Jonathan Falwell - Liberty University Convocation

man it is great to be able to be back here on the stage at Liberty University for Cabo I love being here it's awesome to be able to be with a lot of you I love David just having the opportunity of speaking to the college kids here at Liberty the best college kids in the world regardless of what anybody else might think and any other college you guys are awesome yesterday I had the opportunity being over to School of Music and was able to teach a class over there music 3:23 you need you guys here today there were not that many in the class so you guys are lying but that's okay it's great to be able to be a part of what's happening here and I just want to say right up front right here man we are so blessed to have David Nasser as a part of the team here at Liberty University I love David he is an encouragement to me he is a great Bible teacher a great pastor a great leader the right guy at the right time for the right University for the to reach this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ it's so blessed to have but as much as I love David Nasser got to be honest with you I don't love you nearly as much as I love your brother Benji Nasser right over here Benji stand up stand up Benji come on stand up every Sunday morning when I come up to preach at Thomas Road in the early service I walk out and I cannot preach unless I walk out and sitting right behind me every Sunday Benji sits on the second row directly behind me every week and when I walk in the first thing that I get is a big hug from Benji Nasir and a couple of times David when you've taken him on trips like you've taken off sale these country people you know these different country stars and concerts all the kind stuff and he's gone man I don't preach nearly as good because I can't preach without a hug from Benji Nasir buddy I love you and I appreciate you and I'm so proud to be able to be called your friend thank you for all that you do and so today here's what I want to do I want to talk about what it means to walk the walk as it relates to our relationship with Christ we live in a culture today where there are many people who claim the name of Christ who say I am a Christ follower but have forgotten to follow that there are so many people today who say man I am all-in I believe in Christ to come into times like this and be able to celebrate and to worship man there they'll sing a song along with the songs they'll they'll lift their hands in worship they'll do all the right stuff they'll do all the right things man it's like they are all in until they walk out of the room until they go out into a world that is doing everything possible to pull them away from truth to pull them away from God's Word and so what it ends up happening is this is we attract Christ's followers so often we look at like our future lives our future situations our future impact is some faraway moment that we don't need to worry about right now it's like not that big of a deal we'll get there one day like right now man I'm just living in the moment but what I want to tell you today what we're gonna kind of talk about today walk through a passage here today is to help every one of us understand like the decisions that you make today will determine your success for tomorrow like your daily habits that you've got now are directly related to what God is going to do in and through and with you like down the road and so my prayer my heart I know it's David's heart it's David's prayer that every single one of you would be locked into the truth of God's Word today so that when you walk off this campus when you go out to wherever God takes you next ten years down the road twenty years thirty years down there were 40 years down the road man but you guys are still on fire for Jesus Christ because I just simply believe that the only hope for the world today is the gospel of Jesus Christ I believe that with all my heart we live in a world today where everything is all about like with the next election and who's gonna win and who's gonna lose and and what party and what doll this kind of stuff and it's all this you know these policies and and what's happening in Washington what's happened in the Kappa oh let me just tell you that's all that this stuff's all important but none of that is to hope for the world the hope for the world is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and God has sent us to tell the world about who Jesus is and what he's done and so I want to make sure that you guys are locked in understanding like now what God wants to do in you now so the down the road you will be where you need to be so we're gonna talk about some daily habits but like some things that we can put into place now in our walks and our journeys and our lives so that again we are where we need to be not only for today but for the rest of our lives and so that's what we're gonna talk about today like what practices are we putting into place what habits are you cultivating daily in your life to be who God wants you to be and I want to start we're talking about this guy named Tiger Woods anybody ever heard of Tiger Woods so Tiger Woods as you know if you follow golf like I do just this last weekend he won his 82nd professional tournament tying Sam Snead for the most professional tournaments of anybody ever in the history of the game of golf I mean the guy is arguably one of if not the greatest golfer that has ever played the game and so people talk about man what what is it that makes Tiger Woods Tiger Woods how can he do what he does and so a lot of people say well man he's just got this insane natural talent man he was just born with this this gift that just goes beyond what you can imagine I mean after all here's a guy that when he was 10 months old when he was 10 months old he was actually swinging his first golf club when I was 10 months old I can only do two things and we're not going to talk about that here today at 10 months old he actually was taken his highchair his dad took a golf club and cut it down a fourth of its natural size of its actual size and and and Tiger Woods started hitting golf balls by the time he was three years old he was winning junior tournaments playing people who were much older than him by the time he was four years old he actually beat a club pro at a club out in California play I'm here it's amazing what this guy if you say it's an insane natural talent and so obviously this guy's gonna be one of the best ever obviously he's gonna win 82 golf tournaments he's gonna keep doing all this incredible stuff but let me just tell you about this insane natural talent that has led Tiger Woods to what he is today throughout Tigers golf career you know what Tiger does to be able to do what he does he doesn't lean on the fact that he has this great talent he doesn't lean on the fact that he was able to hit golf balls at the age of 10 months you know what he does he gets up in the morning he goes for a four mile run and then after that four mile run he goes to the gym and he works out for an hour lifts weights then after that he goes to the driving range and he hits golf balls for three hours and then after he hits golf balls for three hours then he goes and he plays an 18-hole round of golf that takes about five hours because he actually practices his game as he's playing that 18 hole round of golf and then when he's done with that 18 hole round of golf he goes to the putting green into the traps around it any practices his short game his chips and his his pitches and his putts and then after he's done with that he then goes and he goes on another four mile run and then after that four mile run what he ends up doing is he goes and he plays tennis or plays basketball to make sure that he's staying in shape in some other sport besides the one that he plays all day every day and so this guy with insane natural talent is spending about 12 hours every single day on the days he's not playing at a tournament to make sure that that natural gift that God has given to him is used to the greatest of its abilities and there was absolutely no difference to what Tiger Woods has to do to continue to win golf tournaments to what we must do to continue to win at life to continue to be the Christians the Christ followers that God has called us to be and so here's a question I want to pose to you today what habits are you putting into place today so that you will actually end up being tomorrow what God hasn't called and intended for you to be and so what I want to do is I want to walk through a passage in the passage that I want to walk through is a really negative passage it's like one of those passages you read and honestly without context without actually kind of digging into the truth that's found there it's a negative passage one that can leave you a little bit discouraged that can leave you a little bit depressed especially in that the culture and the season that the the society that we're in today and so I want to go to Romans chapter one and I want to read Romans chapter one beginning with verse eighteen and I want to read this passage again a very negative difficult passage but I want to kind of work from the negative to work backwards if you will it's like what can we do to make sure that this passage is not written about us so Romans chapter one verse eighteen let's read it together it says this but God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness now I want to pause right there it's on the screens but I want to pause for that one first verse before we continue reading and it says that God shows his anger to those those wicked those those those sinful people he shows his anger to them it says those people who suppress the truth by their wickedness now I want to set the stage here and the question that I want to ask all of us is is it possible for us as Christians as Christ's followers to be those sinful wicked people who suppress the truth by our wicked living and the answer to that question is you bet that absolutely we can stop the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ from being proclaimed from being touted from being celebrated around the world by the way that we live so in other words we as Christ followers can actually be a hindrance to the conveyance of the gospel of Christ to the world that desperately needs it and how do we do that by a wicked living fire sinful living by walking in ways that do not honor Christ by being who God never intended never called us to be so let's keep reading understanding now like this could be written of us this passage could be a picture a snapshot if you will of the students of Liberty University in 2019 it could be it could be a snapshot of Jonathan Falwell and David Nasser and Dennis agajanian it could be a snapshot of our lives as well if we're not careful let's continue reading verse 19 they know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them forever since the world was created people have seen the earth and the sky and through everything God made they can clearly see his invisible qualities his eternal power and His divine nature so they have no excuse for not knowing God yes they knew God but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks and they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like as a result their minds became dark and confused claiming to be wise they instead became utter fools and instead of worshipping the glorious everliving God they worshipped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles so God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desire as a result they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies they traded their truth about God for a lie so they worshipped and served the things that God created instead of the creator himself who is worthy of eternal praise and then this passage ends with a statement a Ben or so be it and so the this passage is a very negative passage a passage of a people who had had understood who God is they understand us this idea this concept of an eternal being of God but yet because they didn't have the opportunity or they didn't desire to dig into what it really means to be a person of God they began to define God in whatever way they wanted to define him in whatever they thought he looked like in whatever designs or whatever desires they thought God would want for them they just walked their own path and they began doing whatever they wanted to do and as a result of that it says God was angry with them and then it says in the second part of that passage that God just kind of like gave up handed them over said okay I'm done you go do what you want to do and I think that's an indictment honestly against so many Christians today because I think that passage and it's sad to say this while written 2,000 years ago probably could have been written today and so being that is a negative passage being that like that's the worst case like that's not what we want to be said of us what are the things the principles the habits that we can put into place today to ensure that that is not going to be said of us tomorrow and so the first thing we got to talk about is this is that we have to like embrace God's presence in our lives we have to embrace the presence of a holy God in our lives on a daily basis you go back to this passage it tells us in verse 19 they knew the truth about God because he made it obvious to them forever since the world was created people have seen the earth the sky do everything God made they can clearly see the is in the invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature so they have no excuse for not knowing God here's what I want to tell you today today as Christ followers as people who are part of a Christian university that preaches and teaches this word often we have no excuse for not knowing God so in other words what we need to do and understand is we need to actually embrace the presence of God in our lives how do we do that three words if you're taking notes or writing this down there's three quick words the first one is salvation the second one is seeking the third one is soaking three different words salvation seeking soaking first salvation it is impossible to embrace the presence of God without being a child of God and so we recognize according to God's Word in Romans chapter 3 verse 23 for all of sinned and fallen short of the glory of God no matter who you are no matter where you've come from no matter what your background is you are all sinners we are all sinners we have no value to God no use to God whatsoever God should not have even given us a second look we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans chapter five verse eight tells us but God anyway he demonstrated his love towards us in the while we were still sinners Christ died for us man that doesn't make sense we're sinners we're useless God shouldn't want us God could have come up with a far better plan but yet even though we were sinners who fallen away short God loved us and He gave His only Son Jesus to die for us which takes us to Romans chapter 6 verse 23 that while our sin we deserve death separation from God for eternity that passage tells us the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord man I love that because what it tells us is this no matter who you are no matter what you've done no matter how bad you've been even though you deserve to be eternally separated from a holy God God loves you anyway is it that good news that God loves you anyway that no matter who you are no matter what you've done our God the God who created everything loves us so would very much that he was willing to give all so that he could have a relationship with us and so we've been given this amazing gift through Jesus Christ our Lord John chapter 14 verse 6 Jesus said I'm the way the truth and the life no man comes to the Father except through me we live in a culture today where where salvation is proclaimed to be able to be found in a thousand different ways in a thousand different places and a thousand different paths and I want you to know and I know you know this but hey sometimes we need to be reminded salvation is found in Christ and Christ alone period Jesus is the only way he is the only truth he is the only life and we have no way to get to the Father except through believing in him 2nd Peter chapter 3 tells us that he's not willing that any should perish in other words not a person in this room God is like giving up on not a person in this room as a as a person who's been so bad and gone so far that God says man I've got no use for them he's not willing that any of us should be separated from him so we see in the passage of Scripture Romans chapter 10 that if we believe that Jesus died and we believe that he rose again we believe that he is the son of God man I love what Romans chapter 10 verse 13 tells us that anybody all of us anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved that's a promise from Almighty God it's salvation and so we have to have salvation but after we experience that gift of salvation by believing in Christ and who he is and what he's then there has to be that second word seeking in other words we need to have a daily journey where we're seeking after that God who saved us that recognizing every single day part of our habits part of our path a part of our walk is man we're running after him 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 2 says it this way for I decided Paul writing here then while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ the one who was crucified man how would our lives be different if that's the story we could say about ourselves man I want to forget about everything else except for Jesus man I'm not worried about what people think of me man I want to follow Jesus I'm not worried about how many Instagram likes I get man I just want to talk about Jesus man I'm not worried about my Twitter followers my facebook friend man I I want to focus on Jesus until that journey that path that walk that God wants us to have is this is after our salvation experience man that every single day we are seeking after Jesus Christ running after him running for him running to him and man what a beautiful picture it is of what the gospel can do that the God of the universe not only loves us that the God of the universe not only gave His Son force if the god of the universe actually wants us to get to know him he wants to hang out with us how cool is that that brings us the third word is soaking so in other words like like just digging in Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 says this study this book of instruction continually like like dig into it meditated on both day and night and it goes on to saying the rest of that passage that so that we then will know what to do and then it says in only then will you prosper and succeed in everything that you do so hey I like quick question how many of you want to prosper and succeed in life just just raise your hand like yeah I want to prosper I want to succeed in life all of us do and so the Bible God's Word God's inspired Word tells us this hey study this book dig into this book dig into the truth that God has given to us study it meditate on it so you'll a boat obey everything in it oh and then only then will you actually be prosperous and succeed in everything that you do and so man we have to embrace the presence of God every single day now here's what happens when we embrace the presence of God in our lives the way that we're able to actually pull that off is secondly we must invest in God's Word well like we must understand that this book is something unlike every other book on any shelf that we might ever see we've got this beautiful library over here with thousands and thousands of books even though they're pretty much all hidden underground I mean incredible volumes and I mean lots of information lots of knowledge incredible stuff and here's what I do know about every volume that is found within the library of Liberty University one truth none of them holds a candle to the book that's called the Word of God Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says it's living it's powerful sharper than any two-edged sword like I mean it just cuts us right in half it speaks right to our hearts right to the truth of the matter and whatever issue that we're facing we have to make sure that we are investing in God's Word look what it says in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 it says this you have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood and it goes on to say they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus now listen to verse 16 all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is right what is true and it goes on to say to make us realize what is wrong in our lives it corrects us when we are wrong and it teaches us to do what is right and then it goes on to say God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work in other words God's Word is what you need and all you need to figure out how to live for God like dig in now that doesn't mean we like walk away from hearing great truth like you'll hear from David tonight at campus community it doesn't mean that we walk away from the opportunity of studying in other classes and in different opportunities of Bible studies in community groups don't we don't walk away from that stuff that stuff helps to enhance what God's Word is speaking to us and so we got to recognize this passage tells us that God's word man all scripture everything within this book is vital it's important to all of us so that it shows us what's right it teaches us what's wrong it keeps us on the right path and then it goes on to say that because of that God will use it to prepare you to do every good work that he has for you and so we have to invest in God's Word psalm 119 verse 9 tells us this how can a young man how can a young woman like live right how can a young woman a young man avoid sin and here's what it says obey the Word of God man there's so many Christians today they're trying to figure out this thing called walking with Christ following Christ without actually ever picking up God's Word and they're wondering why it's so hard like so difficult to follow Christ so difficult to become a man or a woman who is following after Christ every single day because of the temptations and the challenges and all the problems that seemed to be ever-present and we say man it's just too hard I can't do it yes she can because the god of the universe promised you get into his word you study his word he will teach you what's right he will teach you what's wrong and he will keep you from being everything that God intends you not to be that's the God that's the promise that God gives to us so we have to invest in God's Word we have to spend time studying running to spending time following walking after God's Word and as we do that what it allows us to do is it allows us to begin to grow in the wisdom of God to grow in God's wisdom let's go back to this passage we understand that this passage talks about people who are not doing things right it's talking about people who are replacing truth with feelings replacing like the things that that are important to God with like our own desires that we value the the concepts or the ideas of man over the truth and the principles of God's Word and so we live in a culture today that's really good at replacing truth with feelings like replacing truth with our own personal desires and so we have to get to the place where we're us recognize we got to swap that we've got to stop following after feelings that determines our truth and start actually running after truth that will then determine our feelings and our actions that we have to get to the place we recognize God's Word was given to us for purpose and here's why it's important because we must recognize doctrine matters we can't just decide what God's Word says based on what we feel based on what we like to do based on our personal preferences we have to recognize God has given to us his word he's given to his doctrine truth that really really does matter and we must live according to the doctrines the truth that are found in God's Word because if we don't here's what happens when we don't know and understand God's Word Satan can very easily distort distract and pull us away from God's Word you see what he does is he can very subtly he can pull what is truth and he can nuance it he can tweak it just a little bit and now it becomes fable it becomes something that we create in our own minds and listen our world is full of it I got to be honest with you there are churches that are full of it churches that have have allowed this to creep into their teaching to creep into their their ministry creep into their their their their concepts and their doctrines or what they teach and what they do and what ends up happening is preferences or guiding the Church of Jesus Christ the Bride of Christ and man that's real hung we've got to stand on the Word of God we've got to preach truth we've got to recognize doctrine matters and the only way that we can recognize how to stand on truth is if we know truth and the only way to know truth is to reach truth to spend time studying truth you go back to this passage I tells us in verse 21 it says yes listen they they knew God but they wouldn't worship Him as God or even give him thanks and they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like as a result their minds became dark and confused claiming to be wise they instead became utter fools and let me just tell you that passage becomes true when we delegate our understanding of God's Word to other people when we allow someone else to tell us what truth is when we're not actually doing the hard work of digging in and finding out what truth is now again that doesn't mean we stop listening to pastors and preachers it doesn't mean we stop listening to teachers it doesn't mean we stop reading books about doctrine or truth now we do all of those things but those are supporting principles those are supporting guides that help us to get to the place in our own Bible study in our own grabbing a hold of truth to find out what it is that God wants us to see and what God wants us to do and so we got to recognize yet doctrine actually does matter don't ever delegate your gaining knowledge of God and of God's Word to other people make it your task make it your duty make it your responsibility make it your love like make it what that's what I want man I want to dig into God's Word to see what he has to say to me today now what's cool about it is when we spend time embracing the presence of God which then you know gets us to that place where we recognize and invest in God's Word which it helps us to grow in the wisdom of God the natural next step is this as it begins to help us to walk in God's Way like remember we started talking here today about people who are like doing things the wrong way like like they're running down the wrong path they haven't figured out there's a disconnect between our faith and our actions our lives but see when we walk through this process when we spend time actually digging in and investing in what it is that God wants us to do it brings us to the place we begin to walk in God's Way which is God's plan God's path for every single one of us look what it says in verse 23 it says instead of worshipping the glorious everliving God they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles let me stop there for a moment and say it the way maybe we should say in today's culture it says instead of worshiping the glorious everliving God they worshipped idols made to look like phones and social media and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and money and fame and sex and drugs and any other thing that the world today says is important we get to the place where we stop worshipping the one true God and we replaced him with a lot of little small G gods in our lives that we replace them with a lot of things that are so important to us so where's 24 so God abandoned them probably one of the saddest statements found in God's Word so God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desire and as a result they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies listen to verse 25 they traded the truth about God for a lie so in other words they traded truth for their own feelings they traded doctrine for what their desires were they traded principles for their own preferences and as a result we see in this passage they worshiped and they served the things that God created instead of the creator himself man we've got to get to a place in the church get to the place in the universities where we do the exact opposite of what I just read we've got to get to the place in our culture where we do the exact opposite of what that passage says man they stopped worshipping God and they stopped war they started worshipping stuff they stopped war she not worshiping our Creator God they began focusing on all of the other things that the world is created that may be in there you know interesting by themselves they're not bad but when we make them gods when we replace the presence of God and the importance of God and the worship of God in our lives with that stuff then it becomes an idol and when it becomes an idol man it takes us down a path that wheel will always end in destruction so we've got to recognize man we got to do the opposite we got to turn things around so how do we do that well here's what we do we change our daily actions through our biblical interactions you change what you do day by day by spending time in God's Word day by day by digging into the truth of God's Word to find out like what is it that God wants to say to me you sit there say yeah bit man I'm dealing with stuff that I don't you think you can find in the Bible I promise you there is nothing that you will face in today's culture in today's society in today's situations regardless of your age you will not face anything in life that the answers to walk through it to navigate it are not found in God's Word the answers are there God has given to us everything when you look in 2nd Peter chapter 1 you notice tells us there it says this that God has given to us through his word everything that we need to know that pertains to life and godliness in other words I need to know how to live and it's crazy broken messed up world God's given us the answer through his word I need to figure out how to walk with God in a culture that is constantly running from God he's given that to us in his you see we need to recognize man we've got to follow and dig into the truth of the wisdom of God the Word of God because it'll change the way that we act you see what we live and learn and know about God to drive how we live and what we do for him so how do we do it now we are talking Bible study man make it your daily practice man I want to get into the Word of God I want to spend time studying the Word of God prayer recognizing that prayer is not something we just do over a meal or maybe when we're falling on the ditch to pray or something that we do on a constant continual basis because it is an open line of communication to the God of the universe who wants to hear from us and who wants to speak to us that God actually wants to have a conversation and that conversation is a gift that God has given to us that when Christ died on the cross that the veil that separated us from that holy of Holy's from that ever-present Waka being able to walk into the place where God was did that veil was gone it was ripped into forever shredded so that now we can run boldly into the throne of grace when's the last time you ran boldly into the throne of grace now I'm not talking about like walking to a worship service I'm not talking about gathering together a campus community and then like worshiping with the collective and lifting our hands and singing it with our hearts now I'm not talking about listening to a great sermon now I'm not talking about that stuff what I'm talking about is when's the last time that you just like dug in to a conversation with God through prayer running boldly to the throne of grace it's a man walking in his way it starts with Bible study it starts with prayer it starts with involvement in the local church the Bride of Christ man I'm Taylor we're so blessed here at Liberty University I mean with opportunities that you guys have for to coming together again we've talked about a lot campus community man it's important thing man I love it when this room fills up with people coming on a Wednesday night to study and learn and worship it's awesome community groups getting together and studying God's Word together Bible studies those things are so important man it it makes my heart glad David when I get a text from my daughter Natalie or my son Nicholas who who are both sophomores here at Liberty when they let me know about how campus community was such a blessing to them man it makes my heart glad when they're talking to me about how their community groups are Bible studies are encouraging them yesterday morning we have a Bible study at Thomas Road that meets at 6:30 every Tuesday morning and so yesterday morning yesterday morning at 6:30 I'm in that Bible study my son Nicholas is in that Bible study with me and then last night my son was in another Bible study at 6:30 with our assent ministry with Quincy man that just makes my heart glad to know that my kids man they're they're running after truth we are so blessed here to have all of these great Christian things in this institution that drive us to opportunities to learn more about Christ but isn't it interesting that in the greatest Christian university in the world with all the great opportunities and the great things that are afforded to us to be able to be a part of here it's also may be a great opportunity it wouldn't it be sad if this is true a great opportunity for us to disengage from the local church because of all the great stuff that God is doing here listen I love campus community David knows that but campus community cannot replace the Bride of Christ you need to recognize man be here on Wednesday night study God's Word absolutely but man on Sundays you find a local church that you can get involved in engaged in serving be a part of because that is the Bride of Christ Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 jesus said I will build my church he didn't say I will build my community group he didn't say I will build my life group he didn't say I will build my small group he didn't say I'll build my little Bible study group jesus said I will build my church and I want to be a part of something that Jesus is building and so man I would encourage you absolutely be here on Wednesday nights but on the weekends find somewhere to serve to get engaged to get involved do not let college be the opportunity where you disengage from the local church the Bride of Christ and I know some of you may be sitting there saying well yeah he's a local pastor he's like John time to drum up business right that's not what I'm doing there are 400 plus churches in our community here in Lynchburg and the vast majority of them are great Bible preaching gospel preaching churches man fine one and whether it's one community or gospel community or waymaker or heritage or a Riverside would weigh well I don't doesn't matter what church to find a church there are so many great churches for you to get plugged in and get involved in it serve in and make it reference find that church and when you find that church take a moment to look at their doctrinal statement and make sure that that is a church that believes that the Word of God is the inerrant infallible inspired Word of God there's not a mistake found within the pages of that book make sure it is a church that preaches that Jesus is the only way to heaven and then you get involved in that church and help that church make Jesus famous in this community and God let God use you to make a difference now because it's a habit that you will create now that when you leave Liberty University and you go out around the world then it will be so engrained and who you are what you do that it will become who you are for the rest of your life and you'll find places to get plugged in you'll find the church to get involved in wherever it might be man I I just I'm blown away by so many students in this church that are already doing that this university they're already doing that students like Noah Gwynn that is in the Liberty collective I heard the other day that Noah you know me tell me he does he comes to school here but every weekend he drives back to Pennsylvania and he goes back to helping in serve and his local church that he grew up and how cool is that people like Rachel Anderson another student in Liberty collective man that she's passionate about not only doing what she does here and studying but man she's in the local church every weekend serving man every weekend I see what Quincy does with a cent and then there are so many students that are engaged and involved and serving in that that ministry and it's awesome to see find a place to serve and I don't care if it's Thomas Road or 400 other churches because when you were in a church that is preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ there is no competition in the local church we're all on the same team because we're all working to the same end to bring people into the kingdom of God so find that place for you and get involved in it and make it part of your natural habits it's Bible study its prayer its church involvement because we cannot allow ourselves as Christ followers as Christians to get into the habit or stay in the habit of just punching the church card of punching the Christian card like clocking in and clocking out clocking in Wednesday nights when campus community starts and clocking out when it's done clocking in on a son morning when church begins and clocking out and then is living how everyone to live we can't just keep going through the motions like this passage talks about and here's why because our worship to God and our knowledge of God does not free us to live without God we can't just let raise our hands and take a Bible quiz in one of our classes and then go out and live however we'll want to live we have to not only worship God not only do we have to have knowledge of God but we have to live for God if we're gonna change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ make that who you are make that your practice make that your heart make that your passion because what that does is it leads us to one important statement one important word that God desires for every single person gathered in this room and that's this word holiness and Holy's holiness can only be defined by God in his word holiness cannot be defined by man or by woman by people it can't be defined by us you see when man defines holiness preferences begin to creep in and and when we end up like saying what we like and what we think it ought to be and we create the dynamic of holiness based on what we think that's wrong you dig into God's Word and find out what holiness is and then live that way so every single one of us both today and years from now that we'll be able to look back in our lives and what Paul said in first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 2 would be what people could say of us that it truly is the cry of our heart man I just determined I've decided I'm passionate about it that I want to forget about everything else except Jesus the one who was crucified for me make that your heart make that your passion make that what you desire in your life every single day and when you do and if you do it will change everything and what God does with you and for you 30 years from now I promise you will be determined by what you do today follow god now change the world tomorrow let's pray together God thank you for the challenge that your word brings to us the correction that it gives to us we so desperately need it God we we need to know what's right and what's wrong because we live in a culture where we can't find it anywhere everybody's got their own ideas their own views their own concepts of what's right and what's wrong and god I know this they're all messed up even people who mean well it's all messed up God keep us from trying to decide right and wrong on our own devices and our own hearts and our own minds god help us to figure out what's right and wrong by reading your word by hearing the truth that comes from you and you alone God we just want to be people who forget about everything else except for you god I pray for every student every faculty member staff member everyone watching or hearing here today god I just pray that you would just burn in our hearts that passion God we just want to know about you about Christ and him crucified and him risen again because that is the hope for the world God helps to be passionate about that and to change the world as a result God for that we give you the praise we give you the glory and Jesus name we pray amen they dismiss yes thank you can we thank you pastor Jonathan one more time such a good word brother we love you well we'll see you tonight campus communities 6:30 god bless you guys

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 3,061

Rating: 4.5757575 out of 5

Keywords: Liberty University, LibertyU, Liberty, Jerry Falwell, Jonathan Falwell, Thomas Road Baptist Church

Id: VQSy_OkLzq8

Length: 40min 47sec (2447 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 31 2019