So let me tell you where we're going to go in this message series. Today, we're going to talk about really a very, very important message that is

Transcription

1 Craig Groeschel: It's so awesome to have all of you with us today at all of our LifeChurches, our Network Churches. We love you guys so much. On the other side of computer screens at Church Online all over the world. We are so thankful for you. We pray for all of you every week and you are a part of our family. We'll glad to have you with us. Today we're starting a brand- new message series. It's based off of a book that I wrote several years ago called, Christian Atheist. Now you might be going, "Christian atheist. What in the world is that?" Let me explain it to you. According to a recent survey in the country I live in, in America, three out of four people believe in God. Three out of every four people believe in God and about seven in ten actually believe that Jesus is the Son of God or He is God's son who came into this world, but when we look at how people live today, I think we'd all have to agree that seven out of ten people are not living a life that really reflects the teachings of Jesus. How many of you would say that's probably pretty true? While the majority of Americans believe in God, the truth is so many of us live as if God doesn't exist at all and that's my definition of a Christian atheist. What is a Christian atheist? A Christian atheist is someone who believes in God, Christian, we'll say, but atheist lives as if God doesn't exist. For the record, for those of you who are atheist, this in by no means is a shot at atheists. I know a lot of atheists who live very, very good and productive and helpful and serving lives. This is really more of a shot at those who think or call themselves Christians and yet live as if God does not exist. I want to use a verse kind of to open up and set the tone for this four- part message series. This is actually Paul writing to Titus and he was describing the heart behind this message, talking about some people who were very rebellious in the way they lived and he said, "They were full of meaningless talk." In other words, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, but their actions were inconsistent with their talk and so this is what he said about them. He said in Titus 1:16, "They claim to," do what? Let's all say this aloud- "They claim to know God." "Yeah, we know God. Yeah, we believe in God." "They claim to know God, but by their actions," what do they do? "But by their actions they deny Him." They claim to know Him, but by the way they live, they actually deny Him. I would call that a Christian atheist. He says, "They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good." They claim to know God, yet they are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good. So let me tell you where we're going to go in this message series. Today, we're going to talk about really a very, very important message that is

2 one of the most important messages that I can ever teach on and that is those who believe, but do not know Him. We're going to talk about those who believe in God, but do not know Him. Next week, we're going to talk about those who believe in God, but do not fear Him. This is a really important teaching as we get into what does it mean to live in a reverent fear of God. Week number three, we're going to talk about those who believe in God, but don't want to go overboard for the whole Jesus thing- "I want to believe in Him, but I want to do this kind of on my own terms and keep things comfortable." Week number four, we're going to talk about those who believe in God, but do not trust him fully- "I want to believe in God, but I want to still keep control of so many things in my own life." A Christian atheist. Somebody who believes in God, but lives as if he does not exist- "Today, I believe in God, but do not know Him." I'll illustrate this way. Years ago, I believed in Amy, but did not know her. I believed in her, but didn't know her. What do I mean by that? I had become a new follower of Jesus. I'd been walking with Jesus for a little over two years and there was this girl in my college that was making fun of me- "Craig Groeschel, you are a Jesus freak. You're the weirdest guy I know." This girl heard about Amy and told me about her. "I've never met her, but I've heard she's weird like you. She's overboard for God. She's a Jesus freak. You guys should meet each other and you could go be weird together." So I heard about Amy. I believed in her, but I never met her. I believed in her, but I didn't know her. I prayed for two months about calling this girl from another school that I've never met. I was, oddly enough, so convinced this gal was going to be my wife, which is like spooky, weird, crazy, call it what it is, but that's how I felt, that I recorded the first conversation that I had with her. Back then you had to put a black, little, sucky thing on your phone to run your land line through, record it. I called her and her voice mail picked up and honest- to- goodness, she can verify that this is completely true, her voice mail picked up and I said, "Hey, you Christian babe! Take me to church or lose me forever!" That's what I said to her. Yeah, you're kind of moaning and groaning. You've got to understand. This is when Top Gun was big. This was in the era and you've got to understand, people back then said I looked a little bit like Tom Cruise. I know it's hard to imagine, but that's what they said, so now I'm in the zone doing this thing. Thankfully, she didn't hear that message until I called her the second time. When we met, someone actually told her that, "He kind of looks like Tom Cruise," so she was really excited. I met her on a blind date. I knocked on her door and she Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 2 of 12

3 opened the door and she went, "Oh." It's a good thing I had a really good personality and I won her over. So I believed in her, but I didn't know her. We just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary and I know her intimately. I can walk in a room. There's 50 other women there, 49 of them I'd walk right by. I can hear her voice. I can recognize her perfume. I know what she's going to order at whatever restaurant we go to. I know quirky things about her like if you leave the water running, she'll turn into Satan. I know that if I take something that should be recycled and put it in the garbage and not the recycle, she can be out- of- state and she will know somehow. I know her intimately and love her and what's amazing is 24 years into marriage, I'm still getting to know her. I'm still growing in intimacy with her. I know her very, very well, but I'm still getting to know even more of the details about who she is. The reality is God is a beautiful Creator and Sustainer of the Universe and He created us to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to know Him as He knows us. I want to show you, really, three different kind of levels of believing in God. These are just my ways of expressing, but you'll see yourself somewhere in here and the goal, no matter where you are, is to move toward this third category we're going to talk about today. I want you to watch and determine where you are somewhere in these three different categories of knowing God. The first one is this, if you're taking notes. Some people believe in God, but don't know Him. Some people believe in God, but don't know Him. Quite honestly, that will be many of you. You say, "How in the world is that possible?" You can believe in God without knowing God. Scripture says even the demons believe in God and they shutter. They believe in God, but there's not a personal loving relationship with God. In fact, I would term this kind of, what I observe today is- I would call it a cultural Christian. It's someone who would say, "Yeah, I'm a Christian because my mom was a Catholic and my dad was a Baptist and we go to church on Christmas and Easter sometimes, if we can. I'm a Christian because I'm not a Muslim or something else." Kind of in the parts of the world many of us live in, this is- if you're kind of nothing else, you're kind of a Christian and it's almost a cultural mindset. "I kind of believe in God, sort of, mostly. Sure, I believe in God, but I don't know Him." In fact 1 John 2:3-4, John has some very direct words to say about a real significant issue that's been going on since the beginning of time. He says this, he said, "We know that we have come to know God," if we do what? We know God if we keep his commands. Whoever says, "I know Him. I know God," but does not do what He says, what is that person? They're a Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 3 of 12

4 liar. If we say we know Him, but don't do what He commands, we're a liar, and the truth is not in that person. Whoever says, "I know God," but there is no fruit in their life. There's no sense of obedience. There's no sense of remorse when we sin. There's no transformation. It's not that we get to favor God by doing good, but when they know the goodness of God, then He does good through us. If we claim to know God, but our lives do not represent anything of the teachings of Jesus, we're a liar in what we say about ourselves. The tragedy is there are so many people who say, "I believe in God and I do good things and I know a lot about God," and there are some people who really even know a lot about the Bible, but they may miss Heaven by about 18 inches. There's a head knowledge of the things of God, but not a heart relationship with God the way He wants us to know Him. In fact, Jesus said some words that are as direct and pointed as can be. I never like to use this as kind of a fear tactic, because I don't want people to- "I want to come God because I'm afraid of Hell." I want people to come to God because we need Him and because we want Him, but Jesus said it very, very plainly in Matthew 7:21. He says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven." Jesus said, "Many will say to me on that day," in other words after our time is done on Earth, "Lord, look. Didn't we prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?" We might say today, "Didn't we go to church? I did that class back when I was 12. I was baptized when I was a baby. I gave some money. I tried to do nice things. I said some prayers." But Jesus said this, he said, "Then I will them plainly, I never knew you. I didn't know you. You maybe tried to do some good things. You maybe believed in me, but we were not in a relationship." Quite honestly, that's where some of you are. That's exactly where I was growing up. I believed in God. I went to church, but I did not know Him. First category- "I believe in God, but I do not know Him." Second category would be those who would say, "Well, I believe in God and I know Him, but I don't know Him well. I believe in God. I've experienced Him, but I don't Him intimately. I believe in Him, but I don't know Him well." I'll give you an example. I know George Brett. Those of you who are baseball fans, if you don't cheer when I even mention George Brett, then you aren't a real baseball fan. If you're kind of my age, unquestionably the greatest hitting third baseman of all time. Arguably, one of the greatest players in the top 20 or so of all time. I actually own Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 4 of 12

5 probably 30 rookie George Brett baseball cards. If you know anything about baseball cards, like, "Dude. You've got it going on." He played for the Kansas City Royals for so much of his career and I was actually in Kansas City when he was still playing. I was in college and I was there playing the National Tennis Championship and I was with all my buddies. I was like, "I'm going to meet George Brett." They're going, "You are weird." I'm like, "No, I'm going to meet George Brett. I'm going to meet him." They were laughing at me and stuff, so we were walking in Kansas City by the plaza and- God is so good- when I looked up, sitting right there, God as my witness, in the plaza was George the Man, Mr. Hemorrhoids himself, Brett, sitting there in the plaza and I was like, "AH! George Brett!" I lost control. I jumped over- I became that guy. That weird guy. I jumped over this little fence. I'm up in his face like, "Mr. Brett, you're a hero of mine. Oh my gosh, I got 30 of your rookie cards. You batted.390 back in You almost beat Ted Williams who did that back in You hit 118 RBI's in a 117 games. No one's done that in history." He's like, "Take a breath." This other guy who was next to him was trying to handle me, like, "Take him away." George was so cool. We're talking. I'm in his hometown. This probably happens to him 40 times a minute. For whatever reason, he's like, "You know all that about me?" He said, "Why don't you have a seat and we'll have a drink together." True story. Not lying at all. All the other people at the table are like, "What are you doing, George?" I sat down with him probably 15 minutes. He was as nice as he could be. He asked me what I was in town for and I said, "I'm actually in town playing in the National Tennis Championships." He's like, "No way." He said, "You've watched me all these years. I'll tell you what. What time are you playing tomorrow? I'm going to come out and watch you play tomorrow in the finals." You're not going to believe this. The next day I won the National Tennis Championship with George Brett on the front row. In fact, I got a picture to show you. The picture is right- okay, there is no picture, because George did not show and it wasn't the finals. It was the second round and I lost and I went home, but wouldn't it have been an amazing story if that had happened? What I need to tell you is, I know George Brett, but I don't know him well. I know a lot about him. I spent 15 minutes with him and he almost came to watch me get my butt kicked, but I don't know him well. The reality is there are so many of us that we actually have had an experience with God. We called on him. He might have answered some prayers. We might have been truly born into His family, but the reality is we haven't grown with Him. We haven't grown to know Him. I could say it like this- we've Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 5 of 12

6 been informed about Jesus, but we've been yet to be transformed by Jesus. We've been informed about Jesus, but we've yet to be transformed by Jesus. I'm not saying this person is not in the family of God, that your sins aren't forgiven, that all may very well be the case. You know Him, but you don't know Him well. In fact, Paul was talking to a group of people that very well could have fallen into this category. In Galatians 4:8-9, he said this to them, he said, "Formerly, when you did not know God"- in other words, you know him now, but you didn't know him before. "Formerly, when you didn't know God, you were slaves to those, who by nature, are not gods." He said, "Now that you know God," and then he kind of qualifies it, "or, well, rather that you're known by God." It's like, "You don't know Him well, but now that you know God or rather you're known by Him, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" I'm telling you, there are so many people in our church that I love so much. I want to say, "What are you thinking? You know God, but yet you're going back to the old behaviors that are very destructive to you, hurt your testimony, and really weaken your relationship with God." The reason I'm so passionate about this is because back when I became a follower of Jesus, I was being pulled back into some of those things. I knew Him, but not real well. I was tempted to turn back and that's exactly where some of you are right now. Some of you, you've completely turned back to a different lifestyle. You know Him, but you don't know him well, because if you knew Him well, you wouldn't be perfect yet, but you would be being perfected by His presence and being transformed into the image of Christ. The Biblical word is sanctified, but He's transforming you and he's changing you by His power in your spirit. You're being changed. So there are those who believe in God, but they do not know Him. Quite honestly, that's some of you. There are those who believe in God and they know Him, but they don't know Him well. This third category is where I hope that you will all desire to be and that is those who would say, "I believe in God and know Him intimately and serve Him wholeheartedly. I know Him intimately and I serve him wholeheartedly." Those of you who are there, you may not even say that you're completely there, but you will totally recognize and relate to this imagery. You're the one who knows what it means to be led by the spirit of God. You understand when I say you learn to walk by faith and not by sight. You know what it means to be gently convicted of your sin and to quickly turn from it. You know what it means to wake up and say, "God, I want this day to bring you glory." You see the Hand of God working in Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 6 of 12

7 your life all through the day. You recognize Him in conversations you have with people. You sense Him directing you to care for somebody. You can feel Him prodding you to say something you weren't planning on saying. You sense Him interrupting you. You know His comfort when something wrong happens in your life and you feel His supernatural peace. You know what it's like to feel the power of God in your life and if you feel, "I couldn't have done that without Him." You know that when you're weak, He makes you strong. His Word is a part of your life. It's hidden in your heart that you might not sin against Him and yet you continue to long for more because it's like spiritual nourishment for your soul. The more you feed on it, the more you want of it. You find worship as a natural overflow out of your daily life. It's not what you do just when you're in church, it's what you do because you know Him. You long for every part of your day to glorify Him. At the end of the day, you don't measure the day by how did you feel or what did you get done, you measure the day by, "How did I serve and glorify God?" If that relates to you, it's not that you're perfect, it's not that you're better than anyone else, it's just that you've been walking with God. For 24 years I've been getting to know Amy and growing in intimacy with her and for 27 years I've been getting to know God and growing in intimacy with Him and learning to recognize His voice. I love the imagery that David has in Psalms 63:1-4. Listen to a man who loves God. Listen to a man who longs for God. Listen to a man who needs God. Listen to the intimacy of his language when he says this in verse one, he says, "You, God, are my God." You're not some, "the God, a god," you're my God. "Earnestly I seek you." In other words, this comes from my soul. "I thirst for you. My whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water. Oh, God, you are my God. I have seen you in the sanctuary. I've beheld your power and glory." I didn't just hear about it. I experienced you firsthand, God, "because your love is better than life. My lips will glorify you." In other words, you just can't stop me from giving you praise, because you are that good. He said, "I will praise you as long as I live. In your name, I will lift up my hands." That is a reflection of a person who is not perfect, who didn't have it all together, but knew God intimately and was longing to serve him wholeheartedly. "God, I long for you. Earnestly, I seek you." That is so different from, "I believe in God, yeah." Right? So different. I believe in God, but don't know Him. I believe in God and know Him, but I don't know Him well. I believe in God and I know Him intimately and by His Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 7 of 12

8 grace and through His spirit, I will serve Him wholeheartedly. How well do you know God? How well do you know God? Let me give you a little bit of insight that will kind of help answer this. What you call God determines how well you know God. How you address God is an indicator of how well you know God. For example, most scholars believe David wrote Psalm 9 and this is what Psalms 9:10 says of God, "Those who know your name," everybody say that with me, "Those who know your name"- what do they do? They, "trust in you." Those who intimately know the name of God, trust in God. "Those who know your name, trust in you." For example, what you call me helps really show how well you know me or not. For example, if my phone rings and I pick it up and it says, "Mr. Groeschel?" You don't know me at all. You are a telemarketer and I just hung up on you. You don't know me. If you call me, "Pastor Craig," you probably at least know something about me. You know what I do for a living, you might be apart of our church family, you might know quite a bit about me, you might know I'm married to Amy, have six kids, you might have heard some of my stories seven times because you've been going here for a long time. You know a lot about me. If you call me, "Craig," though, you actually know me probably even a little better because my close friends, they don't address me as, "Pastor Craig." Believe it or not, my children do not call me, "Pastor Craig," okay? My close friends call me, "Craig". There's another level of friend and those are the ones who call me, "Groesch." If you call me, "Groesch," we have been friends for 27 years or longer and we were probably drunk together at some point. "Groesch" predates me following Jesus and honestly, if you call me, "Groesch," we've been friends since college or before, we played sports together, and if you want to try and be cool and call me, "Groesch," now, you can try, but it only makes you look foolish. It doesn't work, okay? "Hey, Groesch!" Ha ha ha ha ha. Doesn't work. But if you call me, "Groesch," that means we go way, way back. There are some, though, six to be exact, who call me, "Daddy". They know me on a whole different level. We have spent more time together, we've had more snuggle time, we've had tickle time, we've had more bedtime talks time, we've prayed together more than I've prayed with anybody else. Those who call me, "Daddy," know me at a whole different level. There's one person who calls me, "Megaman," and that's all I'm going to say about that, because she is the only one allowed to call me that and I happen to like it and she knows me in a way that nobody else knows me. Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 8 of 12

9 What you call someone helps determine how you know them. If you called God, "the big guy up in the sky," that says something about your relationship with Him. If you call Him, "the man upstairs," that says something about your relationship with Him. If you pray, "Dear six- pound, eight- ounce Baby Jesus," or whatever, that says something about your relationship with God. If, though, on the other hand, you cry out to Him intimate as, "Father," then that's what He is to you. Some of you know Him as, "Savior," because He has saved you from your sins. Some of you, you call Him, "Friend," because He was there for you when no one else was. There are those of you, you call Him, "Healer," because He has healed you supernaturally. There are those of you to you He is your, "Provider." There are those of you, He is your, "Comforter." There are those of you, He is your, "Lord." He is your, "King." What you call Him reflects how well you know Him and the more you get to know Him, the deeper you understand all the characteristics of the glory of our God. Suddenly, He's not just, "Dear God," but He's someone that you know intimately. Jesus called Him, "Abba, Daddy." Jesus knew him as, "Daddy." Some of you know Him like that. As my children know me as, "Daddy," you know Him as, "my Daddy, God." Your dad may not have been here for you on Earth, but you know Him and depend on Him like that. What you call Him determines how well, or reflects how well, you know Him. If I seem to get into this a little bit, the reason is because for the first part of my life, I was a Christian atheist. Hands down, 100 percent. I was a Christian atheist. I believed in God and I went to church, but I did not know Him. When you get to know Him better, your heart is going to start to break for the things that break the heart of God. You're going to start to care about things that you didn't care about before. You're going to have a burden for those who are overlooked and for the outcast. Suddenly, you're going to wake up and you didn't care about the poor before and now you care about the poor. Suddenly, you're praying for people that you never even thought about before. When you sin, you don't beat yourself up, but you're quickly convicted and recognize, "I shouldn't have done that." You turn to God and you ask for forgiveness and you receive His power and you leave that behind you. You start to hear His voice, a gentle voice, loving you, encouraging you, correcting you, guiding you. You sense His presence throughout the day. You have a longing for more of Him. It's like, "Eh, I went to church." In fact, church isn't some place you go, it's who you are. You see yourself as a part of the family of God. You don't just consume, but you look at the gifts that you have. How God uniquely wired and created you and you Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 9 of 12

10 give back. Not just your money, because it's not your money. You recognize it as His money and you put it into work in the church and beyond. Your gifts- you start to serve and you see yourself not as a Christian, but more as a minister. That, "I'm actually a full- time minister, wherever I am. I may work in a bank, I may be a teacher, I may be a stay- at- home mom, I may be a baseball coach, but I'm one who does it in the name of Jesus." All throughout the day you can sense the spirit of God guiding you into all truth. Why? Because you know Him intimately and you serve Him wholeheartedly. The good news is God wants to reveal Himself to you. It's not like some hide- and- seek game. He says that, "If you seek me, you will find me." I'm telling you right now, there are those of you, you may say, "I believe in Him, but I do not know Him," you are one prayer away from getting to know Him. There are those of you who say, "I know Him, but I don't know Him well," you are one prayer away from getting to know Him better because when you seek Him, He delights to reveal Himself to you. He wants to open up His heart to show you all of His goodness. Every good thing you have is a gift from our good God. His greatest desire is that you will love Him and know Him as He knows you. He loves you. This is my prayer for you. A few weeks ago we finished up a series called, "Pray," where we looked at some of the prayers of Paul, where Paul would pray for something "so that." I want to show you one of the prayers that we did not cover and this is my prayer for you and you will see the "so that". I hope you pray this for me as I pray it for you. 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." Why? "So that,"- you may do one- "so that you may know Him better." I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you. The riches of His glorious inheritance into His holy people and His incomparably great power for those of us who believe. I pray that you would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Why? So that you would know our good God better and better and better, because it pleases Him when His children know Him and when we know Him, He will guide us into all truth. I pray that you would know God, know Him intimately, and serve Him wholeheartedly. Father, we pray today that your holy spirit would do a work in your church to draw us closer to your son, Jesus. All the churches, as you're praying today, be there many of you who would say, "You know what? I do believe in God, but I don't know Him." Some of you would say, "I believe in God, but I don't know Him well." Others of you, "I believe in Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 10 of 12

11 Him and I want to know him intimately and serve Him wholeheartedly." Wherever you are, it's my prayer that you would want to step closer to Him, to grow in intimacy. As I've grown to know Amy in 24 years. As I've grown to know Jesus in 27 years. There are those of you who say, "I want to grow in intimacy with the One who sent His son for me." To those of you who are followers of Jesus, if you say, "Yes. I want to grow closer to Him. I want to serve Him wholeheartedly. Even if I'm already close, I want to be even closer, knowing His voice, and being directed by His spirit." Would you lift up your hands right now? All of our churches. So fantastic. Hands going up all over the place. God, I pray, that as a reflection of this message, that we as your children would have a hunger to know you better. God, as David thirsts for you, as he longs for you, give us that same craving to know you, to feed on your Word, to bask in your presence. God, that we would recognize that you are with us always. That you never leave us and never forsake us. That, God, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within those of us who know your son, Jesus. God, I pray that we would never serve you out of obligation, but we would always long to serve you out of a relationship. As I long to serve and bless my wife because I love her and she loves me, may we long to serve and bless you, God, because you love us and we love you. Out of a growing, intimate relationship, draw us close. God, I thank you that as this church seeks you, you promise that we will find you. Reveal yourself to us as we open up our hearts in prayer, as we seek you through your Word, as we long to hear your voice, as we use our gifts to bring you glory, in all that we do, God, help us to know you intimately and serve you wholeheartedly. As you keep praying today in all of our churches, nobody looking around. There are those of you, that you're going to say, if you're really honest, "I'm a Christian atheist. This was totally and completely me. I believe in God, but I do not know Him." In fact, I never even, years and years ago, even comprehended that knowing God was a possible option. I just thought you tried to do good things and hope for the best. I never realized that God created us because He is love and He wanted to be in a relationship with us. In all of our churches, there are those of you, you may believe in God, you may have grown up in church like I did, and you recognize you don't know Him. Some of you, you're not a church person at all and you may have some sense there's probably a God, this whole Earth probably didn't just happen to end up here by itself, things probably just don't happen to work and people reproduce and animals are good to eat and plants are good to eat and, "I figure there's a God somewhere," and yet you recognize you do not know Him. Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 11 of 12

12 At this point, if you're being drawn to Him, and I hope you are, that is because God purposed for you to be here. In fact, I bet most of you can look back at other points in your life where you were being drawn to God somehow, for some reason. Why is that? Because He was trying to draw you into a relationship with Him. He wants to reveal His goodness to you. He wanted to so much that He gave the most amazing gift ever when He sent Jesus, His own son, to die for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus said, "I came that you might know my Father who sent me." All of our churches, you recognize, "I want to know Him. I believe in Him, but I don't know Him." Come to Him as you are, call on His name, when you do, He will hear your prayer. He will forgive your sins. He will make you new and He will begin to reveal all the goodness of who He is to you. All of our churches, there are those of you, you recognize this. This is your moment- "I need His grace. I need His forgiveness today. By faith, I give my life to Him. I want to know Him." That's your prayer. Will you lift your hands high right now, all of our churches, and say, "Yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. I want to know you"? As there are hands going up in churches all over the country and beyond, Church Online, you click right below me and I would invite all of you just to join in the honor of praying with those around you because nobody prays alone. Pray- Heavenly Father, I want to know you through your son, Jesus. I ask Him to forgive me of my sins, to be first in my life, my Savior, and my Lord. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you. Reveal yourself to me so I could follow you. So I could serve you. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. Jesus, thank you for new life. Mine belongs to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Would you all worship, big worship? Happy day and welcome, everyone, into the family of God. Christian_Atheist_Week_1 Page 12 of 12