 I'm an extreme extrovert. I get energy from other people. So if you don't laugh when I'm funny, you don't know how to appreciate it and leave it when it's a really good point. If you're not with me, this, my energy's gonna dip in this whole session. We're all just gonna end up with a nap. So, even you, young lady, I need you with me. You with me? Okay, four of you. Good. That's a good start. That's a good start. This guy's with me. All right, there we go. Okay, it was delayed, but we'll take it. All right. Okay. We got the young people over here. That's good. Yep, love it. All right, that's enough. Okay. Turn to the person next to you and say, it is good that you are here. Now, turn to the person through for whatever reason you didn't choose and say, Jesus loves you. This is a special place for me, not only because we're back doing conferences, but because right about in that area, right in that general vicinity. Yes, I asked a beautiful woman to marry me. Yeah, believe it or not. I asked my wife of 10 years right in that spot. Right there to marry me. She was the, yeah, you can clap for that. That was a big moment. She was the point guard of the women's basketball here at Franciscan, and I was the point guard for the men's basketball team here at Franciscan. So there's been a lot of things that have happened in this gym that are important to me, not the least of which was that. Also, right over in that area, I basically broke my nose. Right over in this area, my ankle exploded, and right over there, my thumb exploded. So my blood, sweat, and tears are literally in this place. So this is, I almost feel like I have to take my shoes off. This is like holy ground for me. So it is, it's just really good to be with you. I want you, as we begin tonight's session, or at least what I have to say, I want you to be thinking of two words throughout the entire time I'm talking. Two words rattling around in your brain, okay? First one is revelation. And the second is response. Revelation and response. A few years ago, my buddy and I, his name is Joey, we were starting a ministry to reach young adults, and we were starting locally in Ann Arbor, and we were trying all sorts of things because we just had this burning hunger to see my generation meet Jesus. We just had this burning hunger to help people encounter Jesus Christ, make a decision to follow him, and give their life to him. And we didn't really know what we were doing, but we had a lot of passion, and we had a lot of time, and we decided to go for it. And we decided to do this thing called Alpha. And Alpha's this wonderful course, yeah. Alpha's great. It's like a 12 week, 11 week course to help people meet Jesus. And we did it at my house, which was awesome because my wife was there and she has a gift for hospitality, and then my two daughters at the time acted as greeters, which was always kind of threw people off because they'd come into the house and there'd be like a four year old and two year old like shaking their hands and looking them in the eye, and you know, welcome, it was great. And we did about four of them, and it was good. You know, it was good. But the darndest thing kept happening. Christians kept showing up, and it was really annoying, you know, not because we don't love Christians, but because we were doing it to reach the loss to the people who are far from God, and all these people who are already believers started showing up, and it was like, yeah, this is good, but like, we want those who are way out there, you know, that was our beating heart. So we changed the rules a little bit. We said, you can't come to Alpha unless you bring your unchurched friend, okay? So the numbers dipped precipitously, you know? What was once about 30 people having dinner together turned her out to be four, but that's okay, because sure enough, we had three pagans in our house, and we were pumped, okay? Now, one of them was this guy named Miguel, and Miguel is a dear friend of mine, but Miguel is about six, six big dude, bald head, big old beard, and I had known him from middle school and high school, and I know that he had kind of drifted away from the Lord, but he showed up for the first week. He didn't say anything, which was okay. He ate our food, which was good, and he came back the next week, which was even better, and he brought a friend, but okay, something's happening here, you know? Weeks progressed, no joke, for four weeks he did not say a single word. He just showed up, ate our food, drank a beer, watched the video, and then left, but he kept coming back, right? Kept coming back. About halfway through the course is something called the Holy Spirit Weekend, and in this weekend where it's a very direct proclamation and it's an invitation to open yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit, so let me set the stage for you, okay? This was the scenario. It's about three o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday in my ugly basement, so nothing about it said conversion moment, you know, because we all know conversions happen on Saturday night in a place like this, when random smoke is drifting from the sides of the stage, right? That's when Jesus moves. There was none of that. So we watched the talk and then this was the moment of truth. We were gonna invite these guys, it was Miguel, his friend, and this other girl named Bernadette, who were all, had clearly demonstrated that they were far from God. Actually, I don't know why I said it that way. I don't know how we, like, clearly demonstrated it. We just, they had told us, okay? Don't judge me, okay. We didn't judge them, you don't judge me. Okay, so it's the moment of truth and I'm standing behind him and Joey, my friend's on the guitar and he kind of does this little thing, he strums, he's like, boom, he's like, okay, boom. And we kind of make eye contact, I'm just like, go for it, man. And he's like, boom, okay. I'm gonna just ask you guys to stand up. You know, and maybe if you want, boom, close your eyes and open up your hands and we're just gonna sing a little bit and, you know, ask Jesus to show himself to you. And I'm in the back like, ugh. And, you know, the millennials' favorite word is awkward and I'm just like, this is so awkward. What's happening? And Joey just starts to sing and they, because they respected it enough at this point, open up their hands and I'm behind them and I'm just like, come on, Lord, get him. Come on, Lord, get him, you know? Then Joey and I start to sing, open the eyes of my heart and we're the only two singing which is kind of problematic but we're going for it and he's strumming and singing and all of a sudden, Miguel, I'm looking at the back of him and all of a sudden his shoulders begin to shake like this and I'm like, great, he's laughing at us, you know? He eats my food, drinks my booze and now he's laughing at us, right? And so I'm like, well, I might as well see what's going on and I glance around him and he's a big do so I kind of lean around him like this and he's weeping, he's weeping and weeping and all of a sudden I look over and I'm not sure enough his buddy Cole, weeping and Bernadette is gone. I don't know how it happened, she just ended up in the corner, weeping, getting wrecked by the Lord. And so now Joey and I make eye contact again and I'm like, just keep playing, you know? And so for 45 minutes, we did nothing. Joey and I, other than just pray and sing and God moved. And God, Jesus, a revelation of the power, the majesty and the realness of Jesus Christ came over these three people. So afterwards we sat in a circle as you are always supposed to do after moments like this, right? So you can debrief, you know? And so Joey and I are like, hey guys, what was that, you know? And Miguel, who basically hasn't spoken yet, okay? He goes, I'll never forget this, he goes, oh. He goes, God is real. And he goes, and a lot's gonna have to change. And Joey and I are like, yeah, you know? Fast forward. He goes to confession, starts going back to Mass. He helps us lead three more alphas. He's now part of something in our community called the Missional Community. He's leading every Sunday at Mass basically. I see him banging on the drums as part of our worship band. Miguel is an intentional, full, dynamic, missionary, whatever you wanna call it, disciple of Jesus Christ. I wanted to start with Miguel because I'm about to dive into scripture and show that our God loves to reveal himself and our God loves to reveal himself in such a way that demands a response. But as you hear about what he has done, know that he is doing it now. When you hear about what he's done, it's our heritage. But the reason we hold on to our heritage is because we believe and we know and it burns in us that it's not just something that we can look at and observe in St. Peter. It's not just something that we say, oh, isn't that great that that happened to Moses? No, what God has done, he is doing and he is not constrained by a pandemic. He's not overwhelmed by a quarantine. He's not thrown off by a mass. The Holy Spirit is not intimidated by the circumstances of what's going on. God is moving, he's alive and he's revealing himself. Amen? I like you guys, you're lively. So what we see when we start to look at the scripture, and we're gonna do a little scripture study together. When we look at where God, what God has done in our heritage, this salvation history, what you see over and over again is a loving father who is preoccupied with helping his people meet him and understand him and love him and obey him and walk with him. God is obsessed with connecting with us. I mean, that's literally the whole point of creation that out of love for us, he forms us in his image so that we can be in relationship with him. And the relationship is one that he gently but consistently reveals throughout all of salvation history. So it starts with Adam and Eve, of course, right? He literally walks with them in the garden. In a particular way, maybe more than any other human being that's ever lived, Adam and Eve experienced a unique relationship with God. But then of course, they screwed it up, right? And so do we, so again, we can't look at them too harshly but sin entered the equation and all of a sudden that revelation, that intimate relationship with the Lord, that relationship was so intimate that they literally walked with him in the cool of the day, had been ruptured. And then what you see throughout the rest of the Old Testament is this attempt by the Lord to continue to reveal himself, to continue to walk with his people but all of a sudden this sin problem had entered the equation and it changed the dynamic, didn't it? No longer could we just walk in the cool of the day with God. He had to veil himself. He had to hide himself in many ways. We couldn't handle the presence and the glory of God. So you see Moses, he's commissioned to go save the people of Israel. And where does God, how does God appear to him? In a bush, that's on fire, a burning bush. There's something true about that but there's something veiled, isn't there? There's a revelation of God in the bush and Moses hears his voice but there's something not complete to that. Think about Elijah. Elijah after that really dramatic moment with all the priests that he killed and the fire falling on things and then he flees for his life and he ends up in the cave and he knows that God's presence is coming and is God in the wind? No, is he in the storm? No, is he in the earthquake? No, he's in what? That's still small voice. A revelation of God. But is it complete? Is it the fullness of the revelation of God? No, something's still veiled, right? Let's see, let's think of a few others. Isaiah, here's a really powerful one in Isaiah. I'm just gonna read this one to you because it wrecked me when I read it. In the year that King Isaiah, I shouldn't have started there, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. So he sees the Lord sitting on a throne but he's high and lifted up, isn't he? In his train filled the temple, above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. A revelation of God. A deepening, a drawing ever deeper into this relationship with him that had been ruptured with sin but something is still missing. He's still high and lifted up which is the best place for him to be to worship him but there's a distance between he and Isaiah. And Isaiah's response, revelation response is the appropriate one. It's kinda like Isaiah literally says then in the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called and the house filled the smoke and I said, woe is me, for I am lost, for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King and the Lord of hosts. Isaiah recognizes that in the presence of the glory of God where the seraphim inside now, Bishop Scott McKeg loves to do this thing where he says, you know, when we read holy, holy, holy, often we think like, holy, holy, holy, you know? As if the seraphim were, you know, Bob Rice in the classroom. Holy, holy, holy, you know? Sorry, Bob. No, no, what Bishop Scott says is it's like, holy, holy, holy, they can't contain themselves. The majesty is so powerful. The glory is so, so present. And yet listen to Isaiah's response. At this time and place it is the most appropriate response. Woe is me, I can't be in this presence. I'm not worthy. I'm a man of unclean lips. So what changes? What changes? Jesus, Jesus. All of a sudden in the beautiful plan of the Father, the revelation of who he is, the revelation of the life that we're called to, the revelation of our identity, our destiny, about who God really is and what he really thinks about us. All of a sudden, no longer is passing by in the cleft of the rock, no longer a pillar of fire, a pillar of smoke, no longer a still small voice enough. All of a sudden the Lord says, and you know what, we need, we need to take on human flesh. All of a sudden the sin problem needs to be dealt with. We need to be able to come and have people like Isaiah come into the presence of the king and be purified so that there would no longer be distance. So that as the Lord reveals himself, our response could be total, complete, radical and all-consuming. And so what does Jesus do? He goes on his mission, doesn't he? He takes on human flesh. He takes our flesh and everything that we deserve, the sin, the death, you know, the sin problem that leads to the death problem and he takes all that and he takes it right there. Wow, that was perfect timing. Look at that, to the cross. That's what Jesus does. A new revelation of God on the cross. And what do we see on the cross? John Paul II said, we see three things on the cross. God reveals three things. The revelation of God, the revelation of man and the revelation of sin. We see the face of God, the face of man and the face of sin. What does that mean? This is the Lord of the universe. This is the one who is the Alpha and the Omega. This is the one who from all things flow and from all things are drawn back together. This is our God, the face of God. You wanna know what God is like? Meditate on that face and meditate on that story. That you deserve, I deserve to be on that cross and our God said, no, I'm going. And I'm gonna take everything you deserve and I'm gonna take it to the grave and I'm gonna rise again and there's a whole new life accessible to you in relationship with me. Through faith in Jesus Christ. He suffered death and resurrection, so what? That he might be the Lord of the living and the dead. That's what Jesus does. That's what we see on the cross, the face of God. And then we see the face of man. Here is man fully alive. The fullness of who we are as a creation is actually seen in Jesus's sacrifice on the cross. And then we also see the face of sin. This is what sin leads to. Allow me for a moment to remind you who Jesus is. And I have a two-year-old, a four-year-old. Nope, no, that's wrong. I have a two-year-old, a five-year-old. Seven-year-old and a nine-year-old. And right now, listening is a challenge for all four of them. And so I'm gonna ask you to do what I ask them to do. Put your listening ears on, okay? Don't take notes. Just receive the revelation of who Jesus is right now. All right? Just receive this. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning. He is the firstborn of the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on heaven or on earth, making peace by the blood of his cross. Allness of God dwells in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. He is the fullness. He is the source. He is the summit. He is the very life. He is the bread. He is the foundation. He's the ultimate fulfillment. He is everything as it pertains to this human existence. We no longer have to wonder at what God looks like. We no longer have to try to figure out his signs. We no longer have to kind of say, oh, is he speaking through this bush? Or do I have to hide my face? No, unveiled face. Face to face. We encounter our God. Listen to this one. Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. The only response to the revelation of the Lordship and majesty of Jesus Christ is that we bow our knee and we loosen our tongue and we proclaim that he is the Lord. Do you realize that Hollywood will bow its knee and proclaim that Jesus is the Lord? Do you realize our governments will bow their knee and proclaim that Jesus is the Lord? That the rich, the poor, the Muslims, the Jews, the Christians, the Catholics, the Popes, the dead, the living, the angels, everyone as Jesus reveals himself in his power and his majesty will bow and proclaim. They will bow because the only thing you can do in the full revelation of Jesus, the only appropriate response, the only thing we are even capable of doing is on our face saying you are the Lord and I'm not. Every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess, but some will do it because they love him, because it's an act of obedience, because it's an act of humility, and with great joy in their heart and others out of mortal terror, the revelation of Jesus. He's not hiding, we're not wondering. It's not confusing. There is a passage in here, and I can't remember off the top of my head in terms of the actual citation, but it says this, that God is not mocked. And I read that the other day and I thought, yes, he is. All the time. And what I realized and what the Lord convicted me is that what that passage means, it has a couple of different meanings. The first is ultimately, at the end, he will not be mocked. That the mocking and the scorn that he endured here is not the end, right? But what broke my heart, and I'm still dealing with it, is the mocking that he revealed to me was Catholics, Christians, who claim to know him, who claim to follow him, but deny his power, but don't actually live in and through him, that use him, that use Jesus as a means to some sort of life enhancement, that Jesus is just this buddy who's gonna make my life better. That is mocking God. Jesus is not just a kind of a means to an end. Yes, he is the way, the truth and the life, but he is life. He is the fullness of what we're created for. We need to repent. I need to repent for the ways that I've ignored his Lordship, for the ways that I've mocked his power, for the ways that I've claimed to know him, claimed to live from him. And in reality, I'm like, Jesus, you're great, but I'm doing something over here. And yeah, I need a little help here, but I'm in control. We cannot mock Jesus Christ. We cannot diminish Jesus Christ. We cannot water down Jesus Christ. And there is a movement even within our church right now to say that everything is Jesus. Or, yeah, you know, we all have a little piece of him or he's just a really good teacher or a great philosopher. No, he's the Lord. He's the Messiah. He's the king of kings and Lord of lords. There is no like him. He's one of one. And the only way, the only way we get to the point where this is true for us, the only way where this deep revelation of God that is Jesus, the only way that he comes and dwells with us and transforms us and makes us a living tabernacle is through his Holy Spirit, which is the power and purpose conference, which you all should get better than anyone else in the church, right? You all are crazy. We'll even call you charismatic just for the fun of it. And if you're not, we're gonna lump you together because you're in this room together and that's gonna make some people uncomfortable and you know what, whatever. The point is, all of us through our baptism and confirmation, we have been baptized into a relationship with Jesus. We've been given the inheritance of the Father, the down payment of the Spirit. So we have become a living tabernacle of the presence of God. Nobody declares, nobody declares that Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit. Isn't that right? So think about it. Think about this guy, St. Peter. He's my favorite character in the Bible other than Jesus and Mary for obvious reasons. I love Peter because he's just so us, isn't he? You know, I mean, like one minute he's brilliant. You're Christ the Son of the Living God. And then like four verses later, Jesus says, get behind me Satan. You know, I was like, whoa, that's a dip. Peter's the one who's walking on water and then sinks and walks on water again, well done. Peter's the one who sees the transfiguration, which is a revelation, right? And his response is like, hey, let's build tents, you know? And Jesus is like, no, we got work to do. Peter's the one who says, you'll never wash my feet. And Jesus is like, I have to wash your feet. And so Peter's like, we'll wash everything, you know? Peter's the one who denies him three times. He says, he loves him three times. He's like, he's just like you, sir. He's up, he's down, he's all around, right? I know nothing about you, but your wife is nodding, so that makes a lot of sense. That worked out perfectly. This is Peter, all over the place, Peter. But sold out for Jesus, Peter, right? And what do we see on Peter and Pentecost? He's there with the other apostles and the people gathered. And they're doing what they're told to do. They were told to wait and pray. So they're waiting and praying. I mean, they know the Holy Spirit's coming, but they have no idea what it's gonna look like. Jesus didn't give a whole lot of details. He didn't say anything about tongues of fire and wind and strange languages. No, he just said, wait and pray. So they're good disciples. They do what they're told. They wait and they pray. And the Holy Spirit comes and they don't say, wow, this is weird, try again, you know? They receive a revelation of God and they receive their responses, receptivity, cooperation, acceptance, praise. And they're launched out of the upper room and all of a sudden, Peter, who can't seem to string two sentences together, launches out of the upper room, acts to, and delivers, basically like the mission statement of the church. He steps into his role as the pope. He stands with his other apostles. He declares something on a matter of faith and morals in a public way, which means, as Catholics, we know what that means, right? It starts with an eye and rhymes with reshmallable. It's infallible. Some of you didn't get that. That's okay. It's late, I get it, you know? I'm moving fast. So Peter stands there and he delivers. He reads the signs of the times. He tells people what's happening. We're not drunk. This was foretold. And listen how it culminates. This is our first pope demonstrating to us what it means to be in love with Jesus but be filled with his spirit. This is the cry of the church. This is the cry of a disciple. This is the cry of Peter. This is the cry of everyone who followed after him, who believed. Listen to this. This Jesus Christ raised up that all of us are witnesses being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has poured out this, what you see in here. Now listen to this. This is our first pope laying it down. The standard, the message, the core. Let the whole house of Steubenville, sorry, let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. There it is again, Lord and Christ. Not a watered down Jesus anymore. Not a Jesus I'm buddy buddy with. No, everything, the fullness of Jesus is presented to this crowd who literally killed him. Not that long ago. And now hear the response. Revelation, right? Here it is again, revelation through the preaching of Peter. Now response, what's the response to the crowd? They look at him and they say, what should we do? Honestly, that should be the goal of all of our evangelistic efforts. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we got to the place through our words and our lives where we had people coming up to us and saying like, oh, what should we do? Cause they had been cut to the heart, right? The spirit had moved, revelation, response. And what does Peter say? What's the proper response? What's the appropriate response when Jesus cuts to your heart through the power of his Holy Spirit? Peter of course says, go register for your parish. No. No, he doesn't say, he says give 10%. No, he says this. Repent, repent for the forgiveness of your sins and be baptized and you too shall receive the Holy Spirit. Revelation, response. The Lord is and will reveal himself. The question is, what is your response? Is it to bow and proclaim or is it to mock and run? So with the time I have left, I'd like to tell you a little bit of my story because everybody likes a story and it's one thing to stand on a stage and jump around and stomp your feet twice. I didn't intend to do that, man, that just kind of came out of me. Like it's one thing to kind of walk around and do all those things, but the real question could be like, well, Pete, how did Jesus reveal himself to you? Fair question. So I was raised and what I came to find out was an exceptional Catholic family. What I mean by that is we went to Mass every Sunday. We prayed the rosary way more than I would have liked and both my parents were believers. They really believed. They had been converted more deeply in college through the Charismatic Renewal actually in the Word of God community up in Ann Arbor and they were believers. And what was interesting was not only did I have my parents who believed, but all their friends believed which is really powerful. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for, I can think of about 30 different men who cared about my spiritual life growing up. I would go over to the Ralph's house, the McCarrie's house, the Crestus house, the Herbex house, you know, you name it, the Chocolate's house, and I'd be sitting there, we'd be watching TV and I didn't know this, but my dad had conspired with all the other dads to do these things and we'd be watching TV and Mr. Ralph would say, hey, you know, how's basketball going? I'd tell him and he'd say, oh, what's Jesus doing in your life? That wasn't unusual. It was annoying, but it wasn't unusual. And I'd come up with some answer for him, but what was really powerful is now that this thing that my parents believed was shared by other normal people because your parents are always just kind of, you know, your parents, you know, but to see other normal people that I respected and loved also believing this thing was really powerful. And yet, even in the midst of all that, you know, growing up, the thing I cared most about was sports. My dad had been a baseball player at Michigan, he had been the MVP his senior year, and so I just grew up wanting to be him and wanting to be a baseball player and I was pretty good and I played basketball and I played all these sports and I was about nine years old and I was pitching and catching every game and all of a sudden I developed this, you know, soreness in my shoulder. And when you're nine, you shouldn't have soreness anywhere, right? You should be able to like run into a tree and not get sore. And so I went to my dad and he took me to the doctor and I'll never forget this. I'm sitting in the doctor's office and the doctor comes in and he says, you know, Pete, I don't know how to tell you this, but you've developed a condition called epiphycitis, which is just a fancy word for pain. And this pain is in your growth plate and it's not gonna go away, this inflammation until you mature. So he said, son, you're not gonna be able to throw any sort of ball with your right arm until probably 18. So, you know, in the grand scheme of things, not that big of a deal, but for a nine year old whose whole life is built around this idea of being a baseball player, it was a really big deal. My dream had popped, you know? And so I was miserable and for about two weeks I was moping around the house and the pain got so bad I couldn't even raise my arm above my shoulder like this. And finally, my parents after watching me do this for several weeks, sent me down in a living room and they said, Pete, the only way you're gonna be happy, the only way you're gonna be fulfilled is if you give your life to Jesus. And I said, all right, you know, I'd seen them do it, I trusted them. So I went into my room that night, got down on my knees and I said, Jesus, I love you, I give you my life. And all of a sudden, of course, the skies opened up and a dove descended and a voice from the heavens said, this is my, no, none of that happened. I felt nothing actually, nothing changed. I didn't get healed and nothing changed about it. But what happened is week after week after week, all of a sudden I realized there was this peace within me, this joy within me, the stability within me that I didn't know where it was coming from really. But I became convinced and over a course of very gentle polling, the Lord just started to reveal His face to me. I would receive communion and I'd come back into the pew and just have these incredible encounters with the Lord. And I can't explain it. It wasn't like this emotional thing, it wasn't something I was seeking. I just knew it, you know? I just came to know that God is real and He loves me. If you had asked nine-year-old people right, what is the most true thing in your life? I would have said that God is real and He loves me. I just knew it, you know, kind of in this section. I just knew it with my knower. I just believed, you know? Faith had been poured into my heart. And as that started to grow, I realized I wanted more. Oh my gosh, Jesus is amazing. I want more. And my parents prayed over me in tongues every night. And so I thought, you know what? I want that. Nine years old. So I went into the living room one night and I said, mom and dad, I'm not going to bed tonight until I get the gift of tongues. And like any wise parents, they said, oh, okay. Yeah, great, great. Why don't you go do that in your bed? So I went into my bed and I laid down and I just started praying. I said, Lord, I want the gift of tongues. And I'm not going to sleep until it happens. And I prayed and prayed and about an hour later, nothing had happened. And so I went back out in the living room and I said, hey, yo, it's not working, you know? And my dad said, how about you go back into the bed and ask for it, say, Lord Jesus, I love you. I give you my heart. Please baptize me in your Holy Spirit and give me the gift of tongues. And he said, and then peed after that, just say the name of Jesus over and over again and see what happens. Okay, I went down the hallway, laid down in my bed, nine years old, said, Jesus, I give you my life. Please baptize me in your Holy Spirit and give me the gift of tongues. And I started to say the name of Jesus over and over again. And he's a good father. And he gives gifts to those who ask and to those who open and those who don't get freaked out by the gifts. And I cooperated, next thing you know. So I ran down the hallway. I said, mom and dad, it happened. And they were like, awesome, you know? It was this big celebration. We had ice cream at 11 o'clock at night. It was amazing, we had ice cream. And all of a sudden now I'm filled with the spirit. These things that you see in Peter, this boldness was growing in me at nine years old. I knew that God was real. I knew that he loved me. And his spirit was burning in my heart and it was confirming it and confirming it and confirming it and taking me deeper. I mean, I was just being drawn into a revelation of God. So fast forward a little bit. I'm getting ready for high school. If you'd ask ninth grade Pete Burrack. Pete, what's high school gonna be like? I would have said two things. I would have said, I'm gonna win a state championship in basketball, golf and baseball once I'm able to throw again. And I'm gonna help convert all the heathens at my high school. Because something interesting had started to develop in me. A pride had started to set in. An ownership of the gifts. A mocking of God. Where all of a sudden what had been true gifts, true cooperation, unmerited grace was now all of a sudden mine. I owned it. I could kind of power my way through. So first day of high school, walking up. This is a Catholic high school. I walk up to the front door, ready to go. Here we go. Open the door, take a left. Walk down the senior hallway. As I'm starting to get to my locker as I'm starting to walk down the senior hallway, I'm kind of like navigating in and out and it turned into something like in a movie in my mind. You know, there's a couple doing something over here and a kid up against a locker over here and it just was like debauchery, you know? Like it was like Dante's Inferno in my mind, at least. And I weave my way to my locker and I try to open it and I can't because I'm a freshman. And I put my head up against the locker, literally. And I said, oh my goodness, Jesus, those seniors are big and they're bad. And you know what? I don't think I want them to know that I know you. And so an interesting thing started to happen. It started to live two lives. When I was at school, I was Pete Burrack, the athlete, the good kid, good student. If you had asked any of my classmates, does Pete know Jesus? They would have been like, I don't know. And then as soon as I left the school, pulled Jesus out of my pocket, put it on like an old coat. And by the time I got home, I was the same old Pete that my parents expected. Can't do that, can't serve two lords, can't serve two masters. Like I already said, your knee's gonna bow, but every knee is ultimately gonna bow to the same thing and the same person. But there's a time right now that we call our lives where we can actually choose to bow to something else. And I was trying to genuflect over here and over here and over here and over here and over here. It wasn't working. So the most pivotal moment of my life was about three quarters of the way through my freshman year. We're sitting, it's an all school mass and I'm sitting in this pew with all of my buddies, all of whom were raised in a very similar way, all of whom have had a revelation of Jesus and all of us are not living it, okay? So we're all sitting there too cool for school. And I'm Father Lobert's giving the homily and I'm just kinda like checked out, you know? And all of a sudden, I don't know if you've ever experienced this before, but where just something comes over you like, I'm sorry, I've ignored this entire section of the audience. Hello friends, I apologize, this is good. Okay, sorry, I have sometimes the ADD kicks in. Chris mentioned that like I really do have it anyway. Okay, so all of a sudden something comes over me and I'm just like, what's going on? And I sit up a little straighter and I start to listen to what Father's saying. And Father Lobert, God bless him. I'll never, never forget this. He's preaching and honestly, I don't even remember what he was saying. But all of a sudden he just stops, right? Basically in the middle of a sentence and he goes, all right. Any of you who've ever experienced God, please stand up. Yeah, right? So a couple of people stand up over here, a couple of people stand up over here, a few over there. I couldn't stand up. I was like rooted to the pew. I wanted to, I knew I was lying, I knew I was denying him, I knew that I had definitely experienced God and I couldn't stand up. Father I think was expecting most of the church to be standing. This is a Catholic school for goodness sake. So he makes it a little easier on us. He goes, okay, okay, okay. How many of you have ever been outside in nature and seen a beautiful mountain or the ocean and something stirred within you that maybe God exists and he's like, stand up. Now more people stand up over here and a few people stand up over here and people are standing up all over the church. For the second time, I couldn't stand up. Fun fact, not a single member of this pew, of boys, had stood up. And I know for a fact that if one of us had stood up, ooh, the whole row would have stood up, but we're all a bunch of chickens and couldn't do it. I'm rooted to the pew. I know I'm denying him, but I couldn't do it. The weight of the peer pressure in the living into two lives, I couldn't get on my feet. So now Father Lobert makes it even easier on us. He's like kind of distraught at this point. And he's like, okay, okay. Have you ever had like a really good hug or a smile and or have you just ever even considered that God exists? Like, and he's kind of like, no, no, no, no. He's like, stand up. So the whole choir stands up. You know, when people stand up all over the place, I couldn't stand up. I wanted to, I knew I should. I didn't do it. Now, there was one very important person who was standing and that was my mother because she came to every all school mass and she was in the back of the church, basically shooting lasers into the back of my head wondering why I wasn't standing, you know. Why aren't you standing, you know? And to this day, she and my dad think it's hilarious that they named me Peter, you know? My mom always like, I was waiting for the rooster to crow and I was like, huh, huh, you know, Bible jokes, you know, awesome. The rest of that day I was miserable because I knew I had denied the Lord. And I didn't know this, but my parents talked to each other on the way home. My mom called my dad in tears and explained the whole situation to her and he said, Emily, this is the best thing that could have happened for our son. They hatched a plan. And I came to find out that it was, they called it a come to Jesus meeting. And I got home that day, opened the front door and there was a carpet or a pathway of used tissues leading me into the living room because apparently my mom had been crying all afternoon, you know, and wanted me to know it, you know? She has a flair for the dramatic. It just was guiding me, you know? And so I walked in and she's on the couch all red-nosed and red-eyed and she goes, why didn't you stand up? And I said, I don't know. And she said, you sit right here until your father gets home. Which is every kid's favorite phrase, right? So I'm sitting there and my dad comes home and he kind of flows into the living room and I wish he could have met my dad. He passed away a few years ago. He was my hero and he's been interceding for us for sure, but he was a very gentle, very strong, confident, but very gentle man. But in this moment, there was a fire like St. Peter. There was a fire like St. Paul. There was a fire like Stephen in front of the Sanhedrin. He knew who the king of glory was and he knew the message that needed to be delivered to his son and he was not gonna miss that opportunity. And he culminated with this moment and I'll never, ever forget. And I'll never, ever be able to express, especially now that he's gone to him my gratitude for this moment, but he grabbed me by the shirt like this. And he pulled me to himself and he said, son, who are you? Who are you? Are you the man I thought you were? Are you this chicken who can't even stand up when asked if he knows Jesus? And he pulled me close and he said, you need to decide today, son, who you're gonna serve. You need to decide today, son, who is the Lord of your life? And he said, and if you don't choose Jesus, I'm taking you out of that school because I'm not paying tuition for you to mess around. And friends, you can guess what I chose. You can guess what became the rallying cry then of my life, that I will always, I will always stand up for Jesus Christ. I will always when asked, step forward and say, yes, I know the man. I know who is the Lord of my life. And I know that he's the Lord of my life, not just because he was revealed to Bart, not just because he was revealed to my dad, but even through my dad, operating in the power of the Holy Spirit, I encountered once again the living God who loved me, a revelation of God's glory and majesty and power and goodness and freedom and joy all was laid before me. And the only response was to say yes, to bow and to proclaim. And so I'm gonna proclaim it one more time so there's no doubt and so that the record may show that if they drag me before the court, they can play this video. Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. Amen? So friends, you're already starting to do it, but here's the thing, I wanna give you the same opportunity. I wanna pose the same question to you. Jesus is going to and is revealing himself today in this gym that Jesus Christ is here, he is present, he is not hypothetically here, he is actually here. And he's extending on his hand and he says, do you want to serve me? Do you wanna follow me? Do you wanna know me? And friends, if you want to, get on your feet. All right, pause for a second. Let me make one really simple point before we begin to worship. What just happened there that you got on your feet, said something, you declared by your action that you wanna give Jesus a try. You wanna make him the Lord of your life. Now, I don't care if you weren't paying attention and all of a sudden everyone stood up and you're a good Catholic, so you stood up. Whatever your reasoning, whatever doubt, whatever's happening in you in this moment, you proclaimed to the people around you, to me, and most importantly, to God, that you're gonna stand up for him. And here's the thing, the devil is gonna try to rob you at this moment. He's gonna try to convince you it was a motion. He's gonna try to convince you that it doesn't really matter, that it was just a simple standing on your feet. No, no, no friends, we are Catholics, we are body and soul, we actually do physical things to represent deeper realities. This is not a sacrament, I'm not trying to say that, but we do actually move with our bodies, we do proclaim with our tongues, we do demonstrate to the Lord what we believe and you demonstrated that you believe and that you want more. So friends, I would invite you to close your eyes and open your hands. And if you've given your life to the Lord 1,000 times, praise God. If you've never given your life to the Lord, praise God. This is a moment to once again invite the Lord to reveal himself to you. Say, Jesus, let the real me encounter the real you. Jesus, show me your glory. Jesus, show me your love. Jesus, open your face to me. For Jesus, we give you our lives. And just in the quiet of your hearts, friends, right now, talk to him, tell him what you think. And if you're bold enough to say it out loud, say it out loud. Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I praise you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for this invitation of your relationship with me. Thank you for your glory. Come, Holy Spirit.