Closer – What Does God Really Want?

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason Burns and Access Church in Lakeland, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Today we are in part two of a series called Closer.

If you missed last week, we had church online last week.

So many of you joined us and we loved that.

The point of last week was simply this.

There's a brilliant quote by a man named Oswald Sanders, and he says that you can be as close to God as you choose to be.

That we can begin as close to God as we choose to be.

It's not on God, it's on us.

And so we have to make this decision to pursue after him.

So we asked the question last week: how close are you really to Jesus?

And how close do you want to be?

Today I want to talk to you about what God's desire is from us, and we'll get to that in just a moment.

One of the things you need to know about me is my love language.

The way that I like to show love is messing with people.

I love to prank people, I love to joke with people.

And if you were here for our Christmas Eve services, I loved Christmas Eve, by the way.

And if you were here for Christmas Eve, I talked about how I've been pranking my mother-in-law for the last few years.

It blessed me so much.

In fact, it's actually my favorite thing in the whole world.

It's like better than raising my kids or being married.

It's messing with my mother-in-law.

It blesses me that much.

And so, anyways, you can catch up on that.

You can go online to watch that service or follow me on Instagram.

I posted what I did this year, and it's a lot of fun.

Um, this the couple days um after Christmas, my wife and I had some of our family friends over, this amazing couple.

They came over to our house and I just I had an opportunity to mess with the husband.

Now, here's what you need to know the wife, um, she would really love one of two animals to join their family.

One is a mini horse, which is probably unrealistic, you know.

Bye-bye, little Sebastian.

She would love a little mini horse, or she would love a little puppy, a little corgi puppy.

And so they came over to our house because we just got a puppy for Christmas and they wanted to see meet little George, but but she would really like a corgi.

So just for fun, I pulled up Craigslist and I searched for Corgi, and I found this ad for a baby corgi, a really cute little guy, and I'm sure Craigslist is a perfectly fine place to buy a dog, whatever.

And so I take it and I show it to the couple, and I show it to the wife, and I show it to the husband, and and she was like, Oh, it's kind of cute.

And he was like, Absolutely not.

No way we are not doing that at all.

So I thought this is a perfect opportunity to mess with him.

So they went outside with my new little puppy, George, and while this was happening, I got this idea.

I sent a text message to a number that was not in my friend's phone, pretending that I was copying the seller from Craigslist.

And here's what the text message said.

This was from me.

This was to the guy and to a number.

It was actually my son Joey's phone number.

He didn't have that guy's number.

So I wrote this, or hi, I saw your ad on Craigslist for the Corgi.

I'm copying my friend so-and-so on this message.

He's super interested.

And I sent this, and so he gets a message to a number that he doesn't have and himself from me.

And when he gets it, he does this.

He goes, Oh, and I watch this happen.

And so then I take my son Joey's phone, pretending that Joey's phone number is the seller, and I text this from the seller's number.

Thanks, so-and-so.

You'll love him.

I'll mark him as sold.

Your wife will be so happy.

Now, to this point, I had never mentioned a wife at all.

I don't know how he didn't pick up on this, but it is what it is.

And then a few minutes go by and he still hasn't responded.

He's dying a thousand deaths in this moment, and the seller responds again.

Stop being such a baby and message me back.

We can meet today.

He's ready to meet you.

So this just blessed me.

A few more minutes go by.

Every time I send a message, I watch this guy go, Oh, I can't believe this.

So then I send a message from my phone back to this conversation.

I wrote, sorry about him, not sure why he's not responding.

I wait about 10 more minutes, and then I send a message from the seller one more time, and I love this.

It says this tell you what,$2,000 cash today and he's yours.

Today only, though, I need to move him quick.

Don't ask a lot of questions.

So this all happens, and the couple is in my kitchen, and I watch the guy look at his phone and go, oh, and he shows his wife the phone and they start talking.

Now, at this point, the wife is in on the joke, and he says to her, he goes, There must be something wrong with the dog.

Who texts like this about a dog that's for sale?

And I hear them say this, so I respond again as the seller, and I say, Nothing wrong with them.

I just need the money for my habits if you know what I mean.

I don't know what this means, but it blessed me so much to send it.

Finally, the guy gets the courage to write back and he writes this wussy response.

He writes, sorry, we're passing on the dog.

Every time I would text, he would die a little bit more inside.

So I wait a couple hours at this point and I send this message.

I send, look, I'm desperate.

$1,500 cash, meet at Boo Boo's Burgers in 30 minutes.

And then exactly 30 minutes later, I send back here, where you at, kind of in a hurry, right?

It was just, it blessed me.

When I told him it was me, I could see the the relief and the hatred fill his heart, and it was a wonderful moment for me.

I loved it.

Okay, now check this out.

That was fun, and it was fun for me, but if you really think about it, what I was doing is I was kind of forcing on him something that he didn't really want.

I was trying to push on him something that maybe it would have been good, maybe his wife would have liked it, but it was me pushing on some him something that he didn't really want.

Now let me ask you this.

In our relationships, let's make it like about romantic relationships for a moment.

How is love expressed?

It's not about what I want to do to show you love.

It's love is only expressed when it is accent and it is received by the other person.

You can love someone and try to show it in a way that means a lot to you, but if they don't receive love that way, you've completely failed the mission to show them love.

I wonder how many of us we do this to God.

We go to God, God, look at all these amazing things that I'm doing for you.

Look at how I'm serving and giving and looking how I'm leveraging my life to make a difference.

Look at me, look at me.

And we miss it.

It's not what God really wants.

So, how does God receive love?

Like, what is love to God?

Well, let me say this to you God and his desire is for you to love him, but not just to love him, but it is to love him and to express your love to him.

It's not enough to think that you love God.

It's not enough to intellectually like know a lot about him.

He wants you to love him and to express it.

How we do that is through worship.

In fact, worship is love expressed.

Worship is love.

It's not just love feeling something, it's love expressed.

And you need to understand that love is only love when it is expressed.

In fact, in the book of Romans, chapter 5, it says this, and God loved us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

What he's saying is, it's only love if it's demonstrated.

It's only love if it's expressed.

So worship is love expressed.

And some of us are like, well, that's cool, but I'm not like a super expressive person.

That's not just that's not really how I roll.

Well, the funny thing is, we all worship something.

We do.

We worship all kinds of things.

Like last night, it was late at night.

I was watching my team and candidly God's favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, completely dismantle, thank both of you, completely dismantle the Philadelphia Eagles.

And here's what's funny: I'm not a super expressive guy.

In fact, during worship, I kind of tend to be a little bit still, a little bit more quiet or somber.

But I'm watching the game, thinking about this message, and the Cowboys would score a touchdown.

They scored a lot of them last night, by the way.

And um, every time they'd score, I'd be like, yes.

I'd throw my hands up in celebration.

At one point, I'm like doing push-ups because I'm so excited about what's happening in the moment, and I have all this energy, but I can't really scream or anything because the kids are asleep.

You know, I'm just so excited.

And what's funny is I realize something.

Well, we will do certain things at certain places, but when it comes to God, the one who created the universe, it's like we get so reserved.

If worship is love expressed, we need to understand that we all worship something.

What you need to understand about this is there's nothing wrong with loving all kinds of things.

In fact, God wants you to love things.

I love my wife.

We've been married 17 years.

I love my kids.

I've got the three most amazing kids in the world.

I love my life, I love my church, I love my job, I love what I get to do, I love my friends, I love so many things in this world, and God isn't against any of that.

Let me say this to you.

What God wants, though, is God's desire is to be the top, the most important of anything else.

God's desire is to be above all of those things.

So here's what worship is worship is simply our response to what we value the most.

So this begs the question: is God the thing, the one that you value above everything else?

It is his desire.

Now, the truth is, for some of us, we make this mistake.

Well, we do something and it's not new to us, it's not new to our generation, it goes all the way back to Scripture.

And what we do is we kind of substitute, we make an exchange, and we worship God and we do things that we think that that's good for us, but it's really not what he wants.

In the book of Romans, chapter one, it's this beautiful, beautiful chapter.

You should read it on your own time.

But there's this interesting thought.

Paul says, For although they knew God, talking about these people who they knew him, they had a relationship with God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.

There are these people who said, We love you, God, but it was all lip service.

It was just words.

They weren't acting and they weren't showing and expressing it in a way.

They didn't give thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.

And I wonder how many of us this is kind of a representation of us.

It's like we know God, we know about him, but we've we've substituted some stuff that we think is good for the things that are things of God.

We've worshipped things or we've put things in God's place, or we've tried to show God love in a way that is not what he wants.

And this is what makes them fools.

It says, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Here's what he's saying that they did.

They claimed to know God.

They thought that they were wise, but they were fools, and in doing so, what they did was they had other things in their life that took the place of God.

Now you may look at this list and think, well, that's not a big deal for me because I don't have any reptile statues in my house that I'm worshiping.

And if you do, see me afterwards.

That's weird.

Um, but they they don't have any of these things, but we have all kinds of things, don't we?

We have all kinds of things that we worship.

We have our favorite football team, we have the national championship game in college happening tomorrow night.

We we have our bank account, we have our career, we have our kids, we we have all these things that if we're not careful, all those things that are good things, we will elevate to God's status and we will worship them.

I would say it like this we will enthrone them, put them on the throne, the the most important place of our heart.

And he used this word, Paul uses words in Roman where he says that they made this exchange.

And I would like to say today that some of us have made what I would call a not so great exchange.

What is it?

Well, if you have your notes, write these four things down.

The first one is this is we settle for substitutes, things that are good things, things that we enjoy, things that are fun, things that give us life.

Like I love lots of things.

I love a great meal, I love time with friends, I love traveling, I love a perfect bowl of banana pudding.

There's lots of things in this life that I just love.

But none of them were intended to take the place of God.

And we do this unintentionally.

If we're not careful, we will just love things and we'll settle for liking God, and it was never God's intention.

In the book of Deuteronomy, God says it like this Deuteronomy 6, he says, Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, for the Lord your God who is among you is what?

Jealous.

He's a jealous God.

And if I were to say this about you, well, she's a jealous woman, you'd think, what's wrong with her?

But the reason God is like this is because he made you for it.

So he longs for it from you.

Let me say it to you like this, and this might mess with your theology a little bit, but worship is really the only thing that you can give God that he doesn't necessarily already have.

Like the earth is the Lord and the fullness therein.

Everything that we have came from God, it is all from God.

But when God made you, he gave you the ability, he gave you the power to choose to worship him.

So when you hold on to it, you're holding back from him that which you were created to give to him.

It's for him.

The second thing that we substitute in this not so great exchange is we settle and we fall for our pride.

Well, what is our pride?

It's thinking higher of ourself than the desires of God.

The way I can kind of explain it is this.

If you can remember the first time you came to a church, like an Access Church or somewhere else similar.

Maybe you saw people and they had their hands lifted in worship.

You saw people and they're standing, they're clapping, they're dancing, they're shouting, they're doing all these things, and you think to yourself, I can never do that.

Okay, people would people would look at me, people would stare at me, people would think that I'm funny.

In the book of Psalm, there's 150 chapters.

In all of the 150 chapters, there's one of four expressions of worship to God that are demonstrated.

There's singing, there's clapping, there's shouting, and there's dancing.

There's singing, clapping, shouting, and dancing.

And what's funny is we come to church and we see these things happening around us, and we allow our pride, which is the thoughts of others, to stop us from doing what God wants.

Like all throughout the book of Psalms, this is the way that God receives our worship, and what we do is we come to church and we stand like a groom in a line of groomsmen at a wedding with our hand over our hand, standing staring straight ahead because why?

We're worried about what someone else will think.

Some time ago, uh there was this lady who used to work at our church, and um, I was going to this CrossFit gym all the time.

I loved it, and so I talked about it all the time.

And this girl said, I really want to come, but I'm afraid everyone's gonna be looking at me.

And I said to her, I was like, Look, girl, no one is gonna look at you.

No one at all.

She's like, I'll make a fool of myself.

I said, I can't even breathe when I'm working out.

I don't have enough energy to turn my head and look at someone else.

I'm trying to not pass out or puke on my shirt.

That's the truth right now.

No one's gonna be looking at you.

And so the funny thing is we come to church and we have that same sort of fear.

We allow the opinions of man to override the desires of God in our heart.

And I just want to say to you, if if we're gonna show God love the way he wants, we should worship him the way that he wants.

How does he want?

Singing, clapping, and shouting and dancing.

For some of us, this is hard.

And let me say this to you nobody's watching you.

So why don't you just give God what he wants?

For some of us, it's like we're so worried, we're so consumed by what people will think.

Um, it's this is, I'm gonna be honest with you, this one's honestly kind of hard for me.

Not because I have pride in the way, but because I'm just not the most expressive person.

I'm just not.

My wife is the single most expressive person I've ever met in my whole life ever.

That there have been times when I come into the bedroom and I can hear her, she's in the shower and she's singing, which is awesome.

And she'll end a song on some big note and she'll go, thank you, thank you.

And I'm like, Who's in there with you?

Like, I don't know, it's weird.

But this is how she is.

Like, everything for her is fun and dramatic and it's a big performance.

So some years ago we were at a wedding together.

And the, you know, the DJ said these this line that just it haunts me to this day.

He says, All right, everybody on your feet, everyone to the dance floor.

We're having a dance contest.

I'm like, hold up, like I I don't I don't dance.

I look in myself in the mirror and it's like super white.

Like there's no rhythm at all up in this.

Like, this is all I got, you know?

And my wife goes, look at me, eyes right here.

I said, What?

She goes, just do this.

So I did this, and the dance contest starts, and the DJ was eliminating couples.

Liz is dancing circles around me, and I literally just did this.

At one point I tried to throw in one of these.

She goes, No, no, no, eyes here.

Just this.

So I just did this.

We won the dance contest, everybody.

We won.

So, for the record, I've never lost the dance contest.

Your pastor is a dance champion.

Tell your friends, but whatever.

We allow the fear to stop us from doing anything.

So we stand still.

Let me pastor you for a moment.

Like, what if in these next 22 days you just made this decision that, God, your opinion and your desire matters more than the fear I have of people around me.

So if you don't do anything, why don't you just start somewhere?

Just clap.

Just sing out loud.

We turn the music up loud.

No one hears you.

Just sing loud.

If you've if you found yourself as a clapper or a singer, why don't you just raise your hand a little bit?

There's nothing weird or spiritual about this.

This is simply a moment of surrender.

Think about the this a little toddler when they walk to you.

What do they do?

They put their hands up because they want you to hold them.

That's literally all this is.

If you've done all these things, why don't you move a little bit?

Because these things honor our great God.

Jesus himself talked about this in the book of John, chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

Jesus talks about these things people feel.

It says at the same time, many, even among the leaders, believed in him.

So there's all these people that believe that Jesus is who he says he is, he is the Son of God.

But, big conjunction, but because of the Pharisees, these religious elite people, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.

So there's these people who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but based on the fear of man, they kept their mouth shut and wouldn't say anything about it.

And here is one of the most stinging verses that you might ever hear if it applies to you as well.

It says, For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

I wonder how many of us this is this.

This is us.

We love the praise of men.

And honestly, we value it higher than the praise of God.

I want God to get what he desires.

I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna clap, I'm gonna shout, I'm gonna dance, I'm gonna do whatever I can because it's him who I'm concerned about pleasing.

Third thing is this, the not so great exchange some of us make is we settle for pleasure.

There's a word that sometimes gets a bad definition.

There's a word with this, it's the word hedonism.

Hedonism literally means to live a life only pursuing pleasure and happiness and good feelings.

And we live in a world that celebrates everything has to feel good, everything has to make you feel good.

And the truth is that's not what this life is all about.

Some years ago I was at a party with some friends, and this older, like the grandfather of one of the kids there, comes up to me and he goes, Hey Jason, can I talk to you about something?

I said, Yeah.

He goes, you know what's wrong with your generation?

Which is a super awkward way to start a conversation, right?

He goes, you know what's wrong with your generation?

And I said, No, what's wrong?

Tell me.

And he goes, you only care about being happy.

I said, interesting.

I said, let's just stand here and be bored together.

How do you feel about that?

You know, what do you want?

But the truth is we do.

We do.

We we we live our life based on our feelings.

If I feel good, if it feels good, then great.

We come to church and we think, well, if I feel the presence of God, then maybe I'll do something.

Look, I hope you feel God's presence.

In fact, I need you here at revival nights.

I guarantee you will experience and encounter the presence and power of God on these nights.

That's not even what it's about.

Look, look what the author of Hebrews says.

We don't know who wrote this exactly, but it says this.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God what?

A sacrifice of praise.

Not when you feel it, not when the music is right, not when everything's going your way.

Let us offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of the lips that openly profess his name.

Let us offer to God a sacrifice of praise.

Often what we offer God is a criticism.

We come to church and we say things like, Well, I didn't really like that song.

I didn't really care for that song, so I'll wait for a song I like.

Hey, newsflash.

We're not worshiping you.

It's not about you.

Well, those lights.

Those lights that move too much.

What's with those lights?

We want everything in this room to declare the glory of our great God.

It has nothing to do with you, and it has everything to do with Him.

The fourth thing that we allow our hearts to settle for in this not-so-great exchange is a word that I'm making up.

It's the word spectatorism.

Spectatorism.

Oh, it's what it is, is we come to church and we feel like by coming to church, by showing up and just standing stoically, I'm good.

I'm here.

God, this is enough.

Okay, let's tease this out for me for just a moment, okay?

Imagine that I went to Liz, my wife, 17 years, and I said, girl, I'm not like the most romantic.

I'm not like the most vocal about my love, so I'm gonna tell you one time and I need you to let it settle in because it's gonna have to carry you through the next, you know, 50 years.

Alright, ready?

I love you.

But don't tell anybody.

And I'm gonna I'm gonna go to work, and then I'm gonna come home from work, and I'm just gonna be here.

Not gonna say anything, not gonna serve you, not gonna really love you, not gonna show you love, not gonna say it.

No kisses, no hugs, no affection.

I love you.

I said it again.

That's it.

What would happen to me?

I'd be buried somewhere on the north side of Lakeland, is what would happen to me, right?

But this is what we do to God.

God, I showed up.

I'm good, I'm here, I'm here.

It was never a spectator sport.

Get in the game.

Look what the book of James says.

Come close to God, and he will come close to you.

Listen to these words.

Come close.

If you'll take one step, he'll come close to you.

If you'll come running after him, he'll come running after you.

And news flash, he took the first step in sending his son for you.

The author of Hebrews says it this way, Hebrews chapter 10, let us draw near to God.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

What do we do?

We draw near to God with a sincere heart full of assurance of faith.

This is God's intention, that we draw near, that we draw closer to him.

So if these are the four not great exchanges, what is what God actually wants?

What does God really want?

Let me offer you four thoughts, or three thoughts that are found in this interesting verse.

The book of Psalm, chapter 50, is one of the 150 Psalms, many written by David.

Psalms 50 · chapter mention

Psalm 50 is actually interesting because David penned the words, but it's considered a prophetic chapter, which means that even though David wrote the words, it was God speaking to David.

So this is God's words to you.

God says, I have no complaint.

About your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.

Here's what you need to understand.

In those days, in order to get to God, to pray, to have God hear you, you'd have to build an altar and create a sacrifice.

Take an animal, kill it, lay it on the altar.

And then God would receive your prayer.

And so God's saying, I have no complaints about what you're doing.

I appreciate your sacrifices and your burnt offerings, but here's what you need to know.

But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.

For all the animals of the forest are mine.

I own the cattle on a thousand hill.

I know every bird on the mountains and all the animals in the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and everything in it.

God's like, all the good stuff that you're doing for me, it's good, but I don't really need any of it.

None of that is what floats my boat.

He says, Do I eat the meat of bulls?

Do I eat the meat of bulls?

Do I drink the blood of goats?

And then he's like, No.

Then he's going to give us three things for what worship really is, and this is what moves his heart.

Number one, make sacrifice, make thankfulness your sacrifice to God.

Number two, keep the vows you made to the Most High.

And number three, then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.

These are the three things that God wants.

This is what worship really is.

So let me make it really easy.

Number one, what do we do to worship God?

We thank Him with my sincere affection.

God, thank you.

Let me teach you a principle.

You can always find what you're looking for.

If you need a reason to be upset, frustrated, disappointed, you can find it.

But if you need a reason to be thankful, you can find it.

God, you woke me up this morning and gave me breath in my lungs.

Thank you.

God, the sun rose in the east and it'll set in the west tonight.

Thank you.

God, you hung the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Thank you.

God, you gave me a job.

It's not my favorite job, but it's paying the bills.

Oh, speaking of that, God, not only are you paying my bills, you've always taken care of me.

Find a reason to be thankful.

Can I tell you something?

Um, I have three kids and I love my kids.

And it's my joy to provide for my kids.

And I don't just want to provide like the bare minimum of existence.

I want to provide more for them.

I want them to have fun.

I like milkshakes for no reason.

I like big vacations and I like little moments of sitting at the beach or sitting at a lake.

I just like all the moments with my kids.

But here's all that I want from my kids.

When I buy them dinner, when I take them to a movie, when we do something fun together, I don't need them to pay me for it.

It is my joy as their dad to provide for them.

But all I'm looking for is dad, you're the man.

Thank you.

That was a blessing.

I'll give you I'll give you another example.

Um, I I love preaching.

So it's not all that I do, but it's my favorite part of what I get to do.

And our church is so kind.

You you are so thoughtful with your words.

People write me all the time thanking me, which I appreciate.

People will tag me on Instagram or Twitter, Facebook with thoughts.

I love all it blesses me every time I see it.

Thank you.

Please don't stop.

That's not what I'm saying.

But I'll tell you what blesses me more than anything is when I preach and I come off the stage and one of my sons is in the room.

And you know, my kids, they're they're 11 and 14, my boys, you know, and I don't expect them to get all of this, but I come off the stage and sometimes they're like, Dad, Joey will be like, Dad, that was amazing.

Thank you.

I don't know how you do that.

Thank you.

That means the world to me.

A few weeks ago I came off the stage and my 11-year-old Gavin was there, and he goes, Dad, and then I come off and he chest pumps me.

I don't even know what that is.

But he's like, That was awesome.

Can I tell you something?

The affirmation from my kids.

I love you, but it means more to me than anything anyone else could say.

It's my kids.

How do you think God feels?

He wants his kids to say thank you.

The book of Second Chronicles in the Old Testament says it like this.

It said the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

It means God is looking around for those to bless because they're grateful for what he's given them.

So thank God.

The second thing we do is we offer him the control of my life.

I offer him full control.

The book of Romans, Paul, says it like this.

Paul, Romans 12 says, Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, and here's what I want you to do, I want you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship.

Remember in the ancient world they had to build altars and sacrifice animals.

And Jesus comes and he replaces that old sacrificial system.

But here's what's happening Paul is challenging them.

He's saying, look, just because the sacrificial season of animals is over, now you get to be the sacrifice, a living sacrifice.

So offer God who you are.

God, you gave me life and I give my life back to you.

I'll serve you with everything that I have.

And then he says, and this is true and pleasing worship to God.

Final thing is this.

Number three is I'm going to include God in every part of my life, in my everyday life.

That literally means when I wake up, God, good morning.

Thank you for being with me in my waking up.

That means as I as I brush my teeth, God, thank you for this opportunity.

God, it's like literally every single part of your day you're inviting God into.

God, thank you for my breakfast.

God, thank you for this card that gets me to work.

God, thank you for this job.

God, thank you for this meeting.

God, bless this moment.

God, help me in this thought process.

God, God, be with me as I drive home.

God, be with me at dinner with my family.

God, be with me.

It's like inviting him into every single part of your life.

Why does this matter?

We read this verse earlier.

I want to skip to the end of Deuteronomy 6.

It says, The Lord your God who is among you is a jealous God.

He just wants to be a part of all of it.

Because he loves you.

Because his desire was really just for you to express love towards him.

So let me ask the question to end today.

What does God really want?

What God really wants is relationship with me.

A relationship is built on love, and love has to be expressed for it to be love.

And so the whole point of today is this will you make this decision to take a step?

All I mean by that is over these next 22 days, will you make this decision with me that I'm no longer comfortable staying where I am, but I'm going to take a step closer to Jesus.

That means I'm not just going to show him love the way that I choose to show love, but I'm going to show him love the way that he desires to be love, which is worship, which is my love expressed.

Take a step in clapping or singing or shouting or dancing.

Come prepared to hear from God.

Come with expectation in your heart and let's together see what God can do through lives that are fully offered as living sacrifices to him.

Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me all across this room today?

Let me pray for you before we go.

Lord, thank you for your word today.

And God, my prayer is that this message sink deep into our hearts, that we can be as close to you as we choose to be.

But God, we have to take a step.

For some of us, God, we've just made this decision to love you the way that we want to give love, but that's never how you want to receive it.

Give us the courage to love you the way that you long to be loved.

And God, may we worship you by thanking you for everything that you give us, by offering ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to you.

God, my prayer is that as a result of all of this, that we'll include you in every part of our life, that you get to be a part of our life.

We thank you for it, God.

We love you.

We want to worship you the way you long to be worshipped.