He Will Be Glorified

Last week, if you guys were here, I spoke on a message, and the title of my message was “Do You Trust the Lord?” At face value, that sounds like it’s going to be an entire message that is challenging your faith, kind of just an overall hard message to get through. But really, it’s an encouragement that there are different areas of our life that we’re supposed to trust the Lord with, right? There are areas like our finances. There are areas like our health. There are areas like our heart. These are all areas that I believe the Lord is asking us to trust Him with, and it can look different for every single one of those areas.

But what we spoke on is that ultimately it comes down to this: do you trust that the Lord is who He says He is? Do you trust that the Lord is who He says He is? Because if you do, all of those categories we just talked about — your finances, your health, your heart — He is going to actually be able to show Himself to be faithful and true in every single circumstance in that area. If you believe that He is who He says He is — He’s a Redeemer, He’s a Healer, He’s a Provider — if you believe He is who He says He is, all of that will come to fruition.

And we actually read about the centurion out of Matthew 8, who recognized Jesus’ authority, right? We read that Jesus was not just kind of underground or low-key, like nobody knew Him. It said that His fame was actually being spread. And the centurion came to Him recognizing that He was a teacher with authority. And this centurion had a servant back at home that wasn’t well, and he asked Jesus to make that servant well. And so Jesus actually offered, okay, let Me come. I will come with you. We will heal the servant. And the centurion actually said, no, only Your word is good enough, and he’ll be healed.

And so when the centurion said this, it says in His Word — I guess it depends on the translation — but it does say in God’s Word that Jesus marveled at his faith. I think when we see things like that, it can be really easy to be like, oh, I wish I was around in that time and could actually see what it was like to be around Jesus in person, and have Him marvel at my faith. That sounds like such a high honor to have.

A personal question

But what I would challenge you with is that we actually can do this in present day. We can actually have opportunities for Jesus to marvel at our faith. He may not be walking around here in the flesh, in person, like He was for this centurion, but we still have opportunities in our life in 2024, present day, for Jesus to marvel at our faith. And when we allow Him to have that opportunity with us, and we actually have the faith that He is who He says He is, it sets the stage for Him to glorify Himself in our lives. That’s what we talked about last week. That was kind of the point I wanted to drive home: when we have faith that the Lord is who He says He is, it can set the stage for Him to glorify Himself in our life.

And so I want you guys to write this down, if you’re taking notes today. I want you to write down: What does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life? What does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life? I’ll say it one last time. I don’t have it on the screen, and that’s my fault. What does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life?

And as you can see, the title of today’s message is “He Will Be Glorified.” So I want to do a little practice here. Everybody say, “He will be glorified.” Let’s find out why. Everybody say, “He will be glorified.” Let’s find out how. Okay, sweet. I like it. Good.

So if you write anything down today, it’s: What does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life? Not our lives as a whole, not just a teaching that you can walk away with. I want this to be a personal, practical thing that we all can apply, because we serve a personal and practical God, I feel like. What does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life? This is going to look different for every single one of us.

Jesus can glorify Himself in our life when we’re believing for healing and then that healing actually comes through. He can glorify Himself when we’re praying for breakthrough in areas where we are stuck in bondage and addiction, and He actually brings that breakthrough, where we are no longer stuck in that bondage. He can glorify Himself when we’re praying for a deeper understanding of Scripture, and then personal revelation takes place when we are doing something as simple as sitting in His Word. He can glorify Himself when He asks us to trust in Him as a Provider, and then all of a sudden we secure that job that we thought was impossible to get, or that check comes in the mail at just the right time. He can glorify Himself in our life when we believe He is who He says He is. Amen? You guys with me? Cool.

So that is a practical thing. I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know if you need healing. I don’t know if you have bondage or addiction you’re trying to break. I don’t know if you are in financial trouble that you feel like God needs to come through on. It’s going to look different for every single one of us. So writing that question down — how is He going to glorify Himself in my life? — is important. It’s important to answer this question, I think, because it actually sets an expectation of what God can do in your life. It sets an expectation of what you expect from God in your life.

That can be a dangerous thing to do, I think. Talking to some people, they’re like, you shouldn’t put expectations or limitations on God. You shouldn’t try to figure out how God is going to play out in your life. You shouldn’t try to do that on your own accord. But what I would encourage you in is — at least for me — I don’t think we expect enough from God. I think that our expectations are actually oftentimes set way too low.

I don’t know how many people I’ve talked to that maybe go through something like a physical healing, and they go to the doctor and they get on medication and they’re going through the treatments and everything like that. And I’ve talked to them, and they have actually told me that God wants to heal them. And yet when I ask them, how’s the medication going? How’s the healing process going? — and then I ask the question, how have you been praying about it? — I’ll oftentimes hear, oh, I prayed about it when it first happened, and I haven’t really stood on that since. And I’ve been guilty of this too. But it’s just an example that I believe we actually don’t set the expectation high enough for what God can do in our life.

And so practically answering a question like, how can He glorify Himself in my life? allows us to set an expectation for what God can do in our lives. You’re with me, right? This is a very practical thing. And I would even argue that by not asking questions like that, we actually miss opportunities for Him to glorify Himself in our life. We can simply go through life going to church, or whatever it may be, fitting in God when it’s convenient. And all of a sudden, all these situations in life that we’re trying to handle on our own are missed opportunities where He could have glorified Himself in our life.

Now, it’s not just something where we reap the benefit of Him glorifying Himself in our life. It’s not just cool for us. But we’re going to get to that later. It’s really important that Jesus is able to be glorified in our life, and we’ll get to that later on.

On the mountain

I don’t have a lot of scriptures today, but I do have a lot of Scripture. You guys with me? You’re not going to have to flip your pages in your Bible much, but you are going to have to stick with me and read with me. So if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Matthew 17:1–8. I had to put the microphone down to pick up my Bible, but I really want to use it today. Last time I didn’t even get to open it. Trying to multitask here. It’s brand new, so having it open like this — it just wants to close. It’s barely able to stay open right now. But I’m going to read through it.

I am reading out of the ESV, and it says this: “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.” I’m pausing at verse 1 here. Notice that it literally just says three people. I don’t know why, but when I read Scripture, whether it’s one disciple or all the disciples, I group them in my head as just one big body of disciples. It’s important to recognize in this context that not all of the disciples were there. Okay? Not all the disciples were there.

“After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured” — everybody say, “Transfigured” — “he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” Verse 3: “And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with them. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’”

And I’m laughing, because in verse 5 it says, “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son.’” That always for some reason makes me laugh, because he literally got cut off mid-sentence by God, and I just think it’s a really funny visual. But yes, verse 5: “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’”

Verse 6: “When the disciples heard this” — again, not all the disciples were there — “when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’” Verse 8: “And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

Okay, so it says that He was transfigured before them. To be transfigured, apparently, in the dictionary means to change form or appearance. But in a Bible sense, it’s referring to that change of appearance, and it says that they got a glimpse of His full heavenly glory. The disciples that were with Him witnessed Him being transfigured, and they got a glimpse of His full heavenly glory. So this was not just an instance where they heard God the Father speak and they were astonished. There was a lot more going on than that.

And so I bring all that up to say, I would imagine, after this whole event takes place, as they are leaving, their faith is probably shaken in a good way, right? They’re very, very aware of the power of God in that moment. Those disciples are very aware. But as I was stating before, it’s very important to know not all the disciples were there.

As we read on in Matthew 17, we’re going to pick up at verse 14. So we’re skipping ahead eight verses. This is after all that happens. It says this: “And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to them and, kneeling before him, said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.’”

And so what disciples is he talking about? He’s not talking about the same disciples that just saw Jesus transfigured, right? These are disciples that were trying to do something, probably on their own accord, I would imagine — trying to do something to the best of their ability. But it says that they were not able to heal him.

Verse 17: “And Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you?’” Harsh. “‘How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.’” Verse 18: “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.” Everybody say, “Instantly.” The boy was healed instantly. Verse 19: “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’” Verse 20: “He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”’” — some translations say, “be cast into the sea” — “‘and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’”

And so we see an instance where we meet up with the remainder of these disciples that were not in that instance of seeing God’s full glory, not in the instance of seeing Jesus transfigured before them and seeing His full heavenly glory — and I would imagine kind of trying to do it to the best of their ability. We meet back up with them. This guy is like, your disciples can’t do it. I don’t know what’s wrong with my son. You need to help. Jesus heals instantly. And later, when the disciples say, why couldn’t we do it? Jesus tells them it’s because of your little faith.

Now, the first time I ever read this, I honestly had the thought, man, I think the disciples have failed a lot, because I kind of recalled another instance where they couldn’t heal and Jesus is like, oh, it’s because of this. I feel like they’re just taking L’s left and right, right? That’s what I thought the first time I read this. And then I realized that the story I was thinking of is actually the exact same story that we just read. It’s just in a different gospel.

The same story in Mark

We just read out of Matthew, and now I’m going to read out of Mark. So I need you guys to stay with me, because I need to prove to you that this is the exact same instance, but it gives more detail, and there are different things to point out. Mark 9 — you don’t have to turn there if you don’t want to; this will be on the screen. Mark 9:17–29. We’re skipping the Transfiguration. We’re skipping going up on the mountain. It picks up when they get back to the crowd, with the disciples that were like, why can’t we heal?

Verse 17, Mark 9:17: “Then one of the crowd answered and said, ‘Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they could cast it out, but they could not.’” And so at first it sounds like this is a different person. That kid was falling in fire and falling in water, and this kid is foaming at the mouth and gnashing his teeth, and he’s on the ground. This is different.

But as we read on, verse 19: “He answered and said to him, ‘O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.’ Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.” The demon knew what was going to happen and wanted to get as much attention on him as possible before it was time for him to be cast out. Verse 21: “So He asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’”

So Jesus was not just going around performing these miracles and making it a show all about Him. Jesus was actually meeting people where they were at and then bringing God’s glory into their situation. He wanted to hear this man out. He wanted to hear this father out and realize, how long has this been happening to your son? Why? Because when He finds out, it helps Jesus actually build compassion for that person, and through that compassion the healing comes.

I don’t know if you guys have ever noticed this — this is another sermon for another time — but I realized how many of Jesus’ miracles and healings are immediately tied to the compassion He has for that situation and God’s will for that person. Does that make sense? Are you guys with me here? The shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept,” is actually related to Him having compassion for a situation before a miracle takes place. And so it’s important to read these different instances in different gospels. It’s the same instance, but it’s in different gospels, and it gives you different details, right?

Anyways, so He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And the father told Jesus, “From childhood.” Verse 22: “And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” So we realize this is actually the same instance. This is that same boy we read about in Matthew.

Verse 23: “Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’” Verse 24: “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’” We’re seeing that compassion come full through in this retelling of the story. Verse 25: “When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!’ Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said” — I feel like I had a typo here — “many said that he is dead.” Verse 27: “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”

Verse 28 — we’re almost there. “And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’” And pay attention to how this telling in Mark ends. Jesus tells them the reason that they couldn’t cast this demon out. “So He said to them, ‘This kind can come out by nothing’” — everybody say, “Nothing” — “‘by nothing but prayer and fasting.’”

Prayer, fasting, and faith

So this is the exact same story that we read about, the exact same instance. But in Matthew, Jesus tells them that it’s because of your little faith that you couldn’t cast it out, and then He goes on about faith as small as a mustard seed, and you can move mountains. And then in another telling of this instance, in Mark, we see Jesus actually telling them, you couldn’t cast it out because this only comes out by prayer and fasting. So I’m like, what’s going on here? Is this just contradicting itself?

But the more that you think about it, I believe that this whole demon-oppressed boy was not just a scenario where there was a legalistic solution — where it was just, this only comes out by prayer and fasting, or this only comes out by you having a little bit more than just a little faith. See, when we pray and fast, what it actually does is it weakens our flesh and it strengthens our faith. When we pray and when we fast, it weakens our flesh and it strengthens our faith.

And so in both instances, I believe that Jesus is telling the disciples that they had too little faith. When He says it only comes out by prayer and fasting, it’s not the behavior that Jesus was referring to. He was saying this only comes out by having such great faith that only comes from praying and fasting, because that practice weakens your flesh and it strengthens your spirit. Do you see where we’re going here? Do you see what I’m saying? It does make sense.

And so in order to have that amount of faith, it kind of required them to be at a different level than they were. Again, these were not the disciples that were with Jesus seeing Him transfigured and getting a glimpse of His full heavenly glory. These were disciples that were down there doing their best, really. And then this guy’s like, your disciples can’t do it. And in reality, they were really just trying their hardest on their own accord, but they didn’t have the faith that was required to use the authority Jesus had given them to cast out the demon. They didn’t have the faith in Jesus, and they didn’t have the faith that He had given them the authority to do that.

Paul tells us that we live by faith and not by sight. And so I think that’s always an interesting thing to think about, because I always relate it to a comparison with a car, right? A car operates on fuel — unless you drive electric, I guess — but a car operates on some type of resource. And as Christians, we are to operate on faith, right? What happens when you’re completely out of gas? I guess there are a lot of answers there, but yeah, usually to get to the gas station you have to push your car there. How many of you guys have actually run out of gas ever and had to push a car into the gas station? I was seeing if the majority of the people who raised their hands were youth students, and they’re not, so good job, guys. I’m proud of you. Way to be prepared.

But when you’re out of that gas, it becomes harder to do simple operations, right? As Christians, we live by faith and not by sight. And so it’s no wonder that when we have these big obstacles in our life and we’re trying to handle them on our own, based on what we see, what we feel — it can even be with good intentions. I think this is what God would have me do. I know His Word a little bit. I went to church this week; that’s what the message was on. This is probably what I need to do. Doing things on our own accord can oftentimes fall short, because we’re not actually relying on faith. We’re living by our sight, right? We’re not living by what we feel God is telling us is going to happen. We’re living by what we see happening.

It can be things like that healing that we referred to earlier. My biggest healing testimony — I won’t go into it in extreme detail here — but my biggest healing testimony: I knew that I knew that I knew that I was healed, because God told me, and I did not feel it manifest in my body. I was walking around actually feeling the pain and not being healed. But I don’t know how to explain it. I had such peace and confidence in my mind that I was already healed that I was able to almost block it out. I felt the pain. It did not manifest healing. But I knew that I was healed, and it was that faith that I lived by. And sure enough, within — I feel like it was a week or two of me having that promise just sealed and living by that faith — then the healing came. You see the difference there? We don’t live by what we’re seeing or what we’re feeling. We live by faith.

Now, we need to have that kind of faith for big obstacles in our lives, because if we don’t have the faith that God is as big as He says He is, we’ll believe that He’s not big enough to overcome the obstacles that we need Him most for. If we don’t believe that God is as big as He says He is, when we get to those moments where we need Him most, we’re actually not going to believe that He can even help in that situation, right? It’s important to have the faith that He is who He says He is.

Those who don’t yet know Him

See, I bring this up because this is almost a part two to my message from last week. Last week my message was “Do You Trust the Lord?” And when I pray and when I prep a sermon, I always tell you guys that I just pray and ask the Lord, what do You want me to speak to the congregation this week? What is it? And when I did that two weeks ago now, I didn’t really get anything at first. And then that night that I had prayed, I got woken up at like 3:00 a.m., and it just got dropped in by the Holy Spirit. I swear it just was like, “Do you trust the Lord?” That was the title and the whole message that I preached last week, and what I recapped this morning: things like, do you trust the Lord in your finances, your health, your heart, et cetera. But when this got dropped into my heart and into my mind, it was one specific instance. It was: do you trust the Lord with those in your life that do not yet know Him?

See, I think that believing that the Lord is going to save those people in our lives that don’t yet know Him, or aren’t in a relationship with Him — I personally think that can be harder to have faith for than things like just needing healing in your life, or things like, I’m down a hundred bucks; I don’t know what I’m going to do this week. For me, I can practically pray for those things. I know: Lord, I need You to heal my back, because it’s killing me. I just speak healing into my body right now. For me, I can look at my bank account and be like, Lord, I desperately need these funds right now. I need exactly whatever it is — $527.32. I can practically pray for those things.

When it comes to praying for people in my life that don’t know Him, that can be a lot harder. This is something that requires a lot of faith. And I think a lot of you guys in the room can relate to it, because depending on how long it’s been happening, it can need that much more faith. There can be people in your life where you’re like, yes, I know the Lord wants to encounter this person. I know that I’m supposed to have faith that He is going to save them. But it has been years and years and years.

And I would even argue — some of you have experienced this — that the more you believe for it to happen, it feels like the person is just getting further away from God. That can be a really frustrating thing that diminishes your faith. That can be something where it gets to a point where you might even question, is it really just a matter of having enough faith that this is going to happen?

That’s why you talk to people that are Christians and you find out that they do things like trying to change people, right? We try to — okay, I need to pray for, I don’t know, my aunt who’s struggling with alcohol addiction or something. Just an example. But I’m going to pray for them, and I feel like this is what’s wrong in their life, and they need to know the Lord. And so we start to pray for what? We start to pray that they would do things like come to church. We pray that they would have a breakthrough in their alcohol addiction. We pray for them to buy a Bible at Barnes & Noble or something, right? We pray things that are good.

But I think what oftentimes is the temptation, and the trap that we can fall into, is we pray for the solution that we see fit for their breakthrough. We pray for the solution that we think is going to bring them closer to God, rather than having the faith that God is big enough that He is going to be the one that intervenes in the situation. He’s going to be the one to glorify Himself enough that they see that glorification — they see it so true and so real that they just come to Him. Do you see the difference there? There’s a major difference there. There’s a really, really, really big difference there.

That’s why it’s important for us to allow God to glorify Himself in our lives. Because there are people that you guys know — you have different spheres of influence — and you can be praying for them. You can be hoping that a specific solution comes to them. You can hope that they come to church. You can hope that they get in their Bible, whatever it may be. But ultimately, it’s all about them seeing Jesus live in you.

Why does that matter? Because you are tangible. You are somebody that they talk to. You are somebody that they have some level of influence with. They know about you; they have a relationship with you. And so when they see Jesus glorifying Himself in you, it will become so real that they will want to know something about that. They’ll want to know, how did you get healed when you didn’t go to the doctor? How did you all of a sudden miraculously get this job when you have no qualifications for it? And you get to tell them things like, I’ve been praying on it and standing on faith. And so they see Jesus glorifying Himself in you, because you have the faith that He is who He says He is. And when they see that, they come to Him.

You guys are with me, right? When it comes to having people in our lives that need to know Him, it’s important that we have faith that God is who He says He is, because we don’t save. It’s Jesus that saves, right? It’s not your job to save people. It’s your job to believe that He is who He says He is.

So when you’re talking to people, and when you have those influences, and when they’re saying negative things or things that kind of challenge your faith, it can be really tempting to just downplay it or let it go. I even still feel awkward when I talk to people and they find out I’m a pastor. I don’t know why, but they’ll be like, “Wait, you’re a pastor?” And sometimes I’ll be like, “Yeah.” I’m like, why do I say it like that? I think I’m dreading the fact that they’re going to say things like, “Well, you don’t seem like a pastor. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? It doesn’t seem like God’s active in your life.” Those are all the fears and doubts that start to come into my mind, instead of just having faith that He is who He says He is and being excited to share what He’s doing in my life.

But that requires me to have faith in Him. That requires me to be with Him. That’s why Jesus was telling them this demon doesn’t come out by anything but prayer and fasting. Why? Because praying and fasting is a practice that brings you so close to God that your faith will be raised up to the point that it needs to be to do the things He’s asking you to do. I’m on a little bit of a tangent, I apologize, but I think it’s really important to understand that.

Faith is the substance

So go back to your notes, and see — if you wrote one thing down, it’s still the most important thing: What does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life? I don’t know if you’ll answer that. I don’t know if you guys want to write down ideas of how that happens, or if you want to pray for God to give you the ideas of how that happens. But it is so important to answer this question — what does it look like for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life? — because when you get those answers and you start to actually apply them to your lives, the people in your lives that do not yet know Him will see Him through you. They will see Him being glorified in your life in every aspect. You guys are with me, right? Good. I know I keep asking that, but I just want to make sure that we’re there.

See, I don’t know what it looks like for Jesus to glorify Himself in your life, but I do know that it will happen. And when it happens, it will build your faith in Him. Hebrews 11:1 tells us this — this is out of the New King James Version. This is, I feel like, just ingrained in my head, because Pastor Jay had me memorizing Scripture when I was in a discipleship program, and this one was, I think, my first one, and I was terrified I was going to screw up. It says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”

Now, if you aren’t convinced that the most important thing, for the people in your life that don’t know Jesus to come to Jesus, is faith, I think this is the most concrete evidence that there is. When you look in His Word and you see the definition of faith: faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. How many of us are hoping that somebody in our lives comes to Jesus, but we have not yet seen it, right? You’re already experiencing what it takes, and what that feeling is that needs to be even more raised up. You’re already experiencing that faith in you. It’s something that you’re hoping for that you have not yet seen. And so all you need to do now is believe that He is who He says He is, know Him on a deeper level, and bring that faith even stronger. Good?

His Word itself is living and active, and it tells us this exact definition of what is needed for those in our lives that do not yet know Him. We’re hoping for them to be saved, and we have not yet seen it happen, and it is faith that is needed — faith that He is who He says He is.

A friend I didn’t tell

Do you want to come up? Thank you. This is really important. I don’t know all of your situations. I don’t know your relationships with people. And I’ve shared this story on stage before, so I’ll try not to go into too much detail or reshare it. But I don’t think you guys need me to go over the same story again to know how important it is, because I believe that you guys do have people in your lives that do not know Him, that have passed. You can start playing anytime. Thanks.

It’s emotional, because I think all of us recognize — depending on the situation — it seems like an opportunity where we’re convinced we could have done more. We could have done more to stop it. We could have done more to prevent it. We could have done more to change the situation, whatever it may be, right? If you lose somebody in your life that you truly felt the Lord was trying to have a relationship with, and you don’t know what their status is now that they’re gone, that can be a really hard thing to walk through. But it’s something that completely requires faith that He is who He says He is, in order for them to come to know Him. So I don’t know how to talk about it without sharing it, so I’m just doing my best. But truthfully — sorry.

There’s just a guy that I went to college with. And like I tell you guys, I still feel weird when I tell people that I’m a pastor. Back then I wasn’t even a pastor. I wasn’t even on fire for the Lord. However, I did consider myself saved. I had a relationship with God enough to the point where, when people asked, do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe in God? I would always tell them yes, and if they had questions, I’d do my best to answer them. But I wouldn’t say I was on fire for the Lord. I wouldn’t say that I was educated in any way when it came to Scripture or theology, none of that. So when it came to talking to people about God, I felt so underqualified it wasn’t even funny.

Not to mention, if you guys know my testimony: when I got saved, I was changed from the inside out, but I still had flesh behaviors that were hanging on. And so there were things I was doing, like smoking, drinking, or whatever I was wanting to do, that people would see. And so I would feel weird telling them, yeah, I’m a Christian, because they would equally see what I was doing that they didn’t deem Christlike. And so it was awkward to tell them that and then feel like I would have to defend myself, right?

So back then, there was this guy — like I said, I went to college with him — and we would always skip class. I mean, it was college, so it wasn’t as big of a deal, I feel like, as high school. We were just wasting our own money. My parents are hearing this and they’re like, are you kidding me? Yeah, I was wasting their money. It was 14 years ago at this point; I think we can get over it. It’s all good. But anyways, I would skip class. I would play hacky sack with this guy. I would even smoke cigarettes with him, right? This was not a healthy, good type of fellowship. This was just a guy that I knew that I did whatever I wanted with.

I didn’t know him super well, but I knew him well enough that I felt like I kind of knew his life and his behaviors and his cycles and stuff like that. So he would occasionally tell me little things he was struggling with. He would splice in little things where it was kind of like, I need help. And I didn’t catch it. So anyway, he took his own life, and I didn’t see it coming.

But I get emotional, because like I’m telling you guys, it’s not me that saves; it’s Jesus. And so it’s not that I feel like it was my job to save him. However, he would ask questions that were like a layup for me to share what God was doing in my life and how it was affecting me, right? I was smoking cigarettes and whatever with him, but there were so many more addictions and sins and disbelief and all that kind of stuff that I had already broken through after I had met who Jesus was. But when he would share with me what he was going through, I didn’t have the faith that God was big enough to be relevant for his situations, right? And so I never would share my faith with him. I would never share who I knew God to be. I would never share who I knew Jesus to be.

So now that he’s gone — I don’t know what happened to him after this life. Jesus is the judge; I’m not. But I do know God was asking and giving me many opportunities for Jesus to glorify Himself in my life, by simply sharing faith in who I believe Him to be. And if I were to do that, I believe that my friend would have seen Jesus, and at least come and been curious, and had a chance to encounter Him.

The answer starts with you

And so it’s important that we have faith that He is who He says He is, so that He can glorify Himself in us, and those people that don’t yet know Him could have a chance to come to know Him before it’s too late. That’s what I’m trying to get across right now. It’s really important. Again, I don’t know your personal stories or situations that well, but I think you guys have people in your life that you want to know the Lord, or maybe people you’ve lost that didn’t know the Lord. And I think you can relate that it’s just that much more important that we have the faith that He is who He says He is, so He can glorify Himself in us and there can actually be evidence of Him reigning true in our lives.

So when there are all these people, and you’re like, how do we get them to church? How do we pray that they get saved? They have so many problems — and you’re praying that their behavior would stop or their behavior would change — I’m telling you, that’s not the answer. The answer is for you to get closer to God and then trust that what He’s doing in you is big enough to influence their life. It’s going to require boldness to talk to them about God. It’s going to require you to actually put in some effort to bring Jesus to them. But the answer is not changing them. The answer is starting with you. Make sense? All right, I’m glad you guys are with me.

So what I want to do is I want us to stand. I do want us to come closer to God, just as Jesus tells us to do, and I want to close in some worship. And so I will pray for you guys, but we’re going to end with “Goodness of God.” That’s what you’re playing? Okay, good. I was trying to think of the chords there.

So I’m going to pray for you guys. Father God, I just pray, Lord, that You would really just give us a stirring of our faith in a new way, Lord, that it would be strengthened to the point where we would know You to be true in every aspect of our life, whether it’s big or small. So God, I pray, as we prayed last week, that in the areas of our life where we need You most — whether it’s our finances, our health, or our heart, or whatever it may be — God, I pray that You would be in those moments. But Lord, more than anything, I pray that You would strengthen our faith to believe that You are who You say You are.

And God, in order for that to happen, we need to know who You say You are. We need to know who You say You are, and that requires us to come close to You. So God, I pray that You would take full advantage of moments like this, where we bow our heads, where we go into prayer, where we talk directly to You, Lord, where we give our praise, attention, and admiration to You. God, it’s in moments like these that we are fellowshipping with You and we know You deeper, and that’s when we get to know who You say You are.

So God, would You reveal Yourself in a new way to us? Would You reveal Yourself as who You say You are? Lord, would You reveal Yourself as a Provider? Would You reveal Yourself as a Healer? Lord, would You reveal Yourself in whatever aspect it is that we have not yet seen? I don’t want to fill in the blank for people in this room, because I want it to be a personal revelation that You give us, Lord. God, would You just show Yourself big in our lives in a new way, as we sing out praise to Your name. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Father God, we just thank You for being faithful. Lord, I thank You, just as we are singing out loud to You. We thank You for Your goodness, God. I thank You that even in the moments where we feel that we aren’t seeing Your promises come to pass, You remind us that it’s by faith that we live, and not by sight. And that when we stand on that faith, even in times where it takes longer than we anticipate, God, You get to glorify Yourself. I thank You for the opportunities in our lives where You get to glorify Yourself. I pray for more of those opportunities, and I pray that You would give us a deeper understanding of what You want to do in our lives.

God, I pray for the people that are actively believing for a deeper understanding of Your Scripture. The people that are actively believing to hear Your voice for the first time, that think that they don’t know how to hear You, that they’ve never heard You, that have tried and felt like it hasn’t worked. God, I pray for those people and just stand with them right now, and just pray in Jesus’ name that they would hear Your voice, that their ears would be open. We believe that You speak, because You are faithful, and that You speak loudly and clearly through Your Word. We just speak that in Jesus’ name. Amen.

I want to open up this time, as we are ending here: you guys are more than welcome to join us for prayer at the front. We’re going to have people here that will pray for you, and really, the floor is open. I’m not going to turn anybody away for coming up with a specific prayer request. But I would encourage that when you guys come up, you would receive prayer and allow God to speak to you in a way that answers that question of how He can glorify Himself in your life, in what ways He can glorify Himself.

And maybe you guys are here and — maybe this is your first time at church, I don’t know — but maybe you don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you don’t yet know what He’s all about, what it means to be born again, what it means to have abundant life, not only after this one, but here on earth. Please come up for prayer, and I’d love to lead you through that. I’d love to lead you through a moment of meeting Jesus for the first time. So I would welcome you guys up for prayer.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.