Reflecting God's Glory Through Intimacy with Jesus
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "We are citizens of a great God. We are citizens of the greater kingdom. Now, last Sunday on Memorial Day, we took some time and we recognized and we honored those who had paid that ultimate sacrifice. And I said then, I am so thankful to God. I've been in a lot of nations across the world. And I am so thankful that I've gotten to live my entire life as a citizen of the United States of America. I am so thankful to God for that. But at the end of the day, listen, this is not my home. And I'm just a sojourner here. I'm just passing through, all right. And I want you to know, my hope is not in what happens in the United States of America. That's not our hope. Listen, our hope is not in a Republican or a Democrat. Our hope is not in any member of Congress. Listen, we just sang it. Our hope is in the King whose kingdom will never end. Our hope is in the one and only Jesus Christ whose throne will never be overthrown. You can rest with confidence as a follower of Jesus that it does not matter what happens in this life. Our hope is secure." [32:19]
2. "Listen, child of God, don't stay awake worrying. Don't stay awake. Some of you, the best thing you do is just turn the news off. Just get in the Word with the one who loves you most. Listen, 500 years from now, it's not going to matter. It's really not. The only thing that's going to matter is Jesus Christ and the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. That's why I want to encourage you. Don't sacrifice your gospel voice during this season. Don't do it. Please don't. Don't do it." [33:46]
3. "Listen, we are a gospel-first, gospel-focused people. Listen, vote, be involved, do all that, but live first and foremost for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? Now, look, some of you have been asking, why haven't you said anything on social media? Because that doesn't accomplish anything. I've not been called to pastor people in Facebook world, but I have been called to pastor you. And I'm going to do that until I die, until God moves me, or you fire me. Now, some of you, after today, you might fire me this afternoon. If so, we've had a good run. All right? But as long as I'm the pastor, I'm going to love you enough to try to help you maintain your gospel voice. Listen, here's what people in our world and people in our nation need today. They don't need a certain party in the White House. They need God to take up residence in their house. That's what our world needs. He is our hope." [35:20]
4. "You and I were created to be a reflection of the glory of God. When the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit, that fruit that is supposed to be in us, what he's saying is your life should reflect the wonder, the beauty, the splendor of who our God is. You were created for that purpose. Well, Pastor, how do you know that? Well, I've read the Bible. Novel concept, huh? Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27. Look at what it says. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. They will rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. So God created man in his own image. He created him in the image of God. He created them male and female. In the very beginning, when God created everything, when he decided to create you and me as humans, when he created the human race, he said humanity is to be a reflection of my glory." [46:59]
5. "Listen, you and I are called to be a reflection of God's glory. You want to know how to reflect God's glory? You've got to be in front of Him. You've got to be in front of Him. And listen, as you're in front of Him, you will reflect who He is. But the instant you move from being in front of Him, you know what you're going to reflect? Whatever else you put in front of you. Some of you are thinking, man, I reflect a whole lot more of the world than I do Jesus. You know what that means? You're spending a whole lot more time in front of the world than you are in front of Jesus. Because you're going to reflect whatever you're in front of." [06:01]
### Quotes for Members
1. "See, not only do we have to belong to Him, we have to be with Him. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 3. Jesus in Mark 3, where He's choosing His disciples. And most of them are already following Him, but He comes to a point where He's calling these 12 into intimate fellowship with Himself. He's going to invest in them, going to pour into them, for them to be the catalyst by which world evangelization would ultimately happen. So He calls the 12. And in Mark, chapter 3, verse 14, it says that He called them that they would be with Him. That's the first thing God called those guys to, to just be with Him, to just spend time with Him. As a follower of Jesus, hear me, the primary calling on your life is intimacy with Him. The greatest calling on your life is to simply be with Him. We want to do. We're a do people. We want to, what do I need to do? You want to know what you need to do? You need to be. See, bearing God's glory, reflecting His glory is a whole lot more about who you are than what you do. You've got to belong to Him and you've got to be with Him. You have to be with Him. And here's the reality. You do those two things, you're going to reflect His glory." [03:13]
2. "Now, here's the reality. You and I will never be like Jesus, and yet there is a calling for our lives to be like Him. And so what I want to do today is I'm simply going to introduce this study, and then next Sunday, my dad, Dr. Bob Pittman, who normally is traveling all over the country preaching in different churches, he takes the month of June off, and he's going to preach for us next Sunday. I'm going to be here. Some of our staff team will be leaving, going to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. But we're going to be here, but we're leaving as soon as the service. But I've just always had him preach that second Sunday of June, and you guys love to hear him, so he's going to do that next week. And then on Father's Day, I'm going to pick back up with this series. So today, my goal is to introduce where we're going this summer as we dive into this idea of being like Jesus. And in doing so, I want to give you a central truth that will really guide us throughout this summer. Here it is. You and I were created to be a reflection of the glory of God. You and I were created to be a reflection of the glory of God." [46:25]
3. "And the reason is because what the fruit of the Spirit identifies for us is it identifies the very nature of God himself. See, when you see this list of these nine characteristics, they are characteristics of who God is. And what Paul is saying is that when you live your life as a follower of Jesus, the fruit of that is his life being lived through your life. And when you really get a hold of that, I'm telling you, it'll set you free. It'll set you free from that trap of constantly trying to do better and trying harder to accomplish something when you just understand the calling is for his life to be lived through our life." [45:04]
4. "Listen, as a follower of Jesus, God has called me to reflect his holiness. Like, the one thing that I probably can least reflect, God's called me to reflect. So here's what that means. Everything else that is an aspect of who God is is to be seen in my life. Think about that for a minute. Every aspect of who God is. If he's called us to reflect his holiness, listen, he has called us to reflect his holiness. He has called us to reflect everything. That's why when I prayed this a moment ago, you and I as the New Testament church, we're called the body of Christ. That's one of the terms the New Testament uses to describe the local church, the body of Christ. What is a body? A body is what allows us to relate to a physical world. Look, you are not your body. Your body simply reflects who you are to a physical world. With your body, you touch, you taste, you smell, you experience all the senses, right? And when people see you, they associate your body with who you are. Here's what that means is the body of Christ. When the world sees us, they immediately associate us with who Christ is. So what kind of a reflection are we? We're to be a reflection of his glory, of the splendor, the wonder, the amazement of who he is." [54:30]
5. "Listen, you and I have been called into a relationship with Jesus. And if you're going to reflect His glory, listen, you've got to belong to Him. I love what Dr. Adrian Rogers says about this. He said that to be like Jesus, many people typically focus on elimination or determination. And what he meant by that was elimination, they go, I'm going to get rid of some things. All right, I want to be like Jesus, so I'm no longer going to do this, this, this, this, and this. They turn following Jesus into a checklist of don'ts. Or determination. Okay, I'm going to make sure I reflect Jesus. So I'm going to make sure I do this, this, this, this, and this. And what they've done is they've turned being a Jesus follower into a list of do's and don'ts. You know what that makes you? A modern-day Pharisee. See, they took a relationship with God and said, it's all about don'ting some don'ts and doing some do's. And as long as you dot the I and cross the T, you'll be fine. And yet Jesus said of them, they're nothing but whitewashed sepulchers. They're nothing but graves that on the outside look nice and clean and polished, but on the inside they're full of death. See, some of you have spent your lives trying to clean up the outside. I mean, you wear the Jesus clothes, and you've got the Jesus bracelets, and you've got the Jesus bumper stickers, and you try to look the part. You try to do all the do's and don't all the don'ts. And what God's saying is, I don't really care about the outside. My focus is on the inside. And the outside might look wonderful, but the inside is death and destruction. If you're going to reflect His glory, you have to belong. You have to be in relationship with Him." [01:00:56]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "We are citizens of a great God. We are citizens of the greater kingdom. Now, last Sunday on Memorial Day, we took some time and we recognized and we honored those who had paid that ultimate sacrifice. And I said then, I am so thankful to God. I've been in a lot of nations across the world. And I am so thankful that I've gotten to live my entire life as a citizen of the United States of America. I am so thankful to God for that. But at the end of the day, listen, this is not my home. And I'm just a sojourner here. I'm just passing through, all right. And I want you to know, my hope is not in what happens in the United States of America. That's not our hope. Listen, our hope is not in a Republican or a Democrat. Our hope is not in any member of Congress. Listen, we just sang it. Our hope is in the King whose kingdom will never end. Our hope is in the one and only Jesus Christ whose throne will never be overthrown. You can rest with confidence as a follower of Jesus that it does not matter what happens in this life. Our hope is secure." [32:19]
2. "Listen, child of God, don't stay awake worrying. Don't stay awake. Some of you, the best thing you do is just turn the news off. Just get in the Word with the one who loves you most. Listen, 500 years from now, it's not going to matter. It's really not. The only thing that's going to matter is Jesus Christ and the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. That's why I want to encourage you. Don't sacrifice your gospel voice during this season. Don't do it. Please don't. Don't do it." [33:46]
3. "Listen, we are a gospel-first, gospel-focused people. Listen, vote, be involved, do all that, but live first and foremost for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? Now, look, some of you have been asking, why haven't you said anything on social media? Because that doesn't accomplish anything. I've not been called to pastor people in Facebook world, but I have been called to pastor you. And I'm going to do that until I die, until God moves me, or you fire me. Now, some of you, after today, you might fire me this afternoon. If so, we've had a good run. All right? But as long as I'm the pastor, I'm going to love you enough to try to help you maintain your gospel voice. Listen, here's what people in our world and people in our nation need today. They don't need a certain party in the White House. They need God to take up residence in their house. That's what our world needs. He is our hope." [35:20]
4. "You and I were created to be a reflection of the glory of God. When the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit, that fruit that is supposed to be in us, what he's saying is your life should reflect the wonder, the beauty, the splendor of who our God is. You were created for that purpose. Well, Pastor, how do you know that? Well, I've read the Bible. Novel concept, huh? Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27. Look at what it says. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. They will rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. So God created man in his own image. He created him in the image of God. He created them male and female. In the very beginning, when God created everything, when he decided to create you and me as humans, when he created the human race, he said humanity is to be a reflection of my glory." [46:59]
5. "Listen, you and I are called to be a reflection of God's glory. You want to know how to reflect God's glory? You've got to be in front of Him. You've got to be in front of Him. And listen, as you're in front of Him, you will reflect who He is. But the instant you move from being in front of Him, you know what you're going to reflect? Whatever else you put in front of you. Some of you are thinking, man, I reflect a whole lot more of the world than I do Jesus. You know what that means? You're spending a whole lot more time in front of the world than you are in front of Jesus. Because you're going to reflect whatever you're in front of." [06:01]
### Quotes for Members
1. "See, not only do we have to belong to Him, we have to be with Him. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 3. Jesus in Mark 3, where He's choosing His disciples. And most of them are already following Him, but He comes to a point where He's calling these 12 into intimate fellowship with Himself. He's going to invest in them, going to pour into them, for them to be the catalyst by which world evangelization would ultimately happen. So He calls the 12. And in Mark, chapter 3, verse 14, it says that He called them that they would be with Him. That's the first thing God called those guys to, to just be with Him, to just spend time with Him. As a follower of Jesus, hear me, the primary calling on your life is intimacy with Him. The greatest calling on your life is to simply be with Him. We want to do. We're a do people. We want to, what do I need to do? You want to know what you need to do? You need to be. See, bearing God's glory, reflecting His glory is a whole lot more about who you are than what you do. You've got to belong to Him and you've got to be with Him. You have to be with Him. And here's the reality. You do those two things, you're going to reflect His glory." [03:13]
2. "Now, here's the reality. You and I will never be like Jesus, and yet there is a calling for our lives to be like Him. And so what I want to do today is I'm simply going to introduce this study, and then next Sunday, my dad, Dr. Bob Pittman, who normally is traveling all over the country preaching in different churches, he takes the month of June off, and he's going to preach for us next Sunday. I'm going to be here. Some of our staff team will be leaving, going to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. But we're going to be here, but we're leaving as soon as the service. But I've just always had him preach that second Sunday of June, and you guys love to hear him, so he's going to do that next week. And then on Father's Day, I'm going to pick back up with this series. So today, my goal is to introduce where we're going this summer as we dive into this idea of being like Jesus. And in doing so, I want to give you a central truth that will really guide us throughout this summer. Here it is. You and I were created to be a reflection of the glory of God. You and I were created to be a reflection of the glory of God." [46:25]
3. "And the reason is because what the fruit of the Spirit identifies for us is it identifies the very nature of God himself. See, when you see this list of these nine characteristics, they are characteristics of who God is. And what Paul is saying is that when you live your life as a follower of Jesus, the fruit of that is his life being lived through your life. And when you really get a hold of that, I'm telling you, it'll set you free. It'll set you free from that trap of constantly trying to do better and trying harder to accomplish something when you just understand the calling is for his life to be lived through our life." [45:04]
4. "Listen, as a follower of Jesus, God has called me to reflect his holiness. Like, the one thing that I probably can least reflect, God's called me to reflect. So here's what that means. Everything else that is an aspect of who God is is to be seen in my life. Think about that for a minute. Every aspect of who God is. If he's called us to reflect his holiness, listen, he has called us to reflect his holiness. He has called us to reflect everything. That's why when I prayed this a moment ago, you and I as the New Testament church, we're called the body of Christ. That's one of the terms the New Testament uses to describe the local church, the body of Christ. What is a body? A body is what allows us to relate to a physical world. Look, you are not your body. Your body simply reflects who you are to a physical world. With your body, you touch, you taste, you smell, you experience all the senses, right? And when people see you, they associate your body with who you are. Here's what that means is the body of Christ. When the world sees us, they immediately associate us with who Christ is. So what kind of a reflection are we? We're to be a reflection of his glory, of the splendor, the wonder, the amazement of who he is." [54:30]
5. "Listen, you and I have been called into a relationship with Jesus. And if you're going to reflect His glory, listen, you've got to belong to Him. I love what Dr. Adrian Rogers says about this. He said that to be like Jesus, many people typically focus on elimination or determination. And what he meant by that was elimination, they go, I'm going to get rid of some things. All right, I want to be like Jesus, so I'm no longer going to do this, this, this, this, and this. They turn following Jesus into a checklist of don'ts. Or determination. Okay, I'm going to make sure I reflect Jesus. So I'm going to make sure I do this, this, this, this, and this. And what they've done is they've turned being a Jesus follower into a list of do's and don'ts. You know what that makes you? A modern-day Pharisee. See, they took a relationship with God and said, it's all about don'ting some don'ts and doing some do's. And as long as you dot the I and cross the T, you'll be fine. And yet Jesus said of them, they're nothing but whitewashed sepulchers. They're nothing but graves that on the outside look nice and clean and polished, but on the inside they're full of death. See, some of you have spent your lives trying to clean up the outside. I mean, you wear the Jesus clothes, and you've got the Jesus bracelets, and you've got the Jesus bumper stickers, and you try to look the part. You try to do all the do's and don't all the don'ts. And what God's saying is, I don't really care about the outside. My focus is on the inside. And the outside might look wonderful, but the inside is death and destruction. If you're going to reflect His glory, you have to belong. You have to be in relationship with Him." [01:00:56]
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