The fundamentals of a follower of Jesus

Transcript from the podcast (so sorry for the spelling mistakes)

Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire, which has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling people with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads, that God's truth will spread like a wildfire.

So it's great to be here, and I'm so thankful.

And this morning, what we're gonna be talking about is the fundamentals of a follower of Jesus.

So what are the fundamentals of a follower of Jesus?

Whenever you think of a follower of Jesus, what should we think of?

So the fundamentals of Christianity.

Now I in no way have the monopoly on what the fundamentals are, but these are fundamentals that are known, established, and of course, divine, supreme scripture.

But just to have that concession in, I don't want people coming to me and saying, what about the Trinity?

Hey, that's a fundamental, but you didn't talk about it.

Yes, it is, but I'm here to highlight just five that I think are crucial and encapsulate or summarize everything that is important in the Bible.

I'll leave it to someone else to highlight the other thousand important things that appear in scripture, but I will just thankfully focus on five for this morning.

The five I will be highlighting is recognize, that is the gospel.

Equip with the promises and go, that is the mission.

Grow is the devotional discipline, and glorify is the all-out relentless pursuit that we should all have if we are in a relationship with God.

How will I be talking about this?

Well, using the Bible, we will explore these key fundamentals presenting from scripture the importance of practically applying these principles to our lives.

Why will we be talking about it?

Why?

Why should we sit here today and why should you listen to me?

What's the importance?

Well, in my life, I talk to so many people and ask them the same questions.

How is your relationship with God?

Right?

That's the most important one.

And so often or not, I'm greeted by the same response.

I'm up, I'm down.

My relationship with God is okay.

Or my relationship with God could be better.

That's when I hear a lot.

And perhaps there are many in this room who can relate that these describe where you're at this morning.

And that's, that's okay.

But for me, reading scripture, running my race in what's called sanctification, whereby I'm coming more like Christ each day, I became exhausted by this rhetoric, these words that people were saying.

Why, why should we, God's people, settle for this being the normative language of a follower of Jesus?

Why should we settle for this, that I'm okay, or it's this, or it's that, or it could be better?

Are we not God's people?

Are we not a chosen nation?

Are we not what's called a royal priesthood in the Bible?

Are we not people for God's possession?

Are we not new creatures?

Are we not holy temples?

Are we not filled with the person of the Holy Spirit that is God?

Are we not an army of God empowered by his precious promises?

Then shouldn't this be self-evident?

If all this is true, if it's true that you're a new creature and a holy temple, if all these things are true and are not just words, then shouldn't this be self-evidently clear?

Shouldn't our lives be so fragrant and so different that people can look at us and be like, I think they're a follower of Jesus.

These fundamentals and their application to our lives will help us shine for Jesus.

And they will, I believe, whenever we understand them and apply them, transform our lives.

But before we begin, I just want to posture myself.

I want to posture you guys, because who I am is just a sinner, a 20 year old, I know I look about 15, but I am 21.

And I am a sinner, I'm useless, was useless, until I met God.

And now I'm filled with the Holy Spirit.

And it's only because of that, can I have any effect here today of any meaning.

But who are you?

Unfortunately for you, you're the same.

So yous are sinners, useless before Christ.

But now the transition is you are so significant and so important.

And so recognizing that the Spirit in me and the Spirit in you and knowing our God, our Father wants to transform the lives of everyone sitting in here today using his word.

That is God spoke these words and led them out.

And that's what we're going to get to look at today.

It's a privilege and a blessing knowing those things.

Isn't it a sure thing that something can happen here today for each individual?

Everyone sitting in here, you should be thinking that God can transform me.

So sitting here today, why can't God change the way that you live to the point where we are more like Christ?

And the answer is you.

You sitting here today, you could be the buyer that stops God from changing and transforming your life.

So sitting here now, I just want to pray before we begin.

And I want to pray that God will use me and that I will leave nothing in the way for God to use me.

And I pray that for you, you will leave nothing in the way, that you'll sit and surrender and ask God to change everything because none of us are perfect.

The only perfect one is Christ.

So in here, there's something that we can leave and change today.

And that excites me and it should excite everyone.

So let's just pray before we begin.

God, I just want to say thank you so much for giving us the breath in our lungs, for creating us, for loving us, for giving us the gospel, for allowing us to be in a relationship with you.

I pray that you will just transform lives here today, including my own, that these things we take from your word can change the way that we live.

They can transform us.

No matter what we're going through, the circumstances of life, I pray that we will just sit here today and allow you to speak in to our lives and renew our minds to become more like you.

And that every individual sitting here will know that God can speak to them and that they will be willing and open.

In your name I pray, Lord.

Amen.

Now for me, I am a footballer.

I love football.

I can't express how much I love to play football.

But whenever I went to lower sixth and upper sixth, I went to Dariala, which is a rugby school.

Do you have any rugby fans?

Any rugby fans?

Hands up if you're a rugby fan.

One, two.

Two rugby fans.

Good.

Football fans.

Do you have football fans?

Yes.

Good.

Three football.

So nobody's real sports fans in here.

Well, I hate rugby.

I can't express.

I hate rugby.

It's a terrible sport.

All people do is run into each other.

I just think it's terrible.

But whenever I went to Dariala, it was a rugby school.

And so often or not, people would look at me and see that I could run down a wing and do it quite quickly.

So they're like, you'd be a good winger.

And so often or not, they would ask me if I wanted to play, but I would say, no, I'm not interested.

But I thought I might as well put an experience underneath my belt and say that I played a rugby match.

Now, looking at me, I don't have the physical stature for a rugby player.

So I remember the first morning that I went to the rugby match to play my one and only rugby match after that, I walked into the dressing room.

All these guys were huge and they were putting on like the studs, they were putting on the caps, they were putting on the gum shields.

And I walked in and I didn't have anything.

I was completely un-equipped.

I did not have anything.

I walked in this room.

Everyone could tell they were looking at me.

They were like, what on earth is he doing here?

You know what I mean?

He's like, he's the water boy, clearly.

And I was like, no lads, I'm playing today.

And they were all huge.

I got lost in a sea of big guys who had played rugby from my first year.

And this is my first time ever playing rugby.

And I didn't understand any of the rules or anything like that.

And I remember going out under the pitch.

And then I sort of was like a little bit pumped to get out there.

And then once I got out, I was like, this is not for me.

I'm going to try and avoid playing as much as possible.

And so I stood and I hid in the crowd.

And then it got to about the end of the match.

There was about 10 minutes left.

And I was like, right, I'm safe.

They're not going to bring me on here because I was watching everyone get absolutely crushed.

And then all of a sudden the guy went down injured.

And I was like, oh no, oh no.

I'm the only sub left.

And I remember just at that point, genuinely, I'm embarrassed by genuinely crouched down and hid behind somebody.

And all I seen was this six foot guy, six foot five rugby guy yell out my name, Luke, where's Luke?

And I hid and he ran over to me, pushed through the crowd.

He got a gum shield.

He stuck it in my mouth, got a hat stuck on me, strapped me up and he threw me out.

And there was me just like, I didn't understand anything about rugby.

And the only time I had one opportunity in the match to prove myself, a guy broke through the line.

He threw me the ball and I didn't catch it.

I let it fall.

And that was my rugby career summed up in 10 minutes.

And why have I told you that?

If not to just embarrass myself.

Well, the reality is, as soon as I arrived, I didn't have any of the equipping.

I didn't have any of the equipment.

People looked at me and they didn't think that I was a rugby player, okay?

And whenever I stepped onto the pitch, that was proved true.

But in equal measure, we're all followers of Jesus in here, if you've accepted a relationship with God.

And if not, you can leave here today a follower of Jesus.

And the reality is, you can tell by the fundamentals of a follower of Jesus if they're saved or not, okay?

The same way they could tell if I was a rugby player or not, you can tell if you are a follower of Jesus.

There's certain things that are just needed that are foundational to a follower of Jesus.

Same way there are things that are needed to be a rugby player, okay?

And so we want to discuss five of those things today.

The first is recognize.

We are all sinners.

Never forget that we are all in the same boat when it comes to this.

We bring ourselves down in humility as that is where we belong.

But we do this so we can be lifted up by God at the appointed time.

Number two is we have been offered salvation.

Titus 2.11 says this, Christ offered salvation to all men.

It is a gift from God that he died for us.

His blood was shed for us.

He died so that we might live and live to the full.

Don't let this just be head knowledge.

Truly meditate on such a powerful truth as this.

Romans 10.9 says, accept, believe and confess.

Whenever you do this, you begin your journey.

This process of sanctification whereby every day you become more like Christ.

But three, why is salvation being given to all of us in here?

Well, it's because God is love.

1 John 4 says, God is love.

And God is not a concept, nor a good idea, nor is love a concept or a good idea, nor something that is subjective or what we decide love should be or what we decide God should be.

Instead, God is love.

And everything that God dictates, quite literally everything that flows from God is love.

That is simply his nature.

That's why he offered salvation through his son, Jesus, who died on the cross for you and me.

But you must make a choice, like a drowning man that sees the way of being saved, but simply chooses not to, out of naivety or ignorance or passivity, we too must make sure that we are not foolish in watching the free gift of salvation pass us by.

But in any relationship, it requires constant care and a constant choice to lay down our lives in obedience.

So yes, you can point yourselves to a moment where you enter a relationship with God, but every day you wake up, it requires for you to surrender everything that you have in obedience, in order for Christ to enter your life and change and transform and renew you.

But in the Bible and Proverbs, it talks about how we are like dogs that return to their vomit.

Have you ever seen a dog that vomits and then starts eating it?

Well, that's what the Bible describes us like.

Whenever after we've become saved, whenever we return to our sin, we're like a dog that returns to his vomit.

Why?

Why do we do that?

How do we go from this dog that's eating its own sick, that's us returning to our sin, to though a righteous man falls seven times, he gets back up again?

Well, the reality is we have to recognize that we are sinners saved by grace.

And in Romans 8.29, it talks about how we are being conformed in the image of God.

Now, the important word there is being.

So you see these in the New Testament, these verbs, that it's an ongoing process.

So yes, we're saved definitively and held in the Father's hand.

But we are like dogs that return to our vomit.

And we sin in our relationship with God.

We still sin and we still need God.

We still need to be.

We are being conformed more like God each day.

That is, we need God's grace, God's mercy, God's love every single day.

So what happens whenever we do sin and are like a dog that returns to our vomit?

Well, we know that we need God's grace every day.

We know that we need to confess.

1st John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.

Confess.

So often or not we sin, we try to diminish it or make it smaller than what it is.

We try to say that it didn't happen, or we try and justify our sin.

But the reality is, be transparent with a God who already sees you.

If you've sinned, recognize it.

You should feel guilty.

You should feel sinful.

You should be at your lowest point.

But as we said, that lowest point will allow you to be lifted up by God at the appointed time.

That's what we're saying.

You can confess that sin and bring it to God.

And why can we be assured of such a liberating promise that God will forgive us?

Lamentations 322 says, His mercies never come to an end and His mercies are renewed every morning.

When you sin, God wants to forgive you.

He wants to lavish His love upon you.

So just identify it and confess that sin to God, who wants to lavish His love and His grace and His mercy upon you.

And then once you've done this, forget your sin as God casts it away into the sea, Micah says.

In Hebrews 812, it says, for I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.

So the answer is this in this recognized stage.

Yes, we're saved and definitively so.

And if you're not saved during a relationship with God, then today is the day to do it.

It's right there for you.

Don't be that dirty man who sees the free gift and watches it go by.

Accept it.

And if we have accepted it, what about all of us who still sin today?

Well, the reality is this.

The dog who returns to his vomit is us, but how do we get over to this side?

A righteous man, though he has fallen, he gets back up.

And the journey is this.

Confess your sin.

And God's mercies, who are renewed every morning, will forgive you of that sin.

And then whenever you have done that, God no longer remembers your sin.

So a part of that forgiveness is that you shouldn't feel guilt or shame or anything with reference to your sin.

Don't look back at your life and be like, oh, I feel guilty.

I feel shameful.

I still hold on to the past and it still dictates the way I live today, because that there only diminishes the sacrifice of Jesus.

What you say is God's love wasn't good enough for you.

The blood that Jesus poured out on the cross wasn't good enough to take away the guilt and the shame of that sin after you confessed it.

God no longer remembers it.

So if God doesn't remember it, why should you?

Why should you have the audacity to remember something that God said he himself no longer remembers?

And that's why Paul said, forget what is behind and press on to what is ahead.

Isn't that beautiful?

Whenever you sin, feel the guilt and shame, but confess it.

God no longer remembers it and forgives you.

And you can forget what is behind and press on to what is ahead.

And that should liberate us and fill us with so much joy and so much passion.

And that's one fundamental is recognizing the gospel and recognizing that process of God's forgiveness and how it's needed in your lives every single day.

Number two is equip.

We want to acknowledge the numerous and ridiculous amount of promises that are given to us by God.

Not only does he save us, not only is his grace and mercy there for us every single day, once we recognize we are then in a position to equip ourselves with everything that God has given us.

It is no longer us who lives, but instead it is Christ who lives within us.

Before we lived in the flesh and the sinful nature, but through the sacrifice of Jesus, we can clothe ourselves in God's promises.

Knowing that these are transformative truths that change our whole way of thinking.

We should perfectly think about each fruit of the spirit.

You see, you're saved and God comes and lives inside of you.

And so in Galatians five, it talks about what are the fruits of the spirit?

So what are the effects of the spirit coming to live inside of you?

And it's love, it's joy, it's peace, it's kindness, it's goodness, it's faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Shouldn't we wake up and remind ourselves of this?

recognizing the gospel, recognizing how good God is to us.

Then shouldn't we equip ourselves with what is already within us?

That is the fruits of the spirit.

That's what I do.

I pray God will just help me to have love and joy and peace.

And I think about each individual fruit.

And I say, I can have all of those because God lives inside of me, okay?

Whenever I worry and stress, I can have peace because God lives inside of me.

If I want to love somebody who maybe is hard to love, I can do so because of God.

If I want to be kind and compassionate and gentle, if I want to have patience, whenever I feel impatient, I can pray to God and know that he lives inside of me.

And that just by living in that truth, I can have patience.

I can have all these things.

Now imagine if you lived in all the fruits of the spirit every day of your life, if you loved people truly, if you have kindness and goodness and faithfulness.

See, the thing is, I can't just say these things to you this morning, these words, and you just take them and nod and are like, yeah, that sounds good.

You have to decide whether you think that's true or not.

You have to decide whether it's actually true that the God of the universe, who created literally everything, including you, actually lives inside of you.

That has huge implications if it's true.

That's why I say if you're a follower of Jesus and God lives inside of you, it should just be so clear, because God lives inside of you.

God lives inside of me and anyone who says they're in a relationship with God.

And so that's why I can have peace and love and joy.

You can have all of these things.

They're there for you here this morning.

These are the promises that you get to claim by entering a relationship with God.

It should be nothing but joy and happiness in our walk with God.

It's all there for us.

Not only that, I'm only highlighting two promises.

Promises is the fruits of the spirit.

And another promise is the armor of God.

In Ephesians 6, it says this.

Therefore, put on, and this is verses 13, 15, 16, 17, if you just want to turn to it or highlight it in your Bible.

Ephesians 6, 13.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground after you have done everything to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spear, which is the word of God.

It remains true that the enemy is out there seeking to trip all of us up.

He's there, he wants to throw you down.

The world wants to crush you.

The devil wants to crush you.

He wants to leave you at your lowest point, especially if you've entered a relationship with God, because God now knows that you've came in contact with your purpose and your identity.

And so he is petrified of you and will now do everything he can to take you down.

And he will use sin and guilt and shame to cripple you.

And that's why the importance of recognizing that you don't have to be crippled by guilt and shame, because you know it's washed away by the blood of Jesus.

And you also have to be aware of these threats and you know that you can equip yourself with the full armor of God.

So whenever I wake up in the morning, whenever I go to bed, I do these five fundamentals in my head.

This is what my prayers are comprised of.

I recognize the gospel and I equip myself.

I generally go through each fruit of the spirit and ask God to give me it.

I also equip myself with the armor of God.

And I generally like put on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness.

And I think about the belt of truth and shoes of peace and the sword and the helmet of salvation.

I think about all of these things and I put them on.

I clothe myself with them.

And they're there for all of us.

They're there for you.

It's like a soldier who decides to go into battle and he leaves all of his equipment down and goes to face the enemy.

It's insane.

He wouldn't do that.

That's foolishness.

He's just going to go out and going to get destroyed and crushed.

And that's what often some of us do.

Some of us might leave here today.

And I've said these promises that are read out in God's word.

I've said the armor of God that all of you can have and put on.

God has given you the military equipment, everything that you need to face the enemy and his tactics.

It's all there for you.

And you stare at it and you say, no, I'm not going to put that on today.

Or you just don't really think about it and you just go and live your day normally.

But wake up, put on the armor of God, be strengthened by that, put on the fruits of the spirit and see just how much your lives will change each day whenever you start to do that.

It's important that we are like soldiers that clothe themselves because we too are soldiers, but soldiers of Christ going out into battle against the enemy and the forces of evil in this world.

And we want to shine our life for Jesus.

And in order to do that and do it well, we have to put on the armor of God.

We have to put on the fritz of the spirit and all of these precious promises that God has given us.

The third fundamental is to go.

At this point, we want to focus on how do we actually interact with the people of this world?

Now, can anybody tell me how many groups of people there are in the world?

Anybody want to hazard a guess?

No.

Do we think it's thousands or millions of groups of people?

Yeah, something like that.

The answer is no.

There are two groups of people in the world.

Sinners and Christians.

That's it.

That's how simple it is.

That's why racism is the most...

How does that even exist?

Because we can't look at race, we can't look at culture, we can't look at religion, we can't look at all these different things and create division because there's only two types of people in the world that actually exist.

There's no such thing as lower class, middle class, upper class, only sinners and Christians.

People who don't know Christ and people who do know Christ.

These are two groups, the sinners and the Christians.

So how do we talk to these people in a way that best glorifies God and advances his kingdom?

Matthew 6 10 says, Your kingdom come and your will be done.

That's our desire and motivation as followers of Jesus.

What is God's will for the conversations that we have with the people who are both saved and unsaved?

That includes your parents, that includes your children.

Are they saved or unsaved?

That includes your friends, the people that you work with.

Every single person can be placed in two categories, sinners or Christians.

So once we have recognized, once we have equipped ourselves, our focus should be to go out into all nations.

That means every environment or context that God has placed us in.

For example, education, employment, sport, wherever it is, our focus is how should we be both salt and light.

For sinners, if people don't know Jesus, then our focus should be to bring them to know Jesus.

The same way we have to come into an intimate relationship with Jesus, they too must do so.

So that is our primary focus in every conversation.

How can I love this person with everything that I have?

I can preach the gospel to them, that's how.

Now the expression and how you preach the gospel will be different for different relationships we have.

Some will require more depth or a building up of a relationship, or perhaps like Paul and disciples, we will have to meet new people and simply go for it.

You go into your local shop, you go into your local chippy, perhaps that's not going to be a place where you can build relationships, but it is a person that you're going to have that interaction with.

Are they saved or unsaved?

Is that how you focus on your conversations?

Or do you go into a shop and just buy what you want and then leave?

Do you go into your place of work?

Do you go into your place of sport?

Do you ever think about two groups of people, sinners and Christians and how God wants you to interact with them in that moment?

Evangelism just doesn't come from words and preaching the gospel in that way.

Often the most poignant and effective witness comes from the actual living out of the gospel.

Our actions and the way that we live should make others thirst for God.

Can we truly say that our lives are all out for God?

That we are all living for God in every aspect of our life and full hearted obedience, which God has commanded us?

The reality is, there are sinners and there are people who don't know Jesus.

They don't have that relationship.

Right now, they're going to a lost eternity, but that hopelessness starts here in this earth.

They're going to live the rest of our lives without God, without the hope that we've all experienced, without the promises that we've all experienced.

And they're going to go to a lost eternity being cast aside by God, who will say, I do not know you.

And what are we doing?

Is that our focus, our mindset, for people who are not saved?

Do we pray?

Do we weep?

Do we cry over these people?

Are our conversations saturated with the gospel?

Whenever I'm in work, whenever I'm talking to any sinner, my focus is how can I get this conversation towards Christ?

That's it.

That's all I'm going through in my head.

How can I bridge the conversation where I can talk to them about God?

That should be all of our thinking for those who are not saved.

What about the other grip?

Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, how do we treat them?

Well, if you want to know how to treat your family of God, go home and read Ephesians 4, because that will explain almost everything.

Look at how it tells us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and then look at how we are all terrible at doing it.

We must always humble ourselves and place other people in a position of importance.

We must always be gentle, not looking to say our thoughts and opinions and force them on people.

We must always be careful and hasty with our words and actions.

We should never let other people's words or actions dictate our own.

So often or not, if someone does or says something to you, you can be reactionary to it, and you can respond emotionally, which is never good.

So we should never be dictated by other people.

Instead, we should be dictated by God's word and know how we should respond.

We must always desire to preserve unity.

Jesus said, I pray that just as me and the Father are one, I pray that you will also be one.

We should strive to be unified with every brother and sister in Christ, regardless of whether or not our views differ, even to the point where there is an emotional pinch and we feel like, I can't get by that.

Unity matters to God.

He says, just as me and the Father are one, and they're one nature, one person, He says, we are to be one.

All of us together are to be unified.

So for sinners, I want to just love them and preach the gospel and get my conversations towards that.

And then for Christians, my brothers and sisters in Christ, my family, I am going to do everything I can.

And my desire is to preserve unity.

My desire is to love you, to value you more highly than myself, to be kind and compassionate and to preserve unity.

They are the two groups of people that we can interact with.

And they are how we are to interact with them.

The fourth fundamental is grow.

How can we sustain our relationship with God?

How can we thrive in our relationship with God?

How do we get out of this faith of cement or procrastination, like the Israelites in the wilderness?

We never want to be in a wilderness state, whereby we forget the great salvation and work that God has done in our lives.

We never want to be in a position where we are slowly and painfully going back in our relationship with God.

Nor do we want long seasons where we distance ourselves from God.

We want an all life relationship with God, whereby literally every day, you're being completely relentless and radical in your pursuit for Christ.

God is limitless and immeasurable.

So, although God can never be fully known by us, God can be sufficiently known.

We also will never reach the life of Jesus in His perfection.

So, we should always have the mentality that there is both more to learn and more to grow in.

Whilst being content that Jesus is the perfection and grace that we live in.

In Philippians 3 and 10, it says, I want to know Christ, this is Paul.

Yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.

And so, somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all of this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, striving toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We want to grow in our relationship with God every single day, right?

And in order to do so, we have to be relentless.

Every morning I wake up, I want to pursue God with everything I've got.

I want to know more about God.

That is it, that was Paul's desire.

I'm running my race, that's all that matters to me.

Are we like those athletes that all we see is the race that is ahead of us?

Can you imagine an athlete in a 100 meter sprint who decides at about the 80 meter mark to turn around, to slow down, to take steps back?

No, that's crazy.

And all of us are like that in our lives, in our relationship with God.

We're running our race, but at different stages, at different points, we decide to just stop.

We decide to not go any further.

And even worse than that, we decide to go back.

We decide to keep walking back into what God has done for us.

Don't let that be the way that we live our lives.

Regardless of what age you are, as long as there's breath in your lungs, you can pursue God with everything that you've got and you can delve deeper, because God is a deep and infinite God.

There's more to learn, more to discover.

And so we should continue to grow in that.

And how you do that is very, very simple.

It is not a hard algorithm to accomplish growing and striving in your relationship with God.

It is reading God's word and it is praying.

That's it.

The reality is this.

If you're not growing in your relationship with God, I have no sympathy for you.

It's your own fault, because it's so simple.

Read God's word and pray.

All of us can do it.

And if you're not doing it, quite frankly, it's pathetic.

And you should start.

If you're serious about being in a relationship with God, okay, and you're coming to me and saying that your relationship with God is up and it's down and it's not really good and it's going back, that's your fault, not God's.

That's your fault, not God's.

Because if you want to be in a relationship with God, if you want to be pursuing him with everything that you've got, he's giving you the answer and the key.

That is his word.

Get into his word each day, okay?

I'm saying this out of love.

I know.

But it's just true.

It's the most loving thing I can say.

It's to get into God's word.

And if you're confused as to how you can do that, come speak to me, come speak to my dad, come speak to somebody that you know is running their relationship with God.

And let's get a devotional plan in place this morning, today, that you can do for the rest of your life.

And don't deviate away from that.

Pursue that with everything that you've got.

Know each day what you're going to read.

Know each day what you're going to pray.

And keep doing that every single day.

And see the transformative impact that has on your life, okay?

It's what we're all called and commanded to do.

And the reality is, if you're not in God's word, and you're not praying, and you're being lackadaisical about it, and you're being passive about it, then you are in dangerous territory of being in sin against an almighty God and a father who loved you and sent his son to die for you.

Let your lives represent a life that is in love with God.

And if you're in love with God, read his word.

Read the words that he has given to you for the sole purpose for you to live your life and get closer to him, and that's the best thing for you.

And pray, God has made it possible through Jesus for us to at any given point in our lives, no matter where you're at, to come and commune with God, to be with him, you, a sinner.

God says you can approach him and ask him of anything.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who will give willingly.

Pray constantly, pray without ceasing and read God's word every single day of your life.

And the final fundamental is glorify.

I want to emphasize the importance of radical abandonment and pursuit of God.

There's nothing normal about the relationship with God, okay?

If your lives seem normal to other people, something is wrong, okay?

Because there's nothing normal about being a follower of Jesus, okay?

You're talking about how you're filled with the Spirit of God, how you're filled with God.

That will lead to questions and work, okay?

If I'm a waiter in the Bishamals Inn and I go and serve food and come back to a waiter and say, did you know that I'm filled with the Spirit of God?

They're going to look at me like I am absolutely crazy and I love that because they're going to start to ask questions.

They're going to start to see that I'm different and they're going to ask me and I'm going to tell them about the gospel.

The question is, why go through such a rigorous process that's a bit excessive, a bit too much, a bit suffocating, you feel?

There's a lot going on here.

If being obedient to God's word has become suffocating, something deeper is wrong and needs to be addressed in your life.

The reality check is this.

We are sinners saved by the grace of God, children of God who have been given uncountable amount of gifts.

We are called to be salt and light.

We are called to be different.

We are called to be holy.

We are called to be pure.

We are called to be living demonstrations of the one who created us.

Our motivations come from a place of love and adoration.

We should not only not want to sin against God, we should go further.

We should be on the offensive asking, how can I magnify God?

How can I be this beautiful necklace that attracts people to the gospel?

Jesus is the person that we want people to see.

And we are simply the necklace that simply exalts the person that is Jesus.

Yes, this type of meditative thinking, this Christ-like lens to which you should look at everything is the epitome of a life crucified with Christ.

We should raise the banner of to live is Christ and to die is gain.

First John 2 says, Those who say they live in God must live as Jesus lived.

Our motivations for living a life of obedience for Christ are the same motivations that God has for actually giving us the commands, love.

John 14 says, If you love me, you will obey my commands.

If you love God today, with everything that you've got, you should want to leave here today, being obedient to his word, being obedient to everything that he has let out for us.

It's not out of place of ritualism or legalism or obligation, or I guess because it's good for me, but rather it should be pure love.

That's why I obey God because I love God.

It's that simple.

This morning, we've talked about the fundamentals of a follower of Jesus.

I've highlighted five ways or five fundamentals that is recognizing, that is equipping, that is going, growing and glorifying God.

Now, if any of you like me, you love movies.

One of my favorite is The Last Samurai.

I don't know if anyone's ever seen that.

Has anyone ever seen The Last Samurai?

Yeah, these aren't Christians.

It's a bad film.

That was a test.

I'm joking.

It's one of my favorite films.

And one thing about this film is it documents the warrior life of a samurai and what it means to be a samurai.

Now, one thing the samurai live by is the Bushido, which is the Japanese code of honor, and it highlights seven fundamentals of how to be a samurai.

Some of these include bravery, honesty, love, respect, truth, honor and devotion.

This is what is expected of a samurai.

This is the only way you can be a samurai, is to be these things.

And everyone within the Japanese culture would know who was a samurai because of the way that they lived and how different it was.

In many ways, I hope you can see the comparison that I'm making here.

Our code of honor is the Bible, and it commands us to have the fruits of the spirit, it commands us to have the armor of God.

We are warriors of God, representatives of the king, and we should live like this.

I want to leave you with a quote from David Platt.

God beckons storm plows, and they come.

He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately.

He speaks to the mountains, you go there, and he says to the seas, you stop here, and they do it.

Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the creator until we get to you and me.

We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, no.

This morning, we have looked at all of these things, but the reality is the decision rests with you, whether you want to leave the same or whether you want to leave here changed, pursuing God in full obedience to the Father.

Let's pray.

God, I just want to say thank you so much for allowing us to gather here.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for its power.

I know that these things that I have talked about this morning are simply things that I have read in your word and I have applied to my own life and seen the difference in my life and seen the difference in my relationship with you.

I have understood more about you and who you are.

And my longing, my aspirations for every single person in here to know more about you, to grow deeper in their faith.

And I pray that the five things that we have looked at this morning will actually help them to do it.

And if anyone feels convicted, if anyone feels that there is something they need to change in their life, that they will do it, Father, because there is no time to waste.

Our lives are for you and should be for you.

In this we pray, Amen.