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From the Inside Out: A Call to Prayer and Transformation 0:02 Hello and welcome to the men's global livestream. I'm Dusty Davis, a member of the teaching team here at Everyman Ministries and I'm excited to invite you into session 2 in our brand new series through the book of0:14 first Timothy, a series that we've entitled from the inside out. This comes to you as part of our our everyman collection, the Bible for everyman. And through it our hope is that you0:25 would again fall in love with the word of God, that you would choose to encounter it every day, and that God would inform, correct, and encourage you through it. But there's a challenge right up front with that.0:38 Because everything in our culture is small clips, short amount of time, and we're just very very busy. But if the Bible is going to change us, then we have to marinate in0:50 it. For the word of God to begin to alter the way that we think, bring his truth in, rewrite the software of our heart, I can't have a passing relationship with God's word.1:03 I simply can't spend a few moments in the morning or maybe a verse of the day in the app before bed. That's not gonna create in me the type of change that God's word is capable of.1:15 It's just like soaking meat in a marinade. If you want your ribs to take on all of the beauty and delicious glory of a marinade made with soy and ginger and brown sugar1:27 then it needs time. It needs time. That meat has to spend so much time in that marinade. In fact, that the marinade starts to change, starts to invade, starts to1:39 alter the meat. The flavors of the marinade start to replace, enhance, change the natural flavors of the meat so much so that the1:50 meat and the marinade become inseparable. That is the picture for God's man allowing God's word to invade our lives. We have to soak in it.2:02 Brothers, we cannot give the news or our social media feeds or even the books we read, the shows we watch, the podcast we listen to, all of our hard screen time and then expect God's word to2:14 be the loudest strongest highest authority in our hearts. So as you venture with us this week during this series, here's the hope. Read2:26 and reread the book of first Timothy. It's a short book. Our hope is that in whatever context you're encountering this content right now, whether you're by yourself in the road on the way to or on2:38 the way home from work, Whether you're with 1 other godly brother or a triad whether you're with your life group or in a large men's gathering, steep yourselves in the word of God in between our gatherings.2:50 Read it. Read it again. Commit portions of it to scripture and share them with your brothers. Amen? Amen. So first Timothy back to from3:02 the inside out. Last week we saw that so many of the good things that God wants to do through us, he begins by doing it in us. That so much of what God wants to3:14 do with with the influence that he's given us with the resources with the people that he's placed in our life. The goodness that's going to come out of us begins when God's goodness starts to invade our hearts. We also3:25 saw that a lot of the struggles, a lot of the problems, a lot of the conflicts, a lot of the things that go on out here start in here. The good stuff God wants to do through us begins within3:37 us and similarly the problems between us often originate within us. So we need to be made new in the inside. God needs to change the inner man. We need to3:49 become as Paul said in chapter 1, so filled up with love that it produces this genuine faith that just starts coming out of us. In our session today, we are going to be diving into4:01 chapter 2 and this chapter begins boys with an incredible challenge, an awesome invitation. And we would do well to step full force into it as God's men. So first Timothy4:13 chapter 2 starting in verse 1. This is from the New Living Translation. I'll be reading chapter 2 verse 1 and 2. I urge you first of all, to pray for all people. Ask4:25 God to help them. Intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by4:37 godliness and dignity. Brothers there is so much going on here. Paul begins this part of his letter to Timothy. Remember Timothy is is is been4:48 deployed to a church where false teaching is starting to come in where some disunity is being read. He's sent there to lovingly correct. But Paul starts off this person by urging5:00 him, not simply encouraging, not saying it'd be a great idea, but urging him like he's urging us to pray for all people. Paul begins5:12 this part by urging Timothy, pray for all people. Pray for everybody. As in, don't just pray for the people that are closest to you or the people you love. I'm not even talking about the people you like.5:25 Not just the people you interact with every day. Not just the people whose lives would impact your life if they got better. Guys, I'm so challenged by that5:37 because I pray very very fervently for my family, for my friends, for my concerns. But as those circles get further away, so do the fervency of my prayers. But Paul is5:49 urging. He's encouraging us that prayer wouldn't simply be a behavior, but the prayer would actually become a lifestyle. Paul's inviting us to become6:01 men of prayer. Not just individuals who occasionally engage in the discipline or the activity of prayer, but to become people who grasp prayer as a way of6:13 being, as a life rhythm. Brothers, our view of the effectiveness of prayer is what informs the frequency of our prayer. If we believe prayer is6:25 as God promised it, something that connects us to the father and unlocks things in the spiritual world. When we see prayer rightly, we will not be able to help ourselves but pray.6:36 Paul wants prayer to not just be something that's an activity that we do, but something that defines who we are, that becomes this lens through which we live, not simply some activity for before or after meals or6:48 bedtime. And I love that Paul's encouragement is even further caveated. The urging he starts off by saying first of all, like out of the gates, top priority of7:00 chief importance boys is this, make prayer a primary, a focused effort in your life, but the reality is we just don't pray.7:13 When we're honest, when we look at our hearts and our spiritual day timers, there's a harsh reality boys. For many of us, if we're honest,7:25 prayer is a last ditch effort. It's a last ditch effort. If we're really honest, painfully honest, prayer is rarely our first of all. It is not7:37 usually our our out of the gates operating MO. Sometimes it's not even a close second or third. For many of us, prayer is simply the fourth quarter7:48 Hail Mary. When everything else has gone wrong, when we simply cannot solve or endure something anymore, when every resource, when every effort has been exhausted. Prayer8:00 is where we finally reluctantly turn after we've done everything we can. After we've called in all the spiritual favors, after we've searched YouTube University, phoned a8:12 friend, racked our brains. It's sad. It's almost as if we throw our hands up in defeat and just say, well, I guess we should pray about this now. My8:24 family and I were in Hawaii. We were swinging on a rope swing into a little inlet that was only about chest deep for the adults. And we have fun going through it and I I came through and I landed in the water and it came8:36 up and I recognized that my watch was gone. And and I'm looking around and it's chest deep but I mean the water's kind of moving, there's sand everywhere and I think there is 1, how stupid could I be to wear my watch8:47 while I'm doing this? Why would I do this? Oh my gosh. And I'm I'm looking around, I'm thinking around, I'm trying to figure out which way the water's coming. Right? We kind of, this is like I'm I'm finding my search8:57 triangle. Right? Like where could it have moved to? How many people do I need to call in? And my youngest daughter, my sweet daughter, Brooklyn Love says to me, daddy, why don't we pray?9:11 Alright. Okay. Well, yes, honey. Why don't we pray? And I'm thinking, 1, I've just been corrected by my sweet daughter, but I'm so bummed that she's gonna9:23 see that this isn't gonna work. So I very halfheartedly prayed, Lord, help me to find my watch. Silly that I was wearing it, but I appreciate you now finding it.9:35 Amen. Amen. When I look at Brookie kind of patting her on the head like, sorry, sweetie. And I take a step towards the beach, and I step on my watch.9:47 And I put my hand down, and I pull it up. And she just has this knowing smile, and she's looking at me like, see dad and it wasn't I told you so. It was a it was a smile that said I believe9:59 God is who he said he was. I believed him when he told me to worry about nothing but pray about everything. It's like Jesus was giving me the the stereo technicolor version of and let the kids come to me. For the kingdom10:10 of heaven belongs to such as these kids who believe that prayer is what God said it was. The son of man woke up early and often to what? To pray. Praise a mystery10:22 boys. I don't get it Why would the God man who knows all things pray so prayer can't just be about things you don't know because he knew all things? Per has to be about something more About10:34 aligning his heart with the will of the father, Jesus modeled long extended times of prayer. And Paul's encouragement here is to pray first. Pray sooner than you have been. Pray with10:46 more fervency than you imagine, and pray wider than you ever have before. Pray big and see what your God does and open it up. Pray for everyone. First, he starts10:58 with the who then he goes into the how and he says this is how you're supposed to pray for people. If you go back to our text, he starts to lay it out. Right? The very first verse, after we're encouraged to pray for11:08 everyone, Paul says, ask God to help them. Remember who you're talking to. Ask the Lord Almighty to help them. Seek their favor.11:20 Ask God for care, for wisdom. Ask for the blessing and the resources of the most high. Ask God to intervene, to encourage or challenge or correct.11:32 Pray in silence, pray in patience, listen to the Lord because you know what he also might be telling you? That you're part of the answer that you're praying for. I mean, how11:44 often am I praying asking God to help people in my life to provide things for people in my life that he has already given me the ability or resources to bless them with. He's sitting there going,11:57 Desi, why don't you help them? When the disciples saw that Jesus had been teaching a huge crowd for a long time, it's getting late, people are getting grumpy, getting kind of hangry, and they're saying, you12:08 better send people home. They're gonna be a little bit upset in a few minutes. You better send people home Jesus, people need to eat. Jesus says they don't need to go anywhere. His response was incredible.12:20 Matthew chapter 6 verses 37 Jesus said, you feed them. What? Wait. Wait. The the stuff that they12:32 need, you said that we're supposed to provide? And Jesus is going, kind of. More like I'm going to provide it through you. What I need is your faith and your willingness and your trust. And so12:44 the disciples, you know, they kind of retreat to their lunch bags like, I mean checking inventory like, Lord I don't know. Maybe you had a long day. He didn't realize but we didn't bring 500012:56 double doubles with us. You're gonna have to send the people In N Out Burger. But all they did was offer up what they had because they still thought it was on them to provide.13:09 God is always gonna provide, but he might choose to do it through you. So be open as you're praying for the people in your life to the prompting of the spirit. If you're supposed to step into a need, we're called to ask13:20 God for help for the people that he's placed on our hearts. We can even ask the Holy Spirit how it is we're supposed to pray. The Bible says that the spirit prays for us, that he prays to the father, he13:32 takes the groanings of our heart and intercedes on our behalf. Ask the Holy Spirit, ask the Lord, how am I to pray for this brother or sister? How am I supposed to lift them up? Lord, what do they need?13:44 Intercede on their behalf. The word intercession that's used here carries the idea of a conversation, a back and forth. How often do we pick up the phone, speak to God, and then hang up before he has a chance to respond?13:57 Imagine the type of friend you'd be if you only picked up the phone and rambled off everything that you need and then hung up without giving them a chance to respond. We're called to dialogue with the14:09 Lord on behalf of these other people. And this is especially important for the people in our lives that we're sharing the gospel with. I heard something once. I thought it14:20 was so wise. It said before you talk to a person about God, make sure you've talked to God about that person. Cover conversations where the gospel is gonna be shared in faith ahead of time. And then14:32 trust the Lord, then submit your hearts and your resources and all those requests to God. Let's be men of prayer who believe that he's gonna show up, that he's gonna provide,14:44 that the things God calls us to, he will equip us for and he will resource us for. And depending on how you view God himself or maybe how he's been portrayed to14:56 you in your life, that either feels very natural or very unnatural. And the enemy wants nothing more than to keep you from times of prayer. When you15:08 think about coming to God and praying often, you may hesitate thinking, well, who am I? I mean, I'm blowing it. I've blown it. I am blow I mean, I'm I don't think God wants to hear from me or15:20 maybe you think these problems seem pretty trivial. There's gotta be somebody in the world who's praying for something more, you know, important right now than than me. But scripture is too clear. God desires to hear15:31 from and speak to his children. God desires to give good gifts to his children. Remember, we don't have to be afraid. The veil that separated us from God the father has been torn15:45 through the atoning death of Jesus Christ. When Paul penned Hebrews, he said that now because of that, we come boldly all the way into the throne to the holiest places. We go right in there, not in arrogance,15:57 but we go in there as loving sons and daughters who know that they're going to be greeted by a father who is crazy in love with them. We don't come in fear. We don't kind of16:08 hesitantly make our way to the front as if we're bothering God. Now in arrogance, we don't come in making demands of him, but we do come expecting him to be God. Consistent with his character as revealed16:20 in scripture, appealing to his nature, not trying to earn something. We come to our loving father who wants to hear from us. Sometimes I shy away from16:32 from prayer because I I feel like my prayers are almost like bothering God. Like, my needs are somewhat trifling in this moment or somehow I'm in the wrong. I mean, that bad16:44 logic, I can kind of imagine that my voice and I don't know if you've ever felt like this, like my voice is coming across like some nagging child. Like it's somehow annoying God, but nothing could be16:56 further from the truth. Guys, when my kids were little, I loved to hear their little voices. I would actually ask them questions egging them on and ask them stuff I already knew the answer to just to get them17:08 talking. I just wanted to hear their sweet little voices. I wanted to know what was going on in their hearts. I wanted to know what they were thinking about. I literally could just sit there and listen to them talk to17:17 me. I loved hearing their voice and some of you need to hear this today. Your father in heaven feels the same way about you. The17:29 creator God is dying to hear from you, loves the sound of your voice, loves knowing what's going on in your life, wants to hear what's going on in your heart.17:41 Like a loving father, he wants to hear from you because he loves us and brothers you have to hear this. God always listens and responds to prayers based on who he is, not based on who17:53 we are. God loves based on who he is, not on whether or not we deserve it. It's based on his nature so we can go to him in prayer. Paul encouraged us to18:05 be men who prayed, but then in the passage, Paul kind of switches the object of our prayers. Says we're to pray for everyone, and then he gets specific. And I think that this is a very18:16 important time in history for us to hear this right now. He says pray for kings and all who are in authority so that the person we want wins the18:28 election. Oh, that's not what it says. It says so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. But we hear that and18:40 think, surely he doesn't mean today. Not with our political climate, not with what's at stake. You're saying I'm supposed to pray for these leaders? But what if I don't like these leaders? What if I didn't18:52 vote for these leaders? Not my president. What if I disagree with them? Heck, God, what what if they're making ungodly choices? I'm supposed to pray for that? I'm supposed to cosign that? What then? I don't I19:04 just supposed to sit back, laugh at memes about how stupid they are, go to Facebook and rant and rave or buy giant flags and stick them on my yard so that everybody knows where my allegiance lies.19:16 No. The word says I'm supposed to pray. I'm supposed to bring them before God almighty. I'm supposed to ask the Lord for wisdom,19:28 for guidance, for truth, for protection, that he would draw their hearts to him, to pray for discernment, to pray for guidance. And the strangest thing happens when I start to pray19:40 for people in this way. I start to care for them. I stop dehumanizing them. I stop criticizing them. I don't always agree with them, but19:52 it's impossible to pray for someone and criticize them at the same time. I can't lift someone up to the Lord and pull them down at the same time. Paul says this type of prayer for20:04 those in leadership is good that it's actually pleasing to God. Let me remind you what type of leadership they were under at this time. We feel oppressed. We feel as20:15 though we're on the out as followers of Jesus. That culture is becoming increasingly more hostile, increasingly less Christian. The last time I checked in the United States, they were not marching people into coliseums20:28 to feed them to lions. Now brothers, some of our brothers and sisters around the world are living in situations that are unthinkable. Their faith in Jesus Christ is costing them20:39 their very lives. That's the type of leadership that existed under the Roman rule. When this passage was written, they were not under a god20:51 loving, a Christ fearing king who was doing right by the people. They were under an incredibly tyrannical leadership system that hated Christians, and they were told pray for them.21:04 Pray for them. Ask yourself how often are you praying for the current and future administration in this country? As god's men, it21:16 is on us to do spiritual battle with the enemy on our knees. Fighting for this country in prayer, covering it in prayer.21:28 Praying for people moves me towards them in love. When I begin to concern myself about people, when I start to lift them up, my heart softens. My heart changes. I start21:40 to look more and more and more like Jesus. Look at how it describes Jesus. After the encouragement to pray for others, after that instruction on prayer, look at this beautiful picture of Jesus's heart that's21:52 starting to come alive in God's man as he does this in verses 3 and 4. This type of prayer is good. It pleases God our savior who wants everyone to be saved and to understand22:04 the truth. Jesus's desire that everyone would be saved. Boys, I read that and it's easy to think, yeah, me too. But I wonder, do we?22:17 I mean, with our mouths absolutely we would say a hundred percent. I want everyone to be saved. Of course. And I think we really believe that. Oh, here's the gut check boys. Does our22:28 behavior prove that? Do our actions prove that we want everyone to be saved? Look at our lives practically.22:41 Does how often I talk about Jesus, does how often I share the gospel, is how open I am, is how ready I am to engage in spiritual22:52 conversation, how often I invite people to church, how often I offer to pray for somebody in the moment, not I'll pray for you later. Can I pray for you now? Does all of that prove? Does all of that reveal? Does all23:04 of that support a heart that says, my highest desire like Jesus is that everyone would be saved. Oh, man. Lord Jesus. I pray that23:16 it would. And in addition to salvation, it says that his desire is that everyone would be saved and that everyone would understand the truth. We've been talking about this a23:28 lot in a culture that is redefining truth. In a culture that is starting to peddle ideas like individual and highly subjective truth as followers of Jesus Christ for us, truth23:40 is not a mystery. Truth, the form of true wisdom is something that we are promised, James tells us. If we lack wisdom, God will give it to us. Truth isn't some obscure mystical thing23:52 that we're trying to attain to. Truth is a person. Truth is Jesus. John 14 6 Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the24:04 life. The way, the truth, the life. He didn't say, I hold truth. He said, I am truth. So when Jesus said he wants everyone to know the truth, he's saying he wants everyone to24:16 know him. To be saved, but to know him. Not just know about him, but to know him deeply, to let the gospel invade their24:27 heart because the outcome of understanding the truth, what happens? Scripture tells us when someone understands the truth, when someone's confronted24:39 with it and then grasps it and takes it in, John 8 32 says, then you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth about Jesus Christ brings freedom.24:52 And the freedom we experience from Jesus is all encompassing. Through his death, Jesus has freed us from both the power and the penalty of sin.25:04 Sin no longer has power. Sin no longer has claim to us. We no longer are slaves to our selfish desire. Sin at 1 point was our master no longer. We have been purchased.25:17 We have been ransomed. Right? We've been bought so that the power of sin is broken, but so is the penalty. We used to stand convicted, guilty, but that's gone. Jesus has25:29 freed us from that. He's freed us from our separation with God. He's restored us, brought us back in, but then he also he freed us from having to perform. He freed us from having25:40 to earn because his performance took away everything that we needed to do. So don't ever fall back into a faith based on performance or earning or guilt or pressure. Understand this.25:53 There's a difference between conviction and condemnation. Condemnation comes from the enemy. The Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren that he accuses.26:06 Condemnation comes like a finger pointing at you. Condemnation says, what you did makes you wrong, makes you unloving, makes you unlovable, makes you guilty. You are those things you've26:17 done. And that type of condemnation brings guilt and shame that leads us into isolation and walking away from God. Don't26:29 confuse that with conviction. The Holy Spirit will bring conviction. He'll reveal sin to us. The bible says he testifies to all truth. So where there isn't truth in our life, the spirit's gonna speak into it. The spirit26:41 shows us those areas that don't yet look like Jesus in our life, but his voice is loving. His conviction brings correction and repentance. I wanna change who I am. I turn towards the Lord26:53 Jesus and instead of retreating in shame and isolation, I walk towards him in restoration. Christ told us that his yoke was easy,27:05 that his burden was light. And we fall back into religious thinking when we think we have to now do something in order to earn more of God's favor or at least keep it or even just27:17 feeling better about ourselves when we when we are performing. Just thinking about the prayer thing. A lot of times we feel wrongly as though we could pray today because I've been pretty good about my stuff. I've been27:27 doing my devotions. I've I've think I've been a pretty good guy. I can go to God. Wrong thinking. Religion says I work, therefore I'm accepted. The gospel says I'm27:38 accepted, therefore I work. Religion says, do this stuff in order to be accepted. The the true gospel says, you are fully accepted, fully loved. Now go out there and live27:50 your life as 1 big thank you. Now get to work, but not so that you earn his favor because you have it. Paul lays out the true gospel that reinforces his truth in verse 5. He says, there's 1 God.28:03 1 mediator who can reconcile God and humanity. The man Jesus Christ, he gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. Remember, there's 1 God. This is an important theological truth because at the time this was written28:14 there was a lot of polytheism going on. That's the belief in many gods. The idea of monotheism, the reality that there is 1 God is a uniquely Christian idea and it's very28:26 important. And the next idea is equally important because not only is there 1 God, that's our destination, there is only 1 mediator. He is our transportation. We're we're going towards28:38 the 1 God and the only way is through Jesus. Remember, we said that he's the way and the truth and the life. The rest of that passage says, and no 1 comes to the father except through me.28:50 Only Jesus, not your scorecard gets you to the father. If it's only Christ that restores us with God, you know what that means? It means it's not our effort that gets us to God.29:02 It means it's not our good works that bring us to God, but it also means it's not our shortcomings that keep us from God. Jesus Christ carries us to the father, period. He does it all. Our29:14 responsibility is to let him, allow him, place our trust in him. Does that mean we go live as fools? No. Do we let sin pile up? Absolutely not. We've seek to live pure lives, but the29:26 motivation is different. We look at what Jesus has done, and our lives become a response of loving thanksgiving and praise.29:38 Look at verse 6. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. And I've been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this29:50 message about faith and truth. I'm not exaggerating. I'm just telling the truth. Some translations say here, instead of saying that he gave his life to purchase our freedom, they say that he gave his life as30:02 our ransom. Ransom idea you're familiar with. You've seen it in movies. And that's basically where someone is being held hostage. And so the ransom describes what is30:13 given in exchange for the other. Basically, the ransom is the price of redemption. The ransom is the cost30:26 of freedom. Here's here's a truth that we have to sit into as god's men. Jesus Christ exchanged his life for our freedom. The cost of our30:37 freedom was the life of Jesus. I mean, this is the same language they would have used in the in the first century to30:49 to explain the exchanging of of of resource in order to purchase to or to free a slave. So as that slave was set free, so we've been set31:01 free. Like we said, free from sin, from separation, from from all of that. But understanding the cost of our forgiveness is so important. You guys have heard the expression31:13 that what is something really worth? It's worth what someone's willing to pay for it. Well, if we just said that we were purchased with the blood of31:24 Jesus, the spotless, perfect, holy blood of God's only son. What does that say about your worth? About my worth. Wow.31:36 So whenever we feel less than, whenever we feel unworthy of something or doubt our value in any way, the reality that God exchanged his own son conveys31:49 the highest worth. But that reality doesn't lead us into arrogance or pride. It actually makes us humble. Because the reality that we were purchased tells us32:01 something else. And you know what that is boys? We're not our own. We do not belong to ourselves. We no longer call the shots. There's a new CEO sitting in the big office. We are32:12 no longer in charge. We are no longer on the throne. We have been purchased just as your cars belong to you once you purchase them, we no longer belong to32:24 ourselves. Praise God. We don't belong to sin or despair or hopelessness. We now belong to him. In the original Greek where it says that Christ died for us, it conveys the idea32:36 of on our behalf. So most appropriately, Jesus Christ died on behalf of us or in our place. And that's the32:48 reality of grace and the mercy that we see on the cross. Mercy that we don't get we deserve. Grace that we get the stuff that we don't deserve. So mercy is33:00 I don't get what I should get. Grace is I get a bunch of stuff that I'm not deserving of. We deserve death but we get mercy. We don't deserve the goodness of God but we get treated excellently. And what's the net result?33:12 What's the right response for God's man? Look at verse 8. This is how we respond with our lives, boys. In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted to God, free from anger and33:23 controversy. The reality of the gospel demands the response of worship. The reality of the gospel demands the33:35 only right response is to worship or declare the value of god almighty, to worship him, to praise him, to sing about his goodness, to tell people what33:47 he's done, to tell him what he means to us, to open up our mouths and sing. Can we set the tone, please? Instead of shrinking back, I'm not33:59 talking about putting on a show. I'm not talking about distracting the people around you. But as men of God, can we set the tone when we're gathered at our church, when we're with our places of worship34:10 instead of sitting back and kind of humming quietly, will we sing? Heck, we go to the game and paint our faces and scream like crazy people. Let's sing to the God of the universe. Can you imagine telling34:22 your friends that you are the biggest Laker fan and then finding out that they bought you courtside tickets for tonight's game? That soon you'd be rolling up to staples sitting down courtside34:34 and then not opening up your mouth. Just kind of quietly sitting there watching the game. Can you imagine that not once jumping up and down not yelling, no cheering, no celebrating.34:46 Without being stressed if they were down at the end, without freaking out if they came back with a last minute win. Could you be a fan and not celebrate? No more than you can be34:58 a follower of Jesus and not worship. But I wanna put a huge caveat in front of us today, brothers, and that's this. Jesus is not looking for fans.35:10 He's looking for followers. He's looking for men who look to the cross and live differently intentionally for the king.35:22 He's looking for men to actually do as he did. Men who are willing to get low in humility and love and service. He's looking for men willing to get out35:34 there to those that are furthest away. Those that seem like lost causes to bring them back. He's looking for men willing to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. People willing to35:46 set aside selfish ambition, their own goals, maybe even a comfortable life to make the name of Jesus famous. Men who recognize the reality, the eternal reality of the cross,35:58 and then choose to live that out in a real and authentic way. Men who don't just see the cross, but celebrate it every single day.36:11 Will we be those kinds of men? As he changes us from the inside out, will we allow the love of Jesus to come out of us when we realize that we are no longer our own? That we've been purchased.36:25 Guys, and that comes the most beautiful and complete freedom. That's the freedom to live for Jesus every moment with everything. Let's pray. Lord, make us these36:37 kinds of men, men who worship you with our whole being, with our whole lives, in everything that we do, proclaiming the name and the value36:49 of Jesus. We are no longer our own. God, we praise you for our freedom. Never let us forget what you've saved us from, but move us out that our hearts can mimic yours,37:01 Jesus, that everyone would know and be saved. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.In this video 0:00 From the Inside Out: A Call to Prayer and Transformation5:34
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