Jesus Is Better

We’re going to be starting, and something that the Lord’s put on my heart for some time is to go through the book of Hebrews as a church. I believe that there’s something special that the Lord wants to bring to us in this. And I kid you not when I say I’ve been meditating on these scriptures specifically for probably over a year now. I think I mentioned this last year, and here we are. Today we’re just going to talk through some of the things that I believe the Lord has for us as a church, as a people.

What I love about the book of Hebrews is it gives us such a clear picture of Jesus. In our worship set we were talking about looking to the Lord, fixing our eyes on Him, right? And how many of you know that He will do that? But another way He does that is by meditating and being in His Word. Amen. When we spend time in His Word, He reframes our thinking. He reframes our focus and our attention on Him so that we see Him more clearly.

It is really difficult to go through life and not see the Lord, to not be led by the Spirit, to not be moved by what moves Him. And so we must know what His scriptures say. But I love the book of Hebrews because it gives such a clear picture of not only who Jesus is, but what He has done, what His position is, and what that means for the believer. Somebody say amen. It’s going to be awesome.

And so we’re going to begin a study that’s going to take us through the book of Hebrews, and this is something very different than what we normally do. I always joke that I tend to go more with a topical approach, just based on what the Lord is speaking to me, and we bring that to the church. But I was just considering this morning, honestly, the only topic that we have been in for the last year or year and a half has been Jesus. So we’re very topical, as long as the topic is Jesus. Okay? And so that is who we talk about. That is the one we love. Somebody say amen.

Why Hebrews was written

Before we get started here, I want to give a brief introduction into the book of Hebrews, so we just have a little bit of context about why this was written, to whom it was written, and what was the original purpose of this book. Now, this is so full — I barely open it and it’s spilling everywhere. Hold on. Oh, did you? Okay. You know, you got some football fans that are making fun of Joe Burrow for how — yeah, that’s me right now. Excuse me. All right. Did I spill on myself? No, that’s just a shadow. Okay, that would have been embarrassing.

All right, I want to give just a brief context of the book of Hebrews, so we can have a background, so we can have a foundation. The reason why people typically love the book of Hebrews is because it gives us a picture of Jesus as the ultimate high priest. For those of you that don’t know, in the Old Testament people had to go to the high priest. They had to bring their sacrifice to the high priest to make sacrifice on their behalf. But how many of you know we have a great high priest named Jesus who paid the price once and for all? Amen.

They also love the book of Hebrews because it speaks to the superiority of Christ. It emphasizes the supremacy of Christ over everything else — over angels, over the Old Testament prophets, over the old covenant — showing that Jesus is our ultimate fulfillment of covenant. And then it also encourages believers in perseverance. Does anybody ever get a little bit weary going through life from day to day? Right? Things tend to get tiring. We get pressed on certain things and certain issues.

Even if you don’t have significant painful moments in a day — do you guys know, if you were to take your thumb and just rub it nonstop, you start to get that burning and that painful sensation just from that constant friction? It begins to become this wear. I feel like that’s what a lot of life is like. There’s just constantly this pressure and this twisting and turning, that even though you might be strong, even though you’re not in jeopardy of necessarily being taken out, there’s just this painful annoyance. Do you guys know what I mean? In the book of Hebrews we are encouraged to persevere, to not turn back.

And then of course we love the faith chapter in Hebrews 11 that gives us a picture of what true faith looks like. And then there is the promise of rest. There is a promise in the book of Hebrews of entering into God’s rest, into His rest.

And so I want to give some context of the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews was written around 70 AD, before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Okay? So this was probably a handful of decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus. And the author is unknown. Some believe it to be of Pauline authorship, that it was written by Paul. Some believe it was an accomplice or a friend of Paul, such as Barnabas or Apollos or even Priscilla. But the bottom line is nobody actually really knows who the author is.

Hebrews was written to Jewish believers. Now, most early Christians were Jewish, and they expected that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He would return soon. But some time has now passed, and they’re beginning to question if they’ve made the right choice, because the choice that they have made to follow Jesus has come with some personal sacrifices. There was persecution rising against the Christian church, and they began to get left out of things. It was illegal to have unregistered churches, so they were being persecuted for meeting and gathering in homes. They were being persecuted by not being allowed to purchase things, to trade. Their homes were being vandalized.

Now, at this point they were not yet being killed. They were not being martyred just yet, but it was about to happen. And the believers were beginning to question, “Did I make the right choice? Is this really actually real?” Let’s be honest now — anybody ever ask those questions? Is this really real? Is there actually something to this? And so the book of Hebrews was written to encourage believers: Jesus is so much better than anything you ever had before.

Don’t turn back

And I believe that’s what Jesus is bringing to us today, that we would know Jesus is better. Everybody say that: Jesus is better. Now, we can hear that, we can read that, we can say, “Well, of course Jesus is better. Duh.” That’s the answer in Sunday school, right? Anytime the Sunday school teacher would ask, “What’s the answer?” you could just yell, “Jesus!” You could yell it mindlessly. Jesus is the answer. We know Jesus is the answer.

But I want us to be settled in our heart today that no matter what comes, no matter what happens, we would know Jesus is better. He is more precious. He is more potent. He is everything to me. That we would not turn back.

You see, the temptation when things don’t go our way is to go back to what we knew before. How many of you guys remember, when Jesus had died on the cross, what was the first thing the disciples wanted to do? “I’m going fishing.” They went back to what they knew. And I’m so thankful that we serve a God that, when we sometimes get off course, when we go back to what we knew before, Jesus will call us again. Amen. Jesus called the disciples again. He went out and He revealed Himself to them, and they said, “That’s Jesus.”

You see, when things get difficult, when things get tiring, when things don’t add up, or we feel like, “Man, since I gave my life to the Lord, I feel like I’ve had more trouble. I feel like I’ve had more difficulties. I feel like things aren’t working out” — there is a voice inside of us, that is the enemy, that will speak: “You know what, you probably need something else. You tried Jesus, but it hasn’t worked out for you.” Pastor Suzie just recently gave a powerful message: you can’t try Jesus. Did you know that?

And that’s something that the Lord was just revealing to us this morning during our time of worship. We cannot be half in. You cannot follow Jesus 50 percent. And so many believers try to live out a Christian faith with Christian values, only giving Jesus 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent of their heart. You cannot follow Jesus without giving Him everything — not correctly. And there is a warning that if you don’t give your full heart to Him, there is room in your heart to be taken advantage of, to get off course. You guys with me?

And this is where the Jewish believers were. They were in this place where they had been faithful, where they had given their heart, their life, to Jesus, but now they can’t even feed their family. They can’t feed their kids, because they can’t purchase or trade at the market. You see, it’s one thing when it only affects you, but how many of you know when it affects your family, the pressure is on?

And there was a real struggle that they were facing: “Maybe I should just go back to my Jewish faith. Deny Jesus.” The only way to go back to your Jewish faith, to go back to the Jewish church at that time, was to deny Jesus. And there was a real temptation, because so much time, so much pain — “This doesn’t seem like the Christian life. I thought Jesus was going to be back by now.” And the Hebrew author is writing, “Do not turn back, because what you have been given is so much more than what you ever had before. Don’t turn back.”

I want to talk today about how Jesus is better. He’s better than you think. You think you know how good He is? He’s better than that. You think you know the full accomplishment of what He did by dying on the cross and rising from the dead? You think you know the full effect of what that means? You’re barely scratching the surface. Jesus is better than anything you could hope for. He’s better than anything you can accomplish. He’s better than any success that you can have on this earth. He is better than all of that.

If you have the whole world but you don’t have Jesus, you have nothing. Amen. You can have all the fame, you can have all the friends, you can have all the popularity, you can have all the money, but if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have anything. Jesus is better.

And so here’s what I would like us to do. Can we just close our eyes, lift our hands to the Lord? I just want to pray. Lord Jesus, we want to receive from You. We ask that You would fill us, that You would feed us today by Your Spirit, Lord, that You would speak, Lord, and move and do exactly what You want to do today. Lord, we surrender this time. We give You our heart, and we say, come, Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Jesus is a better voice

All right, I had you turn to Hebrews chapter 1, and we’re going to start at verse 1. I want you to keep in mind who this was written to: people who are struggling in their faith, people who are tempted to try other things, to have other solutions. And it says in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”

I love how the author jumps right into it. You know, typically when you haven’t talked to somebody for a while, you would say, “Hey, guys, it’s me. Greetings from wherever. I’m so glad. How have you guys been? I miss you. It is so good to be able to connect with you.” Right? I love what the author does. What’s the first word? Everybody say, “God.” He’s not messing around right now. There is too much at stake for pleasantries.

There’s times — so I coach football, and I coach these young men, and there are times where I cannot beat around the bush. I can’t be nice Coach Jay. I have to be mean Coach Jay. And you guys want to know what mean Coach Jay sounds like? Okay, so this is my normal voice. This is what mean Coach Jay sounds like. This is my mean voice. That’s it. That’s about as mean as I get, right? But I have to tell it how it is.

We can’t just talk about the fluff. There is so much fluff in the Christian church today. There are so many topics that are Christless that we are now in a crisis. Jesus is not talked about enough. You come here and you’re like, “Man, all they do is talk about Jesus.” You better believe it. He is everything. If you don’t have Him, you have nothing. If you have Him, you have all things.

And so we can’t beat around the bush anymore, and that’s where the author is coming from. He says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets” — notice — “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better” — say that with me: so much better. Say it again: so much better — “having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Jesus is better. He’s better than your career. He’s better than your lack. He’s better than the void that is in your heart. He’s better than that medication, that self-medication, those things that we do to fill the empty places in us. You know what I’m talking about — when you’re alone by yourself and you’re just looking for something to numb the pain, to numb your mind, to not have to think about it anymore. You know what I’m talking about. He’s better than that.

What did Paul say? Don’t be drunk with wine; be filled with the Spirit. Why? Because He’s better. You think you know what you need. You think, “If I only had a relationship, if only I had better friends, if only I was a little more popular, if only I had a little bit more money, then I would be happy.” If you don’t have Jesus — He’s the only one that satisfies. Amen. Jesus is better.

But I want you to notice verse 1. It says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke” — everybody say “spoke” — “spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.” In other words, before Jesus, this is how God would speak to His people. You would have to do the best you can, live the best life you can, because you don’t want God’s judgment. You would do the very best that you could, and when you messed up, you had to do this: you would have to take a sacrifice — some cattle, or the first of your increase. You had to take a sacrifice, and you had to travel to the temple where God’s presence dwelt, and you had to give it to the priest, who then had to make an offering and sacrifice it by burning it to the Lord. And when that would happen, your sins were forgiven, and you could go back.

Now, that trip alone would sometimes be days or weeks. They didn’t have mass transit. They didn’t have a fast way to get around. There was a lot of land to cover. There were hazards along the road, right? You’d be walking — I do not like snakes. I don’t like snakes, I don’t like spiders. Let’s just not do that, right? People are like, “Oh, there’s a spider web in the corner.” I’m like, “Yeah, you got to clean that up, ’cause I’m not cleaning that up.” I’m just not touching it. I don’t like it.

Can you imagine the hazards that were on the way for these people walking through the desert, at risk of losing their lives from a bad insect or some snake, whatever? There’s jeopardy — the cattle breaking their legs on the trip. They’d have to put them down, and they would lose everything that they’d worked for. That was money. That was riches. They had to make a sacrifice over and over and over. Why? Just to get right with God.

But then Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice. Think about this. He came as the perfect sacrifice, without blemish, to atone for our sins. And that sacrifice that He made, His blood, was so precious. Think about this: God Himself came to the earth, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, was without blemish. He was perfect in every way. There was nothing about Him that was wrong. He laid down His life for us so that we would never have to make sacrifice again. Can we talk about how significant that is?

And the way God would speak is that He would at times speak to people of God, usually a prophet, right? Someone that speaks for God. He would speak to them, and that prophet would then take that word and declare it to the people. Now here’s the tough part: before Jesus had come, 400 years had passed since the last prophetic word had come. Can you imagine? That is several lifetimes and generations of people never hearing the voice of God. How tough would that be?

I think sometimes we look at Scripture, we look at the Bible stories, and we’re like, “Man, where was their faith? I would have aced that test.” Right? We kind of get pride and a little bit puffed up. But the reality is, we have the Lord. We have Jesus, who lives in us, who has made the sacrifice, and anytime we mess up we can just go to Him, and He forgives us, He washes us, He cleanses us. Amen. They had an occasional word that would have to last them a lifetime.

And it says, “God, who at various times spoke” by the prophets, “has in these days” — say “in these days.” No, no, no, let’s say it: “has in these days spoken to us by His Son.” Listen, Jesus is a better voice.

There are a lot of voices after your attention. There are a lot of voices after your heart. Too many of us put too much stock into what people say about us. Too many of us put too much stock into what others think about us. Too many of us — I’ll even say this — put too much stock into what our spouses or our parents or our family says. Listen, there is only one thing that is true, and that is the Lord Jesus Himself. Amen.

There have probably been things that have been spoken over you, things that you have spoken over yourself, and I’m here to remind you: not only is Jesus speaking and here and available to speak to you, He’s a better voice. In other words, you have to take time to hear Him, because He’s better than anything else that you will hear. He’s better than the latest top track on Spotify. He’s better than the best preacher that you can listen to online. He’s better than all of it. He is a better voice. Everybody say, “He’s a better voice.”

And guess what? You used to have to go to people to hear Him, and it was once every however long. But now He wants to speak to you personally. Listen to what Jesus said in John 10:27. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

Listen, if you can be a person that knows how to hear God’s voice, you can know you will never be snatched up. Amen. You don’t have to be taken advantage of by the adversary. You don’t have to fall short. Why? Because you serve a God who will speak to you personally. Amen. So we have to know how to hear Him.

How God speaks today

Now, there’s different ways that we can hear Him. One of the ways is we come to our gathering times like this. People will share the Word, and you hear God speak to you. You guys know what I’m talking about? Where maybe the preacher is saying one thing, but in your heart the Lord is speaking something, and even though it might not be the exact words, the Lord is speaking something. You guys know what I mean? That’s the Holy Spirit.

There are going to be times where you get in your Word. Maybe you’re going through your day to day and you’re doing your devotions, you’re reading through a chapter, and all of a sudden some words jump out at you, and you know, “That’s for me. I don’t even fully know what it means yet, but I got to go back to that.” How many of you know that’s how God speaks to us? He speaks to us through His Word.

How many of you know God speaks to us through His Spirit, where you’re going through your day to day, and as you’re driving in the car — I had that this morning. I told someone, “I woke up praying for you.” That wasn’t me, trust me. I’m more worried about, where’s the toothpaste? I couldn’t find toothpaste this morning. I had to look. Somebody took it — my kids take everything. I have to find stuff, right? I had things to do. I had places to be. But the Holy Spirit had woken me, and I began praying for some of the people in the church. He speaks to us by His Spirit. Amen.

Here’s what I need you to know. Not only does God speak — He doesn’t just speak to the most anointed, to the people on the platform. He wants to speak to every person personally. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice.” If you belong to the Lord Jesus, you should be hearing His voice. And if you can hear His voice, you will not be snatched up. Somebody say amen.

We must be able to hear the voice of Jesus. Jesus has the better voice. And while other voices can lead to temporary solutions, while other voices might lead to bad solutions or destruction, His voice offers life — say “life” — both now and forever. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of destruction.” Listen, this is why we have to know what God is saying. There will be things and ways that might seem right to you. In fact, I will even go this far: there will be things and decisions that you make that everybody around you will celebrate, but it is not the Lord. There’s a way that seems right, but its end is destruction. This is why we must be people who hear the voice of God. Amen.

I’m going to recap it again. God speaks through His Word. Everybody say, “His Word.” You got to get in His Word. You got to come to church. This is a time where we get filled with the food that Jesus provides. Amen. You can’t go weeks without feeding your natural body. How can you go weeks without feeding your spirit? Get to church. Get in your Word. Read your Bibles. God speaks through His Word. Somebody say amen.

God speaks through other people — people that have been filled with the Spirit. They will speak things to you, and you know in your heart that is God speaking. It is resonating not just in my head, in my heart and in my spirit. Your spirit, if you belong to Jesus, has been reborn and is alive and is so connected and rooted with His Spirit that they are one. They’re one. And when someone brings the Word of God to you, something on the inside jumps — the Holy Spirit.

He speaks through His Spirit. There will be times where you have a dream, you have visions, you hear words — not with your audible ears, though I’ve heard of that happening. It’s never happened for me. And that person wasn’t even sure that it was God Himself. He was like, “That could have been an angel. I don’t know.” We don’t want to rely on that. God speaks to us every day. Listen, He will speak to you every day if you allow Him. He will speak to you every moment if you allow Him. Okay?

The more you’re in God’s Word, the more your ear is tuned to hear the voice of the Spirit. I’ve said this before, but I think this is a fantastic analogy. It’s like tuning a radio, right? You got to tune the radio, and all it is is static until you hit that right frequency, and then it’s clear. It’s the same way: our spiritual ears need to be tuned by the Word of God until we hit the frequency, and now when I hear, I know, “That’s the Lord.” You guys with me? If you’re not in His Word, the Lord will speak to you and you’re like, “Well, did He actually say that?” You don’t know. That’s called spiritual deafness. We’re going in a different direction. Jesus is a better voice. Somebody say, “Jesus is a better voice.”

Jesus is a better authority

Number two: Jesus is a better authority. Listen to verse 2: “whom He has appointed heir of all things.” Jesus has been appointed heir of all things, “through whom also He made the worlds.” So listen to this — oh my gosh, if this does not make you want to punch your neighbor in excitement, I don’t know what will. Don’t punch your neighbor. We’re nice people here.

Not only was everything created by Jesus, not only was everything created through Him, everything was created for Him. It gets better. It gets better. He is the heir of all things. What does it mean to be an heir? It means it belongs to you, right? Of how many things? All things. He is the heir of all things, “through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness” — oh my goodness — “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.”

When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate — you guys know what I mean — and he said, “Who are You? Are You the King of the Jews?” What did Jesus do? He said nothing. Why? Because who He was is the perfect representation of the glory of God Himself. And I find it interesting that the most perfect image of the glory of God, who He was, just spoke for itself. He didn’t give a list of topics. He just was.

The greatest revelation of who God was, was a bleeding, beaten, bruised, spit-upon, mocked, wounded King. The greatest revelation of God, I believe, is the suffering Jesus. Listen, He perfectly reflects and manifests the divine glory of God, meaning the ultimate revelation of God’s nature and God’s character is revealed through Jesus. Amen.

He is “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.” In other words, not only did Jesus create all things, not only does everything belong to Him, the only reason everything is held together is because He’s holding it together.

I don’t know about you, but it kind of freaks me out when I think about space and how big it is, right? And there’s a lot of stuff flying in space. There’s big rocks and planets and black holes and all these things. And I’m like, how has so much time passed and the earth has not been obliterated by just some natural collision? And I can tell you this: it will never happen, because Jesus said so. How many of you know Jesus is our greatest defense?

I think often, especially as I’m aging — don’t tell anybody — I think often just about how fragile I actually am. You know, when I was young I thought I could be anything. I thought I could do anything. I was invincible, right? And the older you get, the more you realize just how fragile you are, to the point where one little thing goes wrong in your body and it takes you out. You know what I mean? Where you’re just now in pain. Can you imagine how fragile all of the universe is? And the only reason that it exists is because the Word of God — which is Jesus Himself, by the way — because the Word of God went out, it spoke all the earth into motion, and all things are still to this day held together by that powerful voice.

Listen to this. This is talking about the supremacy of Jesus in every way. Listen to Colossians 1:15. This is talking about Jesus. Oh, this is so good. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible.”

How many of you know there is an invisible reality? Did you guys know that there is something called the spirit realm? Listen, I need you guys to hear this. There is a real spirit realm, and there is danger when we tap into that outside of the Lord Jesus Himself. There is real destruction that is happening in families because they are opening themselves up to spiritual attack by visiting tarot card readers, by visiting fortune tellers. There is a real spirit. You’re like, “How could they know that? How could they ever know that?” Listen, they can only tell you what was. They cannot tell you what will be. Only God knows what will be. But those spirits have been around, and they can tell you things about your past, things that they shouldn’t know. But listen, if you open yourself up to that, you are susceptible to the wrong spirits. Amen.

Where was I? What were we talking about? Oh, He’s the firstborn. Listen: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in all things He may have the preeminence.” Say, “in all things.” Jesus must have the first place in all things.

Now, we think about that and we say, “Well, yes, of course He has the first place in my prayer life. Yes, of course He has the first place in our church gatherings. Yes, of course He has the first place when we worship.” Yes, of course — He needs to have preeminence in your home. He needs to have preeminence in your marriage. He needs to have preeminence in your friendships, in your business. He needs to have preeminence in all things.

You want to know what truth is? Many people are looking. They’re on a journey of truth. Have you guys heard the phrase “the deconstruction of their faith”? Okay. It is being used to totally destruct the church, because we think that we can have some revelation that has not existed for the last 2,000 years, or in the early church. Listen, if your journey of faith is not rooted in the person of Jesus, it is not truth. Your journey of faith must go through Jesus, or it is a lie. If it does not include Him, if it is not about Him, if it does not revolve around Him, it is not truth. Amen. So when you pursue truth, He must be at the center of it all.

Jesus is a better Savior

Number three, and we’re going to close with this: Jesus is a better Savior. Somebody say amen. He’s a better Savior. Listen to this: “When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Can you guys see Jesus right now, as I’m reading this? He has purged our sins. He ascended into heaven. There are witnesses to this. Hundreds saw Him literally in bodily form rise off the ground, go into the clouds, and ascend into heaven. And He ascended, and He didn’t stop until He was seated at the right hand of God, where He is seated to this day. And Scripture says that He is interceding on our behalf.

There is not a person I would rather have make my case than the Lord Jesus. And the fact that He is seated on the throne — can you see Him? Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Jesus, seated on the throne at the right hand of the Father, interceding on your behalf, praying for you, where He is being worshiped by the elders, by the saints of old, where He is being worshiped by the angelic beings, by the creatures that surround the throne, where they are saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.” They can’t say anything else, because they are so in awe of who He is. He is the perfect image of the glory of God.

And they’re falling at His feet. They’re casting down their crowns, which represent everything they’ve done, everything they’ve accomplished, and they’re saying, “Lord, You are worthy of all of it. Nothing measures or compares to who You are.” And the fact that He is seated on the throne is evidence and proof that He’s a better Savior.

He’s better than anything you can do to save yourself. You can’t save yourself. Don’t try. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The way that we receive salvation is by laying everything at the feet of Jesus and saying, “You are Lord,” which means, “You’re everything. You’re the one I follow. You’re the one I listen to. You’re the one I look to.”

And I believe some of us here today need to remind ourselves of who the Lord is. He’s not just some man in the sky. He’s not just some essence or aura. He is a person, and He is God. And He was beaten, He was bruised, and He gave His life for you so that you could be with Him forever. He so delighted in you that He took on flesh. He was God, He took on flesh, and He gave up all of His divine attributes and became man, yet He lived a perfect life, and is now glorified at the right hand of the Father. And it is now our hope that we will be raised with Him into heavenly places — not because of what we’ve done, but because of who He is.

Nothing can separate us

Can we just lift our hands to the Lord this morning? I want to read Romans 8:31 over you, but let’s lift our hands to the Lord in surrender. “What should we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore He is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things” — say “all these things” — “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God who is Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Come on, let’s lift our hands. Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your love. We thank You, Lord. Oh, Lord, I sense Him strongly right now. Lord Jesus. Come on, let’s just begin to pray in the Spirit. If you have your spiritual language, just begin to pray in the Spirit right now — not loud, just between you and the Lord. Thank You, Lord.

The same voice — the same voice that spoke the earth and all creation into existence — I sense the Lord saying, is the same voice that has called you by name. You might think you’re an accident. You might think your life is a mistake. You might have come in thinking that you are worthless, and yet here you are in the presence of the Lord, and the Lord is saying, “I see you, and I have called you by name. You are Mine.” “You are Mine,” says the Lord, “and you will not be snatched up.”

Because, Lord, we thank You, Lord, that You are better. You’re a better voice. You’re a better Savior. And, Lord, we don’t need to do anything or turn to anything other than You. You paid it all, and, Lord, all You’re asking for is our heart. And so today, Lord, we lift our hearts to You in complete surrender. We lift our hearts to You and give You our lives in full surrender, because there is none like You. There will never be another like You. You are the answer. We don’t need another answer. We don’t need another way. You are the way.

And so, Lord, we give You our heart, we give You our lives, and we say, Lord Jesus, come and fill us afresh today. Holy Spirit, be poured out in this place. Be poured out in greater measure. Lord, fill us to overflowing. Lord, where there is lifelessness, that You would bring life, as we fix our eyes on You and You reveal Yourself in all of Your glory. Lord, that we would see You rightly, that we would see You correctly. Holy Spirit, reveal Jesus to us today, that we would never be the same. Lord, that we can go from here strengthened and encouraged — not because of who we are, not because of what we’ve done, but because of who You are.

Lord, we put our faith in You. We put our trust in You, because You’re the only one who is worthy of it, and You’re the only one who will not misplace it. We say that You are better, and we worship You, Jesus. Amen.

Amen. The Lord is good. If you are here and you need prayer, or if you would like to give your life to the Lord — maybe you’ve not done that before — we would love to lead you in that. We’re going to have people up here available to pray with you, to lead you to that. That is the greatest decision that we can make, to give our heart and our life to Him. There is no one better. And the reality is, there are many in the church and many believers who have tried everything else, and they will continue to try everything else but Him. But may we not be that church. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.