.

Something's different about you.

And when they ask, be prepared to give an answer for the hope that's in you.

We are Christ ambassadors.

Come on, do you receive the word of God today?

Let's pray together every location, every head bowed, and every eye closed.

Maybe you're here today and you say, Pastor, I don't know that first part you talked about.

I don't know that I know God like that.

I don't know him like you know your son's voice.

I don't know him personally.

Maybe you've done a lot of religious things.

Matthew 7 says there's gonna be some people in heaven that say, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name and cast out demons?

In other words, we did a lot of religious activity.

And he's gonna say, Depart from me, I didn't know you.

I didn't have intimate relationship with you.

So maybe you're here today and God's speaking to you, and you sense that stirring in your heart.

And today you want to kind of put a line in the sand and go, this is the day that I step through the door of the journey of knowing God personally.

The Apostle Paul said in the verse we read, if anyone's in Christ, you're a new creation, all things pass away, everything becomes new.

If you need a fresh start in God, this is your moment.

Maybe you're here and you at one time were walking closely with the Lord, but you feel in your heart he's a million miles away.

Can I tell you it doesn't have to be like that?

You can know him personally.

So, in just a moment, we're gonna pray together, and this prayer is just to help you express that to God.

And before we do, I just want to know who I'm praying with.

If you say, Pastor, that's me, I need a fresh start in God.

I want to know that I know that I know him personally.

So, with no one looking around except myself or the pastor at your location, we just want to know who we're praying for.

I'm gonna count to three, and when you do, I just ask you to shoot your hand up.

If you say that's me.

God's speaking to me.

Include me in that prayer.

When I get to three, you shoot your hand up and keep it up high enough long enough for myself or someone to see.

And then we're gonna pray together on three.

One, two, three.

You just shoot it up high.

Keep it up.

God bless you.

Hands up all over the room.

All of heaven is rejoicing over you right now.

I need you to know that.

You can put it down.

Church, will you pray this together out loud for the benefit of those who just slip their hand up, say, Jesus, I need you.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.

I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I give you my life.

Thank you for a brand new beginning.

In Jesus' name.

Everyone said a big amen.

Amen.

Let's clap our hands at every campus for those who just made that decision.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.