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Some of you have been putting on a spiritual show. You have. I believe that God recognizes
that you're hiding and He's coming very lovingly today to say, Where are you? Where are you?
When it comes to God, where are you?
What I want to do is I want to challenge you. I want to be in your face today and I want
to challenge you in all sincerity to drop whatever mask may be there and bring the real
truth.
Now, here's the good news. Some of you, if I said on a scale of one to ten; one being
the lowest and ten being the highest, Where are you with God right now? Some of you would
say, I'm like at a nine, and you could say that with integrity.
You could say, You know what? God's word is a priority to me. In fact, just this morning,
I was reading in such and such and when I read it, it was like yoo hoo, it was like
that was just for me!
And, Just yesterday, I was out and God brought this person by me and they were in need and
I was in a hurry doing something else, but all I knew was the Spirit brought that person.
So I stopped and I didn't know what to say and God gave me the words to say and I said
this, and oh it was fantastic!
Or, There was this sin that was really messing with me for a long time, but at Life Group
this week I just confessed it. I said, here it is, and they prayed for me and it's been
four days and that sin hasn't touched me because God is with me and my prayer life is rich
and I hate when I have to stop praying because, oh my gosh!
And for some of you, you can say; I'm at a nine! I am close to God!
Many of you though, you'd have to say; I'm at a two! I'm in church, but I have ignored
God all week long. I'm posing! I haven't picked up His Word! I'm not even sure where my Bible
is!
Prayer time? Occasionally over a meal, especially if it's Thanksgiving!
Sharing my faith? Battling temptation? Oh, there's just some things I've just kind of
givin' in to and said that that is just some sin that I am going to live with.
Personal worship? Who has time for that?
What I want you to do is have the courage to drop the mask and say, Here's where I am
with God. Be honest, let me promise you, God already knows! He's big enough and secure
enough to handle it!
What does that mean? Some of you, you are going to say; I haven't spent time with God
in a long time.
Others of you are just going to say, I'm too busy. I still believe in God; He's still a
priority, but I've just been overwhelmed with all of the stuff there is to do. I have denied
the practical Lordship of Christ in my life because I've surrendered to lower-called priorities.
Some of you are going to have to be honest, I am living in unrepentant sin.
Some of you, it's an emotional affair; it's a physical affair; it's financial abuse; it's
***; it's envy; it's greed; it's pride; you are living and walking in unrepentant sin
and you've lost your intimacy with God and you are acting like it's all okay and it's
not okay.
Some of you know the principal of the tithe and you are so into material things, you haven't
put God first in your finances in a long time.
Some of you, it's gossip disguised as prayer; Oh, so and so is doing that, would you pray
for them? Here's what they did!
Some of you, it's just pure apathy; I really don't care. I really don't care right now!
Some of you grew up believing in God and now you are just not sure; I just don't know,
after all I've seen.... Tell God that! I promise you, He can handle it!
Here's what I want you to do; on a scale of one to ten, one meaning the lowest it's ever
been, ten being the highest and the best, I want you to look at your notes and circle
right now where you are with God. Do it right now; all of our campuses, those of you at
Church Online, just type in the number. I'm a seven, I'm a four, I'm a two, I'm a nine!
Whatever it is, type it in right now.
Now, have you done that? Everybody now, look right at me and what I want you to do at the
count of three is find someone next to you, in front of you or behind you; drop the mask
and tell them the number of where you are with God right now. One, two, three go now....look
to somebody; if there's nobody close to you, turn around and tell them your number right
now. Total stranger or your best friend, tell them!
Now, take a moment if you can and in one sentence tell them why you are there. Drop the pose
and tell them why.
Now, one of the few things just happened. Some of you just wet your pants! Like, What?
I have to talk and be honest?
Others of you, that was the best 12 seconds of your entire year, because you just had
the beginning of a spiritual conversation. Some of you continued to put the mask on,
you just lied about where you were because you don't have the courage to drop the mask
for just a moment and let someone in. Some of you, you're wiping away tears right now
because this is the first time and the beginning of a long time that you had the courage to
be authentic.
This conversation must continue, it must continue. Here's what I agreed to do as I was preparing
this message. I just agreed that I would tell you at this moment where I've been last week,
on a scale of a one to ten. Where I've been, I have been 100% inconsistent. If I look at
the last season of my life, I'd have to say, I'm a five. Some days, very passionate for
God. Other days, apathetic. Some days intimate and close, and the very next day overwhelmed
with my schedule, putting it aside. Let me just tell you what God has really convicted
me of; that is not acceptable to me. God will still love me, God will forgive me, but I
will not go through life faking it!
If you put a six or below; I don't know what that means to you, but I pray to God in Heaven
that it's a wake-up bell. Drop the mask.
For me, I got up several hours early today. An hour of worship and prayer at my house,
an hour of worship and prayer in my office before I shared, because I'm not going to
share a message from God based on last year's passion. I will not, I will not, I will not!
I cannot! And you cannot do all that God wants you to do wearing a stupid mask!
Here is the good news, Genesis 3:21, let me show you what God did for Adam and Eve, who
were naked and vulnerable and afraid:
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21
Let me tell you what He did; He made garments of skin for them, He made a covering for them.
Do you know what that is? That is in the very first story in the Old Testament, a foreshadowing
of what God would do for us through Christ. He sacrificed an innocent animal who shed
innocent blood and He took the skin from an innocent sacrificed animal and made a covering
to cover their shame and sin. That is what God did for us through Christ. He sacrificed
the innocent Lamb of God, Jesus, who shed His blood that we could be covered by it.
And because of the covering of Christ, we no longer have to hide. The only way we can
be everything God wants us to be is to drop the mask, be clothed with Christ, and then
we can please God in every way.
Father I pray today for all of our people, that by the power of your Spirit, we would
drop the mask and be real with You.
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