This week we're starting a brand-new series. We're in week one of a series called Made for More. It's a series we actually wanted to start last week, but with the tragic events of Charlie Kirk's assassination, we felt we needed to deal with the evil we were seeing in our world, so we decided to push it to this week. Over these next couple of weeks, we just want to talk about the more that God has for your life.

When we launched the church three weeks ago, I said I wanted you to give us five weeks. And it's because I really wanted you to hear this series, because God has more for you. Amen. We believe it. God has more for you.

I think so often we have this assumption that all we have is all we're ever going to get. All we have of God is all we're ever going to get. "The freedom I have right now is all I'm ever going to get. I can't be more free. I can't get rid of that addiction. The purpose I have is all I'm ever going to get. The way I'm making a difference right now is all I'm ever going to get." But as a church, we wholeheartedly reject that.

You'll see on the wall we have the saying "There is more." That is more than a slogan for us. It's a lifestyle. We believe that when it comes to God, there is always more. There is always more of Him to understand. There's always more of Him to know. There is always more freedom we can obtain. There's always more purpose we can obtain. There's always more opportunity to make a difference.

Can you keep growing in your knowledge of God?

The Bible actually talks about this, and it's called progressive revelation: how we can begin to understand God in greater and greater ways.

I have a two-year-old named Saint, and if you ever see Saint, he's two going on four. What I mean is he's a tank. People often think he's going to talk in full sentences, and I'm like, "He's two. He can't say anything." But he is starting to say a couple of sentences, and one of the sentences he's saying right now is, "I love you, Dad." If you're a parent, that just crushes you. I remember the very first time Saint said it. It was because I said, "Saint, say 'I love you, Dad.'" And he said, "I love you, Dad." He had no idea what it meant. He just said it. And I was like, "It's amazing." And now he's at a place where I think he knows what that means.

But how many of you know that as he gets older, one day he's going to go to elementary school terrified, and he's going to say, in fear, "I love you, Dad." And I'll say, "You've got it, son. You're going to be great." And then he's going to go to middle school and be kind of geeky, and he's going to say, "I love you, Dad." At least that's what I did when I was 12. Eventually he's going to go to high school, and he's going to say, "Dad, can you drop me off a block away from everyone else? I don't want people to see you dropping me off." And I'm going to say, "You'd better say it." "I love you, Dad." One day he's going to get married, and he's going to say, "I love you, Dad." And one day he's going to have a kid, and he's going to realize for the first time the love a father can have, and he's going to say, "I love you, Dad."

Same sentence. What happened? His understanding has changed. That's called progressive revelation. It's the same thing: "I love you, Dad. I love you, Dad. I love you, Dad." But the older he gets, the more he understands it. That's what God wants for you.

In the book of Revelation, it talks about these angels around the throne of God. They have eyes all over their bodies, and it says that they see God and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." It's almost like they see a new aspect of God: "Oh my gosh, You're holy." And then seconds later, "Oh my gosh, You're so forgiving. You're even more forgiving." What is that? Progressive revelation. And that's what God wants for us more than anything: that we would continue to see more of who He is. God is good. All the time. And all the time, God is good. I've got some Christians in here today. The more you begin with God, the greater and greater you see God is. The more you begin your relationship with Him, the more you continue to walk with Him.

What does God want for your life?

In this series we're talking about being made for more, and I want to show you the four "mores" God has for your life. I truly believe that if you do these four things, everything in your life can change. You've actually seen them when you walked into the building. Right over there you'll see these four things: we want people to know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference. Those are the four things we believe God wants for you.

And those aren't things we made up. We're not that smart. They come straight out of the Bible. Exodus 6:6–7 says, "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.'"

These are the "I wills" of God, and God wants you to have them. He says, "I will bring you out of Egypt. I will take you as My own people. I will be your God." What is that? God wants us to know Him.

And then He says, "I will free you from being slaves." And you might be like, "Brad, that makes no sense, because they were out of Egypt. If they're out of Egypt, why would God have to free them from slavery?" Here's why: because you can be out of Egypt, but Egypt might not be out of you. You can be out of the world, but the world isn't out of you yet. So God says, "I'm going to bring you out. I'm going to make you My people. I want you to know Me. But then I want you to find freedom."

And then He says, "I will redeem you." What does that mean? It means, "I'm going to put you back together and restore you to your original intent." Do you know that God created you with a plan and a purpose? That there are specific giftings He has given you that only you can fulfill? So often we can't see that, because we're focused on all the things that have held us back. So God wants to set us free from those things so that we can step into the more He has for us.

That's why we always talk about Growth Track. If you've never gone through Growth Track, come to the 9:00 a.m. service next week and go to Growth Track right after it. What are we doing there? We're helping you discover the way God has designed you. And then jump on the team. Jump on a team that's making a difference with people who are making a difference. That's what God has for you. He says, "I'm going to put you together as a people, and you're going to make a difference."

Even this morning, people were here at 6:00 a.m. What were they doing? They were preparing for you. And since we launched, we have seen so many salvations: this week, the week before, the week before that, and at the worship night we did. They're getting to see the miracle of God, and they played a part in it.

So there are four "I wills" God has for you, and four things He wants for you: to know Him, find freedom, discover your purpose, and ultimately make a difference.

Why would we do all these things? Glad you asked. John 15:10–11 says, "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this..." Why do we follow God's plan? "I just don't want to go to hell. Is that it? I'm just going to do it because I feel like that's what I need to do." No, no, no. Get this. We follow His commands "so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." How many of you want joy in your life? Everybody. We all want joy. And what God is saying is that the true joy you can find in your life actually comes when you follow the plan He has for you.

What does it mean to know God?

So we're talking about being made for more, and what we're going to focus on today is that we were made to know God. Say "know God." We were made to know Him. So my goal is to introduce Him to you, or reintroduce Him to you.

A. W. Tozer said that what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. So when I say the word "God," whatever comes to your mind is the most important thing about you.

The challenge is that so often our idea of God is actually formed by our earthly fathers. If we had a good dad, we see God as good. But if we had a dad who was distant, a dad who was mean, we have this picture of God just sitting on His throne with a stick, waiting to do something. And as we learn about God, it's an unlearning and a relearning. I'm unlearning the things about Him that aren't true. I'm like, "Wait, is that because I read it in the Bible, or is that because it's something that's been passed down to me?" It's an unlearning and a relearning. We have to do it. The Bible talks about being transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's what it's talking about.

The most important thing we can ever know is who God is. And the most important thing we could ever do is spend time getting to know who He is. Jeremiah 9:23–24 says, "This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me.'" May they boast that they know Me. John 17:3: "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God."

We need to know God. Paul is brilliant. He wrote about half of the books of the New Testament. He almost brought the gospel to the entire known world at the time. He knows so much. But this is what he says in Philippians 3:8: "I consider everything a loss." Some versions say junk. Some versions say rubbish. "I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." And verse 10: "I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

God wants us to know Him, but so often we spend all our time not getting to know Him. We spend all our time scrolling. Anybody else? We wake up, and what do we do? We scroll. We look at the news. We look at Instagram. And what we need to do is spend less time looking down and more time looking up. "Oh God, that's who You are." Let me say it this way: we need to go scriptural before we go digital. We've got to get into our Bibles, and then we're going to see the majesty of who God is.

Because let me say this: when you gaze upon God, everything begins to change. Your emotional well-being will change. Your anxiety will change. Your understanding of what to do will change. It all happens when we focus on God. Why? Because we become like what we behold.

I remember when Paige and I got married. In the previous service I said "when we first got married," and I was like, "We've only been married once." So I remember when Paige and I got married. I was standing at the altar, and I was so terrified. Any men who've just stood there waiting? It feels like an eternity. "Oh, God." Just waiting. You just want everything to go perfectly. Next thing, the music starts. My heart is pounding. And then I see her, and the world stops. Time slows down. There's music in the background, and in that moment it felt like it was just me. And I remember looking at her beauty, and as I beheld her beauty, I was like, "I want to be a better man, because I want to be the kind of man who can love you well."

How much more with God? When we look upon God, we say, "Oh my gosh, You're so holy. I didn't realize how holy You are." And we become more and more like Him the more we look at Him. The problem is that we don't look at Him. We look everywhere else. The Bible talks about this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory." That's beautiful.

So here's what I want: I want you to know God. And there are two ways you need to know God. I said it's an unlearning and a relearning. We have to unlearn the parts of God that aren't true, and we have to relearn the parts of God that are true. So there's a theological understanding of who God is, and I want to help you with that. And then there's a relational understanding.

Who is God?

The first thing I want to hit is knowing God theologically. People have been trying to answer this question forever: who is God? Theologians have studied this book, and from it they've started to discover who God is. A lot of them put together what are called the attributes of God. I want to show you a list of the attributes of God. There are some really long words. Don't worry, you're okay. I'm going to help you out.

There are what are called the incommunicable attributes of God and the communicable ones. What does that mean? The ones on the left, only God has. Only God is omniscient, which means He is all-knowing. Only God is omnipotent, which means He is all-powerful. Only God is omnipresent, which means He's everywhere. Only God is sovereign. On the other side are things we share, even though they're imperfect in us. How many of you are loving? Yeah, but you don't have perfect love. How many of you are merciful? Yeah, but you don't have perfect mercy.

So we have these attributes of God. If you want to understand God theologically, I encourage you to study those words, and it's going to help you understand who this God we serve truly is. And if you're like, "Brad, I don't even know how to approach that," I encourage you to get this book. It's called The Knowledge of the Holy, and A. W. Tozer wrote it. If you can't afford it, let us know, and we'll buy it for you. We just want you to have the resources you need so you can know God better.

But today I actually want to focus on three of those attributes so we can understand God better. The reason I'm focusing on these three is actually the events we've seen over the last couple of weeks, with the death of Charlie Kirk and all the murder we're seeing. More people in our church have been asking questions, and if you have an understanding of God, it is actually going to speak to your questions.

1. God is sovereign

The first thing we need to know about God is this: God is sovereign. What does that mean? It means He has all authority, power, and rule.

Job is a book in the Old Testament about a man who lost everything. God allowed his family to die. Everything got taken away from him. He lost all of his livestock. God allowed this to happen. Satan was like, "I'm going to take him out," and God said, "I'm going to allow it." And you see this verse that actually talks to us about the sovereignty of God. Job 42:2: "I know that you can do all things." What does that mean? "God, I know that You're all-powerful. God, I know that You know all things."

And sometimes we're like, "God, if You're all-powerful, why am I here? God, if You're all-knowing, why did that happen? Why is there murder? Why is there death?" It says, "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Which means nothing can stop God's plan from happening. And that's hard, because we're like, "God, if You are in control, why are we in this place? Why are the things we see happening?"

There's a reason bad things happen. Number one, we have a real enemy. And number two, we have real people who can make real choices. And sometimes people can do stupid things. So what does that mean? God can still be fully in control, but at the same time, humans still have responsibility. "Brad, how do those things come together?" I don't know. But they do. That's the mystery of the Bible.

And it's seen so perfectly in Jesus. Acts 2:23, talking about Jesus, says, "This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge." It was God's plan that Jesus would go to the cross. But get this, it continues, and there's the human responsibility: "and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." So there's human responsibility, and there's God's sovereignty.

And the beautiful thing is that it all works together, because of Romans 8:28. This is the joy we can have: "And we know that in all things," say "all things," "God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." God could use the crucifixion of Jesus to bring us back to Him in such a beautiful way. And God can use the murder of Charlie Kirk, so that 150,000 people are gathering in a stadium. And do you know what they're going to hear? The gospel. Do you know who they're going to hear about? Jesus. Everyone around the nation is tuning in to that. And I pray, "God, send a revival. Lord, may people come to know You. May people meet You."

In the hardest of things, God is sovereign. Even when we don't understand it, God has not been knocked off His throne. He's not surprised. Isaiah says that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. God is sovereign. Amen. So what's the implication of that? I don't have to be scared, because I know He's in control.

2. God is holy

The second thing is that God is holy. Isaiah 6:3 says, "And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.'" Leviticus 20:26: "You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart." That's what holy means: "I've set you apart." And God is looking for a people who will be set apart.

I think so often the challenge for all of us is that we get to this place where we're just not set apart. We look just like the world. I think it was Gandhi who said, "I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." May that never be said of us, church. "Man, they don't have any joy. They have as much joy as I do. They have as much peace as I do. They have as much forgiveness as I do. They're as bitter, as prideful. They never say sorry. They're always angry. They're always quick to yell. They're always quick to argue." May it never be said of us.

I love what was said of Peter and John in Acts 4:13: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." When people see you, can they take note that you've been with Jesus? Are we truly set apart?

I'm afraid that the longer I live, the more I feel like we have a casual relationship with sin. And when we realize that we serve a holy God, we have to come to a place where we say, "God, if You said it, I'm going to do it. If You call me to purity, I'm going to be pure. If You call me to forgiveness, I'm going to forgive." I don't know what the thing is that the Holy Spirit has been putting His finger on. But if God is holy and He wants us to be set apart, we have to follow Him in everything we do. Amen. Are you with me?

3. God is love

The third thing is this: God is love. He is the definition of love. 1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:16: "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them." He is the definition of love. But we twist love, so this is important to understand.

Love is not silence. Ephesians 4:15 says, "Instead, speaking the truth in love." Real love speaks truth. Love has the ability to encourage, warn, correct, and guide. And as we sharpen each other as Christians, someone may say something you don't always love, and you're like, "I don't like that." But the Bible actually speaks about it. Proverbs 27:6 says, "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." What does that mean? It means that if there's a Christian who loves you, sometimes they're going to stand in the gap and tell you something you may not be ready to hear. And we have to realize that they're taking a risk by sharing something with us. Why do they do it? Because they love us. Enemies don't do that. Enemies keep quiet. Enemies flatter. Let us not be that way. Real love is not silent.

Love is not approval. I feel like that's the biggest lie of this generation: "If you love me, you'll approve of me." Nope. Romans 12:9 says, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Jesus loved sinners, but He never approved of sin. I can love you and not approve of everything you do.

And real love is sacrificial. It costs something. 1 John 4:10: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

How do you know God personally?

So those are three things I want us to understand about God. We can know God theologically, but in the remainder of our time I want to show you how you can get to know God personally. How many of you want to know God intimately? How many of you want to know Him personally? There are a number of ways we can do that.

1. Through the Word

The first way is through the Word. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture." Say "all Scripture." Not some Scripture. Not only the Scripture I like. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." Ephesians 1:17: "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation." God, make us wise. Why? "So that you may know him better." Every attribute we were talking about came through the Word. The challenge is that we will never know about God if we are never in the Word.

We have to have a plan. Some of us, when it comes to our Bibles, don't have a plan. And sometimes not only do we not have a plan, we've got a bad plan. The worst one is Bible roulette. "God, I need You to speak to me," and you just flip it open. Anyone ever done that? "God, I need a husband. I am tired of watching The Notebook by myself. Lord, do something, Jesus. Okay, here we go." And you land in Jeremiah, and it says, "You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place." And you're like, "What? That's not what I wanted." Or you're like, "God, I just really need to encourage my wife. She just needs encouragement today. Lord, help me encourage her." And you land in Song of Solomon, and it says, "Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus." And you're like, "What is that? Babe, I just wanted to tell you your nose is massive." Not a great plan. We need an actual plan.

And you're like, "But Brad, the Bible's hard to understand, because I read it and it says, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' 'Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?'" And you're just like, "Why can't I read it?" You have the wrong version. You have to get a better version. The Bible is translated from Greek and Hebrew, and translations sit on a continuum from word-for-word to thought-for-thought. Word-for-word is really hard to understand.

I'm South African, which is why I talk funny. We speak a different language. If I said something to you in it, you'd be like, "What did you just say?" And if I told you word for word, it would mean, "He eats with a mouthful of teeth." God bless you. Did that help you out? No, because it's word for word. "Brad, give me the thought." He doesn't like his food, so he's chewing with long teeth so he can't taste it. "Wow, he's eating with a mouthful of teeth. That makes so much sense." Word-for-word translations can be really hard to understand. You want something in the middle. What's in the middle? The NIV or the NLT. That's more thought-for-thought.

So pick a good translation, and then come up with a good plan. I love reading the One Year Bible. It's a proverb, a psalm, a bit of the Old Testament, and a bit of the New Testament. It's 15 minutes a day. And if you can't do that, pick five minutes a day. Set yourself a time goal. Read through John. Start somewhere. Have a plan.

And I'm going to go youth pastor on you: SOAP it. I saw someone go like, "Wash my Bible?" No, no, no. It's an acronym. Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. Read the Bible. What's the scripture? Journal it. What's one observation from that passage? What's one application from that passage? And then pray. If you're married, talk it through with your spouse. There are so many people who want a relationship with their spouse where they're able to talk through the Bible, and that is a great way to do it. "Hey, what did you observe today?" We need to come with a plan. And please, for the love of all that is good and holy, let's not do Bible roulette. Amen.

2. Through prayer

The second way we know God is through prayer. The Bible says in Psalm 145:18, "The Lord is near to all who call on him." James 4:8 says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you." The closer I draw to Paige, the more I understand her, the more I see her. Can you imagine if my relationship with Paige were only me making requests? "Paige, I'd like a sandwich, please. Thank you. Paige, can you pick up the kids?" We wouldn't have a relationship. But why do I do that with God? "Hey God, I need this. Hey God, I need this." Can you imagine a call God would love to get? "Hey God, I love You. I need nothing from You today. I just want to say I'm grateful. Just grateful that I have air in my lungs. Thank You for what You've given me. I need nothing from You." How about that? And then you start cultivating a relationship with God.

And let me say, we need prayer more than we've ever needed prayer before. When you look at culture, we need prayer more than ever, because we're not getting better. We're getting worse. You're like, "No, Brad, we're getting better." No, we're getting more technological, which means we have more technological ways to sin. That's what's happening. We need to pray more than ever before.

How did Jesus teach us to pray?

When the disciples were talking to Jesus, here's what they asked: "Jesus, teach us to pray." That's what the disciples wanted to know. How many of you would love to know how to pray powerful prayers? Anyone? They said, "Jesus, teach us to pray." They're smart. I'm not smart. If I were talking to Jesus, I don't know if that's what I would have asked. I would have said, "Jesus, teach me to multiply snacks." I've got a two-year-old. I was giving him so many snacks yesterday. "Lord, I don't have five loaves and two fish. I have Ritz crackers and Goldfish. Teach me how to multiply snacks." Or, "Teach me how to walk upon water." I go to a party and they're like, "Brad, can you grab a towel?" "Yes," and I walk across the pool. I'm not smart like them. They said, "Teach us to pray."

And this is what Jesus says: "Pray like this." Go into your room, and don't babble and say a bunch of things, but instead say this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

That's not only a prayer to recite. It's actually a model of prayer. It's bullet points. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." When you start praying, start by worshiping God. "God, I love You. God, I praise You. Lord, You are Jehovah Jireh. You are my Provider. God, You are awesome. You have made everything." That's how you start. "Hallowed be your name."

"Your kingdom come, your will be done." What is that? Pray His agenda first, before I come to Him with the things I need. "Lord, bring salvation to our city. Lord, bring healing to our nation. Lord, I pray for all those in authority." Then it says, "Give us today our daily bread." Now pray for the things you need. "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Forgive and be forgiven. And then it says, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Engage in spiritual warfare.

That's called a prayer model, and there are so many in the Bible. If you want that, you can go to spiritchurch.co/prayerguide. We've listed a bunch of prayer guides there. If you're trying to work on your prayer life and you're like, "I don't even know where to start," start there. Does that help anyone? That's what Jesus said: you need to pray like that. And how often do we pray? Always. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–17, "Rejoice always, pray continually."

3. Through worship

Number three: through worship. Revelation 4:11 says, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things." As John was looking at God, as he gazed upon Him, the response was, "Worthy." When you look at God, over time your first response is just going to be, "Oh my gosh, God, You're worthy." You break out into worship. And that's what we need to do.

James 4:8 says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you." How do you do that? You do that in worship, when you come and say, "God, my problems are so big, but I feel like You are so much bigger." And as you look at God and magnify Him, all of a sudden the things that seemed so big in your life begin to seem so small. That's what we do when we worship God.

I encourage you: go all in with worshiping God. Which means at some point you've just got to do the hand thing. Sometimes you've just got to pick a Sunday and say, "This Sunday is my hands Sunday." It's so funny. The Bible actually talks about this. It says we are to lift up our hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. And so often we don't want to do that. We would rather lift our hands for a bunch of dudes chasing a leather ball than lift my hands for the King who gave His life for me. I'm not going to be more passionate in a stadium than I am right here, right now.

Some Sunday you've just got to do the hand thing. I remember when I was growing up, I was like, "This Sunday is my hands Sunday. I'm going to do it. I'm watching everyone else praise God. I'm going to do it." And I remember standing in worship, looking around, making sure no one could see me, and I went, and I was like, "Great, I did it. Done." Just start somewhere. You don't have to go crazy. Just something. And over time you can say, "God, I surrender to You. Full surrender to You." No one's looking at you. No one cares. I want us to be a church that is in full surrender.

And I've noticed something about Phoenix. I don't know what it is about the city, but for some reason we don't do this here. My prayer is that Spirit will be a church where we are so surrendered that this is the place where you can do this. Amen. You've just got to pick a Sunday. I'm telling you right now, next Sunday is your hands Sunday. You're just going to start somewhere.

We get to know God through worship. Worship is our lifestyle. It should be our mood. "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed." No. I'm not angry. I'm not sad. I'm worshipful.

4. Through the Holy Spirit

The final thing, and then we'll pray: through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us about God. John 14:26 says, "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." God wants to remind us of everything in His Word, which is why it's so important that we're in His Word, so that He can remind us of the things that are in it.

The Holy Spirit wants to remind you of everything. The challenge is that so often He convicts us. It's like, "Brad, why are you doing that thing?" He'll tap me: "Why are you doing that thing? Hey, why were you so angry there? Why did you say that?" And if we're not careful, we can choose not to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and then we get confused when we feel like He's no longer speaking. He's still speaking. We've just distanced ourselves.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, "Do not quench the Spirit." Don't put Him out. 1 Timothy 4:1–2 says, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron."

What does that mean? You can be so disobedient when God is trying to tell you to do something. He's tapping and saying, "Hey, Brad, work on that. Hey, Brad, you've got to fight for that." What is it for you? Your purity, your anger, your silent treatment, your pride, your ego? The challenge is that the more we reject that still, small voice and don't listen, eventually we come to a place where our conscience is seared, which means you have no sensitivity. And this is what it sounds like: "It's so weird. He used to speak to me. Why can't I hear Him anymore?" It's because "I've been telling you about that thing." And we need to say, "God, I'm sorry. Make me sensitive to Your Spirit again. There it is. Forgive me. Oh, I did it again. Forgive me." Stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and watch what God can do in your life. Amen.

When Paige wants to get my attention, if we're out and about, sometimes she'll text me, and when I don't see it, on iPhones you can double-tap and do a tapback, like an exclamation point or a heart, and it sends you another notification. I just feel like today the Holy Spirit is here, and for some of you, He's tapping. Pay attention.

You were made to know God

Can I pray for you? Father, I want to thank You for who You are. Holy Spirit, we thank You for how incredible You are, how close You are, how You speak to us. Holy Spirit, may we be so sensitive to Your voice. May we be the kind of church that pursues You, God, that gets to know You through Your Word, through prayer, Lord, through worship, and through Your Spirit. Lord, I don't know what the need is. I don't know where You're tapping. But Father, today we repent, and we say that we're turning to You.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, there are some people here today, and maybe the decision you haven't made is that you've never actually said yes to Jesus. The gospel is simple. It says all of us have made mistakes. But Jesus came to this earth. He lived a perfect life. He died on a cross, and He was raised so that we can have life. And the Bible says that if you believe in your heart and declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that He was raised from the dead, you will be saved.

If you're here today and you've never made that decision to say, "Jesus, I'm going all in with You," we're going to pray a prayer, and we're all going to pray it for the benefit of those praying it for the very first time. Repeat after me, entire church: "Dear Jesus, I believe that You're the Son of God and the Savior of the world. I believe You came to this earth, You died on a cross, and You were raised so that I may have life. And right now I make You my Lord. I make You my Savior. In Jesus' name."