The Path of Life

Sermon Summary:

In a world where we’re constantly being shaped by algorithms, social media, and endless digital streams of information, we face a crucial question: who or what is forming us? This message challenges us to embrace intentional discipleship—a deliberate choice to let Jesus Christ shape our lives rather than the countless voices competing for our attention. Drawing from Psalm 16:11, we’re reminded that God has revealed a ‘path of life’ that leads not to emptiness but to joy, purpose, and eternal pleasures. This isn’t just another set of rules or a philosophical system; it’s about fixing our eyes on the person of Jesus, much like Peter walking on water—as long as he looked at Jesus, he defied the impossible, but the moment he focused on the storm, he began to sink. The same is true for us. When we center our lives on Christ, we discover a journey that involves three vital steps: knowing God through salvation from our sins, experiencing God as we’re shepherded through community and life’s challenges, and serving God by being sent into meaningful ministry. This path isn’t a one-time decision but a lifetime of continuous choices—some big, some small—that together create a flourishing life. The beauty is that flourishing looks different in every season, but the invitation remains constant: to live with an eternal perspective that rescues us from self-centeredness and reveals what truly matters.

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Sermon Points:

Key Takeaways:

• Formation is inevitable for all human beings; the question is who or what is forming you
• Social media and digital algorithms represent continuous behavior modification techniques attempting to disciple people
• Intentional discipleship must be centered on the person of Jesus Christ, not rules or philosophical systems
• A disciple is “a person being formed by Jesus as they follow him in accomplishing his mission”
• The church is “a purposeful community of gathered believers following the Jesus way together”
• God’s path leads to life, joy in His presence, and eternal pleasures
• Three vital steps to flourishing: knowing God, experiencing God, and serving God
• Knowing God requires salvation from sin—we cannot reflect God’s glory without being saved
• Experiencing God involves being shepherded in community, past our past, and through life’s challenges
• Experiencing God also means being shaped as disciples through spiritual disciplines and putting off old ways
• Serving God means being sent into purposeful places of ministry using our spiritual gifts
• Following this path provides an eternal perspective that rescues us from self-centeredness
• Flourishing looks different in every season of life, but the principles remain constant

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Scripture Reference:

• Psalm 16:11 (primary focus): “You make known to me the path of life; you fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand”
• Romans 12:1-2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
• Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your path”
• John 10: Jesus came to give abundant life
• John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life”
• Hebrews 12: “Fix your eyes on Jesus”
• Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”
• Ephesians 2: Being dead in trespasses and sins
• Psalm 1: The two ways of life
• Proverbs 10:17: “Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life”
• Genesis 18: God’s calling of Abraham to keep the way of the Lord
• Ecclesiastes 12: “Fear God and keep his commandments”

Stories:

• The astronaut training story: NASA scientists in Huntsville, Alabama discovered that astronauts in zero-gravity environments couldn’t sleep until they learned to focus on a fixed point of reference, illustrating the need to fix our eyes on Jesus
• Peter walking on water: When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on water, but when he looked at the storm, he sank—demonstrating what happens when we lose focus on Christ
• Dr. David Kirkpatrick’s seminary class: The professor would give unannounced tests but always said if students didn’t know the answer, they could write “Jesus” for partial credit because Jesus is always the right answer
• The wrong-way driver on Center Street: After Sandy Potts’ funeral, someone turned the wrong way on the one-way street, illustrating how people can be on the right path but going the wrong direction
• Children’s basketball observation: The pastor watched his tall son and grandson playing basketball and reflected on how flourishing looks different in different seasons—he once could touch the rim but now flourishes by cheering from a chair
• The children’s basketball ministry example: Many people showed up and had a great time because others had been “sent” to serve in that ministry, demonstrating the power of people finding their place of service

Sermon Transcript:

Well, good morning church. It’s good to see you here this morning. We’re grateful that you’re here today to share in this time of worship and fellowship and community. We’ve had a great day in worship already in our first worship service, and grateful for this time that we can be together here in this time of worship as well. And we know it has been, as seems like every week when we gather for worship in this place, it has been an interesting week, and it has been that this week, lots happening across our world. And so what I’d like to do as we begin it just lead us in a time of prayer, as we give thought and to what’s occurred, and ask the Lord to bring his grace and peace to us. So let’s pray together. Father, we bowed before you today with both grateful and heavy hearts. On the one hand, we are deeply grateful for you and all you’ve done and continue to do for us.

My goodness, we know how lost we would be without you. So yes, we are thankful we’re also burdened today as we look across our world and continue to see more and more expressions of the brokenness of society and the sinfulness of humanity, the victimization of the innocent. We’re just saddened by it all. And we know you more so than us in the troubled places in our world today.

There’s so much suffering and uncertainty. The streets in Iran are filled with unrest, and seemingly we’re observing a broad movement among people emerging in a deep desire for freedom. And yet, in the midst of a totalitarian regime in Syria, the continued saga of a lack of true and legitimate leadership continues. The Middle East. Just seems to be characterized by so much unrest across the continent of Africa.

When we read each day of violence and religious persecution and horrific examples of human suffering in Venezuela, people are reeling from the recent events, but they also have had to face the reality of a broken and corrupt regime that has taken its toll on their people. And closer to home, Lord, hear our own nation. There’s so much division and polarization and acrimony, and almost any tragic event is met with immediate expressions of anger and judgment and further polarization.

The events this past week in Minnesota were another reminder of just how fractured we are, and it all grieves us, and we know you see it all. We know nothing surprises you. We recognize you. We honor you today as the God of the universe, as the God of history is the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. And we are honored and grateful that we can call you father.And so today, father, we ask for you to bring healing and peace to the troubled places in our world. We long for the day when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Like the prophet Isaiah, we know there’s a time coming when the wolf will live with the lamb, and leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together. And a little child will lead them. But until that day comes, we pray for wisdom and grace. We pray for people in the seats of power to earnestly seek solutions to problems and situations that will truly be beneficial to the people in their charge, rather than simply furthering their own interests. We pray for peace in people’s hearts and in their homes. We pray for people to be good and responsible in the moment, in those situations that can potentially either escalated, de-escalate a crisis or a tragedy. Lord, we pray that human beings across the world will both acknowledge the dignity of the humanity of their fellow human beings, as well as their own. But Lord is the pastor of this church. I pray for us, our people. I pray that you’ll find us faithful in every area of life. I pray that we will please you with our words, our thoughts, our actions, our hopes and our desires. I ask you to empower us, through the anointing of your spirit, to proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, to release people from the prison of darkness, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor in the day of God’s vengeance, to comfort those who mourn and provide for those who grieve. I pray, Lord, that you’ll give these people, my people, your spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they might know you better. I pray that the eyes of their hearts will be enlightened, in order that they may know the hope to which you’ve called them, the riches of your glorious inheritance, the incomparably great power you’ve provided for all who believe. I pray that you will strengthen them on the inside through the power in the presence of your Holy Spirit, and that these people will be filled with your fullness and will know how much they are loved. And we pray in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.

Well, this morning I want us to continue our conversation that we began last Sunday morning. As we are embracing this theme for the year, flourishing together, transformed on the Jesus Way and the Gospel of John will be underneath our journey for us this year. And Romans 12 one and two serves as the foundational passage for the year. And as you know, each season of the year, we’re going to focus on a different facet of our annual theme.

So last Sunday, The theme for the Winter designed to flourish. And Psalm 92 is the basis for that theme. But last Sunday I mentioned a passage from Psalm 16, and that’s what I want us to look at this morning. So if you have your copy of the Old Testament, let’s look at Psalm 16 of entitled, the message that comes right out of the text, The Path of life.

This is the one of David’s Psalms. And as you’re looking at this in your Bible, you might notice that at the beginning of many Psalms, most of them, there’s some type of notation. It might say something like this is for the director of music, or even give you instructions about which musical instruments are to be used. When you sing this particular psalm, sometimes it will give you a contextual statement about the history behind the psalm or underneath it, and sometimes it will just share something that we don’t really even know what it means.

This is one of those psalms if you look at. And what’s interesting is every one of those introductions are in the original text. As best we can tell, all of the ancient manuscripts have them. So if you look at Psalm 16, it says a mic time of David. And in all honesty, scholars have never truly agreed upon what a mic time is.

There are various variations of it in Hebrew, and so it has something to do with revealing, we’re not really sure completely. But regardless, it’s a part of the introduction of this text. But look with me at Psalm 16 and hear these words of David in Holy Scripture. For the psalmist has written, keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing. I say of the holy people who are in the land. They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight. Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods, or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup. You make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me and pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night my heart instructs me. I will keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful ones see decay. You’ll recognize that text quoted in the New Testament. But here’s the focus for us this morning. Verse 11. You make known to me the path of life.
You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand, the path of life. So here’s what I’d like to do this morning. I’d like to just continue the conversation I started last Sunday, and I’d like to set the context for all of 2026. I just want to frame it for us. Is that okay?

And it really is going to factor into 2027, 2028 and on into the future, because I really believe this is the path our church needs to be on. I believe it is the path you need to be on as a follower of Jesus. So that’s really what I want to set before us today. So let’s begin with the whole concept of formation. You know, formation is not something unique to Christianity. All human beings are being formed and shaped the process of formation is inevitable in all human experience. So the question is not, are you being formed right now? That’s not the question. You are being formed. The question is who’s forming you or maybe even what is forming you? Either one of those are appropriate questions because everybody is on a journey of formation.

Now, that word form that we get, the word formation from is actually drawn from a Greek word in the Greek language. And, you know, the New Testament is written in Greek. And so that word formed is the Greek word morphe. And here’s what you’ll find in the New Testament. Sometimes a writer will add a prefix to that word and you translate it a little bit differently.

It can be information. It could be conformed, it could be transformed. Those are based upon the prefixes to the word morphe. But these concepts are all interrelated. In fact, sometimes you find them in the very same verse. Our theme verse for the year passage is Romans 12 one through two, where Paul says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

So Paul uses those two very words in that one sentence. There’s two concepts. The point is, we’re all being formed now. Y’all may remember at some point last year, I believe it was I mentioned to you that I had read through this little book, Practicing the Way by John Mark Comber. Do you remember that some of y’all read Comer’s book?

Let me read you a quote that he has in his book at the beginning about formation. Here’s what he says. With the rise of social media empires in their spooky digital algorithms, I love that little phrase. These powerful forces now have direct access to our flows of consciousness. Every time we slide our thumbs across our phones, what we’re led to believe are just ads. News, links, retweets, and random digital flotsam are in reality, mass behavior modification techniques intentionally designed to influence how we think, feel, believe, shop, vote, and live. To quote the tech philosopher Jaron Lanier, what might once have been called advertising must now be understood as continuous behavior modification on a titanic scale. The world, as it is called the New Testament, is forming us constantly.

So you think about the influence that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. And there used to be this idea that what you and I were receiving primarily on our phones and our digital devices were just innocent ads. We’ve learned better, though, haven’t we? If you don’t believe it, just talk about something with someone and see what shows up on your phone. Somebody listening. Have y’all noticed? It’s quite amazing. In fact, we’re talking about this. Some of us on staff were this last week, and, one of our staff members said to me, she said, you know, it appears to me that many, many people are being discipled by the internet and by strangers on the internet. And in some ways, I think there’s some truth to that.

So what is our counter to that? Okay, here’s our counter. Put up your phones and quit using them. Okay. We’re not going to do that right. You’re not immune to that right now much less long term. So I got more sense of that. So what are we going to do. How are we going to deal with just the reality that we’re facing, the constant continuous flow of information?

It’s attempting to shape us. Well, here’s what I would say. I don’t I can’t fully answer that. Obviously, I’m not that smart. But here’s what I would say, as I understand it in terms of what we might do in response to it. And I think it’s a calling from God. It’s what I would just call intentional discipleship.

I think that phrase captures what we often refer to as spiritual formation. When I most of my ministry life as a pastor, that’s what we’ve called it spiritual formation or maybe discipleship. But now what I would I would like for us to embrace this idea, if you will, this concept of intentional discipleship, because I think that really captures what we’re after.

Because here’s the thing. If you want to become a disciple, you can’t make just one decision. That’s just not how it works. It is a lifetime of consistent and continuous decisions. Some of them are big decisions. Some of them are everyday small decisions, but they’re all a part of a journey that contributes to this overall path that we’re on. And I would contend if there’s ever been a time when we need to be intentional about that, that’s this time, and I just want to challenge us to commit ourselves to engage in a deep, dynamic relationship with Jesus. So when I think about intentional discipleship, I would like to lay it out for you. And this is what we’re going to be talking about and focusing on in 2026, okay.

So we’re ready for that. It starts with a person. Here’s what distinguishes us as Christians our spiritual formation, intentional discipleship is centered on the person of Jesus Christ. I want you to think about this. How many times in the gospels do you hear Jesus saying this? Come, follow me. He doesn’t say, come, follow a set of rules. He doesn’t say, come.

Embrace a philosophical worldview. He says this, come, follow me. Then he says, even in acts chapter one, I’m calling you to be witnesses unto me. And what you choose to follow him, the person of Jesus. Well, then he causes all those rules to come to life. He does provide us with a journey that will result in a worldview, but it’s all centered on the person of Jesus because our faith is in him.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 12 says, fix your eyes on Jesus. He’s at the center of our faith. You know, before I became your pastor, years ago, I was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama. For some of you Texans, Huntsville, Alabama, and Huntsville, Alabama, is home to NASA. The Marshall Space and Flight Center is there.

It’s in charge of the propulsion side of things for NASA, a huge research facility out on the Redstone Arsenal. There was a time when I was pastoring there. We read where there were more Ph.D.s per capita in Huntsville, Alabama, than any other city in America. And I know all that does is further the stereotype that the seat of intelligentsia for our country is in Alabama.

I know that it’s not it’s not news, I get it, but it’s because all these scientists are there. I’ve always been enamored with the space industry. And so while I was there, I had a chance to talk to these rocket scientists about so much of what they did. But here’s what’s fascinating. One of the things that happened in Huntsville, at least when we were there, was they trained astronauts.

And when they were training those early astronauts, the ones who actually were going to spend an extended amount of time, in a gravity free environment. You know, one of the practical things that they struggled with, they couldn’t sleep. And all this research was done. What do you think about it? You don’t bear the weight of gravity physically.

And so some of the natural things that happened to us in a gravity environment don’t happen in space. So here’s what they learned. They trained astronauts to focus their attention when they were trying to calm their bodies down on a fixed point of reference and not depart from it, and that eventually cause their bodies to relax, and they then could get the necessary sleep they needed.

Well, there’s something about that fixed point of reference. I would just say to you and me, we need that as believers. And here’s what Jesus, here’s what the Bible says. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Do y’all remember when Simon Peter, they were all in the boat and Jesus comes walking on water and Simon Peter jumps out of the boat and wants to walk to Jesus?

I remember that story and again what happens? He gets out of the boat. He’s looking at Jesus. He’s walking on water. And then what happened? He takes his eyeballs. Jesus. And then what? He seeks you take your eyes off of Jesus. Come on, y’all. And you will see. That’s just how it works. If you start focusing on all your problems and the storms of your life and the challenges and the difficulties of your life, and they become your main attention and your main focus, I would predict sinking is in your future.

Put your eyes on Jesus. He’s at the center of our faith. When I was in seminary, Doctor David Kirkpatrick was one of my professors. He’s a member of our church, a much beloved member, retired for a long time. He and Sue. He’s not able to be here at church much anymore. But when I had him, he was something else.

He’s a Ph.D. in theology and, systematic theology of all the hardest classes he had to take. And Doctor Kirkpatrick was famous for giving you these unannounced tests. Okay. And I just loved him for it. And so he would just say, get out a sheet of paper. And it was always some challenging question. But here’s what he said.

Every time he did it, he said, if you don’t know what to write down, I will give you partial credit if you will just write Jesus. I can’t tell you how many times I thanked God for Jesus Christ when I was in that class, man. You know, because Jesus is the right answer. And so we put our attention on Jesus, like I said, not on some kind of plan, not not necessarily on some kind of set of rules, but a disciple is someone who’s focused on Jesus.

So with that said, let’s just remind ourselves of our working definition of a disciple at First Baptist Arlington, okay? This is what we’ve come up with, and we’re going to use it until we come up with something better. A disciple is a person being formed by Jesus as they follow him in accomplishing his mission. So there’s that formation piece.

In other words, you’re being changed and formed as you follow Jesus and as you follow Jesus, you then commit yourself to his mission. But what disciples do is they don’t do this on their own. You become a part of a family of faith and then you become a part of the church. Well, here’s our working practical definition of the church.

It’s a purposeful community of gathered believers following the Jesus Way together in the fulfillment of his mission. So the disciple is someone who’s been formed as we follow Jesus, and then you join your life with other believers, and we gather purposefully together to follow Jesus together, his way. And hopefully we will be used by him to fulfill his mission.

Now let’s talk about practically how it works. So this is what I want to do for the next few minutes. And this is what we’re going to focus on in 2026. Y’all share with me okay. So let me just lay it out for you. I want it to be a very practical thing that we kind of can all understand, and we’re going to unpack it all along the way.

So let’s go back to our text, Psalm 16, The Path of Life. That’s the phrase we find in this text. God has provided a path for his people. And I want you to notice the path that God puts us on leads to life, not death. Life, abundant life, meaningful life, purposeful life, eternal life. So look at Psalm 16.

Look at verse 11. It says this you make known to me the path of life. Or I call him in Hebrew, the way of living that leads to life, a definitive path, if you will. That means we don’t just choose any old way. We choose the way that God shows us in the way that God shows us leads to life.

We will find that phrase many times in the Scripture, and I want to notice what it says about it. You’ll fill me with joy. Now let’s think about that. We’ve talked about joy and happiness as a church for years now. Joy is something God gives to his people regardless of what we’re facing somehow or another. In the mystery of knowing God and serving him and having him present in your life, you can add up everything in your life on one side of the equation.

Put the equal sign and there is nothing that would indicate that what should go on the other side of the equal side is joy, but God can still do it. So whatever’s on this side of that equal side, God can still fill you with his joy. It’s a joy that’s beyond explanation and understanding. But for some of us in this room who’ve walked through life, we’ve experienced it.

We know it’s real, and it’s what God promises us. It’s in his presence that we’ll find it, but only on this path. And this path leads to eternal pleasures, not temporal pleasures. God’s design is for us is to live forever. You remember what Jesus said in John ten, I came so that you might have life. In fact, I came so that you might have abundant life.

He says he wants you to flourish. He wants you to live well. In other words, that’s the only offer from him. And so how does that happen? Well, we’ve got to find our way to that path, okay? That’s what we that’s what we have to do. And I can remember years ago, when I was a young boy in Sunday school in Birmingham, we had memory passages, one of those early memory passages from the Bible. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not on thine own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your path. You acknowledge him in your life. First. Give him a chance to show you the way to his way. So I hope that you’ve already made that decision. But if you happen to be within the sound of my voice this morning, you haven’t done that.

What I would want you to know if you haven’t chosen to follow the path of life, I’m here to tell you you’re on the wrong path. You might be on the right path and just going the wrong way. You know, Center Street here is one way going South. If you’re new to Arlington, let me say that to you again. Center Street right here is one way going South. I’m walking out of the funeral here on Friday we had for Sandy Potts. Got a bunch of people here, a lot of folks that are that have been a part of First Baptist for a long time, had some new folks here. We’re going out to cross the street right as I go to step on the street.

Someone is sitting down here on UTA boulevard, turns right on red and just starts barreling up Center Street, and we start going, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, hollering at him, and all of a sudden he realizes it because guess what’s coming toward him? Not just us, but some fellow travelers. And he immediately realizes he is messed up, but instead he just ran right through them all.

He’s determined to go the wrong no. He turned in the white building parking lot because he had sense enough to know he was going the wrong way. Now come on y’all, we’ve got to find our way on the right path, okay? And it’s the path of life, and God will show it to you. You’re not finding your way in the dark.

In fact, let me read you another quote from one of my favorite books. Eugene Peterson’s written this book called The Jesus Way. Here’s what he says about way About path as it’s used in the Bible. He says way is a stock metaphor in both our scriptures and the traditions that have developed from them. At the entrance to our prayer book, that’s Psalm one, which is inscribed on the walls of this church.

The opening meditation uses this metaphor to set two ways of life before us. Will you live a solid life of prayer, listening to and answering God rooted in the soil of God’s revelation, your life growing like God’s Torah, a tree with fruit laden branches? Or will you live an insubstantial life of chatter and gossip? Another one of my favorite phrases using words without God, context oblivious of God.

Your life reduced to a pile of incoherent syllables. Leaves blown every which way by the wind. Choose your way. What a great word from Eugene Peterson. What kind of life do you want? Well, God’s offering you a path that will lead you to life and that praise the way of life, the path of life. That image is found, as Eugene Peterson says, all through the Bible, for example, Proverbs ten verse 17, whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life.

Whoever ignores correction leads others astray. So here’s the bad news if you choose the wrong path, you actually can influence others to follow you on it. What does Jesus say? I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. I love this passage in Genesis where God shows us why he chose Abraham, what he asked Abraham to do in Genesis 18. Abraham. According to the Scripture, God says, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him, for I’ve chosen him so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he’s promised him.

He called Abraham to follow the way of the Lord, to keep the way of the Lord, teach his children the way of the Lord. And he said, that’s why he’s going to be a blessing for the whole world. Now, with all that said, let me just share with you really quickly how does it look in your life if you say, okay, preacher, I think I want to get on this path of life?

Well, let me walk you through how it looks. We talked about this briefly last week, but I want to unpack it a little more fully, if I may, in these next few minutes. There’s a process for flourishing. You see, God has revealed a process that leads us to a life that flourishes. He wants you to flourish. And that journey towards flourishing includes three vital steps knowing God, experiencing God, serving God. That’s true for every human being on planet earth. That’s the way God has designed us to live. Because God wants you to flourish, and he wants you to experience the reality of knowing him, experiencing him, and serving him. Flourishing looks different in every season of life. You know, we find ourselves in times in our life where we’re in a challenging season, we can still flourish.

It just looks different. You know, yesterday we had children’s basketball and y’all play children’s basketball. Yesterday, did you some of your kids did y’all play? Let us know that you play. Did you have fun? We had a great time. Well yeah. We did. We had a good time. So when the when the, games were over, I was looking out into the, gym, and my son and my grandson, were playing basketball, just kind of shooting around. My son’s about, I don’t know, six, five or so. Whatever he is, my grandson thinks he’s taller than Josiah. Josh plays basketball in high school. Well, they’re out there just shooting and I mean shooting from way out. And Josh is jumping up and grabbing the rim. And I stood there looked and I thought, I remember that you just feel.
There was a time when you didn’t have to lower the rim for me to touch it. I could actually jump up and touch it. I’m happy to get the net now, okay? It just looks different. My flourishing in basketball is sitting in a chair cheering on Auburn and griping about referees. That’s how I flourish okay.

But I’m still flourishing. It just looks different than it used to. Well that’s how it works. God puts us in different seasons. But here’s the thing knowing God, experiencing God and serving God in every season. Okay, now let me unpack each one of those and we’ll be done. What does it mean to know God? Here’s the short answer.

We must be saved from our sins. You can’t know God fully unless you’re saved from your sins because you’re separated from him. You see, God designed me in you as human beings, and he put his image in us. And it’s our responsibility to bear his image in this world. And he gave us the assignment to reflect his glory in his world. And here’s the difference between the US and the rest of creation. The rest of creation has no choice. The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. They can’t help it. Not one star woke up this morning and said, you know, I think I’m going to try to display the glory of God a little better today. I didn’t do too good of God yesterday.

No, the heavens, the universe just declares the glory of God. But you, you have a choice. You can either reflect the glory of God or not. You can either choose to bear the image of God or not. But here’s the problem if you’ve never been saved, you cannot do it. The Bible says in Romans three verse 23, everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Your very reason for existence is to reflect the glory of God, and you cannot do it because you’re a sinner. We all are the only answer for us to fulfill. Our original reason for existence is for us to be saved from our sins. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians two, you are dead in your trespasses and sins. You’re not sick, you’re dead, and you and I need the life that Jesus can give us, and he is the only one who can give us that.

That’s why he is the focal point of our faith. Jesus is the only answer for us. If that were not true, then the Garden of Gethsemane would have turned out really differently because of the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said, is there any other way to do this? Would you move this cup from me? What cup? Dying on a cross?

Well, as terrible as that was, physically, no. He was talking about taking on the sins of the world, and he asked God three times, is there any other way, any other path that’s going to lead to life, where people can be saved? And God said, no, no, no. So he’s the only way. So we’ve got to be saved.

Second, experiencing God, what does that mean? Well, I think it has three aspects to it, at least when it comes to shepherding. We need to be shepherded in the community. We need to be shepherded past our past, and we need to be shepherded through the challenges of life.

We need to be shepherded in the community because once you become a Christian, you still don’t know what it means to be a part of a church. You have to learn. You’ve got to be shepherded into the community of faith to learn what it means to do life together. You don’t live your life on your own. God’s called us as a people together, and so we’ve got to learn how to live together as a church. That means we’ve got to put aside differences and things that divide us on the outside of the church.

That’s the beauty of the church. You know, the church is not designed for us to segment ourselves out and only go to that kind of a church. Well, I go to a CNN church, I go to a Fox News church. Well, I go to an MSNBC church. Hey, that’s my culture right now. There’s nothing in the Scripture that teaches that you just need to go to church. You need to learn how to get along with CNN People. You need to learn how to get along with Fox news people, you need to learn how to get along with God’s people, because our world needs to see that we can find a way and something that’s bigger than any one of our own individual causes. Come on y’all, we need to be shepherded in the community. That just happened because it goes against our natural inclinations, because I don’t like everybody.

I’ve had to learn to love people I don’t like. How about you now? Everybody is like, it’s easy because everybody likes me. I’m making. I’m sorry I make it so easy on y’all. Come on. But we got to be shepherded in. We’ve also got to be shepherded past our past. Because, you see, after you become a follower of Jesus, even your life can be riddled with all kinds of baggage. And you know what this message is about is about freedom. Jesus is inviting you to a lifestyle of freedom, to be set free from what imprisons you. And God can shepherd you on that journey. You also need to be shepherded through your present challenges we’re all going to face, and we’re all going to have loss and grief to death and brokenness and failed relationships.

There’s just so many things that happen. And as a disciple, God comes into our life with His Son through His Spirit, and he shepherds us through those challenges. That’s how we experience. And we also need to be shaped to be disciples. That’s a part of experiencing God shepherded and shaped. In other words, here’s what I would tell you. Just because you become a Christian, there’s no guarantee you’re ever going to act like one. Because you got to be shaped. You got to learn how to do it. You gotta learn how to read your Bible. These daily Bible readings we’re sending out with devotionals are designed to help you be shaped by encountering the Scripture. You’ve got to learn about the disciplines of spiritual life, how to worship God, how to pray, how to give, how to get involved in God’s mission, how to evangelize.

You also have got to put off those old clothes and put on new ones, that that’s what happens to Christians. And you learn about spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts mean that God has designed you in a certain way so that you can be useful for him through his service. Which leads us to the last one, and that is serving God. We all need to be sent into purposeful places of service in ministry. God has gifted you spiritually and he now wants you to be sent into service. That’s why we’re all different now. I love the fact that we’re all different. When you’re serving God, you’re blessing other people. You’re finding that place where you fit, and God has wired all of us differently.

You ever wonder why you’re wired the way you’re wired? Have you ever wondered about it? For example, there are some people that they’re just good administrators. They’re good managers. That’s my principle gift. My staff thinks I’m just awesome at it. Okay, I’m not actually gifted in that direction, okay? I’m just not. But I know it. I have other gifts.

But the good news is, guess what? We have people on our staff and in our church that are gifted that way. Aren’t you glad that you’re wired a certain way because God made you that way? And then when you get saved, he brings the Holy Spirit into your life, and he energizes all of that so that you can be used by his glory, for his glory, and be set in the ministry that matters yesterday.

Great. Case in point I show up for children’s basketball. I didn’t lift one finger, I didn’t, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t move a chair. I didn’t send out a note. And guess what? We had many, many people having fun. Families here, kids playing. Guess what? Because so many people were sent. I sit in committee meetings with people that are sent.

Some of y’all have already been to Sunday school. You showed up and some of you showed up a Sunday school this morning. Just grateful to God to get out of the house and get here. But there was somebody there who had been waiting on you, preparing, praying, getting ready. You know why? Because they’ve been sent to do that.

So we’re all set. We got to find our place. And when we do that, in that meaningful place of service, it just does something to us. So come on, y’all, find that place and let God send you. So it’s all about knowing God, experiencing God, serving God. And here’s what happens when I’m done. If you do all that he gives you in those most incredible gift is the gift of perspective.

And we all need it. As we follow Jesus, we’re formed into disciples. God provides us with a new what I would call profound, meaningful, eternal perspective. In other words, he rescues us from small mindedness. He delivers us from that myopic approach, that self-centeredness that so dominates us in the flesh. He can rescue you from it and give you the ability to see what’s really going on and what really matters in this world, and why you should be invested in it.

He just changes what we see. It’s the lens of faith. Eternity comes into focus and my whole life really begins to change. You know, I’ll confess, when I was younger in ministry, I didn’t read the book of Ecclesiastes much. I’ll be honest. I’m a positive guy. I’m a forward thinking guy. And if you all know the book of Ecclesiastes is in your Bible.

It opens with vanity of vanities. Everything is vanity, and I remember first time I read that I thought, well, I don’t need this book. I can just skip right over this one. I never heard it called it in Bible drill anyway, so it wasn’t like it mattered. I didn’t think, but you know what? What I learned was, though, that the book of Ecclesiastes was trying to say something to me that if you live your whole life under the sun, you’re going to miss out on the very reason you showed up on planet Earth to begin with.

That’s the point of Ecclesiastes. The point is, he wants to give you. God wants to give you a very different perspective. And so I love how the book of Ecclesiastes ends. You get to chapter 12 and it says this. Now all has been heard. Here’s the conclusion of the matter fear God and keep his commandments. In other words, know God and experience him in your life as you serve him.

That’s what God’s always been after for his people. That’s what he wants for you. He wants you to know him. He wants you to experience him. He wants you to serve him. That’s what being a disciple is all about. And to me, that’s what flourishing looks like. So our hope, our prayer, our desire here at our church is that you will experience the beauty and the reality of this path that leads to life and abundant meaning for one here on this earth, and ultimately results in eternal life in glory.

May it be so for all of us. Let’s pray together.

Lord, we love you and we’re grateful for your love for us. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us an opportunity to find our way on what your word tells the path of life, and I’m thankful for it. I thank you that I am. Years ago, I found my way onto that path that others directed me to that path and so, Lord, if there are those within the sound of my voice that hasn’t found their way yet, I pray that today will be the day they’ll find their way on the Jesus Way. For those of us on the Jesus way that maybe have lost our way a little bit, I pray as well that we will find our way focused on Jesus, centered on his person, committed to his will and I just pray that decisions like that will bear fruit in your kingdom through us. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen.