Conviction to Action | Kylen Perry

Porch, how are we doing? Let's go! Let me hear from you. Hey, it's great to be here together. I don't know what else you could have had planned for this evening, but I know that you making the choice to be with us here is quite the honor, so thanks so much for choosing to be here with us this evening.

Not only those of you here in the room (you look great; glad to have you), but also all of you tuning in from all over the nation. It's so amazing that God is doing something significant here in Dallas, but he's doing something significant all over the nation. So we're grateful that you would choose to trust us with your time. Special shout-out to Porch.Live Fresno, Fort Worth, and Tulsa. We love that y'all are tuning in, as always.

Porch, we have been in a series in the book of Colossians, and tonight we come to the fateful end. I know. That's how I feel. Before we get there, I'll start with a story. I've shared this before. I remember, when I was 16 years old, making my way out from school into the day and going to the pickup line. My dad was there, and as always, he was sitting in the circle drive ready to pick me up and take me home.

So, I make my way out. I see him sitting where he's always sitting. I throw open the door. I toss my bag into the back seat. I climb up into the car. I sit down, I buckle myself in, and he looks at me. He's like, "Bro, what are you doing?" He didn't say, "Bro," because that's not how dads talk to sons, but he said, "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? Please don't make me go back in there. It's the end of the school day. We're going home. I worked all day. It's time to get out of here. Fire it up, brother. Let's get out."

"You're not going home with me."

"What are you talking about? Of course we are. We do this every single day. I get in the car, throw my bag in the back, buckle myself in, and we drive home. What do you mean we're not going home together?"

"You're not driving home with me today."

Then he proceeded to toss me my own set of car keys. Yes. You can imagine my enthusiasm. I had been working year after year, mowing grass, saving up that hard-earned money to pay for my portion of the vehicle. So, he throws me the keys, and he says, "It's yours, son."

"Well, where is it?"

"That's the catch. You've got to find it."

"What does that mean?"

"It's in the parking lot."

I have no idea what this truck looks like or where he has it parked. So, what do you think my response is in this moment? "Man! Are you serious?" No, I was enthused. I was like, "Man, where is at? Let me get out of here." I hopped out of the truck and ran in a full-on sprint into the parking lot. I'm up and down the aisles, and I'm clicking that clicker as fast as possible, because I want to find my truck.

This is huge for me. This is the secret, the passage into a whole new way of living. This is going to give me a freedom the likes of which I've never known before. So, I'm moving up and down the aisles. I'm looking everywhere I can. I'm searching high and low, and wouldn't you believe it, I finally find it at the very back of the parking lot, looking fresh and clean and ready for our departure.

How crazy would it have been if I unlocked that truck, hopped up into the cab, started tuning the stereo, reading the manual cover to cover, and hopped out of the truck and started inspecting all of the contours and lines of its body? How crazy would it have been if I spent all that time learning as much about that truck as possible yet never drove it off the lot? How crazy would that be? It wouldn't make any sense. Why? Because that truck is meant for more. It's not meant to stay where it is; it's meant for action. It's supposed to get out onto the road. It's supposed to lead me into the sunset and into a brighter future.

Let me ask you this, Porch. How crazy is it for us to receive the keys to a whole new way of life in Christ yet never take action on that life either? How crazy would that be? You see, we've been journeying through the book of Colossians, and we've learned a lot up to this point. It has been weeks up until this time, and what we've been studying as we've made our way is we've learned the message of the gospel, the majesty of Christ's supremacy, the mysteries of his sufficiency, the myriad of threats we face along the way, and the markings of genuine belief.

We've learned so much, yet as we come to the final page tonight, chapter 4 of the book… As we turn to the very end of this letter from the apostle Paul, which he has been telling us is all about "If you want maturity in life, then you need clarity of Christ…" As we move to the final page, he tells us clarity doesn't just lead to your maturity; it also leads to a whole new activity. It changes the way you move through the world.

As we behold Jesus, as Paul has repeatedly unpacked… Yes, as you behold him, you do become like him, but not only that; you begin to believe like him, which is that there's a mission. There's not just a message, a mystery, a majesty, and a myriad of threats; there's a mission we're supposed to be a part of. God is saving the world. He's rescuing people. He's overcoming evil. He has given purposes for us to fulfill. This is what Jesus believed, and he fulfilled the mission and then handed us our marching orders and said, "Now you go and do it too."

We have a part to play. What Paul wants to talk to us about tonight is how we play that part. What does it look like for us to take everything we learned and now live it in the real world? That's what he's taking us to. How is it that we join the mission of Jesus Christ to save the world? He's going to give us some steps, the first of which we find in verse 2 of Colossians, chapter 4, which says, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."

1. Pray with devotion. That may feel a little anticlimactic to you. "So, you're telling me that's it? We have peered into the mysteries of the gospel. We have postulated on the majesties of God. We have pointed out all of the spiritual frauds of our day, and that's the takeaway? Like, that's what you're telling me? Just pray about it a little bit? That's what you want me to walk away tonight with? Thank you so much for wasting the last nine weeks of my life."

Here's the thing you need to understand. Paul has a very different understanding of prayer than we so often do. You see, he sees something in prayer that we too frequently forget, which is that prayer is powerful. Some of you are like, "Man, I could have forecasted you were going to say that." But here's the thing. Don't tune out yet, because I want you to catch the fact that this is such a momentous part of not just this chapter but this book.

You see, the disciples, the followers of Jesus, come to him in Luke, chapter 11, and they look at him and say, "Hey, Jesus, would you teach us how to pray?" That's what they ask him. It's the only instance in the entire Bible, specifically within the gospel accounts, where his disciples come to him and say, "Hey, will you teach us this exactly?"

What would you have asked Jesus to teach you? How to walk on water? How to perform some miracles? How to debate your opponents? How to make a public speech? What would you have asked? What would you have had him teach you? They could have asked him anything. This is the Son of God. This is deit8y in flesh, and they look at him and say, "Would you teach us how to pray?" Why? Why do they ask that? Because they'd seen him pray, and they'd seen the difference it made.

As they saw Jesus, what they saw was a man who looked unlike any other man they'd ever known. The gospel writers are emphatic about this. Matthew 7 tells us, "And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." He stood out.

John 6 tells us, "Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.'" "Not someone else. You are. You're the Holy One of God. You have the words of eternal life. Where else would we go?"

Mark 4 tells us, "And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'" Later in Mark it says, "And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'" Because mortal men do not die like that. They do not die with their life in their own hand. There's no one like him.

Jesus spoke, moved, taught, served, and loved in a way the likes of which we have never before seen, and I would argue it is largely…not entirely, but largely…due to the fact that he pulled from the power of his prayer life. All throughout the Gospels, if you just trace the miracle-making moments of his ministry, what you'll find is on the front side or on the back side, either preceding or proceeding those moments is a moment of prayer.

You see, Jesus rhythmically retreated to be with God, so he rhythmically repeated the works of God. He would retreat to be with him, and because of it, he would repeat the works of God. Here's what's crazy. Are you listening, Porch? Paul is telling us how we can tap into the same source, how we can access the same power.

Jesus says it in John, chapter 14. He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do…" Everything he did… Hello! It's available for you. You can do it. But not just that. Keep listening. "…and greater works than these will he [will she] do, because I am going to the Father." Where is Jesus right now? He's not here. He's with the Father, which means greater works are available to you and me.

How do we access it? "Whatever you ask in my name…" Whatever you pray. "…this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." That sounds pretty incredible, right? Do you want some of that in your world? I would take some of that. That's why Paul tells us, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." He says we should be steadfast. As we pray, we should be focused. We should be devoted.

If you look at the original language, what it's saying there is that we should be singularly, undividedly committed to one pursuit. Another translation says we should be devoted to prayer. So, think about something you were recently devoted to…training for a marathon, saving up to buy a house, working to pay off debt, trying to get that guy or that girl's attention.

I don't know what it is you were devoted to recently, but what was true of your devotion? The degree of your devotion informed the degree of your decisions. If you wanted that, then you would do whatever it took to get there. I love Abraham Lincoln. He said discipline is choosing what we want most over what we want now. That's devotion. It's "I'm willing to do discipline to get what I want most, even if it means I have to forgo some things I want right now."

That's how Paul is saying we should pray. He's saying we should pray with that kind of devotion, with that kind of intensity, with that kind of urgency. That's what he's articulating, but here's the reality, Porch. Many of us can't give prayer that kind of devotion because we've given that kind of devotion to something else entirely. We can't give God, in prayer, through humble pursuit, the kind of devotion he deserves because we've given that sort of devotion to something else altogether.

Some of you are so devoted to your job. We're coming into review season, so you have to finish well. You know, "I'm about to sit down with my boss. He's about to review how I've done this last year, and I want to race to the finish line. I want him to look at me and say, 'Man, I'm so glad we hired you. You're the best pickup we've ever gotten.'" So you're devoted to that.

Others of you… Summer is here. Sun's out, guns out. You're working out. You're hitting the gym, because it's pool season, baby. You're doing everything in your power to show up and show out there. Some of you are just devoted to getting through the week. It's miserable Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but the weekend will be better or that trip will be better or that event will be better or that extracurricular you have coming up will be better.

Some of you are so committed, so devoted to your community that instead of going and talking to God, you're just talking to other people…believers, yes, but other people about it. You're confessing sin and investing in relationship, making strategic deposits in the lives of people. You're serving others. You're doing everything you can in community. Here's the reason. And it could be something else. It doesn't have to be those things. It could be something else.

What is it, though, that you are devoted to? Answer it. What would you write down for that? All of us are devoted to something. And I'm not saying these things are intrinsically bad. I'm not saying they're unworthy of your devotion, but what I am saying is some things are more deserving of your devotion than others, and prayer is at the top of that list. Prayer should be our first priority and not our last resort. It's not the thing you do whenever you run out of options; it's the thing you do before you look to other options.

Leonard Ravenhill, British evangelist, author, and one fiery individual… He said, "No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere." Why is that? What's Leonard getting at? A prayerless person is a powerless person.

Some of you, whatever that thing, the object of all your attention in life is right now… You have worked so hard. You have checked all of the traps. You have strategized to the best of your ability. You have given a good college try. You have absolutely poured on everything you have to give to change that situation, but you're just shooting blanks because you've not prayed about it. There's no power in your attempt because there's no power apart from God. So, what are we supposed to pray for? Two things really quickly. We won't spend a ton of time on this.

The first thing we pray for is opportunity. That's what Paul talks about in verse 3. He says, "At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison…" This is crazy. Just picture it. Paul is sitting in prison, bound under Roman authority, very likely persecuted in this moment, but his prayers are not that God would open the door to his cell; his prayers are that God would open the door for an opportunity to share the gospel. That's convicting.

Some of us, myself included, have been in moments where we have been begging, "God, please! Just get me out of here. I've been working so hard in this, yet it's not at all what I expected. God, I'm ready for the next thing. I feel so stuck right now. Please, won't you lead me out? Won't you open a door? Won't you make a way?" Yet God is standing on the other side, knowing well what's behind that door, and he's saying, "I love you too much to open it. I will leave you where you are. Do not focus on the opportunities out ahead; focus on the opportunities here at hand. Think about the now. Work here in the moment."

I love it. This isn't even in my notes, but when you look at Adam and Eve, before Eve ever comes along, God has Adam lined up, and that brother wants a wife. He's like some of you. So, he's waiting and waiting and waiting. Do you know what he does, though? Rather than getting frustrated ("God, why won't you send her?") he goes to work. He names every animal in that garden. That brother seized the opportunity. He did good work, and then God opened the door in his own time.

Some of you need to trust that the Lord does love you. He is good, and he will open the door at the right time, but perhaps he hasn't opened it yet because right now he has already opened a door that he's waiting for you to walk through. So, you pray for opportunity. Verse 4 tells us we pray for clarity. It says, "…that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." I love this coming from the apostle Paul, because next to Jesus, he's the best preacher we've ever seen, yet he's praying for clarity.

Some of you feel so unfit to share the gospel. You feel so unfit to talk about your spirituality because you're not a poetic savant, because you're not a master orator, yet Paul is saying, "Man, just preach it plain, brother. Just tell them how it is. Be understandable." He prays for clarity. We should pray for clarity too. This is the first step to saving the world that we should take, Porch. We pray with devotion. As we go to verse 5, Paul gives us the next. It says, "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time."

2. Walk with wisdom. Paul says we walk, which, incidentally, is a pretty underwhelming activity if you're describing the Christian life. Like, that's it? We walk? Couldn't we put something better in there, like, we fight or we march or we wrestle? I don't know what your better description would be, but Paul says we walk. This is the way we move through the Christian life. We walk.

Why does he choose this? Because this was the primary mode of transportation for every single person in the ancient Near East. If you wanted to get from point A to point B, more likely than not, you were walking there. All of Jesus' ministry, he walked from town to town. This was something you did every single day. It was ordinary. In the same way, our spiritual life consists of walking every single day.

I love it. Paul is telling us our Christianity should look ordinary. It shouldn't be extraordinary. It shouldn't be reserved for when you're here on Tuesday nights or you show up on Sunday mornings or you're around that group of Christian friends. "Christian" is not a switch you flip whenever you're in the proper context. That would be an extraordinary expression. No, it's an ordinary expression. It is an everyday, day-by-day, rise-and-grind type of life. It's ordinary, and it's good that this is the case, because it requires our consistency.

I love the way one commentator put it. "The Christian walk merely consists of two steps repeated over and over and over again: put off the old and put on the new." That is a reference to Colossians, chapter 3. You see, Paul's point here is we should live in such a way that our actions back up our convictions, because the world is far less interested in your talk and far more interested in your walk. They want to believe how you behave. They don't want to adopt something you yourself have not adopted.

So, Christian, it's imperative that your convictions are supported by actions, that you don't grumble against other people or complain, but instead you reserve your words. You bite your tongue, because you know you should speak only if it builds up. It means you don't run frantically and stress out. "Everything is breaking! It's all going into chaos!" You don't worry when things fall in red alert, because you know you need not be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition, you present your requests to God.

We're supposed to walk in wisdom. We're supposed to live in a way that looks wildly odd to the watching world. I preach up here every week, and I do so with a kind of animation and intensity, because I don't want to look casual about the things we talk about. I want to back up all of my convictions with urgency and action. I want you to see I believe this stuff, and we should live in a way that believes it too. Believers are known by their behavior. So, what do your behaviors look like?

So, what's the walk supposed to look like? Well, I don't know if you've done much walking in your life, not just to and fro from here and there but concerted, deliberate exercise, something Brooke and I have recently picked up. Every time I know we're going to go on a walk, I always precede it with two questions. I have to know a couple of different things before I set out and hit the open trail.

First, I always want to know where we are walking. Like, is this just a casual stroll around the neighborhood or is this "over the river and through the woods" kind of stuff? Are we going on an adventure or are we going to be back in 30? I just want to know where we are going, and then I want to know how we are planning to walk. Is it leisurely or are we moving hastily with a brisk pace and a lot of purpose? I need to know, because it's going to determine my expectation.

Paul, thankfully, looks at us, and he answers those same questions. He tells us where we walk and how we walk. He has already told us how we walk. We walk in wisdom. That was the point. You walk with wisdom. What's wisdom? What does that even mean? Well, according to the Bible, wisdom is judging correctly and following the best course of action in a given situation.

It's like that friend you call whenever the bottom falls out. You don't know what to do, but they always have the right answer. They always know what to do. That friend has wisdom. They have street smarts. They know how to succeed in any situation. We're supposed to walk with a kind of wisdom that's characterized similarly. We walk this way. What it does is it leads us to look pretty odd, but that's okay, because uncommon people make uncommon moves.

If people are not walking up to you and saying, "Man, you're just different. You don't strike me as the average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill individual. Why are you the way you are? Why do you do the things you do?" you're probably not that uncommon, and thus, you're probably not walking in wisdom. The way of the Christian walk is not the way of the world's walk. It looks abnormal. So, how abnormal do you look?

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:2-4, "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way…" We're willing to walk in a way that commends ourselves and our gospel to other people. "…by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger…" It goes on.

It's pretty odd that people would do that to lead others to Christ. Yes? That's not the way of the world. You should look different. You should be uncommon. This sort of uncommonness allows us to walk in a way that presents a persuasive case that Jesus is who he says he is and is worthy of following, because we ourselves are following him too. That's how we walk.

Where do we walk? We walk toward outsiders. I love that Paul doesn't just say, "We walk with God." No, we walk toward outsiders. Not toward your holy huddle, not toward your Christian clique, not toward your friend group that you see each and every day of the week. No, you walk toward outsiders. That's where you walk. Not away from them but to them, which is an intimidating prospect. I get it. I'm an introvert.

I'm quite all right just doing me. I don't necessarily need to be around people. I don't like to be the center of attention. I enjoy going to movies by myself. Yet, as one pastor said, your personality type does not get to determine your purpose. There's a variety of hardwirings in this room, but if you are a believer, a follower of Christ, you and I and all alike have the same purpose, which is to know God and to make him known.

We walk toward the outsider, and we do so by seizing every moment, by making the best use of time. I remember in college one of my best friends today… I didn't know him at the time. I knew of him. He and I were not close. I would see him at the gym every single day. I would go, and he'd be there. The reason he stood out to me was not just because we were at the gym every single day around the same time. That's pretty average.

What was uncommon about this brother was he was there with four to five other guys, and they were all working out together. And they weren't just working out together; they were reading Bible verses, and they were taking that as fuel and motivation, like, deadlift PRs. It was the weirdest thing in the world, but I couldn't help but notice.

Later on in our friendship, I finally looked at him, and I was like, "Brother, what was going on back there? Like, one guy would hit you with Romans 5:8, and you would walk up and max rep right there. How did that work? What were you doing?" I love it. He looked at me, and he was like, "You know, it's a couple hours every day that I could either spend on myself or I could spend on someone else, so, because Christ was willing to give his time for me, I will give my time for them." Make the best use of the time. Walk with wisdom toward outsiders.

The last step he gives us in verse 6, the final step for saving the world. "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."

3. Speak with grace. That means our speech should be marked with an abnormal, undeserved kind of kindness. That's what grace is. Grace is unmerited favor. It's, "You don't deserve this, but I'm going to extend to you my love, my kindness, my compassion." That's how we're meant to speak. There should be a friendliness to the way in which we talk to other people.

At my last job we had this six-foot rule on staff that if anybody was ever within six feet of you, you should engage them, and you should do so kindly. I took this to heart. I thought it was a really good principle. So, I'm doing this. I'm in church on a Sunday, and I see a guy. He's within my radius, so I spring into action. I'm like, "Hey, man! How's it going?" He was like, "What is with this place? You're the sixth person to come up and tell me 'Hello.' This is the nicest place I've ever been. What are y'all doing?"

I was like, "Man, you know, Jesus was welcoming to us when we were new, so we're welcoming to those who are new themselves." He looked at me. "Man, I think the world could use a little bit of that." I was like, "Funny you should say that. The Bible would agree." That's what Paul is pointing to. Paul is saying our speech should be gracious, and it should be seasoned with salt.

If you run in Christian circles long enough, you've heard that idea. "Salt of the earth." But what does it even mean? Well, in the ancient world, salt had two specific purposes. It was used for seasoning and preserving. Our speech should be the same way. Your speech should have some flavor. No one likes to eat bland food, and no one likes to hear a bland gospel. There should be some flavor in the way you talk.

It is odd that we can get animated and interested in all manner of things…business, politics, sports, fashion…yet we can remain unanimated and uninterested in the person of Jesus. That's crazy! That makes no sense. Every single thing is going to dust. It's all going to wash away. It's all going to wear out except for the person of Christ who has made it available that we all can live with him forever and always. So why would we not get jazzed up and energized at the thought of him?

We should be deeply animated. There should be salt, seasoning, flavor, excitement, enthusiasm in the way we talk about him. There's no one like him. He's incomparable. He is wondrous beyond imagination, yet we just talk about him like this. How do you think he talks about you? I hope it's not like that. In fact, I know it's not like that, because you need only read this to see that he would go every depth, he would go every length, and he would move every width to get to you. So, how are you talking about him?

It's not just that our speech should be seasoned with flavor and fire and fullness, but it also should prevent corruption. It should preserve. You're like, "What does that mean?" A simple way to put it is it should be encouraging. What is encouragement? Encouragement doesn't tear people down; it holds them up. It builds them up. Literally, the definition of encouragement is to put courage into someone, and that's what we should do. We should speak encouraging words.

That's what Paul says in a different letter. He says in Ephesians 4:29, "Let no corrupting talk…" That which is not characteristic of a preserving nature. "…come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." This is how the believer is meant to speak.

Charles Spurgeon, my favorite preacher, said, "No reason exists why the preaching of the gospel should be a miserable operation either to the speaker or to the hearer." There's no reason. It doesn't need to be miserable. It can be both full of flavor, and it can be encouraging, which I just love. The gospel is full of gravity.

It is the most weighty, significant, meaningful thing in all the world. Some of you are here and have never heard it. Welcome. You will hear no better news anywhere else. It is full of gravity, and it is full of gladness. The Christian life is not a tragedy; it's a comedy. Not in the sitcom sort of way but in the way that knows there's a happy ending ahead because Christ Jesus has won. He has overcome death. That gives us every reason to share the good news.

How does that make you feel? I know, for some of us, cheering is the response, but listen. I once sat in your seat, and I would hear these moments come along. We're at the end of the conference, the end of the series. "Oh no. Here comes the evangelistic guilt trip. It has been so great, but now I'm supposed to get out there and do it, man."

I dreaded moments like these, because I didn't feel capable. I didn't feel worthy. I didn't, honestly, want to share the gospel. I was quite content knowing God and letting someone else make him known. So, why does God choose to use you and me to share the good news? This is hard. I know. I'm an introvert. This is part of my story. This is a hard thing.

I also know God could do this some other way. He could write it in the sky. "Believe in my Son for the forgiveness of your sins and life everlasting." He could put it up there in plain English. So why does he choose to use you and me? Well, why do we share about anything? The answer is easy. Because we think it's great. That's why we share about things. We believe they're great. That's why you talk about your spin class or that new restaurant or the show you're watching. You think it's really great, and as you share, you believe other people will think it's great as well.

It's easy why we share. A better question is…Why does God want us to share? I believe this is the thing that's so amazing, because when we consider the answer to that question, it reveals the state of our affections for him. See, there's no question. Does God want me to share the gospel? There's no question. The question, instead, is…Why don't I want to tell other people the gospel? That is a really heavy thing to consider, yet it's a really amazing thing to process, because God in his kindness… I think this is brilliant.

He has chosen to use you and me to tell the world about Jesus rather than some other method because he knows in so doing he will expose what the state of our love for him is. He leads you into places of evangelism and causes you to consider whether you do or do not want to share this good news that it might trigger a spiritual "check engine" light on the dashboard of your heart, that you might willingly see it, pop the hood, and evaluate. "God, what's wrong with me? Why don't I want to tell others of you?"

God's heart for evangelism is not to make this whole thing feel like a tour of duty or a time to serve. He's not trying to obligate you into working for him. That's not his objective. It's not a "I did my part. Now you'd better do yours." That's not his end. No, he calls us to share the hope of Jesus because in the process of doing it, it regularly reveals how much we love him.

Here's the crazy thing. I need you to hear this, because it's masterful from the Master. He wants you so much, longs for your heart so much that he would implement a strategy to expose whether you want him in return. If the answer to that question is "No," then the solution to that answer is…what? Tell yourself the good news of a God who would seek and save even the likes of you. Before you tell others, tell yourself. You be reminded. Have your affections grown cold? Then repeat the story of a God who would save anybody and let your affections blaze once again.

How do I know this is the way God is working as he tells us to go out and fulfill the Great Commission, to proclaim the good news, to share the hope we have in Jesus? How do I know, man? How am I so confident that he so badly wants to be connected to you that he would do this, that he would implement a strategy that would expose whether you want him in return? Because he sent his Son at a time when we did not want him, yet he wanted us anyway. This is the gospel.

Jesus Christ came, and he sought after a people who did not love, nor were willing to return the kind of affection he so freely lavished upon them. Jesus is a God become man who was so devoted to us he considered us his first priority, not his last resort. All along, he has seen you, and he said, "You're my first. You're my choice pick. You're not the one I guess I'm going to settle for because they said no. I can have whomever I want, and I want all people to come to me. So I'm coming to you. I'm moving to you. I'm devoted to you, because I want to bring you home."

He's not just devoted to us; he also walks toward us. When we were not on the inside but on the outside, Jesus walked toward us, and with love in his heart, he walked past us and up Calvary's hill where we ourselves were meant to walk. It's not just that he would walk toward; it's also that he would speak grace to us.

As he hung upon that cross and stared down at a people who wanted nothing to do with the likes of him, he would speak these words: "Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing." How do you change the world? You pray, you walk, and you speak. The reason we know this is the case is because Christ himself has done the same for you and me. Let me pray for us.

Father, I pray there would be no mistaking in this room just how badly you want for us. So badly, God, does your heart burn for the people in this room that you would send your one and only Son to do what we could not, to live life so very perfectly. Not only that. He also bore the death we deserve, God. The wages of sin is death, yet he said, "I will go in your place. I will die your death. I will take the hit."

He rose forth from that grave, and as he did so, he said, "And because I have done all of these things, believe in me and come with me where I am. Be with me for all eternity. Everything else is a waste. It's all going to wash. It's all going to rubbish, but not you if only you place your faith in me. You go on forever." We go on forever. God, I pray you would move here in this space. As we come to the last song, I ask that we would just have an honest moment with you.

So often, we come into this room, and for some of us, God (I know, because I myself was the same), we put on a front. We keep up the show. We play the part, yet, God, tonight, right now, this moment can be honest and authentic and real, for you, God, are honest and authentic and real in your love for us. We love you. We rejoice, God, for we have reason to rejoice. The Christian life has a happy ending, and it's all because of the name of Jesus. Amen.