The Importance of Honesty and Self-Reflection

So I have discovered that there's three types of people that don't believe in God . First type is those who just don't believe . Then there's those who don't believe but want to believe , and then the last category is those who just don't want to believe at all . They've made it this and I just don't want to . I don't know if any of that describes any of you in here , or maybe someone you know , but here's what I want to do today . I want to ask if you would today , while we're here together , to be honest with yourself . This is going to become a safe place to have honest conversations . So some of this it kind of terrifies you , makes you uncomfortable Anytime you do a self-evaluation . But that's exactly what I'm going to be asking you to do and I'm going to be doing this with you today is just reflect as we're going through this conversation and service today .

Just be honest with yourself , to look in the mirror and I know that this is hard . Anytime that you look in the mirror or you're honest and you have a reflection of yourself . I know that this is hard because I know it's hard for me , and just my experience whenever I look in the mirror and I'm super honest with myself about stuff . I always end up with homework . You know what I'm saying . You think you're real good , you're real healthy , until you look at a picture of yourself , you're like , well , it's not as much as I thought . Right , it's a good reflection to get honest with yourself . Or when you're honest with yourself and you're reflecting on stuff , you usually generally walk away and there's somebody that you have to apologize to or you have to admit something to someone that you don't want to admit it . If there's something that you have to own up to , that I don't want to own up to and I don't own up to myself unless I'm really honest with myself . And oftentimes you find this too that you have to actually humble yourself , and humility just doesn't come naturally to any of us .

And here's what I know that we've learned as adults . We've learned this that self-deception always takes us in a bad direction . That when we self-deceive ourselves , and the more we continue to do that , it usually ends up taking us in a bad direction . And if you're not honest with yourself , you can't get to where you need to be . You can't grow and get to that spot . When you're not honest with yourself , you end up being stuck and you have a lid to growth . And here's how we know this . We know this because , growing up differently , you're growing up .

Life would have been different if your mom or your dad had maybe been honest with themselves about some things that they needed to be honest with themselves about . Some of you your family , growing up experience would have been completely different if someone just could have , or someone would have , or they'd had the ability to be honest with themselves about some facts in their lives that they needed a face up and they knew was true . In fact , even some of you maybe even here you've been divorced . If you were honest with yourself , maybe you'd still be married today If either you or your spouse had the courage to look in the mirror and say I'm the one with the problem . This is what happens when we get honest with ourselves and really self-evaluating things . Now , some of you that you know this comes across as insulting . It's not meant to be . This is just what happens . When , in a safe space , you start being honest with yourself , some stuff comes out . So just track with me . This is the thing about being honest .

There was a book that I read called the Last Word . It was written by a guy named Thomas Nagle . He is a New York professor at the New York University . He teaches philosophy and law and he's an atheist . In this book explaining why and his point of view and he says something in this that blew me away . It was , it was literally . His honesty was astonishing . But I think maybe for some of you maybe watching or listening today his honesty is actually liberating because it might reflect something that you've never actually been willing to admit yourself . His honesty may give you permission , may give some of us in the room permission , to be honest with ourselves at a level that we have never explored or been willing to admit before . Here's what he wrote I said I want atheism to be true .

I just haven't come to the conclusion based on the data . It's bigger and bolder than that . I want atheism to be true and made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers . It bothers me that there are thinking people who are believers because I want atheism to be true . He goes on . He says this it isn't just that I don't believe in God and naturally hope that I am right in my belief , it's that I hope there is no God . I don't want there to be a God . I don't want the universe to be like that .

Now , for some of you , you have maybe never given yourself permission to acknowledge this , because you've been smart enough to understand , to know that if you acknowledge this feeling , this understanding , this honesty , that then you've just cracked the door to something that's terrifying to you . In fact , if you crack the door open to this thought and it opens up , your fear is that the door may never close again and you're smart enough to know that if it opens up , it won't close again , and smart enough to know that there's a big importance between these two things . There's a big , important difference between I don't believe it and I don't want to believe it . I don't believe it and I don't want to believe it . I used to believe it and now I woke up one day and I was like I don't believe that anymore . Something happened and I just realized that I don't actually believe that . It has nothing to do with I don't want to believe it . I don't believe it was .

You went to school and it was your junior year in college and some things were going on and you just couldn't rationalize , you couldn't reconcile your faith with that anymore . You got out of your family or your little religious bubble that you were in and you got outside of that . It just happened , and it wasn't that you don't want to believe it . You just came to this place where you're like I don't believe it . That's one thing I don't want to believe . It is something entirely different . I don't want to believe it has to do with will , with will . I don't want to believe it has to do with . I don't want to because I don't want to . It's two entirely different things .

So here's my question for you Did you lose your faith over something that happened to you or that you read ? Did you step back because of the information just wasn't there . It was too elementary for you . You kept getting Sunday school answers . You kept getting faith-based answers to your fact-based questions . Or were you treated poorly by the church or treated poorly by someone who represented the church , or a friend or a family member or someone you loved , treated poorly by someone through the church ? Is that why you stepped away ? I know I'm prying a little bit , but this is what honesty looks like . Here's the tough one and here's why I want you to be honest with yourself and don't go anywhere for this . Hang in there . If your departure from faith was around , will and want around , I just don't want to believe . If that's the case , information will never suffice .

Blaise Pascal 1700 mathematician . He was a physicist , a philosopher . We've talked about him a handful of times over the last seven weeks . He died when he was about 39 . He was a child prodigy . His father homeschooled him . He made some extraordinary statements . Here's one he said people almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof , but on the basis of what they find attractive .

Now , aren't we all guilty of this ? Yeah , of course we are . Here's why Very few of us are on a truth quest . We don't wake up every day saying you know what ? Today , I need to get to the truth , I want to learn more truth , I want to understand truth . We are not , we are not on a truth quest . We are on a happiness quest . That's what we wake up and think about . I want to be happy . I say give me a worldview and a set of values and give me a way of thinking that's going to make me happy . This is what we do . We wake up and think what's going to make me happy today ? We didn't think about the end of the day . We're like what am I going to eat for dinner ? Make me happy ? We process the whole day of will that make me happy . It's all a quest for happiness the whole time . And if the worldview that you have or the set of values that you're around doesn't make me happy anymore , then I'm all about changing my worldview and my set of values , because I'm not on a truth quest , I'm to whatever now is going to make me happy . St Augustine , he said this we love the truth when it enlightens us and we hate it when it convicts us Right Out of this .

How many of you argued with your parents when you grew up , when you were growing up ? Come on , remember , we're being honest with ourselves today . This is safe space , right , right ? How many of you , when you argued with your parents , were arguing because you wanted to just get to the truth , like we need to get to the truth and get to the bottom of this . And then , mom , we need to find truth in this . No , did you ever get to the point where you're like oh , dad , I now see that you're correct . I apologize . Thank you for enlightening me , right ? You've given me truth . We've never done that . I don't think my kids have ever done that . Right , we didn't argue like that . What did we do ? We argued to get our way , not the truth .

Have you been in the middle of arguing with someone , or somebody that you love , and halfway through the argument you realize , oh , they're right , right , but what do we do ? We just keep going around in the circles and we're like I'll outlast them , right , I'm gonna make them tired of this . They're gonna get frustrated , right , and you just keep arguing . And you do that because I'm not trying to get to the truth . What are you trying to do ? I'm trying to win . Right , I need to win this thing . It's not about right and wrong . It's about winning . Or I have to argue , because at that point I'm gonna be smarter than someone , or I have this great one-liner . But when the conversation is over and we all know this we do this when the argument is over , when we win or won the argument .

We had more facts , we had more leverage , we were better with our words . We just outlasted them . They just got upset and was done with it . We know what we did . Everything we did was to make them feel less so we could feel a little bit more why we're on a truth quest . It makes us feel happy . I won right .

We're on a happiness quest , friends , when we are not honest with ourselves , when we won't acknowledge what we suspect might be true , when we won't dig into that for fear of what we might actually see , do you know what that means ? It means there's something else in the mix . When you're honest and you sit there and let the things stir up , there's something else that's going on . There's more to this conversation , there's more energy than we've been willing to acknowledge . And this is the question for today what is that ? Is that , what is that in us ? That doesn't , I mean if you're one of those people that honestly , like I , just don't want to believe . What is that ? What is that in you ? And maybe you've never been willing to admit it until today .

You know , larry , you're right . I've got all these facts , I've got all these figures . I got all these arguments . I shut my parents down years ago . I shut my grandparents whoever down years ago . So I pulled out of church . You know I was ready if anybody asked me . I've got , you know , three or four zingers , one-liners that'll just kind of melt them away and they won't mess with anyone . To be honest , I never . I never really thought about this , but I just don't want to believe . What is that ? What is that ? I think all of us need to know the answer to that question .

Reasons for Stepping Away From Faith

So a thought for today , or three , is could the reason , the real reason , that you stepped away from faith , could it be one of these three things ? Could it be that , if there's a God , you're guilty ? Could it be that , if there's a God , you feel guilty ? The things in your past , in some cases , they're so big and they're so bold and they're so embarrassed . They're embarrassing Even though you haven't used this word and even though you've almost escaped this emotion , escaped this feeling that when you bring all of those feelings up to the front and center , you actually feel ashamed . And so you've locked those things away , you've labeled them and we have so many good cultural labels for all of these things .

You know well , I was younger . You know , in the past I made some mistakes . We've all made mistakes , right . But I'm just asking you , when you're being honest , to just crack the door open . It's scary , I think it's terrifying . Is it possible that if you crack the door open , that you begin to discover that it's not just mistakes , that's bigger than that , that it actually moves or transitions to and from mistakes to the fact that maybe this is this really big , scary word we don't quite fully understand to , maybe I've sinned and maybe it's bigger than I just made some mistakes because here's the deal , like honestly , here's the deal , come on , your biggest mistake you've made mistakes , I've made big mistakes .

You're not alone . Your big mistakes , someone very near to you , someone very dear to you , has made mistakes . Your biggest mistakes , they hurt people . Your biggest mistakes you owe someone some , some things . You owe some things that you can never pay back . You owe , you cannot give her back those first three years , a couple years . You can't give your kids back those few years , those few things , those few decisions , mistakes that you made . You can't give those back because you were doing whatever it is that you were doing . There are some things , friends , that you cannot reconcile , you cannot make right , and of course I understand .

In this culture we say well , you know , like I was just . Well , you know I was young and I made some mistakes , like we all made some mistakes , but you know as well as I do , whatever it is , whatever residual or the shrapnel , or the aftermath , the wake of all of those things in your past . It follows you around , it follows us around and it's like it just hovers over us constantly . And if we cracked the door open on the fact that maybe there's a God , I feel guilty . I'm guilty and suddenly it just gets bigger and we're going to , like , feel something that I don't want to feel . I don't want to feel that . But let me tell you , I have talked to so many people . I've talked to so many people that when they finally pulled the lid off of all that stuff and it scared them to death they finally admitted . You know the reason I refused to look , the reason I refused to believe . I knew that once I believed that I would , there was mistakes that I made in my past , that it would all come back and it would be so big and it would be so bold and just terrifies me and I can't seem to shake it . But once they took the lid off of that and started being honest with themselves and looking at things and acknowledging it for what it was , they make progress . Every time they make progress , and maybe that's your story . Maybe that's your story .

Another one is this If there's a God , I'm accountable . If there's a God , I'm accountable . Okay , I'm going to say this for the best , starting with me . We don't want to be accountable , right , we don't like being accountable . We don't like being accountable to anything , we like to play God to a degree for ourselves . This goes back to the story of the Garden of Eden .

You may believe that the Garden of Eden is history . You may believe that the Garden of Eden is like a myth . I'm telling you what ? If it's a myth , it's the greatest myth of all history , because the Garden of Eden is this story and whatever you consider it to be , it explains so much . It's literally the start , the very beginning , the initial phase of mankind deciding God , I don't need you , right , god , I don't need you . Who needs God ? Not me and not her right ? Who needs it ? Not me and not him ?

And in all of our lives it plays out with this illusion of autonomy that somehow , like , I'm going to be able to be my own person and I can do what I want to do and I can make my own choices , which , on account of it , always , always , always , leads to regrets because , on accountable , people make regretful decisions , unaccountable , like I'll do it my way . Somebody needs to tell me what to do . I can handle , I can manage my own outcome . I can manage my own consequences . Unaccounted people eventually at some point make regretful decisions .

But the problem is and I get this , I totally understand this the problem is , if you begin to turn in that direction , if you begin to take steps back toward to say , admit that if God , there's a God , then you have to submit to God , because you know if there's a God , suddenly you're accountable and I don't want to submit . Nobody wants to submit . We don't like to submit . But here's the question where does it come from ? Like , where does it come from ? What is this ? Why do we resist things that are good for us ? And I understand this to admit God means that you've got to submit to God . Maybe maybe that's your thing , maybe not ? No-transcript , or how about this ? If there's a God , I'm wrong .

If there's a God that I'm wrong , what is it in us that won't admit what we know is true ? We thought about it like we're the worst right , like we know when our minds were wrong . We know in our hearts were wrong . We know that there's plenty of background in history and we know we're wrong . When it comes down to looking someone in the eye and saying I was wrong , what makes it so difficult ? You can imagine the exact scenario where you knew you were wrong and you knew I need to say I'm wrong and I'm sorry . And you got to that person and you started it and you're like I just needed to tell you I'm , and they're like what ? And they're like nothing , right , and then you're like let it go , because you're like well , I said it in my head , that counts right . There's just something in us like what is that in us that just won't say it . I think we really need to have an answer to that question , because that's something you deal with and I deal with all of the time .

In the problem with acknowledging God , especially if you've been away for a while , it's like by admitting that and coming back . And if I come back to God , I now have to admit I was wrong . But humility and everyone knows this , this is so good . Humility always helps you move forward , always finds a way forward . Humility I don't know why we resist this . Humility always makes you bigger , humility always makes you smarter , humility always makes you wiser , because humility always makes you open for new information . I'll tell you this . This is a quote you can just put up on your wall and remember it .

I've been wrong is the most direct route to discovering what is right . Just pause and think about that one . I've been wrong is the most direct route to discovering what is right , but we resist it . But it could it be for you . Could it be that if there is a God , that I am guilty , I am accountable , I am wrong , you know , sitting there and going , yeah , I mean , larry , I don't want to be guilty , I don't want to feel accountable and I don't want to be wrong , so I'm just going to keep God at bay . And if we're honest , if we're going to be honest right now , I want you to know that these aren't arguments for or against anything . These are just responses . And if you're honest and it's a tough one be honest . You don't have to be honest with me . Be honest with yourself right now .

Isn't it true that your arguments against God came after your decision not to want God ? Isn't it true that your intellectual arguments against the existence of God or the Bible or whatever the thing is , isn't it true that that was not first , that it came in second , after an initial season or a period or an event where you decided I don't want God . I think that this actually brings us perfectly to the good news . Now , the good news in a term maybe you've heard around church , it's actually a historical term is the gospel . The gospel is the good news . And what was the gospel ? It was this thing in history where it was someone who would deliver good news , and it was

God's Epic Love and Forgiveness

in wartime .

This is actually where we get the marathon . By the way , that's the worst idea in the world . I don't know why we do that . This guy runs a marathon the distance of a marathon to deliver back to the kingdom . He runs a marathon and then he dies because he ran a marathon which time out . Why do we do that ? We're like , wow , that sounds like a great idea , let's run those . This guy died . He ran all the way back 26.2 miles , and then he croaked over and we're like that sounds awesome , right , anyways , running is great for someone else . Thank you , yes , so this is the gospel , it's victory .

This is the good news , and let me explain this the fact that this isn't just good news , this is ridiculously good news . Here it is when we are willing to acknowledge that the real issue is my resistance and not God's existence . That's good news . When we are willing to be honest with ourselves and say , okay , it terrifies me , like the implications of this . The real issue for me is not God's existence , it's actually my personal resistance . And when you get there , when you take that baby step , you , friend , have stepped into the middle of an epic narrative and an epic narrative of God pursuing a relationship with a rebel race who broke relationship with God Then I'll tell you why . It's great news . Because once you are willing to admit that this isn't about God's existence , it's actually not about science or a book , it's about personal resistance .

Once you're willing to do that , you step now into a stream of humanity that has struggled with submission of with God , like since the beginning of time , and you are exactly where you need to be , because Jesus , if he's correct and there is a lot of evidence that says he was very correct If there is a God , then that means there is forgiveness . It means a whole bunch of other things too . Here we go , there's forgiveness , and what that means is that your rebellion , your mistakes , whatever you call them , they actually become the platform for God to demonstrate his love for you . That's what that means . Your mess ups , your nonsense , your Tom Fulery , chicaneery , whatever you want to use for it , your mistakes it actually becomes a platform now for God to demonstrate his love for you . In fact , the apostle Paul he says this perfectly in this word and phrase that we miss sometimes , again , because we don't totally understand what it means , and it's kind of scary . It's this big word . He said this , but God demonstrates his own love for us in this , while we were still there's the big word sinners , christ died for us . Let me help you with this a little bit more . For God demonstrates his love for us . How , in this ? While we were still mistakeers , while we were still mistaking and we continue to do it , while we were still nobody's perfecting , while we were still not perfecting everything . We're up with this one While we were still . I actually did it on purpose . I knew it . I knew it wouldn't be good . I'll admit it . I did it on purpose . I knew it would hurt her . I did it on purpose . I knew I would regret it . I did it on purpose . Come on , you know that about you . You know that about me . Let's be honest . While we were still sinners . Good news Christ died for us . Did you know the new atheists ? Yes , they call themselves the new atheists . They make a big deal out of this . They make a big deal out of like well , if there's a God , then why doesn't he just forgive everybody ? If there's really a God , he should just forgive everyone . Why all the blood and the gore and the sacrifice ? Why did somebody have to die ? Why didn't God just say you're all forgiven ? But here's the answer to that question because God wanted to enter into a relationship with mankind , and you cannot have a relationship with someone you do not sacrifice for . Think about that one that will preach in your own life . You know that If you do not sacrifice for me , I do not know you love me . How many relationships have you looked around , struggled with that one ? This is why it's so powerful . This is why it's the gospel . This is right at the epicenter of everything that we believe as Christians is that God demonstrated his love for you . He touched down to enter into a relationship with mankind , and every relationship demands a sacrifice . Every offense requires forgiveness . Every offense requires coming back together in restitution through Christ . This , friends , is the grand narrative . It's the perfect story . And do you really want to live the rest of your life outside of that , especially if there's something stirring in your heart that says , I think it might be true . If there's a God , there's forgiveness . If there's a God , there's relationship . To resist accountability to God , which we all resist , but to resist a relationship with God and parents . You know this is a really hard thing to deal with and to come to terms with , but you know that when your kids rebel , what's usually broken ? Your relationship , the relationship is broken . Please hear this If you are lost , you will be found . If you want to be found , you can be found . And there is no shame , that is too much . God's arms are wide open for a relationship and he wants to embrace a relationship with you . And so that old saying run to the Father . If there's a God , there's truth , there's a basis for moral law , there's a basis for justice , there's a basis for love , for mercy , for grace , for kindness , for peace , for gentleness , for compassion . This is so huge . This is so huge . But you know what we like applying Newton's law in areas that were never meant to be applied . Newton's law says for every action little ducky over here , every action , there's an equal or opposite reaction , to weigh the scales , to even them out . And when we mess up which we often do when we try to make it right we ask like how do I undo that when we do something , like how do I undo what I just messed up ? Or like , how do I balance things out ? So something happens on this side and we're like , ah , so we have to fix it and put something in this side . And I don't think we often realize that we're doing this . I think it's most often . For a lot of us it's just a pattern that we've become familiar with and we're in the habits of responding this way in relationships . For example , you get frustrated , you lose your cool with your kid and you yell at him , and so , bad bad one . So now you feel bad , and so now you treat him to ice cream because you're like that fixes everything . And so you say , ah , good , wait , that's the heaviest one . Lots of ice cream , good one . Now the parenting universe is in order , right , you promised a friend you would hang out , and then you screwed it up and you were late . And so then you have to show up and say , like I'm going to shower you with compliments , right , you pick the thing ah , I work . You know , I was slacked off and now I've got to fix it and show my boss . I'm a hard worker and so I stay late and I show him . I'm going to work extra hard for that sale . You get it . Most of us play this balancing act in our relationships in one way or another , and it's not all bad . It's not all bad , but this is the kind of balancing act that can , like , wreak havoc on a relational world where we never know if we owe someone something or if they owe us . We're never quite sure how much we need to , how to guarantee that we're not a deficit to someone right ? And sadly , many of us carry this balancing act into our relationship with God or our understanding of how he works . We imagine that , you know , there's this giant scale in heaven up there and it's like he's just waiting and someone's you know , the angels are moving things around , or however . You're picturing it , you know , and so it's watching us and it's like , oh , like you did something inappropriate to the car that cut you off , right , whatever ? Oh , you said thank you to someone I don't know what it is . You know , pick a thing , I did something bad here , and he's just watching and it's just going back and forth and we're weighing the scales and we're trying to add these things up and this kind of thinking , consciously or unconsciously , creates all kind of dysfunction in our relationships . It's that our choices are being weighted , are always being calculated . I on Thursday , was the last practice for one of my sons before he had a championship football game yesterday . My youngest and the coach . He got in front of him on Thursday night and he said you know , I'm not a church guy , I cuss too much , but you know I'm practicing Buddhist and I was like where are we going ? Like what are we doing here ? And he goes you know , as a Buddhist , I believe you know you do good , you're going to get good . So he told him he's like so I already know it 100% , you guys are going to win the game on Saturday . Why ? Because you're good . Right , it's this . Because you're good kids . You guys are so good , you guys care about each other and you love each other and you even snap each other's helmet , like all this stuff . He's saying you're going to win it . We lost bad yesterday , we lost , sorry . I mean , you can sad about that separately , right , but that's like what we do . This is totally normal . That's what we do . We say , like you know , we good , you get good . We do this game with the balancing of the scales and let me tell you the truth about scales . Everyone of us here's where we're going to be honest with each other and ourselves . Everyone of us has loaded up the bad side of the scales . All of us , everyone in here , I don't care what age you are , we've all added to the bad side of the scale . For many of us , when we're honest with ourselves , we're sitting here saying my sin feels too deep if God , my shame feels like too much if God , my guilt so great if God . And I want to invite you actually right now , to close your eyes , to be honest with yourself and reflect in this moment that your sin is deep , your shame is wide and your guilt is great , but could his love be greater still ? No , I have to超 biggerores , like you guys .

My sin was steep . My grace was steeper . My sin was wise . Your arms were wider . My guilt was great . Your love was greater still . My sin was steep . My grace was steeper . My sin was wise . Your arms were wider . My guilt was great . Your love was greater still . Your love , your love . My sin was steep . Your grace was steeper . My sin was wise . Your arms were wider . My guilt was great . Your love was greater still . How deep , how wide , how far , how high the love of my Savior , the love of Christ . How deep , how wide , how far , how high the love of my Savior , the love of Christ . My sin was steep . My grace was steeper . My sin was wide . Your arms were wider . My guilt was great . Your love was greater still your love , your love . My sin was steep . My sin was wide . Your arms were wider . My guilt was great . Your love was greater still . Your love was greater still .

From the beginning of time human beings have been making choices that are outside of God's design and will .

None of us , none of us , are exceptions . Paul , like we read about earlier , he was a leader in the early church . He said for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . We , with our selfish choices and our half truths and our outright rebellion , every one of us has loaded up the bad side of the scale . In no amount of good deeds that we do will ever tip this back or get it into our favor . He says this . He says there is no one righteous , not even one . Paul also writes therefore , therefore , no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law . There's nothing you can do , there's nothing we can do to balance things out , to tip things into our favor . But if you are worried about this bad news , let me assure you , in the coming to grips with this reality , that this is the exact point where the news becomes good , and I mean like really good . Here's the shocking truth that through Jesus and his sacrifice , we are loved , we are forgiven , we are welcome and we are accepted , and you , friends , have been set free . We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God , but now are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus .

So many of us make this assumption that God evaluates relationships like we do . We think God has his own version of the balancing of scales . But it's not true . That's not who he is . God's not like us . He has freely , freely , cost zero , extended his grace through Jesus that when we come to know the heart of God , revealed in the person of Jesus , we discover that the balancing of scales has never been what God is after . But he says this doesn't exist . This isn't how my economy works . That's not what he's after . God is after your heart . God is after a relationship with you . Paul says it this way God can do anything . Let me say that first part again . God can do anything . You know far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams . He doesn't do this by pushing us around . He doesn't by working within us , his spirit , deeply and gently within us .

If God forgiveness , if God relationship , if God truth , in just a moment you're going to have a chance , maybe to respond as we're honest with ourselves Today . If that's true , then that's what I need , that's what I want . It's not . I don't want to believe . Why wouldn't I believe ? Why would I live outside of this ? And as we sing this response song , we'll have some people up front that would love to pray for you or receive you . As you reconcile that , maybe there's some of you here today that you've stepped away , that you've like wondered off and says I'm going to go and take care of it myself and there's the fear that's been keeping you away . You feel guilty . You don't want to be held accountable for it . Gosh , if I do that , I'm admitting I was wrong . Getting to right relationship with them . Today , friends , we're ready to receive you , to pray for you , to come alongside of you , to be in community together .