As you guys are giving, I'm going to just make a couple brief announcements. I
want Justin to have his time this morning. Listen,
good morning again this week. Midweek gatherings. Thursday
night, six o', clock, I'm telling you. Words from the rabbi,
Pastor Barbee. It's rich. It's rich. Go back on
live stream online if you want to watch it from the. From the previous
sessions. And it so good. So be a part of that on Thursday night if
you've got the capacity to do so. It's been really good Following
Thursday night this week at 7:15. At 7:15, we are going
to have our first team meeting for Celebrate Recovery. And so if
you're interested in helping us in that launch, which will happen in
August, I invite you to just linger after the gathering at 7:15,
come and see me. We're going to be meeting in the green room that's back
here, but I'll lead you back there. Come see me after that gathering and we'll
go back there. We'll be here for about an hour. Excited about what the Lord's
going gonna be doing through Celebrate Recovery. So that's happening on Thursday. And then
we wanna invite you to register for our conference. It's coming up in March.
Abide March 6th, 7th and 8th this week. We will put
more information about the teaching schedule and all that online. Register this week
so we can prepare for you to be here. It's gonna be really, really good.
I believe God's gonna do some things then, but what?
That's not it. This is the winter retreat for the youth.
Yeah, the youth's going on winter retreat. That's February 13th.
And so you guys register for that as well. Okay. God is
saving the very best for when? Right now. And Pastor
Justin has a great word for us this morning. Would you please welcome Pastor
Justin.
It's not any pressure being God's best right now. Like,
hey, this is God's best. You're like. And then they're like, Pastor Justin. You're like,
whatever, man. Hey, I got a call from Metro one time
and they wanted me to come in for an interview too.
You know what I told them? Absolutely not. We will
interview wherever you find me at. And y' all are
laughing like y' all believe me. That's just, you know. See, God will do
it, won't he? Second thing today is Pastor Ronnie Meek's birthday.
Y' all say hi, Pastor Ronn.
I don't know that. Cause I'm close with him. I know that. Cause Facebook reminded
me because he was Kind enough to put that I am close, but that's not
the reason why I know that, because he put his information in
properly on Facebook. So if you'll do the same, I will know when
your birthday is. I don't know what the part of my brain that used to
remember phone numbers and birthdays are doing right now. Like, there was a part
of my life where you knew everybody's phone numbers and birthdays. Don't know that anymore.
So I'm hoping I can unlock that this morning. We can retain this information.
Last thing I want to teach you guys, I'm operating at about a 75%
today. Those that know me know I run high octane. And
so anything less than that can be detrimental to
mortals. Normal guys, small bears. Anybody
that's not me usually would take them down for the count. But since I'm so
high energy, 75% for me is going to be a struggle. So
if I'm not as exuberant, don't be like, what's wrong with him? I'm just.
And got a little something going on up here today, okay. I've been
praying I didn't sneeze the first gathering. Boy, can you imagine this row right
here? Post Covid. They're like,
yeah, right. Where does the thing
go? Oh, there it is.
We're gonna be talking about intimacy with God this morning and
the secret place. And so if you would, let's go ahead and
stand and read and get into the script, and then I will share the message
with you today. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to
read as if you're at 75%. Okay? I
don't need nobody yelling in the back, okay? Take it down a notch.
This is my time, okay? It's God's best. It's right now, remember?
Are we ready? Here we go. I do not
ask for these only, but also for those who
will believe in me through their word that they may
all be one, just as you, Father, are in
me and I in you, that they also may
be in us, so that the world may believe that you
have sent me the glory that you have given me,
I have given to them that they may be one
even as we are one, I in them and you
in me, that they may become perfectly one,
so that the world may know that you sent me and
loved them, even as you loved me. And one more from
David's psalm. He who dwells in the shelter
of the most high will abide in the shadow of the
Almighty. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for this day,
for the opportunity to share and speak, and I pray that
all of my jokes and quips will be quickly forgotten. But Lord, that the things
that you want to teach us and reveal to us and affirm inside of us
today, this morning, that you would do so through the power of the
Holy Ghost, according to your word and will, and that it would
grow deep root inside of us. Lord God, I pray that your son Jesus
will be glorified through our words and our time together. Father, be
inhabit this place. We love you and thank you. It's in Christ's name. Amen.
And amen. You guys can be seated. And so
we're continuing in our series about abide.
And this morning, we're gonna be talking about intimacy with
go. What I've noticed is in my life, when I have come
across a teaching or a message similar
to this, I'm left feeling one of two ways.
It's either I hear the message, I listen to the
bullet points, and I go, okay. I feel like I'm
extremely close with the Lord right now, but usually
what happens is I will listen to the teaching, or I will listen to the
message and I'll go, do I even know God after listening
to all this want to do today is give you
guys a checklist and say, here are the things
that make you intimate with God. And then you try to
evaluate where you're at on that scale.
Kurt alluded to that earlier in the message
for the communion, and
that Christianity is completely unique in that
our God came down to us. Every other
religion, there is this scale, this wall, this ladder
that you're trying to climb to get close to the
Creator, to get closer to God. And usually it's performance
and works based. And our God said,
it does not matter how good you are, how long you
walk, how far you climb, you'll never make it. There's no. It's
too great a chasm. You can't come up here, so I'm
gonna have to come down to you. So this
morning is not about me giving you an intimacy
checklist for you to go, okay, killing it there. Not doing good
here. Didn't even know that was on the list. Right,
right. Cause that's usually what happens. I'm having a conversation with
Mario yesterday. We're in the kitchen and we're talking about intimacy.
And he brought up a good point. And this is one thing I love about
our eldership. He started the conversation by saying, now this isn't
biblical, and I appreciate that. And
if you're giving somebody advice, you might want to. If it's not biblical,
you might want to say, hey, this ain't biblical. So if it ruins your life,
don't, you know,
you can blame me. But don't blame him. It's not scriptural,
he said. But we started talking about that. Everybody has
a different type of love language, right? You guys are familiar with the love languages.
If you're not, I'll run through them real quick. So everybody has a love language,
a way that they give and receive love. And some are words of
affirmation or physical touch or I'm
quality time. I will force my wife to sit in the room with me.
She doesn't have to do the same thing I'm doing. She just has to be
in proximity so she's got her laptop
wherever I'm at doing her thing, right? Quality time. I don't
know that that's quality, but I just need to be able to look over and
see you there. Right? What is the other one?
Acts of service and gifts. Some people show love by giving
gifts. So now take this in the context of what we're
talking about with intimacy with God. If I were a quality time
person, then I may have the.
Is it proclivity? That's the right word, proclivity to come in here and say,
hey, if you want to be close to God, then you need to be saved.
Spending time with God. And those of you that
are words of affirmation say, well, I don't spend as much time
as Pastor Justin does. I guess I'm not close with the Lord.
Or those that are a words guy or gal may say, I
spend a lot of time in prayer, and I'm constantly talking to God. And then
if you're like me, you go, where do you have that time? I must not
be close to God, because I don't spend that much time in
prayer. And there may be some. It's like they're always doing
missions work, or they're out in the community or giving people people's rides, or they're
holding doors or they're doing things and they're constantly pouring out for the
kingdom. And you're like, well, I guess I might not be as close to the
Lord as they are because I don't. I've got six kids. I don't have
time to take a shower and wash my hair.
Obviously, that's not me, right?
But here's what I'm saying, guys. The goal and purpose of today is not
provide you with an intimacy Checklist. Because there were many
people who were close in proximity to Jesus. Jesus and
not intimate with Jesus. And what we don't want to be is a people
who are close to kingdom things and not intimate
in the kingdom. So what is intimacy? Let's
look at what the world says about intimacy. If I
ask this question right here, how many of you are uncomfortable
married folk? James, how is your
intimacy with your wife?
That seems like it's an inappropriate question. It's
not. Let me get there. Spoiler alert. Mary sue, right?
Dang, man. On the
outset, if you think about human intimacy, it means one thing.
But if I say, what about your intimacy with the Lord? How come it means
a completely different thing? In our minds, intimacy is
defined as a deep sense of emotional closeness, trust
and vulnerability shared between individuals, extending beyond
physical and sexual contact. It involves being truly
seen, sharing innermost thoughts and fears and
feelings in an authentic manner. How many of us are afraid of
being seen by others? How many of
us are afraid for someone to see the real me?
Many of you know that a personal growth
area that I'm working on is
confrontation. And if you decide that
after this service you want to argue with me, most likely I'll
argue with you. I'm not perfect. I'm growing.
I'm working on it. I recognize it's a flaw. I recognize it's not
pastoral, okay? But if you come up yelling at
me, I'll match that energy, usually with whatever you've brought to
me. Just so that you know this can happen, right? You've seen two elk
where one of them says, hey, I'm fixing to lock these horns. Or you. Another
one says, well, bring it on, big boy. And then they rattle up, and the
others and the females are standing there. Look at these stupid guys fighting over
this, right? This is why you never argue with a fool. Cause from a distance,
you don't know which one is which. And I have a
problem. I didn't say that, by the way. I've never had an original thought. I
don't know whose quote that is. Forgive me. I'm not plagiarizing that.
That's not me. It's a famous quote.
But what I'm trying to say is
I don't remember what I was saying. Oh, here's what I was
saying. Here's what I was saying, right? Like I would say,
if you want to come argue with me, oh, now you're gonna see the real
me. Now you're really gonna see me, right? Because
for some reason, this person up here is
not who I am over Cole and Kalen's house. Like,
they get to see the real me. It's not that I'm
putting up a front. It's that I have a relationship
with them, that they get to see the walls come
down. When you go over somebody's house, you don't immediately just
get to go to the master bedroom. Right? That's an
intimate place inside of the home. You start out in the
foyer, take your shoes off. These floors are new. Okay, come
sit in my sitting room. Or if you're at my house, let's go to the
kitchen. But you don't just automatically go into those
deep, intimate places. Many of us are being
afraid by being seen by others, but a lot of us are being afraid by
seeing being seen by God. And isn't it amazing that we
know that God sees us and yet there's a part of us that
attempts to either hide or desires to.
There are many people that believe you have to come to a church building to
be close to God. John MacArthur writes, the
church is not an option for true believers. It is the very
family of God to which every true believer longs to be a
part of. Can you connect with God and
be close to God inside of the church building? Absolutely.
Some of the most powerful moments of connection in my life have
happened in this room, in that office, in
that back corner. I remember crying my eyes out a couple of years ago back
in that corner, praying for God to come meet me here.
Yes, you can connect with God in this building. Then there are
others who believe that you shouldn't even have to come to church and can connect
with God outside of its walls. Here's by everyone's favorite
tool, man who may or may not be a Christian.
Tim Allen says this. Why go to a
church to worship God? A church is man made. God
never said, and let there be aluminum siding.
Climbing a tree to talk to God sounds like a better
idea. So there is one group that believes if you
don't come to church, you can't connect with God. And then there's another group that
believe you don't even have to come to the church to connect with God. And
guess what? Both. Right. When it
comes to intimacy, there are typically four areas that we tend to look
at and inspect. And these areas become our
gauge of whether or not we're in an intimate
relationship. The first one we usually look at, I
don't have bullet points, so you're gonna write em down. And you know, don't look
up. There ain't Nothing up there. Okay. Just shaving you.
I missed number one. The first one is emotional
intimacy. Shared feelings.
Emotional intimacy is usually the first gauge that we
go to to determine if we're in an intimate relationship with someone.
Can we. Do we have shared feelings? The second one
is physical intimacy. Shared relations. And this is where
things get a little bit muddy. I'm gonna keep it pg. Cause we got youth
in here. Okay, I got you, Doug.
Right? Next week's lesson. What was Pastor Justin talking about
on stage? He'd be mad at me. He'd text me later. You have no
idea the emails I got after service. Y' all the one decided to come in
here. I ain't trying to protect you from the Bible.
Physical intimacy. Here's a. I just want to share a word on this.
This is the first go to for the world. And the
problem is most male and female
relationships that begin with physical intimacy
never reach emotional, intellectual, and spiritual
intimacy on a deep level. Because the order is
out of the way that God designed it. Physical
intimacy is the most vulnerable form. This is.
Everything is off. Here I am. And if you start
with that level of vulnerability and you never get to the
emotional vulnerability and saying, this is what I'm feeling. This is what
I'm thinking. This is how I'm wrestling with the theology and
understanding who God is. And you start with that physical intimacy,
you can never get it back. And this is why God says, you need to
wait on this if you're not willing to be vulnerable in this area.
And nowadays people want this. This physical intimacy without the
other. Emotional and intellectual and spiritual
connectedness. And it is opposite of the way that God designed it
to be. I gave you the
other two in that sentence. Intellectual intimacy, shared
ideas and thoughts, and spiritual intimacy, shared values,
beliefs, and deeper meanings. And just like these four ways that we
gauge whether or not we're in an intimate relationship, there's usually
four ways that we cultivate these. The first one is vulnerability.
Lowering our defenses, letting our guard down,
allowing others to see through the facade. Do you guys know
which gender has a hard time doing this?
Man. Somebody said at first gathering was scared to speak.
I was like, what do I say? Is this a test? There's two. Pick
one. You can be wrong.
Just pick guys. Guys have a hard time doing this.
And not that women don't. It's just historically,
guys have been. There's this idea that we have to be tough,
strong, that we have to have it together. We have to have all of the
answers that we cannot show vulnerability because it's
weakness. Because if I let my guard down, then somebody would see I don't have
it all together. So I don't want my sons to see me cry. Then they
might think I'm weak. You know, some of the
most tender moments in my life have been when I'm down
here on my knees in the altar space and I feel a little hand on
the back of my shoulder and it's one of my sons.
And then they pray for something that I'm not even dealing with.
And it's absolutely beautiful. And you know why?
Because they saw their dad being vulnerable. Bending the knee before
the gracious and great and almighty Father.
I will bend my knee to the king, and they will see that
vulnerability as strength. You cannot be intimate
if you are unwilling to be vulnerable. Here's what I. Here's where I'm at.
Here's who I am. God. Here. I don't know if I
believe this, God. I'm having a hard time with the church right
now. God. I don't know what direction to
go. You don't think he doesn't already know? He
already knows. And
tagging on to vulnerability is communication, Openly sharing what's
going on in your life. There's too many of us in the church
that when somebody asks how you're doing, you're like, I'm fine. Everything's fine.
Everything's good. And I'm like, you're a liar.
Now what I don't need is when you're over there getting your two pumps of
French vanilla to start a counseling session with me. I don't need
all that. If I say, how you doing? I'll be over there, brother. Let me
tell you this. Before you know it, that cup is filled with that French vanilla.
Cause you done started telling everything. But I so
appreciate my brother. Ben met me at the doors two weeks ago. We didn't
have service last week. He met me at the doors. He said, hey, man, how
you doing? I'm like, man, you know, I'm just. Just working through some stuff and
life is good. And he said, yeah, man, it's great. And then his face dropped.
He went, but how you really doing? And I was like,
just go on in the service. Don't do this to me outside these doors.
And we had a little 10 minute conversation. I said, here's what's really going on.
Here's where I'm struggling at in my mind. Here's what is really weighing down on
me. And you know why Ben could ask me that question? Cause me and Ben
have developed a relationship in which my hands can come down
and I can be vulnerable with him. But he at least had the
communication enough to say, hey man, what's really going on in your life?
What's really going on? And then it involved active
listening, being present and attentive, both conversational and
nonverbal. And the last is quality time. How are you going to be
intimate if you never spend time with someone?
You can't learn patience on top of a mountain by yourself.
You can only learn patience as a parent
or a school administrator whose kids go to
their school. Right.
You can't go to the top of the mountain and say, God taught me patience
up there. No, he didn't. Cause there's nobody to be impatient with.
That's not true. Right. You can't
cultivate intimacy with someone you're not around,
you're not spending time with. You cannot have an
intimate relationship with the Lord if you're
not spending time with Him.
It's just, it doesn't work like that. So
these concepts that we just talked about, can these ideas be applied
to our relationship with God? Yes. Thank
you. One person. On the
surface, yes, of course. But is God really to be
treated like our bestie? Are we really
supposed to treat the creator of the universe like a girlfriend who needs me to
spend time with him in order to feel loved?
I would say no, Mary Sue. That's right, pipe up, say it. Mary Sue.
So what is different about intimacy by these standards and the
intimacy God desires for his people? What is the intimacy that
Jesus prays for? We opened up in John
chapter 17. And just to give you a little
thousand foot view of this chapter and what's going on in John,
this is Jesus last night on the planet.
Tomorrow the man is going to the cross
and in John 13 he starts to wash his
disciples feet. And then in 14 and 15, he's
having a meal with them and he's giving them final instructions in
15 and 16. And he saying, remain in me, stay in
me. I'm the vine, you are the branches. Apart from me you can do nothing.
Hey, trouble is coming. You better buckle up. They're gonna kick you out of the
church, they're gonna kill you. They're gonna think they're doing good stuff, right?
This is his last message to the disciples. And
then he gets to John 17 where he prays
this high priestly prayer. This is before
Gethsemane. If I were to say to you, do you know the Lord's prayer? What
would you say? Gosh, man, you
know what? It's 11 o', clock, dude.
Yes. If I said, do you know the Lord's Prayer? You'd be like, yeah, I
know the Lord's Prayer. And it would probably go something like this. Our Father who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the
glory, forever and ever. Amen. Y' all know King James and
didn't even know you knew it, right? Trespasses,
right? So if I send the
Lord's. You're not wrong. You're not wrong in that. We. That is the so
called Lord's Prayer. And here's why I say it's so called, because we call it
that, right? But that's actually more of the disciples
prayer, if you know where that comes from. It's in Matthew 5, when Jesus is
5 and 6, when he's teaching his disciples at the Sermon on the Mount, he
says, here's how you guys need to pray. That wasn't his prayer. He
said, this is how you need to be praying. It's the disciples prayer.
So I'm telling you this, so the next time you read your Bibles on this,
you'll be all messed up. You're like, what is it?
I did that on purpose. This John 17
is the Lord's prayer. Why? Because it's his prayer.
This was his prayer to the Father
in the presence of his disciples before he goes to the cross
and look at what he says. When Jesus had spoken these
words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour
has come. I
did in first gatherings. I can't do it, man. Like I get overwhelmed
at that opening line. And here's why.
This is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
There have been thousands and thousands of years
waiting on the promise of Messiah.
And he his come to the earth in human form and
took on flesh, stepped out of heaven, took
on flesh. 33 years he's walked this
planet and now he says it's time.
The hour has come. I don't know why that hits me the way that it
does. I'm thinking about all of time and all of
eternity. And there's something significant about this moment
that Jesus is in where he looks up to heaven
in the presence of his disciples and says, it's time.
It's the time. Now's the time. And then he
says, glorify your Son, that the Son may
glorify you. Glorify me so that
I can glorify you, since you have given him all authority
over all flesh, to give eternal life to all
whom you have given him. And this is eternal life
that they know you.
We talk about getting saved, and you gotta get
saved from what? Saved
from what? And to what? Saved from
separation from the Father,
saved to relationship with the Father.
Jesus says, you wanna know what eternal life is that
you know? God. God, the only
true God. And this just creates an exclusivity clause right
here. Christianity is the most inclusive,
exclusive religion on the planet. And what I mean by that is,
anybody can come, but you can only come one way.
Sorry, buddy, if you say there's any other way than Jesus Christ,
you can't get in there. It's exclusive. He is
the way, the truth, the life. I don't care who likes it. I didn't write
it. Don't be mad at me following orders and telling you the truth.
But it's inclusive in that all. What did he say?
That they know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom you've sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work
which you gave me to do. His
final prayer is. Help me finish. Well, and then
he goes on and says, this. Is that the right one? Oh,
and now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had with
you before the world existed. Then he says, I'm praying
for them. I'm not praying for the world, but those whom you have given me,
they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine. And I'm glorified in
them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.
And I'm coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name,
which you have given me, that they may be one even as
we are one. His prayer for the disciples
is oneness, that they would be one, the
same way him and the Father are. And then he
says, I don't ask for these only, but also for those
who will believe. Who is he talking to there?
I see that hand back there. I see that hand. Is two, y' all to
get it. 3, 4, 7, 11, 12.
Josh, you're included, too. There you go, bud. Jesus says,
I'm not just asking you to do this for them, Lord. I'm
asking you to do it for all who will believe. That includes
you, that they may be one. Just as you,
Father. Are in me and I in you. Have you noticed how many times he
says, God, I pray that they're in me because I'm in you and you're
in me, and they're in each other. He's saying, if you want to be close,
you got to get up next to me and you got to get up next
to these people. Because you can't do it on
top of a mountain. So that the world.
Why? So the world will believe that you have sent me. This is the key
and unlocks the whole prayer. He's praying for
the disciples, but he's including us. How come we look at the end of the
disciples in the early church and contrast that with our life of favor
and success? Would you say that the disciples were close with Jesus?
I would consider these guys pretty close. Except for one. He was
only close in proximity. He was only close in
proximity. And there's a danger in that, too. Guys, you can be around
godly things. You can have the best teacher.
You can have the world's greatest small group, right?
Which is community. You can have all of that and still be found
wanting. I would consider these guys
close and intimate with the Lord yet. And in a matter of hours, they would
fall away. It wasn't until they witnessed the resurrected Jesus
and the comforter dwelled inside them. They were able to face persecution
and death. And Jesus told them of their persecution. He said, they'll put you out
of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you think he's
offering service to God. And they'll do these things because they have not known the
Father, nor me. How would you like to have that
told to you? Right? Hey, guys,
you're gonna need to stay close to me. Cause this is about to get really
bad for you. I need you to remain in me.
Because this is gonna get really ugly. And people are gonna think they're doing the
Lord's work by doing this to you. Somehow
we have convinced ourselves that a life that is
filled with suffering means you are far from God.
Somehow, collectively, as the church, we look at
situations and sufferings and go, I
must not be close. I got. Let me tell you, look, I love my kids.
Y' all don't be mad at me. But y' all get in trouble a lot.
My kids aren't bad. They just don't follow all the rules.
And I found myself in the kitchen the other day going, God, what do I
need to repent of? What have I done? What have I
done? What did I do? Just tell me and I repent. Tell me. I need
to know. I called my parents. I said, mom. Actually,
it was my dad. I was talking to my dad. I didn't dare call my
mom. I called my dad. I said, dad, was I
this bad when I was a kid? He said, no, son. And my mom in
the way back, absolutely. This is your fault. You did
this. This is what you. I'm like, where did I sow these
seeds? God. But somehow we
think that if there's any type of discomfort or
like, are you hearing what
I'm saying? Like, any type of persecution or adversity, I'm like,
I must not be close to him. I must be far away. Do you know
how these guys died? I got to get on my horse and ride. Crucified.
Simon Peter was crucified upside down in AD
64 to 68 around under Nero's persecution of Christians.
You know why they persecuted him upside or crucified him upside down. He said, I'm
not worthy to die the same way my Lord did. Same guy denied him three
times, ran away. He said, no, no, no, no, no. Crucify me upside
down. Andrew was crucified on an X
shaped cross. He was not nailed to it, but was tied and was
said to have preached for days before he died.
James was beheaded by king Herod in AD 44.
John was exiled to Patmos where he wrote
Revelations after it was said there was an attempt to boil him and oil
was unsuccessful. Philip died in
Hierapolis, Turkey by
hanging in 80 80. Bartholomew
flayed to death by knives in India. Matthew
died by Halbert according to Tradition. Thomas,
which is Didymus, was martyred by a spear in India.
James son of Alphaeus was stoned to death in AD
62. Thaddaeus was
martyred in Persia via arrows. Simon the Zealot was
crucified according to tradition, and Judas Iscariot hung himself
after betraying the Son of Man. All of these men shared the
same sentiment as Paul when writing to the Philippian Church.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss
for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as
loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord. For his sake. I have suffered
the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may
gain Christ and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which
comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that
defends on faith that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and share in his sufferings.
Becoming like him in his death, that by any means
possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Paul says that I may know him, the power of his
resurrection, share in his sufferings, become like him in his
death, die daily. Even though the apostles literally
died same death, that we both may attain resurrection.
This was to be considered intimacy with God.
Jesus connects our personal intimacy and our collective
intimacy.
You know that the Bible is about God's relentless desire to have his
family restored to him and what links he will go to to ensure it
happens. You can read about
David's prayers in the Psalms. David was pretty intimate with the Lord.
And at the top of a passage he goes, I don't even know if you
see me here, God. And then at the bottom he goes,
I'm as close as I've ever been. I'm wrapped up under your blanket.
I'm snuggled right up under you, God. And then two chapters later, you
go, why have you abandoned me?
Right? And you go, this guy's all over the place.
He is wrestling with what it means to be close to God.
There were seasons where he felt close and seasons where he
wandered and wondered if God was even there. Do any of you actually
wonder if you don't even feel close to God? Have you ever
been in a place where you're like God? I don't even. I don't even feel
close to you. You.
You can't be intimate and be far away. Intim is intimacy is
not just predicated on proximity.
Look at the prodigal son. He said, man, I don't like being away from my
father's house. I don't like being away from my father's house.
Being in my. But being in my father's house is not about doing chores.
Yes, you should pray. Yes, we should need to be reading the Word. How
else will we know him and know his character and his heart? Yes, serve and
pour out and be selfless, just like the Son of man. But the son did
not go back to the father's house just to do chores.
The Father wanted his son back to be a part of his
family. And family is intimate and close
and vulnerable. They share ideas. They share hopes and
dreams. And fellowship with the Father requires fellowship with one another.
Jesus final lesson was a living parable.
He may have given them a verbal lesson,
but he showed them something far more powerful. The
Word says that when Jesus came into the room
and they're all there, it says he laid aside his
outer garment. Garments. He took off his kingly
garments and stepped into humanity.
And then what did he do? He tied it around his waist and he bent
down and he washed their feet.
He washed their feet. And Peter, being Peter, was like, absolutely
not. And Jesus said, if I don't wash
you, you're not going to have any part in me. Peter says, well,
then you got to wash my whole body, too. And Jesus says,
you don't get it. You don't get it. Those who have bathed
don't need to be bathed again. And I'm paraphrasing. And what Jesus is
saying to Peter in that moment is, you've already received this
cosmic level of forgiveness. What you don't understand is you
don't have to keep coming back for that same salvation.
I used to struggle so bad, Church, with thinking every time
I picked up a little bit of dirt, every time I made missed the mark,
every time I fell, I was so far away from God because my name
was written in chalk in the Lamb's book of life. That's it. You did
it. Screwed it up. And I would go back over and over, and
I'd be like, I need to be baptized again. I need to. I need to
come down here and say the sinner's prayer again. And Jesus says, I've already bathed
you. Let me wash your feet.
You're picking up dirt, son. You're picking up
dirt, but I can't wash them if you keep running around
over here talking about how close you are to me. You have to come and
you have to sit in my presence and let me do the work.
Are you hearing me, what I'm saying, Church? This ain't about no
checklist. This is not about if you do X, Y and Z, you'll be close
to God. It's saying, God, I'm picking up dirt. I know I need to come
and sit here and let you do a work. And then what does he do?
Says he gets up and says, hey, you saw what I did. Go do it
for each other. Take showers under First John
1:9. Every day you gotta be vulnerable
with somebody else to say, I'm picking up dirt on my feet. I don't even
like feet. I don't even wanna. There's a certain age
limit where you age out of me wanting to wash your feet. That's over two.
Get them out of here. Here. Dead serious, man. I can't
stand feet. Hate him.
Don't like my own feet. Wear socks all the time.
It's not what he's talking about, man. How am I going to say
that? I'm. I'm so Intimate with God, but yet I'm so disconnected from his
people. You know, most of the time, the way God speaks to
me or speaks to us is through somebody else in here, man, let me wash
your face, feet. Let me wash your feet. Man, you're
picking up dirt. Let me
wash your feet. And then you go wash someone else's.
That's how we become close. That's how he's close with us.
And then. I love what it says. It says, then he put on his outer
garments and resumed his place. He came and
took off his heavenly garments, stepped into humanity,
served us on a cosmic level, gave us ultimate
forgiveness and a way to receive daily restoration. And then he
took his rightful place in the heavens and said, now you do it for
each other. Yeah, you clap. Don't clap for me.
You clap for the king. Cause that's what he did. And in
order for us to experience intimacy with him,
then we follow that same path pattern of washing each
other's feet.
Like I said. So I don't know. There are times where you don't feel intimate,
but I'm going to liberate you guys right now. It is not about how
you feel. God is not. It's going to sound bad.
Just hear what I'm saying. God is not concerned with your feelings.
Do you hear me? Now, I didn't say God don't care about your feelings,
but he's not moved by them. He's not moved by
those same ones that said, but, Lord, we cried in the worship
service and we cast out devils in your name, and we laid
hands on the sick in your name. He's like, I didn't know you. You was
close, but you weren't intimate. I didn't
know you. I never knew you.
I didn't know who you were. You didn't know who I was. You was just
running around doing church stuff. It's the most terrifying
verse in the scriptures.
It's not about how we feel. Lord, I can't see you right
now. God, show me your heart in these pages. But God, I can't hear
you speak like others do. Do you know there's some people say, well, I never
heard God's audible voice. Do you know what kind of situation the man had to
be in in to hear God's audible voice? Did y' all hear
that testimony just a couple of weeks ago? I was ready to kill myself. And
God says, no, you don't. I got plans for you. I'm not done with you.
And we think because we ain't heard God's audible voice
oh, my God, I don't have enough time this morning. I
don't. I swear. Y' all be like, yeah, man, I am hungry,
but I don't feel close to you. God, where are you? You. It's not. How
about you? It's not about how you feel. I'm right here. To
abide in Jesus is to keep, to stand by, to continue
to remain, not by feelings, but by faith. Mastering
the mundane. Me and Jess didn't get as close as we are
now overnight. I look at my wife like this. She come in the shop
the other day and I was like, wow. And she rolls her eyes. She's
like, God, what are doing you. You looking at?
And I'm like, God forbid I be in love with somebody.
God forbid. I, I just, Just enamored by your
presence. She's like, whatever. I need to tell you about something,
right? No, that don't happen overnight.
Like the, the. The. The longer we walk together, the more I
love her. And sure, we have
mountaintop moments and we have spectacular conversations, but most
of the time it's, hey, what does your schedule look like this week? Because I
got a game at five and I know you got church on Thursday and is
it. It's not always three and a half hours in
the morning that I have to sit and stay.
It's mastering the mundane. It's giving every day, every
moment. It's giving our life to the Lord and saying, I don't know what
today looks like, but I'm going to lean into you. I don't know what tomorrow
looks like when I'm gonna lean into you. And we've gotta get out of this
checklist mentality of where we scale up and down
and surrender our lives to him and be willing to have our feet washed and
to wash someone else's. And that's how you'll be close to God. So if you
need to pray, there'll be a couple people down here to pray with you this
morning. And I want you to move by faith, not by your feelings.
And if you don't need to pray for anything this morning, then we're gonna worship
and we're pray. Gonna. Going to praise a holy God together. Because that prayer that
included us, included them. And I want to worship and praise
that same God. So let's pray, praise and worship.